Author Archive for Pam

What’s In This Baby Food Anyway?

Published
by
Pam
on March 13, 2008
in General
. 4 Comments

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So, is that food with no flavor better for our children, or just cheaper to produce? It is soooo convenient, it took me a long time to think to ask.

Do we know if first quality foods were used? The World Watch Institute, Healthy Child Healthy World Organization, and Greenpeace U.K., all have some interesting information on this and other things in our baby’s daily grasp that may or may not be so safe. Even some of the organic foods are on the Greenpeace list of brands that contain harmful ingredients or toxins.

If this is enough to get you cooking, you can find some good tips and recipes here..

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

If you go with the jar I would highly recommend organic.There is a buzz going around that foreign investors are bidding to buy some of our baby food companies. The list is said to include China which has had food stuffs pulled from our shelves for metal fragments and toxins.
Do your homework! Check out what company you are trusting your baby’s health with. Find out who owns the company.You will be glad you made the effort.
You may also want to see if biotec foods are used since we do not yet know the long term effects of eating altered foods.

Happy cooking or happy shopping!!

Daddy-Mom The Emerging Breed

Published
by
Pam
on March 8, 2008
in General
. 6 Comments

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Has anyone noticed more and more single dads with full custody of even tiny children? To see this is encouraging, though I am sorry to see so many broken homes. As a daycare owner, I have had the opportunity of late to work with several of these dads and, having spent several years as a single mom, I have been both compassionate and amused.

One of my daycare parents was a man who had first endured a divorce where his ex-wife had the full custody of their two daughters. He had little compassion for the load she was carrying and was resentful of the support payments he was making. He married again a much younger woman who, through unfortunate circumstances, left him with full custody of two small children, one of which was less than a year old.

The first thing he noticed was how expensive it is to come up with a safe reliable daycare in order to work without worrying all day. He then saw first hand the clothing and medical expenses and realized that he used to complain that women just liked to spend money. Soon, he realized that after working all day, it left very little social time, and to do anything, it involved even more childcare which also meant even less time for the children who needed so much attention already, having been away from him all week.

I think one thing that was cute yet sad was when he came in to ask advice because his children were starting to call him Mommy. How many of us who have been single parent women have lived this in reverse! My response was, “You are Mommy, and Daddy, one day your children, though confused right now,will realize that you loved them enough to take up both rolls rather than to pursue your own ambitions or conveniences, and they will be able to say thank you.” Should this man ever marry again, I can tell you that he will be a much better father and husband.

For all you single Dads out there facing this roll, stand strong, the sacrifice will be worth the effort. Even if your children go through a season of struggle, you will always know it is not because you left them, and when that season is over, you will have a relationship anchored in faithfulness and earned trust. I salute you !

Toys That Uncover And Develop Abilities

Published
by
Pam
on March 6, 2008
in General
. 6 Comments

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I visited the home of a friend recently and watched as five adults tried to cope with the youngest member of the family, a 3yr.old boy. The child was leaping over the furniture right past the huge pile of toys in the livingroom,with a large red plastic expandable sword in hand,chopping everything and everyone in site.He would stop for a moment in front of the big-a-vision,where brightly colored cartoon characters were doing the same and more, and off he would go again with all exasperated adults unable to direct him.

I stopped the child, and asked him to show me his toys. I immediately saw a problem. Not one toy was designed to develop creative thinking or constructive activities.There were also no toys that were designed to be used in a group.

When asked why I thought that he acted so much better at the home daycare he attended, I smiled and answered, it is simple, your child is bright, his toys need to be more imaginative and social. If you choose to use T.V. as an amusement, you need to select shows with the behavior that you want your son to copy. Right now he is doing what he is being taught and with what he has been given. (Yes, we are still friends after these statements.)

I then recommended Lego sets, puzzles, art supplies, early music instruments, video art programs, matchbox cars with tracks that can be built several ways and can be used in or outdoors. I also suggested early board games. Playing board games as a family fosters social skills and conversation.

All children will pretty much play with these types of toys but you will see very soon that some will excell in certain areas:

If a child creates complicated Lego projects he or she most likely has scientific, inventive gifts.

If a child loves puzzles and soon needs little help and will work on one that takes very much time, he or she most likely is gifted in mathmatics.

If a child is artistic he or she is most likely also musical. You will find that if you turn off the T.V. and put on music especially classical or classical type music while your child works on an art project, it will boost their creativity.

If your child can carry a melody between the ages of two and three, he or she is musical.

Knowing the gifts in a child is a great advantage, for then they can be encouraged to develop. To give a child the chance to grow in the gifts he or she is born with in order to be prepared for what he or she was born to do as an adult, is one of the greatest gifts a parent can ever give a child.

Redefining The Village That It Takes To Raise A Child

Published
by
Pam
on February 19, 2008
in General
. 12 Comments

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Many of us are familiar with the saying that ” It takes a village to raise a child ” As Moms and Grandmas have become more and more involved in the “outside the home work place”, it seems that this is true today more than ever. We need each other.

The “blog world” is an exciting way to enlarge our village and tap into each others’ hidden streams of wisdom, concerns, and ideas. To be able to share with each other even though our time to communicate is so fragmented is a marvel to me. ( Of course, my son introduced me to it )

The focus of this blog will be to find each other and to help each other meet the ongoing challenges of how to manage our lifestyles, and love and nurture our families, while wearing the smile of a calm well balanced mind!

Whether you are a parent, grandparent, guardian, home based childcare provider, or a millennium super-person who is juggling nearly all of these titles while running a business or two at the same time, this is a place to share what works, what doesn’t and what we wish would.

One of my many concerns is the effects of constant chaos on our children. I would love to hear how you feel about this and any ways you may have found to combat it. I would also love to know other issues you feel challenged by or have overcome. Let the blogging begin!!!!

Pam Baker

The Village Not-Idiot