This is for all you great mothers out there who are always thinking about your children and how to keep them safe, happy and healthy.  A major aspect of raising your children is caring for their teeth.  I never knew that brushing teeth twice a day could become such a chore until I had four mouths to clean every day– my own and my three kids!  So here’s my two cents on children and toothpaste.

Before I had kids I went to school and became a dental hygienist, so I know a lot about caring for teeth.  I am trying to apply this as I raise my own children.  Just thought I would pass along a little bit of information that came to my attention the other day… again!

In case you were not aware of this fact, children under five years of age should NOT have fluoridated toothpaste.  Kids under that age are not capable of spitting as well as they need to in order to not swallow harmful levels of toothpaste.

I just went to the store to buy toothpaste for my little boys, age 4 and 2.  Of course they wanted to choose the “cool” toothpaste– you know what I’m talking about.  Disney Pixar’s “Cars” and Marvel’s “Spiderman” themed toothpaste containers really caught their attention.  But, looking at the Active Ingredients list, the first one listed on every tube of children’s toothpaste was Sodium Flouride.

One might argue that kids’ teeth need the extra fluoride that they may get from swallowing a little bit of toothpaste here and there.  However, what most people don’t realize is that fluoride is a potentially dangerous chemical and can cause some serious harm if swallowed in excessive amounts.  Now, take this dangerous substance and make it bubble gum flavored.  If you think that a one, two, three, or four year old wouldn’t eat that any chance they got, you’ve probably never had kids of your own.

In addition to this, most cities in the United States add Fluoride to the waterways in order to benefit the teeth of children.  This means of course that children are exposed to plenty of fluoride during their teeth’s formative years; possibly even excessive fluoridation over time.

Studies have shown that fluoride is beneficial to the teeth when given topically (meaning placed on the teeth), but are inconclusive when it comes to systemic fluoridation (meaning fluoride eaten or swallowed and reaching the teeth through the blood stream).   One thing is certain though, more studies need to be done to see what the long term benefits and risks are for exposing ourselves and our children to fluoride– both for the teeth and for the body as a whole.

Fluoride in toothpaste, however, has long been known to cause problems in children who are unable to rinse and spit sufficiently enough because of their age and physical capabilities.  Fluoride swallowed in excessive amounts can cause an upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, and any number of other problems.  Even fluoride swallowed in tiny amounts at a time can build up and cause numerous problems in later years– problems that we may not even know we are causing yet!

So, because I know all of this and I want to do what is best for my kids, which is to not use Fluoridated toothpaste until they are old enough, I have to deprive them of their cartoon character toothpaste tubes and shop for their toothpaste on the baby aisle.  Baby tooth and gum cleanser with sorbitol (a different form of sugar that does not allow bacteria to grow) instead of sodium fluoride is the safest bet until children reach five years of age and can spit and rinse properly.

This probably comes as a shock to all of you great mothers out there who are concerned for the health of your children’s teeth and get them children’s toothpaste with all the fun characters as an incentive to promote good tooth brushing habits.  Hooray for you!  But, keep in mind that if you do allow them to use fluoride toothpaste that you should always monitor them and make sure that none gets swallowed.  Treat it like your bathroom cleansers, meaning keep it away from children when not under adult supervision.

And remember, good habits start young!  So by all means teach your kids to brush their teeth several times a day and to eat healthy foods so they don’t have to deal with all the problems that come from tooth decay (cavities) and weight issues.

Just like every mother I want the best for my kids, and so I just thought I would pass along this tidbit of information for you to thinkabout and watch out for.  From past experiences I know that fluoridation can be a controversial subject.  So, let’s get talking.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments by leaving a comment below!

It’s here already– the beginning of the holiday season! First we have Halloween with all of it’s frivolous and fun traditions. Next is Thanksgiving with formal parties and feasts galore, and then all of the winter holidays and New Year’s with their rich traditions and celebrations.

Among all of the holiday preparations there is the task of finding the perfect outfit for each special occasion. Halloween requires a costume of course, whether an elaborate fairy princess costume complete with princess gown, magic wand, fairy wings, a crown or tiara and a princess cape to keep her warm, or a simple ballerina costume with a fluffy tutu. You can find a lot of fun costume dress up outfits and festive accessories at www.AngelHeadbands.com.

The more formal holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, etc., also require dressing up. This is why AngelHeadbands.com has just opened a new line of formal wear for girls and boys. You can find adorable fancy dresses for little girls to wear to parties, concerts, recitals, dances, festivals and more.

