Raising children 2014

Parenting Advice

Raising Children Special Feature Sleep Solutions

Fussy Eating

Keeping Amused

Solutions for Busy Mums

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Contents: Intro 20 Ways to Build Self-Esteem, Confidence & Resilience in your Children 3 5 Ways to Make your Children Resilient 5 Win, Win, Win Printable Reward Charts Things to Amuse Kids Toys to Amuse - Babies Toys to Amuse - Pre-Schoolers+ How Boys and Girls Differ in the Way they Learn Establishing a Sound Sleep Routine Sleeping Product Guide Helpful tips for tackling dust mites 10 Tips for Getting Kids to Eat Healthy Food Our Favourite Baby Food Recipes More Great Recipes for Kids Keeping Children Safe in Driveways Child Safety Alert: Blind Cords 5 Tips to Improving your Relationship with your Teenage Daughter

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Intro Being a parent is the single most rewarding thing that I believe you can do with your life. It is also the toughest. Constantly doubting yourself, feeling guilty and uncertain of your decisions whilst overcoming the emotions and behaviours of your children, is not simple. Yet the rewards that parenting brings are unparalleled. The pride you have for your child along with the limitless love and the humorous moments they bring provide the greatest reward and My family (minus hubby who give life a deeper sense of meaning. was working) As each parent is an individual; shaped by their life circumstances and personality, so too is their parenting style. These parenting styles help shape a child’s life, help them gain valuable skills such as confidence, empathy, kindness and many more. Just as no parent is the same, no child is the same, making the parenting role harder; as discipline methods and incentives that work for one child may not work for another.

Our Raising Children Special Feature is designed to help parents by offering them valuable information that can be used to decipher the unknown world of child behaviour as well as offering tried and tested effective strategies to help respond to your child’s individual needs and behaviour.

Wishing you all the best with your journey as a parent! I hope that you can utilise this information to help you enjoy your children and would love to hear from you if you have any questions or if you have any great stories to share.

Lorraine ------x ------

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20 Ways to Build Self-Esteem, Confidence & Resilience in your Children Obviously it’s desirable for you and each of your children to have healthy self-esteem. The way we view ourselves has an impact on how we function, how we relate to other people, and ultimately on our success in life.

So to help your children develop positive self-esteem, remember to show them • that you love them unconditionally • that you respect them as individuals and as important members of your family • that you see them as capable people and value their contribution to your family life • that you enjoy spending time with them Some practical ways to do this are: • Tell them you love them at random times, when they seem a bit down and after any disciplinary action.

• Congratulate your children on their efforts even if the end-result isn’t perfect. When praising your children, make it specific to what they have done, be sincere and don’t overdo it!

• Try to separate the not-so-good behaviour from the child, and talk about the actual behaviour which is not acceptable. Eg. Instead of saying “You are so naughty”, say “Hitting your little sister was an unkind thing to do.”

• Consider what your child needs and wants when making decisions and plans for the family. This is respectful and will potentially save conflict later.

• Consult with your children if they are to be involved or affected by your actions. Listen to their ideas.

• Offer to help your children find solutions to their problems, rather than giving them your solutions. Teach them a great problem-solving technique.

• Listen respectfully when your children are talking. Make eye-contact whenever possible, don’t keep interrupting or being distracted, and don’t ignore them.

• Don’t dismiss your children’s thoughts and feelings. For instance, rather than saying “Don’t be silly, you shouldn’t be worried about trying out for the basketball team.

You’ll be great.”, you might say “You seem worried about trying out for the basketball team. Would you like to talk about that? Perhaps I can help.” Acknowledge your child’s emotions and help him/her to work through them.

• Tell your children that they are all equally important members of your family "team", and let them know that you’d like their help sometimes. Don’t show favouritism towards one child. Team members all work together for the good of the team.

• Help your children succeed by teaching them how to do things – both self-care and family chores. Have an expectation that each child can make a contribution to the household. Jobs like tying their own shoelaces, cleaning their teeth, setting the table for dinner or putting toys away, when mastered, will give satisfaction to both parent MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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• • • • • • • • • •

and child.

Remember to say “Please” and “Thank-you” when speaking to your children. Treat them as well as you would treat a good adult friend!

Use difficulties or challenges as opportunties to teach your children. Be optimistic about overcoming these challenges and encourage this optimism in your children. Ask them to think of different ways of doing something difficult, rather than giving up.

Make sure your children know that it's OK to make mistakes - everyone does at some time - that we can learn from those mistakes if we try again or try to do it differently.

Have open conversations with your children about important matters; don't make communication just about giving instructions and commands.

Let your children "have a go" at something new or difficult. Allow them to try out new skills and take small risks. This is how they will learn their capabilities. Be there for support if necessary.

Encourage physical activity to promote physical development and good health.

Accept that your children are different to each other and different to you; respect those differences.

Make time regularly to do an activity with each child that gives you both pleasure, and enjoy your time together with as few interruptions as possible.

Be patient with your children - remember their ages and stages of development.

Be there with love and support when your children need you.

Writen and provided by Janet Powell, The Parenting Coach, 2013.

