Suitable toys for every age

Toys for Christmas

Whether you’re staying at home or going to the seaside this Christmas, holidays with children (of all ages) can be a challenge. They get bored, bicker, get up to mischief, and mope. Don’t imagine the things that you did as a child will make them happy – kids of today want to do their own thing in their space, time and way!

If you have teenagers, they only want to go to the mall and watch movies (with their friends), eat, sleep, talk on the phone, watch TV and play video games. It’s just about impossible to get them to do ‘Christmassy’ things like decorate the house, visit their grandparents and get involved with roasting the turkey. Tweens are slightly more co-operative as long as there is a reward, they can bring their friends and you don’t get involved. Younger than 10 age-group enjoy activities like art or acting classes, baking or karate courses, playing sport, picnics, fishing, camping and trail blazing. Preschoolers are often catered for at community centres or the local library. Shopping malls sometimes offer secure entertainment while you shop, and selected nursery schools offer holiday programmes run by students.

Toys for every age:

Babies are happy with wrapping paper and empty boxes!

Toddlers are at the destructive, messy stage. They’re also developing gross motor skills like walking, kicking, pushing and catching. Because they can’t sit still or concentrate for very long they need a variety of colourful, noisy, messy toys and games. Drums and anything musical with buttons to press, little doors to open and shapes to fit into are suitable gifts. They enjoy building towers only to knock them down, popping bubbles and throwing a ball at skittles. They love playing in the sand and water with cups and spades and messing with finger paint.

 

Preschoolers enjoy imitating adults so toys like prams, trolleys, tool kits and tea sets. They also have vivid imaginations and enjoy dressing up games, concerts and pantomimes they can participate in.  Because they’re becoming constructive and learning fine-motor skills, preschoolers enjoy creating order out of chaos – like puzzles, Lego, making things, playing house and colouring in. 

In primary school, children enjoy competitive sports and board games with the family. They’re also learning to play by the rules and accepting that you can’t always win. Children love tablets and computer games and by now, should be old enough to understand that these ‘toys’ will break if they’re dropped. Because these games tend to be ‘addictive’, parents need to allocate ‘time slots’ and stick to theses.

It’s best to give tweens and teens money for Christmas. This gives them the freedom (and responsibility) to budget and to buy what they want.  

Tips when buying toys for Christmas:

It’s best to buy what your child really wants – and not what you think your child should have. Writing a letter to Father Christmas gives you an idea of what to buy.

Play should come from the child and not the toy!

Children learn through their senses. Toys should stimulate touch, sight, sound and even smell.

Don’t buy cheap toys – they break easily and sharp edges can be dangerous.

Beware of imitation musical instruments e.g. piano’s and guitars – these could damage your child’s musical tone. If your child is musical, buy a second-hand instrument that’s in good condition.  

Gestational Diabetes - November is Diabetes Awareness Month

When is too much sugar ‘too much’ during pregnancy?

Craving sugar during pregnancy is normal and having your urine tested for sugar at ante-natal visits is pretty routine. On the odd occasion when sugar is found in your urine, it simply means that excess blood sugar has spilled from your kidneys into your urine.

After 28 weeks, all women are checked for ‘gestational diabetes’ or ‘pregnancy diabetes’. At this stage, hormones from the placenta can cause an ‘insulin resistance’. As a result, the body sometimes can’t make enough insulin to cope with higher blood sugar levels associated with pregnancy. This causes gestational diabetes, and if not treated, can lead to a few complications.

Urine testing is done with labstix, so the results are instant. How often and how much sugar is found in your urine will tell your doctor or midwife whether more tests are necessary e.g. glucose screening or glucose tolerance tests.

Gestational diabetes is more likely to affect overweight and older women and those who have a family history of diabetes.

Symptoms of gestational diabetes: 

Sudden and intense bouts of hunger with an urgent thirst. Needing to pee more often. Frequent vaginal and urinary tract infections. High blood pressure.

Complications of gestational diabetes (if left untreated): 

Very large baby, hypertension and the risk of preeclampsia.

What can you do?

For your glucose screening test at 28 weeks, you will be given something very sweet to drink and an hour later, your blood will be tested for sugar levels. A normal reading will be less than 140 mg/dL or 7.8 mmol/L. If your doctor/midwife is not happy with the results, you may need to have a glucose-tolerance test.

Gestational diabetes can be easily managed with diet, exercise and if necessary, medication.

Your blood sugar levels and urine will be tested regularly.

Because you may be more prone to infections (especially bladder or UTIs), take extra precautions to prevent these by always wiping from front to back after using the toilet, not wearing tight jeans or underwear and urinating after sex.

Overweight women who exercise, cut their risks of gestational diabetes by half!

After the birth:

Your health-care will be pretty routine. Luckily, most women (98%) recover from gestational diabetes. Very few (about 2%) may go on to becoming type 2 diabetics after the pregnancy, or when they are older.

