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your Kids Activities & Positive Parenting Newsletter
July 13, 2010

“Positive Parenting Tips” newsletter July 10

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FreeToddlersActivity&DisciplineGuide INDEX:
Inspiring Quotes
Toddlers Activities & Games
Easy Kids Recipe
Child Arts & Crafts Activities:
Positive Parenting Resources
Sponsored Resources
Editor’s Note / Humour / new free books

"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." - Ayn Rand "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment to improve the world." - Anne Frank "If you can DREAM it, you can DO it." - Walt Disney

Kids Activities:

Not only do kids of all ages love to play games, games are a creative and inexpensive way to entertain children. With a little imagination you will soon have them making up their own games!

Whether you're looking for birthday party games or just something to keep the little ones busy for a little while, I think you'll find these games easy to learn and fun for all ages.

Toddler Gymnastics

When you watch your toddler racing around the house, rolling, jumping and tumbling off things, you might wonder why in the world, anyone would enroll a child that age in "organized" gymnastics.

But the answer is quite simple. It's a way to channel their energy, provide them with a social time with other toddlers, and enhance development of gross and refined motor skills.

So popular is the activity, that academies are springing up all over the country. But remember, you're not aiming for the Olympics here, and as rule of thumb, sessions that are taught at a local YMCA, or children's center, are often as well-supervised and beneficial, as those who emphasize their professional credits and facilities.

Classes in some areas can start with children even before they begin walking, with mother-baby exercises that provide a range of motions, touches, and balancing exercises which benefit the child in two ways: physical and emotional. The time they spend with a parent, going through their program, is one in which they have visual and audio contact that strengthens the bonding.

Once your child is up on their feet and mobile, they're ready for an "organized" class in which a parent will assist them with instructor-led activities and exercises that help them develop balance, encourage locomotion, and discover that their world offers a lot of fun games associated with their own bodies, including tumbling, walking on a balance beam on the floor, and laughing at the antics of their friends.

Children two and up are developing independence, and the ability to understand instructions. Classes for this age group are usually assessed by the teacher, who can tell whether your child will continue to need you there with him, or is ready to rock 'n roll on his own.

Visit for our Free Kids Games & Activities from A to Z

Easy Kids Recipe:

Bread / Roll Recipe Quick and easy with a fine texture.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoon dry yeast
In a small bowl mix the water and sugar, add the yeast then let it stand while you make up the rest.

2. Wet ingredients
1 1/2 cups of warm water
4 eggs
4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Mix the above wet ingredients in a bowl and beat well.

3. dry ingredients
2 cups tapioca flour (or tapioca starch)
2 cups rice flour (OR 1 3/4 rice flour & 1/4 soy flour)
2/3 cup powdered milk
4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and add the yeast mixture last.
Beat well (by hand) for 2 min. (Add a bit more tapioca flour if needed.) The dough will still be quite sticky.
Allow to rise once in a warm place until doubled ( about 1/2 hour).
Put in a well greased bread pan and bake 350 for 25 min or so. * * * You can also make delicious buns.
Either spoon onto greased cookie sheet OR form each roll into a ball and flatten a bit. Allow to rise till double, then place on a greased pan.
You can make these into sandwich rolls or burger buns, or even hot dog buns if shaped that way.
Brush tops with egg yolk for a glaze (optional: sprinkle w/sesame or poppy seeds)

Child Arts & Crafts Activities:

Toddler Craft Ideas

What toddler doesn't like to get their hands right into stuff, including paint? And they enjoy it even more when Mom and Dad join them!

For family fun, or just a couple of budding Da Vincis, make sure your floor is protected first with a painter's drop cloth, or just an inexpensive (and wipe-able) vinyl tablecloth from a dollar store.

Make sure that you purchase tempera paints or mixable powdered paint that is non-toxic, non-permanent and meant for children's crafts. While older children may have the discipline to select and share different colors, for the youngest toddlers, working with one color is often sufficient to have fun with the activity.

Bring out your paint in a container with a lid that is secure, in case someone's enthusiasm knocks it over, and a bucket of warm water for washing hands. An old towel nearby, never hurts either.

Purchase large rolls of brown paper or blank newsprint. It's inexpensive, and you can cut the size of pieces that you want. Lay your paper on the floor covering (you can even tape it down and remove the tape later), and set out one container of the paint. Now, the fun begins.

Show the toddler how to paint the palm of his hand, and make flowers with their handprints. If you're brave enough, paint their feet, and let them add footprints to the picture. They'll love the experience of feeling the textures of paper, paint and brush on the soles of their feet.

Pour a small puddle of paint in the center of the paper, and allow them to run a favorite truck or car through it and all over the paper.

Bring out a selection of "stamps" that they can dip into the paint and press to the paper to make different images and textures, including half a potato carved with a design, a damp sponge, a piece of woven fabric, or even the rim of a plastic cup.