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5 Ways to Make Your Children Resilient Life is tough. That’s the bottom line. You can’t wrap this fact in candy or sugar coat it for your children. If your children are not prepared for the big world when they grow up, they will more than likely have a very difficult time. Think about the disasters in your life and how painful they were to get over. It will be no different for your children and maybe sometimes worse.

Resilience is the ability to endure in challenging circumstances and it pays to teach your children the skills they’ll need to survive and prosper in life.

So how can you make your children resilient?

1.

It begins with love - not circuit training The most important thing that children need to grow them into strong adults is to feel loved. Of the tens of thousands of people who have sat in my consulting room in crisis and told me of their lives, it is the ones who felt loved as children that became the most resilient. A child who is told every day they are loved grows up with a sense of being whole and develops good self-esteem. Hold them, hug them, kiss them and implant in their minds that they are special and worthy so that your smiling, loving face stays with them forever.

2.

Install a sense of discipline What I mean here is the ability to apply themselves repetitiously to a task until they have seen it through to a successful conclusion. All highly successful people have this quality.

Start very young and give your children regular routines whenever possible so they get a sense that there are things that need doing at certain times of the day or week. Give them tasks that they must complete before they go on to leisure time. Only give them rewards for the tasks they have completed within the allotted time frame. Remember, they are only children so don’t make it too hard but frame the tasks according to their abilities.

3.

Ensure they are healthy and strong in their body This is important so that children are up to the physical challenges they will face.

Encourage them to be involved in physical education, sports, dance, a martial art, or child yoga to help them grow strong in their body. Do not expose them to smoking, drunken behaviour or drug taking – they are the children and you are the adult, so be the parent.

Add to this tuition in a mental discipline such as self-hypnosis, mediation and visualisation so they learn to program themselves for positive outcomes in the present and future.

4.

Use positive talk Don’t fill your children’s heads with negative criticism that they may carry with them for the rest of their lives. Trust me: when they are sitting in my therapy chair they will be telling me everything you ever said to them. Make sure you praise your children in positive, constructive ways so they get a sense of joy and pride about their achievements.

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This will encourage them to go out into the world with a sense of confidence they can achieve anything they set their mind to. Your words and actions are the words and action they will be modelling in years to come.

5.

Educate, educate, educate

I don’t mean just academically (although that’s important). Fill their minds with compassion, kindness, fascination and willingness to engage with other people. Teach them social skills and beautiful manners so they can fit into any society. Survival in life often depends on the kindness of strangers, so make sure your children can have good conversations on range of topics with anyone they meet. Charming children are a joy to behold who grow up to be well adjusted adults. Educate them to be flexible and adaptive in all circumstances so they can reinvent themselves whenever they need to. The law of attraction determines that adaptable, successful people attract other successful people and achieve their positive outcomes.

Some day your children will leave you, go out into the world and live their own lives. They will take with them the things you have taught them and the absence of what you didn’t teach them.

It’s a precarious road being a parent, letting go and seeing what your children become.

One of the greatest gifts you can give them are the skills to become resilient.

Written by Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, a clinical hypnotherapist and psychotherapist with over

Self Help Books There’s hardly a parent since time began who hasn’t uttered that cry.

Our book can help you answer that question. Written by experts in early childhood development and psychology, Why Won’t My Child Listen? presents an entirely new and very effective approach to parenting in the 21st century. It focuses on the different way your child’s brain functions and how parts of the brain can be turned on and off, which in turn affects behaviour and learning.

Available from MumsDelivery Market for only $20.00 The Wilderness Years – A Parents’ Survival Guide is not another parenting book. It is a book about Being A Parent. It speaks directly to the parents, talking about what happens to a family and a relationship as it is subjected to the rigorous challenges that childrearing brings. About what happens to the individual, to friendships, to your health and your sanity. It is a book that contextualises and normalises one of the most bizarre and abnormal periods of time that parents will ever experience.

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www.mumsdelivery.com.au/market Advice from other regular Mums “Don't be afraid to ask for help, it is not a sign of weakness.” Eva Lewis “Everyday there is something new to learn” Michelle Harrison “Do not discipline your child when youre angry” Jane Salas “Pick your battles” Jo Ryan “To stop listening to the advice and follow my instincts” Rachael Grogan “Don’t wish time away by thinking “I can’t wait until....” all too soon they will have passed that milestone and are heading towards the next. Then you look back and think where did the time go? Enjoy every phase, smile and moment as they grow and just appreciate it for what it is.” Lorraine Salvi MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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Things to Amuse Kids Being at home, caring for your children, is a time that can be wonderful, and very rewarding. However, for most parents, there are also times when you feel that they will drive you up the wall. Preschoolers in particular like to have a lot of attention, and it’s far better to give them positive attention (enjoying activities together, praising them for doing the right thing, helping them to develop useful skills), rather than to be constantly saying ‘no’, telling them to go and find something to do, and trying to stop them from ‘pestering’ you. Sometimes it seems that you have no time to yourself, and it’s difficult to find the time to get all the essential things done around the house.

Parents, particularly with their first child, frequently ask me how they can keep their child amused, and reduce the number of conflicts between them and their child. I have included here some of the ideas that I have found useful with my own children as they were growing up, as well as ideas from other parents, and literature that I have read.