You will also find our brand new line of boys tuxedos and suits. These tuxes and suits come complete with jacket, shirt, bow tie or regular tie, cummerbund or vest, and pants. Your little boys can now match your little girls in style! We also have the perfect shoes available to match these suits, so you can pick up the whole ensemble for a fraction of department store prices.

Our new line of tuxedos, vest sets, and church or business style suits are available in baby sizes through boys size twenty (20), so you will find the perfect size for any boy you are shopping for, and they are available in several different colors as well to match any event or occasion.

And of course, AngelHeadbands.com always wants to give you the best prices out there, so you can be assured that you are getting a great deal on great quality items.

Enjoy this holiday season and all of the fun parties and events that come along with it, and enjoy having your kids well dressed in costume or formal attire.

As a mother of two little boys who are growing up so fast I have found that it is so hard to keep them well dressed! They tend to grow from one size of clothing to another so fast that clothes hardly show any wear (unless of course the kids have been playing in the dirt, as all boys do on occasion!). Church type formal wear especially sees very little opportunity for wear and the boys grow out of their suits in only a few months flat.

In addition to this, we have a wedding coming up in the family, meaning that both boys need to have a tuxedo to wear for this special occasion. Looking around town for an affordable tuxedo (times two boys!) was fruitless and a waste of time as every suit I found was well over one hundred dollars.

To save everyone who is in the same boat as I am, I have found a great resource for boys formal tuxedos, church suits, vest sets, shirts, ties and shoes for little boys in a lot of styles and many sizes and colors to choose from. I want to pass the fabulous savings on to you, so you can keep your boys well dressed and handsome for every special occasion– whether they are the ring bearer in a wedding, getting baptized, christened, confirmed, or blessed at a church gathering, going to a formal party or dress up event, or for weekly wear to religious services.

The boys formal suits that are now available at AngelHeadbands.com are high quality cotton-poly material with excellent craftsmanship. Every detail is in place, down to the satin stripe on the sides of the tuxedo pants and the pleats on the shirt. You will find that our products are affordable (some would say they are a “steal” of a bargain), and you can be assured of their quality and durability.

With great deals like these on formal wear for boys you can now afford to keep your little boys well dressed and looking their finest, even if they do grow up so fast! Check it out– I know you’ll love these suits, tuxedo sets and shoes for your babies, toddlers, big boys… even teens!

What could better than being all dressed up fancy and sipping pink lemonade from delicate play teacups, surrounded by dolls and teddy bears? These happy memories only increase as mom and dad join in on the fun!

Many little girls love to dress up in fancy and frilly dresses, ballet costumes, and beautiful hair accessories so that they feel like the little princesses that they really are. When fairy wings are added in, it lets their imaginations soar to even higher heights!

One sweet little family with three girls and a young son made a very memorable occasion. The little girls dressed up in fairy finery. They wore beautiful flower tiaras with multi-colored ribbons streaming down their backs. They put on feather boas, fairy wings, flower petal tutus—complete, of course, with painted finger and toe nails. The little boy was dressed in a fancy shirt, a bow tie, and a bowler hat. The parents were similarly attired. They went out to eat at a restaurant in their beautiful costumes and laughed and giggled and made memories and feelings that will last forever in their children’s hearts.

I think that every parent wants to make their child’s childhood happy, exciting and memorable. What better way to make that happen than by playing with them, laughing with them, and of course taking pictures of all the fun along the way so you can look back together when the children are grown and remember all the fun times you shared together.

Angelheadbands.com offers a wonderful selection of fancy girls dresses and ballet costumes, as well as headbands, tiaras, flower halos, wings and other fancy finery that just might be the ticket to your little girl’s imagination. Check them out and get ready for tea parties, romps through the garden as woodland fairies, dramatic performances, dance recitals, unforgettable birthday parties, and much much more.

Make a happy memory with your children today!

Children love playing and letting their imaginations run wild. To help boost your child’s creativity you probably buy toys, games, arts and crafts supplies, and numerous other items to help keep your child occupied and learning in a fun way. Here’s a great idea that is sure to become a favorite: Build or fill up a dress up trunk for your children.

Children are great imitators. They love to dress up like their favorite cartoon character, hero, storybook character or wherever their imagination carries them. One important part of any child’s toy collection is a dress up trunk!

