Fingernails can be a window to what’s going on deep inside you! Pale, whitish nail beds may be a symptom of anemia. White nails may indicate liver disease, while red nail beds may indicate heart disease. So what do short, chewed off nails mean?

Some children develop the habit of chewing on their fingernails. Maybe they do it because they have frequent hangnails or split nails that are annoying them. Maybe they observe a parent or caregiver do it, and they are simply imitating a learned behavior. But for many children, it is believed that biting nails is a form of stress relief.

Why should we care? Is it really something we should concern ourselves over? That is a question only you can answer. If it doesn’t bug you, then go ahead and ignore it. Generally, most kids outgrow this habit about the time that it starts to bother them.

However, there are a number of reasons why you should care, why it should bother you, why you should try to help your child break himself from his chewing habit.

1. children’s hands touch a lot of things! They are dirty! Think of all the bacteria they are ingesting every time they bite their nails!
2. Chewed fingernails can become stuck between teeth or under the gums, spreading bacteria and leading to cavities and gum disease.
3. torn nails and damaged skin are breeding grounds for bacteria. The nail bed can become infected. The the whole finger can become inflamed.
4. compulsive nail biting in young children can lead to deformed teeth
5. Lead is found in higher concentrations among nailbiters than the general public. Lead poisoning can significantly lower I.Q. levels.
6. Adults who continue to chew their nails are less productive than their non-gnawing counterparts.

So, if you have a chewer in the family, there are several things you can try to help them stop.

First, keep a record of every time you see your child bite his nails. What is he doing? Does he bite his nails every time he watches TV? Or only when Aunt Lulu comes to visit? Does he chew when he’s in church, or trying to fall asleep? Knowing when he bites may help you understand WHY he bites.

If he’s chewing away while watching T.V., then it’s just a mindless habit. Getting him to stop may be no harder than helping him find something else to occupy his hands. You can keep drawing paper, pencils and crayons near the T.V. and encourage him to draw instead. With an older child, you could try teaching them to knit or crochet. A child who mindlessly chews his nails is also a child who may start to mindlessly eat – so finding a better thing to do with his hands could save him from a weight problem in the future.

Does your child bite when when she is scared, worried, frightened, intimidated, or otherwise experiencing stress? This is believed to be the main reason why people – child and adult alike – chew their nails. Help your child understand why she’s biting her nails. Help her verbalize what’s upsetting her. Help her discuss it. Sometimes just acknowledging that a child is under stress is enough to help them overcome it. Children experience a lot of emotions, but they lack any understanding of those emotions. They may not know that it is actually okay to be mad!

Teach your child what emotions are. Help him verbalize them all. If you see him throwing toys and screaming, tell him, “I see that you are angry. It is okay to be angry. It is not okay to throw toys and scream in the house, but it is okay to be angry. Can you think of something better to do when you get like this? What if you went outside and pounded nails into a log?” (Or whatever activity you feel would be a good way to release stress).

If your child only seems to gnaw away when his nails are rough and annoying him, then make a manicure part of the nightly bath routine. Trim his nails, file them smooth. Teach him how to wash beneath the nails with a nail brush. Help him learn to use an emory board to sooth away ragged edges. Rub a bit of moisturizer into the nail and cuticle every night. If your yougster would like it, try painting on some nail polish. Help her to see her nails as something pretty, rather than something delicious.

Many people have found a cure in a bottle. They buy products that make the nail taste bad to discourage biting. Now there are natural products that you can use, that won’t poison your little one. One product uses pepper and citric acid. Another uses a blend of bitter-tasting vitamins and minerals. Some websites say NOT to use these products unless your child is eager and willing to stop this habit. I wonder why? Is it not “good parenting” to teach our children? We teach our children to brush their teeth and to hold our hand before crossing the street. We don’t ask them if they mind having their teeth clean or if they object to surviving to walk across the street another day! I say “hog wash”. If your child is a biter, and you want to stop this habit, then try every product on the market until something works!

If you found a way to break your child of this habit that is not mentioned here, please share it! We look forward to hearing from you.