“I help!”

Young children love to think that they are able to help their parents with important jobs.

So, it’s important to acknowledge their ‘helping’ and find ways that they can feel helpful without, in the process, preventing you from doing what you need to do! Below are a few suggestions on how you can get them involved while at the same time helping improve their fine motor skills. Click here to read the complete article and get all the ideas.

In the kitchen: • Let him wash the potatoes and carrots before you peel them. We all know this isn’t necessary, but it will keep him busy while you do other tasks!

• Give him some plastic things to wash up (even if they’re not dirty!)

• Keep all your plastic boxes in a low cupboard, and ask your pre-schooler to tidy the cupboard occasionally!

• Laying the table is a task that even a very young child can do, even if the result isn’t up to restaurant standard. If he’s too small to find all the right things from drawers and cupboards, you can put them in a pile on the table and let him put them in the right place. Don’t be critical of the result, or he won’t want to do it next time.

• Ask him to help by fetching things that you need from the fridge and cupboards, and emphasise how helpful this is.

Housework: Children love to copy adults. While you’re dusting, let him ‘help’ with another duster, or leave a bit of carpet for him to vacuum. Buy a child sized broom and let him sweep the kitchen floor. Always make sure you thank him for helping!

Instead of telling him to pick up all his toys, and expecting him to do it alone, it’s often more effective to make a game of it, e.g. let’s see who can pick up the most toys before the buzzer goes off; you put all the blue toys away, and I’ll put all the red ones away; you pick up all the trucks and I’ll pick up all the cars.

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In the garden: • Children love to dig – let him have an area where he’s allowed to do this.

• In the summer, children love to water, and even if you have an automatic watering system, there’s no harm in sometimes letting him do it with a hand held hose. They also like to sometimes water outdoor pot plants with a small watering can.

Of course, any of these ideas can be overdone, and if you ask children too often to do the same thing, they’ll become bored with it. The important thing is to use your imagination and to help your child to feel involved in the everyday activities of the house, instead of feeling that he’s in the way.

“Daddy play!”

Children love you to join in their games and to do things with them. Sometimes it seems as though there just isn’t enough time to do these things, but spending 15 minutes with your child is often a good investment, as they are then more likely to let you get on with something else. A promise of playing with them or reading to them in an hour’s time is far less effective than doing that now, and then saying that you need to go and do another job for a while. It adds up to the same amount of time, but meets their immediate needs.

If you have a job to do that will involve several hours work, take a break for 5-10 minutes every hour (or more often, depending on the age of the child) and do an activity with your child. It’s unrealistic to expect any pre-schooler to amuse himself for several hours, while you’re busy at the computer or with books. Try to time these activities while he’s asleep, or out at pre-school or with friends.

“No!” As parents, we all lose count of the number of times we have heard that word! In fact it’s often the first word that a child says clearly! One of the reasons for this is that it is one of the most common words for children to hear parents say to them! In order to reduce conflicts in the house it’s important to try and reduce the frequency of that word.

Firstly for the parent – before you say “no” think about why you’re saying it, and whether it’s really necessary. Is the child asking for something that would be harmful or dangerous? Are you trying to reduce the amount of work for yourself? Are you trying to establish who’s in control? Are you simply in a bad mood? If the answer is “yes” to any of the last three, then there is almost certainly a better way of responding.

Find out what and read the rest of the article from Judy Christian here

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Toys to Amuse - Babies & Toddlers VTech Pop Up Surprise Ball A fun, interactive toy suitable from 3months. Press the light-up star button to make the peek-a-boo puppy pop-up!

Features lots of friendly talking and singing to reassure little ones. Flashing lights and lively music help stimulate baby’s senses and the large, easy to press animal character buttons will help develop fine motor skills.

Available from MumsDelivery Market Only $22.95 - Save 18% Toddler Activity Cube If your toddler has got a serious fascination with all things buckles! And snaps! And buttons! And zippers! And Velcro!

Then this activity cube is what you need to help your kid to practice those important motor skills.

Specially designed for smaller hands, this cube is sure to make your kid just a little bit smarter and happier. Suitable from 1yr+ Available from MumsDelivery Market for only $16 Leapfrog Sing and Play Farm The Leapfrog Sing and Play Farm is a playful, engaging way to interact with life on the farm as your little one learns animal names and sounds, colours, rhythm and melodies. Children push buttons, turn keys, flip switches and more to build fine motor skills.

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Six puzzles in one! There are 16 solid wooden cubes in this unique puzzle. One part of a colourful farm animal is pictured on each side. Rotate the cubes in the included wooden tray, to complete the 6 different and playful animals. The border design provides a helpful hint.

Suitable from 3 yrs+ Available from MumsDelivery Market for $19.95 Save 20% The multi-award winning uKloo Early Reader Treasure Hunt Game: helps children gain confidence as they learn to read.