This can be simple, such as old Halloween costumes placed in a box. A more organized and thought out dress up play corner can be made by purchasing a trunk or other container and filling it with hats, gloves, beads, boas, masks, wigs, lab coats, tutus, fancy dresses, bow ties, regular ties, shoes, firemen and policemen costumes, etc.

This trunk can be the starting point of many childhood adventures and family play times. Mom and Dad can get involved by helping the children to dress up and act out a story, poem or nursery rhyme.
Children learn so much through their play. Dress up play can add significantly to a child’s imagination and sense of self.

Angelheadbands.com is a great place to purchase some of the fancy finery that makes a dress up trunk so much fun! Check out their collection of fairy princess halo headbands, tutus, and fancy dresses—and get ready for endless hours of fun!

Baby Scrapbooking Layout Secrets

by Michael Snyder

Greetings fellow scrapbooking enthusiast. Allow me to guide through the aspects of this exciting baby scrap booking technique. As you already know, there is just one thing that is nearly universal about proud new parents, it is the number of pictures they love to take of their new little child, their angelic little bundle of joy. But then what do they do? As the little infant quickly grows into a busy toddler, those photographs seem to grow in number with no real organization or means of display until the parents get around to it and finally put their treasured picture collection into a baby scrapbooking layout.

I have found that I will teach many of my clients these techniques but they won’t put them into action. As Ernest Hemingway says, Never mistake motion for action.

Fortunately, retailers of scrap booking supplies have recognized the colossal need for keeping those darling photographs safe, and now they make available an impressive and nearly endless supply of patterned paper stock, beautiful sticker art, and cool dye cuts to memorialize just about every special moment in a baby’s life! A baby is born with a need to be loved, and never outgrows it.

A question I often receive is “What Should I be Including in my baby scrapbooking layout?

Well first of all, the down side is that you can be faced with an overwhelming number of choices for craft supplies used to make a special album to hold all your treasured pictures; it is easy to get frustrated with the large variety of choices.

My favorite way to overcome this overload of selection is to determine what photos you would like to work with before heading to the craft store. Many experts in the field of scrapbooking will suggest a baby scrapbooking layout by working with your most recent photos first. They will start with the recent and then work back to earlier times.

Other helpful people might advise you to choose one of your favorite moments, perhaps one such as a birthday or religious holiday. This special moment is perfect to create your beginning baby scrapbooking layout. Whichever system or plan you decide to work with, having an idea in mind of the theme you will be creating will help you enormously when you start to pick your supplies and materials to create your original baby scrapbooking layout.

Working with a plan is the most important thing to do. If you don’t start with a plan, you plan to fail. I want you to succeed and get your first baby scrapbook completed. This will be a great gift to your child and love is, above all, the gift of oneself.

Something else to consider as a newbie in scrapbooking, is that you do not have to be fixed with narrow choices by stickers, papers, and photos as you are building the baby scrapbooking layout. I highly recommend using unique things such as the footprints and handprints from the hospital, copy of the birth certificate, and a lock of hair from the first haircut to make your album special and unique to your child.

As far as this hobby is concerned, remember that many of these keepsakes will not be acid-free and photo-safe, so when you place them onto the baby scrap booking layout please do not allow them to touch your pictures. As I have mentioned, if your photos comes into contact with anything in your scrapbook that is not of high archival quality, it has a good chance of causing damage to the photos by scratching them or causing them to loose their shine and luster.

In other words, a new baby is a miraculous addition to your family that should be celebrated in a heart warming way. Creating a beautiful album full of pictures and keepsakes will be a treasured family heirloom for many generations to come.

I hope you have been able to gain something from this article, thanks for reading!

Mike Snyder is passionate about scrapbooking and he offers many unique products and books on his website. Grab your free digital scrap booking book ‘7 Lost Secrets of Scrapbooking’ by clicking here. Happy scraping!

Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info

Lately I have been struggling with my two toddler boys misbehaving and acting wild and too rambunctious. Maybe it’s the fact that we’ve been cooped up all winter or that we have a new baby in the family or maybe this is just normal behavior for two and three year old boys. Whatever the reason, I was getting very frustrated every day as it seemed that all I did was referee the kids’ playtime and break up arguments and discipline them. So, I decided to try something to help out this situation and what do you know? It helped tremendously!

Here’s what I did: I searched online for preschool activity ideas, thinking that I could enhance my boy’s education with some fun activities that would also keep them occupied. I found a couple of good websites–www.dltk-kids.com; www.teachersandfamilies.com; www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com. There are many more websites out there that have tons of fun ideas and activities that help to keep kids entertained and learning important skills at the same time.

