http://www.healthykids.com/hk/index.jhtml
4 Nutritious Thirst-Quenching Beverages
Resolve to keep your family cool and well hydrated with splashy drinks.
By Jeanne Ambrose
After a workout -- or anytime of the day -- thirst-quenching sippers sweetened with fruit or veggies offer a burst of refreshing flavor plus a bonus of nutrients.
Fizzy Iced Tea Teens get a boost of antioxidants in this brew. Steep 4 green tea bags in 2 cups boiling water according to package directions. Discard tea bags. Stir in a 12-ounce can of frozen juice concentrate (such as cranberry-raspberry or apple-cherry). Cover and chill. To serve, fill a glass of ice one-quarter full with the tea mixture. Top off with chilled club soda. Add fresh berries. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Frosty Fruity Milk Use fruit as the base for a frothy "milk shake" full of calcium, protein, and fiber without ice cream. In a blender, place 1 cup fat-free milk, 1 cup frozen fruit (such as blueberries and/or peeled peach slices), and 1-2 teaspoons vanilla. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and top with fresh berries. Makes 2 servings.
Melon-Mint Water Mom will love a soothing splash of this refresher after her workout. Cut a small, clean, unwaxed cucumber into slices. Place slices, a few wedges of peeled honeydew melon, and a handful of mint leaves in a large pitcher. Fill pitcher with water. Cover and chill up to three days. Strain water, reserving melon and cucumbers to nibble on. Pour water into tall glasses over ice. Makes about 8 servings.
Garden Veggie Splash Spice up Dad's day with lycopene-rich garden veggies. Seed and cut up 1 jalapeno pepper and one-quarter of a red bell pepper. Add to blender with 1 1/2 cups chopped tomato, the white part of a green onion, and the juice of half a lime. Cover and blend until smooth. Add salt, pepper, and bottled hot pepper sauce to taste. Top with a pickled banana pepper. Makes 2 servings.
Originally published in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, September 2004.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Toddler Favorite Foods
http://www.healthykids.com/hk/index.jhtml
5 Toddler Favorites
At age 3, my daughter Alyssa was the pickiest eater imaginable. Each night I'd serve her, her brother, and her sister a balanced dinner of chicken or meat loaf, a green vegetable, and noodles, and each night she'd munch a few noodles and then flee to the playroom. In desperation, I began sneaking her cookies when her siblings weren't looking. I might not have been able to get her to eat well, but at least she wouldn't starve!
It turns out she would have been far better off had I forgone the cookies and tried some typical kid favorites instead. Contrary to popular belief, many of these foods pack a nutritional punch. Plus, by making a few modifications in what you buy or how you prepare them, you can make them even more healthy. Here, some smart choices even the most finicky child won't refuse.
1. American Cheese Yes, this very square, very orange kid-pleaser is a nutritional winner. Experts like it because it provides calcium, an essential nutrient for bone development. "One-fifth of children between ages 1 and 2 don't get enough calcium," says Keith Ayoob, MD, a children's nutrition specialist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. The cheese is also loaded with protein, which repairs and makes new tissue, and is necessary for healthy skin and bones.
* Tasty tip: Serve cheese melted on enriched 100 percent whole-grain bread for a fiber and vitamin boost. Fiber helps move food efficiently through the colon, and B vitamins such as niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and folic acid allow the body to convert food to energy and help ensure proper functioning of muscles (including the heart) and nerves.
2. Chocolate Milk This rich, creamy treat is a nutritional powerhouse. "Children who drink flavored milk tend to drink more milk -- and less juice and soda -- than they otherwise would," says Dr. Ayoob, adding that milk's calcium, protein, and vitamin D (which helps the body absorb calcium), make the dollop of chocolate and sugar worth it. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends sticking to full-fat dairy until your child is 2 because milk fat is vital for brain growth.
* Tasty tip: Chocolate milk isn't just for breakfast or snacks! Blend it with frozen yogurt to make a delicious calcium-rich shake.
3. Breakfast Cereal It's a major kid comfort food, and a meal that will please the pickiest of the picky. Cereal is also a great source of carbohydrates, which provide the body with needed energy. Many cereals are fortified with B vitamins, iron (which helps the blood transport oxygen throughout the body), and zinc, which boosts the body's ability to fight infections.
Though cartoon-charactered sugary cereals are often fortified too, it's best to reserve them for a weekend treat and steer your child toward fiber-rich whole-grain choices, such as toasted oat rings or puffed wheat. If your sweetened-cereal lover won't budge, try mixing a sugary favorite with a whole-grain choice.
* Tasty tip: Top your child's cereal with blueberries, pieces of fresh strawberries, or another sweet colorful fruit. You'll add a dose of phytochemicals, plant-derived nutrients that bolster the immune system, as well as fiber and vitamin C, which builds tissue.
4. Yogurt So many kids are fans of this smooth health food favorite, which is definitely good news for parents. Yogurt is packed with calcium, protein, and vitamin D. It's also an excellent source of potassium, which helps muscles and nerves function effectively. "Find one with active cultures, such as l. acidophilus," advises Susan Moores, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). "These cultures build up healthy bacteria in the digestive system, which helps fight off infections and may boost the immune system."
Technicolor yogurts marketed to the Blue's Clues set offer similar nutrients to those in regular adult varieties, but avoid types with mix-ins such as sprinkles. These ingredients pump up the sugar content. Choose full-fat yogurt for kids, as the milk fat is important for brain growth.
