Some interesting articles.

Today's parenting Quirky or Conscious?
HERE

Came across this beautiful link in Indian Parenting
HERE

Hollywood Celeb Moms on how motherhood made an impact on them
HERE

Kids and Sleeping Habits
HERE

Kids and Importance of Playtime
HERE and HERE

Controversial Chinese Parenting Articles
HERE Amy Chua
HERE Tiger Mothers CNN article

Extreme Parenting
HERE

US Education System
HERE

On Adolescent Stages
HERE and HERE.

Slow Parenting
HERE

SOURCE:  Indian Parenting.

Kids and Candy

Introducing chocolate, candy to kids is quite a tricky question.  Do we or don't we, how much should we, when should we, so many questions.

With a strong diabetic history from the kid's paternal side, I was strongly against any excess sugar usage in the kid's diet but the kid invariably ended up to be a sweet lover and has a tad bit more interest on sweet stuff.  When I was sick, the kid got the first taste of her candy, thanks to my mom, the doting grandmother, the Hershey, Ghirardelli and Lindt chocolates her father got for her.  The gummy bears did not do well with her taste, so it was Kisses and Snickers festival for a while and it was only much later that it came to my notice and by then the damage was done.  The kid become a total Choco-a-holic to my horror sustaining just on chocolate with the normal food forced down her throat.. sigh.

Anything in a limit is fine, but the kid started living on chocolate alone to my horror of horrors.

Some UNACCEPTABLE reasons to feed candy
**Hmm.. the kid is not eating anything else, so why not try it?
**She has skipped one meal, ayyo that tiny belly has nothing it, if she wants a chocolate let it be...(my experience says that she will skip the other meal and also the mid-meal snack because of eating candy to her content :(!!)
**She is so happy, there is a glow in her eyes at the mention and the site of candy, I do not want to take it away from her.
** the funniest of all, by my mom of course, if chocolates are bad why are so many chocolate ads targeted on kids and why are they not banned by the government.. since it is not banned, it is okay to consume.. are they all mad to let such dangerous stuff available to kids..(which made me search for walls to strike my head hard.. in a typical Brahmi style ;).

Results
Loss of appetite.
Itching around the anal area (supposedly pin worms).
Cavities/Caries...

To top it all, there were suggestions on this too like everything else from every corner from the so-called raised-so-many-kids experts that all is well and she can eat lollipops too (They had me pulling out the remaining hair on the scalp..)

Popular Misconceptions
**No problem she does not have teeth, so no problem at all, we can get her to stop before she gets the teeth.
**Oh it is okay, even if the teeth come no problem.. they are milk teeth and are going to go away anyway.
**Eating lots of candy leads to juvenile diabetes.
**Eating candy is good for health.

FACTS:
Even if the milk teeth fall out, the kid is at risk in future due to improper dental hygiene.  We are even advised to stop night milk feeds by bottle and also bottle feed to avoid bottle-tooth decay in kids, so why risk cavities.. We need to wash the mouth, rinse and spit after every sweet consumption which is not possible with the kids, so why risk the caries when there are so many healthy alternatives.  CHOCOLATES ARE NOT POISON... THEY ARE IN FACT VERY GOOD IF GIVEN IN MODERATION.. BUT do Toddlers have an idea of moderation, it is we, the parents who need proper discretion as to how much and when we need to give.


Why should we limit chocolates or candies to our children?? - Dr. Sanjay.

Never is there an easier time to teach self-control than when a person is a child. This is an excellent time to teach responsibility and discipline. What a child learns when they are young affects them when they grow up.

Here comes the concept of building eating healthy food since childhood. Children learn to binge on candy, chocolate and sweets at a very young age. See all these things contain lot of calories, if child develops eating these high calory food all the time, it becomes a habit, which can lead to problem like obesity and muliple problems related to obesity in future life.

So, its important to limit eating such high calory food. How you limit is upto you, may be once a week, may be on some particular days, may be as an incetive.
Eating chocolates everybody likes, dont you ?? but take it in limits. Try to develop good habits of eating more healthy food like fruits. I will prefer my child to have an apple rather then a five star as a routine habits. But if he follows my advises, i will surely bring one chocolate for him at the end of the week.

Try to make habit of brushing teeth every time before he sleeps, there is tendency to eat chocolates and sleep, which increases rick of caries/cavities.

Cleaning Toys

Kids, especially are no doubt power balls of energy and to keep them engrossed, we keep them busy with toys.  Some fun toys, some learning ones, some random ones we pick.

Out of the many, the kid might favor one specific toy, a blanket, a bottle or something which can undoubtedly be called her best companion, it goes everywhere with the kid, it does everything he/she does... I called it a comfort toy.

For Sreya, it had been a toy corn(maize) from her fruit/veggie toy collection, then a comforter for sleep, a favorite blanket which had to be there all the time.  It had to be there everywhere she went, all the time she was awake, and even the time of sleep.  There was a stage where all that she liked or set her eyes on were invariably found in her mouth, licking, sucking, plucking, pulling stage... no doubt laden with a battery of germs from here, there and everywhere.

Tips for Favorite Toys
Once, the kid lost her corn toy when she went out to play and she missed it a lot, then I realized the need for keeping two of her favorite toys.. the identical one handy.  It really helps.. also we need to use them both so that the wear and tear is equal.

If we see a kid leaning towards a favorite toy, make sure you keep a replacement of it.. like two of them. Sreya has a favorite blanket which she never lets go out of her sight, so I had to get her another identical one and use it alternatively so that one goes for a wash, she still has another one.. but this was when she was very young to understand anything, still an infant.

Later, we can involve them in the cleaning process.. like if it is a favorite toy.. we need to bathe it just like she does.. She takes a bath every day and the toy whatever it is, if it has a name, it has to take bathe every "xx" number of days, involving her in the process thereby giving them lessons in hygiene and cleanliness.

It still is her comfort blanket, her "beeba" but she knows it has to be cleaned too..

Cleaning up toys once in a while is very crucial, I clean the regular toys with the feeding bottle/toy liquid cleaner, Stony Angel brand which I got from Brooks, other brands were Pigeon and Noni..

Non-electronic Toys
Soak the non electronic toys toys in warm water.
a few drops of the liquid cleaner
Clean them in the liquid/mild soap water.
Rinse them in clean water.
Place them on clean cotton cloth
Wipe them clean..
Dry them in mild sun for a few minutes
Store them back..

This was the routine as a kid, week after week and at times every couple of days when the "lick, suck" stage was going on..

Electronic Toys
Wipe them clean with disinfectant wipes once in a while.
Also, I use wet wipes when disinfectant wipes are not available and a soft cotton cloth dipped in lukewarm Dettol water.

For Soft Toys,
If machine wash, gentle wash with liquid soap, softener and easy wash.
If Hand wash, soak in mild soap/detergent water, wash and hang them dry.

Soft toys can be put in a pillow cover tied in it and then put in washer too if washing along with other clothes in the load.

Some also put just a few drops of Dettol in the final rinse.

These are all cleaning measures but the best way is to ensure and let them know time and again not to put ANYTHING other than food items in the mouth.