“Are you teaching your baby to sign?”, “Are you going to use sign language with your baby?”, “My baby knows over 50 signs already, and she’s only 10 months! Are you teaching Evalee sign language?”. These are just a few examples of what I was subjected to when I was pregnant and after I had my daughter Evalee. Honestly, I didn’t know there was such as thing as baby sign language until I got pregnant. The idea sounded intriguing… so I did some research and purchased a few books. I have “Baby Sign Language Basics, Early Communication for Hearing Babies & Toddlers” by Monta Z. Briant, “Teach Your Tot to Sign - The Parent’s Guide to American Sign Language” by Stacy A. Thompson and the children’s board book “My First Signs” by Annie Kubler. I thumbed through them a bit before she was born and started to use some basic signs like milk, more, eat & sleep when she was around 6 months or so. Evalee really took to the board book with its wonderful illustrations. If I had to recommend one book that would be it.

Evalee is now 19 months and uses only a few signs. Her catalog consists of milk, more, eat, cookie, out, mommy, dog, book, water, please & thank you. I was excited about it at first, to be able to communicate with her as early as 10 or 11 months was great. Lately I’ve been questioning my decision to teach her sign. I realize all kids develop at their own speed but she isn’t talking as much as her peers. She seems to rely on the signs a lot, so much so that I have yet to hear her say “Mommy”. Otherwise, she points and grunts. This may be a result of being home with me all the time and not in daycare or around other toddlers much. I try to set up play dates, but it doesn’t happen as often as I would like. I’m not necessarily worried or concerned, I know her hearing is perfect, it would just be nice to hear “Mommy”. Is that selfish?

I remember speaking with a friend a while back about her daughter who was a few months old at the time and asked if they were considering using sign and she said no. Her reason being that a member of her family used sign language with their child, who was over 2, and she wasn’t speaking much at all. The funny thing is, all advocates of baby sign language argue that babies are prone to talking sooner when exposed to sign language, which was one of my main reasons for teaching Evalee to sign.

On the flip side, both my brother-in-law and cousin-in-law have used sign with their children and both kids are speaking really well for their age. Sarah will be 2 in March and speaks very well and Carson is 2 & a half and you can have a full conversation with him. Who knows, right?

Overall, I’m glad I have some signs as a means of communicating with Evalee and I have to say she is developing by leaps and bounds in other areas, her physicality is amazing. I would love to hear from other parents about their experience with this…

http://greenmomhappymom.com

How can you be an awesome dad? Don’t be afraid to show affection, your children will thrive on it. As a dad, one of your main roles is protector. What’s your favorite Saturday activity with the kids? What separates the good dad from the true “Super Dad” is patience, humor, honesty and other critical virtues. It should be a lifelong goal to be the best dad possible, and if you are a father already there are probably many ways to improve because there are no perfect fathers. How do you rate yourself as a dad.

Kids

Kids are simple, but are really intuitive. The thing kids want most from their dads is their time and they will not understand if they are last on your priority list. Kids need physical contact, and not just from their moms but from their fathers also. Be sure to hug them at least once a day. Also take care of your health - eat healthy, exercise - because 1) you can’t take care of your kids if you’re sickly, 2) you are teaching your kids how to be healthy for life, and 3) you want to enjoy those grandkids someday.

Family

It’s part of your responsibility to keep your family healthy and fit. Your own kids are going to be members of your family for life. In the grand scheme of your family there can be no greater opportunity to become an awesome dad than to sure your feelings honestly and sincerely with them. If you’re weaving the fabric of your family’s life, make sure you thread in honesty. The world could benefit from having the mind set to take care of your family (including Mom) and yourself. Fathers’ time and support are uniquely related to fewer behavioural problems in children (aged 5 to 18) . Alone time vs Wife time vs family time vs Kid time where do you place the most important? These are not easy questions to answer, but the answers will form the foundation for helping your family grow in ways that will help them lead a healthy, helpful life.

