Creating Memories

It's the holiday season and with it comes warm memories of holidays past. Tis the season to be jolly falala! My fondest memories of past holidays seem to all include my mother. She had her issues as she had Tourettes Syndrome, but she did manage to provide me with many a wonderful experience that I still cherish today. We would bake cookies each Christmas and my favorites were always the gingerbread men. We would decorate them with red and green frosting and cinnamon drops. I still have have the gingerbread man cookie cutter that we used packed away for safe keeping. Mom would spend hours making her popular fruit cakes which cost her a lot of money to make, but she never complained about the cost and she love giving them as presents to her special friends. Growing up, we had a huge fireplace that was decorated with festive garland and we always bought a Douglas fir tree to decorate with the most beautiful decorations. I would spend hours looking at myself in the ornaments and make funny faces. Mom would always give my brother and I left over lights and garland to decorate our rooms as well as the house. On Christmas morning mom insisted that we read the story of Christ from the Bible before we could open our Christmas presents. I remember one Christmas when I was very young and we heard a knock at our door. I opened it up to see Santa loaded with gifts for my brother and I. I was awe struck! Santa! Here at my humble home? Many years later my mother told me that it was a church group that had donated all of the gifts. Back in those times, my mother was a single mom struggling to earn a living to support the three of us. My mother always made sure we had something to remember and be grateful for. It is important to build special memories and or rituals that leave an impression upon your child/ren. If a family spends the holidays fighting or squabbling that is what the children will remember. If the holidays are spent in loving kindness giving to others less fortunate or making do with a little less because of the tough times America is now facing, that is okay. It's the memory of being together and doing something positive that counts.

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Language Development

As volunteer reader at a public library I see all kinds of children, and the ones that I tend to remember are the ones that are 3 to 4- years-old who toss books at me that are not at their skill level and grunt. This happens a lot...believe it or not. While there are children that truly cannot speak with regular language, most of these children have been "trained" by their parents to do this. How? You may well be asking. When a child is around/close to 1 year of age they begin to vocalize sounds/words that they hear repeatedly. Of this group, some will point and grunt and the parent then interprets what their grunting means. Unfortunately the parents think they are helping their children to communicate when in reality they are inhibiting the child's language development. When a child tosses a book at me and grunts I always say to them "use your words" "what do you need from me". Parents must be able to do this type of training in order for their child to do well in school. If a public school teacher has to take time out of her already busy class schedule to retrain the child all involved will lose out. In addition, the child will usually not be able to catch up in time to the rest of their class which in turn creates other problems as well. It's okay to say to the child "I don't understand the sounds that you are making, use your words." I've had parents become angry at me in the library because I will not allow their child to grunt at me, but it's the only way to handle a delayed language issue. Also, these children are more prone to run around and not be able to focus. As a volunteer reader, I simply cannot chase a child around the library trying to read a book to them. Parent's can solve this one rather easilly by reading to a child at bedtime consistently. By the time the child enters school they are trained to be still while a book is being read to them. It can be a simple board book to start out and then work up to books that are a bit longer with more pictures. Talk to the child about what is going on in the pictures. As the child progresses, chapter books can be introduced. I've actually see some pre-k children listen to and remember a story that is from a chapter book. It's even better when the book becomes a movie that the child can see. Hope I've taken the mystery out of language development and how to solve some delays.

Halloween Is Coming/Safety Tips

Come October 31 there will be lots of little goblins in the form of super heros and faerie princesses running around our neighborhoods and we all need to think SAFETY! First and foremost here's a recipe for a wash-out fire retardant for your child's costume: 7oz of Borax, 3oz of boric acid, 2qt warm water: stir solution til it's dissolved, and then dip or spray fabric until it's saturated/drips and then let dry. It is always important to make sure you and child/ren are seen so be lit up if you can by wearing a glow in the dark tape strip or carry one; next, use a large flash light at all times so that you can see before you trip, DO NOT Zig Zag across the street or jaywalk/run, make sure your child/ren's costume fits well and won't be able to trip over it, face painting is better than masks, DO NOT allow your child/ren to go alone, allow only wrapped items and nothing homemade or unwrapped, have your child/ren wait until you are home to eat the candy after you have inspected them, have a route that you have gone over in case you get separated and you need to find each other.

