How much television should a toddler be allowed to watch?  Honestly, I am hesitant to even write about this.  I’m feeling a little guilty lately.  I’ve been turning on Noggin during breakfast and lunch.  We had a few rainy days, what else is there to do besides watch a little Dora?  The other day I really wanted to jump in the shower so I turned on the boob tube again.

Television is a touchy subject.  When I realize I’ve let a half hour of TV turn into an hour, I feel like a bad mother.  Some of my mommy friends leave the TV on all day.  Some act as though TV is the source of all evil.  My personal issue is with advertising.   A lot of the advertisements that are shown during children’s programming are highly inappropriate.

I decided to look into what the experts have to say about TV and toddlers.  I figured it’d either reassure me that what I am doing is okay or scare me into canceling cable.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the George Adkins professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute stated in an article last year:  “There have been a lot of studies that explored this, and early television is associated with delayed language, delayed cognitive developments, shorter attention span.”

Uh, oh.  Here comes that Mommy guilt…But wait!

A new study by the researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School negates the “TV is bad for your toddler” argument, finding that hours in front of the television, while not beneficial, doesn’t seem to harm young kids, either.

“In this study, TV viewing in itself did not have measurable effects on cognition,” said Dr. Elsie Taveras, senior author of the study and pediatrician at Children’s.  “TV viewing is perhaps best viewed as a marker for a host of other environmental and familial influences, which may themselves be detrimental to cognitive development.”

When asked about television and toddlers, Dr. Sears said:  “I think it is a good show if the child is interacting with it, singing along, or dancing along.  If the child just “zones-out” and stares at the tube, then you should probably find a different show.”

As of now, it seems as though the general consensus is that while television is not helping your child at all, it’s probably not hurting them either.  Carefully choosing what they watch and limiting how much they are watching is important. Filling up the rest of the day with one on one time and enriching activities seems to be the key.

Tomorrow: No TV at lunchtime. Mark my words!

Images: ABC news, wkyc.com

If you’ve had a baby in the last few years, you’ve probably heard about concerns over Bisphenol A. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block that is used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.  Most of the food and beverage cans available today are coated with BPA and most plastic baby bottles are made from BPA.  There have been suspected health risks since the 1930’s including cancer and reproductive and developmental problems.  Recently, researchers have found evidence that BPA is leaching into baby formula (or whatever liquid is in the bottle) from worn or scratched plastic baby bottles.  This obviously has caused a lot of concern among parents of babies that are fed from a bottle.

Just this past week, the Huffington Post reported on the latest meeting of major food and beverage manufacturers (Coca-Cola, Alcoa, Crown, North American Metal Packaging Alliance, Inc., Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), American Chemistry Council, Del Monte) to discuss BPA and how to handle the public outrage.  Instead of finding alternative packaging and manufacturing processes, these companies are putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into marketing to change our minds about BPA.  With legislatures moving to ban baby bottles made with BPA, and possibly food packaging in the future, these companies are worried about losing money.  With research like this, their greed is highly offensive:

“Retha Newbold, the pioneering DES researcher who conducted the NIEHS study, said her findings suggest that bisphenol A could be associated with endometriosis and uterine fibroids, which are the leading cause of 600,000 hysterectomies performed anually on U.S. women.”

Shocking, isn’t it?

You may be wondering what you can do to keep your baby as far from BPA as you can. Here are some ideas:

1. Breastfeed:  Nurse your baby from birth and for as long as you can.  As long as you eat a reasonably healthy diet and don’t ingest harmful substances your baby will thrive on your breast milk.  There is nothing harmful about breastfeeding.

2. Use glass:  Ditch the plastic. I used glass baby bottles with my daughter.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were cheaper than plastic.  The Evenflo bottles I bought were heavy duty and survived being dropped many times.  You can even get a soft silicone cover that protects the glass and helps you keep a firm grip.  Also, glass is so much easier to clean.  Not only have I replaced my baby’s bottles with glass but also many of my food storage containers.

Evenflo Classic 4 oz Glass Nurser - 3 Pack:  $7.99

3. Invest in BPA free plastic bottles:  Several forward thinking companies have already addressed the BPA concerns by manufacturing baby bottles made from safe plastics.  They may cost more, but the benefits and peace of mind are priceless.

BornFree 5 oz. BPA-Free Wide Neck Bottles, Twin-Pack: $13.00

If you would like to read more about BPA, head over to The Bisphenol A Portal.

Image Source: thedailygreen

Find at Smarter.com:  Shop through a variety of baby bottles and baby feeding products.

Chances are, growing up you were either bullied or a bully.  Bullying is a childhood experience that everybody deals with in one way or another.  What does bullying mean?  For some people, it’s that mean kid at school who always makes fun of them.  For some, bullying may involve the biggest kid on the block who beats them up or takes their things.  Sometimes “bully” means a group of several kids ganging up on another child.

Bullying can happen in several different ways.  Physical bullying means hitting, kicking, or pushing someone, or even just threatening to do it.  Stealing, hiding or ruining someone’s things and making someone do things he or she doesn’t want to do.  Verbal bullying means name-calling, teasing and insults.  Another form of bulling is called “Relationship Bullying”.  It involves refusing to talk to someone, spreading rumors or lies about someone and forcing somebody to do something they do not want to do.  A widespread problem right now is “Cyberbullying”.  Kids have email these days, and with all the social networking sites and instant messaging they are finding new ways to harass each other.

When I was a kid and going through this stuff on the school bus, the general consensus was that a kid who was being bullied just needed to “toughen up”.  I remember being told to “hit him back!” or to insult the bully.  That kind of response many times just aggravates the bulling and puts the attention on the victim and not on the bully.

The Mayo Clinic suggests that parents handle the bullying of their child in the following manner:

• Encourage your child to share his or her concerns. Remain calm, listen in a loving manner and support your child’s feelings.  Express understanding and concern.  You might say, “I understand you’re having a rough time.  Let’s work together to deal with this.”  Remind your child that he or she isn’t to blame for being bullied.

• Learn as much as you can about the situation.  Ask your child to describe how and when the bullying occurs and who is involved.  Ask if other children or adults have witnessed any bullying incidents.  Find out what your child may have done to try to stop the bullying.

• Teach your child how to respond to the bullying.  Don’t promote retaliation or fighting back against a bully.  Instead, encourage your child to maintain his or her composure. He or she might say, “I want you to stop now,” and then simply walk away.  Suggest sticking with a friend or group of friends while on the bus, in the cafeteria or wherever the bullying seems to happen.  Remind your child that he or she can ask teachers or other school officials for help.

• Contact school officials. Talk to your child’s teacher, the school counselor and the school principal. If your child has been physically attacked or otherwise threatened with harm, talk to school officials immediately to help determine if the police should be involved.  Don’t contact the bully’s parents yourself.  You may also want to encourage school officials to address bullying as part of the curriculum.

• Follow up.  Keep in contact with school officials.  If the bullying seems to continue, be persistent.

• Boost your child’s self-confidence.  Help your child get involved in activities that can raise self-esteem, such as sports, music or art.  Encourage your child to make contact with friendly students in his or her class and develop his or her social skills.

• Know when to seek professional help. Consider professional or school counseling for your child if his or her fear or anxiety becomes overwhelming.

The bottom line: Bullying is serious. The impact on your child can reach into adulthood. Be ready to respond when bullying finds your child.

Find at Smarter.com:  Shop for books on bullying.

Image Source: MSNBC.com