Top 5 First Aid and Safety Tips for Children

Keeping kids safe is priority number one for most parents, but it’s not always possible to prevent accidents and injuries. Kids don’t want to live in a bubble; they want to explore and have adventures, to try new things. And although your instinct is to protect them from harm, you probably realize that being overprotective will soon become stifling, and it could lead to all kinds of unfortunate side effects for children, such as a lack of confidence, a fear of the outside world, or worse, a tendency to rebel during adolescence. Still, you can take steps to keep them safe from common hazards, and you should have some basic knowledge of pediatric first aid for those occasions when accidents occur. So here are just a few first aid and safety tips that every parent should observe.

kids first aid kit

  1. Child-proof your home. The first way to ensure safety in the home is to take steps to childproof every room, as well as outdoor spaces. This means covering outlets, installing baby gates, adding door and drawer latches, locking oven dials, and potentially even strapping furniture to the wall during infancy and toddler years. This should prevent kids from suffering some of the most common accidents, such as electrocution, burns, poisoning, and falling or pulling items down on top of them. As for the backyard, you’ll want to look for hazards like poisonous plants and install locking gates around the pool area (if you have one).
  2. Run emergency [Read more…]

Duane Reade Happy and Healthy Shopping Trip #DRHappyHealthy

CB-sponsored-post-white-script-400NYC w karon and products 066We took a recent trip to Duane Reade to pick up some fun finds from the new issue of Happy and Healthy magazine.

NYC w karon and products 068The Happy and Healthy magazine, distributed by and sponsored by Duane Reade, is a magazine full of helpful hints and tips to helping improve and beautify your life with the help of Duane Reade of course. The most recent issue features Fergie and her new Wet n Wild cosmetics line. With magazine in hand, finding the deals of the week is easy. This magazine is actually half magazine/half flyer, combination meant to help you choose the items you want and need at the best prices. The magazine is also a way to learn about popular health topics like probiotics, allergy relief and weight loss. These topics of course also have featured products associated with them to add to it’s use.

The articles are easy to digest and it also helps to narrow [Read more…]

Top 5 Treatment Tips for Sun-Damaged Skin

Most people know how to treat a sunburn. You can soothe the affected area with cool compresses and slather on aloe vera to hydrate, alleviate pain, and help the healing process. Some ibuprofen couldn’t hurt, either, if you have a particularly painful sunburn. However, the effects of this UV damage aren’t over when your sunburn goes away. Severe sunburns and even frequent tanning can lead to sun damage that causes your skin to wrinkle and sag prematurely. This process is called photoaging and it can make you look a lot older than you actually are (just look at “Tanning Mom” Patricia Krentcil, who at 45 looks closer to 65 thanks to years of treatments at tanning salons). Luckily, there are a slew of products on the market aimed at reversing the signs of aging, and sun damage in particular. Here are just a few treatment tips that should help you get your skin looking young and fresh in short order, even if you’ve flirted with the sun for years.

sun damage skin

  1. Wear sunblock. The best defense is a good offense, and further sun damage will only exacerbate your problem. So it’s important to start wearing a broad spectrum UVA/UVB sunblock with a high SPF now to ensure that no further harm is done to your skin. Wear a broad-spectrum sunblock that is also environmentally friendly. There are sunscreens that contain reef-safe zinc oxide ingredients that protect you from getting sunburned. Since it’s practically impossible to stay covered all the time (and who would want to?) this is a good way to keep the sun’s harmful rays from further aging your skin. You put it on your kids, so why wouldn’t you use it yourself? These days it’s not hard to find multi-use products that offer an [Read more…]

New Baby: How to Maintain Your Sanity and Sense of Well-being

 

new babyA new baby requires focus and attention, and new parents have enough on their minds. Finding simple solutions that will streamline your life can help to put your mind at ease.

Wear your baby

While some babies are content to stay in their cribs or playpens, other babies insist on being held at all times. Luckily, there is a compromise that will satisfy a needy baby as well as a tired caregiver. A sling or other baby carrier allows you to wear your baby while you do other things. Your baby will be happy to be close to you, and you will be able to go about daily life.