Dads
New Fathers should help out as much as they can, sharing all types of duties equally if possible with their partners. It will build a lasting bond between not only their children but with their wife. Essentially, babies and toddlers not only listen when dads talk, they are intrigued by it, even if we don’t speak in sweet, though sometimes saccharine, Motherese . All the regular everyday dads that simply love fatherhood and everything that comes with it are the foundation of the family. Children need the differing ideas and opinions of both father and mother to make up a balance and build lasting healthy character. Kids love dads who don’t let their wife prevent the kids from going the “wrong way” on the slide.

Baby

Adjusting to life with a new baby in the house is rewarding. Be sure to take every opportunity to cherish time spent with your baby. And in fact, if you’re a dad of a baby, this is the perfect time to bond with your child. Framing the childcare fathers do as “babysitting” perpetuates the idea that women are the primary caretakers of children and begins the process of eliminating an important aspect of the childs development. It is important to spend some time every day (apart from TV, Internet, work, outside commitments, etc ) looking into the eyes, and listening to the coos, of your baby. To call it babysitting makes this supervision time a service, rather than a natural activity of parenting. But babysitting is what is done by a non parent for other people’s kids.

Don’t

You don’t want your child to go into the world knowing as little as you did, do you. Encourage you child to experience different things by sharing the experiences with them. Not only the things that interested you as a child but the things they show an interest in. Encourage learning of all types, mental, physical and spiritual. Praise and encourage, don’t reprimand and discourage. To add to your list: show affection to mother in front of kids so that they know you love her, control your temper and don’t scream at them, help them become who they truly are (not who you want them to be). Don’t contradict their mother in front of them, don’t fight with her in front of them, and most definitely don’t ever abuse her. For Pete’s sake, don’t respond by ignoring them. Don’t let them scan your brain and find it empty. Share your intelligence with them. I don’t know if it’s healthy, but it certainly is fun. I don’t feel I’ve made any big mistakes - at every turn in my life, I’ve chosen my family over my work, it hasn’t always been easy but in every case it has been the wisest decision.

Just by thinking about how to be a great dad greatly increases your odds of being one. I want to make sure that my kids can never use the excuse that they are lazy couch slugs because their dad was never a good role model. It is in those moments, no matter what life throws at you, you instinctively know that being an involved, responsible, and committed dad is living life to the fullest. Daddy isn’t grumpy all the time anymore and his patience as grown. What does this have to do with parenting and being a good dad? Everything, your kids love you no matter who you are or what the world thinks of you. Love them in the same way. Dads don’t usually talk about parenting with each other we like to pretend we have all the answers and we have everything under control. I wonder what idiot thought that up. It is not a crime not to have all the answers to all the questions but it would be nice if we knew some of the questions.

Discover ways to find your Awesome Dad Dad by visiting http://www.ghcrinfo.com a popular website that provides tips,
advice and resources on Teaching your children self esteem

Yams are quite often mistaken for a SWEET POTATO and the YAM suffers the same fate. The authentic yam is a tuber of a tropical vine and cannot even consider to be related at all to the sweet potato. A true yam is hard to locate in an US market although it is gaining in popularity in the US however it is a popular vegetable in Latin American and the Caribbean. The yam can probably be located in local Asian and African markets. I have never seen them in my very American grocery not to say they maybe in some.

The true yam can be found in varieties totaling approximately 200. The fleshy part includes
various colors such as white, ivory, yellow or purple. The thick exterior may be white,pink or
brownish black. The yam shape is long and cylindrical often reaching seven feet in length. After
cooking the yams,you will find them with a very slippery and starchy appearance. The taste is not
that of sweetness but more of a earthy and hardy taste. This description does not evoke visions
of the well known yams that appear on your Thanksgiving plate. The very simple answer to the lead in question “WHEN IS A YAM NOT A YAM OR IS IT A SWEET POTATO when it is an orange-colored sweet potato that has been labeled a yam. This resulted from the growers of this type of sweet potato having the desire to distinguish it from the white-fleshed sweet potato that most people recognized.

