Promoting A Positive Self-Esteem

Helping your child build a positive self-esteem is one of the most important things you will do as a parent. Self esteem does not come naturally, it is something you can promote or destroy.

Self-esteem is a key factor in every child’s life because it is the root of everything. Behavior, outlook, self-image, happiness and confidence are all affected by a child’s self-esteem.

Self-esteem can make the difference between your child achieving in life or being defeated. When life throws challenges and obstacles in your child’s way, which it will, how would you like them to handle it?

Emma’s Top 8 Tips to Promote a Positive Self-Esteem in your Child

1. Role model a healthy self esteem by showing love for yourself.
2. Provide a secure and loving environment where you all openly communicate.              This also includes eating dinner at the table together.
3. Give honest compliments and praise.                                                                                      This builds a strong foundation by reassuring your child that they are strong, confident individuals.
4. Encourage and support them to try new things.                                                                     Limit or exclude media (computer, TV, phones, etc.) and provide stimulating activities. Too much media can distort their reality (violence and disempowering women)
5. Set realistic expectations and attainable goals.                                                                   Instill at an early age that knowledge and education are important.
6. Help your child make friends and fit in.                                                                                     Be involved in who they are friends with. Host play dates and meet their friends at school.
7. Don’t label your child or let others. No name calling!
8. Don’t over parent. Promote their confidence and let them be kids.

© Emma’s Children, 2011.

Is Your Local Playground Safe?

Every parent has their favorite playground and although it may be packed chock-full of kids on any given day, there are certain risks that could be looming. Take action as a conscious parent and go over your playground safety “report card.” Check the following risk factor criteria next time you’re at your local playground. This will ensure fun and safe play for not only your kids, but everyone using this public area.

Risk factor criteria – something every parent should be aware of:
1) Supervision

• Adult supervision must be present since approx. 40% of injuries occur from lack of supervision.

• Proper supervision means no blind spots where children can hide out-of-sight.

• Crawl spaces, tunnels and boxed areas should have plexiglass or transparent material.

• Posting playground rules is recommended. Ages 2-5 should have no more than 3 rules. Kids over 5 will remember 5 rules. Rules should be general, like “Respect others,” or “Take turns.”

2) Age-Appropriate Design

• Playgrounds should have separate areas with appropriately-sized equipment for ages 2-5 and 5-12. Intended user group should be obvious (typically using a buffer like benches or shrubs). If playground serves all ages, pathways and layout should clearly designate areas for age groups.

• Signs posted should give guidance to adults for age-appropriateness of play equipment.

• Platforms over 6-feet high should have an intermediate standing surface.

• Guardrails or barriers should be used to prevent falls off elevated platforms. These should also prevent intentional attempts by children to climb over the barrier.

• Children use equipment in ways not intended when designed. High tube slides, for example, can put children at risk since they can easily climb outside the piece. (Was the piece designed to minimize risk from injury from a fall or not?)

• Some swings have support structures like bars and long poles that children can possibly climb to the top of the structure by. Many times these structures have no safe surfacing underneath. Dangerous heights and hard surfaces NEVER mix.

3) Fall Surfacing

• Appropriate surfaces are loose fill (sand, pea gravel, shredded tires, wood chips/mulch) or unitary surfaces (rubber tiles/mats and poured rubber). Asphalt, concrete, dirt and grass are NOT appropriate.

• Falls from 1-foot high onto concrete can cause concussion and falls from 8-feet onto dirt is the same as a child hitting a brick wall at 30 mph

• Appropriate surfacing should be located directly underneath equipment and extend 6-feet in all directions. Slides and swings have an even longer zone.

• Loose fill should have appropriate depth to cushion falls – 12 in. recommended.

• No concrete footings should be seen around any equipment. Deaths and permanent disabilities have occurred from this.

4) Equipment Maintenance

• Broken equipment pieces are never okay. Means should be taken to fix it.

• Missing parts are a huge hazard and cause unnecessary injury hazards.

• Protruding bolts and fixtures can cause problems by catching clothing or kids running into them.

• Strangulation is the leading cause of playground fatalities. Drawstrings on sweatshirts and clothing get caught in gaps in the equipment. The area on top of slides is potentially troublesome.

• Entrapment places are guardrails and underneath merry-go-rounds. Head entrapment is especially dangerous because young children’s heads and bigger than their bodies.

• Exposed metal rusts and this also weakens the equipment parts.

• Wood structures must be treated regularly to avoid weather problems like splinters.

• Plastic equipment can crack and develop holes from temperature and vandalism.

Is Your playground an A, B, C or D?

Safety Report Card – Health & Human Services/NCCIC

Bond with Baby Through Breast

Breastfeeding provides tons of benefits for both mom and baby. If you can physically breastfeed then why not? Mother’s milk is already perfectly formulated for your baby. There is no guesswork involved. The right amount of nutrients are already included.

Not only does your baby benefit from breastfeeding, but you will too. Your baby will have less gas, diarrhea, constipation and other bowel issues. They will have stronger immune systems so there is less risk of health problems like: allergies, asthma, diabetes, cancer and more. Baby’s face and teeth develop better, there is a lesser risk of childhood obesity and SIDS and it is even linked to a higher IQ!

As for mom, breastfeeding is a huge way to bond with baby. It also reduces the risk of disease, like ovarian and breast cancers. Not to mention how convenient and economical it is, breastfeeding also helps you lose that baby weight quicker. It reduces bleeding and promotes uterine contractions after birth, too.

Moms Can’t Forget To:

Eat! – Healthy regular meals/snacks. If you skip meals it will drain you of energy and effect you milk production. You need the extra calories when feeding. Your baby will start to strip your body of it’s nutrients if you don’t supply your milk with nutrients from the food you eat.