With this game (which was created by a mom!) children begin practicing their reading and building on their reading skills without even realizing it! uKloo turns your home into the game board and gets kids physically active. Available in MumsDelivery Market - $29.95 MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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Toys to Amuse - Pre-Schoolers + The Melissa & Doug wooden jigsaw puzzles provide puzzling fun at any time of day. Ranging from 24piece to 96 piece and in a range of themes from Animals, to Princesses & Pirates, you can find the puzzle right for your child. Each puzzle comes packaged in a sturdy, wooden tray for puzzle building and easy storage.

Suitable from 3 yrs+ Available from MumsDelivery Market for only $15.90 (save 16%) Learn to Read & Write with LeapReader The first ever reading and writing system for children, LeapReader, is designed to help children become confident, independent readers and writers by learning to build reading fundamentals, sound out words, read sentences and trace letters.

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Peppa Pig presents this super wide and modern design multifunctional kitchen which will delight young fans.

It features realistic sounds effects and includes lots of accessories for cooking. Great role-play fun with Peppa!

Features: • Includes sink, hob, hot plate, oven and fridge • Realistic sounds effects See the review • New fun, colourful Peppa Pig design This toy set has great educational features. RRP $69.95.

Penquins on Ice Can you pack the ice so that every puzzle tile can fit on the game board and all the penguins are in the right spot?

Includes 5 ‘pentomino’ playing pieces that must be shape-shifted and 60 cool challenges.

Available from MumsDelivery Market for $29.95 Chicken Shuffle is a unique puzzle game that challenges you to shuffle the chickens around until there is one chicken nesting on each egg. Each challenge becomes more difficult!

Includes 48 challenges and solutions, transparent sliding puzzle and a handy storage compartment..Available in MumsDelivery Market $22.95 MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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How Boys and Girls Differ in the Way They Learn Boy and girl babies differ from the time they are in the crib. Richard Restak studied these differences in babies from birth to twelve months and published his findings in the now classic book The Brain: The Last Frontier (Grand Central Publishing, 1988). He found that boy babies demonstrate early superiority in visual acuity and possess better spatial abilities in dealing with three-dimensional space. Boy babies also perform better in gross motor body movements. He found girl babies to be more sensitive to sounds (especially their mother's voice) and more attuned to the social contexts of situations (faces, speech patterns and tones of voice). Girl babies speak sooner and develop larger vocabularies.

Inborn Learning Styles Dr. Rita Dunn, Director of the Center for Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John's University in New York, and Dr. Kenneth Dunn of Queens College, have spent nearly 25 years in the study of learning styles. They identify the most common learning styles as Auditory, Visual and Tactile. From their studies, the Dunns have observed that learning styles are inborn and run in families, and can be observed as early as the first year of life. Of the children I have evaluated in my own practice, over 80 percent demonstrates a learning style that is either identical to that of one parent or a blend of both parents' styles. Ten percent demonstrate the learning style of a close relative, such as a grandparent or uncle.

Listeners, Lookers and Movers Listeners, Lookers and Movers are the terms I use for Auditory, Visual and Tactile learners, respectively. Listeners are attuned to sounds and words. They talk early, have large vocabularies and learn to read with ease. From the first year of life, Lookers are drawn to colour, shape and motion. They display excellent eye-hand coordination, and can be expected to excel at math and computers. As babies, Movers often crawl, stand and walk ahead of schedule. They are well-coordinated and confident in their bodies, but their affinity for moving poses problems for them in structured classroom settings.

Male vs. Female Learning Styles While external circumstances can have an impact on a child's preferred learning style, some generalizations are possible. Girls tend to be auditory learners, more attuned to sounds, and as a result talk earlier than boys. From the time they begin formal schooling, girls excel in auditory subjects, such as reading, which require the ability to break words into individual sound units, and then blend them back into a whole. As auditory learners, they perform well in classroom settings that demand attention to teacher instructions. As adults, they often lean toward careers in communications. Male broadcasters, courtroom attorneys and speech-language pathologists prove that there are exceptions to this rule.

Beginning at birth, boys tend to be visually alert and take a whole body stance to learning.

As visual learners, boys tend to excel in visual subjects, such as spelling and math. Spelling requires accurate visual recall of the patterns of words, and success in math hinges on the ability to mentally visualize and manipulate quantities. As adults, males tend to favour MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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visually precise fields, or favour fields where they can be physically active. However, female airline pilots, accountants and landscape designers prove exceptions to this rule.

Learning and Teaching Strategies Left to their own devices, children, over time, tend to settle into a preferred way of learning to the point of screening out less favoured types of information. Whenever a child gets set in a particular way of learning and begins to screen out auditory, visual or tactile information, he or she is at risk of being labelled learning disabled.

Children do not "outgrow" their preferences for learning in a particular way. In fact, without help, as they progress through the grades, they tend to become more set in their learning style ways. Children can, however, become more flexible in their approach to learning when adults encourage them as early as possible to welcome auditory, visual and tactile information.

This article was provided by Leapfrog and written by Dr. Lauren Bradway is the author of How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability (Square One Publishers, 2003).

More Amusing Toys

It's never too soon to start riding a bike. The Weeride Balance Bike is the ideal training bicycle for toddlers to pre-schoolers. Without relying on training wheels, the Weeride Balance Bike teaches the little rider balance and co-ordination, making the transition to a 'big kid's' bike much easier. And unlike most other pedal-less training bikes, the Weeride has a brake, making it much safer to learn on.

