No matter how prepared you think you are as a parent, your children are going to get injured at some point. Every four seconds in the U.S., a child is treated for injury in an emergency room, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When you think babyproofing, images of electrical outlet covers and plastic cabinet latches probably spring to mind, but that’s not all that you need to do to prepare your home to be a safe environment for your baby.

Always Turn Off the Baby Monitor When Not in Use

Think it’s no big deal to leave the baby monitor on when you’re not at home or just not using it? Think again. According to the babyproofing experts on TheBump.com, your high-tech monitor can easily be hacked into by burglars targeting your home. They can easily listen in to hear your latest weekend plans and determine your schedule and then break in when they know you won’t be home. By turning the monitor off when you aren’t using it to actually monitor your baby, you can prevent this. For added protection, install a LifeShield home alarm system with professional monitoring.

Use Gates to Blockade Off-Limit Areas

If you have a newborn or your little one is barely able to roll over, this tip may seem like it doesn’t apply to you. But your little one will be scooting around the house before you know it, so it’s best to be prepared. Consider how many rooms you want to keep off-limits to the baby and determine how many baby gates you need. Starting at around $20 and going up to $160, this can be a costly investment if you have a lot of off-limits areas in your home. To help stick to your budget, start looking for baby gates a few months in advance so you have a better chance of finding them on sale or at a resale shop.

Anchor TV’s & Furniture In Place

According to SafeKids.org, 13,000 children are injured each year as a result of television and furniture tip overs. To prevent a deadly tip over accident, anchor all televisions in your home firmly to the wall. If mounting your flat-screen to the wall isn’t an option, add safety straps to the back of it to hold it upright and prevent it from falling on your child. Additionally, it’s imperative to anchor any furniture with drawers or shelving to the wall. Curious little ones could pull out the drawers and try to climb them, putting them at risk for the piece of furniture to topple over and crush them.

Install High Latches on Exterior Doors

Add latches to the top of all exterior doors in your home. Once your child learns how to open the doors, this will prevent them from going outside unattended. As an added bonus, this is also an extra layer of security to protect your home from intruders.

There is one thing that all children born in December dread, and that can turn even the sweetest child into a sulking, brooding brat: the Birthday/Christmas present.  It’s easy to understand why this could be upsetting for a child, especially for a child with siblings.  Every kid born in July gets a gift for Christmas as well as one on their birthday.  Why should it be different for those poor souls who happen to be born in December?

Gifts aren’t the only way that December babies sometimes feel like they get the short end of the stick.  My sister was born on December 28th, and over the years my family developed a number of rules around her birthday to keep things from getting ugly.

1. Never wrap a birthday present in Christmas paper.  It may seem like a small thing, but getting birthday gifts with Santa Claus on the outside can make December kids feel like you didn’t take the time to plan ahead for them.  If the only paper left in the house is Christmas themed, it’s time to come up with some creative ideas.  The Sunday funnies are a classic.  Consider decorating paper specifically for the recipient or using pages from a visually interesting book that you don’t mind cannibalizing.

2. Although it might seem like a practical and convenient option to you, Christmas or Thanksgiving leftovers should never make an appearance on the birthday table.  December babies want to be celebrated just like any other kid, and that usually means a special meal tailored to their tastes, not the re purposed dinner from an entirely different celebration.

3. Just because the extended family all happens to be in town doesn’t mean that your child doesn’t want to spend some time with their friends on their birthday.  For most kids, one of the exciting things about a birthday is getting older and feeling more responsible.  Letting them have some time with their friends that at least feels unsupervised will mean as much to them as dinner with all their aunts and uncles.

4. The end of the year is an expensive time, and December babies learn to expect everyone around them to be broke on their birthday.  When budgeting your Christmas shopping, don’t forget about the birthday that’s coming up.  It’s also a good idea to remind extended family and family friends in advance to save a little for a separate gift.

5. Planning a birthday party in December can be tricky.  Start early and notify all your guests long in advance.  Competing holiday parties will start to fill up monthly calendars in November, and you must at all costs avoid letting your child’s special day turn into a Christmas/Birthday party.

6. Some challenges of the December birthday are somewhat beyond any parent’s control.  School friends may be out of town for winter break, or weather conditions can make travel to a party impossible for other parents.  For these reasons some families decide to celebrate in the spring when it can be a little bit easier to bring people together.  Just make sure that your child understands that you’re trying to make sure that they get the best celebration possible.  Also, be sure to mark the actual day in some small way, either with a special menu item or a sleepover with just the best friend.

