Tag: health
Through play, children learn the skills and knowledge needed for life; imaginative play encourages the toddler to use their mind and creative potential. Children can be taught to have the skills and knowledge to deal with life’s challenges and to solve problems creatively through being encouraged to be active in play that involves creativity, learning, investigation and discovery. There’s a saying “Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.”
Imaginative Play
Play that is imaginative and creative will help the toddler to use their mind to find solutions to problems. One of the most important parts of imaginative play is for the child to pretend to be someone else or in different situations.
This type of play helps promote a toddler’s learning through using role play to develop their imagination. They will also be developing their emotional and social skills, sharing skills, manipulative skills, language and communication skills through this type of play. Not only this but it helps a child build on his or her self confidence and feelings of security.
Kids Play and Imagination
Through imaginative play, a child might run around, pretending he or she is a horse or a dog, an aeroplane or a train. At 3-4 years, they often do this on their own. At other times, an adult could encourage imaginative play so the child might explore new situations and fantasy worlds. This will help the child to explore their feelings and the world around them in a safe, supervised environment.
Children at this age are at Piaget’s preoperational stage. During the years from 2 to 6 Piaget saw the evidence of symbol use in many aspects of child’s behaviour. Children this age beginning to pretend in their play for example at age 2 or 3 or 4 a broom may become a horse, or a block may become a train.
Imaginative play, through building towers out of bocks, talking to and feeding their dolls, making tea with the tea set and dressing in grown-up clothes is important and should never be classed as trivial… Neither should soft toys or dolls be rejected as inappropriate for any age of either sex.
Examples of Imaginative Play Activities
Ask the children to make a pirate ship out of large cardboard boxes. They might make telescopes or binoculars out of kitchen tubes and a flag for their boat out of newspaper. Hats could be made and painted for them to wear while they’re at sea in their imaginary boat. How does this kind of play help in a child’s learning? As the children play with each other, they will be using their communication and language skills.
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July 24, 2010
Touch is love and affection. It’s the simplest but probably the most significant way of showing love for your child. But massaging your baby and small kid not only helps with bonding, but it’s also very beneficial for your child’s health. It builds stronger immune system, helps with the muscles development, gives better body tonus, relieves, soothes and helps with the relaxation before sleep, and it’s so nice and pleasant experience for both mother and child!
It is really important when massaging your baby to use the right massage oil. What we need is pure natural and organic one, specifically designed for the babies’ delicate skin. 
Make sure you avoid chemicals-based, artificially scented massage oils, broadly promoted on the market. Be informed (rather than manipulated by the TV ads) and always read the ingredients. One way is to prepare massage oils yourself. But if you don’t have the time, use ready-made organic ones.
What I’ve found works best on my little one’s skin is the Spiezia Organics Baby Massage Oil! It contains 100% organic, carefully tested and naturally balanced ingredients such as Almond Oil, Chamomile Oil, Lavender and Roman Camomile Essential Oil. It moisturises and soothes, keeping baby’s skin healthy and comfortable. Gently massage the organic oil onto their body or add a few drops to their bath so that the organic Chamomile and Almond Oils, combined with Lavender, can work their magic, leaving them soft and smooth. If your baby has super delicate skin this formula is ideal, preventing irritation and helping to relieve skin conditions such as cradle cap.
Step-by-step guide to a gentle baby massage
- Take a few drops of the specially developed Spiezia Baby Massage Oil in your hands, warm it a bit and start massaging the top of the foot first – from fingers to ankle. Using you thumbs, start pressing gently under toes; then squeeze each of the toes one by one
- Continue with the legs. Using some more of the organic Spiezia Baby Massage Oil massage legs gently one by one, moving your right hand from tights to feet, followed by the other hand. This is called “hand over hand” technique. Do it for a minute with each leg or while your child feels comfortable.
- Tummy. Get some of the nourishing Spiezia Baby Massage Oil in your hands to warm up for a few seconds. Place your palm gently over the stomach and start massaging from just below the ribs. Always massage the tummy area clockwise, as this helps with digestion. Be careful not to push hard. If your baby is colicky, tummy massage may help and sooth.
- Chests. Lavender oil from the Spiezia Baby Massage Oil eases breathing and helps when a child has a cough or a cold. Place your hands over the chests. Using your thumbs, massage from middle to sides, “drawing” an “arc”-shape. This will “open” the chests and will allow your child to breath freely.
- Go on with the arms and hands. Start with the right hand, using the “hand-over-hand” technique from arms for wrist.
