The Five Senses of a Baby.

Your child explores the world using the five senses. She notices the simplicity and loveliness of the everyday.  He notices the things that as adults we walk past and take for granted. She will look, listen, touch, smell and taste with intention. He will experience for the first, second and third time as if there is nothing better in this world than the moment he is in right now. Using the five senses to learn about the world she is living in will connect neurons in the brain building the foundations for later learning and development.

Whether he is mesmerised by his fists, or soothed by the sound of a nursery rhyme or the smell of your skin baby’s sensory explorations are constant. Keep things interesting for her but keep things simple. Try to avoid a lot of sensory stimulation at once; this is overwhelming and perhaps a little scary. Your baby’s first toy is his hands as he feels with his mouth, tasting with his tongue. Then with delight he finds his second toy – his feet.

Provide new sensations for her to experience; look for things in nature and around you rather than for things in a local toy store. Tickle her with a feather, let her smell a flower and play with a wooden spoon.  When it is raining watch the drips fall down the window, listen to the sounds of sticks tapping and provide messy play letting fingers get dirty. Lay him down and take notice of things he is seeing, touching and exploring. Acknowledge and encourage this innate awareness rather than provide another toy which will distract from the original sensory play.

Throughout the early years allowing your child to be continually aware of her surroundings using the five senses will help for your baby to find her own unique place in the world – keep it interesting but remember keep it simple.

Create a rainbow of fruits and vegetables!

It is a well known fact that fruit and vegetables are good for us; you may be aware that we need to eat at least 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables a day; you may know that a serving size is a good handful. . . . But do you know which fruit and vegetables contain which vitamins and why they are so good for us?

Using colour as a guideline you will find a list of common fruit and vegetables with the key vitamin or mineral that they contain and why it is worth eating a variety everyday. Use colour to stimulate your child's interest in eating fruit and vegetables while learning why they are good for us- have fun!

Using colour to give meaning to fruits and vegetables:

Red to keep a healthy heart: 

Apple

 The skin of an apple is a great source of fibre, which is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system.

Strawberry

 Strawberries contain a small amount of calcium which help to build strong bones.

Tomato

 Rich in lycopene which helps to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancers. Lycopene absorption increases when a tomato is cooked.

                               

Yellow for energy and digestion:

Banana

 A good source of vitamin B6 which helps the body to produce antibodies to fight infection. A banana is best eaten ripe, when the skin is freckled brown.

Pineapple

 A sweet treat which contains bromelain, an enzyme that helps to aid digestion and reduce inflammation.

Sweetcorn

Contains the B Vitamin Folate which can not be made by the body and must come from the diet. Folate plays a role in make DNA (makes up our genes) and RNA (needed to make proteins). 

Green for health and vitality:

Kiwifruit

 Full of vitamin C which is important for the formation of collagen. This is a strengthens bones and secures teeth into the gums.

Broccoli

Contains beta-carotene; a pro-vitamin which is converted to an active form of vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A plays a role in your eyes adjusting to being able to see in the dark.

Spinach

 Filled with Iron so especially important for vegetarians. Iron is a component of haemoglobin which plays a role in transporting oxygen around the body.

Purple to live long and healthy:

Beetroot

 Filled with phytochemicals that have an antioxidant effect that protects cells from cancer and cardiovascular disease. 

Plums

Are a good source of vitamin C and also potassium. Potassium helps the body store blood sugar in the form of glycogen. This is the main source of energy to get muscles working.

Grapes

Purple grapes contain antioxidants that protect against cancer; they are also high in vitamin C.

Orange to prevent disease such as cancer:

Carrot

   A medium carrot gives a substantial amount of vitamin A. It also provides Vitamin B1 which has an important role in helping the body convert carbohydrates and fats into energy.

Orange

  Filled with Vitamin C an orange or a glass of orange juice at meal time will increase absorption of iron in the body. Remember it is better to eat the fruit than drink a juice as juice is high in sugar.

Pumpkin

The colour orange provides antioxidants that will give a healthy heart, improve vision and keep a healthy immune system.

Games for teaching:

It is important to teach the children from a young age why eating fruit and vegetables is so good for us. Find pictures of different fruits and vegetables, cut out the pictures and use them in the following games:

 1. Create a salad or use skewers to make a kebab with the pictures. Ask your child what they would like in their salad and on their kebab through imagery. You never know what new recipe you may get!

 2. Talk about the different fruits and vegetables and what they are good for in the body. Ask your child to place the picture on a body part that the fruit/vegetable is good for. E.g. carrots are filled with vitamin A which is good for our eyesight.  

3.  Take a picture of the fruit/vegetable and ask your child to match the picture with a real piece of the fruit/vegetable. Start with the piece in its whole form and then try it in different ways. E.g. sliced apple, grated carrot and mashed banana. Once matched - taste it!

Create a rainbow of fruit and vegetables for summer and turn eating into a healthy fun part of your day!

