Archive: Parents

5 Ways to Make Your Baby Smile

If your baby just started smiling, you want to see that beautiful, cheeky smile all the time. Sometimes babies smile at new faces, but sometimes they enjoy looking at familiar ones. It can be tough to predict exactly what will make a baby smile, but Mom Trusted has a few tricks up our sleeve. Try these five ways to make your baby smile:

Go for the colors

Babies’ brains are still developing as they take in everything around them in their new, exciting world. Colors are one thing that can excite and catch a baby’s eye. Introduce your baby to colorful toys and items they can hold onto when they start being able to successfully grab objects at around three or four months.

Play with feathers

There’s nothing like a good tickle to get a baby laughing. Try using pretty, colorful feathers, which work great for babies who may not enjoy aggressive tickling the traditional way.

Make funny faces

Your face is your baby’s favorite to look at so your face making goofy faces may be the key to uncontrollable giggles. Try adding peek-a-boo to your silly faces to make your baby smile even more.

Belly raspberries

Make your baby smile by making raspberries on his or her tiny belly. (These are also called zerbits or belly bubbles).

Sing to your baby

Try singing a lullaby, a silly song or even one on the radio to your little one. People of all ages love music and, because music is still a new phenomenon for your child, it might be just the trick you need to make your baby smile. Over time, you’ll start to experiment and find out which songs make him or her smile most and even establish favorite types of music.

Sources:

-“9 Ways to Make Your Baby Laugh” parenting.com: http://www.parenting.com/gallery/9-ways-to-make-your-baby-laugh?pnid=108127

-“5 Ways to Make Your Baby Laugh” Yahoo! Voices: http://voices.yahoo.com/5-fun-ways-baby-laugh-4090891.html

-“7 Ways to Make a Baby Laugh” The Stir: http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/135281/7_ways_to_make_a

-Photo courtesy of koratmember/freedigitalphotos.net

Creative Picnic Food for Kids

Are you looking to take your children on a summer picnic? Whether you’re munching at the park, in the woods or in your backyard, eating outside is always fun for children. Looking to spice up some snacks? Check out these creative ideas for picnic food for kids:

Ants on a log

Stick with this classic favorite. Wash and chop some celery, spread some peanut butter on each stick and drop a few raisins on top. For a fun twist, make fire ants on a log by using dried cranberries instead of raisins.

Melon straws

Cut small squares or scoop small spheres of watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. Then, string the melon chunks onto colorful straws. Kids will love the new, fun way to eat fruit.

ABC pasta salad

Make your favorite pasta salad, but replace the regular noodles with ABC noodles. You’ll have a lunch that’s both tasty and educational!

Sandwich shapes

Make some simple meat and cheese, peanut butter and jelly or veggie sandwiches, but make them in shapes. Use a few large cookie cutters to cut the bread and sandwich toppings. This is also a favorite for kids who don’t want to eat the bread crust.

Cucumber cups

Chop a fat cucumber into two to three inch thick slices. Use a melon scooper to scoop the inside out and fill them with a mixture of hummus and chopped bell peppers.

Pickle rolls

For a leaner option than the classic ham and pickle rolls, use turkey. Spread low fat cream cheese on thin slices of turkey and roll a pickle in the middle. Then chop into bite-sized pieces. To make the snack even healthier, ditch the pickles. Try replacing them with other crunchy veggies such as strips of bell pepper or cucumber.

Water bottles

An afternoon in the sun means higher risk of dehydration so remember to pack plenty of water before heading out.

Sources:

-“Picnic Food for Kids: Quick and Easy No Fuss Foods Kids Will Love” Hubpages: http://gabrielwilson.hubpages.com/hub/Picnic-food-for-kids

-“Picnic Food Kids will Love: Pack a Safe and Healthy Basket” parents.com: http://www.parents.com/recipes/familyrecipes/quickandeasy/picnic-food-kids-will-love-pack-a-safe–healthy-basket/#page=1

-“Picnic Ideas Gallery” Spoonful: http://spoonful.com/recipes/picnic-gallery

-Photo courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn/freedigitalphotos.com

What First Aide Necessity is Missing From Your Freezer?

