Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! Watch this space for more parenting tips next year! Make your parenting resolutions stick in 2009!

Quote from Oprah Magazine!

"Being a mother is the hardest job on earth. Women everywhere must declare it so."

NIGHT TERRORS AND GENES

Dr Bich Hong Hguyen at the Sleep Disorders Centre in Montreal's Sacre-Coeur Hospital said that night terrors which send children into inconsoloble screaming fits are at least partially inheritable.During these events, children seem confused and disoriented. Any attempt to awaken them may increase their agitation and prolong the episode. As night terrors are brief events, children usually return to sleep with no recollection of the episode.

AN INFORMATIVE INTERVIEW!!! MUST WATCH

Bloomberg is one of the last channels on earth that you might get good insight on parenting let alone watch an interview of one of the top child psychiatrist in the world talk about ADHD or autism. But hey , life is one surprise after the other. If you can download Nightline on youtube, be sure to watch the interview of Dr Harold Koplewicz. He is the founder of the NYU Child Study Centre in New York. His insights will blow you away. Alternatively, you can also check out the website www.AboutOurKids.org

Riveting stuff, really

BREAST IS BEST!!

Maybe with the tainted milk crisis in China, more mothers will consider breast-feeding as the most safest and viable option for their child. It's a win-win situation. No need to spend money on milk, it's rich in fatty acids that cannot be found in milk formula, no need to wash bottles and it's promotes bonding. And with Angelina Jolie and so many celebrity mothers promoting breast-feeding, it has even become sexy!

ANOTHER GREAT BOOK FOR SIGN LANGUAGE FOR TODDLERS (USING ALS)

Dr Marilyn Daniels found that preschoolers who were taught sign language scored significantly higher on the Peabody Vocabulary Test when compared to preschoolers who did not learn sign language. Daniels concluded that a preschooler's vocabulary can be improved if words are presented visually and kinesthetically as well as verbally.

Daniels, Marilyn, Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children's Literacy. Bergin & Garvey, October 2000. ISBN: 0897897927.

NATURAL PARENTING

I was having a tea with a friend on Saturday ( she has just given birth recently) and she was sharing with me her "conversion" to natural parenting. She rounded up the whole list to me
1) cloth diapers 2) breast feeding (of course!) 3) organic soaps 4) organic food were just a few basic things that made her parenting "au naturale". Will post more details later.