* Tasty tip: Try sprinkling some bits of cereal in your child's yogurt for added texture, flavor, and fiber.
5. Peanut Butter Peanut butter is a rich, satisfying spread for children and adults alike. Loaded with protein, it's a great food for preschoolers (but it poses a choking hazard for younger children) and is a good substitute for meat. Peanut butter also contains unsaturated fat. "That's the good type of fat. It seems to have properties that are beneficial to the heart and brain," says Moores.
As you may already know, peanuts can cause serious allergic reactions: If your family has a history of allergies, speak to your doctor before you introduce it into your child's diet.
* Tasty tip: Preparing peanut butter sandwiches with small pieces of banana delivers a dose of potassium, fiber, and sweetness. Preschoolers may also like a sprinkling of chewy raisins.
shim
5 More Toddler Favorites
6. Pizza There's a lot about this birthday-party staple to love, from the crisp bread to the tasty melted cheese to the flavorful sauce. The best part? Nutritionists say pizza is a balanced food. It combines carbohydrates and protein, the tomato sauce adds a dose of vitamin C, and olive oil a dose of heart-healthy fat. The cheese provides some bone-building calcium.
* Tasty tip: If you make pizza at home, tossing on tiny bits of broccoli or other good-for-you veggies delivers an extra shot of vitamins and minerals.
7. Applesauce Children like applesauce because it's cool, sweet, and smooth. "It's a good snack, because kids get some of the nutrients in apples," says Claudia Gonzalez, RD, a nutritionist in Miami and spokesperson for the ADA. Applesauce has potassium and is sometimes fortified with vitamin C.
Experts say varieties marketed to kids (these items are sold in individual-portion packs and come in vibrant colors) are nutritionally similar to no-frills versions but may have added sugar. For this reason, stick to the adult varieties.
* Tasty tip: Applesauce makes a great base for good-for-you fruit dips. Mix applesauce and vanilla yogurt with your child's favorite fruit pureed in a blender. Serve with fruit slices. Kids love to dip, and they'll never know such a tasty snack contains calcium, fiber, and vitamin C.
8. Orange Juice Children love the refreshing taste of orange juice, and experts love its nutrients, including vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, and phytochemicals.
* Tasty tip: Zip up orange juice and add a vitamin boost by mixing it with 100 percent cranberry or pineapple juice. For a warm-weather treat, freeze juice to make vitamin-rich ice pops.
9. Hamburger We all associate hamburgers with calorie-laden fast food. But lean ground beef bought at the butcher's or your local market is actually nutritious for young children. (If you're worried about mad cow disease, organic or grass-fed beef are the safest choices.) "Beef is an excellent source of iron, zinc, and protein," says Moores.
To make ground beef as healthy as possible, grill or broil burgers to rid them of excess fat. When browning beef for spaghetti sauce or casseroles, cut fat by pouring the cooked meat into a colander and rinsing it off with water.
* Tasty tip: To add vitamins and fiber to ground-beef dishes, such as meatloaf or meatballs, mix in mashed vegetables or wheat germ. Because many ground-beef dishes are served with savory tomato sauce, your child may not notice these additions and ask for seconds instead!
10. Carrots Who says kids hate vegetables? Sweet carrots are definitely the exception to that rule. "The good news for parents," says Joanne Diamond, RD, a clinical nutritionist with Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, "is that they're packed with vitamins A and C, fiber, and beta-carotene, which promotes healthy skin and tissue growth." Because raw carrots can be a choking hazard, you'll need to soften and chop them before serving. Steam them or use your microwave to preserve nutrients.
* Tasty tip: To add more vitamin C, mash carrots into tomato sauce, or serve them with a low-fat sour-cream-based dip for a dose of calcium.
Barbara Solomon is a mother of three and a writer in Scarsdale, New York.
5 Toddler Favorites
At age 3, my daughter Alyssa was the pickiest eater imaginable. Each night I'd serve her, her brother, and her sister a balanced dinner of chicken or meat loaf, a green vegetable, and noodles, and each night she'd munch a few noodles and then flee to the playroom. In desperation, I began sneaking her cookies when her siblings weren't looking. I might not have been able to get her to eat well, but at least she wouldn't starve!
It turns out she would have been far better off had I forgone the cookies and tried some typical kid favorites instead. Contrary to popular belief, many of these foods pack a nutritional punch. Plus, by making a few modifications in what you buy or how you prepare them, you can make them even more healthy. Here, some smart choices even the most finicky child won't refuse.
1. American Cheese Yes, this very square, very orange kid-pleaser is a nutritional winner. Experts like it because it provides calcium, an essential nutrient for bone development. "One-fifth of children between ages 1 and 2 don't get enough calcium," says Keith Ayoob, MD, a children's nutrition specialist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. The cheese is also loaded with protein, which repairs and makes new tissue, and is necessary for healthy skin and bones.
* Tasty tip: Serve cheese melted on enriched 100 percent whole-grain bread for a fiber and vitamin boost. Fiber helps move food efficiently through the colon, and B vitamins such as niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and folic acid allow the body to convert food to energy and help ensure proper functioning of muscles (including the heart) and nerves.
