Tips On Encouraging Kids To Eat Healthy

Healthy kids make happy moms. When kids get sick, it becomes really difficult for moms to juggle their responsibilities plus taking care of their kiddos. Eating healthy foods is crucial to having healthy kids. This is why I have outlined some tips on how to encourage your child to have healthy eating habits.

Walk your talk – Kids imitate what they see us adults do. If we eat fruits and veggies every day, they are more likely to choose fruits and veggies over junk foods. Perhaps, you have grapes at hand. Tell your kids that you’ll share the grapes with them.

Research about their friends – Peers can influence the food choices of your kids especially when they want to belong to a certain group. Do a background check of their friends. Remind your kids to be more close with healthy-living kids.

Always provide an alternative – Are your kids craving for something sweet? Instead of candies and chocolate bars, hand them some bananas or oranges. Fruits are rich with healthy sugars.

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Best Mobile Apps Moms Should Download (Continued)

BigOven - Learning how to cook these days is as easy as ABC because of the useful mobile apps that provide step-by-step tutorials. They are great for both beginners and veterans in cooking. The same goes for baking. The BigOven is one of the apps under this category. You may choose others that may interest you.

Shapes - When alone with your little ones, you can turn this time to something educational. With this app, you can teach them identify the basic shapes around them.

My Days - Do you always lose track of your red days? My Days can help you updated with that. This can also provide important information about your fertility cycle. These are significant if you and your partner are trying to be pregnant.

Doodle Kids - This app can be more enjoyed by kids who are borrowing your phone. By simply touching the screen of your smartphone, they can draw with lines and shapes of varied colors. This is not just enjoyable but also beneficial for kids who are yet to develop their learning faculties.

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Best Mobile Apps Moms Should Download

Since we moms can now practically do everything with smartphones, it is important that they are loaded with helpful apps. We can take these mobile apps wherever we go and make use of them whenever we need too. A good example for this is the use of coupons when you are out of cash in the grocery store.

OurGroceries app - Groceries lists written in paper can get lost any time. With this app, you can compose many copies for one grocery list. If a friend is doing the grocery as you stay at home, you can simply send the list directly to the phone of your friend.

Mom 2 Be -  This is great for expecting moms. It provides weekly statistics of you and your baby. Along with the stats, there are tips on keeping yourself healthy and prepared for the big D day.

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Must-Have Gadgets For Moms

Mobile gadgets can be called moms' best friends' these days. They are helpful in connecting moms and their homes. They too also aid moms in the quick accomplishment of their tasks both at home and at work.
Smartphones - This can do a lot of things for moms -  communication through call, text and email; documentation - taking photos, videos, make sound recording; and provide entertainment - music, games, etc.

Tablet PCs - They are just bigger versions of smartphones. They are more appropriate to use if you have a great deal of work to finish in between house chores and caring for the kids. When you are out with the kids, they can be a source of enjoyment if they are bored waiting for you.

Kindle - So the kids already got your tablet to play games. If you have got a Kindle, you can fight boredom and let time pass by reading your favorite book beside your kids.

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10 Healthy Practices We Skip Just To Save Time (Continued)

Bringing athletic shoes to work - Stilettos are nice to look specifically when they fit your feet nicely. While they can give you a sexy impression with your work clothes on, stilettos can pose big problems to your overall health. They can injure your feet, affect your posture and put stress to your muscles and spine.

Sunscreen application - Sunscreen is the key to protecting yourself from all sorts of skin diseases particularly skin cancer. Before going outside, apply generous amount of sunscreen. Choose a brand with very high SPF.

Proper nail cutting - So, you are biting on your nails because you do not have time to look for your clippers. This may seem to be a small matter but this can be very harmful to your health. This may allow the transfer of bacteria from your fingers to your mouth and vice versa. Infections may spring from this.

Warming up and cooling down in the gym - Warming up and cooling down when exercising are important in relaxing your muscles, arresting dizziness and formation of unwanted lactic acid in your muscles.

