It’s the beginning of summer in North America and it is always hot is SE Asia, so this seems a great time to mention great hot weather activities. Maybe your baby is too young to enjoy being out in hot weather, but early morning and dusk are great times to go out for a walk in your neighborhood. Don’t waste this wonderful time.
Mother’s Day 2012
In May we honor mothers. So this month I have a few stories about mothering and hopefully some encouragement for you as a mom.
As most of you know, I live and serve in Malaysia. While our sons were in school here, I was a stay-at-home-mom. My husband traveled a lot, but I was nearly always with our sons. However, every three months I had to leave and re-enter Malaysia for a new tourist pass to live here. On one of my returns to Malaysia I had the following conversation with the Immigration officer. [Read more…]
Raising a Bilingual Child
Language learning always fascinates me, so I took a fresh look at language learning and bilingual learning. As usual, I found some very interesting information to share with you.
The New York Times, on March 17, 2012, published an article titled, Why Bilinguals Are Smarter¹. They say, “Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.” Those are pretty sweeping claims. [Read more…]
TV and Kids
This month I decided to do some investigation into the effects of TV and other electronic media on children and their development. How much TV is too much TV? and What kinds of TV are detrimental and if any of it is helpful to children’s growth?
It seems there is general agreement that a child’s exposure to TV of any type should be limited. The American Academy of Pediatrics even said children two years and younger should not watch any TV whatsoever. Yet, there is also general agreement that we are completely ignoring this advice. Most parents lobby for and seek TV programs with appropriate content as a matter of convenience, since TV clearly serves as a babysitter of sorts for parents feeling time-constraints.
In many homes the TV is turned on early and stays on late. The programs viewed shows less actual choice and more habit. There are TVs in several rooms of most homes. Many children not only have their own TV, but electronic games, a computer, a DVD player for the car, and the list goes on.
Flu and Colds
We are in the midst of the flu season for 2012. Mike and I have fought both colds and flu this season already, so I’ve been doing some checking about what you can and should do to protect your family from the flu. Here’s what I could find out.
Flu shots
Although no one likes to get a shot, this is the only proven way to be protected against the most virulent and common flu virus for the year. Some people can use a flu nasal spray, but only your doctor can tell you if you qualify for the spray instead of the shot.
Flu vaccine is up-dated every year. So although you are immune to the virus in last year’s shot, that immunity won’t cover this year’s virus.
The flu shot does not cause you to get the flu since the virus is not live. If you were exposed around the time you took the shot though, you could still get it. There are a huge number of different flu viruses, so it is possible to get flu that wasn’t covered by the shot. You will have immunity to any flu in your flu shot or for any flu that you get.
It is not too late to get the shot. Until the last flu for the year has made its rounds in about May, you may still need the protection. [Read more…]
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