Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Is it the parents’ influence and guidance, or are children genetically predestined to be particular about the foods they prefer to eat?
Maybe we’re just lucky. To date, we’ve been fortunate to not deal with picky eating with our two sons. I’m not a picky eater, so during my pregnancies I continued to eat EVERYTHING. This allowed the tastes of these foods to transfer through the amniotic fluid to my growing sons in utero. Yep! According to an NPR report, a mom’s tastes have a direct impact on the growing child’s future preferences. Fascinating! When we were at the point of venturing into the world of baby food, I was adamant about starting with vegetables – green veggies to be specific. These were likely the least tasty, so I figured it was best to start with those before the sweeter foods. I clearly remember my oldest son’s reaction when I spooned the peas into his mouth. …
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The approach of the 2012-13 school year means changes in some children's screen time. What are your plans?
People who don’t own a television always impress me. Right now it would be difficult to miss the exciting Olympic action or be on top of breaking national news. There’s got to be a balance. Through the years I’ve seen a direct correlation between our boys’ behavior and the amount of screen time they have. We purchased a Wii a couple of years ago with hopes that it would provide us with some indoor activity during the cold months. It did, but with it came an increase in aggressive and disobedient behavior. After 20 minutes of play, when we told him time was up, our oldest would become red in the face, jumping up and down and begging us for more. It was as if the thing had possessed him. The Wii has since been unplugged. When my oldest was …
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thou shalt not judge the parents of a child who has difficulty being potty trained.
Where have I gone wrong? Just when I thought things were getting easy, I have to retrieve another change of underwear and shorts from the dresser drawer for my youngest son. My kid is 4 years old. This should not be happening. With our first son, we knew he was ready for potty training by 18 months. He found it fascinating to visit the bathrooms in random places such as Kohl’s, Babies ‘R Us and restaurants around the Lehigh Valley. As soon as we were situated at a table he announced to everyone, “I haffa go potty,” and off he went with dad for the next bathroom tour. He didn’t always ‘go,’ but the idea of him wanting to go got us excited. My 2005 New Year’s resolution with my first son was to never buy another disposable diaper (at least …
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Quake, tropical storm bring out recessive worry gene.
What a week. In the middle of interviewing someone by phone last week, I feel the house start to shake. I’m ready to light into my teenage sons for jumping in the living room and they say, “Really mom, it wasn’t us, it was an earthquake.” They turn on CNN to prove it. Three days later, on the eve of Tropical Storm Irene, the Giant supermarket on Emaus Avenue in Allentown looks like a plague of locusts had hit the produce section. The only bananas left were a couple of black spotted ones. The red seedless grapes were decimated and the handful of Gala apples were looking like escapees. I used to make fun of people who rushed out for milk and bread at the first whiff of a snowstorm. Yet there I was--one of the locusts--unable to pass a …
Friday, August 26, 2011
Is putting children on "leashes" any worse than restricting their freedom in strollers?
Last Saturday, as I was in the Lehigh Valley Mall pushing the stroller I put my 22-month-old son in so he doesn’t run amok, I saw a tethered child pulling a parent along. After chuckling a bit at the scenario of a parent being led around by their child, I thought it might be bordering on some sort of legal form of abuse, and that the child might need excessive amounts of therapy in the future. Was this just a rash judgment born out of my social conditioning and hypersensitivity to abusive situations, or is the "leashing" of little ones really OK? One can buy a leash, euphemistically referred to as a child safety harness, for as little as $5.99, and more expensive models come with plush animal backpacks within which your child can carry …
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The story of how a mother used the popular social networking site to help diagnose her son’s rare illness is a thought-provoking one.
With Facebook receiving a great deal of criticism among parents for instigating anti-social and suicidal behaviors among teenagers, there is some redemption to the social networking tool that helped a mother find an obscure diagnosis for her son’s condition that was previously overlooked by pediatricians. While others parents use Facebook to catch up with the minutia of their 300+ friends, Deborah Copaken Kogan posted pictures of her 4-year-old-son, Leo, when her instincts told her his condition was not the strep throat for which the doctors were treating him. She first published her story on July 13 in Slate and later that same week appeared on the Today show. Like many, she was previously reluctant to join Facebook, but did so to monitor…
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Plus, an answer to the nature vs. nurture debate.
The old saw “success has many parents but failure is an orphan” is never truer than when you’re dealing with actual kids. When your child brings home straight As or helps a little old lady carry her bags, it’s tempting to think “he gets that from my side of the family” or “I taught him that.” When that same kid throws a tantrum or refuses to clean his room, we think, “Where did THAT behavior come from?” We solve the “nature vs. nurture” question of child raising by assuming if it’s a fault, he was born with it; the virtues come from us. As the parent of teenagers, I know it’s a bit early to be giving parenting advice--lots can still go wrong. But I mentioned to a friend who has a preschooler that I used to tell my kids if any stranger …
Friday, July 8, 2011
The language may make your ears bleed, but for those with young children, it is funny.
Sleep deprived parents the world over have found a book to which they can relate. It is not written by Dr. Sears and it won’t tell you how to become a better parent, but it just might make you laugh hysterically. Every parent has been there. The baby is up at 2am and there is no sign of Sandman gracing the nursery. You feed the baby, you rock the baby, you sing to the baby, you read to the baby, but the baby just won’t go to sleep. After a couple of days, or, as was the case with our son, a year, that amount of sleep deprivation can cause one to think some crazy thoughts. Now, while many people may have thought it, uttering the phrase, ‘go the f*ck to sleep,’ rarely passes the lips of even the most frustrated parent--but one man has put …
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Lack of school relationships might bring transitional challenges as children enter into the summer months.
Most kids can’t wait for summer break. Visions of swimming, catching fireflies, picking raspberries and eating juicy watermelon come to mind. The countdown begins somewhere around April. (And I know it does for all you teachers, too!) “Less than 100 days till summer!” can be seen on countless Facebook statuses across the land. But this year, something’s been a little different in our household. For the second year in a row, we’ve noticed a distinct difference in our older son’s behavior as soon as school comes to an end. At first we didn’t realize what was causing the behavioral change. Now facing it for a second “season,” it’s become apparent that this transition into summer is having an impact on him, and it's not a good one. This month…
Monday, June 6, 2011
Is "gender-neutral" parenting harmful to children?
How can an infant raise a storm? Answer: when the parents won’t disclose the gender of their four-month-old child to more than six people. This has raised many questions. Will failing to disclose the biological sex of baby Storm have any impact at all on the social or emotional development of the child? How much impact does culture really have on gender identity? After all, isn’t it biologically determined? Should children have the opportunity to choose anything, let alone their gender identity? Canadian parents David Stocker and Kathy Witterick say they want Storm to discover him/herself by shielding Storm from cultural influences that would otherwise influence gender identity. They reportedly arrived at this decision because of their …
AnnaMarie Zeravsky
1:48 pm on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
I definitely feel that children's eating habits come from their parents and what they are first introduced too. For example, my oldest daughter (almost 3 years old) was born with a severe milk allergy (No, not an intolerance, an actual allergy where if exposed her throat would eventually close even from milk being passed through my breast milk). Because of her allergy and my unknowing of the … more ›