16Jan2019
Kids Health
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January 16, 2019

via theAsianparentSingapore: For most Asians, no meal is complete without the addition of a few spices. It’s a part of our lives and adds enjoyment to every meal. I personally like all my meals to be extra spicy. But when it came to introducing spicy food to my toddler, I was of two minds.

I feared that spicy foods might not agree with his fragile digestive system. But, I also knew that I had to do it someday.

Introducing spicy food to your toddler: A guide for all new parents

As you know, spicy food triggers pain receptors in the mouth. Most of them have an active ingredient known as capsaicin. When eaten, the capsaicin binds with vanilloid receptors inside our mouths. This triggers sensory neurons to depolarize and send out a signal indicating the presence of spice in the mouth.

While an adult can handle this stimuli, it is far too much for a toddler.

Now some may argue that if eating spices can trigger pain the mouth, why would you want to subject babies to that pain? Well, the answer is simple. Spices are not just flavourful, they also add nutritional value. In most cases, they have remarkable health benefits.

What spices and herbs can I give my toddler?

Since herbs and spices are loaded with health benefits, you can introduce them all. Take turmeric, garlic and cinnamon for instance. Each of them are rich in phytochemicals, and are anti-inflammatory. They also help wounds heal faster and boost the immunity of the body.

Also, because they are packed with flavours, they decrease our dependency on ingredients such as salt, sugar and added fat.

Incidentally, you can introduce aromatic spices and herbs including cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic, turmeric, nutmeg and dill to infants as young as six months.

Let’s take a look at some of the health benefits of common spices and herbs that you can easily give to your toddler.

  • Cinnamon. This easy-to-find herb is low on sweet taste, and fights of bacterial infection. It also helps to reduce inflammation and fends off free radicals that damage the skin and cause premature ageing. In addition, cinnamon helps to lower blood sugar in the body.
  • Ginger. This spice includes the compound allicin and gingerol, both of which have medicinal properties. It also reduces muscle pains and soreness and is especially beneficial in battling colds and coughs.
  • Turmeric. This spice has anti-inflammatory properties. Plus, it helps heal wounds faster, eases joint pains and also treats inflammatory bowel diseases and indigestion. In India, most homes regularly use this spice in all their meals and therefore, it is natural to introduce it to their kids as well.
  • Garlic. A common household herb, garlic has anti-inflammatory properties and is an antioxidant. It is also one of the most common dietary condiments because it stimulates digestion and absorption. It also has antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties.
  • Cardamom. This herb is rich in magnesium and zinc minerals. It is useful in overcoming digestive problems such as an irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), heartburn, intestinal spasms, constipation, gall bladder complaints and even loss of appetite. It also combats cold, cough and even bronchitis.
    When you do add all these spices into your toddler’s diet, remember the key is moderation. Begin with adding a fairly small amount into his meal and add the next spice or herb after a few days.

This window will allow you to analyse if your toddler is allergic to any of these herbs or spices.

Now the next question: how exactly should you introduce spicy food to your toddler? Here’s something to get you started.

Is introducing spicy food to my toddler easy?

Yes, it is.

The key is to first prune their sensory receptors. So introduce spices slowly and individually rather than together in a single meal. Also, choose the spices and herbs carefully.

You don’t want to add chillies into your baby’s food right away and burn his mouth.

