Archive for the ‘General’ Category

How much TV should children watch?

Friday, November 11th, 2011

There are many views on this. TV in some ways can make your child go into a “sleep-like” trance and actually gain nothing while watching TV. This kind of state is useful only when you are tired, terribly sick or mum/dad have to get on with the cooking or DIY and it is too dangerous for children to be involved.

Science experiments

However, TV does have a lot advantages. Here in the UK there is the channel Cbeebies. It has only fun and educational programmes. One programme actually teaches your child sign language, another about science and show how things work and why. (Sometimes my daughter tells me over dinner how sugar is made – which I had no idea she knew but learnt it from TV).

Another useful tip that TV can give us is to create conversation and understanding. These 2 qualities is also useful not in day-to-day interaction with your child but also with homework. Talking about a topic and understanding what you are hearing can help in interaction in the classroom and relaying it at home.

As with all things, TV should be used in moderation. Make sure TV time is a set time and that it does not get in the way of study time or bonding time. Make TV a treat for progress rather than a background feature.

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Food – Just why won’t they eat it?

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Children eating happily apples in the parkWell, what a topic…Food.
Food with children is such a lottery.  In the same family one can find 2 children that  have such strange approaches to food. They can have polar apart tastes in food that it does not seem correct to say they live under the same roof.

For example, my first child takes forever to eat a meal but eats all types of food. My second child will eat quickly but is very selective to which food to eat. How is this possible?  I thought that maybe this selective eating habits was because they went through slightly different process of getting onto solids. Or maybe my approach was a bit different to the second child, trying to compensate for the falls of the first child, that I have now ended up with eating habits so different.  But by talking to other parents I am not so sure.

A few years ago, a friend of mine continuously complained that her child never ate vegetables. I thought “how strange” but then I had a few evening meals with them and noticed that they themselves did not include vegetables in their meals.  Then you wonder from what example did the child have if their parents did not eat vegetables. The child might think “well, if they don’t, why must I?”.   Another family complained that their child claimed not to eat anything white. So… no potatoes, no rice, no pears, no apples…. “Wow!”, I thought, “That is quite a profound statement for a 4 year old”. Then I met the child’s grandparents and they said that their son (child’s father) never liked the same things. And then the penny dropped.  Children learn by example.

So now I am back to my second child, what am I doing that shows that eating vegetables or fruits is bad? Myself and my husband eat everything I cook – and I try to have a carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables present at every meal. I eat fruit most days too.  So where has this behavior come from? Have I ever said anything wrong? Or is it like the doctors say that “if the child:  isn’t ill and/or doesn’t look unhealthy and/or functioning well – all is well and you should continue as you have been.  When the body will need the extra vitamins then the child will start to eat vegetables and fruit”.

Well, as a mother I cannot live on that theory alone or else I will live in a bottomless pit of guilt at every meal time.  So I try every now again to introduce vegetables and fruit on the plate with meals.  In between that, I hide the vegetables in the potatoes and pasta – it works 90% of the time. I am now introducing smoothies with fruit in it. I am trying but I don’t know how long can I go on like this…?  I am starting to think this is not a habit of my second child - just … I have a VERY picky child on my hands.

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The Age thing…

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

How many times you here from your children, when I am 5 this will happen and I wish I was 6 and when I am 8,9,10 I can do all these things!  And in your head all you say – “Oh to be young again!”

Boo Hoo! Then you think about how it was to be in secondary school – how life was so much easier.  If you want to go somewhere – well just pick up your keys and wallet and off youOwner and kids pulling boxed orders on sledges to Local Post Office went. Food – well I’ll buy something when I am hungry.

Now-a-days – WOW super organisation!  Well, I must say that I now have it to a tee…2 kids takes 20mins to get out of the door during winter (can’t remember summer times).   That is also military style and the kids now I mean business.

