Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Importance of Mud Pies and other Fun Things
Check out this article about some fun must-have experiences for babies and toddlers! "Now is the time they will master many of the skills that will set them up for life. Making a mud pie or jumping in a puddle has never been so important," http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
January: Winter in Maine: Birds in Winter
My girls got a bird feeder and a book about birds for Christmas. So I expanded a little on that for our theme.
We glued sticks and leaves to create our own nests:
We're learning how to say "bird" in sign language.
More to come...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Sippy Cups ~ Friend or Enemy? (Maybe Both)
A topic of interest to me came up on a forum last week. Actually, now that I think about it, it didn't come up. I brought it up.
So here it is:
The original post was about how long providers "let" children use bottles at their daycare. Was there as certain age that providers cut kids off from them. The replies from other providers varied a bit, but the general consensus was somewhere between 12 & 15 months was their limit.
My original reply was:
"Once they're sitting at the table eating food for breakfast/lunch with the other kids, I give them a cup to drink from. If they still take bottles other times of day I will give them, but I discourage bottles at nap time anyway. I try to get them to fall asleep without a bottle when the start here, no matter what age. I don't do sippy cups here, so they just move straight to the cup. When they're 10months or so, I start holding a cup with formula in it, and when they're a little older I let them do it, putting JUST enough liquid in the cup to cover the bottom. If that. Maybe a few drops worth at first. They pretty quickly catch on."
That actually encroaches on two topics I find very near and dear to my heart, but the one I'm focusing on at the moment is Sippy Cups. Someone else replied and asked why it is I don't do Sippies.
This was my answer to that:
"I worked for Early Head Start for a long time, and they discourage use of sippy cups. For a few reasons. I just kept it up when I started doing this at home. I did use them with my own kids, usually only for water. I definitely used them in the car!
But the main ideas about it are:
Are sippy cups the devil? I don't think so. I know some people that do think so, but I really don't. Used appropriately, they are a WONDERFUL resource! In the car or on an outing where you don't want spills. They're fabulous. And I do let the kids keep one of WATER in their room at night, especially if they have a cold. They can drink it half in their sleep and put it back without having to worry about spilling and changing sheets in the middle of the night.
So... There you have it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
The other topic that it brought up was putting babies to sleep with bottles (or nursing). Not putting babies to BED with a bottle. Two totally different topics. I'll touch on that another time. But for now, let me hear what your take is on the Sippies.
So here it is:
The original post was about how long providers "let" children use bottles at their daycare. Was there as certain age that providers cut kids off from them. The replies from other providers varied a bit, but the general consensus was somewhere between 12 & 15 months was their limit.
My original reply was:
"Once they're sitting at the table eating food for breakfast/lunch with the other kids, I give them a cup to drink from. If they still take bottles other times of day I will give them, but I discourage bottles at nap time anyway. I try to get them to fall asleep without a bottle when the start here, no matter what age. I don't do sippy cups here, so they just move straight to the cup. When they're 10months or so, I start holding a cup with formula in it, and when they're a little older I let them do it, putting JUST enough liquid in the cup to cover the bottom. If that. Maybe a few drops worth at first. They pretty quickly catch on."
That actually encroaches on two topics I find very near and dear to my heart, but the one I'm focusing on at the moment is Sippy Cups. Someone else replied and asked why it is I don't do Sippies.
This was my answer to that:
"I worked for Early Head Start for a long time, and they discourage use of sippy cups. For a few reasons. I just kept it up when I started doing this at home. I did use them with my own kids, usually only for water. I definitely used them in the car!
But the main ideas about it are:
- Too much use can be bad for teeth. Mostly because sugar sits on your teeth for up to 20 minutes after each time you eat (or drink), so if they're carrying around a sippy with juice or milk in it, and sipping on it all day long, their teeth never get a break from the sugars.
- Also, using a regular cup is good for speech development. It's not exactly that sippys are BAD for it, but more-so that regular cups are good for it. The muscles of the mouth used for a sippy are different than the muscles used for drinking from a cup.
