Category Archives: Moms & Dads

Car Seat Safety…

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I am fanatic about children riding safely in cars.

It is an absolute necessity to have and properly use a car seat.

A child relies on us as the adults in his/her life to keep him/her safe…that is an awesome responsibility.

I was thrilled when I found the Car Seat Lady‘s site…she helps parents and caregivers fulfill their responsibility to their child regarding safety in cars.

Make sure you check out your child’s car seat and make your child as safe as you can when they are riding in your car…NO EXCUSES!

Wordless Wednesday…

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Thanksgiving Parade- Turkey

Do any of you have a problem with Christmas coming before we actually celebrate Thanksgiving?

It used to be that Santa did not show up at Macy’s until after the Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC.

In fact, Santa is at the end of the Thanksgiving Parade rather than at the beginning for just this very reason…don’t you think?

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Why can’t we enjoy the heck out of Thanksgiving before getting totally stressed about THE Holidays?

No presents, just come and eat your heart out and leave the shopping and stress til Black Friday…PLEASE!

Related posts:

http://www.chicagonow.com/mary-tyler-mom/2011/11/thanksgiving-wherefore-art-thou/

 

Chicago Xmas State Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manage Kids’ Media Use

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kids and computers

The American Academy of Pediatrics just made a new statement on kids and media. Here is a review of what they had to say.

Tips for Parents on Making a Family Media Use Plan:

Make a media use plan for your family.  

  • Write rules down,
  • Check quantity and quality of media, take a look at the location of your tvs, phones, and computers including tablets.
  • Location- no screens in kids bedrooms and have a “media curfew”. Have a control center where all electronics get plugged in a night.
  • Excessive media use has been associated with obesity, lack of sleep, school problems, aggression and other behavior issues. Entertainment screen time should be no longer than 2 hours a day.
  • No screen time for children under 2 years of age.
  • Co-viewing programs with your kids and discussing values , look for educational media choices.
  • The Internet can also be a place where kids can run into trouble, keep the computer in a public part of your home.

Discuss the Internet Rules:

  • Discuss “digital footprint” with your children. Let them know that where they go on the internet can be remembered…nothing they do online is a secret.

Discuss Social Media:

  • Become familiar with popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram get your own accounts.
  • By “friending” your kids, you can monitor their online presence. Pre-teens should not have accounts on social media sites.
  • If you have young children, you can create accounts on sites that are designed specifically for kids their age.

Cyberbullying:

  • Good “digital citizens”, discuss the serious consequences of online bullying.
  • If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, it is important to take action with the other parents and the school if appropriate.
  • Attend to children’s and teens’ mental health needs promptly if they are being bullied online, and consider separating them from the social media platforms where bullying occurs.
  • Sexting of any kind is not appropriate and remember the internet is NOT private.
  • Check out a sample “Media Time Family Pledge” for online media use.

How do you monitor your kids’ screen time?

Additional Information:

via Doctors’ Rx: Make a plan to manage kids’ media use.

NICU: Then & Now, Children & Intense Emotions

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“Tree of Life”

NICU: Then & Now.

The March of Dimes Facebook page catches up with NICU babies in “Then and Now”. This past week, we celebrated National Prematurity Day…not too many years ago these fragile premature babies would not have survived. Here’s to all those that have made these miracle possible!

Helping children when they bite, hit and push – Genevieve Simperingham.

Biting and hitting can really pose a parenting challenge. There are so many reasons that a child resorts to this unpleasant behavior. For me, the most important way to manage behavior problems is through empathy. Empathy for your child and empathy for the victim of your child’s biting and hitting will guide your responses and help make them appropriate. Take a deep cleansing breath to retrieve your empathy and then respond quickly by removing your child from the situation and making sure the other child is okay. Show your child understanding with a sense of calmness, while he is acting this way… and then help him to express his anger and frustration in a more acceptable manner. Gradually, he will find other ways to express his frustrations and anger that do not involve lashing out and biting.

I Have a Daughter With Intense Emotions | Peaceful Parents, Confident Kids.

Keeping with the theme of children and their emotions…here is another post about how to “deal’ with children, who have intense feelings. It is a personal story, to which many of us can relate. Again, “empathy” plays a key role, I hope you visit this story…it is a sweet and endearing one.

Once again…have a wonderful weekend.

 

Weekend Review: Fallen Soldier’s Final Flight…Party Politics…Fall Back

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Time change can wreak havoc with children’s sleep schedules. Sleepy Planet’s Jill and Jen have some suggestions to help navigate this challenge.

This weekend, it’s time to move clocks back one hour. This is the time change that we loved in college, but we hate as parents – especially if you’ve got young children who are already early risers. Whipping up breakfast at 4:30 a.m. is not exactly a solution. Armed with a game plan and a little patience, though, your child should adjust to the new time change after three or four days.

via sleepyplanet.com.