If you are new here, you may want to read:
Ten steps to boost your child’s creativity
Vitamin Deficiencies in Children
Play areas for encouraging creativity in Children

Thanks for visiting! And don’t forget to subscribe - you’ll never miss another update again.

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Drop in to any parenting website, chat room, or pick up a magazine aimed toward parents of young children, and I can almost guarantee that you will find at least one discussion – and probably many more than one – on the fussy eater. It’s almost an epidemic! Many young children between the ages of eighteen months and forty-eight months seem to survive on love alone. They don’t want to drink their milk, eat their cereal, finish their sandwich, taste their vegetables, or even look at their dinner. But when you’re in the checkout aisle at the grocery store they’re always hungry for that candy bar or sugary soda. To exacerbate the problem, the young child is often loud and vocal about their changing food preferences. Instead of a polite “no thank you” to the spaghetti or green beans you are about to serve, they may shout a resounding, “Yuck!”

The worst meal of the day for families with young children is definitely dinner time. Moms and dads are tired. One or both of them just got home from work. They’re eager to get dinner over with, so they can get their screaming tots into the bath, then into bed, before they can finally take a break. And the worst, absolutely the worst thing either of them can do is engage in a power struggle with that child over what food passes between his lips. Once a parent demands that they clean up their plate, it is no longer an issue of health and nutrition. This is a battle of wills, and one the parent cannot win. If the child does eat, he’s not forming healthy, happy eating habits. If he doesn’t eat, the parent will either cave in, or be forced to discipline the child, which can lead to life-long eating disorders.

So end the meal time battle right now, and try a few of the following alternatives.

• Eliminate all refined sugar from your child’s diet. Sugar is not nutritious, but when your child eats even just a little sugar, it changes his palate, and he’ll crave sugary foods even more. He won’t want to eat anything that isn’t sweet. It takes a few weeks to break the sugar addiction, but once you do, you’ll really appreciate how much better all your other food tastes. Natural sugar found in fruit is fine – in moderation, of course.
• Establish specific meal times, and stick to the plan. Write down what time you eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Serve them at the same time every day. Keep them about three hours apart, with NO SNACKING in between. Your child is more likely to eat if he comes to the dinner table hungry.
• Provide plenty of activity during your child’s day. See that he has time to run and play outside, dance, jump, ride a tricycle, throw a ball, climb, hop, crawl, and turn somersaults. Don’t raise a couch potato. If your child is burning calories, he’ll need to refuel at the dinner table.
• Serve more raw foods, more individual foods, and fewer casseroles. It is not uncommon for a little child to like to eat carrots, corn, green beans, and peas, but refuse to eat “veg-all” with all of those vegetables mixed in together. Remember when your young child was still an infant, you might have fed him a jar of peas and a jar of apricots for a meal, but you probably didn’t feed him a jar of lasagna.



• Set the table. Eat at the table. Don’t serve dinner in the car – ever – if possible! Use a tablecloth sometimes. Set out special plates. Use cloth napkins. Light the candles. Make dinner fun! Play Italian music when you serve pizza, or Mexican music when you have tacos.
• Go on a picnic. No matter what the season, you can take a picnic outdoors. My dad used to love winter picnics. I can remember him bringing a broom to wipe the snow off the picnic tables in the park. We’d have thermoses of hot soup and cocoa. You could build a fire in the fire pit or charcoal grill and toast marshmallows.
• Who said picnics have to be outside? Once in a while, take a picnic to the living room. Spread a vinyl tablecloth over the carpet, and serve your favorite picnic fare on the floor. Maybe the teddy bears could join you for this picnic?
• be realistic about what you expect your young child to eat. His stomach is only about the size of his fist. Make his servings MUCH smaller! Half of one slice of bread is a serving for the 2 – 5 year old child, yet if you make him a sandwich, he’s getting four times that amount! For many fruits, a serving size is only 2 Tablespoons – not the whole banana. It’s better to get him to eat two grapes, then ask for more,than to overwhelm him with a whole bunch.
• Plan mealtime conversations. Instead of talking about what he is or isn’t eating, or yelling at him to clean up his plate, engage him in conversation about his day. Ask what he did, what he enjoyed, what he learned. There are whole websites devoted to encouraging pleasant mealtime conversations for the family. (See a few listed at the end of this article).
• If your child still does not eat his supper, he can still sit at the table with the family until they are all finished. He is part of the family, and mealtimes is an important time to build relationships. After dinner, he will NOT be allowed any snacks. It won’t hurt him to go to bed hungry once in a while. In fact, no one should be eating after dinner. The after-dinner snack is a terrible habit to get in to, and if you or your child are not waking up hungry for breakfast it could be because too much food was consumed too close to bedtime the night before. Breakfast is supposed to be ‘breaking the fast” – not just throwing another log on the hot coals of a slow-burning metabolism.