Kids get bumps and bruises faster than you can keep up with. Before you know it, one of your kid’s has slammed their finger in a door, jammed it on a basketball or gotten a nasty rope burn from tug-a-war. That’s why everyone should have at least one Cold Cast available in their freezer at all times.

 
Cold Cast is an ice pack that fits snugly on the injured finger. Children don’t like to sit still long enough to hold an ice pack in place, but the Cold Cast has its own sling so your kids can go on playing while they’re icing. The cast helps treat finger injuries immediately, speeding up the healing process and helping eliminate any complications down the road.

 
The Cold Cast is safe for kids of all ages. It’s soft and easy to strap into place. Plus, it’s latex-free so as to avoid any allergic reactions.

Injury care is essential to ensuring the fastest healing and avoiding any future problems. Cold Cast provides all five features of P.R.I.C.E., the five main principles of injury care. They include: 

• – Protection: Cold Cast cradles tender fingers in a padded cushion.

 

• – Rest: Wearing the handy product works as a constant reminder to the injured child to let the finger heal.

 

• – Ice: Cold Cast’s design will allow it to stay cold for 20 minutes, which is the maximum time recommended to ice injuries. Even when frozen, it remains soft and pliable, making it easy for little ones to keep on playing.

 

• – Compression: The cast can be wrapped around a finger as tightly or as loosely as possible. Wrap it snugly to provide support and compression.

 

• – Elevation: Cold Cast’s wrist strap will ensure it stays in place even on the busiest kid, letting them carry on with their playtime while they heal!

 
At Mom Trusted, we want to make sure that our care providers stay well prepared so we’re offering our users an exclusive discount:

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Buy one before you need one so that you always have at least one Cold Cast on hand!  If you have a few you can get creative when injuries arise.

Water Safety 101: Water Safety for Kids

With sun and summer finally here, what better way to cool off than spending some time in the water? But whether we’re talking about a kiddie pool in your backyard or taking the kiddos in your daycare program to a local lake or waterpark, safety should be (and likely already is) your number one concern. Here are a few tips to making splashing around safer:

Constant supervision is a must.

Even a shallow pool is enough for a tragic accident. Keep the kids safe by watching them at every moment, even if they’re not actually in the water.

Look for lifeguards.

If you’re after a lake, beach or public pool, head to one with a lifeguard. But remember, just because there’s a lifeguard on duty, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay just as close of attention to your children. Think of the lifeguard as an added water safety bonus.

Know who’s most at risk.

Toddlers and teens have the highest drowning rates. Both are exploring their boundaries, but teens may be showing off or messing around without considering the consequences. Toddlers, on the other hand, are also at high risk because they’re exploring new environments and mimicking adult behavior without understanding the dangers involved. Keep an extra careful eye on children from both of these age groups.

Keep the kids hydrated.

Sunshine combined with high-energy activities like swimming means children should be gulping lots of water. Grab a few plastic water bottles or fill up some aluminum ones on your way out the door.

Remember the sunscreen!

Water isn’t the only dangerous part of splashing around outdoors. Strong sunshine can burn little ones’ fair skin. Plus, water amplifies the UV rays, making the risk of sunburn even higher. Invest in some intense (50 SPF +), waterproof sunscreen.

Sources:

-“Water Safety” Kids Health: http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/outdoor/water_safety.html

-“Water Safety: Protecting Children” Safety Turtle: http://www.safetyturtle.com/water-safety/child-water-safety.html

-Photo courtesy of chrisroll/freedigitalphotos.net

Making Homemade Ice Cream as a Family

Looking for a way to cool off this summer? Gather the family to make homemade ice cream! Making homemade ice cream can help stifle boredom and satisfy your little one’s sweet tooth. Follow this simple recipe:

Ingredients:

-1 gallon ziplock bag

-1 pint ziplock bag

-2 tablespoons sugar

-1 cup half and half

-1/2 cup salt

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1/2 gallon bag’s worth of ice cubes

Directions:

1. Pour sugar, salt and vanilla extract into the pint-sized ziplock bag.

2. Put the salt and ice in the gallon-sized bag.

3. Place the sealed small bag inside the larger bag and seal shut.

4. Shake the bag for 5 minutes or until mixture hardens.

5. Take out the smaller bag, throw in frozen fruit, nuts, broken up candy bars or eat it plain.

Sources:

-Photo courtesy of rakratchada torsap/freedigitalphotos.net

Summer Activities for Kids

With warm weather finally here, it’s time to get outside! Kids do best with a little direction and encouragement for their imagination so Mom Trusted put together a list of fun summer activities for kids. Don’t forget the sunscreen!

