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When the results of your pregnancy test come positive, you begin a journey that’ll last a lifetime. One of the most important things in the infant stage of your journey is deciding how to decorate your baby’s nursery. Your baby’s bedroom needs to be as functional as it is fabulous. All it needs is a little hard work, some creativity & out-of-the-box thinking!

PLAYFUL DECOR

Here’s your chance to experiment with colors, patterns, textures, fabrics, and wallpapers. You can let your inner artist run free with your little angel’s room décor, because the more colorful and whimsical it is, the more they’ll like it.

WHERE DO I START?

If you don’t know what you need, you could end up wasting money on items that you aren’t going to use. Every advert would made the products sound like necessities. You want your babies to have the best of everything and never go short. But some products are far from essential, so don’t get taken in. One product isn’t suitable for everyone. Think about you and your baby’s particular needs and circumstances. If you live in a flat, you will probably need a changing table in your baby’s room. If you live in a large house, you may need to change your baby downstairs more often.

FAMILY & FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE

Form a baby pool with your group of friends. Each of you can then contribute certain items that babies need, such as a Moses basket, baby bath and so on. Rotate these among the relevant families when each new baby is born. It saves money all around and it’s a good way for items to be re-used.

RESCUING ITEMS YOU ALREADY HAVE

Check what you already have at home before buying more. You can use old baskets and boxes in the house to organize my baby’s hygiene products. There’s no need to buy specially designed storage for your baby’s things. Instead of buying a feeding chair, you can use a chair you already own and use firm cushions for support.

WALL-PAPERING TIPS

• Don’t Rush it – Wall-papering takes time. Plan on about four hours of wall prep, depending on the condition of the walls, and 10 hours to paper a small room.
• Focus on preparation – While wallpapering over a painted wall first, and the wall to dull the glossiness of the paint. Wipe with a tack cloth to remove dust. Then wash the area with a strong household detergent, let dry, and start papering.
• Create a smooth surface – Wallpapering over a bumpy or textured wall? You have two options: Either cover the wall to be papered with a thin coat of drywall or simply hang wallpaper liner.
• Plan carefully – You want your last strip to end in a low-visibility part of the room, because it may be the one place where you cannot match the paper’s pattern exactly. A good place for the mismatch is against a window frame, where it may be obscured by window treatments.
• Look for long-term pieces – Instead of opting for furniture that looks like it’s made for a baby’s room, choose pieces that will grow with your child. Stay away from cutesy patterns and pick timeless classics that you and your child will love for years to come.
• Get personal – You don’t need fancy artwork or wall hangings. Instead, frame family photos and hang them on the walls for a loving touch.
• Skip the pricey bedding – Crib bumpers are now considered a SIDS risk, so there’s simply no need to buy an expensive bed set for baby. All you need are some cute fitted sheets and a crib skirt to complete the look. These items can be replaced on the cheap so you can switch up the look of the baby’s crib whenever you want.

For more awesome pregnancy tips and information including delicious and healthy recipes for your pregnancy diet to hearing what Shilpa Shetty talk about being a mother, check out the rest of our site.

India will celebrate her 70th Independence Day on August 15, 2016. Today’s kids hardly know much about our Independence and the struggle our people went through to attain it. However, you can use this Independence Day as the perfect opportunity to bond with your child while imparting knowledge in fun ways and prepare your kid to be a responsible citizen for the future of India.

Here are a few ways through which you can make this Independence Day special and bond with your family.

1. Perform a play

In order to teach your kids more about Independence Day, you can produce a play revolving around the theme of Independence. You can ask other family members to participate and act out roles of different freedom fighters. This is a fun way to engage your children and teach them about our glorious past. It will also help you connect, as a family.

2. Readout stories

There are many stories written about our Independence. You can carry out a reading session at your place or in your society where different families can read out stories about the different struggles or stories of our freedom fighters. The kids will find it fun and you’ll feel a special connection with your family as well as your neighbors.

3. Show patriotic movies

You can run a movie marathon for your family. Show patriotic movies to your kids in order to help them learn more. Movies have a great impact on people and showing patriotic movies will help your child understand Independence Day better. You can show movies like Gandhi, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Shaheed, Mangal Pandey – The Rising, etc.

4. Trips to historic monuments/places

Nothing tells us more about our history than the places themselves. Taking trips to such places will not only be a good idea to bond with the family but will also teach your kids so much about the journey of Independence. This educative cum fun family outing will help your kid learn a lot and you will also get a chance to explore more.

5. Carry out competitions

Try and bring as many people as possible to involve in this activity. Ask your neighbors to prepare their children for competitions like fancy dress or plays and at the end, you can hand out prizes. This way the kids will try and give their best and in the process learn about our Independence Day.

Many people crib about the new generation not knowing much about the struggles and difficulties our people went through at the time of Independence. This is the time for you, as a parent, to teach your kid and bond with them.

Happy Independence Day!

Parenting skills are generally learned from our own caregivers or through our experiences and observations during our childhood. This process is called “role modeling”. In most cases, the role model is a mother or a father or both, but in many cases, the role model could be a grandparent, foster parent, family friend or any other guardian. Throughout these early life experiences, most parents learn healthy and adaptive ways of raising the child. However, for some, it’s a challenge as their own upbringing has gone through some dysfunctional issues like violence, abuse, negligence or other forms which disturb and restrict their ability to parent.

Past bad experiences can be a challenge for some people. In other words, it can be challenging for them to parent their children differently from how they have been parented. They are always cautious about the fact that what happened to them shouldn’t happen to their children. Parents either having poor childhood memories or good childhood memories are always concerned about their parenting skills.

The road to better parenting or parenting differently from what you experienced begins with the process of self-discovery. Consult a social worker or read books related to the ways of overcoming bad experiences you had as a child which is now affecting your adult life and parenting. This will give you a clear view of yourself to fully and deeply examine and determine “what to act” and “how we act”.