What a big, beautiful smile! Wouldn’t you love to see this at your dinner table every night? Why can’t mealtimes be the highlight of the day? With a little planning, patience, and ingenuity, it can be!

Check out the book, Table Talk, Creating Meaningful Conversation with Family and Friends, now available in my store.

Table Talk websites:
Table Topics for Kids
Table Talk, How Mealtime Chatter Strengthens the Family
Family Table Talk Information

Related Reading:
Feeding the Finicky Eater

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There’ve been a few changes here lately, which explains why I haven’t posted in a while. I accepted a teaching position at a wonderful Preschool in my area. I’ll be preparing lesson plans and teaching a classroom of fifteen or more, instead of just one, and actually getting a pay check for a change. I’ll continue to post lesson plans here for parents and caregivers, though, as I hope to increase the circulation and usefulness of this blog.

Another change is temporary – I’m home sick today, perhaps with swine flu. I’ll probably stay home tomorrow, as well, so I don’t risk infecting any of the children. So while I’ve been resting and listening to the news about the spread of this virus, I’ve been concerned with ways we can protect our children and loved ones.

The biggest thing we can do is pretty basic. Wash our hands. Often. It sounds so simple, and yet, it is shocking how few people actually do this! I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been in a public restroom where other people have failed to follow this basic hygiene. Oh, some folks may flick their fingers under the cold water tap and give them a shake, but that does nothing to stop the spread of germs, bacteria and viruses. Then later, if they happen to touch their face – specifically the eyes, nose, or mouth, they’ve just “planted” any number of icky things where they can grow.

So we must teach our children the ONLY way to wash their hands – the perfect way – and instill it in them when they are small. Hopefully, as they mature, it will be such an ingrained habit that they won’t stop just because we aren’t there to remind them. I’m not suggesting that we make them all into mini “Monks” with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. No, there should be a healthy dose of normal in this act. Wash hands well, thoroughly, any time they get dirty. But it’s also okay to get dirty! Let your child play in the sandbox or make mud pies. Then just wash hands very well.

Here’s a fun activity you can do with your child as you teach him about hand washing.

1. Pour a little vegetable oil on your hands and his hands. Smoosh this all over and around, between the fingers, over the backs, into the knuckles. (As an added benefit, once this activity is over, your hands may feel extra smooth!). Talk to him about dirt, and pretend that the vegetable oil – which is not harmful – is the dirt we get on our hands. Shake a tiny bit of cinnamon onto your hands. Talk to him about germs, bacteria and viruses, how they are teeny-tiny and invisible to our “naked” eye, unless we have a powerful magnifying glass. These tiny things are what can make us sick. Pretend that cinnamon specks are viruses. Now, try to wash them off with plain cold water. It doesn’t work very well, does it?

2. Add soap, and use warm water. Now wash hands – see how much better the vegetable oil and cinnamon disappears?

3. Explain that he should ALWAYS use soap and warm water to wash his hands.

4. Talk about WHEN he should wash his hands, ticking them off on his fingers. Review this with him often. He has five fingers, five times he should wash his hands. There are other times – like after visiting a sick friend, or changing a baby’s diapers, but I wanted to keep the list simple so your child can memorize it.

*Before preparing or eating food.

*After playing outside

*After coughing, sneezing, or blowing his nose

*After using the bathroom

*After playing with a pet

5. Talk about HOW LONG he should wash his hands. Sing this little ditty I made up. Sing it through twice – that’s about how long you should take to wash your hands thoroughly, every time – or about twenty seconds. Sing it to the tune of “Happy Birthday to you!”

