Search Results for: blog are your kids getting enough to drink

Surviving Your Kid’s Spring Break

Not your little guy’s break from school, your older one. You know, the one who begged you to let him head down to Cabo with a bunch of friends for spring break, and now you are sitting at home praying that the next call you get isn’t from a Mexican prison. Keeping children safe is the utmost priority for most parents, but you can’t expect your college-age kid to want to spend every school break at home so you can monitor his every move. Sure, viewing Facebook photos of your son at the bottom of a beer bong and your … Continue reading →

Getting a Bargain on Glassware

You know how everything seems to happen in threes? It happened at my house this week. Three drinking glasses shattered or cracked mysteriously, as if they all suddenly decided that they were at the end of their useful life. That left us with only two glasses left, plus a sturdy mug we got as a freebie and several plastic cups that had just been put in the donation pile (my kids are now old enough to handle glass). We eyed the two glasses warily. Would they suddenly decide to break, too? We couldn’t be sure. Plus, two glasses and one … Continue reading →

Feeding Your Toddler – What We’re Eating Now

One common dilemma faced by the parents of toddlers is getting them to stop playing and exploring for long enough to refuel their bodies with nutritious foods. Exactly how to do that is up to you. What we eat at our house and how we eat it may be different than in your home. What is most important is that we as parents offer our toddlers plenty of opportunities to eat nutritious foods throughout their day. In the morning, Dylan wakes up hungry. We all wake up at about the same time, so we head out to the kitchen. He … Continue reading →

Natural Ways to Boost Your Energy

Energy drinks, such as 5-Hour Energy and others are a booming industry. Many people rely on these energy drinks to get through the day. I’ve seen them being pulled out of purses, laid on people’s desks, and sold out at the convenience stores. I’ve never tried these drinks myself, so I can’t speak for them, but wouldn’t it be better to try something natural first? There are several ways to naturally boost your energy levels throughout the day. Many of them are just common sense, but there are a few tricks in there, too. First of all, getting enough sleep … Continue reading →

The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals by Missy Chase

Missy Chase Lapine has given parents 272 pages of good advice in her book, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals. We all want our children to eat healthier and cringe when they balk that they do not like their vegetables. We cannot force our kids to eat what they should. We cannot bribe or punish them either. It just does not work like that. They either have to want to eat what we make or make what they want to eat with a few extra ingredients added to it. Ms. Lapine shows us … Continue reading →

How Much Fluid Does Your Preschooler Need?

I worry about my daughter not drinking enough all the time. Not too long ago, she got a nasty stomach bug, and we almost had to give her an IV for dehydration. She does not drink a lot at meals either. She will take a tiny sip, and then put it back down on the table. I worry all the time about it. I am the opposite. I always have a drink in my hand. I drink my full 8 glasses of water a day, and then some. I am a chronically thirsty person. While I accept that she may … Continue reading →

Managing Your Energy Levels During Pregnancy

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Halfway through our hike around Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin’s scenic state park of the same name, I was ready to pick a bench and crash. I had hiked this trail many times before, but this time I simply did not have the energy to finish. While the rest of my group finished the trek up the hill and over the boulders, I headed back to the campsite with my husband and passed out in the tent for two hours. Several times during our camping trip, I stumbled to the tent and fell asleep, napping for 2-3 hours at a time. … Continue reading →

How Much Sleep Should Your Preschooler Get?

Recently, I read an article on sleep. In this article, researchers studied the brains of adults who had not slept well for a week. The adults thought that they were doing fine, and they thought that their judgment was not impaired. However, when they took a test, they discovered that they were actually impaired to the point that their brains functioned as if they’d had a few too many drinks. They were not fit to drive or to function, but these adults thought that they were doing all right. The same went for children. The researchers instructed intermediate-aged children to … Continue reading →

Is Your Toddler Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Probably not… at least according to medical experts. A new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reveals that at least 40% of American infants and toddlers aren’t getting enough vitamin D. What’s more, the study also found that there has been an increase in the number of rickets (a vitamin D deficiency disease) cases in several states in the last few years. Doctors say millions of American children are vitamin D deficient and that number is likely to increase if parents don’t start adjusting their kids’ diet or modifying their schedules to allow toddlers to spend … Continue reading →

Returning to work once kids are teens

The youngest child has turned 13. Perhaps it’s time to get a job. After all, they don’t need or want your constant attention. They can be left home alone for hours on end without getting in or causing trouble. It’s definitely time to go back to work. The kids are old enough to fend for themselves. Not so fast. While teens are old enough to give themselves basic care, they are hardly ready to be on their own. They might look like adults, but the teen years are hardly the years be run a household, care for younger siblings, and … Continue reading →