I am enjoying spending the entire day with Julieanne! It’s been pretty great. We had eggs, pumpkin muffins, and orange slices for breakfast, and tomato soup with grilled cheese for lunch. We did yoga together (though it wound up being stretching because she couldn’t focus long enough to keep the poses the entire time, and saw it as a prime opportunity to use me as a jungle gym!) and ran some errands. Now it’s nap time! For me, too .  .  . 

My two sons, Jack and Chris, were born years before I became a natural health writer. I was clueless back then—I thought that chicken nuggets were a desirable source of protein and that any beverage containing at least 10% fruit juice was loaded with nutrition.

I also thought it was terrific parenting to stock an enormous assortment of over-the-counter medicines for every possible child health crisis.

Having all those drugs handy was something my pediatrician supported. I’d call him (usually in the dead of night) whenever one of the boys had a scary cough or was too stuffy to breathe, and he’d always recommend some grape- or cherry-flavored syrup or other.

Too much of a “good” thing
But, as we now know, OTC cold meds for kids—for most purposes—are a waste of money, and, worse, can be dangerous. You can unwittingly overmedicate a child. The ingredients can cause bad reactions in some children. There’s no proof that they reduce symptoms, and they don’t cure or even shorten the duration of the common cold.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strongly recommends that children younger than 2 should not be given these drugs, and they’re deliberating the medications’ safety for older children. Just last year, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association announced a voluntary relabeling of children’s cough and cold drugs to warn parents and caregivers not to give them to children under 4.

So, now we all know better. Or do we?

Actually, we don’t, say the results of a new survey conducted by the University School of Medicine, in St. Louis. More than 100 community pediatricians and nearly 1,300 parents were questioned about their use of OTC cold and cough drugs for this survey. Despite the fact that 73% of parents were aware of the FDA advisory, 70% still believed the products relieved symptoms, 68% didn’t believe they were dangerous, and 74% had the medications stocked at home.

Try something effective, safe, and new (to Americans, anyway)
I’ve known for years about two top-selling European remedies for cough, cold, and sinus symptoms. I’ve seen the clinical studies and know they’ve been proven safe and effective. But I haven’t written about them—because until now, they haven’t been available here.

Last year, Bionorica, a German company that conducts research in partnership with some 450 universities and labs around the world, introduced Sinupret in the United States. Bronchipret was made available several months ago.

Sinupret syrup for kids is made from European elder, sorrel, cowslip, vervain, and gentian. Though these herbs may not be as familiar to you as, say, echinacea, they’re very familiar to doctors throughout Europe. Elder contains compounds that inhibit viruses, cowslip is a traditional bronchitis remedy, sorrel is used to reduce fever, vervain is used for colds and for soothing frazzled nerves, and gentian relieves inflammation and pain. Sinupret is indicated to help clear clogged nasal passages and decongest sinuses.

Bronchipret is a syrup made from thyme, which reduces coughing spasms, kills bacteria and viruses, and thins mucus.

For dosage directions, follow instructions on the labels. Both new meds are available for about $18 on the Bionorica USA website, or may be available at your local pharmacy.

Previous posts by Sara Altshul:

I saw this coming so I can’t go around acting surprised. Yet, this production is all-consuming and daunting. My ability to focus on these tasks will have an effect on the outcome. Still, I am behind and am running hard to catch up. I have control in one piece of this process, and I cannot fuck up.

And, oh yeah. I am a single mother now, virtually unemployable and always under-employed, so my sons father and I are learning to work together through this project.

(Of course I have the dishwasher’s guts on the floor because I am replacing a valve in the water pump. I am my father’s daughter, and appliances always need attention when you are least likely to have the time. Figures…)

Man-children, four grades apart in school. One a senior, the other an 8th grader. Two Class of 2010 sets of issues. Shadow-visits. Interviews. Essays. Lots and lots of essays. To get each to the next level of their education requires a small army of experts.

My role is to advocate, point out those unique but often overlooked assets, and keep track of deadlines which are on different paths and make no sense when compared each to the other. I use color-coded files and spreadsheets. I exert parental authority by issuing edicts on when I need rough drafts.