When you go to wash your hands
Use lots of soap and warm water
Rub them briskly together
And bad germs you will slaughter!

6. When soap and warm water are not available, you may consider using an alcohol-based sanitizer, but BE CAREFUL! Some children have been to the emergency room from hand-sanitizer poisoning. Snopes.com has collected the reports, deciding that this is “true” and not another urban legend. Keep hand sanitizer out of the reach of children, supervise them when using it, and never, ever let them lick their hands after using it! Hand sanitizer smells nice, and most kids will want to taste it. Weird, for us grown ups, but kids learn about everything through their five senses. When they encounter something new, they want to see it, touch it, shake it, smell it, and stick it in their mouth.

It is not necessary to use anti-bacterial soaps! In fact, the use of such soaps may be doing more harm than good. Soap and water kill germs. Overuse of antibiotics can create “super” germs that are resistant to antibiotics. Plain soap decreases the surface tension of water, and adheres to dirt, bacteria, viruses, oil, and the like. When you lather with soap, this all combines together easily and washes down the drain. Antibacterial soap does NOT do this job any better than regular soap. Germ-killing soaps are not the same as antibacterial soaps. Germ-killing soaps use bleach or other disinfectants to kill germs. They do not contain antibiotics, and do not contribute to the “super – bug” problem.

So, have fun this week teaching your child about healthy hands, and I hope you enjoy this cinnamony-scented hand lotion!

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My third week of raw menus is finally posted. I tested all of the recipes except the Banana Creme Pie – I’m going to make that tomorrow, but it sure sounds good. I don’t know if I’m getting better at this whole raw-foods diet idea, or if my taste buds are getting sharper now that I’m not drowning them in animal fats, but these menus were really delicious! Even my husband was pleasantly surprised. One of the meals – the Gingered Carrot Coleslaw, he asked me several times, “are you sure this is good for you?” Because anything that’s good for you can’t possibly taste so good! Even if we someday give up eating raw foods, we’ll keep that recipe.

I tried something different this time, too. I wrote out recipes, not just the menu suggestions, and I tried to put things in chronological order – because some recipes require advance preparation. For instance, to make almond milk, you need to soak the almonds for 12 hours before you puree them in the blender. So if you want almond milk on your cereal for breakfast, you need to set the almonds to soak the night before.

Finally, at the end I typed up a list of ingredients, but not quantities. It’s hard to figure how much you’ll need, because I don’t know how many people are in your family, or how hungry they are. If I suggest mangoes for breakfast, a child might eat only half of one, but a husband might eat two or three whole ones. Either is fine! With the raw foods diet, it is important to eat enough raw foods to fill you. Most of us think of a 10-oz cereal bowl full of lettuce for a serving of salad. But when you’re eating raw, and the salad is your whole meal not just a side-dish, you should think more of eating the entire head of lettuce yourself!

There is, of course, a lot of variety on the web of “how” to eat a raw food diet. Some sources say as long as it’s raw, it’s okay. Some say you shouldn’t eat potatoes, carrots, or beets which are “hybrid” vegetables. I wonder why they didn’t put corn on the list – isn’t that the most genetically altered vegetable on the planet? Other sources say to avoid spices, which are all slightly toxic and harmful for the digestive system. Other sources say to be sure to add avocados and olive oil to your diet, so you do have some source of fat, yet of course, other sources claim that most of us who transition to raw eat too much fats even in our raw diet. So, unless you want to get several degrees in nutrition and fitness, you just have to make a few decisions for yourself based on the best information you have available.

I suggest using your body as a guideline. I love garlic. I’ve always cooked with garlic, and I’ve read a lot about the health benefits of garlic. But when I put two cloves of raw garlic in one of this week’s recipes, I had a bellyache for 24 hours. I may try cutting the raw garlic down to a single clove, but if it happens again, I think I’ll cut raw garlic from my diet.

The best guide for how much to eat is your body, unless you don’t trust your instincts yet. If you, like me, have a weight problem, then the cooked foods of the Standard American Diet (SAD) have overburdened your system. Your body may not know when it’s truly hungry or when it’s truly satisfied. While you transition to eating raw, you may want to consider the “recommended daily allowance” for raw foods.