2. Chocolate Milk This rich, creamy treat is a nutritional powerhouse. "Children who drink flavored milk tend to drink more milk -- and less juice and soda -- than they otherwise would," says Dr. Ayoob, adding that milk's calcium, protein, and vitamin D (which helps the body absorb calcium), make the dollop of chocolate and sugar worth it. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends sticking to full-fat dairy until your child is 2 because milk fat is vital for brain growth.
* Tasty tip: Chocolate milk isn't just for breakfast or snacks! Blend it with frozen yogurt to make a delicious calcium-rich shake.
3. Breakfast Cereal It's a major kid comfort food, and a meal that will please the pickiest of the picky. Cereal is also a great source of carbohydrates, which provide the body with needed energy. Many cereals are fortified with B vitamins, iron (which helps the blood transport oxygen throughout the body), and zinc, which boosts the body's ability to fight infections.
Though cartoon-charactered sugary cereals are often fortified too, it's best to reserve them for a weekend treat and steer your child toward fiber-rich whole-grain choices, such as toasted oat rings or puffed wheat. If your sweetened-cereal lover won't budge, try mixing a sugary favorite with a whole-grain choice.
* Tasty tip: Top your child's cereal with blueberries, pieces of fresh strawberries, or another sweet colorful fruit. You'll add a dose of phytochemicals, plant-derived nutrients that bolster the immune system, as well as fiber and vitamin C, which builds tissue.
4. Yogurt So many kids are fans of this smooth health food favorite, which is definitely good news for parents. Yogurt is packed with calcium, protein, and vitamin D. It's also an excellent source of potassium, which helps muscles and nerves function effectively. "Find one with active cultures, such as l. acidophilus," advises Susan Moores, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). "These cultures build up healthy bacteria in the digestive system, which helps fight off infections and may boost the immune system."
Technicolor yogurts marketed to the Blue's Clues set offer similar nutrients to those in regular adult varieties, but avoid types with mix-ins such as sprinkles. These ingredients pump up the sugar content. Choose full-fat yogurt for kids, as the milk fat is important for brain growth.
* Tasty tip: Try sprinkling some bits of cereal in your child's yogurt for added texture, flavor, and fiber.
5. Peanut Butter Peanut butter is a rich, satisfying spread for children and adults alike. Loaded with protein, it's a great food for preschoolers (but it poses a choking hazard for younger children) and is a good substitute for meat. Peanut butter also contains unsaturated fat. "That's the good type of fat. It seems to have properties that are beneficial to the heart and brain," says Moores.
As you may already know, peanuts can cause serious allergic reactions: If your family has a history of allergies, speak to your doctor before you introduce it into your child's diet.
* Tasty tip: Preparing peanut butter sandwiches with small pieces of banana delivers a dose of potassium, fiber, and sweetness. Preschoolers may also like a sprinkling of chewy raisins.
shim
5 More Toddler Favorites
6. Pizza There's a lot about this birthday-party staple to love, from the crisp bread to the tasty melted cheese to the flavorful sauce. The best part? Nutritionists say pizza is a balanced food. It combines carbohydrates and protein, the tomato sauce adds a dose of vitamin C, and olive oil a dose of heart-healthy fat. The cheese provides some bone-building calcium.
* Tasty tip: If you make pizza at home, tossing on tiny bits of broccoli or other good-for-you veggies delivers an extra shot of vitamins and minerals.
7. Applesauce Children like applesauce because it's cool, sweet, and smooth. "It's a good snack, because kids get some of the nutrients in apples," says Claudia Gonzalez, RD, a nutritionist in Miami and spokesperson for the ADA. Applesauce has potassium and is sometimes fortified with vitamin C.
Experts say varieties marketed to kids (these items are sold in individual-portion packs and come in vibrant colors) are nutritionally similar to no-frills versions but may have added sugar. For this reason, stick to the adult varieties.
* Tasty tip: Applesauce makes a great base for good-for-you fruit dips. Mix applesauce and vanilla yogurt with your child's favorite fruit pureed in a blender. Serve with fruit slices. Kids love to dip, and they'll never know such a tasty snack contains calcium, fiber, and vitamin C.
8. Orange Juice Children love the refreshing taste of orange juice, and experts love its nutrients, including vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, and phytochemicals.
* Tasty tip: Zip up orange juice and add a vitamin boost by mixing it with 100 percent cranberry or pineapple juice. For a warm-weather treat, freeze juice to make vitamin-rich ice pops.
9. Hamburger We all associate hamburgers with calorie-laden fast food. But lean ground beef bought at the butcher's or your local market is actually nutritious for young children. (If you're worried about mad cow disease, organic or grass-fed beef are the safest choices.) "Beef is an excellent source of iron, zinc, and protein," says Moores.
To make ground beef as healthy as possible, grill or broil burgers to rid them of excess fat. When browning beef for spaghetti sauce or casseroles, cut fat by pouring the cooked meat into a colander and rinsing it off with water.
* Tasty tip: To add vitamins and fiber to ground-beef dishes, such as meatloaf or meatballs, mix in mashed vegetables or wheat germ. Because many ground-beef dishes are served with savory tomato sauce, your child may not notice these additions and ask for seconds instead!
10. Carrots Who says kids hate vegetables? Sweet carrots are definitely the exception to that rule. "The good news for parents," says Joanne Diamond, RD, a clinical nutritionist with Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, "is that they're packed with vitamins A and C, fiber, and beta-carotene, which promotes healthy skin and tissue growth." Because raw carrots can be a choking hazard, you'll need to soften and chop them before serving. Steam them or use your microwave to preserve nutrients.
