The Right Backpack For Your Child

From the time your child first enters childcare or preschool, a backpack to hold their belongings for the day becomes an essential item.

Most preschools and public schools are pretty flexible when it comes to what type of bag your child carries, but some schools are now introducing a school backpack that is of appropriate size and offers adequate support for your child’s back.

Most children are carrying too much around in their backpacks, and up to seventy percent of school age children complain of back pain from carrying their school bags. In the long term carrying any significant weight without proper balance and support is likely to cause chronic back problems and the risks of muscle strain, curvature of the spine and rounding of the shoulders are very real concerns.

In order to prevent injury and damage to your child’s spine, it is important to ensure that you have a backpack for them that will reduce the strain of load bearing and by making sure that they don’t carry too much.

Professional physiotherapy and chiropractic associations will often endorse school backpacks that they find meet the support requirements for a healthy spine.

Ideally the shoulder straps on your child’s bag should sit half way between the side of your child’s neck and the edge of their shoulder. Adjust the shoulder straps so that the base of the bag sits at the top of their hips, and adjust the waist strap so that it holds the bag in position. If a backpack is too big or too small your child’s spine will not be properly supported.

Young children should not be carrying more than ten percent of their body weight in their backpacks and if your child’s required daily items are too big or too heavy for them to carry from home to classroom and back again you will need to consult with their teacher and the school about appropriate load limits, especially for young children.

Think about other ways that you can reduce the weight of their load by using lightweight plastic lunchboxes instead of heavier metal boxes or smaller water bottles if they are able to refill them at school. Pack the heaviest items closest to your child’s back to help them retain their centre of gravity, otherwise they can feel they are being pulled backwards and will overcompensate, causing unnecessary strain on their back.

Explain to your child the importance of wearing their backpack properly, as wearing it only on one shoulder or carrying it in one hand will cause strain and possible damage to their growing spine. Most importantly, if your child does complain of back pain, consult your family doctor, physiotherapist or chiropractor.

Nutrition And The Development Of Boys

We recently came across an interesting article published last year in the Scientific American “Man-Made: A Baby Boy's Development May Predict a Young Man's Success”. Based on a study started in 1983 it suggests there is a definite link between nutrition of boys in early childhood and the masculinity of young men.

The study followed 770 Filipino men and their growth levels (such as height, weight, muscle mass, strength, testosterone levels and even sexual history) starting with the boys’ first two years of life, then again when they were 8, 11, 14 and then when they reached their early 20s.

In a nutshell, how fast a baby boy grows in the first six months of his life can predict the extent of his masculine characteristics as a young man. Those boys who grew the fastest were mostly breastfed and from wealthier families, therefore with more access to good quality, nutritious food.

And the reason the first 6 months are the most crucial? Well you may not know this, but during this stage in a little boy’s life his testosterone levels are roughly the same as adult levels.

"Men who as babies gained weight rapidly during the period of this testosterone surge matured earlier, were taller, had more muscle, were stronger and had higher testosterone levels,” said Christopher Kuzawa, who led the study.

So that saying “feed the man meat” probably needs to be changed to “feed the baby boy meat” (just make it organic and fat free!)

The Sneaky Eye Backpack

If you think fashion is just limited to the adult world, then you'd be wrong. Kids today know what's cool and what's not. And just like the rest of us fashion-conscious peeps, children also like to be the hippest kid in class sporting the latest gear.

Sometimes it can be frustrating to find the right school bag for our kids. As parents, we need to find something that uniquely expresses our child's style and individuality, as well as something that's durable and efficient. The practical parent in us looks for something inexpensive, but sturdy enough to stand the abuse that our children will put the bags through.

For such a need, Minti offers us the Sneaky Eye Backpack. This bag is perfect for your little boy or girl because it is available in 3 colours - black, lime, and orange. It also features two compartments, so your kids can separate their big and small stuff and find them easily. The sneaky eye print makes it a stylish accessory to carry around in school, at the beach, and even during sleepovers.

This ultra cool and durable bag is the perfect bag for our kids. With its bright colour and unique design, no one will mistake it for theirs or someone else's. It is available for a very affordable price of $49 at www.aboutaboy.com.au.

The Boon Flair Highchair

For mothers with growing toddlers, mealtimes can sometimes become a daunting endeavour. With all the preparation that needs to be done – because we all know little kids are picky eaters – and the mess that needs to be cleaned up, finding a way to make our work easier and quicker is something we all want.

Enter Boon Flair’s Cherry Seat and Coconut Pad Highchair. This highchair is made from durable materials that are easy and safe to clean. The stool itself has no cracks and crevices so there are no hard-to-reach areas where crumbs could get stuck for eternity. The removable seat pad is waterproof so you can wipe it clean in just minutes.