Trying to get the postage out on time for Green Owl Toys Ltd. has also proven a lot of organisation and good friendship with kids I know. We had fun today pulling the sledges and getting them to the local Post Office! They imagined themselves as Postmen! Singing Postman Pat and all round good fun!  We went to the local Cafe for a milkshake and back home.   I think they would be keen for tomorrow’s delivery but I don’t know – my kids were in bed by 7pm (usually 8.30) !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11906971

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Posted in General, Ideas for activities with Kids | 4 Comments »

Feature in the Independent Newspaper

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Wooden Toy Scale with 5 colourful weights on each side.Green Owl Toys were featured in the Independent Newspaper in July 2010. We had a beautiful post in the top right hand corner of their Parent Supplement distributed nationwide.

Our feature was on how we pride ourselves in selected toys that grow with our children. The wooden toys begin with giving your child the sense of touch, sound and sight as they feel the high quality of the wood, here the jingle of the rattles and see the vibrant colours.  As they grow and begin to understand the world around them they learn other values of the toy.  It could be about shapes and proportions or action-reaction as they push or pull the toy or even hand-eye coordination.

The wooden educational toy grows with your child.  The wood makes the toy durable and lasts for many years even their own children. The environmental toy offered here are safe and have passed high quality tests in Germany. They are also fun to play with.

The Independent Newspaper featured the Sorting Scale is a great example of this. It has 5 vibrantly coloured weights at each end of the scale. The scale is for 1-year-old and over. It helps in learning about colours, the relationship between size and weight and concept of balance. As your toddler grows you  can include games of addition and subtraction.

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Posted in Eco friendly products, Educational Toys, General | 18 Comments »

To Yell or not to Yell

Friday, September 10th, 2010
A heart in pain. This is shown by it shouting.
A heart shouting – releasing its frustration

This article is following a camping weekend and a comment that was left on one of my articles – the key phrase being “Remember: No Yelling! It simply doesn’t work”.

After reading this comment I remembered a situation that happened while we were camping during the summer holidays.  At a campsite you can hear the different tents from some way off and so as the sun dipped lower in the sky, the higher the volume of the children’s voices were.

Children naturally nag and moan.  They do it to get their way. They know that the more they moan and whine, the more parents come closer to giving in to their requests.The more they whine, the thinner our patience and soon we feel a zillion sparks flying in all directions within our bodies with utter annoyance, irritation, or … well just say that your compassion has already walked out the door and the easiest thing is to shout back to tell them to Stop! To keep quiet! To give you a minute to think!  and the response?!?  “Whats a minute?”. “How long is a minute? ”. This sends out even more sparks to fly and now they are reaching the tips of our toes.

Drawing of Alien - Alien talk can lighten things up

Alien talk can lighten things up.

By yelling, it can be an indication to them that they have got to you. They are that much closer for you to you cave into their demands. Which fuels them to carry on. But apart from that, it can make the atmosphere sour.  It may even make your child start to cry. And then you may cry because you feel bad.

There is a spiraling effect and however hard it might be…it is actually best for you “not to yell”. However, red your eyes might be from the pressure building inside you will need to breathe out and let out the frustration. Even say: “Woohzaah”  if you need to. Actually speaking like an Alien can actually save the day! You get to let off some steam by letting out the frustration inside by talking gobble-dee-gook really loud.  But the best thing is that they think it’s funny! And they start to laugh!  Hearing them laugh (instead of whining) triggers us to smile.  And it all just gets easier in a second.
When you all laugh, it is much easier to talk and listen to each others needs. Once the bad cycle of negative energy has been stopped it is a good opportunity to get down to their level (or rather height) and listen to what your child is saying. And reason with them why they cannot have/do they would like to do.  I find that if I explain why I say no, the next time the same situation arises they already know what to expect and subject is easier to overcome.

