supermum

It is this special time of year when we are all looking for the “perfect” present for the baby.Nowadays, there are thousands of gifts available to buy for our precious little ones. It is like searching for a needle in a haystack, so how can we possibly make it easier for ourselves?Safety FirstThe first thing to consider is of course health and safety. The manufacturers and the retailers have to comply with strict regulations, which should ensure the safety of a toy. Yet, there may be parents who are conscious about their offspring's health especially when baby takes everything into his mouth. What was the toy treated with? Are there any residues? Again, toy manufacturers have to comply with the EU regulations, the manufacturers say that all toys are safe to play with.Go OrganicIf you are worried about the safety of the toys your children play with, you should consider only buying wooden toys. The manufacturing process is more natural and the substances used are less toxic. In addition, wooden toys tend to last longer than their plastic counterparts!Did you know that toys are not the only way a parent can go organic? We know that the clothes we buy in shops in the UK are safe to buy but what do we know about their production and the chemicals used?Babies suck their clothes, bedding, toys etc, about 60% of what is put on their skin will be absorbed. Therefore, if textiles contain chemicals, through their skin, sucking, higher breathing rate and high metabolism babies may well they take in many chemicals to their small bodies.Organic is not an eco-modern term anymore, it is exactly what we are and what we want our kids to be. So what shall we look out for when buying a baby present? First of all, what is best for the baby; and secondly, what we like. It does not matter if it is cute or educational; the best present is the one that makes everybody happy.

While mothers go through a tough nine months of pregnancy, fathers can often do no more than give a massage or cook a meal. Yet, research has revealed that men can experience hormonal changes during their partner's pregnancy which can make them feel unwell. A cross-cultural study showed that 22.5% of male partners reported at least one unexplainable ailment to their doctor during the gestation period. The expectant father also visited the doctor twice as often, and filled twice as many prescriptions than before.After a baby is born, fathers usually mirror the same kind of feelings as mothers when first holding their offspring, this mirroring is extended to the fact that fathers can also be equally sensitive to the baby's cries.The fact that fathers can experience such strong feelings for the unborn child is easily explained: Humans are amongst the few species whose offspring are totally reliant until well into a juvenile age. To share the load of this long dependence nature has provided the means for both parents to have an equally strong in order to assure the parental commitment in the upbringing of the child.With this in mind, we should try to understand how both mother and father are equipped to equally bond and care for their baby.

Bringing up children does not come with a guidebook and there seems to be obvious parenting confusion within our modern society. More parents than ever admit to have parenting problems at some point. This is reflected in the boom of the baby & child market, with increasing numbers of products launched claiming to help with day-to-day parenting tasks.Is it that parents are being made incompetent? The baby product market expects us to be incompetent for the sake of inventing and selling us unnecessary gadgets. For every situation imaginable we are able to find something that will help us overcome it.A good example of this is the new “time-out” pad. Equipped with a timer, the parent simply sits their misbehaving child on the pad, sets the timer and leaves the child to ‘contemplate'. It takes the concept of the “naughty step” to a new level; parents should be the ones setting clear boundaries and disciplining children in order to teach respect and understanding. If parents rely on technology to do this, how will children learn these key skills without clear explanation and patience?The time-out pad, harnesses, computer games and many more products help keep our children safe and keep our parenting skills in line with what is the accepted social norm. We should come to understand that all these gadgets in fact help distract the parent from the actual situation where true parenting skills are most needed. The manufacturers claim to have invented another helper to make a parent's life easier but in reality these things remove the natural parenting skills we are so desperately looking for.