Remember, a child’s birthday is the most important day of the year in their eyes.  They want to be celebrated, and it’s easy for December babies to feel overshadowed by the Holiday Season.  Just make sure your child knows that you want their birthday to be spectacular, and that they don’t have to compete with anyone on their special day.

Author Info: Jenny Franklin is a mother, a party planner and a blogger. She often writes on the topics of children’s birthdays as a freelance writer for Girls’ Birthday Party supplies producer, Party Pail.

A calorie controlled diet comprising of healthy foods is necessary to lose weight. There should be enough of proteins, good fats, nutrients and minerals. Though on paper it looks pretty good, in real life it is not that easy. There are some people who know how to eat right to lose weight but it is not possible for every one to have a personal dietician and prepare dishes accordingly. Most of us fail on a specified diet because food preparation and planning takes a lot of time and effort. If you miss one of the meals you have a tendency to have a burger in the nearest cafe or just munch on a bag of chips. In other words, your diet plan is totally messed up. You need to plan and organize properly to have a weight loss meal plan going right for you. To make your job easier and to increase your chances of success here are a few tips on weight loss meal planning -

1) Write a Weekly Menu

Sit down on any day of the week and write the menu for the whole week. You may keep the same menu for consecutive 2 – 3 weeks but you need to write it down at least. This meal plan can be a bit flexible because you never know what fruits and vegetables that local store will have. It is always advisable to write the menu at least a day before you go to the store.

2) Find Healthy Dining Places

Sometimes you may not have any time in hand to cook food or even small snacks. But do not alter your diet plan in such circumstances; just make a list of the restaurants that offer diet-friendly dishes. Usually the steak restaurants and the Italian food joints serve healthy meals but you might not know that even food from fast-food restaurants can be quite healthy. You can have a grilled chicken salad or have a burger without the fries and the bun.

3) Shop Smart

The trick is to shop on the same day and at the same time each day of the week. This will become a habit and you will have a steady supply of dieting foods. You should have a list of items ready that you need to buy from the store so that you do not pick up anything that catches your fancy.

4) Make Extra

When you are making a meal for the evening you can actually make a little bit extra. You can use the extra food for lunch the next day. You can freeze the extra food and store them in small boxes to take to take to office the next day. You may also keep healthy pre-cooked dished in the freezer and microwave it just before your meal time.

5) Learn to Cook

Cooking weight loss meals is not a problem at all; in fact, it is fairly easy. You must learn to prepare a few simple meals so that you can follow your diet plan fairly easily. There are some easy foods you can make like soups, omelets, curries and stews. You can also sign up for a weekend cookery course in case you are still not sure on how to cook certain meals.

About The Author: Kate is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, traveling and reading books. She contributes in Canadian Center of Science and Education. Check here for more on Canadian Center of Science and Education

When I first began to take my children to the pediatrician I was clueless. I walked in to a crowded waiting room full of children with fevers, colds, and God only knows what else. I tried my best to keep my children healthy and away from sickness the rest of the time and there I was walking into the den of sickness. I watched as the children played with the communal toy, you know the one, the roller-coaster type toy with the sliding wooden beads. Quite frankly I was flabbergasted and wondered what in the world the pediatricians were thinking to have such a toy in their office.

I understand that many children need to go to daycare and that the same set of circumstances applies there. I realize that you can not protect your children from all sickness. I am not living in a cave. There are some illnesses you can protect your children from and you can avoid but not at the doctor’s office! I thought there should be a better way. I have never really complained to the doctor because I suppose it would not be economically sound for the doctor to do anything different. My idea was that they have more examination rooms and have the waiting room open only for the children who were getting immunizations or for check ups and send all the sick children to their own rooms. The children there for immunizations could be sent to one person strictly there for administering shots, the check up kids would have their own set of examining rooms, and the sick kids theirs. But then how thoroughly can they disinfect the rooms for the next poor sick child? That doesn’t even cover the poor parents who are exposed to all those illnesses. Oh well, enough of my theories.