 

Party Politics is a right of passage…why should a child’s birthday create such crazy chaos? I have very strong feeling about the “birthday party dilemmas” and have done several posts about alternatives to huge celebrations with tons of presents and horribly  put together “goody” crappy bags.

 

Today begins November…we celebrate Veterans Day this month.

This is how a “fallen” soldier is welcomed home to Los Angeles. It is touching.

Water canon salute brings tears to passengers’ eyes, as tears of water run down the windowpanes.

A few minutes after touchdown, we did indeed have a water canon salute, which I’d previously only experienced on happy occasions like inaugural flights. This time, the water glistening on the windowpanes looked like tears.

 

via Flight turns unforgettable when passengers learn of fallen soldier – Yahoo Travel.

 

Sunset…Sunrise

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Solitude at Sunrise

Solitude at Sunrise

I am sitting here at sunrise

my home away from home

the Boston Globe “blank”,

in front of me.

thinking about attachments

and losses…

that have filled the recent days…

since Death visited.

thanking God for a friend

who touched so many.

loss so painful…beyond bereaved

shoes unfilled…footsteps not finished

life cut short.

sympathy seeping in to fill the depth

death leaves.

seeking to touch family

it helps me to share your loss

as I share your love.

so very, very sorry

no words…

forever changed

 

 

Teen Punished by North Andover MA High School For Giving Drunken Pal Ride Home

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 2006-09-10 - United Kingdom - England - London - Trafalgar Square - Sign - Cutout - Yellow - Caution Teenagers

Teenagers and Alcohol  is a post I wrote a while back but it seems appropriate to share it again after what I read and saw on today’s television news.

via North Andover High Punishes Teen For Giving Drunken Pal Ride Home From Party « CBS Boston.

Today in the news a teenage athlete answered a call from her girlfriend, who asked her to pick her up from a party because she was drunk and needed a ride home. For this gesture the young athlete was punished by her school stating that she had violated the school’s “zero tolerance” policy.

I have many opinions about drinking teens. I am not in favor of alcohol at parties and underage drinking but I am also not in favor of zero tolerance policies that are misguided and enforced in such a way that they penalize a student for helping her friend get home safely.

Let’s try and teach something here…use this as a chance to address the very serious problem of underage alcohol abuse in high school and college.

It is not all about punishment, it is about education and the responsibility of parents, and schools to make kids aware of the consequences of drinking, drinking to excess and of course driving while drunk.

It is about teaching them to engage parents when faced with caring for friends who are drunk rather than bearing all the burden themselves.

I encourage you to voice your thoughts to the principal at North Andover High…an email longleyj@northandover.k12.ma.us was left in the comment section of the article posted

 

 

A Shot of Prevention for Flu Season

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Thursday was flu shot day for me.

This year, I went to CVS Minute Clinic instead of getting my flu shot at work.  Hospital  policy makes it mandatory that all employees get a flu shot so that we do not expose our patients to the flu.

Minute Clinic was a new experience for me. Since my family is in the medical world, it has always been easy for me to drop by my doctor’s office for a quick shot in the arm so to speak.

CVS simplified my Fall routine. They offered me an opportunity to get a “complimentary” flu shot, which turned out to be a great convenience. Because I have a history mitral valve problems, a flu shot is highly recommended and I take my health very seriously.

Upon arriving at  a CVS, not too far from my home…I had to check in on the Minute Clinic computer in the waiting area. It was easy enough, but I could see, where it could be a problem for elderly folks, who may not have computer skills.

Five chairs were available in the waiting area. This was a good sign…it meant that they do not anticipate lengthy wait times so no need for too many seats.

My computer sign-in screen notified me, there were five people ahead of me…good information to share as it established a time frame. The nurse also told us, a few people were there only for flu shots and another nurse was expected back from lunch shortly, so the wait would not be too long.

I breathed a sigh of relief, as I had to be at school pick-up in an hour. IMG_7175

When it was my turn, the Nurse Practitioner reviewed the questions and answers from my computer profile. I signed my consent, got my vaccination, my receipt and was quickly on my way to school pick-up.

I was also given a 20% off coupon for CVS, which I will use on another visit.

This was my first time at a Minute Clinic. It was clean, efficient and friendly. I felt confident with my Nurse Practitioner. She was young, competent and nice. Since I am a nurse, it is my practice to “interview” nurses that take care of me

The real measure of a successful experience is whether or not I would feel comfortable coming to a Minute Clinic for medical care in the future ?… the answer…without reservation, YES.

Would I recommend getting a flu shot this year?..YES…for sure.

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Disclosure:

I was given a “free” flu shot from Minute Clinic…all opinions are my own as always.