Friends with daughters describe how well their girls take up the cause. There are still gender differences in regards to organizational skills and multi-tasking.

When you commit to prep school, there is no turning back. You do whatever you can, make whatever sacrifices you must in order to support your choice that school is more important than home ownership or more grad school for a parent or…vacations. I won’t be seeing Austria again for a while.

Is it worth it? What if you spend all this money, and your kid wants to be a carpenter? What if he ends up like his parents and devoted to some discipline of the performing arts, and can’t make a living on music alone?

The real goal is a lifelong passion for learning. A parent can’t get attached to a particular outcome. Faith is involved.

(c)GoshGusMusic(ascap)2009

Image by DerNetteAlex (Provider Trouble)

• Small Notebook~~Bringing In Fall
• Simple Mom~~An Introduction to Making Jam and Enjoy Your Coffee, But Save Your Money
• Inspired Room~~Fall Project: Gilding
• Simple Kids~~September 11 SK Showcase (Particularly the Fabric Tag Chart)
• Simple Nest~~Being Content With Our Homes Part 2 and Splashes of Color: Chocolate Brown (Not only do I love brown incorporated into design, BUT I am really digging this series on color!!!)
• the living well.~~On the Eve of September
• Ideas for Fall Decorating
• Real Simple~~Preparing Your Plants for Winter
• Apple Recipes

St. Francis High School of Sacramento, CA is hosting a dinner dance themed “The Pearl of the Orient.” This even will be from 5:00 to 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 19 in the gymnasium at St. Francis, 5900 Elvas Ave., Sacramento. This is hosted by Filipino parents and showcases Filipino culture through music, folk dance and food. Tickets are $30 general, $15 students, $10 ages 3 to 10, free for ages 2 and under. Call Rose Avila at (916) 834-7294.

Source: The Sacramento Bee.

So being a single mom of three boys brings on new things.  Things girls don’t know about.

Ok, so I do know about pee on the toilet seat.  No matter what I do, except escorting them to the bathroom, they won’t lift the seat UP!    Do most men start this way?  Not able to lift it up, making all the women in their lives sit on a wet pee seat?  And as we harp and nag on them for years, they enter adulthood and never put the seat DOWN?!?! 

Football.  I love football.  Love college ball, and pro ball.  But as to how to put on the uniform, I have no idea.  So for Brennen’s first dressed practice, it was left to me to help him get dressed.  Helmet, check.  Padded pants, check.  Shoulder pads, check.  Jersey, check.  Jock strap, uhhh no check.  After looking inside the pants to see where this thing hooks, and flipping it every other way, I gave up.  I called Heather to ask if I can come over on my way to practice and have Don help.  Sure!  No problem.

I went to load everyone and everything we needed and I told Brennen we were going to Heather’s to help with his weenie cover. 

“Mom!  It goes HERE!!!!”   And he points to the helmet.  Yeah, it’s a chin strap.  Nice job Mom.  Needless to say, H and D, and everyone else got a good belly laugh out of that one.

(Getty Images)

I was in my 20s before I discovered running, so I’m always amazed to see young children keeping up (or passing me by) when I’m out for a jog. When I was a kid, no one ran as a sport itself; rather, we played basketball, softball, or soccer. Running laps is what you did—reluctantly—to be better conditioned for the games.

But in the last decade, there’s been a boom in children running races that were once strictly for adults. Kids as young as 5 and 6 are running with school groups, and tweens and teens are entering 5- and 10-kilometer races—and even mini-triathlons—with their parents, running clubs, and even on their own.

Active.com, an online source for races around the country, lists more than 230 running events for kids and more than 30 for families in the month of September alone.

Getting kids outside and active is obviously a good thing. We live in a society where childhood obesity is at an all-time high and studies suggest too much television time may contribute to behavior problems, poor grades, and even depression later in life.

But are the physical and mental demands of long-distance running safe for children? At what age is competition appropriate, and what do parents need to keep in mind?