I will get back to how to keep your children well when you do have to take them to the doctor. This is what I did and it worked well for me and my little ones. When they are babies and can not walk yet it is easy because you can just keep them away from the rest of the kids. But when they are toddlers and grade school age they are drawn to the other children and the toys. I made the decision after my children had been through a bout of illness for several weeks to not take them into the waiting room. I would sign in and then take them into the hall outside the doctor’s office. If the office would have been a stand alone office I would have taken them outside to play or sat in the car. Our doctor happened to be in an office building on a higher floor with many offices on one floor.

My daughter was easy, we would just sit and talk, read a book, or color. My son was a little harder because he was so active. I would get a tote bag and load it up with books, coloring books, matchbox cars, a ball, marbles, or whatever. We would check in and tell the nurse we would be in the hall and would she please pop her head out and tell us when it was our turn. They never seemed to mind and seemed happy to do so, at least at my doctor’s office.

We had a wonderful time playing in the hall. We thought of so many games to play with our marbles, cars, and ball or we would do our hidden picture books which my children loved. I would read to them in funny voices, we would color pictures, or if my son got antsy I would take him on a walk around the halls or go to the drinking fountain. They also had a snack bar on the bottom floor and if it got too long we would check with the nurse to see where we were on the list and if she thought it would be long enough for us to pop downstairs and get a snack. I also kept snacks in my bag and we would have a little picnic of sorts which the kids always thought was neat. It seems like the waiting time is doubled or tripled at the pediatrician’s office, we always had to wait an hour or more. Our pediatrician was great and was wonderful with the kids so I endured the wait.

As the kids got a little older we would bring their handheld games too. We even made up games as we sat and waited, especially in the examination room. That is when I started feeling the pressure. Being shut up in a small room with a rambunctious little boy can sometimes be trying. My daughter and I came up with all kinds of games to keep him entertained. We often played a form of hide and seek because he loved that game. We used a penny and we played hide and seek with the penny. We played I Spy out the windows of our room, we were up like six or seven stories and we could see quite a bit from that window.

If your doctor’s office does not have halls and it is cold or rainy outside or the nurses are not amiable about coming out to let you know then this is what I would do. I would sit my children down in the seats and play games with them myself. I would do anything to distract them from playing with the communal toy or to play with the other sick children. Sometimes, depending on what type of person you are, you can talk to the other mothers and find out if they are there strictly for immunization or a check up and then you can get your children together to play with some of the toys you bring. Just being in the waiting room is dangerous but do your best to keep your child away from the children who are obviously very sick. You can usually tell right away.

If my child was one of the carriers of illness, having a fever or rash or evidently contagious in some way I would even go as far as asking them if they had an empty exam room that they could stay in until their turn. Many times I noticed that they were only taking three or four patients back at a time and they had like seven or eight exam rooms. If they had an open one they sometimes would allow it, especially if there was vomiting involved. I remember when my children had chicken pox I let them know we were there and we were asked to wait in the hall until we could get into one of the rooms that became available.

I have found that if you have a nice doctor they nine times out of ten have nice nurses and will accommodate you. Most of them probably have children too and they know how you feel. You do not have to be subject to the illnesses in the doctor’s office, you can make your own rules for your own children. If the nurses are not amiable and do not try to accommodate you then have a talk with your pediatrician about the situation and what you are wanting to do to keep your children from further illness. If the doctor will not help you then I would suggest finding another doctor because if there is one person who should understand how you feel about your children it should be your pediatrician!

Often times I see parents in the waiting room that are just worn out because they work, their children are sick, and life is beating them down. Those are the parents that you see with the blank stares and children climbing all over them. My heart goes out to those parents because I have been there. Sometimes when you are overwhelmed it is time to come up with another plan. Sit down and think of ways you can alleviate some stress, it may be that you sit in the hall and play with your kids. You may look a little strange to some folks but to me it is far better than the alternative.

Blogging was a natural progression for Allison once she graduated from college, as it allowed her to combine her two passions: writing and children. She has enjoyed furthering her writing career with www.nannyclassifieds.com. She can be in touch through e-mail allisonDOTnannyclassifiedsATgmail rest you know.

Between work, school, grocery shopping and running around to your kids’ after-school activities, moms can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. When you have to drag the entire clan with you on the daily errands, it can be even more difficult to get anything accomplished before someone needs a diaper change, snack or a bathroom break. For this reason, moms look forward to the day when the eldest child can take charge and stay home alone to babysit the little ones. However, it’s tough to know when the time is right for this major increase in responsibility. Here are some things to consider before determining whether or not your child is ready to be home alone babysitting younger siblings:

Maturity

Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic age when your child will be ready to take on this big responsibility; every child is different. According to WebMD, “by age 10 or 11, it’s OK to leave a child alone for short periods of time (under an hour) during the day provided they’re not scared and you think they’re mature enough to handle it.”