This not to say that the yam is not an outstanding vegetable because it is an excellent source of
Vitamin B6. The high intake of vitamin B6 has been noted to reduce the the risk of heart
disease.If you find the “true” yam it will be likely sold in chunks sealed in plastic wrap.It
would be a little unwieldy to handle a seven foot tuber weighing nearly 150 pounds.The yam is
also an excellent source of potassium which aids in controlling blood pressure. A storage protein
contained in the Yam known as dioscorin may also benefit those who suffer from hypertension.

“True” yams can usually be substituted in any sweet potato recipe. However a word of caution
show be noted here the “true” yam cannot be consumed in a raw state without toxic results. This
is not true of a sweet potato. Yams should be kept in a cool dark and well-ventilated spot for up
to ten days. They should be kept loose and not in the sealed plastic bag in which they were
purchased. Please don’t store uncooked yams in your refrigerator.

Now is the time to enjoy something different using “true” yams. You can puree the cooked yam add a little milk and season with tamari, coriander, cumin and cayenne for a delicious taste. Because
of the yams earthy and deep taste you can pair it up with darker meats like venison. It would
good in your next stir fry by adding chunks of yams along with fennel,onions,and mushrooms it
really makes a very delicious combo. Ask your local grocer where to find “true” yams this will
also test your local grocer in his knowledge of produce.

This gardener has been gardening for over twenty years and has decided to use his empirical data as well as researched information to assist beginners as well as old timers in their garden pursuits. My web site can be found at http://www.gardenersgardening.com

For many, retirement from work is equivalent with no longer living. If you have been a productive worker all of your life and someone asked you what your dream retirement might look like, you might respond “to work” because you may be one of those people for whom work is what gives meaning and purpose to life.

It isn’t fair for us to impose the same standards of retirement on everyone. To say that to enjoy your golden years, you must take up fishing, start sleeping until noon, sit in a rocker and watch the day go by and gradually turn into a senior citizen would to many be the same as sentencing them to life in prison without parole. So for many it’s very possible that working would be the thing that would make your retirement meaningful.

Still others must continue to work into their retirement years because they did not or could not prepare for retirement. Whatever the situation, there are some adjustments that should be made to shift to a retirement career that you can continue to do well into your senior years.

You can get a running start on your retirement planning if you find that a career change is appropriate later in life. Many times we do find that the career we are in may either be changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up, it’s too physically demanding when you are older or in some other way that job has become a “young man’s game”. If that has happened to you, you can get a jump start on finding a career that you can stick with well into your retirement years, that career can be an income generator that might never go away.

It is not at all uncommon for men in their later years to start a new career. Perhaps you just want a career where you can use the creative side of you and one that can be a natural transition into retirement. Perhaps you reached the maximum vesting of your retirement account with a job you held for decades so you can “retire” from that job with full benefits and funding and still start another career that you can take on into retirement and keep doing as you enjoy the fruits of retirement as well.

Many times the skills and knowledge you learned in the business world during your first career can transition you into a lucrative consulting career late in life. One way to explore this option is to think of the venders who sold goods and services to you when you were in your previous career and contact them to see if you might now represent their services as a former satisfied customer.

If you had specialized knowledge and training in how to use their software or a technical product, that training can now transition into an exciting career as a sales representative or sale support for the very companies who once had you as a customer.

The internet can also open up worlds of money making opportunities that you can use to land work or sell something you may have made by setting up your own web site and learning how to promote yourself online. Many cottage industries have taken off and been hugely successful just getting what you do out into cyberspace. For example, if you are talented at making beautiful artistic pottery, you can create a line of pots that is perfect for sale over the internet. You can work with a skilled internet web developer and marketer to get your product out on the internet and before long, you might have more orders than you know what to do with all flying out through your web site which is collecting the money and filling your back account up with all the profits.