* Tasty tip: To add more vitamin C, mash carrots into tomato sauce, or serve them with a low-fat sour-cream-based dip for a dose of calcium.
Barbara Solomon is a mother of three and a writer in Scarsdale, New York.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Taggie ball
Toss the Taggie Ball - Multi-Award Winner!
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award Winner 2007!
Dr. Toy Best Toy Award Winner!
IParenting Award Winner!
Toss the Taggie Ball by Taggies
Newborn and up.
javascript:CaricaFoto('http://us.st11.yimg.com
/us.st.yimg.com/I/genius-babies_1920_39503983','','http://us.st11
.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/genius-babies_1920_39600665','475','521')
http://www.geniusbabies.com/
Are families having more children?
http://www.babycenter.com/bc/
Posh Spice has three, and says she'd love more. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett have three. So do Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, and Madonna, thanks to adoption. With celebrities breaking the two-kid barrier, big families suddenly seem as trendy as jumbo-sized sunglasses and handbags.
And if you read the news reports, you might think it's not just Hollywood but regular American families that are going super-sized. "Get ready for the new baby boom," proclaims a recent headline from Life magazine. "For more parents, three kids are a charm," says USA Today.
We decided to cut through the buzz and find out whether big families really are on the upswing, and — more important, if you're one of the 50 percent of BabyCenter moms who want a big family — what life is like for multiple-kid moms. Here's what the experts, both the academic and the real-mom kind, had to say:
Are big broods back?
Not really, says Steve Martin, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. When Martin crunched the numbers from a 2004 government survey — the most recent available — he found that 28 percent of women age 35 to 44, who are winding up their childbearing years, have three kids or more. Ten years ago, it was 29 percent. The numbers for younger women haven't budged much, either.
Martin says it's not so much that big families are back, as that they never disappeared in the first place. "Large families have consistently been common," he points out. "Two is the norm, but for every 34 mothers who stop at two, there are 28 who have three, four, or more."
So why does it suddenly seem like you can't walk down the street without tripping over a double-wide stroller and a few toddlers?
Despite the nationwide numbers, big broods could be a trend in certain areas, says S. Philip Morgan, sociologist and demographer at Duke University. "You do get clusters of behavior that are very real," he says. "But it's not appropriate to generalize them across the country, because there are other pockets that are behaving very differently."
Morgan doubts that America will see a 1950s-style baby boom — when women had four kids, on average — anytime soon. "My forecast is more of the same in the United States," he says. "There are people who want substantially more than the two-kid average, but that's been going on for a long time."
Who's having three or more kids
While the percentage of moms having Brady Bunch-sized broods has held steady, the women who make up their ranks have changed somewhat. These days, professional and wealthy moms are having bigger families — traditionally more common among certain religious groups and poorer women with less education, according to government surveys.
Professional moms have twice as many kids at home, on average, than their high-powered counterparts did back in 1977, according to a 2002 report from the Families and Work Institute. And in a 2000 study, sociologist Martin found that college-educated women who put off motherhood until their 30s are suddenly having families almost as big as everyone else's. "That's historically unprecedented," he says.
Three's the magic number
for Carolyn Moe
Carolyn Moe fits the profile of this new kind of big-family mom. The mother of three is vice president of sales for a global technology company, and says she never doubted she could combine a successful career with more than two kids. "In the past, women may have felt they had to fit some label of what a working woman should be. This generation is all about creating the life you want," she says.
Wealthier families in general seem to be warming up to the idea of moving past a tasteful two. "Our survey from 2002 found that 12 percent of higher-income women had three or more children," says Anjani Chandra, a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics. "The figure from 1995 is only about 3 percent."
Part of the reason that wealthier people are having more kids may simply be that there are more of them. "In this country there's been a pretty dramatic increase in people with higher incomes," says demographer Morgan. "And if you like kids and can afford them, why not?"
Finances played a role in the Newmarks' three-kid family. Mom Kate says she and her husband, who runs his own engineering business, discussed how they would be able to comfortably afford each child. "We talked about whether I would be able to stay home," she says. "And with each kid we were like, 'Here's another college tuition.'"
Julie Vasiloff's fantastic
family of four
It may seem as though women such as Moe and Newmark have nothing in common with the more stereotypical big-family mom — working class, religious. But there is a common thread, says Julie Vasiloff, moderator of BabyCenter's Large Families bulletin board and mother of four. Vasiloff sees all sorts of women on the board, and the only description that fits them all, she says, is the obvious one: They love kids and want lots of them.
Pediatrician JoAnn Rohyans of Columbus, Ohio, says that's what unites her big-family patients, too. "They just really enjoy their kids and think that two is not enough. They don't want their jobs as parents of school-age kids to end so quickly!"
Why moms want large families
Statistics show that big broods tend to, well, run in families: Women who grow up with lots of brothers and sisters are more likely to have lots of kids themselves. But on our Large Families bulletin board, that's not the case.
"Some of our moms are onlies, and most have just one or two siblings," says moderator Vasiloff. And at least a few of them are looking to give their own kids the companionship they say they missed out on.