Women should consume 6 pounds of fruit, 2.5 pounds of vegetables, and 1/4 pound of nuts and seeds daily.
Men should consume a bit more – 7.5 pounds of fruit, 3 pounds of vegetables, and 1/3 pound of nuts or seeds daily.

A “fruit” is any food that has seeds. So while apples, pears and peaches are fruits, so are tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados. Avoid eating hybrid fruits that do not have seeds, like seedless watermelon. I’m not sure why folks recommend that, but if you are trying to eat a raw “living” foods diet, it would stand to reason that seedless watermelon cannot be a living food.

I’m learning that in the raw foods diet, all vegetables are great, but concentrate mostly are dark green leafy vegetables, as they have the highest nutrient count. There is a wide variety – chard, collards, spinach, kale, and more. Lettuce should be leaf lettuce, not iceberg, which doesn’t have much for nutrients at all.

Another tip I’ve learned – be sure to chew your food carefully! Many people tend to give their food a few good chews, then swallow and wash it down with a drink of beverage. This is very hard on the digestive system and may cause heart-burn and gas! If you chew each mouthful 30 – 40 times before you swallow, you may find that you can throw away the ant-acids entirely. And never wash your foods down with a beverage, as you dilute your stomach acids. If you are thirsty, drink a glass of filtered water at least 30 minutes before the meal, or 2 hours afterward.

Many weight-loss programs also advise careful and thorough chewing of food, but for a different reason. If we eat too fast, our bellies are full before our brains realize it. Eat slower, and your brain can tell you when you’ve had enough, so you don’t overeat. Then I read that if you want to train yourself to eat slower, switch to chopsticks for now! Before you master the trick of chopsticks (unless you already know how to use them) you’ll have established the habit of slower eating and careful chewing.

I hope you enjoy this week’s menus! As an added bonus, I simply LOVE how much quicker most of these meals are to prepare. There are NO cooking dishes to scrub. No messy, greasy clean-up, no long-lasting food odors that hang in the air for days. And I feel so much better! Happy eating!

For more information on Raw Foods, read:
Going Raw
Raw for Life
Creative Health Institute

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When I was a child, there were no car safety seats. We didn’t wear helmets when we rode our tricycles. We didn’t have curving slides that kept you from falling off at the top platform. We played on teeter-totters that are now nearly obsolete. We climbed trees, skipped rocks, jumped off bridges into quarries to go for a swim, and played in row boats in thunderstorms without a life jacket. And I survived! But obviously, a lot of other children did not, or there would not have been so many changes made to keep children safe. Granted, some of this safety-consciousness is really more related to a fear of being sued than for any real concern for children, but the two are not mutually exclusive. If we keep our children safe, then no one has to suffer the heartbreak of loss, and no company will be sued for damages.

Car seats now are so bulky! They have straps that go this way and that, and padding all over the place, and buckles that are nearly impossible to unbuckle! They have tether straps and latches that hold them secure. And they can be placed rear-facing and semi-reclining for newborns, then turned around and up, so a toddler can see out the window. Many moms are so eager to turn their child around, that they may not wait until their child has reached the recommended height and weight. They feel that their child will be happier facing forward. And maybe having a screaming child in the car puts us at greater risk of causing an accident? But new research shows that children are five times safer in the rear-facing position.

The seat belt holds an adult securely to the seat, distributing the combined weight of our body weight and the force of the crash across our hips, ribs, and shoulder. We have strong bones there to help absorb the impact. Little children do not have strong bones like that anywhere. And their necks are so fragile, their heads large compared to the rest of their bodies. In the rear facing position, the impact is distributed all over their body, reducing the risk of a serious neck injury. Turn the safety seat around, and in a bad crash, their necks are likely to snap.

Two year old twins in the rear-facing position.

The research is so conclusive, that it is expected that the recommendations for car seat standards will change in the near future. But why wait? Help to get the word out, and encourage parents to keep their toddlers in the rear-facing position as long as possible. So how long should you keep your child turned backwards? As long as the car seat will allow. Different car seat models will have a maximum height and weight limit for the rear position, usually around 30 to 35 pounds, with some newer ones coming out that go up to 40 pounds in the rear position, and 65 pounds once it is turned forward.

