What You Must Know: The Best Baby Shower Gift List

October 9th, 2009

New babies are lovable, sweet, and innocent and can be a real joy in any young couple’s life, but youhave got to admit that they are also extraordinarily costly. The list of items that new oldsters need to worry for their parcel of happiness in the 1st months of his life can be lurching, and it may also be really hard on the budget. When you are in the position to give a baby shower for the mom-to-be, it’s up to you to be sure that the gifts that the guests will bring are helpful and to dispose of the possibility of copy present items that they do not need more than one of. You can do this by recommending certain gifts or by having a shower of specific items, like anappy shower. Anything you do to make the perfect baby shower gift lists will be most appreciated by the oldsters.

One way to go about making sure that two folk don’t buy identical gifts is by giving each person a time in the baby care cycle to get a gift for. These times include feeding time, bath time, story time, laundry time, diaper time, nap time, and even free time if there is such a thing with a new baby in the house! You can create your invitations round the varied present categories by either using rubber stamps or clip art so that each person will know the kind of present to bring. Your visitors will love having you guide them to the perfect gifts, and by leaving each topic wide open you can give them a wide range of price options.

You might need to do something as straightforward as ask the guest-of-honor for a baby shower present list. Using her list, make up alovable copy to include with each invitation. That way everyone will know what’s needed and should be ableto help the couple out with the cost of having a baby. Instead of going out to a store and choosing a silver rattle or a cashmere baby blanket, guests will focus on the practical gifts that mom will be using every day. Not that silver rattles and cashmere blankets aren’t delightful, but theyare luxuries rather than prerequisites. If the parents-to-be have signed up for agift registry, you should also make note of the fact in the invitation.

There’s another kind of baby shower present list that you may not have thought about, and that’s’s alisting of the gifts the guest-of-honor receives with a list of names and addresses of the guests. Choose someone to be the official scribe for the party and give that person a catalogue of the names and addresses along with space to draft which present every one gave. That way, after the shower, the new mommy will be in a position to write out thank-yous much easier.

And now its time to worry about baby shower invitation ideas….

Zhu Zhu Hamsters - This Year’s Best Selling Toy?

October 9th, 2009

The latest toy craze for children in the four to ten year old age range is Zhu Zhu pets – a group of five motorized hamsters. They all have electronic artificial intelligence which gives them their own unique personalities and allows them to interact with children, other Zhu Zhu pets and also their environment.

There are two distinct types of play – “loving” mode and “exploring” mode. When in loving mode, the hamsters like to be petted, stroked and generally pampered. They will emit cute little noises in response to petting and the different hamsters have some sounds which are unique to them. Whilst they are in exploring mode they like to venture forth in either their hamster habitat or on hard floors. Sensors in each hamster allow them to interact with toys and obstacles they meet along the way.

As well as the hamsters themselves, a number of play sets are available. These are made up of tubes, tracks, toys and obstacles which the hamsters can use for exploring and playing. There is a wide variety of toys and accessories available – hamster fun house, skateboards, surfboards, cars, hamster balls, hamster wheels (of course) etc. The children can set up the toys and rearrange the tracks and tubes in a number of different configurations – it really lets them use their imagination.

There are five Zhu Zhu hamsters in total. These are; Mr. Squiggles, Num Nums, Pipsqueak, Chunk and Patches. You can buy them individually or in sets of two or even three hamsters. The exception to the rule is Patches who comes as part of the Hamster Starter Set. All of the five hamsters have their own individual personalities, so there should be one that will appeal to most kids in the target age group.

One of the benefits of these pets, for both children and their parents, is that they don’t need fed, watered and there’s no need to clean up after them. Zhu Zhu pets are “pets without the mess” as the manufacturer’s marketing slogan says.

Having launched in August of 2009, the Zhu Zhu pets are in high demand. It’s already difficult to find them in many areas. They seem certain to be one of the top selling toys this Christmas. If you don’t want to be disappointed it might be a good idea to makes sure that you grab your Zhu Zhu pet, together with any accessories you want, pretty early.

Parenting Advice: Are You Stuck in a Yelling Event with Your Kid?

October 9th, 2009

If screaming worked, being a parent would come easy, right? We would just yell, “Just do it!” and our kids would follow. child behavior problems would be a rare occurrence. Parenting advice to would come easy - just blow your top. But here’s the reality: it just does not work. I’ve told parents, “Look, if yelling at kids was productive, I’d be out of a job. You’d just be able to hollar[snap at your kid and he’d change. Or you would bring your daughter to my office, I’d scream at him and call him insults for 45 minutes, and then your child would go home and be sweet for a week. Once any adult had kids, parenting advice would be easy to dole out.

When parents advise me that they are yelling at the top of their lungs sometimes to get their kid’s attention, I can understand. I’m a parent too and I’ve worked with adults and kids all my life. Let’s face it, it can be difficult being a stong parent, and it can be difficult being a child. I believe people end up screaming at their kids because they’ve simply depleted other ways to solve the problem. Instead, they rely on power to get the job done. And it works, so long as the other person is willing to accept this from you. However, understand that when your kid realize they can scream back, your yelling will have the opposite effect, which is none. And make no mistake, yelling skills are harder for kids to get rid of than they are to learn.

In my experience, no parent should get into a screaming match with their child; it gives kids too much power. It also does not help you with the problem at hand, whether it’s getting your child to take out the trash, stop playing video games, or to come home on time. The other danger is that yelling turns you into your child’s emotional equal. When you’re out of control, they know it and for the time you’re in that fight with them, your authority is questioned.

The 3 Things Your Child Gains from Screaming:

  • Your child learns that power is how things get done. More precisely, he learns that overpowering others is the best way to get things done.
  • Your kids learn how to bring you down to their level. Mentally and emotionally, he quickly learns how to avoid hearing you when the screaming starts.
  • Your kid recognizes that his parents can blow their tops, and that by pushing the right buttons, they can get you to lose control. Make no bones about it, once you’ve started using shouting as a behavior tool, you’ve shown everything he needs to know about pushing your buttons.

These are the reasons why the old school parenting advice of just yelling doesn’t work. Teaching your kids the opposite of what you want them to do is not the answer. Reducing your power down to a child’s level doesn’t work either. Screaming orders in order to get things done is not how to get your children to listen and follow.