In a week or two your child will enter Christmas Break and are you ready? With two to three weeks on their hands your teen will have plenty of time, without studies, to be entertained or entertain others. Here are a few tips to help your holiday with your child be a successful one, as well as a safe one for them.

Know their friends. If you know your child’s friends you’ll have a better idea of who they’re hanging out with over the break, but do you know their friend’s character? Knowing their friends isn’t the same as knowing their ... Read More »]]>

In a week or two your child will enter Christmas Break and are you ready? With two to three weeks on their hands your teen will have plenty of time, without studies, to be entertained or entertain others. Here are a few tips to help your holiday with your child be a successful one, as well as a safe one for them.

Know their friends. If you know your child’s friends you’ll have a better idea of who they’re hanging out with over the break, but do you know their friend’s character? Knowing their friends isn’t the same as knowing their character. This takes time and requires building a relationship so they are familiar with you as well. When they know your character they’ll also know how you will react to a variety of situations that come your way. If you are in the early phase of knowing their friends you may want to have most activities take place at your home so supervision doesn’t become an issue. When your child goes out with his or her friends you’ll also want to make sure you have their cell numbers as well. Never trust that your child’s phone is always going to be answered, powered on or have full battery power. Having alternative numbers will give you peace of mind.

Know their friends families. Meeting the parents of your child’s friends creates an accountability circle which will hopefully keep your child safe over the break. As a parent you have the right to call other parents to inquire about parties, activities and just find your child when they don’t answer their phone. These relationships are invaluable and you’ll find out which families have the same moral code that your does. It’s best to not think that everyone raises their child in the same way that you do. Don’t be caught by surprise.

Help your teen plan activities. Most teens fall into a rut when they are planning their activities. If you don’t want your child to believe that parties are the only thing happening you need to create of list of alternatives. Depending on where you live alternatives can be anything from bowling to ice skating to broom ball or ice blocking. Be creative and make sure that if they are at another teen’s home that it is well supervised regardless if they are freshmen or seniors in high school.

Include them in Christmas preparations. Many teens want to be a part of the family experience and, even though they may resist, will help with any chores you require of them. They want to be needed and giving them projects includes them in making sure the festivities associated with the holiday come off well. Don’t lose your patience when they don’t fulfill their projects instantaneously. Remember, they’re teens.

Keep your sense of humor over their break, enjoy your short time with them as they grow up fast, and build lasting memories of a safe and successful Christmas Break.

Leslie Bogar, MS Ed., is the Dean of Students at a College Preparatory High School in the Denver Metro area. She has written articles for a variety of webzines and periodicals and has spoken on the topic of youth culture at various parent venues. Leslie has been in education for over 20 years and raised three teens of her own.

Photo credit © Mangostock | Dreamstime.com

#1  If I skip my child’s nap, he will sleep longer at night. Also, the later I put my child to bed, the later he’ll sleep in the morning.

Sleep Lady: The more overtired you allow your child to get, the more wired he’ll get — making it harder for him to get sleep and stay asleep.

#2  Children not sleeping through the night for the first year ... Read More »]]> Sleep Myth Busters: The Sleep Lady Sets the Record Straight
By Kim West, LCSW-C,
Author of The Sleep Lady®’s Good Night, Sleep Tight: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy

#1  If I skip my child’s nap, he will sleep longer at night. Also, the later I put my child to bed, the later he’ll sleep in the morning.

Sleep Lady: The more overtired you allow your child to get, the more wired he’ll get — making it harder for him to get sleep and stay asleep.

#2  Children not sleeping through the night for the first year or two is a fact of life.

Sleep Lady: Healthy babies 6 months or older who are growing well can often sleep 11 hours at night. Although teething, illness and developmental milestones can disturb sleep at various times, they’re only temporary interruptions.

#3  Newborns sleep all the time and know what they need. You don’t need to schedule their sleep times.

Sleep Lady: Even very young babies benefit from scheduling and consistency at night time and nap time. It cuts down on their crankiness and crying and lays the groundwork for learning how to sleep through the night once they’re a little older.

#4  Children know when they’re sleepy and when they should go to bed.

Sleep Lady: Not once they learn to fight sleep for your company! Children need our direction and guidance with a soothing bedtime routine to help them slow down and transition to sleep. Once you get your child on a consistent schedule, you can plan your own day better and can count on having a happy awake child.

#5  Some children, including babies, don’t need as much sleep as others.

Sleep Lady: Very few children need less than the average amount of sleep for their age. They need enough good quality sleep to grow and learn at the incredible rate they do! They need us to protect their need for sleep.

#6  If I let my child “cry it out” at bedtime, I can do whatever it takes (rock, walk, nurse, bottle feed , etc.) to get him back to sleep in the middle of the night.

Sleep Lady: Once your baby is over 6 months of age, you must be consistent at bedtime AND all night wakings. If he becomes accustomed to being fed, rocked, walked, etc. during the night, that is what he will need and expect each time he wakes up in order to go back to sleep. He won’t understand why you are doing it sometimes and not other times.

#7  I will have to give up all forms of co-sleeping if I want a baby with good sleep habits.

Sleep Lady: Not true. Consider an alternative middle ground called “room sharing” — where you keep your baby in your room in a crib or co-sleeper for months or even a year. You can easily feed your baby, its gives you the peace of mind of having her close by and you don’t have to worry about the safety challenges of bedsharing. Most importantly you can begin to put your baby down “drowsy but awake” at nap time so she can learn to put herself to sleep independently and you are still near by. This will make the transition to her own crib and room one day much easier!