Wearing a seat belt -  Being in a hurry to drive to work is not enough excuse for not wearing seat belts. Doing so can make you susceptible to accidents. Buckling up will just take a few seconds so do not forego your safety by not grabbing those seat belts.

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10 Healthy Practices We Skip Just To Save Time

Flossing regularly - Our dentists often remind us that tooth brushing is not always enough. There are food particles which usually stay stuck in between teeth and hard to reach areas of the mouth. When left unpicked, these can cause plaque that produces  enamel eating cavities.

Eating real food - Living in a busy age, we tend to skip breakfast and eat instant meals. We do this to beat deadlines at  work or in school. By eating instant noodles on the train or driving, we are accomplishing two tasks in one sitting.

Removing cosmetics and hair products before sleeping - When we are dead tired from work, we tend to sleep with our work clothes and make up on as soon as we reach home. Cosmetics  can clog the pores and cause break outs. Products like hair spray can cause damage on your hair and scalp when left unwashed over night.

Exercising and playing every once in a while - All work can easily make us dull and lifeless. We become very irritable and not enjoyable to be with also when we forget about how it is to be happy and enjoy life.

Overall health check-up - Listening to our body is an important thing to do. Oftentimes, we only rest and go for a check-up when there is a need already to be hospitalized. No matter how busy we get, squeezing in regular appointments with our physicians can benefit us greatly.

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Candies, Sugar And Your Child's Teeth

We often give our kids candies to make them feel happy or reward them for a job well done. While we can always remind them to eat candies in moderation, they wouldn't be able to control it particularly when left on their own.

Their pearly whites are the first ones to suffer with a candy-eating habit. Candies are obviously made with huge amount of sugar. This sugar can hold on to the surface of the teeth quite stubbornly. When not attended immediately, it can turn into a plaque-causing bacteria that claim the health of the gums and teeth. Presence of cavities start this way. If your kids can refrain from eating candies, half of their dental problems  would be solved.

More than that, candies are not also ideal for your kids' health because they are not real food. They can take away your kids' appetite for real food in a snap. Believe it or not, candies can cause tummy aches. They can also affect the behavior of your kids. After eating candies, they may be up and running for hours and then, energy-drain afterwards.

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Fun Rainy Day Activities With Your Kiddo

The weather these days can be very unpredictable. Even though it's officially summer, it could be raining for three to five days. Instances like this break the heart of kids especially when they have already planned their activities under the sun. You can help them feel better by organizing stuffs they can do under the rain or inside the house. It would be nicer if you can enjoy these stuffs with them. Here they are:

• Play out in the rain.
• Sing in the rain.
• Splish splash in mud puddles.
• Measure the rain with a rain catcher.
• Create clay figures using mud.
• Make paper boats and walnut boats.
• Getting busy origami and painting.
• Baking muffins together.
• Watching movies while eating popcorn.
• Play video games.
• Dance in the beat of the drums.
• Do a shadow play.
• Recite or sing nursery rhymes.
• Have an indoor treasure hunt.

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Surprising Benefits Of Video Games For Kids

Contrary to popular belief of most parents, playing video games for kids is not that bad. There are, of course, certain images or concepts which can be very difficult or inappropriate for children. These are the likes of images that promote sex and violence. Video games when played under the supervision of an adult can bring in a number of benefits which other sports cannot provide.

As your child plays the same video game over and over, he can improve mastery and spatial reasoning skills happen. Both are helpful in assisting him have high score in IQ tests. In truth, schools even use video games today to teach complex grammar and higher level math. With the aid of images, sounds and simplified instructions, kids can understand and apply complicated concepts.

AS many players are involved in a video game, the social skills of kids are also improved. Thanks to technology because people from around the world can now be connected wherever they may be. Friendships can spring from playing video games on a regular basis. More so, kids can have a first hand experience on relating well with someone who belongs to another country with all the adjustments as language barrier and cultural differences can cause difficulties in communication.