But while some kids are ready to babysit at age 10 or 11, others may not feel comfortable until age 13 or 14. Take time to reflect on your child’s maturity level and see what is right for them. Consider how much you trust your child’s judgment and ability to think on his or her feet in unexpected situations.

Responsibility

Think about how you would rank your child’s level of responsibility on a scale of 1-10. Does your child work diligently at school and respect the rules? Does your son or daughter follow through on their commitments? When babysitting alone, you need to be able to trust that they will follow your instructions.

Setting clear ground rules is essential when first leaving a child at home and can be a great way to establish trust between parent and child. Do you want your child playing hour after hour of video games? Are they allowed to have friends over or play in the front yard? No? Put it writing and hold them accountable. You’ll feel a lot better if you set clear guidelines for your child.

If you are still a little unnerved about what may happen when you’re not there, you can always use home security reviews to find a system that allows you to keep an eye on things remotely. There are a number of systems that allow you to monitor your property from your phone or tablet. Some security systems will even send alerts when someone enters or leaves, so you’ll know if your child is having friends come over without your permission.

Age of Sibling

Consider the age of your younger child and how your kids get along. If the youngest is just a year or two younger than the eldest and you can trust him or her to listen to their sibling, perhaps your kids are ready for this milestone. However, if you have an infant or a toddler, it may be best to wait until your eldest is 15 or 16, as children so young need more constant attention than many tweens can provide.

Trustworthy

Do you trust your child to make good choices? Does he or she ask for help when in over their head? Before you leave your son or daughter home alone to care for siblings, you should be confident that they can handle any unexpected situations that arise.

Thanks for letting me share this message with your readers! I am happy to be working with Prolacta to help spread awareness about the need for donor breast milk to help the littlest babies.

What they don’t tell you about the NICU is how scary it can be. The moment my little boy was born, that moment that is supposed to be beautiful and so rewarding, he was whisked off down the hall with little explanation other than that something was wrong. Watching my baby struggle for oxygen hours later, when I was finally permitted to see him, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

I had always planned on nursing, at least in the beginning. We all know that breast milk is the best thing for our children when it’s possible. But in NICU care, things don’t go always the way we plan. When babies are extremely under weight (2 pounds 12 ounces or less), they need more than their mother’s milk to thrive. Once they are able to take milk, (either through a feeding tube or bottle), a fortifier is often added to breast milk to ensure the babies get as much nutrition as possible into their tiny stomachs. This fortifier is often derived from cow’s milk, which isn’t ideal.
There is a way that mothers all over the country can help these tiny babies. Helping Hands Milk Bank (Helping Hands) is a virtual milk bank that allows qualified donors to make breast milk donations from the comfort of their home. Prolacta Bioscience collects excess breast milk from mothers who donate through Helping Hands and processes it into a breast milk fortifier made from 100% human milk for critically ill, premature infants in NICUs. This fortifier helps prevent diseases that put the babies at risk, and increases their chance of survival.

The process is simple. Helping Hands allows busy mothers to apply online in about 15 minutes. Helping Hands supplies storage containers, and covers all shipping costs & supplies, so there is no out-of-pocket cost to the donor, and she doesn’t have to travel anywhere to donate her breast milk. I love this idea!

A few days after my son’s birth, I was finally able to nurse for the first time. We were blessed that he was a full term baby and able to get his nutrition from me fairly quickly. As soon as we got the hang of feeding, I got to take him home. He is now a healthy, happy kid full of energy. I met other moms during our NICU stay that had been in the hospital for weeks, without the positive outlook we had. If I could have done something to help them, I would have. I’m so glad to offer that chance to other moms out there.

If you are a nursing mother with excess milk, and are interested

in helping premature babies have their best chance at life, learn more about how to become a breast milk donor and apply.