 

 

 

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Posted in Behaviour, General, Language development | 5 Comments »

What to do with all the “WHY” questions

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

A miracle happens you have a baby! She gurgles, smiles and gets excited when she sees you. Then you urge her to say “dada” and “mama” and make sounds of animals. You get so excited that she is saying words and you know that she/he is beginning to communicate. But with your child’s great achievement of talking he/she will also say “no”  and “why”.

These are powerful, new words for children but not so great for new parents and not so new parents. We all wonder how we might get around this “why” question or “no” answer. Well, to be truthful, its not that easy.  We (parents) will have to bring out or polish our skills of debates or discussions in order to get the result we need.

The way we get to the end result might be on how we decide to approach the topic at hand…for me there is always one of 3 ways for the “why” question:

1. We must remember, children of this age are new at asking questions and being able to disapprove.  We as parents do not have to answer or react with great complicated sentences. Children of this age will not be able to store all the information you give.  Simple sentences are best.  For example -” how are babies born?” a possible answer can be “they grow in your tummy and when they are ready they pop out of mummy’s tummy”. You will surprised how many say “Oh – Okay”.

If your child asks you “why” and you give the full explanation, they will not be able to absorb all the information you provide or even to relate to it all.  However, if you wish to squash all future “why” questions this might be the best approach. But I don’t think is your aim. You would like your child’s brain to grow and understand the world around them.

2. Possibly ask what your child thinks. Why do you they think it happens or looks like that. For example, “why do fish have fins?”.  The answer may not be 100% correct but encourage their opinions and maybe suggest what you may think but never say they are incorrect. For example if they say “its where they have extra bones”, you could answer “well yes, fins can be hard but when they move the fins it helps them move in the water”.

3. (this one is great if you don’t know the answer yourself) Go and find the answer together! Google is great for plugging in the question and it comes out with wikipedia or other related links that you can find.  For the younger, not so patient but very curious ones, you can enter a phrase into Google, and select Images.  Google will show you all the images that have been tagged with your word/phrase.  Here you can talk about the topic. It might not answer the question that was asked to the end but that doesn’t matter because you have answered many other questions by just talking about it.

Please bear in mind, the “why” question are great insights to what or how your kids are thinking. Sometimes it even answers your own ”why” questions. Why they are not eating (too cold or too sweet).  When you ask what they think, you may receive an answer you thought would never be logical but for an innocent mind there are no boundaries.  It is beautiful to see a world through their eyes with a different angle or logic to a topic or an idea.

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Posted in Behaviour, Development milestones, General, Language development | 35 Comments »

International Toy Fair

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Green Owl Toys is attending one of the largest Toy Fairs in the world this weekend – February 4 – 9, 2010. It prouds itself to have a playful recreation for thousands of trade visitors meeting exhibitors from 59 countries.

There are many suppliers that mesh the words produce and design together but actually outsource their production abroad. Green Owl Toys will be searching high and low for new innovative toys that are not only designed within the EU but is manufactured within its borders.

Keep your eyes posted for the new brands and toys to excite you and your family.

Spielwarenmesse

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Posted in Educational Toys, General | 16 Comments »

What to do with old toys?

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Aah another Christmas has come and gone. I came home on Boxing day from the Grandparents with 2 bags full of toys to find the house already full of toys! The annual clear out of toys cannot be avoided anymore.

The following day I get the labour intensive task while my husband goes out with the kids.  I am in charge of making the decision which toy goes to the loft, which one stays and which one goes to charity. I find this task very difficult as its not my toys but theirs and what if I make the wrong decision? What if they are not “over” this toy or have not learnt enough from it? Are the puzzles really a “been there, done that” puzzle? (So now there is the 4th pile: keep them separate for a while just in case they ask for it).

Its not easy, all I have to say is…to all those mothers out there…Good Luck in trying to clear out and not hang on.