Now every day after breakfast is over and the baby is down for her nap the boys and I sing silly songs, march around like different animals, color, cut, glue and paint and have a snack. The boys play more nicely with each other after this preschool time and are better behaved all day.

The only downside I’ve seen so far is that the breakfast dishes stay undone a little longer and the laundry sits unfolded for the morning. But, I feel so much better when there aren’t fits, arguments and tantrums constantly so when the boys take their nap in the afternoon I have the energy to do the housework that I neglected in the morning. Plus it is so much fun to have good quality playtime with the kids and watch them discover their world.

If you are having discipline troubles with your toddlers or even older children I suggest trying something like I did– activities that are both educational and fun that don’t take a lot of preparation time but can be so effective in teaching life skills and good discipline. Try it out and let me know what you find out in a comment.

A friend of mine came to me and asked me how I get everything done in a day, and how with toddler children running around and a baby to take care of, how I get anything done besides the mundane every day tasks. She asked me this on the occasion of a huge Christmas service project that I was in charge of, making 200 stockings for a local homeless shelter. She said “You and I both have three kids, about the same ages. There is no way that I could have done all this work for this project and taken care of my kids. How do you do it?” My answer: “Don’t you dare come to look at my house!!!”

I have decided that some things are much more important to me than having my house sparkly and shiny clean all the time. I do love having a clean and organized house, don’t get me wrong, but rather than spend day in and day out cleaning and cleaning and folding seemingly endless loads of laundry only to start some more and getting entirely burned out and exhausted, sometimes I like to take a break and do something different.

Sometimes it comes from desperation and boredom from completing mundane chores for weeks on end, sometimes it comes from necessity in needing to complete a project, and sometimes it comes from just wanting to do something more fulfilling and fun for a change. So, when those times arise I just let the laundry pile up for a day or two, let the vacuum sit idle for five minutes, and leave the Clorox wipes tucked away in the closet.

Then I can do things like really play with my kids or take them on an outing, complete a project for church, work or home, or do a craft, scrapbook, read a book for pleasure, bust out the sewing machine, or pursue some of my other interests. After a few days the housework gets the better of me and I spend a day catching up, but I always feel more fulfilled and the kids are happier when we’ve taken some time to just enjoy life, play, and let the little daily stresses slide for a day or two.

My friend said that she gets so wound up and stressed about keeping her house clean and organized- she finds herself cleaning up after messes constantly and always working to keep it clean, so she starts losing patience and just wants to give up because it’s not even fun and she can’t enjoy her children.

I heard someone say once that “the dust and the cobwebs can wait, but children aren’t children forever.” I’ve taken that as my philosophy- I try to play and interact with my kids without constantly worrying about the state of the house, I try to be a good and fun wife to my husband so he’s not always bogged down with work and worry, and I try to keep my own interests and passions fulfilled so I feel like a whole and happy person.

Of course I always love having a clean and organized house, who doesn’t? But if a real feeling of happiness requires the breakfast dishes to wait in the sink until after the kids are in bed for the night, that’s okay with me.

Some days aren’t you just ready to quit? Yesterday, for reasons beyond my control or no reason at all, both of my toddler boys were cranky.

Typically my children wake up happy in the morning, play and romp around until lunchtime, eat and then take a nice two hour or so nap. After resting time, as we call it in our house, the boys get up and play and look forward to Daddy coming home from work. They help me make dinner and set the table, clean up the toys to make the house look nice again and then wrestle with Daddy until we eat. After dinner it’s usually more playtime with Daddy and then time for bedtime stories and a bath and by 8:15 or so they’re tucked in their beds on their way down for a good twelve hour sleep.

It sounds ideal, especially since we’re talking about a just-turned-three year old and a twenty month old boy. Of course, it doesn’t always go as planned.

Yesterday was one of those days. Oddly enough, both boys woke up in the morning crying and whining. (Why does it always have to be both on the same day?) Before we’d even been able to eat breakfast both boys had already thrown at least one fit (heaven forbid I gave them the wrong spoon to eat their yogurt!) and it just went downhill after that. By ten o’clock in the morning I was ready to put them both back in bed. It seemed that they couldn’t play for two minutes without there being a major crisis, and then they’d just throw back their heads and scream.

Finally after lunch I was able to put them down for a nap. Both boys fell asleep almost immediately and I crossed my fingers that they’d take an especially long nap so they could wake up and be my normal happy boys again. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. A mere forty five minutes into their nap my youngest yelled out and wouldn’t be comforted back to sleep. Ten minutes after that his brother also woke up crying and was done with his rest.