Building healthy habits for children in their youth nurtures the foundation for healthy lifestyles throughout their lives. As society grows more complex, it’s becoming increasingly more important to equip children with habits that will help them successfully navigate life’s challenges. Healthy habits cannot be merely learned, but they need to be practiced continuously throughout childhood to be effective in adulthood. Habit modifications are possible as children turn into adults; however, making improvements can prove to be much more arduous. Give your kids a head start and teach them now. Here are the top five healthy habits to teach children to lead them to a life of smart choices:

1. Healthy Eating Habits

Obesity is one of the top preventable illnesses in the country. Obesity not only contributes to poor health but it also has serious social, psychological and professional consequences. One of the best ways to prevent childhood and adult obesity is by practicing healthy eating habits. Teach your children to consume a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, free-range meats, and whole grains. Promote frequent, modest meals, moderation and portion control. Have your children drink plenty of water as opposed to sweetened drinks and milk. Teach your child that dessert and candies are only for special occasions. Oftentimes, children learn many of their eating habits from their parents, so be careful about what you consume or keep available in the house.

2. Physical Activity

Physical activity is extremely important to your child’s overall health, as it can help maintain weight and also moderate moods. Studies show that kids who participate in a sport achieve better stress management, increased confidence and are less likely to engage in risky behavior. Children practicing sports or fitness are also less likely to have time for negative activities. The play involved in children’s sports teaches them social skills, problem solving, and how to work as a team towards goals. The progressively challenging task that fitness presents will also help them to develop discipline, planning and self-control skills. One example of such an activity is swimming, and classes are often offered for infants and toddlers. Additionally, it is a practical safety skill for young children under 5. T-ball is another great choice for young children, as it’s relatively easy and involves few risks of injury.

3. Exposure to Books

Books hold a world of resources that will help your child self-educate in a society that has few, readily evident answers. Developing a love and habit for reading at a young age will help your kids be more comfortable with books and teach them invaluable literacy skills. People who read frequently also tend to be more informed and conscientious members of society. The ideas and characters in books offer countless examples of heroic figures and theories to consider and emulate; storytelling through books is one way children learn about essential human values. Have plenty of books around the house for them to choose from or make regular trips to the library together. Get into the habit of reading together everyday so they grow accustomed to the routine.

4. Consistent Bed Times

Having healthy sleep cycles helps maintain mental clarity and focus, and wards off negative emotional states. It’s critical that your child develops healthy sleeping habits. We know that lack of sleep is bad for our health but we often underestimate how important consistent resting and waking times are as well. Tardiness and truancy from work or school due to irregular sleep patterns can often lead to serious consequences. Having a regular sleep cycle also wards off disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea. Help your child become accustomed to a consistent time to go to bed and wake up every day.

5. Moderate Use of Electronic Media

Many parents are concerned about the nutritional and physical health of their children, but underestimate the influence of excessive media. It’s important to be cautious of the impact, as even experts are not entirely sure what effect media has on the child psychology. Media often contains violent or subversive content that normalizes risky behaviors, and can also give children an inaccurate view of the world around them.  Without guidance, they may have a difficult time differentiating reality from entertainment and propaganda. Of course, not all media is connected to negative effects, but it’s important to help your children learn how to moderately and intelligently consume media. Remove televisions and computers from their bedroom and keep it in a place where they can be monitored. Teach them to use media only when other tasks are completed, and encourage more active hobbies or activities instead.

Brett Callan is an instructor at murraycallanswimschools.com, where their Encinitas swim lessons offer customized support for children throughout San Diego. He loves to enjoy the San Diego weather whenever he can, whether from the beach or at a pool.

With parenthood life around you simply changes. This include physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and spiritually. No matter how you look at it, parenting turns out to be both interesting and challenging for all the parents. As parents, you are supposed to device some of the best strategies for their better upbringing. At the same time you would see your child’s needs changing over the span of time from infancy to teenage and finally to adulthood. There are some universal truths, which you need to keep in mind while you tread on the path of parenthood. Let’s check some of the realities of parenting.

Parenting is a lonely activity

Once you become a parent and settle down with the excitement and buzz of your baby, make sure you prepare yourself to feel alone. Parenting is a lonely activity not only when your child is small but also when he or she grows to the teenage and adulthood. You will see everyone including your best friends and family busy in their lives giving a feeling that you are only the one person remaining in this world. Though this is a reality but make sure you do not take things otherwise since it is going to hamper your parenting activities. Instead prepare yourself for this reality and stand up and move on in your parenting path.