Some moms wonder about their child’s legs being damaged – because their legs will be touching the back of the car seat. Won’t their legs break in a crash? It’s possible. But better a broken leg than a broken neck! There is a popular slogan for this issue being spread across the internet: “Broken legs – cast it. Broken neck – casket.”

Some parents speculate that their child just doesn’t look very comfortable all scrunched up in a rear-facing seat. I think those infant seats look incredibly comfortable! I wish the adult car seat was as cozy! What I really wonder is, if the rear-facing position is so much safer in a crash – why doesn’t everyone except the driver face backwards?

For more information, check out:
Video of forward and rear-facing crash dummies
News article on car seat standards
Rear-facing Car Seats for older children
The Kyle David Miller Foundation

Photo Credits:
All photos by: MammaBunch84

When was the last time you were stuck in traffic with your toddler or preschool child, when he just did not want to be in his car seat any more? Maybe you had a head-ache, or weren’t feeling great yourself. Maybe it was getting hot inside, and the air conditioner wasn’t working properly. Or maybe the opposite was true – it was the middle of winter and the windows were too foggy to see out of? Nearly all of us can recall at least one time when we were sorry the automobile was ever invented.

Traveling with children doesn’t have to be synonymous with horrendous, grueling, pull-out-your-hair bad days. With a little planning and foresight, young children can learn to amuse themselves and be great traveling companions. So, it’s time to put plan “B” into action. Think ahead and plan for those “worst possible moments” so you’ll have an alternative to swallowing half a bottle of pain relievers with the cold dregs of this morning’s left-over coffee.

First, the bag. Use a child-sized backpack in a bright, pretty color. It’s important to get something the child likes and recognizes, something the child could carry. Don’t get an adult backpack, and fill it with so much stuff that you need a dolly to carry it out to the car. Children are funny, in that more isn’t necessarily better. A few great toys will amuse a child longer than a hundred cheap toys, which are generally just dumped onto the floor and trampled on.

Your travel bag is ONLY for in the car. Do not use it for rainy days, sick days, doctor visits, or even in church. If you want, you can create separate “play bags” for each of those situations. But the trick to a successful travel bag is that it stays fresh. The more you use it, the less it will work for you. If you are only going to be in the car for ten minutes, then don’t even bother to get out the travel bag. The travel bag is for that half-hour commute, or when you will be running errands all morning.

Second: the toys. I’m not a big fan of fast food, but those silly little toys that come in kids meals stay in our car. I never bring them into the house. It doesn’t matter if the toy gets lost on the trip, because I would probably just throw it out anyway. This sounds like I’m contradicting myself, as I said above that a few good toys were better than a hundred cheap ones! But I won’t keep a hundred freebies from the fast-food chains, as we just don’t eat there that often.

Get a toy that has moving parts attached to a bigger part. Sometimes a smaller version of the tracking toy will work – the wooden beads on a curved metal bar that you push around. They aren’t that much fun compared to how much they cost, but if someone gave you one, you can keep it in the car. Another good car toy are lacing cards. You can buy them or make them yourself. Cut out a variety of shapes from bright colored cardboard and punch holes around the edge. The child then “sews” it up with a shoe lace. This is great small-motor control practice, developing finger dexterity that is so necessary before learning to hold a pencil and write. When your child graduates beyond lacing cards, then get plain plastic canvas, strings of yarn and blunt-tipped darning needles. You’d be amazed at what your child can create!

Other toy suggestions include: Etch-a-sketch, Magna-Doodle, colorforms (these stick to car windows, too!), magnetic puzzles, stringing beads. You can try crayons and coloring books, or get a stack of blank computer paper and a clip board. You can even pack your “junk” mail, and let your youngster tear it open, scribble it up, and rip it to shreds. We survived a lengthy traffic jam through Chicago one trip just ripping up junk mail. Sure, it made a mess, but it was harmless, and my granddaughter had so much fun doing it!

