Parenthood HQ

Don’t Make Fast and Furious Food Changes
 by: Sue DeFiore

OK, moms and dads out there, we hear you when you say, my children won’t eat healthy foods. If we even say the word, they tune out and already decide they don’t like it. Well, my first response to this is “who is running the house, you or the kids”. If you say the kids, you have more problems than I can help you with. Put your foot down, you and your husband, spouse, significant other, (fill in the blank) are the ones making the living and doing the providing. I fully realize that children don’t like the concept of healthy foods. However, most children don’t realize that many of the foods they do like are healthy for them. Most kids I know love peanut butter, well that is a good food for them. So try some peanut butter on that apple or celery they refuse to eat. Or try some low fat or fat free cheese sauce on the cauliflower or broccoli they turn their nose up at.

How to Teach Anger Management to Your Child
 by: Paul M. Jerard Jr.

Most of us recognize the continuing escalation of violence around us, due to intolerance, and many of us blame it on somebody else. Parents teach their children, all the time, and when one of us displays “road rage,” while our child is in the car, we teach a brand new skill set.

Although, road rage is inappropriate behavior, at any time, and can get you killed, most children who are exposed to it, will duplicate the actions of their parents, when they are old enough to drive.

Teach Your Child to Live for Maximum Potential
 by: Paul M. Jerard Jr.

At times, everyone feels a little depressed about life, and children are no exception. Just like you, children often experience “the same old grind.” They get up for school, day care, or camp to travel the same road each weekday. Some children even look forward to weekends in the same way their parents do.

How can you put some excitement into life and teach your child to be successful? Sometimes, parents have to be spontaneous and break the routine up a bit for “family time.” Make it a point to eat together and spend quality time doing new things.

Cloth Diapers - A Thing Of The Past?
 by: Kirsten Hawkins

New parents have heard the argument time and again from their own parents or grandparents. “You young people don’t know how good you have it with those disposable diapers for your babies! When you were a baby I had to use cloth diapers on you and they smelled terribly, I had tons of laundry to do, I stuck myself with pins, and I walked uphill in the snow both ways to get to the diaper service” and so on. The fact is that, less than thirty years ago, disposable diapers were considered something of a luxury while today they are the norm and people using cloth diapers for their babies are considered to be strange. There are several reasons that modern parents may choose to utilize cloth diapers instead of disposables, however, and in some circles cloth diapers are making a bit of a comeback.

When you have already made the decision not to use cloth diapers, your next decision will be how to choose a diaper pail for disposable diapers.

To some degree, cloth diapers will give off less odor than disposables, because they are not as absorbent, and parents often rinse out some of the urine, and dispose of solids by using liners for their cloth diapers.

With disposables, you lose those benefits. The chemical ingredient added to the manufacturing of disposables, makes them retain water within the layers of material, turning it to a gel that can’t leak back out. This means all the urine stays in the disposable, as does any solid wastes. And every parent knows how much that can smell, even after a brief time in a diaper pail.

Obese and morbidly obese women are more likely to have pregnancy complications and caesarean sections than women of average weight, according to a study published in the April 2004 American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The controlled study is one of the largest ever to look at obesity in pregnancy, following more than 16,000 pregnant women at 14 medical centers across the country.

Compared with women of normal weight, obese and morbidly obese pregnant women were at greater risk for gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, fetal birth weight greater than 4,000 grams, and fetal birth weight greater than 4,500 grams, the study finds.

A Parent’s Guide to Online Gaming, Part 2
 by: Steve Hall

In part one we talked about online gaming and your children, including FPS games and exposure to violent content. We wrap up this series by talking about RTS games, MMORPGs and the additional threats of addiction and social predators.

The Truth About Giving Advice
 by: Paul M. Jerard Jr.

All of us want to help, protect, and shield our children from life’s daily disappointments. How can we give constructive advice, to a child, without being remembered as one of their worst critics? Any negative comment we make has a “ripple effect” and can turn into long-term hostility.

Unfortunately, some adults will criticize a child far too often and any “good intentions,” are turned into a variety of bad feelings, within the child’s mind. So, giving advice is a very precise skill.

Black Tie Baby Occasions
 by: Kirsten Hawkins

There is almost nothing that new parents enjoy more than taking advantage of the opportunity to get their babies all dressed up in the cutest and most endearing outfits that they can find and bring them out in public for the entire world to gaze upon and coo at. So, when a formal family event comes up while their infant is still in his or her infancy, the parents must jump at the chance to get little John or Christina dressed to the nines and out into public view to allow the cooing to commence.

Caring For Baby’s Clothes
 by: Kirsten Hawkins

New parents are full of concerns about what regular household activities may pose a threat or present problems for their newest family member. At some point the question about the best ways to wash baby clothing will arise. Parents typically ask whether there is a certain type off detergent that they should use, whether it is safe to wash baby clothes with the rest of the family’s clothing and what special steps should be taken with cloth diapers if they are being used.

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