Green Family - Parents

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 ...

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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 ...

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