- Slowly move to the back. Turn your little one over, so she can lie on her tummy. You can now massage her back using a bit more of the soothing Spiezia Baby Massage Oil, as “dry massage” can damage the sensitive baby skin. The massage needs to be smooth and gentle. Place your right hand over her neck. Start moving the hand from the neck to the bottom, making sure you don’t push hard. You can also make small circular movements with your fingertips going gently up and down the back.
- Finish with a relaxing head massage. If you are massaging a small baby, be extremely careful with the area around the fontanel, which is very soft during the first few months. Using your palm, massage the scalp from top to neck with circular movements, making sure not to put any pressure. If you do it just before bed, the relaxing chamomile and lavender natural scent from the Spiezia Baby Massage Oil will help your little has a good night sleep.
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June 8, 2010
Over 70% of parents believe kids tend to get more infections when hygiene in the nursery is poor, but only 7% claim hygiene in their child’s nursery is outstanding. These are some of the results revealed in a recent parents’ survey, run by GreenKiddie.co.uk. The survey is part of GreenKiddie’s national campaign “Close2Nature” for better children’s health and well-being in nurseries. Close2Nature campaign aims to provide easy-to-use tips and advice for daycare providers and help them adopt our eco-friendly strategy for their premises in order to help with improving children’s health.
For this campaign GreenKiddie is partnering with Change4Life initiative run by the Department of Health, and focuses on 5 main areas:
- Provide better food and nutrition at nurseries
- Reduce toxics in the daycare premises
- Help children stay active
- Improve hygiene in daycare premises
- Help nurseries become more eco-friendly
There are over 850,000 children under 5 years of age in the UK attending either part-time or full-time daycare (DCSN, 2009). This means that nurseries’ environment plays crucial role for children’s health. Making nurseries more eco-friendly and encouraging them to reduce chemicals and toxics at their premises will promote better baby and children’s health and well-being, reducing the infections and straightening their immunity.”
The survey, based on the 514 parents’ replies, reveals that 18% of kids in nurseries are not having their 5 a day portions of fruits and vegetables, based on food being served at the nursery. Fish, helping children’s brain development, is being served on a weekly basis in only half of the nurseries, and 17% of kids are not being served the extremely important for kids’ growth high in protein food like meat and eggs. Some 15% of nurseries provide kids with very unsatisfactory amount of milk and diary products during their 10-hour stay at the premises, so kids are not able to get the calcium they need for this age. As little as 2 out of 100 nurseries serve organic food in every meal, where 15% of nurseries have never sourced organic produce for the kids. Home-made food has never been served to every tenth nursery, and in these cases processed food is what kids eat on a regular basis. Every third nursery adds sugar and/or salt in kids’ food, and only 4% follow the guidelines for avoiding salt in cooking for kids under 3-years old.
The eco-friendly efforts are outstanding in only 3 out of 100 nurseries, and are qualified as poor and unsatisfactory in 15% of cases. It looks like great percentage of nurseries are doing great when it comes to recycling, reusing and using eco-friendly craft-materials (42%), although improvement others is needed. When it comes to soaps, washing powders and cleaning materials about 20% will not even try to be eco-friendly. Most of the above soaps, cleaning sprays and washing powders contain harsh chemicals which not only reflect the environment, but are also toxic and irritating for the sensitive kids’ skin. Around the same percent of nurseries (20-25%) are not making any efforts to use BPA-Free baby/kids food equipment, biodegradable or cloth nappies (although in most of them parents are advised to provide nappies in their choice). About the same percent of nursery staff are willing to “go green”, but don’t seem to have enough information and knowledge on how to do that, according to parents.
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February 3, 2010
Aloe Vera has a long association with herbal medicine, although it is not known when its medical applications were first discovered. Aloe vera extracts have antibacterial and antifungal activities. It, actually, has got many properties, and to relieve eczema symptoms by moisturising and reducing the itchiness is just one of them.
In today’s days eczema in babies and small children is extremely common. It worries us as parents, but in many cases we feel unable to help much. The child’s skin gets inflamed and itchy, which makes the poor thing so miserable! The common mistake many parents make while trying to cure baby eczema is that they rely mainly on prescribed medications that only suppress the symptoms but won’t eliminate the underlying cause. There is always a lying problem underneath, no matter food allergy or other external or internal trigger. And infants are most prone to eczema because their immune system and digestive system are still developing. It is difficult to find out the reason usually, but what we can do is to try to avoid medicines fill of chemicals, which may trigger even more severe allergies, eczema and even asthma, and to find a natural treatment for the little sunshine.