Hand Washing Revisited: A British Study

In a recent joint British study by The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The Queen Mary University of London disturbing results were found regarding the population's failure to properly wash their hands with SOAP. The study found that 1 in 6 mobile phones are contaminated with fecal matter. 16% of phones harbored the harmful E-Coli bacteria...this is very disturbing indeed. 95% of the people studied said they washed their hands and yet 92% of the mobile phones and 82% of their hands had bacteria on them. So, what's to be gotten from this info? People world wide need to not only wash their hands frequently as well as each time they use the facility, they need to use SOAP when they do wash their hands. It's not enough to rinse your hands under some cold water. Hands need to be washed with SOAP for around at least 60 seconds to make sure they are free of bacteria. It's also a good idea to swab one's mobile phone with an alcohol wipe regularly to free it of any lingering bacteria. There is a great danger to the world's public health if this isn't followed. And yet, it's so simple to contend with...use SOAP when washing your hands.

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Return Of The Snake

A child recently plugged up a toilet where I was working and it flooded the bathroom which in turn meant that a teacher had to check it out to report. There in the bowl was a poop the the size and shape of a tennis ball. I began to wonder what happened to the snake poops that are the healthy ones to eliminate. A few of the teachers said that the snake is long gone due to the change in children's diets. How could this be possible? Healthy diets are a thing of the past? In an effort to keep healthy diets in the forefront, Musings would like to offer up a few tips to keep your child's snake moving. First is water. Make sure that your child is properly hydrated at all times. This rings especially true during the summer months when water is lost due to sweating. It's okay to offer a child water during a meal instead of or with milk. Ask your child's pediatrician how much milk your child should be drinking and take it from there. 8 glasses of water is the minimum your child should be drinking. Dairy products can plug up a child if consumed too much. Secondly, make sure that there are pro-biotic yogurts in your child's diet. There is soy yogurt if you prefer which also contains pro-biotics. Thirdly, roughage. Add lots of salads for roughage to your child's diet and start early on adding this to your child's diet so that they develop a taste for them. Less processed foods and more roughage. Roughage can also come from fruits and vegetables as well and should be given at least 3 times a day each. Don't ever make the mistake that your child will be able to discern what they need to keep their young bodies moving...that's why they have you to make those choices for them. The following three ideas should help your child to keep their snake moving. If they don't, maybe it's time to visit the doctor to get to the bottom of it.

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Hand Washing...Too Little or Too much

When Musings spotted Beverly Hills Plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Rey waving around a hand washing report on TMZ as his "latest" news, we knew how he felt. Dr. Rey was obviously grossed out by the facts that human feces were found on fresh fruit and vegetables in markets and farmers markets as well as salad bars. "People just aren't washing their hands!" Brazilian born Dr. Rey exclaimed. If one pays attention and looks, trash picking recyclers rarely wear gloves when they gingerly dip their hands into garbage cans around town and who knows where they work...do they touch food and if they do, do they ever wash their hands before they do? How many people wash their hands after using the toilet? According to a report recently released, not enough as hepatitis and other illnesses spread among the city's inhabitants for lack of proper hand washing. Given the fact that the USDA has altered it's requirements for meat packers and handlers such as gutting machine cleaning, and saw sharpening and there is an allowable amount of feces in the meat products that you purchase...one needs to keep cleaning every time they touch or cut a piece of meat. What does this have to do with me you may be asking. Simple, no one is immune to their fellow community members' germs. Most stores now carry sanitary cloths to wash the handles of their shopping carts. The National Association For The Education Of Young Children (NAEYC) has a list of when to wash your hands. Some have seen this list and have said it's from the food handling regs, maybe it is. The NAEYC wants us to wash our hands when: we transition from one area to another that is where the children are; every time a person wipes a child's nose with gloves on; whenever a child's diaper is changed as well as them washing their hands; when they use the toilet they wash and we do, before and after eating; if a baby spits up one has to put on gloves and wipe it up with bleach water and wash/change the baby; if one sneezes washing one's hands is required; before and after handling food. Excessive...maybe, but in a society that likes to sue perhaps it does limit a child-care facilities' liability. So, where does that leave the average person you may be asking. Wash your hands whenever you know that there has been an opportunity to spread your germs to others. Get ready, aim...WASH!