Taking some time for you – celebrating Mother’s Day 2011

If you are reading this you must have found a spare minute in your day – well done! Now can you please try something? Breathe. Close your eyes and take a long inhalation through your nose and see if you can match the length of your inhalation with your exhalation out through your nose. Repeat three times. Try not to open your eyes but feel the breath expanding from deep within your belly and rising up through your chest; hold that for a brief second and then release out through your nose. Repeat three more times. How do you feel? 

It is a moment like this which can help you get through your day, have energy to play with your child, have energy to be a wife but most importantly have energy to be yourself. I once read somewhere that if a woman gives up one part of herself – whether it is the woman in her, the mother in her or the wife in her then the other two parts will suffer. I thought this was very powerful. Can you please try something else? Take some time to think “how can I reconnect to me?” Living a life where you put yourself first is not living a selfish life but one that will benefit others in it. A happy you will equal a happy family – that is one of the most important things to remember of all.

When I asked you to breathe at the beginning you were participating in an aspect of yoga – breathing connects the mind and the body. On the inhalation you are nourishing and oxygenating your body while on the exhalation you are releasing stress, tension and carbon dioxide waste. Breath control can be rejuvenating, energising and centering and one of the most valuable tools to take you through the day. Try to find short moments throughout the day where you can close your eyes and become aware of your breath; it could be while you are in the shower, waiting for the sink to fill with water for dishes or while you are waiting for the computer to load up.

People often say it is important to have a healthy work-life balance. Parenting being important work, it is also important to find a healthy parent-life balance and participating in yoga can help to find this. Breath awareness is just one aspect of yoga – it is an age old practice that has many health and wellbeing benefits. Through a strengthened body and calmed mind, benefits such as improved flexibility and stamina, increased energy and vitality, reduced stress and tension, improved circulation, metabolism and balance, improved confidence and self-esteem can be felt. This can all lead to quality sleep which will allow you to feel fresh and energised to keep up with the day to day runnings of just being you.

Yoga at home

If you can’t get to a yoga class then try introducing a few postures at home – have you ever noticed that every time a cat wakes from a nap it stretches? Try to take a stretch first thing in the morning before you doing anything else. A few suggested postures to do at home are below. Try each posture 3 times.

Chest opener

 

Stand with feet hip width apart, take an inhalation and as you exhale interlock your fingers and reach out in front of you, inhale as if you feel like someone is pulling you forward by your hands but stay grounded with your feet. Inhale and on the next exhalation stretch high up towards the ceiling, inhale and exhale to release your hands to the side and take behind you and repeat stretching your arms to the back.

Cow and Cat

Start on all fours – have your knees about two fist widths apart with feet pointing directly behind you. Spread fingers wide and place your hands just in front of your shoulders with straight arms. Ensure that the inside of your elbows are facing each other, not rotating towards the front. Sink into your back, stick your bottom out and lift your head (like a cow). Bring your spine back to neutral, tuck your head under and inhale into an arched back like a cat stretching. Repeat.

 Child's Pose

In a kneeling position spread your knees wide, keeping big toes touching. Bring the belly to rest between the thighs and forehead to the floor. Either stretch the arms in front of you with the palms toward the floor or bring the arms back alongside the thighs with the palms facing upwards. Do the most comfortable position for you and breath.

Happy Mother’s Day Mums!

- April 3^rd 2011 in the United Kingdom and May 8^th 2011 in New Zealand.

An apple a day

A friend and I were discussing the issue of cursing in front of a child the other day. I mentioned how in a social situation I really need to think before I speak with cursing surprisingly becoming part of everyday language it is easy to slip the odd one. She had a story that really shocked me.

She was in the park and overheard a child asking his mother for an apple, well most of us would be delighted by this want for fruit. But no not this mother. This is what shocked me. The mother yelled at her son, “I’m not going to get you an f*****g apple so stop asking!”

Shocked.

Is this how we teach our children about healthy foods, when they ask we curse at them? Is this appropriate language to use in front of child? I think not.

An apple is for health and well being enriched with vitamins A, C and B. This is a piece of fruit to help the fight against disease.  Filled with antioxidants to help fight against the cancer forming free radicals in our body from every day stresses.

This piece of fruit is not to be said no to, just as a child is not to be cursed at.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. But what else can we do with an apple?

·    Eat the apple and enjoy together

·    Cut the apple into pieces and use to teach counting and fractions

·    Get many different apples; feel, smell, taste and talk about the differences

·    Cut, grate, stew, mash and peel an apple; feel the different textures

·    Have an apple rolling race, red vs. green!

·    Place apples in water and use for water-play; dunk, float and swirl the apples

·    Blow an apple with a straw vs. blowing a table tennis ball, talk about the different weights

·    Cut away part of the core, place a candle in it and practice blowing out

·    Play a market game, let your child buy his or her apple with some small change

·    Count the alphabet as you turn the stalk – what letter did you get?

I think I might eat an apple now, granny smith is my favourite at the moment.

Happy crunching!

