Nap time is critical to your child’s health and well being. Children who do not take a nap tend to be smaller, hyperactive, and prone to frequent illness. Lack of sleep can cause aggressiveness, irritability, crying, whining, defiant or impulsive behavior, and a short attention span. A lack of sleep affects your child’s brain development, as well as his physical growth.

Young children need between 13 and 14 hours of sleep daily. Generally, this works into about 11 hours at night and a 2 hour nap. I have heard many parents claim that if their child takes a nap, then he will not sleep at bedtime. Other parents say their child simply will not sleep at naptime, and they give up trying. Yet all you have to do is visit a day care center shortly after lunch and you will see that nearly every child is sound asleep. What is the difference?

The secret ingredient is… (drumroll, please) ROUTINE!

Day care teachers could never get all those children to sleep if it weren’t for routine. The better the day care, the more they stick to their routine. A daily routine helps a child to be hungry when it’s time to eat, and to be tired when it’s time to sleep. Sticking to a routine requires that a parent be disciplined. Disciplined parents have disciplined children, and the opposite is also true. Children will learn whatever behavior we model for them.

Your daily routine should begin at the same time every day. Whether you get up at 6:00 am or 9:00 am doesn’t matter as long as you do it every single day. You cannot change your schedule on the weekend. If you let your young child stay up late on Friday and Saturday night, you are guaranteeing that Monday morning is going to be horrendous. There is a lot of research that claims sleep in the earlier hours of the evening is more beneficial been sleeping late in the morning. The old adage, ” early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” may yet prove true.

So get a pen and paper and start to work on your routine. What time would you like your child to be asleep by every night. 11 hours later will be your approximate time to begin your daily routine. If you would like your child to be asleep by 8:00 PM every night, then his daily wake up time is 7:00 AM. It might be even better to plan his go to sleep time at 7:00 PM, but that depends on a number of other factors, such as older children in the home. It is important to note that if you want your child to be asleep by 8:00 PM, then his bedtime is actually 7:30 PM.

If you haven’t already created a bedtime routine, do it now. This is a series of events (usually five) that always take place every single evening right before bedtime. It generally takes about a half hour, and may include: bathtime, pajama time, story time, prayer time, and cuddles. For more on establishing a bedtime routine, read: Hassle-Free Bedtime.

Why am I stressing bedtime in an article about naps? Because the two go hand-in-hand. A child who is over-tired, over-stimulated, and resisting naps, is a child who needs more sleep at bedtime. To establish a good nap, you must also establish a consistent bedtime.

Okay, you have your ideal schedule, your bedtime routine, and when you would like your child to take a nap. Your child is eating regular, nutritious meals at about the same time every day. Now, you need to see that his morning includes a variety of activities, including some large-muscle activities outside. This does not mean that you have to amuse him! The young child has a fantastic imagination and a wealth of creative potential. You simply have to provide the tools and the time, and a safe environment. To see what sort of activities I do in the mornings with my granddaughter, you can read: Working with the Lesson Plans: Schedules

Your child went to sleep last night around 8:00 pm, and awoke full of energy this morning just before 7:00 am. He did some puzzles, ate breakfast, colored a picture in his journal. He played with his toys for ninety minutes while you got some work done. Then you took him outside to ride his trike while you jogged along beside him. He came in, washed up, and ate a healthy lunch. It is time for the culmination of all your hard work- The Nap!

Again, this is easier with a routine. It doesn’t need to be as long as the bedtime routine. My granddaughter goes potty, washes hands, and brushes her teeth. Then she takes off her shoes (if they are still on!) and selects TWO books from the pile we previously checked out of the library. She grabs a toy and a blanket, usually her baby doll named Sarah, and a small, flannel baby receiving blanket. Then she scrambles up onto my bed. Sometimes I take her back to her house to sleep in her crib at naptime, but during the day I feel it is okay for her to sleep in a “big bed”. For one, I’m not sleeping. I am awake and alert, and she is not going to get up and get into trouble while my back is turned.