Included with the chair are two removable trays, which are dishwasher safe and can easily fit in the dishwasher. What makes this a must-have item for parents out there is the pneumatic lift feature which adjusts the height of the chair according to their needs. This means being able to use the chair for a long time.

Not only that, it keeps your little ones secure and in place with a five-point harness and safety post, as well as a single-step braking system. Meanwhile, six urethane casters under the foot of the chair protect your floors and make it glides smoothly for easy positioning.

Mealtime will never be the same again!

Managing Sisters

Growing up with a sister can be difficult at times however, more often than not, brothers tend to have an unspoken need to look after their sister no matter what, regardless of their age or age difference. And we just love this fact!

When it comes to their relationship with their sister, for many men blood really is thicker than water.

While brothers may not necessarily go out of their way to defend their sister’s honour or fight their battles, they will not make it easy for negative influences to feel welcome in their family and rightly so! Boys are raised generally as protectors of the family and as boyfriends come and go – the brother is always there for support – even if it is not voiced or acknowledged. Sisters may even feel the need to have their brothers meet their soon to be boyfriend or partner in order to make sure that he meets her brother’s approval.

Of course much of this close bond is created as the siblings are growing up and has everything to do with the family lifestyle and the time the siblings spent together as children. Fostering a close and supportive relationship between brothers and sister, pointing out that they are first and foremost friends, will carry on well into their adulthood.

If you speak to siblings of any age they will be only too quick to point out what they dislike about their brother or sister. As kids, it isn't the done thing to look as though you really like your siblings.

SO, don't worry if your boys squabble with their sisters. They will be there to support them even when you're not. Remember that for them, it's ok to pick on their sister but nobody else is allowed to do it!

Let Boys be Boys

Boys, what can we do with them?

They are noisy, boisterous, rowdy, busy and can't sit still for long. They are curious, inquisitive and just have to touch, feel and explore their surroundings.

How inconvenient.

You know, sometimes I wonder if adults have forgotten the wonderful wildness that boys bring with them. There has been such an increase in the number of boys diagnosed with ADD and ADHD that it seems like an epidemic. Is it possible that we've forgotten what being a boy is like?

Not all boys want to sit in front of a computer game. They are bursting with physical energy that has to be used up before it explodes out of them in a way that doesn't fit 'indoors.' Then they find themselves in trouble.

Then boys get to school and find themselves cooped up in a classroom for hours...

Boys learn differently from girls. Girls seem to absorb learning just by listening but boys love to experiment and experience. They learn from doing instead of listening. They learn from acting out their wild fantasies and burning up the energy that can block their concentration.

That's where I have a problem with the restrictions being put on the way boys play and the toys they are allowed to play with. Well, specifically toys like guns.

While a gun wouldnt' be my first choice of toy for my son, I don't think that playing cowboys and indians or cops and robbers is going to turn him into an aggressive teenager or adult. It's only a toy and that's how kids use them. It's a prop for their imaginations. It's a tool for burning their energies. It's not real.

I think we need to let boys be boys. Let them do what comes naturally to them instead of interfering and making their childhood into something safe and sanitised with no opportunity to experiment. I wonder if the teen boys of today would be so angry if they had been allowed to act out their games when they were small? I wonder if they'd choose knives and guns now if they'd been allowed to play with the toy versions as children? I wonder if controlling their innate boy behaviours as kids has made them miss out on something they should have learnt years ago?

I think we need to let boys be boys. It's our job to give them a safe environment in which to learn. It's not our job to stop them playing the way nature intended them to.

Indoor Play

It's that strange change of season time where the weather can swing from sunny to wet in the blink of an eye. How do you keep kids entertained when they have to stay indoors? We all know boys can plonk themselves in front of the TV or a computer and be turned into zombies for hours on end. But there are some really simply and easy indoor play activities that will let kids explore new ideas and engage in creative play all while having fun.

• Caves: help the boys construct a “cave” in a large space such as your living room using sheets, chairs and pegs – or even using the dining room table. They can hide out there and bring in “supplies” to “explore” the cave or play games like dragon slayers.
• Make paper airplanes. Here is a link to an excellent website that has numerous paper airplane designs complete with how-to videos and instructions.
• Marbles! Boys love marbles but most don’t know how to actually play a game. You can have a look here for some instructions and together discover a whole new world of marbles.
• String maze: Tie a prize to the end of a ball of string, and then unwind the ball around the room – over objects, under and across things. On the other end tie a pencil or stick and give it to the boys to wind the string back up. When they are at the end they will find their prize.

Along with craft activities, puzzles and games and making yummy things to eat in the kitchen you will soon find that there is not enough time in the day for all these great indoor activities for your boy!