We tried lots of quiet activities to help calm them during the afternoon– playing with playdoh, reading books, coloring. Still the whole day was just full of whining and tantrums and a whole lot of tears. When their Daddy got home from work the boys didn’t even acknowledge him– they were too busy complaining that they didn’t want what we were having for dinner and they wanted the blue plates, not the orange ones.

I finally realized that my twenty month old was probably cranky because his second molars are starting to come in. He’s always had a hard time with teething. A low dose of Infant Tylenol did wonders to help him feel better and actually be able to sleep through the night. My three year old though had no apparent excuses, it was just an off day. Luckily both kids went to bed right at 8 and slept well and today has been a much happier day.

It’s hard as a mom to not feel like you just want to throw in the towel and curl up in your own bed when the kids are so cranky. What do you do to cope with days like I had yesterday? Let me know what I can do to keep my sanity and help my children get past these grumpy episodes by adding your comments.

One of the biggest challenges of raising babies and children is keeping them fed and happy. Almost the minute a baby is born, even before the difficulty of labor and childbirth is entirely over, a newborn should be introduced to the world of breastfeeding, if the mother chooses to breastfeed.

When I was younger I had no idea what breastfeeding entailed. I thought, since it is the natural choice for feeding a baby, that breastfeeding just came naturally to infant and mother and that it was easy and convenient to do. When I was expecting my first baby I was given information on breast feeding and discussed it with my doctor. Still, I was not prepared for the actuality of the situation when the day finally arrived.

My baby boy wouldn’t latch on properly and when he did he promptly fell asleep within a minute. Needless to say, it took us several weeks to come to an understanding– I had to be available for feeding 24/7 and he got to eat whenever he decided to. By the time he was six weeks old or so we had a pretty good feeding schedule and he was getting to be a pro at the whole idea.

However, something else that I had not been prepared for was the discomfort that I felt. Not all new mothers experience pain from breastfeeding their babies, but with my first I had such tremendous pain sometimes that I would just sit and cry while my baby was eating. I wasn’t about to quit, because I know how good it is for the baby, but it definitely was not the sweet bonding experience that I had always thought it would be. It hurt 90% of the time until we were finally done breastfeeding nine months later.

My second baby was different. He latched on well right after he was born, and aside from some minor ups and downs through the months ahead it was a much better experience. Even though I didn’t think I was doing anything different I didn’t have the same pain that I did with my first… luckily!

Another challenge that I was not prepared for when I started breastfeeding my baby was the milk supply and demand issue. Again, I’ve heard stories that some women are challenged with too much breastmilk, so they have to express some before or after nursing the baby in order to be comfortable. Others seem to have just enough and can feed “on demand”.

My problem was a lack of available milk, though I tried everything that the lactation consultant and my doctor and baby’s pediatrician recommended to solve the problem. I changed my eating habits to include more fat, I didn’t exercise because I’d heard that that can diminish milk supply soon after childbirth, I pumped regularly to induce milk let down… and still I would only have barely enough to satisfy my babies.

I really wanted to breastfeed my children until they reached one year old. I started both boys on rice cereal and introduced fruits and vegetables between 4 and 5 months, when my doctor recommended because the babies weren’t gaining enough weight on breast milk alone. Even with solids and breast milk I still had to supplement with two or three ounces of formula once a day to satiate my boys’ appetites.

By the time my first was nine months old he’d had it with the frustration of trying to eat from me so we quit cold turkey. I didn’t even get engorged after that– that’s how little milk my body was producing. With my second baby we made it to ten months and then it just made him calmer and happier to have a bottle instead of breastfeed. I’m hoping that this next baby will be a little less challenging and that I can experience the “too much” problem instead. I always hated feeling like I couldn’t feed my children what they needed to grow and develop and be comfortable. It was definitely not what I was expecting when I decided to breastfeed my babies.

Of course, now that my boys are toddlers, the challenge of feeding them has just changed, it hasn’t gone away. Now it’s a matter of getting enough healthy options on the table in front of them and actually getting it into their tummies. I don’t have particularly picky eaters, but still it’s hard to get nutritious meals and snacks into them so they keep a strong immune system and have plenty of energy for playing hard like boys do.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with the challenge of feeding children. Let me know what solutions you’ve found by adding your stories, suggestions and comments.

Check out this hilarious video too– this cute baby says it all with his expressions.