I crawl into bed beside her and read both books. One story isn’t long enough for her to unwind, and any more than two just takes too long. I read two picture books. Then I let her look at them on her own for ten minutes. I want her to love books! I want her to feel that books are like best friends. I lay down beside her and I read for ten minutes, too, modeling the behavior I want her to learn. Of course, I usually read a paperback romance, and I’d rather she read the encyclopedia when she’s older… but that’s another story!

I give her a few count-down warnings. “You may look at books for six more minutes…. You may look at your books for two more minutes…” etc. (See Eliminating Tantrums, the count-down method. )Then, I take away her books.

Sometimes she whimpers. More so if it’s Monday morning, and her schedule was hectic on the weekend with her mom. She is tired, relaxed, and fed. She’s had plenty of exercise both physically and mentally. She will fall asleep.

At first, while you are teaching your child to sleep at nap time, you may need to rub his back or gently stroke his forehead with a loving, gentle touch. Maybe the first day you have to rub his back for thirty minutes. The second day maybe only twenty-nine minutes. Within a few weeks, his body will have adjusted. Research claims that it takes 21 days to create a new habit.

Love nap time! Your child can be most precious at this time of day. As you cuddle with him or her in those last moments before they drift off to sleep, you may hear the most amazing things come from their lips! One afternoon, my granddaughter patted my cheek with her plump little baby-girl fingers, and whispered, “You’re my best friend, gramma!”

Finally – don’t let nap time go on too long. There needs to be a time to get up! If you let your child sleep beyond the time you established in your schedule, you will make it harder for him to get to sleep at bedtime. Keep track of how much he sleeps. If he slept eleven hours last night, then he only needs between an hour and a half to two hours for nap. He may wake up sweetly with hugs and sunshine, or he may wake up crabby for a while. You need to let him establish this new routine, and then you can teach him “how to wake up.”

So what will you do with your nap time? Whatever you want! Plan for it, treasure it. Use this time as “you” time. Taking care of young children can be exhausting. Find what you need to do to “recharge” your batteries. If you have several children under the age of five, you may need to take a nap yourself. Maybe you’d really love to have a long, luxurious bubble bath and read a novel-without being interrupted by your young child! Just don’t fall into the routine of doing housework at this time. For one, your little one isn’t going to sleep through the sound of the refrigerator opening or the vacuum cleaner gobbling up legos. For another, housework really isn’t going to rejuvenate you and refresh you, so that you will be at your best when your little one wakes up.

There are a few other tricks you can use to make nap time run more smoothly – these, I feel are “extras” and not part of the basic package. Some parents like to get a special “nap time” blanket or bedroll or cot. Some parents dim the lights, play soft music, and rock their child. Some like to use a large timer, and set it where the child can see it, but not touch it – when the timer goes off, then the child may get up. I would urge you NOT to put your child down watching the television. That will keep your child awake. Maybe he will eventually fall asleep, but it will take much longer than necessary, and turn his mind to mush in the process .

For further reading:
The No-cry Nap Solution by Elizabeth Pantley
The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parents Guide to Getting Your Child To Sleep by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivak
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth

Related Articles:
Common Bedtime Mistakes Parents Make
Play Areas for Encourage Creativity

Photo Credits:
Top:sdminor01
Middle: Courage Knight
Bottom: Courage Knight

How do you wake up in the morning? Are you often tired, depressed, or apathetic? Maybe you long for just a few more minutes of sleep… Wouldn’t it be great to wake up with enthusiasm, energy and even joy!

How are your days, after you’ve managed to get your eyes to stay open? Are you doing what you love, and do you love what you’re doing? Do you feel successful, empowered, fulfilled?

Goal-setting is the key to a successful life. You can’t “get there” if you don’t know where “there” is!

Another part of goal-setting, though, is making positive affirmations. We all have enough negativity in our lives. Our parents and relatives may have started it, unknowingly, by telling us what we can’t do. Some of it was important – “you can’t run across the street without holding a grown-up’s hand.” Some of it was crippling – “you can’t do that, that’s absurd, who ever heard of a grown person doing that for a living!” Think carefully before you speak to your child. Allow him the pleasure of his dreams!