  • Choose one spice at a time. Don’t get too excited while introducing spicy foods to your toddler. Take it one spice at a time, especially in the case of aromatic spices. So for instance, you can garnish some cinnamon on top of your toddler’s cereal. Or alternatively, add garlic to his lentil soup.
  • Observe before introducing next. Give your toddler a minimum of five days to analyse if the herb or spice you just gave him agrees with his tummy. Sometimes certain spices like garlic do not agree with some kids. So it’s best to let time take its course so you have a better understanding of what works for your kid.
  • Add to the pot. Once you are confident that your toddler is able to handle all the spices you have given him, try to add two or three together to the pot. So for instance, if you cook chicken curry or fish soup, you can add just a bit of salt and pepper with garlic powder. Keep the quantities minimal and introduce this concoction to your toddler in a small quantity.
  • Share your food. The next best way to introduce spicy food is to just share your own food with your baby. Whatever you prepare for yourself, share a little of it with your toddler. If you feel your food is too spicy, you can dilute it for your baby.
  • Be careful about red chilli. While introducing spicy food is fine for a toddler, when it comes to red chilli, you might want to be extra cautious. As explained before, hot spices such as a chilli can stimulate the pain receptor in the mouth and that might be too much for a toddler. So stay away from adding it into his food till you feel he is ready to try it later on.
    Take note that introducing spices is a personal choice. It is not a compulsion. However, doctors will advise you to add items with various tastes and textures into your toddler’s meals only because it expands their palate.

Introducing spicy food to toddlers: Two recipes to try at home

Here are two simple recipes you can prepare at home with the addition of a few spices.

Spicy Chicken shreds

Ingredients:

  • 10 ounces boneless chicken breast strips
  • ¼ garlic salt mix
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method:

  • Sprinkle garlic salt mix on the chicken breast strips. Lightly cook them on a nonstick pan over medium heat.
  • Remove the chicken strips and add grated cabbage and ginger to the pan.
  • Shred these chicken pieces and serve them as they are or add a mixture of vegetables that your toddler loves.

Spicy roast vegetable mix

Ingredients

  • ½ cup mixture of any of the vegetables including cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or winter squash
  • Olive oil
  • ¼ salt
  • ¼ garlic
  • Rosemary

Method:

  • Break the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
  • Choose a pan and add olive oil to it, then add the vegetables, salt, and grated garlic. Garnish with some rosemary, although this is completely optional.
  • Mix it all well.
  • Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and roast the vegetables for about 20-25 minutes.Let it cool down and serve slightly warm or cool it completely to serve it later.

While introducing spicy food remember that the key is to keep it simple at the start. Go slow and gradually add more flavours into the mix.

Also, from a safety stand point, make sure the spices are fresh and have not been sitting on your shelf for the past five years. When it comes to baby food, it’s important to check the expiration date of everything you give them.

Most importantly, do not worry too much about introducing spicy food to your toddler. In most South East Asian cultures, kids are given spices from an early age and if the mother eats spices too babies get a taste through breast milk anyway.

15Jan2019
Desserts, Kids Recipes
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January 15, 2019

via Best Recipe Box: Making fresh ice cream doesn’t get easier than this. Smashed strawberries add so much fresh flavor and texture to this easy no churn, 3 ingredient ice cream strawberry ice cream recipe. All you need are a few ingredients, patience and an appetite for something cool and refreshing on a hot day.

Based off the popularity of our 3 ingredient creamy chocolate ice cream recipe, this strawberry counterpart has smashed fresh strawberries and a lot of love. Optional ingredients are a few drops of red food coloring if you want that extra pop of color. Without the food coloring, the ice cream is still super delicious and will be a favorite for years to come!

14Jan2019
Kids Health, Kids Health Guide
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January 14, 2019

The stomach is one of the important muscular organs that is located on the left side of the upper abdomen in human body. A stomach is the size of a fist, so a carefully planned meal must be taken in order to protect our stomach. In this video, MOMmy – Emiza from Energise Kids is going to share with you on how to measure the size of a stomach and some helpful diet tips to improve your stomach’s health.

Check out more nutrition tips from our other postings under Kids’ Health!

12Jan2019
Kids Health
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January 12, 2019

via Bumpsnbaby: Is ginger for colds and coughs effective?

Can ginger be used as a home remedy for babies and toddlers?

How to use ginger to relieve cough and cold?

This is the hard season change time when your babies and kids are more prone to get infected by cold and cough.