Increase kids’ distance with age
Mark Halstead, MD, a pediatric sports medicine specialist at Washington University, in St. Louis, has been a distance runner for most of his adult life. His wife is also an avid runner, so it’s no surprise that their 6-year-old son is already out pounding the pavement as well.

In fact, Dr. Halstead’s son completed a marathon earlier this year—although it took him nine months to do so. This marathon was broken down into half-mile intervals run over the course of nine months. It was part of a school program called Read, Right, and Run, which encourages kids to also read 26 books and perform 26 good deeds during their “marathon.”

Dr. Halstead fully supports these types of organized events, assuming that parents take common-sense precautions and monitor their child’s well-being as they train.

“The distances set up for these races are generally very appropriate for kids; they’re distances they would typically spend running around in the yard with friends,” he says.

Usually children are ready to start running longer distances—5 kilometer (5K) races, for example—between ages 8 and 10, says Dr. Halstead. However, a child’s individual rate of development and desire to run matters more than his or her actual age.

Next page: Advantages over other sports

Advantages over other sports
“Running by itself sometimes gets a bad rap because people worry that it’s too much stress,” says Dr. Halstead. “But then you have kids 3 and 4 years old out on the soccer field taking soccer lessons. And research shows that a soccer player can run up to 5 miles in a single game, so it’s really not so different.”

Plus, running can offer something to kids—especially kids who aren’t athletically inclined or who are overweight—that a lot of other sports can’t: The chance to be physically active at their own pace.

“Team sports, especially youth sports in the last five or ten years, tend to be highly competitive,” Dr. Halstead says. “With running, you can make it as intense or as casual as you want. It’s a good place for kids who are obese, who may not feel comfortable in a team sport environment, to start out to lose weight.”

Runners of all ages, in fact, embrace the sport for its accessibility and relatively low price tag: Instead of having to learn complicated rules or buy lots of expensive equipment, all you really need to get started is a good pair of shoes and a desire to put one foot in front of the other.

More than just physical benefits
Carol Goodrow, a teacher and children’s author and illustrator in Sturbridge, Mass., knows firsthand how running can have an impact on kids’ lives—both physically and mentally.

Shortly after Goodrow became a runner in the 1990s (inspired by her grown son, who regularly competed in triathlons), she began incorporating running into her first- and second-grade classroom curriculum.

The kids collected runners’ bib numbers from around the world, and used them in math and geography lessons. As part of class, they ran outside almost every day and then wrote in their journals afterward.

“I noticed the kids who were reluctant writers were suddenly writing after their runs,” says Goodrow. “They had something new and different and fresh in their minds, and they wanted to express it.”

She’s also seen how running can bring children and parents together, especially as the sport has become more popular in the last decade. When she started a weekend running club for her students in 2004, parents showed up to the end-of-season fun run but didn’t participate.

“Now, I am hard pressed to find one parent who is not running with their kids,” says Goodrow, who has also helped design and edit kids’ running websites presented by Runner’s World and CoolRunning.com. “If I want one volunteer to direct traffic, I’ll have to beg someone to sit out. And the kids really get a lot of joy out of exercising with their parents—that’s what really keeps them going.”

Amy DeVita signed up her son Michael, 9, for a kids’ once-a-week running group in their hometown of West Orange, N.J., because “he has an awful lot of energy,” she says. Michael originally hoped the practice would make him faster on the basketball court, but now that he’s run two 5Ks with his father, he enjoys running for other reasons as well.

“He’s the kind of kid who has trouble really concentrating on one thing, but he concentrates on this,” says DeVita. “Sometimes he complains that he’s tired or his legs are sore, but when he sees the finish line, he’s psyched. You can tell he feels a real sense of accomplishment and a real sense of commonality with his dad.”

Next page: For safety, let kids set the pace

For safety, let kids set the pace
Of course, kids aren’t always going to want to run, and parents should use common sense when deciding how hard to push their aspiring athletes.

“Some days my son would rather play Wii, so we let him play Wii,” Dr. Halstead says. “But then we make sure we go out and run tomorrow instead.”

In fact, running every day probably isn’t the best way to train. For young, developing bodies, encouraging activities that work different muscle groups—whether it’s playing softball or basketball, bike riding, or swimming once or twice a week—is important as well.