Every moment you live is important

As parent, all your time would be spent around your children. You will try to grab and treasure some moments for yourself and your partner from somewhere or the other. But the fact is every second which passes with children around seems pretty important. Right from taking your kids to ballet, moving with them in a park, making some stuff together or taking them to any indoor play zone, every single moment you spare with them is important and turns out to be a big reality of your life.

Every other day is different

The moment you turn parents, everything just changes since you see your child growing, developing and changing. You could call this as a consistent guessing game for you (parents). Hence you need to prepare yourself for this reality so that you can adapt the situation and avoid being too harsh on yourself. Soon you are going to discover what works the best for your kid.

Prepare yourself to feel grossly inept

This is called as the most challenging parenting reality. Regardless of the amount of books you have read in the past, parenting is certainly not an easy nut to crack. At many junctures, you would certainly feel inept and helpless, but that’s okay, you need to be honest enough to accept this reality, which everyone feels, and faces one day or the other.

No one is perfect in this world

When it comes to parenting you have one big reality in this important aspect of life- no one is perfect in this entire world. So, instead of worrying to become a perfect parent, take a good deep breath and simply try to look at the beauty in the imperfection things.

Don’t compare

In parenting, you are not supposed to compare yourself to other parents or your child with any other kids. Every child and family is different. However, it is really very difficult to avoid the business of comparison as you could find these things happening at different blogs, chat rooms and social media platforms. It becomes challenging to ignore these things. But one thing to remember at such places is that people simply post and share what they feel and like and that you know just half the truth and always the positive side. They may boast about a couple of good things but they simply do not share the other negative things which they often face in their daily chores.

Final word

There are countless of such parenting realities in this world which could be talked about. Knowing these realities would certainly help you in overcoming them. All you need is a competent strategy to live with these realities along with giving the best upbringing of your children.

Author Bio: Kate is a writer blogger. She loves writing, traveling and reading books.  She contributes to A Forever Recovery Staff

As a parent, I’m always on the go! The trouble with that my toddler was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease about six months ago. Suddenly, I needed to rethink my days of rushing around without pre-planning. The reality was that I had to be very careful whenever I stopped for food or even bought snacks for my son at the grocery store. Plus, I’m one of those parents that worries non-stop about the typical kid stuff—like making it to medical appointments, what to prepare for birthday parties, limiting food additives in my family meals, and of course, I’m constantly wondering if I’m raising my child in the best way possible. Good thing there are a variety of parenting tools available to ease the minds of frazzled moms and dads like me.

As one busy, concerned, and health-conscious parent to another, here are six mobile apps that I’ve come to rely on for things like healthy meal preparation, monitoring food allergies, family organization, and of course a little advice on healthy parenting doesn’t hurt either…

1. My Health Records ($5.99 – for iPhone)

I know I grew up believing that Mom and Dad knew best. However, now that I have a son of my own, I’m often left scratching my head over the smallest health concern. That’s where My Health Records  comes into play! This mobile health and wellness organizer keeps me educated and up-to-date on current health issues affecting kids, prescription refills, scheduling immunizations, and medical contact information (i.e., family doctors). This tool literally tracks all of my family’s medical info and scheduling so I don’t have to stay up at night remembering doctor’s appointment dates and times, reviewing my family health history, or stressing about my husband’s health insurance plan. And if an emergency should arise, this app stores all of our health team contacts in one place, so it’s always at our fingertips in a pinch!

2. Cozi Family Organizer (Free – for Android)

The Cozi Family Organizer keeps everything a flustered mom or dad needs in one trusted, little mobile space, which makes multi-tasking a synch…even on the fly like my husband and I practice it! My favorite part about this app is the color-coded calendar that we both have on our phones. It can be customized to track the to-dos and appointments for the whole family and I can assign certain family members particular tasks—such as “pick up milk after work”. It also features a family journal where I store treasured photos, and share them with the grandparents, without worrying about backup.

3. Allergy Free Entertaining ($2.99 – for iPhone)

Even though we’ve started a family, my husband and I enjoy entertaining friends and hosting impromptu family gatherings. For instance, we invited everyone over for dinner and to watch the junior hockey semi final game this past weekend. However, there are many food allergies among our friends and family that I can never keep track of on my own. That’s why an app like Allergy Free Entertaining is a godsend—featuring a delectable selection of gluten free, dairy free, egg free, diabetic, nut free, vegetarian and vegan recipes for every casual gathering and occasion imaginable. Simply search the huge database of over 124 recipes, create a personalized menu of food appropriate dishes, and keep track of all safe ingredients right from your kitchen.