Only $99 in MumsDelivery Market including FREE shipping!

These reversible Super Hero Capes are a fantastic, simple and easy way to transport your child into their imaginative play state. With the option to reverse the cape your little hero or princess can change thier character according to their mood or game.

Design yours today With a special handle to keep your little one’s fingers far from the 6-colour inkpad and 6 different stamps to choose from, stamping fun will be endless! The handy case keeps the stamps and pad organised. Includes washable, nontoxic kid-friendly ink.

Available from MumsDelivery Market - only $16.95 MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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Establishing a Sound Sleeping Routine n I the first weeks of your baby¹s life don¹t worry too much about how much they are sleeping or how they are transitioning from awake to asleep. Newborns do not understand or respect consistent routines or obey stringent day-to-day guideline. You will need to submit to their unpredictability and avoid unrealistic sleep objectives. The key at this young age is being flexible with their feeding and sleeping routine one is intractably linked with the other. And here is a golden rule - ¬put your baby down drowsy but awake at least once a day just to start teaching them to self-settle.

Aside from feeding, there are other soothing techniques to be learned. Like using a dummy (if you choose to) or using a swaddle to make your newborn feel safe and secure.

Swaddling also assists in decreasing a baby’s Moro reflex which is the involuntary reaction to a sudden loss of support/sensation of falling.

At six weeks of age comes a little game changer, in that your baby is becoming a more aware and will also start to differentiate night and day. In order for your baby to know its bedtime at night, it is essential to establish a good bedtime routine and it is important to do this by six weeks of age.

It¹s a great idea to start with a nice warm bath, then go to your baby¹s room (or wherever she/he sleeps at night) and give your baby a gentle massage. Then either breast feed or give your baby a bottle. Have a nice hug and tell your baby it is sleep time and put them into bed.

Once your baby starts to roll-over (typically between 4-8 months) it’s time to transition them out of a swaddle and into a sleep bag. When transitioning a baby from swaddle to sleep bag parents usually go ‘cold turkey’ but in many instances this can be very unsettling for babies as they have become used to the security of a swaddle. This is when I recommend the Love To Swaddle UP 50/50 as it helps babies adjust to full blown freedom slowly by giving parents the option of removing one arm at a time, so one arm is free and one is still swaddled. Once your baby gets used to this new sensation, the other arm can also be removed. And from here it’s time for your baby to move into a sleep bag!

As your baby gets older you can of course introduce additional activities into their bedtime routine, such as singing or reading books together. Whatever the age, it is so important to have some wind down time and establish routine sleep cues so your baby understands it¹s bedtime.

Written by Rebecca Abraham - considered one of Australia’s leading baby experts. See the full article here MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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Sleeping Product Guide

FOSSFLAKES Junior Pillow What is the difference between a FOSSFLAKES pillow and an ordinary junior pillow? Our pillows are filled with Fossflakes™ a synthetic like equivalent to down feather without the issues of allergies. Fossflakes™ pillows have patented technology, and are made up of individual flakes, which retain their loft. A quick shake brings the pillow back to its original shape instantly. It won’t go flat or lumpy. Fossflakes™ filling is hypoallergenic so is suitable for allergy and asthma sufferers. The filling allows air to circulate within the pillow, meaning child is kept cooler while using it. It supports your child’s head and neck, and because it is an appropriate size, it caters to the child’s first time use of a pillow. A unique feature of the junior pillow is that the pillow is completely machine washable. Priced from $24.95 Available at www.ultimatesleep.com.au Aden + Anais Sleeping Bags

One pre-washed four-layer 100% cotton muslin Aden + Anais cozy sleeping bag • Warm: four layers of 100% cotton muslin • Breathable: keeps baby comfortably warm • Safe: eliminates loose blankets for a safer sleep • Comfy: gets softer with every wash • The much-loved brand Aden + Anais Sleeping Bag is known for high quality, durablility and safety.

Available from MumsDelivery Market from $39.95

Organic pure bamboo baby cot sheet set This beautiful bamboo cot sheet set is ideal for babies with sensitive skin. These sheets will remain ultra soft even after regular washing.

Let your baby's body breathe naturally with our hypoallergenic bamboo sheets that promotes a comfortable and peaceful rest.

Available from MumsDelivery Market for $69.95

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Sleeping Product Guide cont...

Mylight Personalised Night Light.

Mylight create beautiful night lights that illuminate your child’s name. Built to last, a Mylight makes a stylish edition to any room décor. Choose from a great range of colours and fonts. They are 100% Australian made.

On special for $129.95 from MumsDelivery Market The giimmo night lights are cute and sure to help your little one feel safe at night. Available in three characters, the Rabbit, Hedgehog and Panda, each has their own story.

Available in MumsDelivery Market for $39.95 The Baby Girl Giraffe Cot Comforter by Jiggle & Giggle is a lovely design for a little girls nursery. Consisting of 100% polyester, it provides a lightweight yet warm essential to ensure baby is snug in their cot. This comforter makes for an ideal gift and nursery must-have!