Hydrate - We can easily forget to drink and feeding moms can get dehydrated quickly. Leave bottles (BPA free!) in every room with fresh drinking water.

Shower - Take time for daily hygiene. It can make you feel human again. Docs recommend showers over bathing to prevent infection. You can always take your baby into the bathroom with you and lay them on a changing mat on the floor if you are alone. As they become bigger you could use a bouncy chair, as once they start rolling, the bathroom floor is not the place for your baby!

(A helpful tip is to shower 20 minutes after a feed and change, they will more than likely be at their most content).

Share Feedings – Once breastfeeding is established, you can bottle enough milk for a feed, allowing your partner to feed baby. It allows your partner to bond with baby as well. Wait 4-6 weeks before introducing a bottle, some babies get nipple confusion and may not want to take the breast after they learn how much easier it is to get milk from a bottle than the breast. Don’t wait more than 6-8 weeks, if you wait too long some babies wont take the bottle at all. You can also speak to a lactation consultant if you have questions and need more advice.

Todd Parr – Go Green With Your Kids!

Educating our youth on the environment and the idea of “going green” is important and not to be overlooked. Extremely popular and talented children’s author Todd Parr has just the answer to introducing this idea to your kids. Not to mention his illustrations are absolutely adorable and adults will love his books too.

The EARTH Book by Todd Parr has received the 2011 Green Earth Book Award! It even includes your child’s own foldout GO GREEN checklist.

If you’re a technology junkie and your kids are constantly checking out your iPad, view Todd’s books in the new “Picture Book Format,” available through the iBooks app in the iBookstore. Todd’s books come to life right on the iPad and Nook Color and look amazing. The pages look like this: (Also released through Audio Book and eBook on iPod touch or iPhone).

Keep your eyes open for Todd Parr’s new release this August, The I’m NOT SCARED Book.

Enjoy quality time and read with your child every night!

Halloween FUN with Emma

Print our free Halloween coloring page below for your kids! Just for fun or use to entertain kids at your Halloween party! [Courtesy of Emma's Children]

Safe Halloween Tips for Lil’ Trick-or-Treaters!

• Have adults present to supervise if you’re not old enough
• Map out a route before trick-or-treating and stick to it
• Go to areas with plenty of people around
• Visit friendly, welcoming homes with decorations & lights on
• Stay outside & never go into a stranger’s house
• If your costume is dark, remain visible with glow sticks or a flashlight
• Look at your candy before you eat it to make sure no one tampered with it
• Obey normal laws like looking both ways and using crosswalks
• Have Fun & Get LOTS of Candy!

Happy Halloween!

From Emma’s Children

Tips For Hiring a Nanny or Au Pair

First of all, when hiring a nanny there are certain qualifications and attributes they should always have:

• Dependable – are they on time, have reliable transportation?
• Trustworthy and responsible
• Flexible – are they open to adding hours, working some weekends, nights, etc.?
• Trained in CPR and First Aid – or other courses like Safe Sitter
• Pro-active 
• Playful – do they play and interact with your kids? Are they lazy?
• Organized
• Experienced – worked with families and kids before?
• Knowledge of Child Development
• Common sense

There are some definite red flags to look for during your nanny search. Check on their employment history. A good nanny will have standing positions of at least 2 to 3 years. The truth is, a nanny that isn’t in jobs for long isn’t very good.

Conducting an Interview

Have a list of questions prepared. What precautions will they take to keep your child safe? If the interview goes well, set up a trial so you can see how they interact with your child.

Trust your instinct, if you’re not 100% comfortable then keep looking. Wait for the nanny that puts your mind at ease and makes you feel comfortable about leaving your children in her care.

If you hire an au pair, please note: they are not a cheap nanny! They are mothers helpers and should not be left unattended for long periods of time. Plus, legal documents are something you’ll need to think about. They’ll need a visa and a work/travel permit, etc.

Establishing boundaries and expectations is key:

*Have a contract. Be very clear about hours, salary, pay increases (should be yearly), perks (heath benefits, car, gym) vacation time and paid holidays.

*Establish expectations. Make sure your nanny knows what is expected of them and that everyone is on the same page.

*Time. While flexibility from a nanny is very important, a  parent needs to understand the nanny has a life as well. Let them know plans and any changes as soon as possible.

*Communicate! Schedule a monthly meeting with your nanny. This gives both the parent and the nanny a chance to check in.

NPR: Docs Losing Money on Vaccines

During this time of economic instability, access to good health care and insurance is not a given. This week NPR reported that in fact, a lot of doctors are beginning to lose money on routine health appointments, like vaccinations.

Athenahealth is a medical billing company that reported many doctors who do administer vaccinations lose money on them. A whopping 47 percent of immunizations are money-losers, according to this company.

Pediatricians have started to fight this issue because their practices are the framework for public health and the nation’s childhood immunization programs. They need to receive proper payments in order to even offer vaccination services. If there is absolutely no benefit for them, why would they take up appointment time to vaccinate? – Is the question plaguing pediatricians.

Many private insurance companies only cover selected vaccines or set a cap on the amount they pay for vaccinations or simply don’t cover them at all.

Luckily, The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program is available. They offer vaccines at no cost for eligible children through doctors enrolled in the Program. Vaccinating your child fulfills school requirements but also means healthier children, families and overall communities.

Children that qualify must either be eligible for Medicaid, uninsured, underinsured or an American-Indian or Alaska native. If your child meets one of the listed requirements, the vaccine(s) must be provided completely free of charge. Sometimes there is a low administration fee for the immunization provider to cover the costs, similar to a co-pay.

Most pediatricians are enrolled VFC providers as well as many family practices. Check with the VFC Program Web page above as to whether your state schools are enrolled. There are nearly 45,000 enrolled in the Program in the US.