"I was an only child," says Patience Soares, mother of five. "I always get so jealous of people who are close to their siblings. My husband's family does everything together — birthdays, Christmas, cookouts. I want my kids to have that. And they'll always have each other, even if something happens to us."
Leslie Biskup's party of five
Others say they wound up with bundles of babies because the more they had, the more they enjoyed it. "I always say that after three, it's all downhill," says Leslie Biskup, who's working on number six. "I'm so much more relaxed and patient than I was with my first two."
Newmark hadn't planned on having any kids, let alone three, but says that once she became a mother she felt a strong urge to expand her family. "It's hard to put into words, but I just didn't feel done," she says. "I felt like there was someone not here who should be here.
What's life like for big-family moms?
Four and soon to be more
for Billie Jean Sheffron
In a two-kid country, a basketball team-sized brood can attract attention, not all of it friendly. "I've heard everything from, 'Five kids, are you nuts?' to, 'You do know what causes pregnancy, right?'" says Billie Jean Sheffron.
Almost all the moms in this story report getting at least the occasional nasty comment, sometimes from their own family. "Every time I tell my mother I'm pregnant she rolls her eyes," says Leslie Biskup. "She says she's supportive, but my parents just don't get why I'd want so many kids."
The most common query isn't mean, though, just curious: "You must have your hands full. How do you do it?" The questioners have a point. Five kids may mean five times the love, but it's also five times the mess, the meal planning, and the chauffeuring.
"I think the hardest thing is how relentless it is," says Talitha Gawkoski, mother of seven. "There is always dirty laundry, no matter how many times you do the wash. Someone is always hungry, no matter how much food you provide."
That said, our moms make it clear that a big-family home may take a lot of work, but it's not as chaotic as some small-family parents might imagine. Most mothers we spoke with who have five, six, seven, or even eight kids have spaced them out fairly widely, and often the eldest are grown and out of the house. And even if they're all still at home, the parents are rarely wrangling all of them, from teenagers to toddlers, at once. "In a way it's like having two families, the little kids and the big kids," says Leslie Biskup.
They also say that parenthood goes more smoothly when you have more experience under your belt. "Going from no kids to one kid, and from one to two kids was actually the harder transition," says Melissa Brown. "By the time the fourth came around, it was like, 'Welcome to the family.' No big deal."
Talitha's lucky seven
Another common question — how do you afford it? — is also worth asking. You don't have to be rich to afford a large brood, but you probably will have to make some sacrifices. Most of our moms spoke of having a smaller house, older cars, and fewer fancy vacations than their small-family neighbors. "Other people have things, we have children," says Talitha Gawkoski.
But Gawkoski and other large-family moms are happy with the trade-offs. They made the decision to have a big family with their eyes wide open, and wouldn't change a thing if they could. "Everywhere I look I see someone I love, and they're all such wonderful people," says Gawkoski.
Are big families good for the kids?
Most big-family moms think that all the sibling togetherness, including the squabbling, teaches their kids a lot about how to love and get along with others. "To me one of the biggest advantages is that they learn so much from each other, and at such an early age," says Sherry Welden, mother of six. "They learn responsibility, how to share, and how to care for each other. I really notice a difference between my kids and kids from smaller families."
The idea that brothers and sisters teach each other social skills is a popular one among big-family moms, and there's research to back it up. A 2004 study of more than 20,000 kindergarteners across the country found that teachers rated students who had at least one sibling as having an edge in social skills: better at making friends, better at helping other kids, and more tuned to the feelings of others. (The catch: having any siblings was what made the difference, and kids with lots of brothers or sisters didn't have any advantage over those who had just one.)
Researchers have also turned up some downsides to big families, although experts argue about how valid they are. About a hundred years of studies — from the 1870s to the 1970s — found that on average, the bigger the family, the lower the intelligence of the kids. One theory holds that as a family grows, the parents have less time and money to devote to each child's education and intellectual development.
But some researchers think IQ scores have more to do with socioeconomic characteristics — large families are still more common among low-income parents with less education, and kids tend to match their parents' academic achievement. "It's factors like income and education that the studies are actually measuring," says psychology professor Joseph Rodgers of the University of Oklahoma.
Rodgers also believes the effect of family size on both intelligence and social skills pales in comparison to parenting styles.
"Imagine two households, one with four children and one with two," he says. "In one household the parents spend a lot of quality time with their kids, the house is filled with books, and the food on the table is nutritious. In the other the parents pretty much ignore the kids and sit around watching TV. What do you think is more important: The number of children or the quality of the parenting?"
BabyCenter Seven: Life lessons from large families
How do you do it? That's one of the questions our big-family moms hear most often. Every family does it differently, but our moms did have this advice to share with anyone contemplating a bigger brood:
Make a list
"Organization, organization, organization," says Billie Jean Sheffron, when asked how she manages her brood of soon-to-be-five. Sheffron is a big believer in lists: She makes weekly schedules for chores, menus, and the kids' activities, as well as daily and weekly to-do lists for herself. "If you've got four kids and try to throw dinner together at the last minute with whatever's in the fridge, for example, it's just not going to work," she says.
Get some alone time with the kids
"When I run errands I'll take one of the kids while the others spend quality time at home with Daddy," says Julie Vasiloff. Vasiloff and her husband also take advantage of staggered bedtimes to get some one-on-one TLC time with each of their four children. Talitha Gawkoski's family has started a birthday tradition: When her kids turn 16, they get to go anywhere in the continental United States with their dad as a birthday present.