It is true that skin care is an essential part in baby eczema treatment, but proper nutrition (baby’s and mother’s if breastfeeding) is also important as this is the only way to naturally strengthen the skin barrier, eliminate allergies and boost the immune system.
So How to Use Aloe Vera to Treat your Child’s Eczema
Aloe Vera is a miracle plant – it can sooth itching, moisturize skin, and reduce inflammation, associated with eczema.
As far as possible, you should use Aloe fresh from the plant, but remember it oxidises quickly upon exposure to air. If you cannot get Aloe fresh but only as a product, then be sure you get one that is as close to the natural plant as possible. Research or organic and 100% natural products online or check at your local health store.
If you apply Aloe topically, the fluids in Aloe Vera form a thin film on the surface of your baby’s skin. The juice will hydrate and moisture the skin. It will also help prevent from bacterial infection – common in cracked and dry eczema skin – due to its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Aloe Vera has the ability to penetrate to the inner layers of the skin, supplying moisture directly to the underlying tissue.
Another way to benefit from Aloe Vera properties is to be taken internally. So you can give it to your child (6 months +) as a juice – either before breakfast or before going to bed. Dr. Peter Atherton in one of his studies revealed that Aloe Vera works wonders on boosting child’s immune system. And by doing that it heals eczema.
Find other ways to treat eczema naturally.
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October 19, 2009
Babies and children require empathy and respect for their feelings to help them learn to feel safe and secure. Attachment Parenting is all about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children. Attachment Parenting challenges us as parents to treat our children with respect and kindness, and to develop our relationship with them the way we’d like them to relate to others.
According to attachment theory, the child forms a strong emotional bond with parents during childhood with lifelong consequences. Sensitive and emotionally available parenting helps the child to form a secure attachment style. Less sensitive and emotionally available parenting or neglect of the child’s needs may result in insecure forms of attachment style, which is a risk factor for many mental health problems.
Starting from the very beginning, you can build the foundation of trust and empathy by understanding and responding appropriately to the needs of your newborn baby. Babies communicate their needs in many ways including body movements, facial expressions, and crying. Building a strong attachment with a baby involves not only responding consistently to his physical needs, but spending enjoyable time interacting with him and thus meeting his emotional needs as well. So in these early days it is very important to respond to your child with sensitivity.
Attachment Parenting Principles
1. Attachment Parenting starts from the birth. So try forming an early connection to your child, using the first hours after birth to bond with your newborn, having your baby “room in” with you after a hospital birth, and enjoying the skin-to-skin contact – the most gentle and memorable first mother-and-baby hug.
2. Respond quickly to your baby’s cries and know that you can’t “spoil” her by feeding, kissing and holding her whenever she needs you to. This is biological and emotional need for the baby to get your attention and be soothed. What is more natural that following your mother instincts?
3. Breastfeed exclusively and on baby’s demand for at least 6 months followed by the weaning of solids when your child is ready combined with continued nursing. Be aware that it is natural and normal for children to be breastfed for well over one year.
4. Promote closeness and physical connection by wearing your baby in a sling.
5. Separation fears? – Intense fears of separation will naturally subside as the child matures. It may take considerably longer for more sensitive children to be comfortable in the care of non-parental adults. Follow the child’s cues and do not force children to accept strangers or expect them to overcome stranger/separation anxiety before they’re ready.
6. Use gentle discipline techniques. You need to make clear difference between discipline and punishment and to avoid physical or shame-inducing punishment.
7. Try to be flexible when it comes to parenting techniques – we are all human beings, learning every day. You should know that what worked last week might not work this week, and that your child is different from the others. Putting some extra effort to understand and educate yourself about parenting and a battle half-won.
8. Understand that real “quality time” with your kid is every second spent in cuddling, reading, playing, learning or just being together, and not short frantic bursts of “fun” activities.
9. Nurturing is of vast importance in your child! Those early years at the day care might be a necessity for some families or single parents, but if you can afford it, spent at least the first two years raising your child at home. Be a proud to be “stay-at-home-mother” and consider it the most important thing you could possibly do right now. You want to raise your children yourself, not hand them over to someone else to do the job. Your career will be still there for you in a couple of year’s time.
10. Go out of the timed regime and leave your baby to lead you in his own routine. Understand, following and meet your child’s needs. Know that your child has his own schedule for physical, emotional and social development, toilet learning and independence issues rather than trying to force him into an “expected” time frame. Understand that by meeting your child’s needs during infancy and toddlerhood you are encouraging the development of a healthy, happy, independent person.
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October 14, 2009
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