Being a positive person is as simple as deciding that you want to be a positive person. Whenever you feel a negative thought pop into your head, stop yourself! Consciously change your negative thought to a positive one. Then say three or four positive things in a row, and don’t forget to grin. Not just a wimpy little lift the corner of your lip half-smirk, but a big, wide, show-all-your teeth grin! Learn to embrace life, and to enjoy it! Your children will reap the benefits. They live by your example. They will learn to be positive thinkers. They will learn to set goals and not only achieve them, but far surpass them!

If you don’t think you know how to be positive, here is a little four-year-old girl to teach you. The first words she says are, “I can be a SARK.” There was a lot of discussion on the internet about what she meant by that. Some thought she was being imaginative, and saying she could be a “shark”, but her speech is actually very clear. I think she meant to say, “I can be a SARK.” SARK, or Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, is an author of several uplifting, positive thinking, self-empowering books for children and adults, including “Make Your Creative Dreams Real.”

So, watch this adorable video. Read great books, and fill your life with uplifting, encouraging, positive friends. Limit the time you spend around the nay-sayers in your life, for they will only drag you down. You owe it to yourself to live life fully and abundantly.

Great books to read:
The Holy Bible
Make Your Creative Dreams Real
Succulent Wild Woman
SARK’s Journal and PlayBook
The Secret
See You At the Top

A great website, to learn more about setting goals and achieving them:
www.goalsmentor.com

Today’s post is written by a friend and mentor, Shanna Beaman. She is the creator of www.emomsblog.com and www.goalsmentor.com. She is a happily married mother of two, who has found a balance between work and family. I met her at the beginning of my blogging career, and we have encouraged and supported one another as we learned to express ourselves in this new medium. Her special niche is teaching others how to reach their goals. I hope you enjoy the following article as much as I have, and that you’ll put it to good use!

Dusting Off Your Dreams
by Shanna Beaman

When your children nap or start kindergarten, take some time for yourself to dust off your dreams.

As a mother or a father, giving 100% of yourself to your family is natural and you love and enjoy every minute of it. There does come a time when you have time to think about doing something for yourself, your future, and the future of your family.

What are your goals and dreams? What do you aspire to or hope for? Goals help turn these “wishes” into reality. You can have what you desire with some planning and that is what goal setting is all about. Goal setting gives you the necessary confidence you need to know that you can have anything in life that you want.

What is a goal?

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Why should you set goals?

Goals give you direction; they give you a road map. You can’t arrive at a specific destination if you don’t know where you are going. When you know where you are going you will stop driving around in circles and head straight for your destination.

Goals create enthusiasm. Enthusiasm comes from within and when you have a goal, you have a purpose. Every day when you awaken you are excited to get up because you know where you are going and you are getting closer to reaching your dreams!

Goals make you happy. Your mind is alive because it has something encouraging to focus on. Goals help eliminate negative thoughts and discontentment.

Goals help you overcome obstacles. Obstacles are what you see when you take your sites off your goals, so if you don’t have goals, you’re forced to focus on obstacles.

Goals give you discipline. Goals make you mind yourself. Instead of just going through your everyday actions, now you will be asking yourself “Is this action taking me closer to or farther away from my goals?”

Goals give you confidence. When you have clearly defined and written goals, you move toward those goals with unshakable confidence. You don’t let anything get in your way.

If goals are such a great thing then why don’t more people set them? The only reasons that seem reasonable are that people don’t know how and/or they just don’t understand the importance of setting goals.

How do you set goals?

You write them down using these key factors:

• Your goals must be written in a present, positive state as if you have already achieved your goal.
• Your goal must be measurable, attainable and tangible.
• You must have a deadline, a timeframe, in place for when you will reach that goal.
• You must list the obstacles and the solutions to overcome the obstacles you may encounter.
• You must reward yourself when you reach predetermined milestones or when you reach your goal.

It is imperative that your goals incorporate these factors in order to be effective.

Be sure you set goals in every area of your life. A balanced life is a good life. The areas in which to set goals for are:

• Physical and health
• Financial
• Family and relationship
• Spiritual
• Educational and mental

Get serious about doing something for yourself. Writing down your goals and having a purpose to achieve your goals will benefit not only you, but your family and others around you.