Cold and cough makes the babies cranky and increases their discomfort. They may find it difficult to sleep or to engage in any activities due to cold and congested chest and helpless babies thus turn cranky. As parents we tend to take utmost care of children especially during their discomfort.

In most of the cases cold and cough can be treated with home remedies as there are many home remedies available for these common infections in babies/ kids. Most common and popular one is the use of ginger.

Ginger is often used for medicinal purposes especially for soothing sore throat, cold and cough caused by common cold.

This article will give you detailed information on how and why you should use ginger for colds and coughs remedy.

What is so special about ginger?

Ginger is a flowering plant with leafy stems. It is closely related to turmeric and cardamom. It is also called inji or adrak.

The rhizome, that is the underground root of the ginger plant, is used widely as a spice in various cuisines and for medicinal purposes and is called ginger root or simply ginger. It is pungent, aromatic and spicy.

Ginger root is a powerhouse of nutrients and bioactive compounds that are beneficial for your physical and mental health.

Ginger root can be used raw, dried, powdered or can be even pickled. The juice extracted from the root is also used in many recipes, both food and medicine.

The unique flavor and fragrance of ginger root is attributed to the natural oils present in ginger. One of the important natural oil is gingerol. The presence of gingerol gives ginger its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties making it an apt ingredient in many medicines and home remedies.

How can ginger help to treat cold and cough?

  • Ginger has anti microbial properties, which help to cure cold and fight against infections.
  • Anti oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of ginger help in boosting immunity.
  • Ginger contains aromatic chemicals called phenyl alkyl ketones (a gingerol), which have medicinal properties.
  • Dried rhizomes of ginger are proved to have anti-rhino-viral activity. Rhinoviruses are the major reason for common cold in humans.
  • It acts as a antihistamine and decongestant that helps to reduce cold symptoms.
  • Ginger contains essential oils that help in reducing cold and cough symptoms
  • Natural sedative in ginger comforts the babies/ toddlers from the cold and congestion symptoms.

Now you know how is ginger good for colds. Yes due to the above properties it is very commonly used to treat flu symptoms.

Is ginger effective only for relieving cough and cold symptoms?

Nope, the powers of this wonder rhizome are not restricted to treating common cold and cough only. The medicinal properties of ginger can be utilized and is effective for a wide range of ailments. The benefits of eating ginger are many.

  • Ginger is used for enhancing digestion and absorption
  • It is good for nausea and morning sickness
  • Ginger can fight bacterial diarrhea
  • Ginger can reduce vomiting and motion sickness
  • Ginger has anti-tumor activities that can help fight certain type of cancer
  • Ginger can reduce muscle pain and soreness
  • Ginger helps improve the health of your heart

Even after having knowledge of benefits of this wonder spice, many don’t know how to use and give it to kids/ babies.

Is ginger safe for babies?

Yes ginger is safe for babies if given in small quantities. Ginger can be introduced to babies from 10 to 11 months. Some even introduce it at 8 months of age.

Apart from using it to treat cold and cough in babies, it can be included in their food too to spice up their food.

Raw ginger is less hot while dried ginger is spicier. So use ginger accordingly for babies and kids as they may not be able to tolerate the spice levels of ginger. A very small quantity is enough for babies and kids.

Now as we know that ginger is safe for babies and it can help treat common cold and cough let us see the ways you can give ginger to your babies/ kids to treat cold and cough.

11Jan2019
Kids Development, Study Tips For Kids
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January 11, 2019

via SMASHING: Have you ever seen someone make creative notes at a conference and wished that your own notebook was more presentable? It’s much easier to do than you think. You don’t have to be an aspiring lettering artist, and you don’t need to develop top-notch drawing skills. Making your notes more interesting doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking. It’s not like learning to play the piano or taking up diving. If you think sketchnoting looks fun, I have some tips to get you started.