Available in MumsDelivery Market for $55.97 (30% off) One Direction fans are sure to go crazy for the 1D Summer Love Comforter Set by One Direction. The fabulous and fun comforter set features a bold combination of hot pink blooms and hearts on a pink background, embellished with stylish black and white photos of the One Direction band members. Fully reversible with a repeated 1D heart logo on pink, this set includes comforter and pillowcases for a complete bedroom makeover.

Available in MumsDelivery Market for $55.97 (30% off) With an exciting cops and robbers print theme, the Cops & Robbers Quilt Cover Set by KAS Kids makes a fabulous addition to your child's bedroom. The front of this high quality cotton quilt cover set features appliqué and fullcolour print depicting a city skyline and police cars chasing down a baddie – great for those kids who would love to be future police officers! Novelty cushions to match the theme are also available, adding that cool finishing touch that your child will love.

Available in MumsDelivery Market for $104 (save 30%)

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Helpful tips for tackling dust mites Do you suffer from hayfever symptoms? Have you or a family member recently been diagnosed with an airbourne allergy? Well this information is for you!

Dust mites are one of the most common airbourne allergens. Dust mites eat the skin cells we shed and it’s their excrement we are allergic to. Gross hey! Dust mites live in all our soft furnishings. You can’t eradicate them but you can reduce the volume in your home.

Here are some simple things that you can do: • Wash bed linen in hot water >55 degrees. This will kill the dust mites • Remove woollen underlays from your bed • Don’t make your bed! Pull the top sheet and doona down to the bottom of the bed and fold neatly. Expose the bottom sheet to as much sunlight as possible. Dust mites are translucent – they don’t like sun preferring a dark humid environment • Don’t store anything under your bed • Reduce the clutter on horizontal surfaces. This makes dusting easier • Any dusting that you do, use a wet or electrostatic cloth • Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter, this traps more of the allergen inside the vacuum • Choose leather lounges over fabric ones • Fitting dust mite protector covers on pillows; doona’s and mattresses . It’s important that the cover encases the item and is zipped close • Soft toys: first step is to reduce the volume of soft toys in your home. Have your kids choose their favourite 2 or 3. With the chosen ones they can be placed in a zip lock plastic bag once a week and popped into the freezer for 4-5hrs. The low temperature will kill the dust mites present • Keep pets out of the bedrooms. They shed skin cells so provide more food for dust mites Get more tips for Grass Pollen Allergies and Removing Mould here These tips were provided by Simone Dora from bsorted.

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10 tips for getting kids to EAT healthy food When I was pregnant with my son, I had an image of all the incredibly healthy meals I would prepare for him and how he would devour them with such joy. Nothing prepared me for the reality of the situation, throwing vegetables half way across the room, refusing to try anything new and the absolute melt downs when vegetables were placed on his plate. Despite my background in naturopathy, and spending years advising people how to eat well, my son has proven to be the most rewarding challenge. I am sharing with you my top 10 guidelines to hopefully help your child eat better.

Be a role model. Children learn the most by the people around them, so it is important for you to make healthy food choices. I always comment on how “delicious” a vegetable is as I am eating it, this tends to promote curiosity in my son, which leads him to think he is missing out and quite often he decides to try it.

Always serve vegetables on their plate. My son would often throw the vegetables off his plate onto mine saying “not this one”. I found that placing vegetables on his plate consistently at every meal promoted a sense of familiarity and acceptance. Getting children to try new food is not easy, they usually need to taste a food 12 times before they become familiar with it and start to enjoy it. Start off with little tastes, not the entire piece.

Add healthy fats to every meal- Children need fat in their diet especially for optimal brain and nervous system development. It is an essential nutrient crucial to overall good health and vitality. The key is to eat healthy fat. Healthy fats assist in sustaining good energy levels, as well as keeping children fuller longer. Avocado, coconuts, nuts, seeds, fish, chia seeds are all great sources of healthy fats. Avoid unhealthy trans fats found in processed foods such as cookies, chips and margarine. I also avoid low fat yoghurt, milk and cheese as it is usually filled with sugar.

Avoid fried food - I am yet to find a child or an adult that doesn’t like a hot fried chips, Baking fish, and potatoes in the oven can make them crispy and taste just as good as fish and chips.

Don’t ban foods: I don’t ban any particular food, I aim to limit its consumption. I find this most effective by not allowing junk food to enter our house. It is known as the ‘occassional’ food where we go out and share an ice-cream or a slice of cake. I have also created an e -book on refined sugar free treats for children, which includes 20 recipes for simple, nutritious and tasty treats for children.

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Blend it juice it - or just simply hide it. My son went through a severe aversion to all things green, which meant i had to just become a little more creative. Juicing, blending and hiding the vegetables in pasta sauces, homemade sausage rolls, and pies and vegetable lasagna became my greatest ally.

Preparation, preparation, preparation!! - This is crucial in preparing and maintaining healthy meals. Having a weekly meal plan to follow gives you the time to prepare, and prevent last minute poor food choices. It also allows you shop within a budget without throwing away unused food.