Let the big kids be kids, too
"I have a hard time with parents who turn their older children into second parents," says Gawkoski, mother of seven. Everyone has chores in her house, but Gawkoski makes a point of not leaning on her older kids for help with the younger ones. And when they do hold down the fort — on date night, for example — she pays them.
Get creative with space
Sherry Welden has her six children play musical bedrooms so each one gets a chance to have his own room. Welden also helped cut down on the traffic in their one bathroom by putting hair dryers and mirrors in the older girls' bedrooms.
Keep your relationship on the front burner
With a gaggle of kids demanding your time and attention, it's easy to let couple time slide into last place. But some big-family couples do manage to make time for each other. "We're good at taking time for us," says Kelly Bauer, mother of eight. "Our kids know that it's important. We both want to have a solid foundation, so things will be strong between us when the kids are grown."
Separate wants from needs
Many of the big-family moms buy in bulk, cook from scratch, buy clothes off-season, and pack up the van and drive instead of paying for a fistful of plane tickets. And of course, they follow the hand-me-down system. Leslie Biskup, mom of five, says that, contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to be wealthy to raise lots of kids — you just have to redefine what's really necessary. "Kids are as expensive as you make them," she says. "People with one or two kids say to us, 'You must be rich!' But they're dressing their kids in Abercrombie & Fitch and spending all their time in Gymboree."
Don't plan on a showpiece home
"I used to be a neat freak before I had kids, and I couldn't imagine living in chaos. Now I let things like that go and focus on taking care of and loving my children rather than having a clean house," says Sherry Welden.
Posh Spice has three, and says she'd love more. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett have three. So do Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, and Madonna, thanks to adoption. With celebrities breaking the two-kid barrier, big families suddenly seem as trendy as jumbo-sized sunglasses and handbags.
And if you read the news reports, you might think it's not just Hollywood but regular American families that are going super-sized. "Get ready for the new baby boom," proclaims a recent headline from Life magazine. "For more parents, three kids are a charm," says USA Today.
We decided to cut through the buzz and find out whether big families really are on the upswing, and — more important, if you're one of the 50 percent of BabyCenter moms who want a big family — what life is like for multiple-kid moms. Here's what the experts, both the academic and the real-mom kind, had to say:
Are big broods back?
Not really, says Steve Martin, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. When Martin crunched the numbers from a 2004 government survey — the most recent available — he found that 28 percent of women age 35 to 44, who are winding up their childbearing years, have three kids or more. Ten years ago, it was 29 percent. The numbers for younger women haven't budged much, either.
Martin says it's not so much that big families are back, as that they never disappeared in the first place. "Large families have consistently been common," he points out. "Two is the norm, but for every 34 mothers who stop at two, there are 28 who have three, four, or more."
So why does it suddenly seem like you can't walk down the street without tripping over a double-wide stroller and a few toddlers?
Despite the nationwide numbers, big broods could be a trend in certain areas, says S. Philip Morgan, sociologist and demographer at Duke University. "You do get clusters of behavior that are very real," he says. "But it's not appropriate to generalize them across the country, because there are other pockets that are behaving very differently."
Morgan doubts that America will see a 1950s-style baby boom — when women had four kids, on average — anytime soon. "My forecast is more of the same in the United States," he says. "There are people who want substantially more than the two-kid average, but that's been going on for a long time."
Who's having three or more kids
While the percentage of moms having Brady Bunch-sized broods has held steady, the women who make up their ranks have changed somewhat. These days, professional and wealthy moms are having bigger families — traditionally more common among certain religious groups and poorer women with less education, according to government surveys.
Professional moms have twice as many kids at home, on average, than their high-powered counterparts did back in 1977, according to a 2002 report from the Families and Work Institute. And in a 2000 study, sociologist Martin found that college-educated women who put off motherhood until their 30s are suddenly having families almost as big as everyone else's. "That's historically unprecedented," he says.
Three's the magic number
for Carolyn Moe
Carolyn Moe fits the profile of this new kind of big-family mom. The mother of three is vice president of sales for a global technology company, and says she never doubted she could combine a successful career with more than two kids. "In the past, women may have felt they had to fit some label of what a working woman should be. This generation is all about creating the life you want," she says.
Wealthier families in general seem to be warming up to the idea of moving past a tasteful two. "Our survey from 2002 found that 12 percent of higher-income women had three or more children," says Anjani Chandra, a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics. "The figure from 1995 is only about 3 percent."
Part of the reason that wealthier people are having more kids may simply be that there are more of them. "In this country there's been a pretty dramatic increase in people with higher incomes," says demographer Morgan. "And if you like kids and can afford them, why not?"
Finances played a role in the Newmarks' three-kid family. Mom Kate says she and her husband, who runs his own engineering business, discussed how they would be able to comfortably afford each child. "We talked about whether I would be able to stay home," she says. "And with each kid we were like, 'Here's another college tuition.'"
Julie Vasiloff's fantastic
family of four
It may seem as though women such as Moe and Newmark have nothing in common with the more stereotypical big-family mom — working class, religious. But there is a common thread, says Julie Vasiloff, moderator of BabyCenter's Large Families bulletin board and mother of four. Vasiloff sees all sorts of women on the board, and the only description that fits them all, she says, is the obvious one: They love kids and want lots of them.