Have you ever seen someone make creative notes at a conference and wished that your own notebook was more presentable? It’s probably much easier to do than you think. You don’t have to be an aspiring lettering artist, and you don’t need to develop top-notch drawing skills.

Making your notes more interesting doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking. It’s not like learning to play the piano or taking up diving. If you think sketchnoting looks fun, I have some tips to get you started.

Creative Note-Taking For Anyone
People make all sorts of visual notes. An army of sketchnoters is out there, and everyone has their own style. Some do amazing sketches and lavish letters. Some translate complicated concepts into easy-to-grasp diagrams. But for the sake of this article, let’s keep it simple.

It doesn’t matter whether you call it sketchnoting or doodling or scribbling or simply “adding some joy” to your notes. Just aim for something visual that takes your notes to the next level. Combine this with an effort to slow down when forming letters, and I’ll bet you will surprise yourself at the difference it makes. The goal is to create something that you would want to take out again and look at — and, hey, perhaps even show others.

You Are Your Own Target Audience
Sketchnotes done live over 45 minutes can’t capture everything. They won’t be a perfect structured summary. My notes are not intended to stand on their own feet. They have value for me and perhaps other attendees at the conference.

Make the notes for yourself first. Share them if you want — other attendees will probably love to take a look. Sketchnotes can spread the word to the outside world about an interesting talk or about the conference itself. But people who have not heard the talk can’t expect the sketchnotes to carry much meaning on their own. I mention this because people sometimes misunderstand their purpose.

Keeping this in mind will help you get started on your own sketchnotes. You don’t have to try to “instantly” explain everything or worry that you’ll miss one of the speaker’s key points. It’s OK — they’re just your personal notes.

8Jan2019
Kids Development
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January 8, 2019

This talk informs the audience on how to be an educated and conscious consumer. Why it’s important to vote with your purchases. How to develop a 5-minute habit of making the responsible purchase to change the way corporations operate.

Shaun Frankson has inspired millions of responsible consumers to ask companies to use Social Plastic® to help alleviate global poverty and ocean plastic pollution. In his 2017 TEDxStanleyPark talk, Shaun Frankson reveals how The Plastic Bank – http://plasticbank.org – leveraged a visible consumer driven demand to successfully inspire global organizations to change purchasing behaviors to increase their environmental and social impacts.

His inspirational message teaches why consumers are the most powerful force on earth and best positioned to save the planet. Through a habit of ethical, sustainable, locally sourced, cruelty free, green, eco and other various forms responsible purchasing you can be a change maker. Every purchase you make is a vote for how a product was made and for the company who made it. Corporations only produce what consumers buy repeatedly. When enough people stop buying a product, it stops getting made. When enough people stop buying from a company, it goes out of business. We’re on the verge of a new era in which the average person is starting to act like a responsible consumer.

Every year over 8 million tons of plastic enters our ocean. By 2050 we are projected to have more plastic in our ocean than fish by weight. Ocean plastic is poisoning our food chains. But Ocean plastic is just one example of a human created global issue that can be solved through responsible consumerism. It only takes 5 minutes more to make a responsible purchase.

Shaun Frankson is the co-founder and chief strategist for The Plastic Bank. He is known as a modern day strategy guy, growth hacker and technology futurist. Shaun has made a career out of creating unique strategies that generate exponential results. He created the brand strategies to introduce Social Plastic® to the world, resulting in over 1 million supporters and 300 media features while attracting some of the world’s largest organizations as partners and clients. He is currently working with IBM to launch a game changing APP based Blockchain and Hyperledger digital currency and exchange platform.

7Jan2019
Kids Health, Kids Nutrition
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January 7, 2019

Wholesome foods are fresh foods that have not been processed and are so called “good foods” that your body would really appreciate as they can help you stay to healthy! In this video, MOMmy – Emiza from Energise Kids will be sharing with you why we should eat wholesome foods instead of processed foods, and she will also quote some examples for both wholesome foods and processed foods so that you’ll have a better idea of what foods to take and which to avoid.