Eat Breakfast - Eating a breakfast which is high in protein, good fats and fibre, promotes better energy levels and concentration in children. Aim to avoid the sugar laden highly processed cereals , instead start the day with a homemade granola, avocado on toast, boiled egg with avocado, yogurt with nuts and seeds, bacon and eggs or a homemade healthy breakfast muffin.

Get involved: Getting your junior master chefs involved in the kitchen is a great way to get them excited about what they are eating. Letting them become involved in the preparation of the food, gathering fresh herbs from the garden, picking the foods at the grocery store, snipping the herbs with child friendly scissors, cracking eggs, mixing and stirring are all positive ways to make meal times fun.

Avoid letting children fill up on snacks: Otherwise, when it comes to meal times, they won't be hungry. If a child is hungry, you have a much better chance of getting him or her to eat something healthy.

Article provided by Milena Zanetti from The Orange Pantry, which focuses on all things healthy, especially healthy food.

Our favourite Baby Food Recipes

Pumpkin, zucchini & broccoli Pear & Peach 1. Boil the pumpkin, zucchini and broccoli 1. Boil the pear and peach until soft. until soft.

2. Blend until it is a smooth purée.

2. Blend until it is a smooth purée.

3. Scoop a couple of tablespoons into your 3. Scoop a couple of tablespoons into your storage containers &freeze storage containers &freeze Tip: If you are short on time use canned fruit Pumpkin soup with couscous and simply purée. We choose not to add 1. Make a batch of pumpkin soup (for the juices to keep it as healthy and not too dinner). Take some of the soup prior to sweet. Add boiled water if needed. adding cream and put it into your food storage containers.

2. Add some couscous. Freeze.

Tip: when making veggies the flavours are better when you mix the colours of the veggies. For example; a green (broccoli) with a yellow (pumpkin) orange (carrot) MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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More great recipes for kids....

Pan-Roasted Salmon with Warm Potato Salad Not only do my children love fish, it is something that you should get them to love. Fish is so good for you and with a soft flavour Salmon is lovely and can be enjoyed by children.

A great way to get a good dose of Omega3. This Potato Salad is by far my favourite at the moment - simple, easy and refreshing.

Chicken & Chorizo Paella A lovely dinner dish that the whole family can enjoy. A paella is a great way to incorporate a number of tastes to suit your families needs or to use up what’s in your fridge. My children also love rice, so that entices them to eat the rest of the meal as it is entertwined with the rice.

Quiche Lorraine This old favourite is a great way to get them to enjoy egg without knowing it.

Carrot and Muesli Muffins With just ten minutes preparation time, these home-made treats are perfect to create with your little ones. Getting them involved in the cooking process is the ideal way to spend a Sunday afternoon together.

Coco Banana Bites These cool banana bites can help to make fruit a little bit more interesting for even the fussiest of children. My kids love these and count them as a treat. We skip the lemon step and simply add the coconut to chopped up bananas.

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Child Safety

Keeping Children Safe in Driveways Ensuring that the children are not around when we need to move the car has always been paramount to us, so I find it perplexing when I hear time and time again about another child being run over in their driveway. This prompted me to include it within the site to increase the awareness of this issue and hopefully to reduce the likelihood of more incidents occurring.

Some of the steps we take to ensure that our children are safe included: 1. Ensuring another adult was knowingly supervising the children.

2. Putting the children in the car with us.

3. Locking them in the house (after explaining what you were doing and that you would only be a sec) Option one and two are not always feasible – there is not always an adult around and quite frankly it is a real pain to have to put the children into the car with you, just to move it in or out of the driveway, so option three was always my preferred option. Recently however my daughter (3.5yrs) has learnt how to unlock the door. This now provokes a new fear that although she is generally very good and I have taught her the risks with cars, you just never know with children. This made me look at the facts about driveway incidents and what I could do to avoid it.

What I discovered is that you can buy Reversing Camera’s that are inexpensive and that can be easily installed into your existing car! They even have different types of screens and camera’s for different applications. I am quite excited by this option as although we will still take the correct precautions to ensure that the children are unlikely to be in the driveway in harm’s way, it means that when I reverse I can see behind the car decreasing the chance of having a horrible accident.

On a lighter note, I like this idea as it also means that when I am reverse parking I am less likely to hit anything. Thank you – reverse camera! Once I get the camera installed and tried, I will let you know how it works in our product review.

If you are looking at purchasing a car, The NRMA Insurance website has a Reversing Visibility Index which gives a rating for cars with the most effective rear visibility.

Our Article Driveway Safety provides a range of factual information on the number of Driveway Incidents and the expert’s recommended safety tips.

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Child Safety Alert: Blind Cords Hidden dangers in the home Strangled in their sleep: blind cord deaths make headlines Childproofing the home is one of the biggest, most important tasks when raising a family. Almost everybody combats the obvious; hot stoves and sharp knives, poisonous chemicals and staircases, to name a few. There are some dangers which slip our minds because they may not seem harmful to us – but they can be deadly for some young children.

There are “modern-day hazards” including small remote controls, magnets, batteries and treadmills, but there are also plenty of traditional items of furniture which can cause injury.

