Baby Shower

The Decline of Babysitting Jobs

In America, babysitting has always been a respected job among young people; something near to home to make some extra money without the usual downfalls that come with a part-time job. Teenagers would often plan their strategies for summer break on how best to promote their services, getting as many good quality babysitting jobs as they could manage. But these days babysitting jobs are starting to fade.

As a youth worker, many hours of my week are spent with high school students, who, not long ago, were the CEO’s of the babysitting industry. But of the many I’ve spoken to, only a small amount even consider babysitting to be a viable option for a summer job, and none of them are actively trying to promote themselves and get jobs. It surprised me. It was less than fifteen years ago when babysitting seemed to be a bustling enterprise. My own sister was a babysitting entrepreneur who brought in a healthy $400 a month, all from babysitting work she had found.

Things have begun to change. Though babysitters seem to be needed more now than ever, the demand for them has seen a sharp decline. The only feasible explanation is the growing lack of trust and security in our neighborhoods. Fifteen years ago or so, when babysitting was in full swing, kids would often spend entire days playing in public parks with friends, unsupervised yet generally safe all the while. I myself can still hear the quintessential line called out from my mother as often I would sprint from my house: “Make sure you’re home by dinner.”

But these days, kids stay close to home, only going to parks with their parents. With the decay of perceived security in our neighborhoods, it looks as though babysitting jobs are dwindling as well. The crisis goes further. During the “good-old-days” that few of us remember, it was common for neighbors to show up on the doorsteps of other neighbors with cookies to welcome newcomers and get to know them. But in today’s day and age, with documented lists of registered sex-offenders available to the public, scores of neighborhoods countrywide are being put on alert when dangerous persons move into town. Neighbors are often distrustful of those living near them, and wouldn’t jeopardize their children by hiring someone as a babysitter unless they know them very well.

Though such caution is merited, it’s a shame to watch the decline of babysitting jobs. Babysitting was once the perfect job for high-schoolers on summer vacation, or those just wanting a little cash without having to look for part-time work.

Getting Most Favorable Baby Nursery Bedding for Your Infant

Baby bedding needs to be more durable than adult bedding as it needs more frequent washing; it is worth your money to get the best you can afford. The better the quality of your baby bedding, the more likely you will be able to use it again and again for your future offspring. Parents may be surprised how quickly they may change lower caliber baby bedding–it could be before their child moves on to a bed.

Usually the new parents buy baby bedding that matches the color of their nursery at their home, but what does the baby really want? Newborns are unable to recognize different colors. Babies see black and white colors better than any other; use these colors when setting up the infants nursery. Baby sets that only use the colors of black and white, however, are non-beneficial to your child because these hues may actually cause a baby to stay awake during the night through stimulation.

Infants will be be more interested in clear, simple patterns and well-defined shapes. A newborn begins to be able to see colors after the first few weeks of his or her life. A baby will spend more time looking at the mobile during those first few weeks though it is not actually a baby bedding.

When the baby starts seeing colors, a black and white mobile won’t hold their interest for long. When babies begin to first notice the world around them, they focus on faces and pictures that stimulate their developing minds. Solid colored bedding will help reduce fussiness when a baby is fussy.

Crib bedding must be durable, soft, and easily cleaned because the bigger your baby grows, the more important it becomes. When quilted bedding is used in a baby’s room it is important to scan the bedding for loose threads, that the baby may become entangled in, after each wash. Always keep in stock one or two clean baby bedding sets to meet any unforeseen demand or exigency. Try buying multiple sets of the same style, just in case one gets ruined.

The baby bedding should ensure a hygienic and comfortable sleep that your baby enjoys, no matter what brand, design or color the bedding is.

Why Personalized Handcrafted Necklaces are the Perfect Gift For Mom

The love between a mother and her new baby is undeniable. The cute little infant resting against her chest is something mom will remember forever. As a gift giver, you could give her a fully loaded diaper bag or a baby gift basket. That would be the safe choice. If you really want to wow her, give her a personalized mothers necklaces with handcrafted charms, with her child’s name hand engraved on the front and the birth date on the back side of the name charm. With her child’s name hand-stamped in gold or silver, her baby jewelry will remain with her, even after the children have grown up and she becomes an empty nester.

