Grandpa Richards Kids

The Great One (hockey’s Wayne Gretzky) has been asked many times, “Do you think my son can make pro?”

Wayne’s answer is always the same, “He’s 15, just enjoy it. Just let him have fun.”

Grandpa Richard heartily agrees. There is too much pressure on young athletes. They need to enjoy their childhood.

Just let them have fun.

In a recent incident, four children, between 7 and 14 years-old, suffered injuries when they ran stop sign and hit a car. They were riding in an ATV. Two of the children suffered serious head injuries and broken bones, while the other two were treated for minor injuries. The car’s passenger reportedly suffered a neck injury.

Parents need to be vigilant about what their children are doing, and where they are. Even in off-road areas ATVs are a safety hazard for children, even 14 year-olds. Only allow your children to use these vehicles under proper supervision, and only after you are satisfied that they can operate the ATV safely.

For more ATV articles, visit atv-lovers.info.

A recent accident in California highlights the need to be vigilant about children and open windows.

In this case, a babysitter placed a 2 year-old boy on a kitchen counter which was flush with an open window. The babysitter then turned briefly to tend to a meal cooking on the nearby stove. When she turned back, the boy was gone, having fallen out of the window to the ground below, a 12 foot drop.

It is thought that the boy was fascinated by some brightly coloured flowers in a window box.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that each year more than 4,000 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries received from falling from a window. The CPSC knows of at least 120 window-fall related deaths of children since 1990. Most of the injuries and deaths were to children under the age of 5.

One easily installed safety item are window stops. These stop the window from open more than a certain amount. The recommendation is that they be set to a maximum of 4 inches (10 cm). Some models have a feature whereby an adult can release the stop so that the window can be opened further.

Install window guards or window stops to prevent children from falling out of windows. If you are in doubt about whether to put a guard in a particular window, go ahead and install a window guard there. Better to be safe than sorry. Do not place furniture under or near a window to avoid giving children a way to climb directly to the window. NEVER depend on screens to keep a child from falling out of a window.

I was at my grand daughter’s home yesterday and had fun taking photos of her and 2 other children playing on a water slide. It got me thinking about how much more the children are outside during the summer, and how safety issues change focus.

With the water slide, the danger is obvious - make sure there are no objects sticking out of the ground in the area where the slide is put. Also, there should always be an adult within sight, as young children could drown even in the very shallow water found on one of these slides.

ALWAYS remember: Read the rest…

Experts are now targeting the safety record of an old standby - bunk beds.

While Grandpa Richard is always concerned about safety issues, he also believes that you can only go so far. We cannot keep our children in a cocoon until they are 25 (older for some, especially boys!!!)

I see no problem with bunk beds, as long as you take care of some obvious safety concerns.

• do not let a young child use the top bunk, as many of the reported injuries involved the ladder, and young children have problems with using a ladder, especially in the middle of the night if they have to go to the washroom, etc
• there should be guard rails on all 4 sides
• the mattress should fit snuggly against all four sides
• rail gaps should be less than 9 centimetres to avoid getting heads trapped
• even for older children, a night light may be necessary so they navigate the ladder properly at night

Back when my first born arrived (30+ years ago!), cloth diapers were the norm, while disposables were a luxury item. My wife even took the time to custom make hourglass shaped cloth diapers. No folding, as they fit perfectly as is. Today, disposables are the norm and people using cloth diapers for their babies are considered to be strange.

I was reminded of this topic the other day at work when a co-worker mentioned that he and his wife were planning on using cloth diapers when their first born arrives in several months. I had not thought about cloth diapers in years, thinking they were extinct.

Here are three (3) reasons that modern parents may choose to utilize cloth diapers instead of disposables.

(1) Affordability

The biggest personal reason that a mother may choose to clothe her baby’s bottom in cloth diapers as opposed to Pampers or Huggies is financial. Cloth diapers are simply cheaper than disposables, even if the parents are paying a diaper service to haul away the soiled nappies and bring fresh ones each week. In most cases the makers of disposables would win over a number of holdout customers if they could figure out a way to make their products cheaper.

(2) Environmental Concerns

Disposable diapers are made primarily of plastic surrounding a pad of absorbent cotton. It is well known that plastic doesn’t biodegrade very well at all, which means that our landfills are stacked with diapers that are going to be with us for centuries to come. While many people believe that the convenience offered by disposable diapers outweighs this fact, environmentalists believe that by using cloth diapers they are just doing one more thing to help to protect and preserve the Earth for future generations.

(3) Modern Developments

Those argumentative parents and grandparents may still have a thing or two to say to the modern parents who do choose to use cloth diapers. The cloth diapers of today are very different from the ones that they were using on their kids and grandkids way back when. Gone are the days of complicated folding methods and misplaced safety pins. Today’s cloth diapers are pre cut and shaped to cover baby’s nether regions quickly and easily. They also come with Velcro fasteners or snaps for ease in fastening. Best of all, many now have available a flushable, biodegradable paper lining that will catch solid waste, allowing it to be easily disposed of in the toilet so soiled and smelly diapers don’t sit around and there is no messy job of rinsing the solids away.

Try Them

Cloth diapers are, in many ways, a thing of the past, but they are by no means gone forever. For the parent with financial or environmental concerns they are still a very viable option for clothing the bottoms of their babies. Be one of a small but growing group that are helping make cloth diapers the way to go.

p.s. thank you for inspiring this article Camron.

You have taken the test, watched the window for the two little lines and celebrated the news that you are expecting a little one. Now you want to share that news in a way that is as creative and special as possible. So no matter if you tell everyone right away or wait awhile here are some ideas on how to make your announcement.

• Humour
• Holidays
• Gifts

For more details, read the full article at We’re Pregnant - 3 Ways Of Sharing the News.

p.s. The article was edited and personalized by my daughter Stephanie, who is 7 months pregnant as I type this blog entry. Leave her some encouraging comments!

All parents worry about their children. Are you worried that your introverted child is not normal? You need to read the article about introverted children found at the article Introverted Children are Normal on Grandpa Richard’s main website. Keep in mind that despite all your fears, introverted children may be that way naturally.

My eldest daughter, Stephanie, is expecting her 2nd child in late June. Her first pregnancy went well, but, there have been some problems with this one and she is now at home (off work and on light duties) on doctor’s orders. She has a very high risk of having a premature birth. This came up quite suddenly, but I am working on getting out to see her. I am having issues with work though, as year end is a week away and I don’t have a proper backup person for my role.

What is interesting is that when this first started, her and her mom searched the internet and found very little info about her particular issues. I have discussed with her the possibility of starting a blog and sharing, so that others like her will find some better advice and encouragements during a very stressful time. I’ll let you know if we do start something.

In the meantime, if you are looking for info on fertility issues, check out fertility.come-and-read.com.

Do you have children under 3 years old? Be careful of peanuts. Read more in my Beware of Peanuts news item.