Shanna Beaman

For more information on setting goals, visit: www.goalsmentor.com

Photo Credits:
Reaching the top: D. Sharon Pruit
I made it! D. Sharon Pruit

Introducing Your Child to His Relatives

We teach our children not to talk to strangers, and then, all of a sudden, because of something called “the Family Reunion”, that is exactly what we want our kids to do! The young child is often timid around strangers, even when those strangers are actually relatives that you just don’t get to see very often. So how can you help your child feel comfortable around his relatives, without forcing him to give hugs and kisses to such strange people?

There are several steps you can take, to make sure that everyone enjoys the reunion, create some wonderful memories, and forge some new friendships for your child that may last a lifetime.

The first step is to introduce your relatives using a photo album. Take large, clear pictures of each relative, alone. Using a magnetic photo album, insert copies of the pictures into the pages, along with large, clear labels of each name. Magnetic albums are not good for your photographs. Over time, the colors will fade. For albums that you want to keep, you’ll need to look for “archival quality” paper, that is acid-free and lignen-free. But for a toddler’s picture book, nothing quite holds up like a sturdy magnetic album. That’s why you’ll make duplicate copies of your photos. One to put in your child’s magnetic picture book, and another to save.

This magnetic album is your child’s. Let him look through the pictures often. Read the names aloud to him. Ask him to tell the names back to you. When that relative calls on the phone, get the album out, and point to the right picture. Let the relative say “hi” to your young child on the phone, and encourage him to say something back. When you go through the book again, tell him short stories about each relative. Some little thing that may help him put names to faces. Like, “this is Great-Grandma Biggers. She likes to paint, and has a swimming pool at her house. This is your Great Aunt Liesa, she lives on a farm with lots of cows.” The stories can get longer as your child’s attention increases. The idea is to make that person seem real, so when your child meets them in person, they won’t be total strangers.

Bring the album with you to the reunion. Let your child make a game of finding each relative in his book among the group that has gathered.

Finally, plan some activities in advance. You can ask every person attending the reunion to come up with one child-activity and one adult-activity. Getting together and talking may be exciting for the old folks, but the young ones will be bored to tears. Make sure they have fun, and they will want to come again!

At one of our family reunions, one aunt brought a gallon of bubbles solution and a variety of wands and blowers. There were twelve young children there, who absolutely loved this simple activity. They took turns blowing bubbles and catching them, chasing the bubbles, and trying to catch them on their tongues. Another organized activity was a simple scavenger hunt. Later, someone brought out paper and paint, and yet another got them all in a circle for a game of duck-duck-goose. Nothing was difficult, but without pre-planning, it might have been challenging to come up with materials and games on the spur of the moment.

Don’t forget to keep your child somewhat on his schedule, even when on vacation. If he normally takes a two hour nap, and you don’t have him take a nap at all, you may be setting him up for a major tantrum when he gets over-tired. Nothing spoils the fun quite like a two-year-old acting like a two-year-old, and a bunch of older relatives giving you unwanted advice on how they never let their kids get away with that kind of behavior.

Finally, if there are some touchy subjects that you really don’t want to talk about at the reunion, you might list them in the invitations in advance. Otherwise, try to think of all the annoying questions that really push your buttons, and think how you might answer them without causing conflict. Is there one relative that always brings up spanking? How do you usually respond to them? Is there a better way to handle that then what you’ve tried in the past?

When my children were young, my husband and I decided to homeschool them. Unfortunately, many of our relatives were public school teachers! As you can imagine, there might have been a lot of conflict at our get-togethers, but there wasn’t. My husband and I informed everyone in advance of our decision, and why. Then we went ahead and did it. We’d already earned the reputation for being a little “odd” because we didn’t let our children watch cartoons. I felt that most cartoons (except Tom and Jerry) were violent, crude, scary, or perpetuating bratty behavior that we did not allow. So I had been censoring their television viewing habits for years before the homeschooling issue came up. At first, I remember hearing some relatives remark that cartoons were harmless, but a couple of years later they noticed how well-behaved and creative and intelligent our children were. Then when they heard someone else disparage children’s television programming, I heard those same relatives inform them proudly how we never let our children watch that stuff!

Family reunions can be a wonderful way to build relationships. They can be a celebration of life, as we honor our elders and enjoy the newest generation. I have heard it said that the two most important things you can give your child are roots and wings. Roots, to know where he came from, and the freedom to fly from the nest when he’s ready. So enjoy your roots! And don’t forget to take some pictures!

