Because my baby is the cutest!
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Children photographer
Jun 29th
Check out http://kellysjyphotography.com/blog/ . She is a professional children photographer in Singapore and her photos are awesome!
Lullaby for your pre-born! : P
Nov 10th
Hey, you want to start annoying your kids with your crummy taste in tunes before they’ve even been born? Fine, go for it. The Lullabelly prenatal music belt — which is like a giant, soft cummerbund with a speaker stuffed into it — is here to help. Just plug your fave PMP into it and you’ll be all set to turn the womb into a super musical fun fest. The speaker has an output of about 60 to 80 decibels, and you can jack in with your earbuds to jam along. Just remember: you’re the one with the volume control, and no matter how good the Tran-Siberian Orchestra sounds to you at 11 am, some people would rather listen to Megadeth. This bad boy comes in two slightly different packages, one which will run you $49.99, the other is $59.99
Baby Einstein.. not really
Nov 10th
The Disney Company, makers and distributors of Baby Einsteinproducts are apparently offering a full refund of $15.99 to anyone who purchased a Baby Einstein DVD between June 5, 2004 and Sept. 4, 2009.
Why? Because apparently while these videos were marketed as “educational,” they do little to educate. And, apparently, they weren’t just ineffective, they may, in fact, have been DETRIMENTAL.
This assessment is based upon a study which linked kids who were exposed to Baby Einstein videos to lower scores on tests that measured standard language development. Thus striking a blow to neurotic parents everywhere who’d put their kids on a regimen of watching these videos as a first step on the road to Mensa.
On the one hand I believe it. Because, personally, I STILL, almost a decade later, can’t get those songs out of my head. And I’m sure that would be distracting to anyone trying to take any kind of test. But on the other hand – how sad!
The Baby Einstein videos were, in their heyday, the pinnacle of doing something good for your kid–while not having to make any effort. You were grooming the next Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist while they were sitting there drooling, swaddled in their own excrement.
Now these videos have been thrown atop the heap along with things like lead-based paint, heavy metal music, and playing in old refrigerators left out for the trash with the door left on.
But let’s be serious, did we REALLY think we were conditioning our kids for brilliance by watching a puppet stick its tonge out to the tune of light classical piano? Or were we just psyched that we could get stuff done for 45 minutes while the kid was otherwise amused?
I think it should be sort of obvious to any parent that sitting in front of a TV, not talking, not listening to someone else talking is going to do more harm than good to any child’s language development. Of course real human interaction is better for them. You’d have to watch an awful lot of harmful kids videos not to recognize that.
Chinese Names for your baby!
Sep 3rd
Find it hard to come up with a chinese name for your baby? Here is a compiled list of chinese names using Han Yu Pin Yin from A to Z to help you. Do contribute to the list if you know of a good chinese character that can be used for names The list is located in our forum, http://forum.joybearer.com/viewforum.php?f=4
Hope you find it useful
Thanks : )
1 for 1 at Singapore Bird Park + Night Safari
Aug 18th
Bring your child to celebrate Singapore’s 44th Birthday at the Jurong Bird Park and enjoy one-for-one admission offer and special National Day activities! Spend the day at the Bird Park and then head down to the Night Safari to continue the adventure.
Buy 1 Get 1 Free!
Simply print the coupons below and present them at the ticketing booth to enjoy the offer.
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Terms and Conditions:
- Valid from 1 – 31 Aug 2009
- Valid for Singaporeans, PRs & Employment Pass Holders
- Coupon & proof of identity required
- Max purchase of 2 tickets per coupon
- 1 free admission ticket of equal or lower value can be redeemed with every ticket purchased
- Excludes panorail ride
- Not valid with other offers
Takashimaya Baby Fair 2009
Aug 13th
The next takashimaya baby fair (taka baby fair 2009) will be from Aug 27 2009 at Takashimaya Square (B2)! 
Intelligent infant = Intelligent adult?
Aug 13th
Infants who excel at processing new information at 6- and 12-months-old, typically excel in intelligence and academic achievements as young adults in their 20’s, according to a study directed by Case Western Reserve University Psychologist Joseph Fagan.