One such hazard is curtain and blind cords. While cords are easily forgotten for us, they can lead to serious – and sometimes fatal – injuries with small children. Recently, two Sydney families suffered from horrific tragedies when their children strangled to death on blind cords. A 15-month-old was strangled by on a blind cord in Quakers Hill, NSW recently, and a 16-month-old from Hornsby, NSW died after being entangled in a cord while she slept.

Devastating incidents like these should act as serious wake up calls for the rest of us. We should take action to prevent such an accident from ever happening again.

Of course, we cannot protect our young from every possible hazard which comes its way. Some accidents are unavoidable, but not all. We can work hard to prevent avoidable accidents and injuries. Some can be avoided using common sense and learning from error, while others can be avoided using simple, effective and affordable household safety items.

Last year, an 18-month-old boy also died after being accidentally strangled in his sleep by a blind cord. Unaware of the danger, the cot was placed next to a window with vertical blinds. His parents later issued a warning to others about the danger of “something so silly,” which has changed their lives forever.

"My biggest message would be check the layout of the room and then while you're in there give them a big kiss, because that's what we miss," said the boys mother, Linda Mackay.

While statistics regularly show that there has been a vast improvement in prevention of injury and accidental death, they do still occur regularly. Being careful means more than driving slowly, turning off hot water, and locking away chemicals. It also means checking every corner of the house for potential danger, and doing everything possible to avoid injury.

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Speaking to Fairfax Media last week, Dr Danny Cass, head of trauma at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead said, “The overall message is don't panic, kids have never been safer but a lot of common sense goes a long way,” he said.

“So just do a careful review of a hanging point in the nursery, care for the button batteries and hot water, proper restraints in cars, they're all common sense things. We're not wrapping our kids in cotton wool, or a nanny state, it's just common sense.”

Tragic stories such as these remind us that we need to continue being careful and safe around the home. Always ensure that blind or curtain cords are safely concealed, particularly in an unattended bedroom. Items such as the Dreambaby ® Blind Cord Wrap and Blind Cord Wind- Ups are an affordable and highly effective example of how to keep your little ones safe from a serious danger in the home.

Did you know?

ACCC Statistics: • 1-2 Australian children die each year after being strangled by blind or curtain cords • Between 2001-2008, there were at least 11 deaths in Australia. Nine of these were of children under three years of age • In the US, a child aged between 7 months and 10 years dies each month after being strangled on curtain and blind cords.

WIN A DREAMBABY® BLIND CORD SAFETY PACK FOR YOUR HOME Keeping blind cords out of reach of children should be on top of the “to-do” list in your family home. To help you create a safe and secure home, Dreambaby have TWO Blind Cord safety packs valued at over $39.00 each for you to win. CLICK HERE to enter

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For the Later Years...

Five Tips for Improving Your Relationship with Your Teenage Daughter Adolescence is a time that can create strain in the parent-child relationship. Puberty can bring an abundance of mixed emotions, while your daughter’s teenage years are also a time when she is building her independence. This may result in her developing a world view that is dramatically different to your own. While your daughter’s teenage years may be hard for both of you, there are steps you can take to smooth her transition into womanhood.

Here are five recommendations to maintain or improve your relationship with your teenage daughter.

Cultivate healthy arguing: Teens typically perceive an argument to be far less destructive than their parents do. Indeed research indicates that arguing is a sign of respect, whereby the teen believes that they have a chance of being heard by their parents which may result in a concession to the rules in their favour. If your child doesn’t argue, they are probably more inclined to lie.

Recognise that teenagers will lie to their parents: Research into lying behaviour suggests that 96 per cent of teenagers lie to their parents, irrespective of how strict or permissive their parents are. The main reason cited for lying is to protect the relationship with their parents. Withholding information enables teenagers to forge an identity that is separate from their parents. Minimise lying by supporting your child’s autonomy and encouraging her to make independent decisions.

Get a good night’s sleep: Studies show that children and teenagers are getting one hour less sleep per night than they did 30 years ago. The symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation in teens and tweens include moodiness, depression and even binge eating. It has also been linked to obesity, a significant drop in IQ and reduced academic performance. It follows that relationships will improve all around after a good night’s sleep.

Do regular, enjoyable exercise together: Try walking, yoga or dance. You’ll associate each other with feeling good and conversation will be easier.

Respect each other’s needs: This includes listening to the needs of your menstrual cycles.

Women living together often find menstrual cycles synchronise, so it's likely you'll have parallel emotions, but everyone experiences their cycle differently. Charting your cycle is MumsDelivery - Solutions for Busy Mums

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one way you can both recognise your patterns, plan ahead and allow for this time. It’s also important to acknowledge that you may need downtime when you are premenstrual or have your period. Allowing yourself that space means you can restore your reserves.

Article provided by Janoel Liddy and Rosemary Colston from ‘Step into Womanhood’, an organisation providing a range of programs aimed at supporting women to celebrate being and becoming women.

Next Feature: Pregnancy, Conception & the First Weeks Join us then as we cover fertility, pregnancy and the early weeks of life with a Newborn. Share this news with a friend; tell us your tips and let us know what questions you would like answered. Connect with us here:

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