Women who have had gestational diabetes should go for regular check-ups, control their weight with diet and regular exercise, and tell their doctor if they notice any diabetes symptoms.

Help your child cope with bullying

What to do about bullying

October is Bullying Prevention Month. Bullying is a symptom of a lawless society and one of the biggest problems in schools today. It’s not only physical bullying that’s on the increase, emotional and cyber-bullying is too.

When my son was bullied at school in grade 7, I knew that he had to learn to stand up for himself, and that intervening would make the situation worse. So, I suggested that we bake a batch of ‘Brooklax’ cookies for him to take to school and teach the bullies a lesson. (Brooklax is a ‘chocolate’ laxative).

I bought two boxes of the stuff, grated it and added it to the biscuit mix. We had great fun imagining the chaos that would erupt in the classroom after lunch break – or later the next afternoon on the sports field. We left the biscuits on a wire-rack to cool with strict instructions to the rest of the family not to sample any – if they chose to, they did so at their own risk!

When my husband came home from work, we managed to warn him in time before he sampled a cookie. But he was not impressed and said that I, a nurse of all people, was behaving irresponsibly! So, I threw the cookies away. But I considered the exercise a success because my son and I had had a good laugh and this seemed to quell his inhibitions. It was the last I heard of the problem.

Bulling amongst girls comes in the way of bitchiness. When my daughter was continually demeaned by a girl in her class, I suggested she take her a slab of chocolate (no Brooklax this time) to sweeten the friendship. As a result, they became firm friends. It turned out the girl’s parents were going through a really ugly divorce at the time.

I appreciate that these are really minor examples of bullying, but the point I want to make is that it is how parents and teachers react to bullying that’s important. Inevitably the bully is punished, exiled or even expelled and this only expounds the problem for the bully – whose trouble-making was a cry for help in the first place.

The profile of a bully is a child/teenager who is often withdrawn, seemingly ungrateful, stubborn and sulky, defensive with extreme mood changes, who can’t control their temper. Some of these characteristics may stem from genetic make-up, an unhappy family with issues like depression, dependency or divorce. As a result, the child has a poor self-image, may always get into trouble at school and gets their revenge by hurting others.

Why do children become bullies?

For some children who are brought up in institutions or foster homes, bullying is their survival. Living on the dingy side of town where gangs, drugs, alcohol and poverty is part of its make-up, initiates children into bullying as a way of life.

Problems at home such as illness, the death of a parent, abusive partners, sexual assault and illegal immigration that forces families to live on the edge of survival, erupts when children lash out at ‘privileged’ children at school or in the neighbourhood as a way of coping with their own anger and frustrations.

Children who are constantly criticized or belittled by their parents, become accustomed to this type of communication, and doing this to other children is their way of coping. Children who are always disappointed by their parents, never learn trust or responsibility.  

How do you know when your child is being bullied?

Children often hide bullying. They feel humiliated and ashamed and don’t like talking about it – even to their parents. Tell-tale signs like torn clothes, cuts and bruises should alert parents. If there are no physical signs, children can become withdrawn and behave differently – they may not want to eat or overeat, become diligent or slack, start getting poor grades at school or become aggressive at home.

What can parents do if their child is bullied?

Make time to talk to your child. Take a walk to the shops or go for a milk-shake. If your child is a teenager, go to the park (remember they don’t want their friends to see them at the mall with their parents).

Be calm. Give your child the chance to tell you the whole story without interruptions. Discuss options. Make decisions and act on these. Talk about the progress.

If the bullying continues or the issues are beyond your control, make an appointment to speak to the school principal. It may be necessary for authorities to step in before the situation gets out of hand.

Above all, teach your child confidence. Learning to take control of the situation will teach your child a valuable life lesson. After all, bullies are not limited to childhood. We have to learn how to deal with them in everyday in adult-life too. 

What to do when your baby has diarrhea

Diarrhea in babies

Not exactly the topic for a tea party, but never-the-less important – especially for new moms who worry about anything out of the ordinary!

When do I know my baby has diarrhea?

Newborns have a variety of soft stools, and these are not necessarily diarrhea. Meconium is the first stool – it’s a sticky, tarry-black colour and is made up of mucous waste collected in the intestines during the pregnancy. Breast-fed babies have very soft (often frothy) greenish, yellowish, mustard-coloured stools at first. This change in colour is a good sign and means that the gut is absorbing and excreting extra bilirubin – the waste product of broken-down red blood cells. Frequent, soft stools (about half an hour after feeding) is normal – so don’t stress about it.

Teething babies often have soft runny stools that cause nappy rash. This is probably because they’re dribbling so much, their salivary glands are over-stimulated by chewing on everything – especially car keys that aren’t exactly sterile!