The ways you can create a new business in your retirement years are only limited by your imagination. And once you have a good new career going that you can continue well into your retirement years, you won’t have many of the worries other retired people have. You can enjoy the freedoms of a retirement lifestyle and made plenty of money at the same time. And that’s a great combination.

Wayne Miller has written two e-books and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the other e-book is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and
Money Secrets Blog for Top Ten Book

I am a retired expert financial advisor who for several years put out a private high end newsletter that did sell for $6k per subscriber. It was that good of information. In addition has been a trader of the markets for more than 20 years. These financial e-books are for both everyday people and both novice and experienced traders alike who desire to learn how I can predict the future inside these markets. You can you know if you know how within the stock and commodity markets worldwide and by doing so, you can learn how to obtain serious wealth and make your own retirement dreams come true.

Inside “The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008″ e-book I do reveal certain secrets on how I was able to spot major trend reversals (before these events happen).

There is a term from the world of scuba diving that refers to a medical problem that happens when a diver returns to the surface to fast and the shift from high pressure to lower pressure of the world above the water is too fast. It’s called “the bends” and it’s a serious medical moment. Well, we don’t want to get “the bends” when we leave the high pressure world of work and achievement for the low pressure world of retirement and a life of ease.

So to avoid retirement shock, you should start well ahead of you retirement party getting ready for that lifestyle. The worst thing you can do is wake up on the first day of your retired life with nothing to do and that feeling of emptiness and loneliness because you miss your old life and have no plans for how to fill the hours and days that lay ahead in your life as a retired person.

One way to avoid retirement shock is to do a bit of daydreaming about all the things you want to do once you are retired. Many of us put off creative interests and adventures we might have pursued except as a member of the working world, a parent an active participant in school, church and civic groups, there is just no time for that before retirement. But now that you have laid down so many of those responsibilities, give yourself permission to throw yourself into a creative hobby to let that side of you out to grow and mature.

Another great coping mechanism so the shock of moving into retirement isn’t so severe is to continue to work at a reduced pace. If your employer values your decades of experience and devotion to duty, they may put you on in a part time capacity to come in and help the young people learn the ropes and learn the lay of the land of the business world. You know that landscape well so you can be of real value to make that transition a success.

Retirement is also a time when you can travel and spend more time with family and friends. If you always wished you could be available to baby-sit the grandchildren, now is the time. Your kids not only will love having free child care while they go about dealing with their busy lives but you will enjoy getting to know your grandkids and maybe being a kid with them for an afternoon as well.

Volunteering is another great way to fill all of that extra time you now have on your hands. By keeping busy helping worthy causes, you keep your self esteem because you are making a real difference in the lives of others and for your community. You can meet so many wonderful people while volunteering and the social side of it keeps you young and overcomes loneliness which is a big problem when you first enter your retirement years.

By laying out plans to enjoy a hobby, continue to work part time or volunteer when retirement starts, you can get rid of that sense of dread that you may have about your upcoming retirement. Instead start to get excited about this new phase of life and the new life that lies ahead of you in retirement.

Wayne Miller has written two e-books and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the other e-book is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and
Money Secrets.

I am a retired expert financial advisor who for several years put out a private high end newsletter that did sell for $6k per subscriber. It was that good of information. In addition has been a trader of the markets for more than 20 years. These financial e-books are for both everyday people and both novice and experienced traders alike who desire to learn how I can predict the future inside these markets. You can you know if you know how within the stock and commodity markets worldwide and by doing so, you can learn how to obtain serious wealth and make your own retirement dreams come true.

Inside “The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008″ e-book I do reveal certain secrets on how I was able to spot major trend reversals (before these events happen).

When you and your brothers and sisters grew up and moved out of the house, it was natural that you would become absorbed in your new lives of raising families of your own and getting your careers established. You may know that there is coming a time when you will take on the responsibility to help your parents make that transition to retirement.