Further Reading:
Family Secrets: The Path to Self-Acceptance and Reunion
Great Games: 175 Games and Activities for Families, Groups, and Children
The Berenstain Bears Family Reunion

Related Articles:
Building Family Through Tradition
Traveling with Tots
The Family Meal

Photo Credits:
Cousins:http://www.flickr.com/photos/philscoville/ / CC BY 2.0
Great Grandma with book:http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomeppy/ / CC BY 2.0
Bubbles:http://www.flickr.com/photos/slollo/ / CC BY 2.0
Kissing Cousins:http://www.flickr.com/photos/makelessnoise/ / CC BY 2.0

“Love, Laughter and the Lord.”
I just watched the most amazing video on youtube! A couple in their nineties giving a piano duet at Mayo Clinic! They were fantastic, adorable, energetic, and wonderful role models.

When I think of being ninety, I’m not usually so enthusiastic. I think of myself being old, infirm, and maybe a burden to others. I picture the forgotten generation drooling away in nursing homes wearing disposable underwear. It’s not a bright future at all. But then along comes someone – two someones – a couple who have been married for more than six decades, to show me that my future has not yet been written! It will be whatever I make of it.

Marlow and Frances Cowan believe that the secret to their longevity is love, laughter and the Lord. I encourage you to watch their performance. It won’t take long. And I bet you won’t be able to keep from smiling! By embedding this darling video to my webpage, I’ll be able to watch it again, whenever I feel the need of a happy-gram.

Find what makes you happy. Share all your love. Live every day as if it might be your last. Then when you are old, you will have no regrets… only wonderful memories.
Lorelei

The Count – Down Method

Young children get so engrossed in their activity, that they do not want to quit just because you say so. It doesn’t matter if they’re playing in the sandbox, coloring quietly, or throwing toys all around the room. If they are busy, and you tell them to stop, they are likely to pitch a fit. Depending on their basic temperament, they may merely sulk a bit, or they could wind up on the floor, kicking and screaming. So, how can you teach them that this is not appropriate behavior, without feeling like you’d like to join them on the floor for a tantrum of your own?

One method that works for many parents is the count-down method. This is more of a tantrum-avoidance technique than teaching control, but when it comes to a two- or three-year-old, it can be a real life-saver. Very simply put, you start counting down. But not like you are counting from ten to one to keep your own temper. Rather, you give your child several warnings that his activity is going to be ending soon.

For instance, the child is playing, making a great mess, but it is nearly time for clean-up, lunch, and nap. If you just tell him to pick up, you can be certain he’s going to balk. Instead, you announce, when you are certain he is looking at you and hears you, that he has five more minutes before clean up time. Then, after a bit of time, you tell him he has four more minutes, then three more minutes, etc, until it is clean-up time. He still might try to argue, but he won’t be as out-of-control as he would be if you just announced clean-up in the middle of his fun.

Young children don’t understand time. When you tell him he has five more minutes, it doesn’t really matter if you give him five minutes, two minutes, or fifteen minutes. You don’t need to set a timer, unless you really only have five minutes to allow him. What you are doing, is giving him clues, alerting him to the schedule, and allowing him time to prepare for the next event.

I use this at the children’s library with a lot of success. Our children’s library has a lot of toys. Young moms love to meet there, to let their preschoolers and toddlers interact, while they visit quietly. It has house-keeping toys, puzzles, blocks, trucks, trains, play food, a plastic house, and much more, besides shelves of books, and also a sturdy computer with a child’s sized keyboard and mouse. My granddaughter loves to go there, and used to throw a tantrum when it was time to go. Now, I let her know that she has five more minutes, and then we’ll be leaving. When the count-down has ended, she picks up the toys she was playing with so the librarian will reward her with a sticker, and she races me to the elevator so she can push the buttons. She knows we’ll be back next week. No more tantrums in the library.

I use this technique at nap time, too. I lay down with her on my big, queen-sized bed. She has several books, and I take a romance novel. I read two books to her, then I let her look at her books, while I read. After a few minutes, I give her the five minute count-down, then we both put up our books. She rarely cries at nap time now. She usually hands me her books, rolls over and goes to sleep. Sometimes I may have to rub her back for a bit, but naptimes are not the major battles we once had.