Parents also should watch for signs of exhaustion and dehydration, especially during hot summer months, and should always take a child’s pain seriously: Stress fractures and overuse injuries can occur, and ignoring them will only make them worse.

The most important thing is letting kids set their own pace and giving them the support they need, rather than expecting them to adhere to an adult’s training schedule, Goodrow says.

“Some parents tell me they want their kid to train for a half marathon with them because they don’t want to give up their training time, and that’s just not responsible,” says Goodrow. “The worst thing I’ve seen is the kid who can’t keep up with the parent during a race and the parents are disgusted, or the parents who leave their kid behind before the kid is ready to be left alone.”

Get your family involved
If you’re looking to get your children more involved in fitness—whether you’re already a runner or not—there are no shortage of organizations and events to get you started. Active.com has information on family and kids’ races all over the country, and even a page for the active toddler.

IronKids.com lists children’s triathlons, which are usually offered in three different distances for three different age groups, 6 to 15. Triathlons, as daunting as they sound, can actually be a very safe choice for children in as long as they’re well organized and appropriate lengths (two concerns voiced by a recent New York Times article): Because you have to practice for three separate sports, there’s built-in cross-training and less worry about overuse injuries.

If you’re already signed up for a 5K or 10K race, talk to event organizers to make sure the event will be kid-friendly and that there are no time limits or age restrictions. And if you’re training for a half marathon or marathon, see if there’s a shorter fun run being held the same weekend that your son or daughter can train for at the same time.

For ideas about how to make running fun for kids, visit PECentral.org or CarolGoodrow.com. Goodrow has authored and illustrated several books and a 2010 calendar for children about the joy of running.

The best way to get children excited about running is to set a good example yourself, by showing them how good it makes you feel. By emphasizing fitness and family time over distance, speed, and competition, you can help your kids develop a healthy habit that can last a lifetime.

Photo by John Althouse Cohen

My favorite posts, searches and other odds and ends for the week…

For Your Home

Simple Nest~~Being Content with Our Homes

Daily Eco Tips

Unclutterer~~Alternative Uses for Colanders

For Your Kids

Simple Mom~~20 Indoor Activities for Kids-Besides TV 

Simple Kids~~Finger Food: 11 Ideas for Breakfast and Snacks and Finger Foods: More Ideas for Toddler Meals 

Amazing Moms~~Fun School Lunches

Make Your Own Baby Stuff

For You

Small Notebook~~My Favorite Place at Home

Planet Green~~Face the Facts: Homemade Facemasks are Greener

Real Simple~~Turn Everyday Objects into Still Lifes

Rocks In My Dryer~~The Beauty of a Catchphrase

Keeping the Castle~~Tips for a Great Cup of Coffee, Part 1 and Tips for a Great Cup of Coffee, Part 2

I am sitting outside in my front garden in the dark.  It’s 2:00a.m. and too hot to sleep.  All around  are  the sounds of people having too much fun.

It is the weekend before Labor Day, and in my neighborhood of this beautiful city, young people are making the most of the last days of summer before they head back to classrooms, or buckle down at work. One last weekend to savor summer before the holiday that traditionally delineates laid-back from focused attention hits home.

Tonight they push aside impending reality.  I listen to the giggling girls and the whooping boys. I think to myself, what is it about alcohol that makes people think they have to turn the volume switch of their voices up to “12?”  Underneath the human sounds are the thumping rhythms of bar music. Within two blocks of my home are seven restaurants which ramp up late at night, and four bars. All but two of the bars are upscale.

Clumps of kids come weaving up my block.  They tend to segregate by gender if they haven’t already paired off and gone wherever it is they go to get better acquainted.  As I’ve turned off the porch light, it is too dark for them to notice me.  A group of girls stop several times on their walk  for yet another to remove her expensive, come hither, but by now painful shoes.  That’s when I know the liquor is losing it’s magic; they begin to notice their feet hurt.

All clothed in little black dresses with  miles of young bare skin, these are City girls. Private school graduates. Even when tipsy, they project confidence.  They have had enough of the trolls.

