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Teaching Young Children about Pond Life

Ponds are fascinating places.  They can be small ecosystems, with all life forms supporting and dependent on each other.  Young children enjoy discovering interesting things in nature, and finding a pond to explore can be the first step in developing a love for nature. Ponds are more accessible than you may think.  Hiking in the woods will often reveal puddles or other areas of still water that can certainly be classified as ponds.  You may have a neighbor with a pond on his or her property, or you may have one available in your own yard.  Even urban dwellers can create a pond by putting a container out to catch rain water and leaving it undisturbed for a week or more.  Wind, rain, and visiting creatures will deposit some sort of life form (eggs, spores, etc.) as the water sits undisturbed. Before beginning to teach young children about pond life, check out some good books at your local library that are appropriate for your age group.  Depending on the age of your kids, notebooks and other means of recording observations are helpful.  Regularly visit the pond and record what you and the children see, keeping an eye out for those creatures you ...

How Safe Is Chicken?

When you cook chicken, you are probably careful to cook it thoroughly.  You probably also know to use bleach or other disinfectant on your cutting board and knife, or any surface with which the raw poultry has come in contact.  And of course, you have to wash your hands before preparing the salad.  Why all the precautions? The problem is, many chickens are contaminated with bacteria.  Thorough cooking and cleanliness are supposed to protect you from these germs, but is that enough?  Why is raw chicken so unsafe, or is it? Bacteria According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), stringent inspection of chicken carcasses prior to their being up for sale in the store means that bacterial contamination is usually the result of how the chicken is handled by the food preparer. However, it's worth noting that chicken eggs also have been found to contain bacteria inside the shell, and bacterial contamination can penetrate the meat to the bone - this indicates the presence of bacteria on the farm and inside the chicken long before the cook gets a hold of it. The FSIS notes this list of food-borne bacteria associated with chicken. * Salmonella is found in chickens' ...

The Many Benefits of Bowen Technique

Bowen Therapy or Bowen Technique is a gentle means of soft tissue relaxation that does not involve external, forceful manipulation.  Because of its gentle approach, all ages can undergo the therapy, including newborns and the very elderly (and everyone in between!).  Bowen aims to achieve deep relaxation for the participant.  When that level of relaxation is reached, the body becomes aligned, balanced, and able to heal itself. When a participant undergoes Bowen Technique, he or she experiences a gentle massage of the muscles and tissues over the problem area.  Practitioners often begin in the abdominal region, as this is seen as the "center" of the body.  Practitioners leave the room before moving to another area of the body, slowing the pace and giving their clients a chance to relax even more. The motions of Bowen Technique are said to act as energy surges, sending messages to the brain to heal a particular area or body system.  Practitioners claim they are teaching the body to heal itself - or, more correctly, reminding the body of its own innate ability to heal. Here are some of the benefits of Bowen Technique. * Pain Relief - Many participants seek out Bowen Technique because they desire relief from ...

The Barefoot Experience

With the arrival of warm weather, many people look forward to sandal season - but others look forward to barefoot season.  It used to be customary for children especially to go barefoot in the spring and summer, but our culture has changed and now shoes are the norm.  Going barefoot indoors in the winter is not unheard of, either, in this day and age of centrally heated homes.  Taking off the shoes and going barefoot now and then - or regularly if possible - can have some real health benefits. * Fewer Ingrown Toenails - Going barefoot - or "barefooting" - can decrease your chances of developing ingrown toenails.  If you have had them before, going barefoot could prevent them from happening again.  Without the confining pressure of shoes on the toes, nails can grow freely and correctly. * Less Athlete's Foot and Toenail Fungus - Fungus does not thrive when it is continually exposed to light and air.  Going barefoot can reduce toenail fungus or athlete's foot for this reason. * Developing Foot Structure - Babies and children who are accustomed to going barefoot or wearing thin-soled footwear tend to have much stronger arches in their feet.  Studies have shown that wearing ...

The Benefits of Baby Slings

Slings offer so many benefits for mother and baby.  Dad can get in on baby bonding, too, since slings work just as well for him as they do for Mom.  Caretakers, babysitters, grandparents, and so forth can use a sling.  Let's look at some of the benefits of baby-wearing, or slings. Just What Is a Sling? A sling is a piece of cloth that is knotted or otherwise attached at either end (sometimes by a ring of plastic or wood) that fits cross-wise on a woman's body.  The baby can be placed in the back or the front, depending on the type of sling.  Slings are different from the carriers that strap on to a parent's body and look like a frontal back-pack.  Cloth slings have been used by women all over the world for millennia. Closeness More and more experts report what mothers have always instinctively known - holding baby close has many benefits.  Thankfully, as this comes to light, more mothers in modern cultures are holding their babies closer.  Slings help in this regard. A close relationship between mother and baby is associated with thriving, healthy babies who develop normally. Nursing For the nursing mother, slings provide opportunities for discreet, public nursing.  A baby can ...