The car is the perfect place for electronic toys. I don’t like such toys, I don’t buy them, and I don’t keep them in the house. But someone gave my granddaughter a “leap frog” learning toy. This can amuse her in her car seat or a half hour or so, when she would otherwise be bored. I don’t think she’d play with it that long if she were in the house. The noises most electronic toys make can be quite annoying, but they aren’t as bad as listening to a screaming child.

Third: the music. Pack a collection of children’s tapes or CDs, like Raffi, Sesame Street, or whatever your child enjoys.  When the toys are no longer working, pop in a tape and sing along with your child.

Fourth: your imagination.  Your child really just wants your attention.  Most temper tantrums are attention-getters, even if the attention they get – in the form of discipline – is not the kind of attention they really wanted.  When your toddler or preschooler is getting fractious and the toys aren’t working, the snacks are gone, and you still can’t just return home, then it’s time to play a game.  This can be really challenging if you are also driving!  Be very, very careful!  But especially if someone else is in the car with you, engage your child in any sort of “look out the window and what do you see” game.  You can play “look for something red!”  or “count the cows”.  Or “find an airplane”.  Older preschoolers can play games involving the alphabet – finding certain letters of the alphabet on the billboards.  We used to play that you had to find an A, then a B, and so forth – the first one to get to Z wins!  I can remember always getting stuck on “Q” until I learned to read and could spot a liquor store at a hundred paces.  But if your preschooler is too young to find all the letters of the alphabet, just find the letters that are in his name.  Or if you’re doing the lesson plans, you can just look for the letter of the week.

Fifth: the snacks. Keep something available in your car that won’t spoil and isn’t pure sugar. Granola bars, G.O.R.P., raisins, pretzels, and animal crackers are good ideas. Keep a supply of snacks somewhere – in your house, your purse, your glove box, whereever. Then pop ONE into the child’s travel bag before the trip. You don’t want to stuff your child so that he won’t eat his next meal. You just want to take the edge off his hunger so you don’t feel compelled to go through a drive-through for some fast-food junk. You might want to keep bottles of plain water in the car, as well. Juice and soda are sticky when they spill. Water is the perfect travel beverage.

Sixth: Clean-up. Keep a package of wet-ones (commercial or home-made) in the car at all times. You probably do already, but even if your child has outgrown the need for a diaper bag, he will never outgrow the ability to get dirty. I try to keep wet-ones, a plastic bag for soiled clothing, a change of clothes, and a sweater.

At the end of any trip, have your child help you put everything back into the travel bag and zip it shut for the next trip. Don’t forget to restock it – if you used the change of clothes, or ate the snacks. Keep it ready, and keep it out of reach.

Safe, and happy traveling!

Photo Credits:
Top: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phalen/ / CC BY 2.0
Middle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dweekly/ / CC BY 2.0
Bottom: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeta_lind/ / CC BY 2.0

Any time you can make your own something, you can generally make it cheaper. You can also make sure that the ingredients are safe for your child, and if you chose the cloth method, you can even help save the planet. Not bad for a day’s work!

The wipe
You can use paper towels, or wash cloths, depending on your level of green-ness. If you chose the disposable route, you’ll want a better quality paper towel than the el-cheapo brand. Cut the roll of paper towels in half so that you have two rolls shaped like a roll of toilet tissue. Pull out and discard the cardboard insert. You may find that an electric knife works great for the cutting part. Otherwise, be careful as you saw away! Pull towels from the center, just like you would with a commercial brand of wipes. Find a round container with a snug fitting lid that will hold your paper towel half-roll, or recycle an empty commercial wipes container – but their lids tend not to shut very tight and the wipes dry out.

If you chose to recycle, buy a stack of cheap wash cloths. You can keep them dry and store a wetting solution in a spray bottle, or you can soak the washcloths and store them in a zippy bag, or recycled plastic container with a tight fitting lid, or a glass canning jar. If you store them wet, rotate them frequently so they don’t get musty or moldy. Storing them dry, and bringing along some wash solution in a spray bottle works best for me.