Researchers examined the question of whether the more intelligent infant becomes the more intelligent and more highly achieving adult.
“Yes” is the answer Fagan and his research team found.
Intelligence involves processing new information and then making associations with other information an individual encounters throughout life. These processes work together to allow an individual to grow in knowledge, says Fagan.
Over 20 years ago, Fagan developed the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence. The test measures the response infants have to pictures of novel objects.
The infant test works by pairing two pictures together for a set period of time. A researcher watches the length of time an infant looks at the pictures. Then one of these pictures is paired with a new image and again the time the infant focuses on the new and old images is recorded. Infants generally spend about 60 percent of the time looking at new images.
In the research project for the award-winning paper, Fagan and his co-investigators Cynthia Holland from Cuyahoga Community College and undergraduate student Karyn Wheeler revisited 61 young adults, who had taken the Fagan Test as babies in their first year of life. They also looked at their first IQ tests at the age of 3 and compared them with their scores at 21 years old.
They discovered an association with intelligence between this early ability to process information and IQ during their young adult years. These infants with ability to process new information at an early age showed higher levels of academic achievement later in life.
The researchers say that attention to novelty “tells us that intelligence is continuous from infancy to adulthood” and “underscore the importance of information processing as a means for studying intelligence.”
They added that this knowledge may help researchers also understand how genetics and environment can influence intelligence.
source: www.sciencedaily.com
Active kids sleep better
Jul 31st
A paper in Archives of Disease in Children documents a New Zealand experiment in which children’s sleep habits were tracked against their activity, as measured by an actigraph. The conclusion won’t surprise many parents: kids who run around all day sleep more at night (and kids who sleep more at night are more apt to run around all day). The study included 519 healthy 7-year-olds from New Zealand, who each wore a device called an actigraph for 24 hours. An actigraph records movement, providing an objective measure of a child’s activity level and sleep time. Parents also noted when their child went to bed, which allowed researchers to calculate how long after bedtime children actually fell asleep. The researchers found a wide variation in how quickly children fell asleep, with some taking as little as 13 minutes and others needing more than 40 minutes after going to bed. Within this range, there was a close relationship between the onset of sleep and daytime activity. On average, children took an extra three minutes to fall asleep for every hour they weren’t moving about. Also, the children who fell asleep faster slept longer overall. On average, children got one extra hour of slumber for every 11-minute drop in how long they took to get to sleep.
Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/29/active-kids-sleep-be.html
OS for kids
May 13th
Today, I would like to share an operating system targeted for kids! (3 years up). It’s call Qimo. Qimo (pronounced ‘kim-oh‘) is pre-installed with free educational games and fun utilities. The interface is designed to be easy to navigate by kids, with over-sized buttons. You can get it free from http://www.qimo4kids.com
I think it’s great if you have an old PC/laptop to spare. This way, you can keep your kids off your own PC so that your keyboard will not be smashed and covered with mash potatoes : )
Some screenshots of the operating system and software.
VapoRub may be harmful to children below 2 years old
Jan 15th
A warning has been issued about the popular cough and cold treatment Vicks VapoRub. Experts say it should not be used on children under 2 years of age.
Vicks VapoRub, a salve which can be bought over the counter, is used to relieve coughs and congestion, but can apparently harm infants and toddlers.
According to Dr. Bruce Rubin from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Vicks VapoRub can have severe effects on breathing in young children because it may stimulate mucus production and airway inflammation.
The product made by Procter and Gamble has been around since 1905 – it is applied to the chest or throat for congestion relief or to relieve sore muscles.
Dr. Rubin was first alerted to the dangers of the misuse of the Vaporub when an 18-month-old child developed severe respiratory distress after it was put directly under her nose.
Dr. Rubin says the ingredients in Vicks can be irritants, causing the body to produce more mucus to protect the airway and infants and young children have airways that are much narrower than those of adults, so any increase in mucus or inflammation can narrow them more severely.
The research is published the current issue of CHEST.