I used to find the weekend scene around here irritating, especially when my kids were small. Thoughts about how shallow  the partiers seemed, and the petty smugness of knowing that they would one day be sitting on the sofa the same time the bars closed, babe to breast, dripping milk everywhere. Selfish gits, I would confide to my child. They have no idea.

Now I enjoy listening to them. They are vibrant and still on this side of innocence.  They are of an age when they should be celebrating their freedom and beauty.  Didn’t we?  Having crossed over into full  adulthood, we know that real life will intrude on the Tuesday morning after Labor Day.

Hangovers and walks of shame that greet the day be damned. They will buck up and carry on. We did.

(c)GoshGusMusic(ascap)2009

The Anti-Corporal Punishment Act of 2009 (House Bill 6699) was filed this July by its author, Representative Nikki Prietto-Teodoro of the 1st district of Tarlac, with already 56 co-authors in the House, has gone through its second reading and is expected to be approved this year.

This bill will prohibit Filipino parents from using physical force to reprimand their children, including (wow!) harsh verbal assaults and (degradingly) humuliating their child for bad behavior. Child Rights Ambassador of Plan International Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski expressed support for a law that will protect children. Reacting to a comment that corporal punishment is sometimes brought about by poverty, Jaworski said, “No amount of poverty is a justification for corporal punishment.”

Corporal punishment has been the norm of many parents in the Philippines since time-a-memorial. Spanking and famously hitting children with slippers (“tsinelas”) are common sights in Filipino households, a way to correct unwanted bad behavior of the child.

Article 45 of the Child and Youth Welfare Code allows corporal punishments as long as these are “just and reasonable” and “moderate in degree.” However, those are vague words. Current laws only defend the child from severe harm.

The bill seeks to define corporal punishment as the use of physical force, forcing a child to undergo physical, painful or damaging acts, neglecting a child’s basic needs (such as starvation), use of external substance harmful to the child, forcing a child to undergo hazardous tasks, confinement (in unsafe places), and verbal assaults, threats or intimidation. This bill also covers the similar illegal acts conducted in schools, institutions, youth detention centers, and offices.

Sources: ABS-CBN News | TUCP

                   Photo by Zemlinki!

It’s that time again. School buses are circling around the neighborhoods on practice runs, and parents are running out to get the last minute pair of scissors or a new pair of shoes because the last pair was used as a bucket for mud pies. It’s back to school season, and whether you dread or look forward to it, it’s here.

It’s easy to get lost in all the paperwork sent from the school and your own lists you’ve made, so here are some reminders…just in case you forgot.

 1. Get those immunizations early, and documentation turned in to the school nurse.Don’t wait for the week before school. Not only do you not want your child to associate shots with school, but you don’t want to be told by the school to keep your child home until you can provide them with the necessary documentation. Oh, the embarrassment! Or, if you aren’t vaccinating your child, make sure the school has the necessary paperwork.

2.  Start the Back-to-School bedtime early. You don’t want your kiddo to be exhausted the first week of school because they can’t be asleep by 8:30. The first week is stressful enough. I started this with my kindergartener two weeks before. Not only was he in bed by 8:30, I had him out of bed by 7:15 the next day.

3. Make sure to register your child for after-school activities/sports early. Don’t miss the deadlines or lose a spot because you remembered a day too late. Also, put all dates that are important for your child on the family calendar or in your planner.

4. Make sure all new clothing is washed and put away. Also, pull out any clothing that is too small or threadbare. Don’t waste precious morning minutes sending your child back to their room seven times to change their clothes.

5. Get your kiddo ready for school by reading a few of these back-to-school books at bedtime:

• You Can’t Go To School Naked by Diane Billstrom

• Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards by Serge Bloch 

• First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg 

• On My Very First Day of School I Met… by Norman Stiles 

• The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell 

• Curious George’s First Day of School by H.A. Rey

• Morris Goes to School by B. Wiseman

6.  Attend the Open House with your child. If your school doesn’t offer an Open House, ask if you can schedule a time that you and your child can meet with his or her new teacher. This will do wonders for your child’s confidence and may even help with any anxiety they may be feeling. Just knowing where he can put his backpack and where she will be sitting can provide them with quite a bit of confidence and give them a little control. 