A bag full of Christmas toys being delivered by Father Christmas

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Posted in Development milestones, Educational Toys, General | 44 Comments »

Green Owl Toys donate toys to Toy Appeal

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

The ladies in the paper

Scan from the Chislehurst Times newspaper

2 weeks ago, Green Owl Toys was honoured to donate a few toys to the Toy Appeal the Kentish Times newspaper is helping.  The toys will be added to the collection that is growing from generous readers who have been dropping off gifts for children in hospital over the festive period.  All toys donated will be handed over to children in Princess Royal University Hospital , Farnbourough, Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Queen Mary’s in Sidcup and queen Elizabeth’s in Woolwich.

 

Green Owl Toys donated 3 toys to Toy Appeal:

1. Threadable Farm – beautiful wooden pieces in various animal farm shapes which can be threaded on a special string/shoelace. It creates imagination and play through the animals and the farmer while improving their hand-eye coordination and is brilliant for writing skills.

2. Stacking train - a wooden train with 2 carriages. The carriages carry 2 shapes either a ball or cube in different colours. Children will have hours of fun pretending being the conductor or passenger.

3. Opposite and Match – its a card game like memory but here you need to find the opposite card to make a pair. For example hot and cold. This is great for turn taking, memory and language development.

We hope the children enjoy the toys and create endless fun over the Christmas period.

If you would like to read the article in full please click on this link and refer to page 14.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=e14C9K0wG0y7&PBID=a9d8eec8-132a-4e58-a878-ebd8520e6a9c&skip=

Or you would like to donate a toy yourself please refer to www.bromleytimes.co.uk

Regards,
Izabela Hailey

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Posted in Educational Toys, General | 25 Comments »

Bonus’ are back

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Barclays and Goldman Sachs are on the verge of announcing multi-billion bonus’.  Surging profits in specialised areas of investment banking are creating new windfalls for the banks, while the broader economy remains on its knees.  All the expected payouts will conform with the new standards, which call for a greater proportion to be paid in shares and deferred over a period of years. The property market in upmarket areas are already feeling a hike in the house prices.  And if the property market is improving then other markets will feel its ripple effect. This is just one year away from the announcement of global recession.  Its an indication that we are coming out of a recession. Christmas just might be bright and festive!

It seems that Christmas shopping may be back on the shopping list and the children will be happy that Santa could get them a few toys from their letter to him!  Click here for top Christmas present for boys and here for girls.

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Posted in Educational Toys, General | 38 Comments »

Cheap Christmas toys but..at what cost?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Not only are manufacturers trying to cut costs but so are we – the consumer! We have contracted out Christmas to the lowest bidder. Which in the case of toys, mostly means manufacturers outside the EU. But what costs do we bare for cheaper toy production? In the past 2 years there have been several scandals where toy manufacturers shipped children’s toys containing lead (even crib toys were found to have lead paint!). I think, what worried the consumer the most is that these toy recalls were carried out by major toy manufacturers with factories in far flung parts of the world.

This doesn’t mean that we can blindly trust toys manufactured within the European Community. However, a factory that is just round the corner is easier to control than one that is thousands of miles away.

The toy industry has experienced a massive growth in the past say 20 years and so have adapted their manufacturing process to accommodate it. Legislation, on the other hand, has not been able to keep up-to-date with the changes until this year. The European Commission has released a new directive in July but will only be in force in its entirety by 2013. The new directive states, “For certain substances like nickel the tolerable limit values have been reduced and those heavy metals which are particularly toxic, like lead or mercury, may no longer be intentionally used in toys.”

The question to ask is how can we be responsible parents and not let our children come into contact with potentially harmful substances in the toys we buy? Well, unless you have a laboratory in your backyard it is pretty difficult to know exactly what the toy is made of! Another more practical way is follow the labels. You can either avoid all products that are labelled “Made in XXX” or choose those products that have reliable test certificates. Each European Union country has their own reliable test certificates and are always shown on the packaging. Please bear in mind the “CE”* mark does not indicate the toy has undergone any tests.

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Posted in General, Toy Safety | 11 Comments »