For the New Year! Personalize Your New Calendar — with Family Pictures

Here is a clever idea that children will love:

Place a picture of each of your children (on your new calendar) on the day of each child’s birthday. You can also place pictures of cousins, friends, or grandparents on their birthdays. When the children flip to a new month, they will be delighted to see their and their loved ones’ pictures smiling back at them on their respective birthdays.

Having children’s pictures placed on their “special day” makes children feel good, and helps teach them about the passage of time and seasons. It also encourages children to work on their counting skills—you’ll be amazed at how many times a child can count the days left until his or her birthday!

Start Your Year Out Right — with Carrots!

“Carrots have twice as much beta carotene as they did in 1950,” according to a report by the USDA, “making them one of the best sources of this antioxidant. Scientists are constantly improving food crops and developing new varieties. If current genetic research proceeds on track, the carotene content of carrots may double again by the year 2000.”

Chicken Soup

Q. Can chicken soup actually help a cold? A. Here’s what Environmental Nutrition has to say about the wonder drug “Chicken Soup”: “Several studies have shown that chicken soup helps break up congestion and ease the flow of nasal secretions, making it easier for cold sufferers to breathe. Most of the beneficial effect is believed to come from inhaling hot vapors, suggesting that any hot liquid might actually do the trick. Chicken soup, however, may indeed have an edge over other hot foods. University of Nebraska researchers studied extracts made from a batch of homemade soup and found that the extracts inhibited certain white blood cells—those that trigger the inflammatory response that causes scratchy throats and phlegm.”

Dr. Rosenfeld, in his book Guide to Alternative Medicine, refers to a study published in 1978 stating, “the effect on the nasal mucosa (lining of the nostrils) of inhaling steam from hot water was compared with breathing the vapors from hot chicken soup,” and—you guessed it—“the soup won, hands down!”

So, the next time you’re under the weather, reach for your grandmother’s favorite recipe for chicken soup. And while you’re at it, find out what other things your bubbe used for curing the family’s ills. If it worked for her, can science be far behind?

Fun for Kids

Even though the summer is over, kids still love to be outside and blow bubbles!

Here’s an easy, special bubble recipe:

½ cup water
4 tablespoons dish soap
1-1/2 tablespoons white corn syrup

Mix above ingredients together in a resealable container.

Stuck without a bubble wand? Look around your kitchen—the circle end of a whisk will work as a bubble wand, or try an empty spool of thread. A pipe-cleaner or a twist-tie bent into a wand shape will do the job just as well. Anything with a circle will work. Be creative! This is a perfect activity for those long, “I don’t know what to do with the kids” days of chol hamo’ed!

Overtreating Lice

Revised labeling now required by the Federal Drug Administration for lice and scabies treatments containing the insecticide lindane (gamma benzene hexachloride) encourages using these prescription products only if other approved therapies without lindane haven’t worked.

The labeling also advises healthcare providers and parents not to confuse prolonged itching with a reinfestation by these parasitic pests. Even after successful treatment, itching can continue for a week or longer, due to residual inflammation in the skin.

The FDA has required these revisions because of concerns that some parents may be unintentionally medicating beyond the recommended procedure when children continue to scratch. In other cases, parents may overuse the products in their zeal to treat children as quickly as possible. This increased exposure raises the likelihood of adverse reactions. The drug’s label already warns that neurotoxicity (damage to nerves or nerve tissue) is possible, especially among infants.

The FDA investigated claims that lindane causes neurological damage in children. After reviewing available data, agency scientists concluded that lindane is generally safe and effective if used according to its approved directions, but can be harmful if overused.

Reprinted with permission of Pediatrics for Parents, vol. 16, no. 9.

Sponge Germs?

Q: Can sponges be a source of bacteria and germs?

A: The answer is yes!

Sponges don’t truly dry between uses, and the moisture unfortunately helps bacteria multiply.

“It’s also very hard to clean a sponge,” states an item in the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter. “Some experts recommend that sponges be cleaned in the dishwasher, but dishwashers are designed to lift debris from hard surfaces. Even if the water in the dishwasher gets very hot, there’s no guarantee that germs in the interior of a sponge will be killed. Further-more, a sponge will not dry fully in a dishwasher cycle, and the leftover moisture can contain harmful bacteria that can not only continue to contaminate the sponge but also drip onto clean dishes.”

So, what’s one to do in order to avoid these problems?

The USDA recommends changing sponges every couple of weeks, and Dr. Gerba, a microbiologist, suggests throwing them (sponges and dish towels) in with the laundry every couple of days to keep the bacterial count down. (Make sure the sponges aren’t the shred-able kind before you put them in the wash!)

Note: To wipe up raw juice drippings from beef or poultry, which can be especially high in harmful bacteria, use clean paper towels.

Teaching Kids About Money

Q. What is money?

A. “Money is anything a group of people accept in exchange for goods or services. It is the coins and paper bills we use to pay someone for something we buy from them, or for a service they do for us.” (Definition according to the Consumer Credit Counseling Service)

Q. When should children begin learning about money?

A. It is important to teach children about money early on so they can begin to understand its purpose and not to learn its value or lack of value from outside forces. Jean Ross Paterson, in her book It Doesn’t Grow on Trees (Betterway Publications), cautions, “Before you teach your children the value of money and show them how to use it, you might want to ponder your own attitudes, values, and emotions regarding this medium of exchange because we all attach more than a dollar sign to it. Frequently we are not exchanging money in our financial transactions but rather, we are distributing emotional messages and trying to fulfill psychological needs.”