Handcrafted personalized mothers necklaces distincively symbolizes the invisible thread that ties the family together, and they make for wonderful gifts for mom on a variety of occasions such as Mother’s Day Gifts, Mothers Christmas Gifts and Mother Birthday Gifts. They are also great for Valentine’s Day to show your wife how much she means to you as the mother of her children. In addition to personalized necklaces, many moms will also wear a complimentary mothers bracelets and mothers rings to match their name necklaces to form a full set of mothers jewelry.

Guide To Personalize Mother’s Necklaces

In determining which style of custom mothers necklace to buy, first decide whether you want handcrafted or machine stamped name charms. Machine stamped names and birth dates on pendants has greater consistency and sharper edges and can come in a variety of fonts. However, if you are going for the breathless response and the wow factor, nothing is better than handcrafted personalized mother’s necklaces. A designer will hand inscribe or hand stamp your baby’s name and birth date into the charm. These necklaces are a work of art and one of a kind and the cost is comparable to machine stamped. Handcrafted personalized necklaces give you the special feeling of thougtfulness for your baby gifts and mother’s necklaces.

The next question is to determine the type of font you want on the necklace, whether to do a regular font, scripted font or block font? Scripted fonts mirror handwriting is the clearest way to show your necklace is uniquely handcrafted since no two letters will be alike. Standard fonts typically come with the first letter in upper case. They also have the advantage of being easier to view and give the option for a stylish cursive effect. Standard fonts look the most readable but also similar to machine stamped charms. Block fonts for custom mothers necklaces come in standard sizes for each character with all the characters upper case. Block fonts are best for monogrammed personalization mothers necklaces with two or three initials.

Shapes of Mother’s Necklaces

Now, the shape of the name charms and pendants is important as it will affect the feel and look of the mother necklace. There are thousands of shapes to choose from such as circles, ovals, stars, symbols, and many polygon shapes. The most popular for a mother’s necklace is a circular disk made of silver or gold as they are the most light weight and have a high shine factor. Circular name charms create a look that is well balanced, whole, and avoids sharp edges. Therefore, it is super comfortable and light to the touch. The top selling circular shaped disk for customized mother necklaces and baby gifts is inscribed to give multiple angles of reflection creating extra attention to you at parties and baby showers.

Length of Mother’s Necklaces

The length of the mothers necklace is important for visibility factor. If you want to proudly declare you are a new mom then choose a necklace chain length that will be most visible when you are wearing the mother necklace which usually means a shorter chain to have it closer to the neck.  Most mothers’ necklace chains come in 14 to 20 inch lengths. 14 inches and 16 inches chains are the most popular lengths as they also promote the highest visibility and most flexibility between different clothing necklines. Personalized mother’s necklaces shorter than 14 inches can crowd the neckline, and they can also look awkward if dangling close to the neckline but too long to be a choker. A mother’s necklace that is over 18 inches tends to hang too low which prevents the pendant from being seen with most blouses or dresses.

Select the Material: Gold or Silver, Pearls or Diamonds for Mother Jewelry

New moms are going to love anything you give her. Pearls, gemstones, and diamonds each are a great show of love and care, and speak volumes for you when you are not there. The real uniqueness of mother jewelry is the personalization with her child’s name. You can add precious jewels to the chain, or as a personalized touch to the pendant, but the simplicity of gold and silver lends itself to the wearing of mother’s necklaces whether dressed in jeans or for a dinner party. Silver and gold are strong and yet maelable etch in characters for personalized mothers necklaces.

Sterling silver, also known as 925 silver, tarnishes less and provides a trendy look lending elegance to any outfit the new mom wears. Gold is always beautiful. Timeless, personalized mother’s necklaces in gold will never tarnish. Strong enough for both the necklace and the pendant, gold mothers necklaces radiate the love for your new baby. Gold is also soft and feather-weight making the delicate personalized mothers necklaces feel even lighter. They make for a great mothers Christmas gifts. For the most striking mother jewelry, choose mother’s necklaces which come with gold on one side of the charm and silver on the other. These are the hippest fashion because you can get two chains, one in silver and one in gold, and your lovely wife will always look coordinated and in style regardless of the outfit or the event.  Cora Lee is the owner of BlissLiving.com, the world’s leading retailer of personalized mothers jewelry.