You can use this technique when it’s almost time to leave McDonald’s playland, or time to finish eating supper if your child is a food dawdler. You can count-down when it’s nearly time to leave the sandbox, to take a bath, to go anywhere, to leave anywhere – any time your child needs to transition from one activity to the next.

After you have used this technique for a year, your child may actually be ready to learn to tell time. Then you can reward him with his own watch, and let him tell you when his five minutes are up! By then, hopefully, his tantrums will long have disappeared.

Other Resources:
The Happiest Toddler on the Block: How to Eliminate Tantrums
Raising Your Spirited Child, revised edition
Ten Days to a Less Defiant Child, the Breakthrough Program

Related Articles:
Why Two Year Olds Have Tantrums
Common Bedtime Mistakes Parents Make
Hassle-Free Bed Time

Photo Credits:
Tantrum:http://www.flickr.com/photos/citril/ / CC BY 2.0
Naptime Smile:http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/ / CC BY 2.0
Swinging:http://www.flickr.com/photos/phild41/ / CC BY 2.0

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The decision to use or not use a pacifier is up to you. There is a list of pros and cons, but generally the American Academy of Pediatrics gives temporary pacifier use the green light. Among the pros, new research indicates that pacifier use reduces the risk of SIDS. However, prolonged pacifier use may contribute to dental problems.

Some parents are able to dispense with the pacifier when their baby is about six months old, but others find that their child really needs it to calm themselves, to be able to sleep, or get back to sleep after waking in the night. Some time between the ages of two and four, most children will give it up. The question,then, is how to help them through this painful process?

Here is one method that has worked for many families:

1. First, gather all the pacifiers you can find into one location. If your child is very dependent on them, you may find over a dozen in the car, your purse, the diaper bag, the crib, the toy box, and the silverware drawer. Make sure they are all clean. Because they are often wet and stored in dark places, they can be breeding grounds for bacteria. Now place the pile of pacifiers in a clear container in a prominent location. Perhaps a big, clear plastic jar on the kitchen counter.
2. Next, talk to your child about this. Tell him that he is growing, and soon he will not need a pacifier any more. Maybe you only spend a day on this step, or you might need to spend a week on it. Get some library books out on the topic of “growing up”. Help your child see that this is normal, that every body grows up. That it is okay to feel like a big boy sometimes, and still want to be held and rocked and kissed. Growing up does not have to be like going up a crowded escalator. Your child can take the stairs all by himself. Sometimes he’ll go up two steps, but then come back down one. Maybe he’ll run up three steps, but trip on the third one and want to sit there for a spell.
3. When your child is okay with the concept of “growing”, then you explain that every day he may have one pacifier, but it must stay in his crib. He can climb in his crib if he feels he really needs it. He may use it at nap time, and at bed time. But he may not take it out of his crib. And in the morning when he wakes up, HE will throw it in the trash. You will watch him do this, and make sure he doesn’t dig it back out! (Yuck!).
4. Gradually, the pile of pacifiers will diminish. As it gets smaller, praise your child often. Hold him a lot. Rock him. Comfort him. Sing to him. Don’t make him feel that he is losing your love and affection. All he is losing is something to suck. It may help, subconsciously at least, if you serve foods that require sucking. Don’t get him addicted to lolly pops! The pacifier is undoubtedly the lesser of those two evils! But you could make some frozen fruit-juice popsicles or put a straw in his glass of milk or juice.
5. Finally, the last day will come. He will throw away the last pacifier. Make it a party. Serve cake and ice cream and his favorite food for supper (assuming he has one). Take lots of pictures. Play a special game, and let him stay up just a little bit later than normal. Keep him busy all day. This would be a great day to spend at the park! You want to make sure that he is very tired at bed time, not over-tired and cranky.

Go through your regular bedtime routine, whatever that is. Often that means taking a bath, putting on clean pajamas and cuddling in the rocking chair to hear a story or two. Then put him to bed.