Decorate the town with chalk.

Chalk is a summer classic that never gets old. Grab a fresh box and let your little ones go crazy. It’ll probably only be a matter or minutes before your fresh sticks of chalk start to snap, but don’t panic. Invest in a giant Tupperware container that can hang out in the garage and be a home to old, used chalk chunks every summer. This will also allow for a collection of colors!

Play catch with water balloons and slippery hands.

Fill up a bucket with water balloons and head to the back yard. Then, grease up with something like vegetable oil, lotion or good, old-fashioned soap. See how long you can play catch with the balloons sliding around through slippery hands.

Float ice boats.

Make ice cube boats by freezing a tray of cubes with a drop of food coloring in each. Have your kids help you decorate little triangle pieces of paper as flags for each boat. Then, glue the flags to toothpicks and stick one per cube before freezing the colorful ice cubes. Fill up a cheap, plastic pool in your yard and let your kids splash around and float their boats.

Have a bubble party.

Fill a plastic kiddie pool with dish soap and water. Then, get creative with different bubble makers. Hunt through your garage. Use hula-hoops, bend wire into fun shapes and dig around in your kitchen to pull out a strainer with extra big holes.

Go on a water balloon hunt.

It works like an Easter egg hunt except you’re using very full water balloons. Because they tend to burst when they hit the ground or are squeezed too tightly, the goal is to see who can fill their basket with the most full balloons. Then, have a water balloon war with your new-found treasures.

Make your own sprinklers.

Raid your recycling for the biggest plastic bottles you can find. Then, drill holes in them and give them to your kids next time they’re playing in the outdoor pool or running through the hose and sprinkler. Voila! Mini sprinklers!

Sources:

-Pinterest: Summer Activities with Kids: http://pinterest.com/melissa_taylor2/summer-activities-with-kids/

-“Water Balloon Games for Kids” Fantastic Fun and Learning: http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/water-balloon-games-for-kids.html

-“Summer Activities for Kids: Ice Boats” Spanglish Baby: http://spanglishbaby.com/finds/summer-activity-for-kids-ice-boats-water-play/

-“Tutorial: The Human Bubble and More” U Create: http://www.ucreatewithkids.com/search/label/bubbles

-“30 Summer Activities for Kids” Lil Luna: http://lilluna.com/30-summer-activities-for-kids/

-Photo courtesy of chrisroll/freedigitalphotos.net

Bug Crafts for Kids

Express some critter creativity with this bug crafts for kids:

Fuzzy caterpillars

Glue different colored and sized pompoms to a popsicle stick. Then, glue on two googly eyes and one pipe cleaner smiley mouth. You’ll have a herd of fuzzy friends in no time.

Paper inchworms

Cut green construction paper into three-inch strips. Tape the end to a sheet of paper and loop it around the first 1/5 of the paper strip (almost like a paper chain). With the remaining 4/5 of the paper, bunch it up, making waves and gluing the paper down at the bottom of each curve. Stick on two googly eyes and two pipe cleaner antennas. Draw on a smile and you’re good to go.

Painted butterflies

Grab some gigantic, white sheets of paper and a variety of paint colors. Have your children go to town. Show them how if you place a blob of paint on a piece of paper and fold it in half, it can come out looking like an abstract butterfly.

Styrofoam spiders

Take a three-inch Styrofoam ball and paint it black. Stick three pipe cleaners out of each side for the legs. Paint on a red smile and stick on two googly eyeballs. We’ll bet these little guys turn out to be the friendliest spiders you’ve ever seen.

Paper plate ladybugs

Staple two paper plates together, creating a small pouch. Paint it black. Next, take a third paper plate and cut a pie-slice-shaped chunk out of it, the remaining portion will be the wings. Paint the plate with the missing piece red with black spots and staple it onto the black pouch body. Cut legs and a round head out of construction paper and glue or paint on eyeballs and a smile.

Sources:

-“Bugs and Insect Activities for Kids” Pinterest

-“Kids Bug Crafts” All Kids Network

-Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/freedigitalphotos.net