Other last minute reminders:

• Make sure that all supplies are packed in backpacks and near the door. Find old shirts to be used as art smocks, put their initials on them, and put them in large plastic Ziploc bags along with a change of clothes (if required to bring in).
• Charge the battery for your camera.
• Pack lunches and hang a note next to the door so they won’t be forgotten.
• Make sure all alarm clocks work.
• Buy tissues…just in case.

What are some of your favorite back-to-school memories? Do you have any tips to make it a smooth transition for everyone?

We went to the Arkadelphia water park!  WOOT!  The boys LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!  The went down the big slides and even the diving board!  Brennen completed a forward flip!   Yeah!

Well… my baby starts pre-kindergarten tomorrow.  Boy oh boy does time fly.  It seems just like yesterday that she was born all 8lbs of her.  The sad thing is that I won’t be home in the morning to send her off.  With my new job and the hours I’ll have to leave before she does in the morning.  I bought plenty of kleenex.

I just finished a great review for summer.  Check it out!  Love to hear any comments or concerns from my readers.

Next week, we are going to review a new lotion.  I’ve used it for over 30 days and it has had a lasting affect on my feet.  People have noticed how much better my dry, cracked feet look.

It’s hot and humid here in the sunshine state.  We’ve had some good rain and storms.  But.. that’s Florida.

Still working 29 hours a week.  Monday’s our are busiest days.  I can honestly say the new has wore off the job.  Now it is just a JOB.  LOL

I am very disappointed to say we are still on a vacuum search.  No luck.

Have a great week and see ya next weekend.

M

Long, slow days are upon us. There is an unspoken agreement around here to absolutely ignore the fact that summer will not continue forever. We pretend otherwise. Someone took the kitchen clock off the wall as a way of milking the fantasy. We sleep when we are sleepy, and we do things according to our inner clocks.

Just a couple of weeks left of suspended reality before we head back into a structured routine. My job will be getting it together so the rest can follow. I’ll have to break it to them. This is a chore because I know by mid-November I’ll be feeling burnt out again, as will they. Preparations for the next level of each one’s education must be made this semester. If I’m lucky, I will make it to Christmas before I hit the wall, but there will be prescription medications involved.

It’s a chore to pull two young men out of their Darwinian summer of growth spurts and increased self-confidence and throw them back into the care of an institution. The man-children have become close over the past three months. I often hear them laughing. I walk by while they are discussing something profane and their chat becomes whispered. With the pressures of the previous months finally off their shoulders something heartening has happened. They have bonded. They are a team.

No longer adversarial, the brothers understand that there is adversity outside our cozy cocoon. They’ve become protective of me, and offer small kindnesses every day.

On my special mothers checklist, I take and make a mark. One more thing accomplished. One less thing over which to fret. I take measure of this long menu and decide I am doing a good job. They will be kind and honorable men.

So screw the clock. Two more weeks of deliberate denial won’t hurt.

(c)GoshGusMusic(ascap)2009

Was working abroad for a quarter of a century worth it? The story in this abs-cbnnews.com article is from the book “Migrants’ Stories, Migrants’ Voices 1″ published by the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW). The book contains a collection of 12 stories of the realities of migration as experienced by overseas Filipino workers and their families. abs-cbnNEWS.com obtained permission from PMRW to publish the stories online. The essay speaks of the triumphs and perils of working abroad, in this case, the Middle East.

Click here to read the article at ABS-CBN Online News.

Sooooo . . . .

My purse was found!  Yahoo!!!!!!!!!  Errrr, never mind. . .  I can’t have it back right now . . . it’s evidence!!!  RUDE!  Apparently a dude did a hit and run, parked his truck in front of an apartment that was being watched for something else, and took off running.  The surveillance people thought this was odd, checked out the truck, and lo and behold, there was about 30 wallets and purses . . . ALL STOLEN!!!   But as I said, evidence.