Pediatrician JoAnn Rohyans of Columbus, Ohio, says that's what unites her big-family patients, too. "They just really enjoy their kids and think that two is not enough. They don't want their jobs as parents of school-age kids to end so quickly!"
Why moms want large families
Statistics show that big broods tend to, well, run in families: Women who grow up with lots of brothers and sisters are more likely to have lots of kids themselves. But on our Large Families bulletin board, that's not the case.
"Some of our moms are onlies, and most have just one or two siblings," says moderator Vasiloff. And at least a few of them are looking to give their own kids the companionship they say they missed out on.
"I was an only child," says Patience Soares, mother of five. "I always get so jealous of people who are close to their siblings. My husband's family does everything together — birthdays, Christmas, cookouts. I want my kids to have that. And they'll always have each other, even if something happens to us."
Leslie Biskup's party of five
Others say they wound up with bundles of babies because the more they had, the more they enjoyed it. "I always say that after three, it's all downhill," says Leslie Biskup, who's working on number six. "I'm so much more relaxed and patient than I was with my first two."
Newmark hadn't planned on having any kids, let alone three, but says that once she became a mother she felt a strong urge to expand her family. "It's hard to put into words, but I just didn't feel done," she says. "I felt like there was someone not here who should be here.
What's life like for big-family moms?
Four and soon to be more
for Billie Jean Sheffron
In a two-kid country, a basketball team-sized brood can attract attention, not all of it friendly. "I've heard everything from, 'Five kids, are you nuts?' to, 'You do know what causes pregnancy, right?'" says Billie Jean Sheffron.
Almost all the moms in this story report getting at least the occasional nasty comment, sometimes from their own family. "Every time I tell my mother I'm pregnant she rolls her eyes," says Leslie Biskup. "She says she's supportive, but my parents just don't get why I'd want so many kids."
The most common query isn't mean, though, just curious: "You must have your hands full. How do you do it?" The questioners have a point. Five kids may mean five times the love, but it's also five times the mess, the meal planning, and the chauffeuring.
"I think the hardest thing is how relentless it is," says Talitha Gawkoski, mother of seven. "There is always dirty laundry, no matter how many times you do the wash. Someone is always hungry, no matter how much food you provide."
That said, our moms make it clear that a big-family home may take a lot of work, but it's not as chaotic as some small-family parents might imagine. Most mothers we spoke with who have five, six, seven, or even eight kids have spaced them out fairly widely, and often the eldest are grown and out of the house. And even if they're all still at home, the parents are rarely wrangling all of them, from teenagers to toddlers, at once. "In a way it's like having two families, the little kids and the big kids," says Leslie Biskup.
They also say that parenthood goes more smoothly when you have more experience under your belt. "Going from no kids to one kid, and from one to two kids was actually the harder transition," says Melissa Brown. "By the time the fourth came around, it was like, 'Welcome to the family.' No big deal."
Talitha's lucky seven
Another common question — how do you afford it? — is also worth asking. You don't have to be rich to afford a large brood, but you probably will have to make some sacrifices. Most of our moms spoke of having a smaller house, older cars, and fewer fancy vacations than their small-family neighbors. "Other people have things, we have children," says Talitha Gawkoski.
But Gawkoski and other large-family moms are happy with the trade-offs. They made the decision to have a big family with their eyes wide open, and wouldn't change a thing if they could. "Everywhere I look I see someone I love, and they're all such wonderful people," says Gawkoski.
Are big families good for the kids?
Most big-family moms think that all the sibling togetherness, including the squabbling, teaches their kids a lot about how to love and get along with others. "To me one of the biggest advantages is that they learn so much from each other, and at such an early age," says Sherry Welden, mother of six. "They learn responsibility, how to share, and how to care for each other. I really notice a difference between my kids and kids from smaller families."
The idea that brothers and sisters teach each other social skills is a popular one among big-family moms, and there's research to back it up. A 2004 study of more than 20,000 kindergarteners across the country found that teachers rated students who had at least one sibling as having an edge in social skills: better at making friends, better at helping other kids, and more tuned to the feelings of others. (The catch: having any siblings was what made the difference, and kids with lots of brothers or sisters didn't have any advantage over those who had just one.)
Researchers have also turned up some downsides to big families, although experts argue about how valid they are. About a hundred years of studies — from the 1870s to the 1970s — found that on average, the bigger the family, the lower the intelligence of the kids. One theory holds that as a family grows, the parents have less time and money to devote to each child's education and intellectual development.
But some researchers think IQ scores have more to do with socioeconomic characteristics — large families are still more common among low-income parents with less education, and kids tend to match their parents' academic achievement. "It's factors like income and education that the studies are actually measuring," says psychology professor Joseph Rodgers of the University of Oklahoma.
Rodgers also believes the effect of family size on both intelligence and social skills pales in comparison to parenting styles.
"Imagine two households, one with four children and one with two," he says. "In one household the parents spend a lot of quality time with their kids, the house is filled with books, and the food on the table is nutritious. In the other the parents pretty much ignore the kids and sit around watching TV. What do you think is more important: The number of children or the quality of the parenting?"