Paint is a medium that will constantly produce something new and exciting, and your toddler will be fascinated to see what comes of each new experiment

Positive Parenting Resources:

A Parent’s Guide To Day Care Services

For many reasons a great number of parents now rely on someone else to care for their young children during the day. Some can count on grand parents or other relatives for the care. A small percentage of families employ their own nanny, baby-sitter, or au pair. Many find a “home care” provider, someone in the business of looking after a small group or youngsters in her own home. Still other parents rely on day car centers, which often handle large numbers of children.

No matter what the arrangement, many parents fret about how day care would affect their child and if what they are doing is a right decision. These are hard questions without simple answers. I believe that any honest consideration of day care starts with an undeniable truth: in caring for a child, nobody can take the place of a loving parent. No one else can give the same devotion and understanding. No one else –except perhaps grandparents- harbors such hopes and dreams. No one else has the patience and single-minded attentiveness to this particular child among all children.

Still some form of day care may be necessary in your circumstances. In that case, you want to find a place that comes as close as possible to giving the kind of attention and affection you shower on your child. You want a place where someone helps satisfy her own curiosity.

If a child is an infant, you want a place where someone is always there to pick her up, rock her, talk to her, smile back when she smiles, watch her while she crawls about, and help her feel that the world is warm and friendly. If your child is a toddler or older preschooler, you want a day care that offers a stimulating environment for her to explore, a place where an adult genuinely wants to help her learn. You want someone who patiently asks and answers questions, reads stories aloud, sings songs, plays games, helps her stack those blocks, and shows excitement over her scribbles.

That kind of high quality substitute care is not easy to come by. Much day care is little more than custodial care-someone who feeds and watches over children diapers or wipes their noses when necessary, perhaps plays with them some, but basically just keeps them safe and reasonably comfortable until it is time to go home. In many cases, the quality of care that children get is not what is should be.

Even in places where the care is “adequate,” the questions still arise: what are the effects on children who are separated from their parents for much of their young lives? There are conflicting arguments. Day care proponents say that if the quality of car is good, it does not really affect children at all. Critics want that too much time spent in a day care can cause psychological, social and behavior problems. Widespread use of day care is still a relatively recent phenomenon and social scientists have not had enough time to measure its lasting effects. The best that can be said is not very comforting: no one really knows for sure.

PARENTS must therefore rely on their own common sense. Common sense tells us that, since youngsters are not all alike, and since the quality of day care varies tremendously from place to place, the effects are going to differ from child to child. Some children will be fine spending a few hours a day from both parents and being well looked after in an excellent day care. For others, though, the separation may pose developmental risks, risks apt to be deepened in a sub-par day care center. Parents know their own children best, and that makes them the best judges of what is safe and right.

Ask yourself some important questions. First of all, is it necessary to put your child in a full-time day care? We believe “necessary” is the true standard you should use. Come up with another option if you can. Some parents set up home offices so that they can be near their kids at least part of the week. Some moms and dads work alternate shifts to ensure one parent is always home. Still others find weekend work to help with expenses and allow continual parental care.

Many parents (such as single moms) have no choice but to use day care. They may not like it, but they have no viable alternative. Let us be honest though. There are some moms and dads in this country who place their children in day care forty or more hours a week- almost from the time that they are born- when they do not really have to.

They often do it for the sake of a high-status position, a fancier home, or expensive vacations. Here in the wealthiest country in the world, many of us now send our kids off to be raised by others. That should give us all a pause. Generally, I would advice against turning your little one over to someone if it is avoidable.

About The Author: http://www.mybabyboutique.net offers unique Educational Toys, Baby Toys and Wooden toys for children ages 0-10 years old.

Free Toddlers Activity & Child Discipline Guide
Free parenting resources to help you use positive parenting in your child’s development, toddlers activities & games, toddler arts & crafts, kids easy recipes, free kids books for bedtime reading and even child discipline help!
http://free-toddlers-activity-and-discipline-guide.com

Editor’s notes & humour:

FreeToddlersActivity&DisciplineGuide

Really..? A rancher needs to buy a bull to service his cows but has to borrow the money from the bank. The banker who lent the money comes by a week later to see how his investment is doing. The farmer complains that the bull just eats grass and wont even look at the cows. The banker suggests that a veterinarian have a look at the bull.

The next week the banker returns to see if the vet helped. The farmer looks very pleased:

"The bull serviced all my cows twice, broke through the fence, and serviced all my neighbor's cows three times."

"Wow," says the banker, "What did the vet do to that bull?"

"Just gave him some pills," replied the farmer.

"What kind of pills?" asked the banker.

"I don't know," says the farmer, "but they sort of taste like chocolate." (!)

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Thank you for joining us this month, I hope that you have found some extra motivation and inspiration for your positive parenting.

Visit today for latest Toddlers Activity & Child Discipline Guide articles.
Free parenting resources added each week to help you use positive parenting in your child’s development, toddlers activities & games, toddler arts & crafts, kids easy recipes, free kids books for bedtime reading and even child discipline help!
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Your Editor,
Theresea Hughes.
http://free-toddlers-activity-and-discipline-guide.com

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