He might fuss a little. He might fuss a lot. Do not pick him back up. Do not bring him into your bed. You may go in his room, lay him down again if he is standing. Cover him and rub or pat his back. You may put on some soothing music. Reassure him that you love him.

Some children will cry for a day or two, but rarely longer. Then get the pacifier-be-gone photos developed and add them to your child’s scrapbook or album. You’ve done it!

If your child continues to have problems sleeping, you may want to get additional information. Here are two books on getting children to sleep. I haven’t yet read either of them, but I read all of the parent reviews posted, and they gave the books a five-star rating. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Related Articles:
In Praise of Pacifiers
Why Two-Year-Olds Have Tantrums
Hassle-Free Bedtime

Photo Credits:
Upper:http://www.flickr.com/photos/chimothy27/ / CC BY 2.0
Lower:http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/ / CC BY 2.0

This week your child will learn about good health . We tend to take our health for granted, until we don’t have it any more. However, there are five basic steps you and your child can do right now, to help you maintain and respect your health. They are:

1. Get plenty of sleep
2. Eat right
3. Exercise every day
4. drink 6 – 8 glasses of water daily
5. Wash hands often, and use soap.

If your child has problems sleeping, staying asleep, or sleeping in his own bed, then you may wish to read Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child, or The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Preschool age children need 12- 14 hours of sleep daily. Lack of sleep can cause many problems besides drowsiness. It can cause depression, clumsiness, anxiety, irritability, ADHD, memory loss, tantrums, and problems getting along with others. Also, if your child isn’t getting enough sleep, there’s a good chance you aren’t, either.

The rules for eating right haven’t changed much in years. We now have a “food pyramid” instead of the “Square Meal” that I learned in school, to show that we should eat less meats and dairy products, and more fresh fruits, vegetables, and wholesome grains. When you shop, it’s best to shop the periphery of the store, and skip the middle aisles as much as possible. Buy raw fruits and vegetables, meats, seeds, nuts, whole grain bread, and milk. Avoid pre-packaged foods, sugary foods, processed foods, artificial flavors and artificial colorings. Sugar can contribute to sleep disorders, hyperactivity, and there is almost an epidemic of juvenile diabetes today.

Exercise is very important, but most little children don’t have a problem getting enough activity in their day. They are naturally busy. If your child seems too active inside, then make sure he or she gets plenty of time outside to run, jump, hop, climb, crawl, swing, slide, dig, scream, and wiggle. You can teach him the difference between “inside voice” and “outside voice”. Outside it is okay to be loud. Inside, we need to be quieter. If you are looking for something new for your child’s outdoor play, think “bounce”. You can get either a small trampoline for under $150, or a hopper ball for under $20.

Doctors always tell us to get enough sleep, eat right, and drink plenty of water, but few of us do. Did you know that healthy urine isn’t supposed to be yellow? It should be very pale yellow, almost clear. That’s when you are consuming enough water. The darker it is in color, the more dehydrated you are. Get yourself and your child a water bottle, and fill it often. Start a chart for how much each of you are drinking. You can make a simple graph with your child, introducing him to this math concept.

Have you ever heard the expression “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”? A recent study has concluded that clean smells actually promote moral behavior! On a smaller scale, if your child bathes regularly, washes his hair, brushes teeth, washes hands, and wears clean clothes, he will be healthier than if he were allowed to live in filth. Most little children love bathtime. If your preschooler has entered a stage where he hates his bath, or fears it, you may want to read Bath Time Blues.

Finally, I have included a new section in the lesson plans for pencil and paper type preschool activities. If your child is not yet ready for this, then just ignore it. Otherwise, I will include links to specific worksheets you can print off, or else most grocery stores sell preschool workbooks near the checkout. These worksheets were taken from www.sproutonline.com, www.first-school.ws, and www.kidzone.ws .

All of the recommended books can be found here, if you do not find them, or a suitable substitute, at your public library.

Enjoy this week! And take pictures. I’d love to post some of them here.

Worksheet 1, worksheet 2, worksheet 3, worksheet 4, worksheet 5.

Health Week Lesson Plans

Photo Credits:
Sleep:http://www.flickr.com/photos/iandeth/ / CC BY 2.0
Exercise:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobikefed/ / CC BY 2.0