Here is a scarf - now go play!

It is that simple, below are some ideas for your baby, toddler or pre-schooler to learn and have fun with a scarf.  No scarf at home? Use a napkin, crepe paper, handkerchief, tea-towel, tissues or toilet paper . . . anything at home that floats through the air!

 

Baby Play:

• Lay baby on tummy and move scarf from one side of body to the other in front of eyes to help develop eye-tracking.
• Lay baby on back and hold scarf above baby (within reach of the hands and feet). Gently take each hand or foot towards the scarf to tap and catch to help develop hand-eye and foot-eye coordination.
• Stand with baby lying on back between your feet. Gently bend forward to stretch your hamstrings and take the scarf over baby to play peek-a-boo.

Toddler Play:

• Fill a tissue box with different types of scarfs and ask your toddler to pull the scarves out of the box and throw them into the air. Crawl around to retrieve the scarves and ask your toddler to post the scarves back into the tissue box. This helps to develop hands and fingers.
• Use the scarf as part of imaginative play. The scarf could be a hat on your head, a shoe on your foot or a leaf in the air. Tie scarves together to make a tail for an animal, a veil for a wedding or many scarves could become the snowfall in the winter.
• Blow up a small balloon and hold the scarf between the two of you tight, try to bounce the balloon up and down in the air with the scarf.

Pre-school Play:

• Put a scarf into the edge of your sock and run around the room while your pre-schooler tries to stand on the scarf. When the scarf has been caught swap roles to chase your pre-schooler.
• Hide the scarf and make a treasure hunt saying hot (near) or cold (far) as your pre-schooler searches to find the scarf. When a scarf is found ask your pre-schooler to jump up and down in excitement to show you the treasure.
• Place a beanbag (or small light ball) in the middle of the scarf and throw into the air, try and catch the flying comet! Alternatively try to place the beanbag closer to the edge of the scarf and throw really high, the beanbag and scarf may separate to make a parachute!

Explore your own ideas with scarves and share them with others

 - have fun!

Nature or Nurture?

I was handing out flyers in Islington on Friday and I stopped and talked to a father who was truly passionate about the development of his baby. "I'm in my fifties, I already have an 18 and 13 year old, this one was a complete surprise. I don't want her to grow up around adults and become an only child, I want her to socialise with other children!" After our conversation ended I walked away thinking she is a lucky baby, her father is providing her a healthy start in life. He is nourishing her brain development and helping her to find her own place in this world. I guess he did have the option to feel that he has already been there and done that bringing up his two older children and could have left the development of this baby up to nature. But instead he has chosen to nurture and I applaud him for that.

A baby's brain is only 15% formed at birth the majority of the remaining 85% being formed in the first three years of life. Experiences during early childhood are critical for connections in the brain to occur. Early experiences have a direct impact on how a brain develops. Early experiences decide whether a child grows up to be a positive contributing member of society or a negative draining member of society. 

Taking the time now to nurture a baby's brain development, providing positive enriching experiences will help to develop a positive contributing member of society. The father I met in Islington has chosen to nurture his baby's brain development by taking the time to provide her positive experiences - they were both off to play!

This is where it begins

When I was younger I aspired to be somebody who could help others to lead a happy, healthy life. I took a job with Sport Auckland as an Active Movement Advisor for 0-5 year olds. I realised that for people to lead a happy healthy life, life needed to be loved and nurtured in early childhood.

I attended a presentation by The Brainwave Trust and learnt the importance of relationship and attachment in the early years and another by Gill Connell and learnt movement + experience = understanding. I attended a certification course to teach pregnancy and postnatal yoga with Amanda Reid of Samadhi Family Yoga.

Their words, their wisdom and grace left me inspired. I began my own yoga practice and felt a dance within.

I wanted to connect movement for baby with movement for the parent to help build relationship and attachment. I wanted to tell everyone about why spending time playing on the floor with a baby is the best gift you could give. Babies don't need stuff. Babies need your time. I have discovered why and I want to share it.

Within my job I found myself less out in the community spreading this joy of movement and more behind a desk. I was left feeling unsatisfied and knew I wanted more. I wanted to create and lead into the future.

I felt that my knowledge of nutrition and healthy eating could be combined with my knowledge of movement and child development. I created Eat Play Grow - supporting child development through nutrition and movement.

Knowing that Eat and Play weren't enough I decided to take a course with the International Association of Infant Massage. Peggy Dawson was my teacher, an incredible woman with an incredible heart. She helped me find the last jigsaw piece in my creation.

Eat is for health and well being.

Play is for child development and learning.

Grow is for loving and nurturing touch.

This is where it begins: empowering parents to develop their child through nutrition and healthy eating, movement and play, and massage and touch. This is what Eat Play Grow is about. Spreading the good news of early child development to each and everyone of you in order to help people lead a happy healthy life.

I thank you for reading this first piece and ask that you follow the many more to come and share this journey to help create a happy and healthy future.

With love, Alissa x