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Musings: To Sign Or Not

Think that sign language is exclusive to deaf people...think again. Sign language is becoming a very popular tool in communicating with babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Before an infant develops the ability to form language/vocalization skills, they do possess the ability to make simple signs with their hands. The secret to success is being consistent with the infant in your signing and not just whenever you remember to do it. Signing is effective as it relieves the infant of a lot of frustration because of an inability to communicate on an adults level...sign language levels the verbal playing field. This leads to a happier baby. Among the most used signs are; milk, water, all done, more, stop, eat, love you. I've been interested in infant sign language since 2004 when I first encountered it and have been observing its effectiveness ever since that time. There are many board books about signing for babies and many for adults to learn from and I think the difference is more about how the adult learns than which book is the best. An often recommended book is Stacy A. Thompson's "Teach Your Tot To Sign: A Guide To American Sign Language." which is available on amazon. It is a bit of sadness to me that I did not know this when I was raising my own children as I would have used it back then. I have recommended it to my daughter Carrie for her soon to be born baby. Happy signing everyone.

Musing Up- Date

Out next topic will be the merits of teaching a baby sign-language. Does it work or is it just a fad and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon?

Musings On Pre-School Advantages

There I was sitting at a table in the public library ready to read to any interested child and along bounced this cute as a button child. "What would you like to read?" I asked and the child picked up a lot of the books and was not having any of it. The child started chattering about everything and nothing and I was finding it difficult to understand him. They dragged books from all over the children's section...none of which the child could muster the attention span for. After speaking to the parents I discovered that the child was almost 3-years-old and should do best with board books...no luck. He was still all over the place. When other children arrived that really did want to be read to I had to turn my attentions to the others and not the one that was not ready to be read to. Dad got angry with me, but I am not a baby sitter...I READ TO CHILDREN. I did find out that this adorable child had not been to pre-school and that is when the light clicked on...pre-school is a valuable tool for young children. When a child that has not been in pre-school hits kindergarten it is painfully obvious which ones have not been to pre-school as they are all over the place. There are many fine parents that do an excellent job of educating/working with their children, but what about the other 90%? With the economy adding more children to each classroom, how much time is a busy teacher going to be able to devote to a child that is all over the place? Not much. Children do not magically sit down when a teacher calls story time or book time. It is a process that begins early on in their lives. Children need help and guidance to know what to do in order to be able to sit down and actually listen to a story. This help is best learned from caring pre-school teachers that are consistent and caring.
This concept is even more important if the child also has an obvious speech impediment. In a crowded public school classroom it will be harder to notice and be even more difficult to work on. Many pre-schools have access to facilities that visit the pre-school and work with children that need their services...either for free or at a nominal cost. When I was working at Discoveries Learning Centers in Santa Barbara there was a wonderful staff on hand to help children having difficulties. They came in from the county and are especially trained to handle many different kinds of learning disabilities. They are very successful in their genre and I have been happy to have worked with them.

Musings

After a recent encounter with a young father in the public library where I am a volunteer reader to young children, I felt compelled to begin writing a blog about children and parenting. There is no particular order, rhyme or reason to the posts. I'll write them when I am inspired to do so. I am a professional pre-school teacher at NBC Universal Studios Child Care Center and know what I'm talking about. I've been in the business of education for decades and have worked for: Head Start, Catholic Charities' ADESTE Program, Los Angeles Unified School District Indian Education Program, Bright Horizons Family Solutions at their Washington Mutual Child Care Center in Chatsworth, Discoveries Learning Centers in Santa Barbara and am currently working at NBC Universal. None of my material will be drawn from NBC Universal or any other facility that I have worked at in particular. Topics will be in generalities. In addition to the required course work in ECE I have studied the Reggio Emilia approach in depth and totally believe in it.