It’s not always easy to come up with something creative to do for that loved one on Valentine’s Day. Here are some great ideas…many of which won’t break the bank! Have a great day with your loved one and be creative.
Category: Family
Cool Kitchen Gadgets
Now, most of us don’t need an egg cracker or a green onion cutter, but it sure would make our cooking days easier if we had some of these gadgets. From the banana cutter to the pizza picker-upper, these gadgets will have you singing happy during your cooking moments. Check out the creative, and at times silly, inventions that people have made for the chef in you!
Tips for Homework Help
It’s not always easy to know how to help your kids to get their homework done. Now that we are well on our way into the school year, here is some advice about helping your kids while keeping your sanity.
Taga Keeps You Active as You Enjoy Your Children
If you have stroller-aged children and you haven’t yet heard of the Taga Bike – you should. It’s simply brilliant. As they explain on their website, “Taga’s 3-wheel cargo bike design lets you ride with confidence. When you get to where you’re going, toggle effortlessly to stroller mode to go shopping or pop in for a latte. Then when it’s time to go, toggle back to bike mode and continue the adventure. You’ll pedal with the satisfaction of knowing Taga is a great form of exercise – and good for the environment, too. The world is waiting. Be moved by Taga.”
Taga is a bike that has room for a stroller – and that then converts into just a stroller when you’re no longer biking around. Particularly with obesity rates as they are, and people using their car all the time, the Taga is a brilliant way to get us moving. And to enable our young children to enjoy that time with us more.
Learn more about the Taga bike and stroller and start pedaling today.
How Long Should You Wait After Miscarriage to Try Again?
If you’ve endured pregnancy loss, you probably want to try to have another baby right away. The pain of the loss is great, but will be made less so by a healthy pregnancy. But is this a good idea?
Interestingly, senior researcher Dr. Enrique Schisterman of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has found something surprising.
Many doctors tell women to wait at least three months before they try again. But the research team from the Shriver National Institute found that this may not be the best advice. As Dr. Schisterman said, “Our data suggest that women who try for a new pregnancy within three months can conceive as quickly, if not quicker, than women who wait for three months or more.”
They followed close to 1000 couples after an early pregnancy miscarriage. Of the 100 couples, 765 tried to get pregnant within three months and 77% of them gave birth to a live baby.
In contrast, only 23% of the 233 couples who waited more than three months had another baby.
The researchers didn’t notice any difference in complications in the pregnancies that happened within the three months after miscarriage. Dr. Karen Schliep added, “While we found no physiological reason for delaying attempts at conception following a pregnancy loss, couples may need time to heal emotionally before they try again. For those who are ready, our findings suggest that conventional recommendations for waiting at least three months after a loss may be unwarranted.”
The recent findings were published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dreamland Awaits…Getting Your Kids to Sleep Right
As if we don’t have enough things to worry about as parents – now it’s time to think about the bedtime stories you tell. Holiday camp company Butlin’s took the time to research into the most ideal bedtime stories including the length of the story and the content. And here are their important findings.
Parents spend approximately one week a year, when you add up all the minutes, trying to get their kids to go to sleep. With this frustration in mind, the company found that the best bedtime story lasts for eight minutes and 36 seconds and has traditional elements to it like a castle, a hero and a magic wand.
12% of parents surveyed said that they thought bedtime was the most stressful time of the day. The study surveyed 2000 parents and children to find out why bedtime is so stressful and to find the perfect answer to this stress.
The 1000 children who were surveyed were asked what they most liked about bedtime story time and most chose magical and traditional elements like castles, princesses and dragons. They liked horses the most as the way to get around in a story (21%) agreed, while 14% preferred the flying car. Most kids wanted stories about friendship rather than romance (no surprise there).
Storytelling expert, Alexandra Charalambous, weighed in by explaining, “As your child prepares to go back to school after the holidays, it’s a good idea to establish a steady bedtime routine that includes reading a story. As the research shows, the familiarity of a classic tale draws children in and the happy ending makes for a pleasant night’s sleep. Story boxes are a great way to tell a story. Story boxes can be a shoe box placed on its side and decorated as a setting e.g, the woods or a seaside scene. You can use finger puppets or characters stuck on lolly sticks for your characters. This allows you much more freedom to take the story in whichever direction you wish.”