Mother Nature Is Testing Us To Determine Whether We Know The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving!

This holiday has always been one of my favorites. It is all about family, love and gratitude and sharing this year because of all the tragedies that have occurred. It feels as though love and sharing, reaching out to those who have experienced huge losses are our priority.

Let us each take the time to reach out to everyone who has experienced losses, especially of family members. Our hearts go out to you.

We have created a plan that each of us will reach out to help in a very tangible way. Making a contribution, donating our time, sharing our home, even a message to someone who has suffered a great loss can be beneficial.

The stories that survivors have shared show such amazing strength and resilience, as well as a belief that circumstances will return to a manageable level.

Our thanks giving commitment this year is to focus on how each of us can offer assistance to someone in great need!

Maybe love and sharing are the most important meaning of Thanksgiving! Our love to everyone!

“I Love You” may be the most important words from a parent to a child!

Right now in Los Angeles we are witnessing the most destructive fires to ever occur in Southern California, with no more than a minutes notice, people are rushing from their homes to beat the flames and unfortunately some of them are not making it.

At a time like this, when there is so much unexpected tragedy, none of us can actually predict how each day will end.

Unintentionally, there are still days when a parent and child has had a difficult and challenging morning before coming to our day care. It may be that the child refused to get dressed, or eat breakfast, or can’t agree about clothing options, or is still tired and generally uncooperative. By the time they arrive at our door the parents’ patience has already been stretched and the start of their day already delayed.

Consequently, they are already late for whatever their work requirements were. Without thinking, they rush their child into our daycare without expressing any loving parting words. At that moment, their priority seems to be to leave their child as quickly as possible and apparently forget to say any parting words.

Make a commitment that regardless of any and all circumstances, you will tell your child that you love them before leaving. That one single statement will help both child and parent to let go of the difficult early morning experience and know that all is well. It immediately changes the energy and allows for a more pleasant day.

Under no circumstances should you leave your child while you are angry, you cannot be silent!
Make that commitment now, it will change your day! Love is a great healer!

We are hoping for a peaceful Holiday Time!

Do you want your child to be a good eater? Your chances of having that happen will dramatically improve if you start off correctly!

Paula did not realize that what she was doing may impact her son for a long time. Mark was then three months old, he weighed eight pounds and six ounces at birth and she was somewhat anxious should would be able to produce enough milk for him so she could nurse without any supplements.

Probably because of her anxiety, she was in the habit of picking him up as soon as he cried and nursing him. This was her action even when he had been fed once and a half hour earlier (sometimes even less). Since she had no way of knowing how many ounces he was really taking each time, this schedule was almost constant throughout a twenty four hour period. Sometimes there was a slightly longer break during the night, but it was not always one should could count on.

The situation did not change measurably as he got older, except he was crying louder each time, which she was still interpreting as hunger.

He joined our daycare at eighteen months. We realized instantly that he was definitely a crier and that he expected food every time he cried. We did succeed in keeping him on our schedule of 2 snacks and lunch and determined he was actually not a big eater, but was probably crying because he had created of habit of being a snacker.

We have had this experience with many children over the years. We have concluded that two things happen as a result of this behavior. The child becomes a snacker, needing food throughout the day at short intervals and is constantly hungry because their food intake was never sufficient to fill them up. 

There was the additional impact of an unbalanced diet, detrimental to their health and growth. In every case, both the challenge to reduce the crying and teach each child to be a better eater, took a significant amount of time.

We did need the cooperation of the parents to implement this corrective plan at home in order to be successful. One of their responsibilities was to provide and nourishing and adequate breakfast so the child would arrive at our daycare ready to last until snack.

Breaking a crying eating related habit is not easy. It is so much easier not to let it happen.

Your child needs to be stimulated, played with, taught, and connected with. Food is not the solution for every sign of distress. Help them to extend their time between food intake to at least three hours and make sure they are full when fed a meal.

Like all other challenges in life and parenting, to be successful you need to be 100% committed.

This approach will help your child grow to be a healthy eater with long term positive results and a lot less crying.

Good luck!

Holiday Time! The Most Fun, Anticipated, Exciting Time And The Most Perilous, Exhausting, Overwhelming And Scary Time!

I am beginning writing this blog last Monday, it is still two days before the beginning of the holiday season. Already children are crying more than usual, are exhausted, have less patience with each other and are more likely to either take too long of a nap or not be able to settle down for a nap.   

We expect to see these conditions continue from now until we close for the holiday on 12/21. 

The holiday season is actually one of my favorite times. Seeing more of the family, spending time with friends we may not see a lot during the year, and enjoying the sense of caring and unique 

festivities that take place, including our holiday get together, which always includes a huge number of alumni.

However the reality is that holiday time is very hard on young children. There is so much anticipation and it takes so long to happen. There are so many parties and special activities that interfere with their rest and calm time that it becomes difficult for them to effectively survive the season.

So here are some suggestions!

1.Try not to accept invitations that conflict with your child’s nap time and bedtime. When you feel you want to attend any of those events that do conflict, schedule a make up longer nap or earlier bedtime.

2.Scary situations should be avoided all the time. Seeing movies at a theater for example, is usually overwhelming. The space and screen are too large and the sound is too loud. If you think your child is ready for The Grind or any other movie, then watch it at home under comfortable circumstances and your ability to stop the story at any time.

3. Many children are overwhelmed by visiting Santa. Make sure they are old enough to understand what will happen. If they show any signs of fear I strongly suggest you pass on the experience until they are ready. That may be the next year or later. 

4. Keep the sugar factor and the treat factor low. Their food intake should be as healthy as usual with minimal treats. Their eating habits need to sustain their extra activities and emotional excitement.

It is worth the extra planning and consideration for your child’s needs in order for everyone to enjoy a happy holiday, you want 2018 to create happy memories!

Good luck!