Child development – fine motor skills

Parents of toddlers have no doubt heard the term ‘fine motor skills’ as it is often bandied about when talk turns to child development and preschool goals. Fine motor skills involve all the small muscles of the body that allow functions such as writing, grasping small objects and fastening clothing. Fine motor skills involve strength, fine motor control and dexterity.

Fine motor skills, are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers and thumb. The development of these skills allow a person – at any age – to be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing and buttoning.

The preschool attainment goals that are expected of children include their ability to hold pencils and markers with a mature grip, the child’s ability to draw recognizable shapes and objects and a child’s capability to cut out shapes while turning the paper as necessary. Fine motor skills are important in most school activities as well as in life in general.

Limitations in fine motor skills can greatly impinge on a child’s ability to eat, write legibly, operate a computer, turn pages in a book and perform personal care tasks such as dressing and grooming.

As children improve their motor skills, they are better able to help themselves by completing daily activities independently. For instance, children between the ages of 2 and 3 are able to put on and take off simple articles of clothing. They are able to ‘operate’ clothing with zippers, use spoons, string together beads with large holes and open doors that have doorknobs. When children are between the ages of 3 and 4, they are able to dress in clothing with larger buttons, use scissors to cut paper and can copy simple lined shapes using a pencil. By the ages of 4 to 5, children are able to dress and undress themselves without assistance. They are also able to manipulate a fork and have increased their dexterity to cut around shapes with a pair of scissors. Finally, by  age 6, a child is able to cut soft foods with a knife and can tie his or her shoe laces.

Because all children develop at their own rate, the ages given are not an exact timeline because every child will acquire their fine-motor skills in a different timetable – however there is much you can do to support a toddler’s acquisition of fine motor skills. In fact, the more your preschool child uses his or her fingers in activities that help to strengthen their hand coordination, the sooner they will master dexterity.

Develop fine motor skills by drawing and coloring with your child using markers, pencils, crayons and even pavement chalk. Drawings need not be perfect – scribbling is great fun – and coloring pages of a favourite TV or movie character should encourage even the most reluctant colorer to literally try his or her  hand at coloring. At sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Spongebob colouring pages while little girls would perhaps enjoy the coloring sheets at Fairy Coloring Pages.

Despite parents’ best efforts however, sometimes children need some assistance when developing their fine motor skills. This requires parents to find diverse strategies in order to assist children with their development. Occupational therapists are the true experts in the field of fine motor and handwriting development, therefore, if you think that there may be an issue with the fine motor development of your child, you should ask for an evaluation by a licensed occupational therapist.

Some Problems With Baby Feeding

Many mothers have problems with baby feeding, even when they are breastfeeding. Usually, this is easily solved but that does not stop a new mom from panicking when they think they aren’t going to be able to feed their baby. Some mothers have to feed with a bottle for various reasons, and though this is a bit easier at first, there are certain things that anyone feeding a baby needs to remember.

One of the best tools to aid in baby feeding for a new breastfeeding mom is a pillow that is shaped something like a circle that does not close together. This is an excellent way to get the baby into proper position to reach the breast without putting any strain on the mother.

There are also special challenges for moms who have to use baby bottle feeding techniques. They must be sure that the formula is at the proper temperature, and they need to watch the way the baby is lying. Babies who feed this way get more air, and that means they have to be burped a little more than other babies.The temperature must be perfect and the baby needs relief from built up gas after a being fed. The formula that is being fed to the baby can often cause some problems as well. It might take some time to sort out what is going on.

When baby feeding any baby, it is always a good idea to have them as upright as possible. Though this might not appear quite as natural, it is a good idea for acid reflux. They just think they have a cranky baby that cries a lot. If a child seems especially bothered after baby feeding, it could be reflux or it could be gas. Either can be treated, but the baby with reflux is going to have a hard time remaining calm.

Baby Shower