Sadly, as much as you would suspect that they did prepare for retirement, you should not take that for granted. The trials of raising a family with all the financial demands can take its toll on any budget. So it’s appropriate to ask the question, can your parent retire? And if there is any doubt, you should begin looking into how you as their children can help them.

This is a natural first step toward you and your siblings being more involved in mom and dad’s life as they age. Many times the toll that aging takes makes older people less able to plan and perform financial maneuvers with the same skill they had when they were raising you. Be sensitive when you are around them to find out if they can speak intelligently about their retirement and the next step along the way of living a full and rich retirement lifestyle.

One service you can offer to your parents that may be more welcome than you could imagine is for you to start helping them plan their finances and organize their money. It might be true that in many ways, your parent has already started that path into retirement. If dad has stopped working or Social Security is starting to be collected, they may be in that category. But they need some help to lay down the worries of adult life and make the transition to a lifestyle where life’s worries are not such a burden and they can relax and enjoy their golden years.

You might take advantage of the sibling with the strongest financial skills and start to move the handling of your parent’s accounts to a child so they can let that area of worry go. This is where you would work with your parent to get that child the Power of Attorney so they can sign on their account, pay bills and do business on behalf of their parents. And once that is all in place, an organized evaluation of your parent’s retirement preparations can be most revealing.

By helping your parents simply organize the assets they may already have, they may be able to step into a much more worry free life and really start enjoying the fun and relaxed lifestyle that retirement can really mean for them. Along with organizing their finances, there is a lot the kids can do to help mom and dad get ready to become retired people not just in a financial sense but in terms of lifestyle. The biggest transition they will go through and the one they will be the most resistant about will be giving up the house and moving into an assisted living center or retirement community. But as your parents continue to age, having them somewhere that they can get care if it is needed will give everyone more peace of mind about their future.

The best approach to helping mom and dad transition to this move is to put it in the most positive of light. If they are experiencing some physical decline, they may already aware of the danger living alone in that old house might pose. You can use that to get their interest in living in a place where there is always someone to come running in the event they fall or have a medical problem.

But also emphasize the social side of living with other seniors and enjoying their company. By helping them see that retiring in every respect possible is the best thing for them, they will eventually embrace the change. And when they are happily “retired” and enjoying that life, you will know that you kids did the right thing taking good care of your parents the way they took good care of you.

Wayne Miller has written two e-books and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the other e-book is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and
Money Secrets.

I am a retired expert financial advisor who for several years put out a private high end newsletter that did sell for $6k per subscriber. It was that good of information. In addition has been a trader of the markets for more than 20 years. These financial e-books are for both everyday people and both novice and experienced traders alike who desire to learn how I can predict the future inside these markets. You can you know if you know how within the stock and commodity markets worldwide and by doing so, you can learn how to obtain serious wealth and make your own retirement dreams come true.

Inside “The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008″ e-book I do reveal certain secrets on how I was able to spot major trend reversals (before these events happen).

Of course that is not the purpose of the question. If you have taken the step of participating in your employer’s retirement program or 401K, then you are definitely showing plenty of personal reasonability for your retirement planning. But when you think about it, what happens to your 401K funds once they are given to your employer? Most of us don’t know. We know that we get statements that show that what we invest is gaining in value and that the principle is safe and for us, that is often enough.

But it is easy to trust your employer that the funds are being managed well and that it all will be there when the time comes for you to use that 401K for retirement. The truth is that your employer probably has nothing to do with how well your retirement portfolio performs once the funds are taken out of your paycheck. In most cases, your employer hires a professional retirement planner who invests those funds to give you at least a modest return on investment. And that service is also taking a fee from your funds which is something that is done without giving you the chance to evaluate if they deserve the money they are making.

You have some rights when it comes to your retirement funds. So part of your rights is to see that people that work for you, such as a retirement planner, know what they are doing and are held accountable on a regular basis for the outcome of their financial management of your retirement funds. At the employer level, you probably won’t fire the financial planner. But you can demand to meet with them and communicate your financial plans. You can get a name of is responsible for what happens with your money. And if you find out who they really are, you will have more success in getting them to be accountable to you.