4Jan2019
Kids Development
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January 4, 2019

via ZERO to three: The more curious a child is, the more he learns. Nurturing your child’s curiosity is one of the most important ways you can help her become a lifelong learner.

Babies are born learners, with a natural curiosity to figure out how the world works. Curiosity is the desire to learn. It is an eagerness to explore, discover and figure things out.

Parents and caregivers don’t have to “make” their children curious or “push” their children to learn. In fact, research shows that it is a child’s internal desire to learn (their curiosity), not external pressure, that motivates him to seek out new experiences and leads to greater success in school over the long term.

Curiosity is something all babies are born with. They come into the world with a drive to understand how the world works:

  • A newborn follows sounds, faces and interesting objects with her eyes.
  • An 8-month-old shakes a rattle and then puts it into his mouth to see what this object can do.
  • A toddler takes a stool to reach the countertop where the phone is—a “toy” she loves to play with.
  • A 2-year-old pretends she is the garbage collector and puts all her stuffed animals into the laundry basket “garbage truck” to figure out what it feels like to be in the other person’s shoes.

Tips for Nurturing Curiosity

Model interest in the world around you.
Take a walk outside and wonder aloud about the trees, the sky, the stars. Also let your child see you pursuing interests of your own.

Follow your child’s lead.
Encourage natural interests. Children learn so much more through activities that capture their attention and imaginations. If he likes music, play it for him often, make and play instruments together, dance together. If bugs are her thing, give her a shovel and a net. Find books on bugs and read to her.

Answer questions simply and clearly and according to your child’s development.
You will answer a question about where babies come from much differently if your child is three or thirteen. And, no matter the child’s age, always ask them first what their thoughts are before answering. A five-year old asked her mother, “Where did I come from?” Mother proceeded to talk in depth (anxiously stumbling on every other word) about the reproductive process. Her child looked at her quizzically throughout, and at the end responded, “I mean, did you come from New York like Daddy or somewhere else?”

And, if you don’t have the answer, say so. Let them know it’s okay not to have all the answers. This also provides an opportunity to model how to find answers. Go with her to the library or call someone else who might know.

Use the library!
Take this field trip together often. Find out when your local branch has its storytime. Books are windows into all kinds of worlds to delight the curious mind. Young children who are exposed to books become better readers. Let your child choose his own books. Studies show that it doesn’t matter whether children are reading books about rockets or comic books, the key is that their interest is captured and that they like to read.

Stimulate your child with open-ended questions.
These are questions that don’t have a right or wrong response, and can’t be answered with only one word like “yes” or “no”. “How do you feel about…..”, “What was (such and such experience) like for you….”, “Tell me about what happened in school today.” These kinds of questions encourage your child to develop his thoughts and ideas, shows love and interest, and will give you a window into his inner life.

Create an interesting environment.
Babies spend one-fifth of their waking hours in focused gazing. They’re curious about what’s in their surroundings. Pictures on the wall and normal family activity are naturally fascinating. Give baby safe toys and objects to explore. Rotate your supply to keep it “fresh.”

Redirect, don’t discourage.
Try to figure out what is capturing her interest, or what skill she is trying to master and create a safe and acceptable way for her to explore. For example, if your toddler is exploring the houseplants, put them out of reach but offer a close alternative. Put some dirt in a plastic container for your child to play with and inspect. If she likes to pour the water from her cup onto the high chair or floor, move her to the kitchen floor, bathtub or backyard after the meal so she can explore and experiment with water without driving you crazy. This will also teach children problem-solving skills, creative and acceptable ways to do and get what they want.

Allow time for open-ended activities.
Unlike some toys that are designed to be used a certain way, materials like boxes, blocks, water, sand, pots and pans, and any art material, can be used imaginatively. Do not tell your child what to do with the material, how to do it or what it should look like in the end. Let your child’s curiosity be her guide.

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