#8  If I feed my baby late at night, he will sleep longer.

Sleep Lady: A baby will sleep for a longer stretch when he no longer needs to eat at night AND if he knows how to put himself back to sleep without being fed.

#9  Feeding my child formula rather than relying on breast feeding in the evening will help her sleep longer.

Sleep Lady: It may help her sleep longer since formula takes longer to digest, but it won’t make a difference if she doesn’t know how to put herself back to sleep without nursing or bottle feeding.

Copyright © 2009 Kim West, LCSW-C, author of The Sleep Lady®’s Good Night, Sleep Tight: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy

Kim West, LCSW-C, known as The Sleep Lady®, has helped thousands of tired parents gently teach their babies and children how to go to sleep and stay asleep. West has appeared on Dr. Phil, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, TLC’s Bringing Home Baby, and CNN, and has been written about in a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Parents, Baby Talk, Parenting, the Baltimore Sun, USA Today, and the Washington Post. West hosts the sleep section of The Newborn Channel, played in maternity wards in hospitals across the country. She is the mother of two daughters and a licensed child and family therapist, practicing for over seventeen years. She lives with her family in Annapolis, Maryland.

In addition to The Sleep Lady®’s Good Night, Sleep Tight, West is also the author of 52 Sleep Secrets for Babies and the upcoming, Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook.

Visit Kim West at www.sleeplady.com.

Chic Galleria is pleased to give away a copy of Good Night, Sleep Tight to one lucky reader! Just leave a comment on this article and answer this question: “Does or did your child have trouble sleeping?” A name will be drawn at random from the list of comments and the winner will be announced on December 21, 2009. Good luck!

Congratulations Jennifer T.

Plushy Feely Corp. has just released Kimochis {www.kimochis.com} … Toys with Feelings Inside. Awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2009 Seal of Excellence and Best Vacation Products by Dr. Toy.

Are you a Kimochi Cloud? A Kimochi Bug or Kimochi Huggtopus?

Kimochi (KEY.MO.CHEE) means “feeling” in Japanese and each 13 inch Kimochis character comes with 3 plush “feelings” and a how-to- Feel Guide with tips for parents on ... Read More »]]> Kimochis is a truly dynamic and innovative brand that is growing as we speak. A brand run by mom entrepreneurs! With an already strong following, even celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Garner can’t resist.

Plushy Feely Corp. has just released Kimochis {www.kimochis.com} … Toys with Feelings Inside. Awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2009 Seal of Excellence and Best Vacation Products by Dr. Toy.

Are you a Kimochi Cloud? A Kimochi Bug or Kimochi Huggtopus?

Kimochi (KEY.MO.CHEE) means “feeling” in Japanese and each 13 inch Kimochis character comes with 3 plush “feelings” and a how-to- Feel Guide with tips for parents on connecting with their kids during emotional moments. Feelings can be messy…Kimochis can help!

Kimochi’s goal is to create compelling stories and loveable characters that will build confidence and self-esteem in our children and serve to strengthen parent-child connections. The toys are for everyone and help with parent-child connections: children with autism to a child who wants to play, the adorable characters help children express their feelings more easily. Younger children can use Kimochis to learn to identify feelings while older children can use the Kimochi to work through communication challenges.

The stuffed toys are revolutionary in that they’re not just stuffed toys. Kimochis is helping kids learn to express their emotions in POSITIVE ways, in hopes of possibly helping to prevent future tragedies. They are meant to teach children and parents how to interact with each other and express themselves, developing their emotional intelligence with the Kimochis Feel Guide book – teaching  parents on connecting with their kids during emotional moments. The bag of emotions (happy, sad, grumpy) allows the child to relate and easily express their emotions to their friends, parents , teachers – holding an emotion and describing what they’re feeling and why.

Now is the right time to invest in the emotional intelligence of our children. With Kimochi, all children and adults can relate to them and it opens the opportunity for communication and education.

Nina Rappaport-Rowan, Kimochis Founder and mompreneur, was struck with the horrible Columbine High School incident, thinking how could something like this have happened? It made her dig deep and question why. What is missing? What are we not doing right with our children that they can be so disconnect and so self destructive? This very thing was the inspiration that drove Nina to create the Kimochis. The goal is to get parents and kids talking to each other. Creating original children’s products and animated family entertainment, the company wants to create compelling stories and loveable characters that will build confidence and self-esteem in our children and serve to strengthen parent-child connections.

Nina was the perfect person to launch such an idea! She is a leader in the field of animation. Producer of the 1998 Academy Award winning Best Animated Short Film, Bunny, Nina is known for her expert knowledge of computer animation and her skill in developing teams that can tackle innovative and complex CG projects. She is primarily know as a Producer in the family entertainment industry overseeing children’s books, animated feature films and animated TV projects. She has other amazing moms on the Kimochi team, helping build the brand.

Nina and her team are reaching out to kids and families in hospital situations, for social workers, adoption and special needs. Kimochis is a toy for everyone with the added benefits!

Chic Galleria and Kimochi is excited to be giving away a Cloud character to 1 lucky Chic Galleria reader.  Just leave a comment on this article and answer this question, “What is Cloud’s favorite color?” You will probably have to visit the website to find the answer! The winner will be chosen at random from those who leave a comment and the winner will be announced November 16, 2009. www.kimochis.com

Congratulations Kiley Smith!