But you may also find yourself engaging a financial planner for funds that fall outside of employer 401K plans. For example if you leave a job, you can roll your 401K into a private IRA account and engage a financial planner to invest that money so it continues to grow steadily until you need it at the time of retirement.

Develop some standards by which any retirement planner you engage must be judged. A good way to pick a good financial planner is to use people you know and trust to give you guidance. If family members or close associates already are using a good financial planner, get that person’s name and phone number and schedule an interview. You can also find out if your bank, insurance company or credit union provides this service. They already work for you the good reputation of these trusted financial services people can pay off when you use them for financial planning for retirement.

Put some time and effort into researching if the retirement planner you are considering is capable and has a good reputation. They should have no trouble giving you references and documenting their success to show you that they can be trusted to take good care of your retirement funds. And if you do some up front due diligence, in the end you will be able to entrust this important resource to them knowing they are good stewards of the money that is going to give you a happy and peaceful retirement life.

Wayne Miller has written two e-books and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the other e-book is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and
Money Secrets.

I am a retired expert financial advisor who for several years put out a private high end newsletter that did sell for $6k per subscriber. It was that good of information. In addition has been a trader of the markets for more than 20 years. These financial e-books are for both everyday people and both novice and experienced traders alike who desire to learn how I can predict the future inside these markets. You can you know if you know how within the stock and commodity markets worldwide and by doing so, you can learn how to obtain serious wealth and make your own retirement dreams come true.

Inside “The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008″ e-book I do reveal certain secrets on how I was able to spot major trend reversals (before these events happen).

To many people in those years leading up to retirement also have to be of assistance to aging parents and you see the realistic side of the golden years as well. So that changes how you think about retirement and how to prepare for it. On the darker side of thinking ahead to retirement and the years of decline, there is one dread that outweighs all the others pretty much universally. That is the dread of ever having to go to a nursing home.

The concept of the horror of a nursing home has not been helped in our modern times by stories of nursing home abuse and horrible experiences older people have in those institutions. So the idea that we all might end up in such a place can be quite terrifying and create a lot of anxiety about ever retiring and letting someone take over your care that might put you in a nursing home.

Many of the terrors of nursing home life are the result of myth and stories and the media who love to portray nursing homes as torture chambers, But if the fear of a nursing home gets you in the mode to prepare for retirement and start doing your research well in advance, then that is a good fear because it is mobilizing you for doing something good for you and your family.

The good news is that a lot has changed maybe even since you had to deal with nursing homes when your own parents were aging. There are a lot of new formats for where an elderly person might go live once continuing to live alone in their house stops being an option. It is no doubt the surge of elderly people into the system caused by the graying of the baby boomer generation that has fueled a revolution in elderly car. Now there are all kinds of levels of care and the kinds of places you can look forward to spending your golden years in may resemble an apartment complex or resort more than a nursing home.

You can do a lot to reduce your anxiety about retirement by starting now and going to visit some of these retirement apartment complexes, assisted living centers and senior centers. You will be pleasantly surprised at how nice and comfortable the options are out there that you can look forward to taking advantage of in your retirement years.

But there is another important change in how you view retirement that looking into alternatives to nursing homes will bring about as well. That is the area of planning to finance these kinds of retirement options. There are many forms of retirement insurance and you may already have started paying on a policy that would provide care for you in a nursing home or a place where medical care was available in the event you had a medical decline in your golden years.

By getting a good idea what kind of facility you might prefer once it is no longer feasible or desirable for you to keep a full house going, you can anticipate preparing for that move financially as well. You can check on your insurance and if the funding you have set aside for retirement will not help out with assisted living centers, make those changes now so that insurance can accumulate value for you.