The solution:
recipe #1
2 cups water
2 tablespoons baby wash or shampoo
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix together well. For disposable wipes, pour solution into the container, add paper towels and snap the lid shut. Shake and set aside. Towels will eventually absorb all the solution. Otherwise, pour solution into a spray bottle. Spray solution on a wash cloth right before using.

recipe #2
2 cups water
2 drops tea tree oil
2 drops lavender oil
2 drops chamomile oil
1 vitamin E gel cap

Cut open gel cap and squeeze vitamin E into the water. Add the essential oils, and shake. Be sure to use pure essential oils, and not synthetic ones. They are available in health food stores. Tea tree oil acts like a disinfectant. I think the others just smell nice. Vitamin E is good for nourishing the skin. Full-strength essential oils are toxic, so keep the bottle out of reach of your child. Two drops of oil diluted in 2 cups of water is relatively harmless.

As I reported earlier in Raw for Life, I won the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw and Living Foods Home Study Program. I’ve had the course for a couple of months now, and I’m still not even half way through all the information! I’m on information-overload, I think. But the small steps I’ve taken have made a BIG difference! I’ve dropped a couple of pounds. I’m sleeping better at night. And I’ve cut some of my medications in half. I intend to cut out the cholesterol-lowering medication entirely after my next doctor visit. Now that I’m not eating meat or dairy products, I expect I’ll be able to control my cholesterol without medication.

My finicky eater loves raw foods! Young children generally prefer finger foods over anything cooked, and they prefer their food separated. While many kids will eat apples or raisins or celery, they will not eat an apple-raisin-celery salad with mayonnaise. I’ve served raw apple slices with raw sunflower seed butter, which is very popular. I tried a raw carrot soup that neither of us liked much. I froze the left-over soup until I can find a way to make it more tasty. The literature I’ve read on raw foods allows sun-dried foods, dehydrated foods if dehydrated at less than 108 degrees, and frozen foods. Of course, fresh is always best.

I learned how to make muesli – another food item my granddaughter loves. It’s raw oatmeal -which sounds faintly disgusting – but you soak it for a while to soften it, then serve it with fruits and nuts. We like it with banana or blueberries and a dollop of pure maple syrup. Yum-yum! Best of all, besides all that wonderful natural oatbran for its cholesterol-lowering ability, it’s quick and easy to prepare, and no yucky pot to wash. I think I like that part about the best. When you serve raw foods, there are no cooking dishes!

I haven’t learned to like “energy soup” yet. That’s simply a garden salad pureed smooth and you drink it. Lots of good reasons why energy soup is good for you. I just wish it tasted better! I like salad. I guess I’m just not a “soup” person.

Anyway, I’m taking the long way around announcing that I’ve posted Week Two of the raw foods menu. I’m new to raw foods, so I’m not certain that my menus are complete or balanced. This is me, learning about raw foods, and what I’m going to feed my family next week. On Sundays it is our tradition to not eat breakfast before we go to Mass. Then we have a big brunch, so aren’t hungry for lunch. We have a mid-day snack, and then supper at the normal time. This coming Sunday, I’ll be making a raw Peach Pie! I can hardly wait! My mouth is watering already. Peach Pie is one of my favorites, but I don’t like “peach pie filling” that comes in a can. Too gooey. This pie has ripe, raw, sliced peaches with an almond cream topping and a ground almond crust. Maybe I’ll have to make the pie early and sample it, before I serve it to my family? It’s a good thing raw fruits are good for you. I’m really enjoying them a lot, and still managing to lose a few pounds.

If you chose to try raw foods with your family, you may want to check out www.chidiet.com – that’s the website for Creative Health Institute, from where I got the home study course. One thing I like about this “diet” is that you don’t have to commit to it 100 percent. There is such a thing as being “fifty percent” raw, or “eighty percent” raw. With most diets, if you don’t follow them exactly, then there is a sense of failure and guilt. But with raw foods, every little bit that you do only improves your overall health. There is no failure. Only success. Isn’t that the way we want our children to grow up? Eating good, nutritious foods that nourish the body as well as the soul?

For further reading, check out:
Raw for Life
Feeding the Finicky Eater
We Like it Raw
Transition Kids to Raw

Photo Credits:
Top:http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturalmom/ / CC BY 2.0
Middle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpeters/ / CC BY 2.0
Bottom:http://www.flickr.com/photos/savannahgrandfather/ / CC BY 2.0