BabyCenter Seven: Life lessons from large families
How do you do it? That's one of the questions our big-family moms hear most often. Every family does it differently, but our moms did have this advice to share with anyone contemplating a bigger brood:
Make a list
"Organization, organization, organization," says Billie Jean Sheffron, when asked how she manages her brood of soon-to-be-five. Sheffron is a big believer in lists: She makes weekly schedules for chores, menus, and the kids' activities, as well as daily and weekly to-do lists for herself. "If you've got four kids and try to throw dinner together at the last minute with whatever's in the fridge, for example, it's just not going to work," she says.
Get some alone time with the kids
"When I run errands I'll take one of the kids while the others spend quality time at home with Daddy," says Julie Vasiloff. Vasiloff and her husband also take advantage of staggered bedtimes to get some one-on-one TLC time with each of their four children. Talitha Gawkoski's family has started a birthday tradition: When her kids turn 16, they get to go anywhere in the continental United States with their dad as a birthday present.
Let the big kids be kids, too
"I have a hard time with parents who turn their older children into second parents," says Gawkoski, mother of seven. Everyone has chores in her house, but Gawkoski makes a point of not leaning on her older kids for help with the younger ones. And when they do hold down the fort — on date night, for example — she pays them.
Get creative with space
Sherry Welden has her six children play musical bedrooms so each one gets a chance to have his own room. Welden also helped cut down on the traffic in their one bathroom by putting hair dryers and mirrors in the older girls' bedrooms.
Keep your relationship on the front burner
With a gaggle of kids demanding your time and attention, it's easy to let couple time slide into last place. But some big-family couples do manage to make time for each other. "We're good at taking time for us," says Kelly Bauer, mother of eight. "Our kids know that it's important. We both want to have a solid foundation, so things will be strong between us when the kids are grown."
Separate wants from needs
Many of the big-family moms buy in bulk, cook from scratch, buy clothes off-season, and pack up the van and drive instead of paying for a fistful of plane tickets. And of course, they follow the hand-me-down system. Leslie Biskup, mom of five, says that, contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to be wealthy to raise lots of kids — you just have to redefine what's really necessary. "Kids are as expensive as you make them," she says. "People with one or two kids say to us, 'You must be rich!' But they're dressing their kids in Abercrombie & Fitch and spending all their time in Gymboree."
Don't plan on a showpiece home
"I used to be a neat freak before I had kids, and I couldn't imagine living in chaos. Now I let things like that go and focus on taking care of and loving my children rather than having a clean house," says Sherry Welden.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Brain Anomaly Linked to Sudden Infant Death
93.3 Coast-FM
Brain Anomaly Linked to Sudden Infant Death
Brain Anomaly Linked to Sudden Infant Death
The discovery could explain why babies lying face down are more likely to die.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An abnormality in part of the brain that controls breathing, arousal and other reflexes may be what causes sudden infant death syndrome, a finding that could lead to a preventive treatment, a study said on Tuesday.
The discovery could explain why babies lying face down are more likely to die, because in that position an infant's reflexes, including head turning and arousal, are harder to trigger when breathing is challenged, the report from Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School said.
baby outfit
http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=2103&f=628&pc=1225
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Kids favorite holiday toys
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/life/article_1210775.php/
Young_testers_make_their_picks_for_top_holiday_toys
Young_testers_make_their_picks_for_top_holiday_toys
NEW YORK - Fast moving, fast spinning and fast stacking toys will be a hit with children this holiday season if kids have anything to say about it.
On Tuesday, FamilyFun Magazine releases its 15th annual Toy of the Year awards, which feature toys that are chosen after thousands of hours of play by more than 1,300 kid testers.
Those making the top 10 list this year include the Spy Video radio-controlled car by Wild Planet; the Biggest Littlest Pet Shop by Hasbro Inc., which has pets spinning in a wind-up tower; and Speed Stacks StackPack by Jakks Pacific Inc.'s Play Along -- which involves stacking up and down Speed Stack cups as fast as possible.
The list comes ahead of the holiday shopping season, when toy makers typically launch an advertising blitz to make sure their wares wind up under the Christmas tree.
But FamilyFun says its list, which is published in its November issue, can help parents sort through the hype and find toys their children will like because kids are the ones responsible for compiling this list.
'What's always interesting is to see which one the kids pick,' said FamilyFun Magazine executive editor Mary Giles. 'As adults, we can never predict which toys kids are going to pick.'
In the past, the magazine's list has included hot sellers like Tickle Me Elmo and Bratz dolls.
This year, 146 manufacturers submitted 480 toys for testing. Of the group, 63 were chosen as finalists and tested by children ages three to 12 at 15 KinderCare and Children's World Learning Centers around the nation in July and August.
That meant toy FamilyFun could not test Mattel Inc.'s T.M.X. Elmo, which was not unveiled until September 19. The toy has been a quick seller since hitting store shelves, generating some early buzz for toy makers ahead of the holiday season.
FamilyFun came up the following list of its Top 10 must-have items.
1. Biggest Littlest Pet Shop by Hasbro;
2. Diego's Talking Rescue Center by Fisher-Price, a division of Mattel Inc. ;
3. Deal or No Deal Electronic Game by Irwin Toy;
4. Spy Video Car by Wild Planet;
5. Baby Alive by Hasbro;
6. Lil' Luvables Fluffy Factory by Spin Master;
7. Bead Blast by Perler Beads;
8. Speed Stacks StackPack by Play Along;
9. Star Wars Transformers: Millennium Falcon by Hasbro;
10. Bratz Cyber Style Laptop by privately held MGA Entertainment.
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