Bedtime is a battle of the wills for many parents of toddlers.

Does this sound like a familiar scenario? You read your child a story, kiss her good night and put her to bed after a long day. You’re looking forward to some time to relax or finish evening chores — but instead, you spend the next several hours answering your child’s calls, putting her back to bed and spending time in her room. By the time she falls asleep, the only thing you feel like doing is falling into bed yourself.

Most young children see bedtime as a time to establish their independence. This puts eager-to-please parents who have trouble laying down the law in a difficult situation. In addition to a need for independence, toddlers’ sleep can be disrupted by the increase in cognitive, motor and social skills that comes with their age. Some toddlers also experience nighttime awakenings, nightmares and nighttime fears that make them apprehensive about going to bed.

Despite all these barriers to a good night’s sleep for your toddler, there should be no room for negotiation between parent and child when it comes to bedtime. According to the National Sleep Foundation, toddlers need 12 to 14 hours of sleep each day. Insufficient sleep can have a negative effect on a child’s development, emotions, behavior and immunity, and may even contribute to obesity later in life.

Instead of being held prisoner to their toddler’s bedtime issues, parents should follow these tips for a peaceful bedtime routine:

Maintain a consistent bedtime schedule. Help your child establish a regular sleep pattern by putting him to bed and getting him up at the same time each day and even on weekends. Help your child begin to wind down at least an hour before bedtime by encouraging quieter activities and limiting use of television and the computer.

Create a relaxing bedtime routine. The transition from activity to sleep can be eased with bedtime rituals that help your child relax. Many parents find that a warm bath, quiet conversation about the day and reading a story all send a clear signal that it’s time to go to bed.

Limit your returns. It’s important for your toddler to learn how to fall asleep alone. If your toddler gets up after you say good night, return her to her bed. Let her know that you’ll come back once or twice to check in, but don’t fall victim to being called back several times.

Encourage use of a comfort object. Favorite blankets and stuffed animals are time-honored comfort objects for children. Help your child cope with separation by encouraging attachment to a favorite object that he or she can take to bed.

Bedtime is one of the most important times to remember that you are the parent. Avoid engaging in power struggles, and stand your ground if your toddler pleads and whines. Instead, comfort your child if he has fears or nightmares, assuring him that everyone sleeps at night and that you’ll be nearby in case he needs you.

When toddlers learn to fall asleep on their own, they are better at getting back to sleep when they awaken in the middle of the night. It may not be easy, but helping your toddler master the skill of falling asleep will help ensure that he or she gets a good night’s sleep throughout childhood.

Today’s article is written by Mandy Fricke. Ms. Fricke is the community manager for Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Nursing@Georgetown, a Master in Nursing program, as well as acontributor to the Nursing License Map. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and yoga.

Safe Kids USA, www.safekids.org, wants to share the following message about smoke alarms.

When it’s time to “spring forward” and change the clocks on Sunday,
March 10, make sure to change the batteries in all of your smoke alarms. If batteries were recently changed, it’s still very important to conduct your monthly test of your smoke alarms. It could save a life!

Did you know that having a working smoke alarm reduces a person’s chance of dying in a fire by half?

For the best protection, install smoke alarms on every level of your home, outside every sleeping area and in every bedroom. Smoke alarms should be mounted high on walls or ceilings and tested monthly.

It’s important to replace smoke alarm batteries at least once a year, unless they’re 10-year lithium batteries. Even if your smoke alarms are hardwired, replace the batteries in case of a chirping sound or a power outage.

Reminder: Smoke alarms do not last forever.  The maximum life span is 8-10 years.  After that time, the entire unit should be replaced. If the unit does not respond properly when tested, it should be replaced immediately.

The following post is by Erin McNeill.

Camping in the outdoors can be one of the best ways to spend the warmer summer months with your family.

Camping is a chance to unplug and spend time together, while experiencing the beauty of nature.

However, it can also be one of the most daunting experiences parents face, as traveling with kids is rarely easy. With a few simple tips, you can ensure that you will have a successful trip together!

Plan – Planning is the key to making a camping trip successful. Involve the kids as much as possible in your planning; they can help choose where to go camping, activities to do while camping, meals you’ll eat and even hiking trails to take. The more that they are involved in the process, the more likely it is that they’ll have an experience that they will enjoy and take ownership of. Always have back-up plans, just in case!