Babies stools change in colour, smell and consistency when you introduce solids. This is normal and nothing to worry about. Chronic diarrhea without symptoms of illness when formula is introduced may be caused by a lactose intolerance. Soy-based, lactose-free formula can be used to help baby during this transition from breast to bottle feeding.  

Diarrhea caused by an infection comes with vomiting and a fever. Babies can quickly lose up to 5% of body weight over 24 hours. When this happens, it’s important to spoon-feed small, frequent amounts of re-hydration fluid and get medical help. Don’t give your baby medicine for diarrhea.

Babies younger than 6 months with watery stools for 24 hours should be taken to the doctor.

What can I do when my baby has diarrhea?

It’s a mistake to stop feeds – especially breast feeding. Fluids are essential to replace those that are lost with diarrhea – especially in babies younger than 6 months – and vomiting babies. Extra re-hydration fluids (at room temperature) should be given with a teaspoon every 10 – 20 minutes (this minimises the chances of vomiting) until you can see the doctor.

Re-hydration fluid recipe:

Six (6) level teaspoons of Sugar

Half (1/2) level teaspoon of Salt

One Litre (4 cups 250 mls each) boiled and cooled clean water.

Babies with diarrhea who are older than 6 months and eating solids can be given mashed banana, jelly and grated apple or soft cooked white rice.

What is lactose intolerance?

Your baby’s gut is lined with minuscule ‘fingers’ that absorb the nutrients from his diet. Diarrhea can damage these fingers so that they stop producing certain enzymes (lactase and sucrose) that absorb milk carbohydrates. Formula with lactose can prolong diarrhea and also cause colic, flatulence, abdominal pain and even weight loss.

Preventing diarrhoea:

Before baby starts crawling, scrub and sterilise all bottles, teats and dummies. Make sure your hands are clean before preparing baby’s feeds. Babies younger than 6 months only need breast-milk or formula. Juices and teas can be introduced later.

When introducing juice, give your baby 100% fresh fruit juice diluted (50/50) with cooled, boiled water. Don’t give him artificially sweetened juices, cola’s or soda’s.

Only use modified cow’s milk formulas for babies younger than one year. After his first birthday, you can give your baby full-cream cow’s milk – initially diluted 50/50, gradually strengthening it – to check for intolerance.

Christmas preparation tips

Family Feuds and Christmas Festivities

Shopping today, I noticed that Christmas paraphernalia has hit the shelves. It got me thinking that it’s that time of the year when we either dread or look forward to family reunions. Like it or not, the time has come to start planning Christmas festivities and family traditions.

I remember the bliss of childhood innocence when Christmas was magic – no matter what the circumstances were. We lived for the day when Father Christmas mysteriously arrived, brought presents and ate the Christmas cookies. The tree, the lights and the tinsel – aunties and uncles, cousins and friends, the turkey, Christmas hats and tickies in hot Christmas pudding smothered with creamy custard.

Little did we realise the work that went into it all. The saving, the shopping, the slogging over a hot oven and bringing family together despite any unpleasantness that had fractured relationships during the year. You see, it’s important to repair broken links before the family chain is shattered by misunderstandings and mistakes we’ve made. It’s good to get the New Year off to a clean start when we sing Old Lang Syne!

Just one time during the year do we get teary-eyed and laugh; the nursery-school pantomime, the church services, the carol singing, the comrade of the congregation. When the world stands still while the children search the star-studded sky for the lights on Father Christmas’s sleigh!

Remember that as a couple, opposites attract, so family from both sides are going to be very different!  Even though women have (to some degree) domesticated men, they’re never-the-less still aggressive, territorial and competitive. When it comes to social skills, accept that they’re likely to bring their office to the party and discuss business and politics while they huddle around the braai. If you seriously want to avoid confrontations, stagger events and invite family and friends you know will get along.

Some families are lucky to have a house and garden big enough to fit everybody – but it’s hard on them when they’re expected to do the catering year after year. It’s a good idea to rotate the host family, and to get everybody involved. Children often complain that they are bored during the school holidays – get them busy making Christmas decorations and presents – there are so many ideas on the internet.

If you’re a list person, here are a few suggestions to get started:

• Use up everything in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. Give them a good clean and then stock up for Christmas and New year
• Make a list of gifts, and buy one or two every time you go shopping
• Decide on a colour theme and get the kids to help with the decorations
• Write a to-do list e.g. garden, tidy cupboards, sort children’s clothes for the holiday etc.
• Go through the children’s clothes before you shop for new so that you know don’t duplicate. Good second-hand clothing can be donated to a charity shop or children’s home
• Go through your children’s toys and sport equipment.  Scrub those that they have outgrown, dress up the dolls and put games and puzzles together for children who are less fortunate. It’s good to teach children that Christmas is also about giving and not only getting!

Most important, pick up the phone and speak to the person you have avoided this year. Make amends. It’s surprisingly easier than you think. It will be a great start to the Christmas season!