This is the first step of parenting. By understanding ourselves, we are then better equipped to recognize our current parenting behavior. It enables us to contrast our behavior with what children really need for healthy development. In case of discrepancy between what we now realize we are doing and what is actually best for children, steps can be taken to improve the matter. The next steps involve shedding the old patterns of parenting behaviors in favor of adopting new parenting skills.

Strategies to become a better parent can come in several different forms and include everything from reading books to notes on the refrigerator door to counseling, to support groups, to parenting classes. Along the way, you may desire to adopt a new role model. If your role models weren’t healthy, think of someone else, whose parenting abilities you admire. This could be a friend’s parent, a fictional character from a book or even a television personality. The objective here is to pick someone who you know parent well. When you are stuck and wonder what to do, you can think what that person would have done in your situation. This is a nice way to take care of yourself and your children.

HELPFUL PARENTING TIPS

Phone

Does your child suddenly seek your attention or phone when you’re busy chatting with a friend? Get your child a toy phone, or give your child an old cell phone without the battery that you are not using. This may even work better than a toy phone since some children know what’s a toy, and what’s the real deal!

Manners

Do you want your child to speak politely and mind his/her manners? Make sure you do the same, especially when speaking with him/her. Try and think of ways in which you can use words like “Thank-You” and “Please”. For example, you could say, “Can I see your doll, please?” Then return it to her and say, “Thank you.” Encourage her to reply with, “You’re Welcome.”

Breastfeeding

You’re out of the house with your baby, shopping at the mall, when your baby starts wailing. It’s time for a feed. One of the best things to do is to take your baby to a changing room at a store and breastfeed there. Alternatively, take her to the ladies restroom and feed her there. Many restaurants, large stores, and hotels have fairly swanky restrooms with a seating area inside, so you don’t need to take her all the way into the cubicle and feed her while sitting on the toilet.

Distraction

Talk to your baby to keep her still when taking her for a haircut, when helping her change her clothes or when changing her diaper. A one-way conversation is not enough stimulation for her, so make sure she participates. A great tip is to ask her to point out various parts of her body. Ask her where her mouth is, where her ears are, and so on. Wind chimes work great. Change the clothes of the baby under the wind chimes, and tinkle it at the time of changing. Baby will be sufficiently distracted to let the change.

Food

Is your child a fussy eater? Get a plate with a loud, colorful picture painted on. Cover the picture with food, and let him see how, with every spoonful he puts into his mouth, the picture reveals itself. Let your child understand that he needs to finish his food if he wants to see the picture. Draw his attention to the image, and describe it to him. Ask him to repeat after you. Television is a better alternative to keep him engrossed. A great tip for fast food, without actually resorting to fast food, is to cook a whole lot of pasta beforehand and store it in the freezer, in separate lots. Similarly, tomatoes puree, simmer them with chopped capsicum pieces and freeze the mixture. When you need to get food ready for your kids in a jiffy, pull out a lot of pasta, tomato puree, and cook it along with a few chopped vegetables and cheese. Add fresh basil leaves for flavor.

WAYS TO HANDLE A NEW-BORN

Here are a few basics to remember when you’re handling your newborns:

1. Wash your hands (or use a hand sanitizer) before handling your baby. Newborns don’t have a strong immune system yet, so they are susceptible to infection. Make sure that everyone who handles your baby has absolutely clean hands.
2. Be careful to support your baby’s head and neck. Cradle the head when carrying your baby and support the head when carrying the baby upright or when you lay your baby down.
3. Be careful not to shake your newborn vigorously. Strong shaking can cause bleeding in the brain and even death. If you need to wake your infant, don’t do it by shaking, instead, tickle your baby’s feet or blow gently on a cheek.

Make sure your baby is securely fastened into the stroller or car seat. Limit any activity that could be too rough or bouncy for your child.

Remember that your newborn is not ready for rough play, such as being bounced up and down on the knee or thrown in the air.

For more pregnancy tips including healthy and delicious recipes for your pregnancy diet, don’t forget to check out the rest of our site.

India will celebrate her 67th Republic Day on 26th of January 2016. This is the perfect opportunity for you to bond with your child and instill a sense of patriotism in him/her. Many might think of the Republic Day as just a national holiday, but it is up to you imprint a sense of pride of for this great nation in your kids and to mold them into responsible citizens.

Here are a few ways you can make the most of Republic Day with your kids and bond as a family.

1. Watch the parade

Make it a point to watch the live telecast of the parade together. Teach them about our nation’s diverse culture and how they should always respect someone else’s culture. You can also watch the bravery awards that are awarded to children.

2. Storytelling session

You can tell your kids stories of our nation’s heroes, there are so many! This will help instill nationality and pride in our historical struggles.

3. Host the national flag

Gather the kids and their parents in your neighborhood and hoist the national flag. You can even teach your child the national anthem and have them sing it.

4. Perform a play

Something you should work on before the celebrations. Take the initiative to get the children in your neighborhood and teach them a small play. It can be a story of any one of our patriots. They can perform this on Republic Day.

5. Fancy dress contest

Another thing that you can do with your kids. Organize a fancy dress competition in your locality. The theme should be something related to India’s independence. The contest can be held on Republic Day and the prizes can be something that goes with the theme. For eg. The winner gets a Gandhi coloring book.

Many people criticize the current generation of forgetting our country’s struggle to get independence and become a republic. There are kids who do not even know the difference between the Republic Day and the Independence Day! It is up to the parents to ensure that the kids grow up to become model citizens with a strong sense of nationalism. That is why this Republic Day is a perfect time not just make it a family day but also teach your kids about our country.

Prega News encouraging smart moms.