Practice – Show your kids what you’ll be doing on a camping trip by starting small. Pick a nice evening to go camping in your backyard, show them how to set up the tent and have them help you. Build a small fire, if allowed in your neighborhood, and teach them about fire safety. On another occasion, take a day trip to a local state park and go for a hike, have a picnic lunch and go swimming, if it’s available. This will help your children acclimate to spending the day and night in the outdoors, especially if it’s something they aren’t used to.

Prepare – Preparation is important. Have your children help prepare for the camping trip by packing their own bags (each child should have their own bag or container for clothing, toys and books), guide them through the process and double check that they have what they need for the trip. Ensure that you have a working tent and sleeping bags for everyone and that all of your gear is in working order.

Organize – Create a packing list that you can check off as you pack up items for your trip. Separate cooking supplies and food into bins and containers. Have one bin of toys that everyone shares. Each person should have their own bag for their clothes and belongings, and you should encourage them to put their things in there when they aren’t using them so that they can easily find them again later!

Bring familiar and new toys – Have the children help you choose what toys they should bring camping with you. It’s best to leave the electronics and expensive toys at home. Throw in some outdoor toys to have while you are camping. Paddle ball, discs and kites are always good ideas, as well as a few games to play while waiting around (Pass the Pigs is always an entertaining game to play while camping!). If you are staying at a park with roads and trails, bring along your bikes.

Bring friends – Camping is always more fun with friends. Find a family that also loves camping and plan trips with them.  If that doesn’t work, consider allowing your children to bring a friend to play and hang out with on your trip.

Enjoy nature – Take the opportunity to learn about the plants, trees, bugs and animals that are native to your camping environment. Enlist the help of the park rangers if they are available, as they will often have a wealth of knowledge to pass onto you and your family. Often times, parks will have educational events offered throughout the weekend, so take advantage of these learning opportunities. Take a day hike together and explore the trails (with a map, of course), have your children start a nature journal or sketchbook and take the time to take notes about the beauty that surrounds you. Teach your children to respect the nature around them by not picking live plants or flowers and emphasize the importance of leaving no trace behind.

Enjoy the night – Being outside at night can be a new and sometimes scary experience for children, who are used to being inside once it’s dark out. Make nighttime fun. Teach your children to safely build a campfire and roast marshmallows together, tell stories to each other, learn about the constellations, discover the new sounds you are hearing at night and give each child a flashlight to help them feel a bit safer.

Pack the right clothing – Your children will get dirty and wet while camping, so make sure you pack plenty of extra clothes! Your child’s comfort will depend on the fact that you’ve packed enough clothing and the right types of clothing for your trip. Be sure that each child has plenty of clothes for daytime, at least two swimsuits, a pair of pants, a fleece sweater, a rain jacket, a hat and anything that you might need for the climate you are camping in. Teach them to layer their clothing as the evening cools off.

Safety – Instruct your children on a meeting spot in case of an emergency; pick a tree or nearby building that you can all easily find in the event that something happens. Instruct them on proper fire and stove safety to avoid burns. If your child wanders off into the woods, teach them to stay put once they realize they are lost and to make noise. If there is water nearby, let them know that they are not allowed near the water without an adult, even if a lifeguard is on duty. If there are dangerous animals in the area that you are camping in, show children what do if they encounter one.

Take your time and start slow, go for a night or two and work up to a length of time that is comfortable for your entire family. Your family will begin to cherish your trips to various campsites and will start to look forward to their time away from home.

Camping is fun with children; you just have to be well prepared and ready for just about anything!

The following article, about vision problems in young children, was submitted for sharing on this site from www.nannycare.com.

Adults know when they’re having trouble with their vision, but young children may not realize that anything is wrong. They may think that the poor quality of their sight is normal, or they may be too young to communicate that there’s a problem.

That’s why it’s important for parents to pay close attention to tell-tale signs that their child is having vision issues so the problem can be corrected quickly. Early detection is crucial, so here are 10 signs that your child may need glasses.