The administrators at assisted living centers can help you prepare for your move to their facility. They will be thrilled to meet someone thinking that far in advance about your future needs and because these folks are in the business of helping people like you and I move comfortably into retirement, they can help you know about programs, financing and other ways you can prepare so you are fully ready to go to a wonderful future.

Wayne Miller has written two e-books and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the other e-book is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and
Money Secrets.

Blog for Top Ten Book.

I am a retired expert financial advisor who for several years put out a private high end newsletter that did sell for $6k per subscriber. It was that good of information. In addition has been a trader of the markets for more than 20 years. These financial e-books are for both everyday people and both novice and experienced traders alike who desire to learn how I can predict the future inside these markets. You can you know if you know how within the stock and commodity markets worldwide and by doing so, you can learn how to obtain serious wealth and make your own retirement dreams come true.

Inside “The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008″ e-book I do reveal certain secrets on how I was able to spot major trend reversals (before these events happen).

Playing outdoors is a favorite childhood pastime for many of us. However, with the proliferation of video games, home computers, and the Internet in recent times, many parents of small children find it difficult to get their kids outside to play - but they should try. There is no substitute for outdoor play.

Playing outdoors will not only help keep your child physically fit and ensure that he or she gets much needed exercise, it has also been proven to affect a child’s cognitive development and may help improve your child’s ability to learn, understand, and be creative. However, while going to public parks, riding bikes, playing baseball and other outdoor activities are lots of fun for kids, they usually require an adult to transport and supervise the play. What’s more, in today’s busy world, it can be difficult for working parents to find the time to their engage kids in fun outdoor activities, and even if they do find the time, it is often a task unto itself to get them to leave the house.
What is the solution? Add a swing set to your backyard and get your children off the Internet and out in the sunshine. Bringing the simple fun of the public park into your own backyard makes it easy for your children to enjoy outdoor play and get a little exercise, all while under your supervision. Once you choose and install your swing set, see how your children take to it - if they enjoy it, and you find that they are spending more time outdoors as a result, consider adding more equipment to your backyard playground one by one. This is a practical and economical way to test the waters before spending a fortune on a playground set that your children will never use.

Swinging Safely

Now that you have decided to add a swing set to your backyard, you want to make sure it is safe for your children to play on it, and the most important factor is education. True, there are certain things to consider when choosing a swing, such as making sure it is made of a soft material like rubber rather than metal or wood, either of which can make an accidental collision painful.

Once you choose the right swing, the next step is to educate your kids on how to use it. Unfortunately, it is all too common for children to injure themselves on a swing, and, although nothing is ever 100% fool proof, you can take a few simple precautions to reduce the possibility that your child will sustain an injury. These precautions include: showing your child how to sit properly in the swing and grasp the ropes with both hands to balance themselves, teaching your child to stay a fair distance from other swings in motion as to avoid a collision with the swing or a another child, and teaching your child to bring the swing to a complete stop before getting off slowly.

Start with a swing set, teach your child swing set safety, and see how it goes. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that your kids love playing outdoors now that you have made it so convenient, and if not, at least you didn’t waste a bunch of money on an entirely new backyard playground.

Lisa Austen is a mother of three from Sacramento, CA. She freelance writes in her spare time. For more information on swing sets and other playground equipment, visit www.swingset.com

Shock, horror, you wouldn’t dream of teaching a tiny baby! And yet you do. Every waking moment. You teach him to recognise everything in his nursery, home and, as his world widens , his environment. As this powerful bonding between you and your baby grows, so does his knowledge. As you teach, he learns.

“But,” you argue, “That’s not teaching. That’s just being with my baby.”

Be assured, it is teaching. It is as valid as the teaching in any Nursery, Playgroup or Pre-School. You are your child’s first and finest teacher. You know him better than any teacher ever will and, importantly, he is having one to one tutoring in the safest place on earth.

Now, accepting that you do teach your baby, why do you think it’s wrong to teach him or her that ‘this a picture is an a’ but proactive to say ‘this picture is a puppy.’ Why is a colourful kite good but a colourful kite bad?

