Have mealtime hassles?
If the answer is yes, then a free workshop by the Oklahoma City-County Health Department may have all your answers.
The free parenting seminar will be at the Edmond library on Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. It’s perfect for parents and caregivers of children from birth to age 5. The experts from Child Guidance Services will answer questions and address concerns, and give out great information about issues related to eating. Techniques and resources will be provided.
To register, call Child Guidance at 425-4412 to register. For more information about this program and others, call 427-8651 or go to www.cchdoc.com.
-Erica Smith
esmith@opubco.com
The Princess and the Pew
- This is not my daughter, and this is not her bed. But, you get the color design idea.
Until this week, my daughter had been sleeping on a mattress I know is older than my husband. (At least she was sleeping on it when she wasn’t sleeping on the livingroom couch.)
The old mattress was hard, you could feel the springs, it seemed to tilt down at the head of the bed, and the box springs cover had started to tear away. Sounds awful, but it wasn’t until I spent quite a few nights in the bed during the nights she couldn’t go back to sleep that I began to realize just how uncomfortable her bed was.
First, I looked online to see what type of style she might like. We decided together that a twin or daybed would be perfect for her, since it would open up more space to play in her room. But I still hesitated making a purchase, because I wanted to make sure to get something she would love. Good beds aren’t cheap, so I wanted her choice to be one she would enjoy for several years.
This past weekend, she and I made the furniture row rounds, looking at bedframes, trying out mattresses, comparing styles and colors and prices. And we bought it.
A black, solid-wood daybed with two hot pink, soft mattresses.
I thought this would certainly help her go to sleep at night – and get her off our couch at night.
The day the bed was delivered, we also bought a new hot pink and zebra-striped comforter set, as well as hot pink curtain and body pillow. Everything looked so cute!
What I didn’t foresee was the smell!
The mattresses had a strong chemical smell, perhaps because they had just been unsealed from their protective plastic. It was so bad neither one of us wanted to spend time in her room.
That night, though her room was decked out and comfy, she slept on the couch.
–Linda Lynn
Get your car seat checked
Safe Kids Oklahoma is urging all parents and caregivers to get their car seats checked at their 3rd annual “National Seat Check” this Saturday, Sept. 12 at Hope Pregnancy Center, 1624 SW 82, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Experts will be available to give hands-on instruction on installing car seats and booster seats.
“We are urging everyone to have their child checked to be sure they are using the right restraint – a car seat, booster seat or seat belt. When it comes to the safety of a child, there is no room for mistakes,” said Christy Cornforth, local coalition coordinator, in a news release. “Parents should not guess on the installation of their child restraint.”
The coalition says that according to a 2008 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 4 out of 5 child restraints are critically misused.
Don’t be one of the 4. Our children’s lives are too precious.
-Erica Smith
esmith@opubco.com
Day cares and swine flu
What does your day care know about swine flu (H1N1 flu) and what measures are they urged to follow? The Centers for Disease Control have recently issued updated guidelines to day cares on how to combat the spread of this virus.
Here’s what your day care should have been told:
1. Encourage all staff to get vaccinated.
2. Make sure children’s and staff’s hands are washed often with soap and water, and especially after children cough or sneeze. Keep alcohol-based hand cleaner nearby if a sink isn’t readily available.
3. Remind children and staff not to touch their eyes, nose or mouth as germs are often spread this way.
4. Clean the environment regularly. Dirty areas and items should be cleaned immediately, especially play areas and toys.
5. Day care staffers deemed to be high risk for flu complications and parents of children younger than age 5 who become ill with flu-like symptoms should call their doctor immediately to see if they are in need of antiviral treatment.
6. If a swine flu outbreak is severe, staff should consider closing the day care center to decrease the spread of infection. A decision to close should be made in conjunction with local public health officials.
7. Remind staff to stay home and parents to keep a sick child at home when they have flu-like symptoms. Send sick staff home immediately. If a child become ill at the day care, move them to a separate, but supervised, area until a parent can pick them up.
If an outbreak becomes more severe or symptoms more dangerous as the fall and winter season approach, the following guidelines should also be considered:
1. Let high-risk staffers stay at home.
2. Increase the distance between children; separate children into small groups of six or less.
3. Have children stay home if there are others in the child’s household who have the swine flu.
4. Inform parents of sick children and sick staff members that they should say home for at least 7 days.
5. Close the day care center either as a reaction to the outbreak or even as a preventative measure.
For more information about swine flu, go to http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/.
Here’s to hoping we and our children stay healthy this flu season.
-Erica Smith
esmith@opubco.com