4. Dangerous Food Additives (Free – for Android)

Ever since I watched a documentary on harmful food and water additives, I’ve been too aware of how they can damage our health. That’s why I insisted on a water filtration system for our home and why I consult the Dangerous Food Additives app before making any food purchases from the grocery shelf. This tool features a huge database of food additives, food preservatives, food colorings, and flavor enhancers that have been linked to health issues such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autoimmune diseases, and even Asthma.

5. Daily Broadcast – Focus on Family (Free – for Android)

I broke up a scuffle between my son and the neighbor’s child last week. It was over a coloring book. However, I’m often left wondering after I take action like this, if I approached it in the healthiest way possible for those involved. That’s why I listen to the Daily Broadcast – Focus on Family. This mobile app provides a reassuring blend of parenting advice, encouragement, and helpful tips for families. It features a daily broadcast, streamed right to your mobile device on a variety of family-focused themes—such as relationships, marriage, parenting, and more.

6. iCanEatOnTheGo Gluten & Allergen Free ($2.99 – for iPhone)

The app with a name that’s a mouthful can lead you to the healthiest mouthful for food sensitive diners. I depend on the iCanEatOnTheGo Gluten & Allergy Free app whenever I need to stop for a quick lunch or snack with my little guy. This app provides the details on pretty much every major fast food chain across North America. Simply launch the app and search the restaurant by name for a variety of dairy, nut, egg, shell fish, or gluten-free snack options, or present the app with a food allergen and it will produce a list of safe, noshing menu items at a variety of eateries within your location.

Author Bio:

Anna Cook is a freelance writer who is known for sharing her personal and often humorous DIY and parenting stories, good and bad, in the various print and online articles she contributes online. When she’s not writing, Anna can be found doing renovations on her old but charming house, preparing a “special” meal at home, or just spending quality time with her very patient husband and adorable son.

Being a mom is more than a full-time job. You never really get a day off (or a union break, for that matter) and whatever the working conditions, it’s your job to keep the family together and on task. When family members get stressed, your job gets even harder.

Your personal methods of stress management will affect your children, University of Maryland Medical Center reported, so don’t forget to take care of yourself.

“Young children of mothers who are highly stressed…tend to be at high risk for developing stress-related problems.” It’s easier to prevent these problems than to treat them later.

The key to stress reduction is really stress prevention. “Getting enough sleep, a proper diet, avoiding excess caffeine and other stimulants and taking time out to relax may be helpful in this regard,” American Institute of Stress reported. Despite your best efforts at enforcing bedtime and providing a balanced diet, stress will still happen. No mom wants to be captain of the S.S. meltdown, so learning— and using— stress management techniques is critical for your sanity.

Divert Attention From Stress

Sometimes just removing focus from the stressor is enough to reduce stress. When siblings are arguing, for example, a few minutes of focus on anything else can dissolve the tension. Depending on your kids, you can use anything from a coloring book to free game downloads onto a phone or tablet. Obviously, you don’t want to reward bad behavior, but a change of focus can make a huge difference.

Get Physical

Physical activities are a great way to disperse symptoms of stress. From simple yoga poses and “oms” to going for a run or playing a game of catch, concentrating on a physical task can be a big help. Channeling excess energy into an activity will also help kids work out their anxiety in a healthy way.

Try Some Tunes

Arbitrarily drugging your children isn’t really an acceptable solution for anything. If you’d love to dose your little ones with something to calm them down, try substituting classical music instead.

“Listening to 30 minutes of classical music may produce calming effects equivalent to taking 10 mg of Valium,” Webmd.com reported. That sounds like it’s worth giving it a try in any household! If you don’t have a stash of classical music, try Pandora or Spotify to see if it works out.

Breathe

When you’re pregnant, how do you cope? Breathing. When something bad happens and you can’t fathom anything worse, what do people say? “Just breathe.” It’s good advice. Taking some deep, calming breaths before making decisions or acting on stressors is a very good habit to develop for both yourself and your children. Additionally, this is a trick everyone can use in every situation. You don’t need anything external, just the presence of mind to stop and clear your mind.

Do you have any tried and true tricks to share? We’d love to hear about them!