Babies are spontaneous learners and this period of brilliant potential is constantly undervalued and lost.

WHY TEACH A BABY?

For forty years I have witnessed the crippling damage wrought by ‘Look and Guess’ reading methods. For forty years I have gathered one damaged child after another. All were emotionally scarred from having been expected to commit to memory every word in every book they read. New words could only be guessed at. Their reading aloud was hesitant and meaningless, while silent reading was like trying to decipher a foreign language. By age 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and onward they constantly bombed out at comprehension of any text, no matter how simple. These children had no effective catalyst to turn a hotch-potch of letters and words into meaningful information.
Ridiculed daily by peer groups - and might I say frequently by teachers - they are marked as remedial. At best they drift into dead end jobs, forever intimidated and fearing rejection. At worst, though never overcoming their inhibitions, they develop a truculent resilience to authority and end up before the Courts. These were not dumb, stupid or slow children, they were all bright but those vital early years were never harnessed - they were never taught to read and so never developed the skills of thinking, comprehension or critical analysis. Every ’slow’ child I have rescued has turned out to be a very bright child who had been living in a totally incomprehensible world.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOUR CHILD?

In spite of the fact that our children in the UK start school earlier than in any other country in Europe and are tested ad nauseam a huge percentage cannot read or can read only haltingly. Whilst denying the blatant evidence that standards have been dumbed down, our Government has, at last, recognized the cause of the UK’s literacy problems and has recommended the teaching of phonics. Sadly it is a watered down middle-of-the-road system called ‘analytic phonics’ where phonic sounds are learned but the same old damaging guesswork texts are still used.

Still, as a specialist in phonics I applaud the fact that children are at least learning that words are made up of sounds, a small step in the right direction.

There are, however, many teachers and Heads of Schools who refuse to embrace the phonic system. In the face of all the evidence to prove that phonics - the system by which I was taught and by which my 96 year old mother was taught - is the only successful way to teach all children to read. ‘Look and Guess’ is easy and, though it fails a chunk of the population, it’s fast and simple and that is why these people refuse to switch.

And here is where your baby takes centre stage.

Just one teacher who encourages him or her to guess at words, whether by searching the picture for clues , by memorising it from another lesson or contextually, ie fitting a suitable word into the sentence, will do years of damage to your child and its future.
By age 14 he will read ‘biblical’ for ‘biographical’ ‘lands’ for ‘lends’ ‘banker’ for ‘embankment’. To escape this damage you can start in your baby’s nursery.

Place the letters of the alphabet around the nursery and then bid a cheery “good morning” to ‘a’ or ‘b’ on the walls or ‘c’ on the floor or ‘d’ sitting on teddy’s nose. This tiny beginning is the start of your child becoming a super reader.

Synthetic phonics, which I have taught continuously since Training College in New Zealand in the fifties, is simply fast phonics to fabulous reading. Babies and pre-schoolers can have a painless path to early literacy with fun and laughter.

For those who have decided on home schooling, your child’s successful reading is vital to achieving an excellent standard in every subject. Children don’t come with operating instructions, parenting, though wonderful is a course with many obstacles. Your child’s reading need not be one of them.

MY NEXT ARTICLE

Commercial alphabets have for many years been the subject of huge controversy between me and shopkeepers. I have approached them in Australia, New Zealand and here in the UK over disastrous alphabet charts. I have found ‘w for whale’, ‘i for ice-cream’, ‘x for x-ray’, ‘x for xylophone’ and ‘c for city’ to mention just a few. All wrong and totally detrimental to the new reader.

In my next article I shall give you the perfect alphabet which leads your child straight into reading.

MY TOP ADVICE

Never push your child, play games that will have him laughing and learning at the same time.

Robyn Dalby-Stockwell is a teacher, writer, reading consultant and Director of Alonah Reading Cambridge http://www.alonahreadingcambridge.com which gives reading support to children and their parents.