Baby proof your home

Babies grow so quickly it often seems as if today’s newborn is tomorrow’s toddler. Since babies use their mouths to explore their world, baby proofing your home is vital. Keeping small objects out of baby’s reach, covering outlet covers and installing cabinet locks are just the [Read more…]

How to Help Kids Overcome Their Fear of Getting Shots

It’s really not that surprising that even small children learn to fear shots and the needles used to deliver them. After all, you take them to a cold and sterile doctor’s office, set them on a tall table where they can’t get away, and allow doctors and nurses to poke and prod them. Of course, kids will never know how painful this experience is for you, how hard it is for you to watch them suffer and be virtually powerless to help. After all, vaccinations are an essential part of preserving your children’s health – you can’t skip them just because your kids are opposed. What you might not realize is that you actually have several options when it comes to reducing the trauma your kids undergo when they have to get shots. You can make the experience a lot easier on everyone involved and in the process, help your kids to overcome their fears. Here are just a few tips to get you started.

kids scared of shotsThe first thing you need to know is that you can be a big part of the cure. Whether you have infants, toddlers, or school-age children, your offspring look to you for comfort and support. Just having you near is often enough to calm and soothe them. So you should start by holding them on your lap when it’s time for a shot instead of handing them over to the doctor to be perched on an examining table. It might also be a good idea to breast or bottle feed small children while they’re getting a shot.
[Read more…]

3 Tips to Stop Your Teens Bad Habits in Their Tracks

Teenagers enter adolescence as unspoiled lumps of clay that will soon be molded into adults. It is
important that they do not pick up any bad habits during their teen years, or they may have difficulty
ridding themselves of their bad habits later in life. Parents can be a big influence on their teenagers’
behavior. They can follow these three tips to help their teenagers avoid creating any bad habits that will
negatively impact their lives.

keep teens from drinking
Talk to Them

One of the best ways to ensure that your teens do not pick up any bad habits is to always keep the lines
of communication open with them. This means always being open and honest with them about every
subject. Be frank and open about tricky subject matters like drug use, alcohol and sex. This will give
teenagers the faith in their parents that they need to approach them when they are faced with difficult
choices in their lives. When teenagers feel secure coming to their [Read more…]

ZzzQuil and Get to Sleep Fast

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZzzQuil for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

ZzzQuil is a new sleep aid made by the makes of Vicks NyQuil. The difference between ZzzQuil and NyQuil is, ZzzQuil is only to help with sleep. There is no medication for colds or congestion here, only the sleep aid, diphenhydramine HCl. This particular medication helps to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. Instead of tossing and turning hoping to fall asleep as quickly as possible ZzzQuil lets you drift into sleep easily.

Falling asleep can be so difficult with a world that won’t stop spinning and a day that just doesn’t seem to be long enough. A good night’s sleep is what we all need, yet is unattainable for many of us, me included. I have tried a few other over the [Read more…]

5 Tips for Getting Kids to Take Yucky Tasting Medicine

We’ve all had to face the tears and tantrums that seem to go hand-in-hand with forcing kids to take foul-tasting medicines. And while most of us would rather not subject our kids to this trauma, the truth is that they have to take their medicine, like it or not, if they want to overcome whatever illness all their classmates have contracted and passed around this week. So here are just a few ways that you can make the ordeal a little easier on everyone involved.

getting kids to take medicine

  1. Change the flavor. If it turns out your child is averse to certain flavors of medicine, simply ask at your local pharmacy about changing the flavor. Many pharmacies offer a laundry list of kid-friendly flavors for liquid medicines, including favorites like grape, orange, strawberry, and bubble gum, just to name a few. And if your medication is prescribed in a pill form (something of a rarity for children’s medication) simply ask if it comes in a liquid or if there is a comparable alternative that comes in liquid form.
  2. Try a new delivery system. When your kids see you coming with the bottle and spoon they might be aware of exactly what lies ahead. So try switching things [Read more…]