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How Can Your Child Cope With Bullying

Bullying is nothing new to all kids. It seems to be part of everybody's childhood. (In fact, even adults get bullied too.) Bullying is the main cause of depression and death among school kids. This is because kids who are being bullied usually do not know how to carry themselves in such a demeaning situation. That is why it is important that kids be taught of important ways to deal with bullying.

At the first instance of bullying, the bullied kid must not run even if he feels that he needs to in order to save his life.  He must look the attacker in the eyes and firmly say without crying "Leave me alone!" or "Don't you ever scare me!" Advice him though to first check whether it is safe to approach the attacker because attackers sometimes have deadly weapons with them. Then, he has to inform an adult about what happened because doing so can limit the bullying instances if not totally stop it.

There is also what you call emotional bullying. This has worsen these days especially now that the use of social media is rampant - cyber bullying as it is known today. It is quite difficult to know whether kids is suffering from this as they tend to hide it from their parents. You can only help your child cope up with this emotional bullying once you have known about it and once you have gained your child's trust regarding the issue. To help your child, start by letting him know that  nobody is perfect and that he can't please everybody. Assure him that whatever happens that you - his family - will be there for him.

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What Can Having Pets Teach Your Kids

Are you always rejecting your child's request to have a pet? If yes, do think about it again. Experts in the field of medicine and psychology often relate the wonders of pet ownership in kid's health and behaviors.

Pets of whatever kind can relieve kids of depression. If your child is bullied in school or is often alone, she can feel very sad and have a difficulty in sharing her feelings and thoughts. This is why some parents often choose  man's best friend as pet for their kids. The charm and warm personality of dog can urge children to lighten up and talk with things they cannot disclose  to their anyone even their parents. More so, a dog is a good companion it will tag along your child wherever she goes. She can feel safe with a canine friend always behind her back.

Pet ownership also teaches responsibility, care and love for animals and people alike. With a pet, your child would be thinking of its needs all the time. She will act as a parent who is there to support the needs of her pet every step of the way. In truth, she will just display whatever she sees you do for her.

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Dealing With An Almost Nine-Year-Old

It is still five months away from my son's ninth birthday but I could already feel the change in his attitude. Oh yes, there are still a few moments when he is sweet but more often than not he is challenging how far my patience would go.

I read from an article in a parenting magazine that most boys turn from sweet to rough when they turn nine years old. They start to exhibit foul behavior characterized by crude talk, potty humor, random screaming and pushing people around. I kind of notice the 'screaming' with my son particularly when he cannot have things his way. It  says there that such behavior has to be haunted down to its very root cause which could be heart issues that are difficult to deal with for boys.

 If it is not a heart issue, medical problems could be possible reasons. Mayo Clinic, in one of its articles, related that attention disorder is a primary cause of disruptive behavior among boys and this must be arrested through the help of some medications and psychological therapies.

Should the cause be neither of the two, boys of this age and behavior must be dealt with consistency and firm enforcement of rules. The goals: that they would know and follow authority.

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Effective Housekeeing In A Single Parent Home

When my son started schooling, I thought my household responsibilities would lessen. I was surprised when additional chores were placed on top of my existing ones. And yes, these news one included giving my son a hand in his homework and school projects. Since I wanted every thing to be neatly done, I did not allow my son to help me and make more mess (which was impossible). I did this for a month and the result was a squeaky clean house but a very tired and hot-headed me. A co-worker, who happens to be a single mom too, taught me that as early as my son's age he can now help with the chores. She just stressed that whatever I assigned to him must be age-appropriate. This advice sounded like common sense to me when I first hard it from my co-worker. But the obsessive compulsive in me must have kicked in and my senses repelled the idea instantly that I never thought of it in the first place :)

And so, the reformed me after that well-meant advised is now disciplining myself to breakdown the chores by area. And in every breakdown, I decipher which tasks may be assigned to my little help. Take a look at my short list of to-do tasks for him.

• Sorting and folding laundry
• Putting the dishes inside the dishwasher
• Sorting the garbage and taking it out
• Feeding the pets
• Dusting surfaces
  

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