- And kind of toward the childhood obesity thing... if they're carrying it around with juice or milk, they're taking in empty calories all day long. (Not that milk is empty calories... but that's a whole different issue... kids only need like 3 servings of dairy per day... between milk in their cereal, milk at meals, cheese, yogurt etc... most kids are getting WAY too many calories from dairy on a regular basis.)
- And on a side note, they have to learn to drink from a cup someday. They won't ever learn till they have experience. So if they don't use a cup till they're 4, they won't learn how till they're 4. But if they use it when they're 1, they can learn how when they're 1.
Are sippy cups the devil? I don't think so. I know some people that do think so, but I really don't. Used appropriately, they are a WONDERFUL resource! In the car or on an outing where you don't want spills. They're fabulous. And I do let the kids keep one of WATER in their room at night, especially if they have a cold. They can drink it half in their sleep and put it back without having to worry about spilling and changing sheets in the middle of the night.
So... There you have it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
The other topic that it brought up was putting babies to sleep with bottles (or nursing). Not putting babies to BED with a bottle. Two totally different topics. I'll touch on that another time. But for now, let me hear what your take is on the Sippies.
HATE is such a strong word
A couple of days ago my 5y looked at me and said "You hate me." Because I wouldn't let her play with something she wanted, or have a snack at that moment, or... something. I don't even remember. I said "I most certainly do not hate you." She said it a few more times and we went back and forth until I realized we were not going to get anywhere. So I asked her if she knew what that word meant. She said "no". So I simply explained that to hate her, meant I wouldn't love her anymore. And I definitely love her, no matter what. She said okay, and went into "You don't like me", which I could handle.
A day or two later she looked me in the face and said "I hate you" (because I wouldn't let her watch her TV show). It pained me to remain as calm as I did, but I didn't take offense. I just kept repeating to her that it doesn't matter how she feels about me, I will always love her. I feel like this is the best possible option for a situation like this. Right now is when our children are forming their opinions about the world. And in this particular instance, about love and relationships. Even about marriage. They are watching EVERYTHING we do. When I tell her that I love her even if she hates me or even when she's naughty, she learns about unconditional love. Love, real love, is more than a fuzzy feeling. It's a choice. It is choosing to care for someone even when you don't "feel like it". And I choose to love her no mater what. Call me crazy, but I think something like this sets the foundation for relationships for the rest of their lives.
Eventually she calmed down. She even said she loved me later. And much later, when we were all in good spirits, I told her that it hurt my feelings when she said she hated me, and I would be happy if she didn't say that again. She said okay and went about her business. And then the next morning, after she had had some time to think and digest, she came to me all on her own and said she was sorry for saying that to me. I said "Thank you" and dropped it. There wasn't any more to be said about it.
A day or two later she looked me in the face and said "I hate you" (because I wouldn't let her watch her TV show). It pained me to remain as calm as I did, but I didn't take offense. I just kept repeating to her that it doesn't matter how she feels about me, I will always love her. I feel like this is the best possible option for a situation like this. Right now is when our children are forming their opinions about the world. And in this particular instance, about love and relationships. Even about marriage. They are watching EVERYTHING we do. When I tell her that I love her even if she hates me or even when she's naughty, she learns about unconditional love. Love, real love, is more than a fuzzy feeling. It's a choice. It is choosing to care for someone even when you don't "feel like it". And I choose to love her no mater what. Call me crazy, but I think something like this sets the foundation for relationships for the rest of their lives.
Eventually she calmed down. She even said she loved me later. And much later, when we were all in good spirits, I told her that it hurt my feelings when she said she hated me, and I would be happy if she didn't say that again. She said okay and went about her business. And then the next morning, after she had had some time to think and digest, she came to me all on her own and said she was sorry for saying that to me. I said "Thank you" and dropped it. There wasn't any more to be said about it.
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