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Kidz Things Blog
Welcome to our blog - we hope you will find the articles interesting! If there is a topic you would like to see covered here, please do contact us with your suggestions. If you are interested in writing a blog for the website yourself, please do contact us with further information about the subject you would like to cover.
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Enough with the ‘C’ Word!
Credit-crunch… it’s a bit of a dirty word, isn’t it? I wasn’t talking about the other ‘C’ word, but I get a similar physiological reaction when I hear either term. Am I the only person who is sick to death of being bombarded with the doom and gloom of the credit-crunch? You can’t flick through the TV channels without finding at least one programme discussing the current economic depression. ‘Depression’ – that is a good way to describe it – if we don’t start hearing some more positive media reporting then the whole country really will be clinically depressed. Who knows what will happen to the NHS then!! Newspapers, magazines, radio, television; I can’t help but feel that the media have had a huge hand in leading us from the initial financial crisis of last year into the economic meltdown that we are currently facing.
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Kidz Things (UK) is FOUR MONTHS old!
Having launched Kidz Things (UK) at the beginning of November 2008, we can hardly believe that four months have passed by since then! Read the following blog to hear about our progress in the past few months and what new features we will be adding to the website in the near future.
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Change4Life - Eat Well, Move More, Live Longer
Are you aware of a government initiative called Change4Life? It is all about encouraging people, especially children, to live healthier and longer lives by changing their eating and exercise regimes. The campaign provides loads of helpful ideas and advice about little changes that can be made that will have a huge impact on your health. To find out more, please see the NHS website: www.nhs.uk/change4life. In the following blog, I have summarised some of the “top tips” from a publication which can be found in your local GP clinic (also detailed on the Change4Life website).
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Red Nose Day 2009 - Friday 13th March
Red Nose Day is less than a month away so it’s time to put on your thinking hats to see what funny things you can do to raise money for this very worthwhile campaign!
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Does Day Care Enhance or Inhibit Development?
A major dilemma faced by many new parents is whether or not the mother should return to work at the end of her maternity leave. Particularly in the tough economic times we are all currently enduring, many families are finding it near impossible to meet their financial commitments without two incomes. Of course, if mum does return to work then baby will no doubt require some form of day care. If you are lucky enough to have family nearby who are willing and able to take on the huge responsibility of caring for your baby, then the decision is often made easier. But for many of us who do not have this option, the alternative is to find either a nanny, childminder, playgroup or nursery-style day care. There are so many considerations involved in making such an important decision, including financial (cost of the care compared to the actual earnings of the mother), location of the day care provider (logistics of getting there in the morning and collecting baby at the end of the work day), and the perceived quality of the care (does it have a good Ofsted report? has it been recommended by a friend whose child attends?). These considerations are very much subjective and therefore depend on the personal circumstances of the mother and father. In addition to these factors, perhaps a more fundamental question we must ask ourselves before reaching a verdict is whether or not we believe our child’s attendance at day care will have a positive or negative effect on their overall development. Over the years there have been many academic studies looking at this particular topic. The article which follows has been written by a Kidz Things member who has undertaken a study of the relevant literature on the effects of day care attendance, and has provided us with a ‘layperson’s objective summary of the data available’. The main findings from this review are that it is the quality of both the day care provided and the partnership between the parents and day carers – they must work together to ensure the child is nurtured according to its individual needs – which are critical to a successful developmental outcome. Please click the link below to read the full article.
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NSPCC - Christmas Press Release
Kidz Things was delighted to be asked to help promote the Child’s Voice Appeal, an NSPCC campaign. The appeal was launched in September 2008 with the aim of raising more funds to set up much needed additional helplines for the NSPCC. Following the initial campaign launch press releases, the NSPCC released a statement in December 2008 highlighting the findings of their survey regarding children in fear of domestic violence over the Christmas period - the results are shocking! Please see the following press release for more information. We know times are hard financially for everyone, but if you are able to make any contribution to the NSPCC, please see their website (you can click on the link on the Kidz Things homepage) to make a donation or to find out more about other ways of making a difference.
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Kidz Things Supports the Child’s Voice Appeal (NSPCC)
Kidz Things was delighted to be asked to help promote the Child’s Voice Appeal, an NSPCC campaign. The appeal was launched in September 2008 with the aim of raising more funds to set up much needed additional helplines for the NSPCC. Nothing could be closer to our hearts than the wellbeing and happiness of all children in the UK (and of course throughout the world!). If you would like to learn more about the Child’s Voice Appeal, please do read the following press release. We know times are hard financially for everyone, but if you are able to make any contribution to the NSPCC, please see their website (you can click on the link on the Kidz Things homepage) to make a donation or to find out more about other ways of making a difference.
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What Is The Most Accurate Source Of Parenting Advice: Which Expert Do We Believe?
During the lead up to the birth of our first child and in the year after she was born, in particular, I can vividly remember seeking parenting advice and receiving many contradictory opinions from a multitude of sources. My husband and I were guided by information from books, magazines, midwives, feeding experts, osteopaths and GPs, TV programmes, the Internet, our parents, and friends who were already parents themselves. There certainly is not a shortage of parenting information available but, with so much conflicting advice given by all of these child and parenting ‘experts’, how do we know what advice to follow and what to ignore?