1. Squinting – The most common sign of vision problems is squinting. Anyone who has trouble seeing will squint to try to focus better. If you notice your child squinting a lot, you may want to make an appointment with the eye doctor.
2. Rubbing eyes – Another tell-tale sign to watch for is excessive eye rubbing. Most children will rub their eyes when they’re tired, but if this begins to happen frequently, then it could be an indication of a bigger problem. Two potential reasons a child may frequently rub his eyes are a subconscious reaction to blurry vision or it could just be allergies.
3. Tilting head – Children with double vision may tilt their head to see more clearly. This could be caused by a muscle imbalance in their eyes that can be corrected with eyeglasses.
4. Headaches or dizziness – Constant eye strain from poor vision can cause headaches and dizziness. If your child complains of frequent headaches in the forehead area or is irritable after reading or watching TV, he may need to see an optometrist.
5. Sits close to TV – Does your child constantly insist on sitting in front of the television? This could be a sign of nearsightedness that can be easily corrected with eyeglasses. Nearsightedness is identified when there is a problem with seeing things in a distance, so kids will sit closer to compensate.
6. Closing one eye – Another clue to vision trouble is closing or covering one eye when reading or watching TV. This could mean there is a problem with one eye, so a child will close it to see more clearly. Because this could be a serious condition, it should get immediate attention.
7. Holds books close – Most children should be able to read books at a comfortable distance, so holding books up to their face is a sign they may need eyeglasses. If your child is a bookworm with her nose continually in a book, she may need a visit to the eye doctor.
8. Problems in school – Quite often children who are having problems in school are facing these issues because of undiagnosed eye trouble. If they’re having trouble seeing the blackboard or reading they can become disinterested or even disruptive. Be sure to have your child’s vision checked if he is suddenly having trouble with school.
9. Lazy eye – When kids have a weakness in one eye it will show up when they’re tired. A droopy eyelid or one eye drifting out of alignment is a sign of a lazy eye that can often be corrected with eyeglasses.
10. Finger reading – Some kids will use a finger to follow the words when they read. This isn’t a clear sign they need glasses, but if it persists, there could be a problem. They may need the finger to keep their place when reading if they have astigmatism or amblyopia.

Many vision problems are hereditary, so if parents need glasses, chances are the kids may be prone to the same fate.

Nobody wants their kids to have to wear eyeglasses, but left unchecked, vision problems will only worsen over time. It’s much better to have an eye doctor give a clean bill of health than to let your child suffer with poor vision. Merely asking your child if they can see alright won’t work if they don’t know what clear vision is like. Routine vision screenings at school don’t always catch less common eye problems, so a visit to the optometrist may be necessary. Wearing glasses is no fun, but not being able to see clearly is worse. Watch for these signs to make sure your child doesn’t have a vision problem that needs correction.

A study coming out of New Zealand found that the more TV children watch before bedtime, the less sleep they get. The study appeared online in Pediatrics 2013.

Children and teens that spent the most time in front of a screen were more likely to go to sleep later than those who were engaged in non-screen sedentary activities before bed.

Sleep duration in younger people has declined rapidly over the past 100 years, researchers noted, adding that not enough sleep is associated with behavior and health issues.

To investigate associations between activities, the researchers used data from a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of New Zealand children and teens, ages 5 to 18. Participants were interviewed in-person and then follow-up was done through telephone interviews between September 2008 and May 2009.

Baseline face-to-face interviews gathered information on participant characteristics and 1 to 2 days of data on use of pre-sleep time. The follow-up gathered 2 additional days of data. Younger children’s parents would assist with recalling activities when necessary.

Participants reported time of sleep onset, sedentary behavior, physical activity, and self-care during the 90 minutes before sleep by selecting from a list of roughly 250 activities. Activities were given energy costs and psychometric properties, and were recounted with time spent engaged in each activity.

Times of sleep onset were categorized as very early, early, late, and very late. Participants were grouped by ages 5 to 12 and 13 to 18.

A total of 2,017 survey participants were included in the current analysis. The mean age was 11.6, just over half were male (52.9%), and most were of New Zealand European ethnicity (71.4%).

Overall, younger participants went to bed earlier than older ones. The most common activities before bed were watching television while sitting (47.8%), dressing/undressing before bed (41.8%), and brushing one’s teeth (41.5%), and all were considered low-intensity activities (metabolic equivalents ranging from 1 to 2).

“In New Zealand, a maximum of 2-hours of screen time per day is recommended for young people,” the authors noted, adding that the roughly half hour of screen time before bed accounted for one quarter of a child’s daily recommended screen time.

Researchers also found that participants who reported later sleep onset also reported up to 13 more minutes of screen time before bed than those who went to bed earlier. Additionally, early sleep onset was associated with significantly less time in screen-based sedentary activity versus later sleep onset.

Those who went to bed earlier also spent more time engaged in non-screen sedentary behaviors, “The largest time differences between those of early and late sleep onset were for screen time, which suggests that this set of activities may be an appropriate target for interventions to promote earlier sleep onset and subsequently improve sleep duration in young people,” researchers concluded.