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Cutting Grocery Costs without Cutting Nutrition Simple, healthy, and affordable ways to weather the rising price of food Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute of Cancer Research Grocery prices are projected to increase again in 2008 – that’s following 2007’s highest annual increase in 17 years. But surviving these tough economic times doesn’t have to mean sacrificing good nutrition. Some simple strategies can help you cut food costs and eat more healthfully, too.
Madlynn is Kid of the Month 8 Ways to Connect with Your Teenager By Sandra Magsamen ...Hug, sing, dance and tell your child you love them. Even if your teen acts as if they can't stand it, she promises you it's something they love and need. Use these other suggestions as ways to connect with your teenager... |
Developmental Milestones
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Social
• Imitates adults and playmates
• Spontaneously shows affection for familiar playmates
• Can take turns in games
• Understands concept of "mine" and "his/hers"
Emotional
• Expresses affection openly
• Expresses a wide range of emotions
• By 3, separates easily from parents
• Objects to major changes in routine
Cognitive
• Makes mechanical toys work
• Matches an object in her hand or room to a picture in a book
• Plays make-believe with dolls, animals, and people
• Sorts objects by shape and color
• Completes puzzles with three or four pieces
• Understands concept of "two"
Language
• Follows a two- or three-part command
• Recognizes and identifies almost all common objects and pictures
• Understands most sentences
• Understands placement in space ("on," "in," "under")
• Uses 4- to 5-word sentences
• Can say name, age, and sex
• Uses pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats, seats, fingers)
• Strangers can understand most of her words
Movement
• Climbs well
• Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet (one foot per stair step)
• Kicks ball
• Runs easily
• Pedals tricycle
• Bends over easily without falling
• Hand and Finger Skills
• Makes up-and-down, side-to-side, and circular lines with pencil or crayon
• Turns book pages one at a time
• Builds a tower of more than six blocks
• Holds a pencil in writing position
• Screws and unscrews jar lids, nuts, and bolts
• Turns rotating handles
36 Months - Developmental Health Watch !
• Frequent falling and difficulty with stairs
• Persistent drooling or very unclear speech
• Cannot build a tower of more than four blocks
• Difficulty manipulating small objects
• Cannot copy a circle by age 3
• Cannot communicate in short phrases
• No involvement in "pretend" play
• Does not understand simple instructions
• Little interest in other children
• Extreme difficulty separating from mother or primary caregiver
• Poor eye contact
• Limited interest in toys
• Experiences a dramatic loss of skills he or she once had |
Top 8 Tips for Reducing Kids Screen Time This Summer
Reducing time spent in front of televisions and computers is one of the easiest ways to improve your family's health. Here are eight simple ways to limit screen time so you can help crank up your kids’ energy, re-charge their minds, and improve their health.
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Change -- some people dread it, and others can’t get enough. It may be much like the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When it comes to what we would alter or why we would make a modification, the answers vary because we all have different things we value, want, need and consider important.
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If I had to choose one sentence that would best describe what I feel parents need to learn, it would be this: Be your child's BEST ROLE MODEL in all the ways that truly count. Be your child's HERO. Whatever you do, do it for all the right reasons.
How to Find the Best Car Loans for Single Moms
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The best car loans for single mothers might be just around the corner at your local car lot.
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Here are three steps stay-at-home parents should take to better manage their own and the family’s finances.
You May Have Too Much Debt But You Also Have Options
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If you feel like you're in over your head with personal debt, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have become overextended, many as a result of easy credit and the recessions. Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and raising interest rates do not make a good financial mix.
Could fat babies mean fat toddlers?
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Single moms are always looking for ways to save money, and for good reason... It’s important to find ways to cut corners on the little things that perhaps you don’t think about too often, because those are usually where your biggest money drains are.
Suze Orman's Recession Rescue Plan - helps you survive in times of financial crisis
OPRAH.com
Do you know what your family would do if you lost your job - or worse, your home? Financial expert Suze Orman is ready to help you devise a recession rescue plan to survive - and possibly thrive - during this deepening financial crisis...
Your Just-in-Case Emergency Plan
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Who do you call if you can't make it home in time to meet the kids' bus? Who do you trust to take in your mail when you're on vacation? Who do you trust with the extra set of keys to your house?
How to save $10,000
By Liz Pulliam Weston
If you were hoping for a list of small tweaks you could make in your spending to save $10,000 a year, sorry. The reality is that $10,000 is a lot of money. And saving big money usually means making big changes in the areas where we spend the most, such as: Housing, Transportation, Food.
The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget
by Renee Rayles
A quick reference guide designed for the busy, single mom who has
little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.
Single Mothers &
Male Role-Models / Mentors
Single mothers carry an enormous load of responsibility, especially those having sole and/or primary custody of minor children. They nourish, they nurture, they teach, they discipline, they shelter, they protect, and they provide… all without the assistance of another equally-invested adult.
Mom's Obesity Raises Newborn's Heart Risk
from the National Institute of Health
The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that her newborn baby will have a congenital heart defect, a new study suggests. The finding raises concerns because 1 in 5 women are obese at the start of pregnancy in the United States.
The 10-Ingredient Shopping Trip
By Tara Parker-Pope and Mark Bittman
... In his latest “How to Cook Everything” segment on the Today Show, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman makes it surprisingly easy to cook a week’s worth of dinners with just a 10-ingredient shopping trip.
Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity
20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft, and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.
TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.
Single Moms in the News
6 Best Celebrity Single Moms
Read about Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Kimora Lee Simmons, Mary-Louise Parker... read more
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
by Jeff Kinney
For those wondering why tween boys don’t read very much, the answer is that more books aren’t like this...
