How to encourage literacy with your children

Encouraging literacy is very important. And, new studies have shown that you can never start too early. Literacy is a key foundational block to being successful as an adult and gives children confidence as they enter school. Here are the top five steps. For more information, see the full article on Gideon Learning Blog.

1. Read aloud to your child.

2. Attend age-appropriate storytimes with your child.

3. Have books in the house.

4. Encourage reading by being a reader.

5. Encourage conversation with your children even before they can speak.

Review, remove and recycle

'Tis the season to start looking through all those broken toys, unstuffed stuffed animals, torn books and limbless dolls and decide what to do with them after receiving more toys and dolls from Santa. It is this time of year that I do my "winter cleaning" and start to throw away those broken and unrepairable toys. I give away those repairable toys, dolls and books as well as those games that have one piece missing that could be substituted or any toys that are past the age of my children. I also go through clothes to see which ones can become official play clothes and which ones should become rags. Or even, some can be given away. I always find it a nice way to start the New Year with an organized house. And, even if the holidays are over, there are still families and children in need of things that we are fortunate enough to replace. Think about it and review, remove and recycle!

Genetically modified sugar in Halloween candy

It is always important to know where are food is coming from and how it is processed. Food labels are more helpful these days as they include calories, ingredients and whether the food is organic or not. However, one area that is not being labeled is genetically modified ingredients. There are several products that are genetically modified (GM or GMO) such as corn, soy and now sugar beets. The manufacturers, specifically Monsanto, of the GM seeds are lobbying hard to prevent any labeling for consumers. This has been an ongoing issue for several years.

With Halloween around the corner, it was brought to my attention that there are two candy companies, M&M/Mars and Herseys who are ignoring a September 2009 ruling by a Federal Court that GM sugar beets should never have been approved for introduction into the food supply without better environmental impact studies. So, be aware that most if not all of the Halloween candies from these companies have GM sugar beets as an ingredient.

Be educated and be healthy.

Happy Halloween!

For more information:

Reuters news organization's article covering September ruling against GM sugar beets and Monsanto

SF Gate's November 2008 coverage of the upcoming 2009 GM sugar beets ruling

Seeds of Deception newsletter by leading expert on GM foods, Jeffrey M. Smith covering GM sugar beets in January 2008

Center for Environmental Health and Care2's coverage and petition against GMO sugar beets

Financial Tips for Families

With fall activities in full swing and the holidays just around the corner, budgeting, spending and family finances become topics of discussion. We all want to save where they can and stretch our money. So, how about saving a little more money with all these expenses? Here are a few tips to help you save without changing your spending habits!

1. Earn money while you shop online - there are web sites that allow you to earn money for every purchase you make, such as Fatwallet and Upromise. They have retail partners which give you back a percentage of your purchase when you sign up and order through their sites. Fatwallet and Upromise put the money earned with every purchase into your account. They will send you a check or you can save it in a regular account or even a 529 college savings account. What do the partners get from this? They get advertising exposure and enjoy customer loyalty. But, remember, you must go through these specific web sites and not the retail sites. See Fat Wallet and Upromise for more information.

2. Cut health care costs for your children - ask if you can email or phone in to your pediatrician for questions before making an appointment that may easily be covered over the phone or on email. This is an easy way to cut down on office visit costs. Another way to cut costs is to keep current on all vaccinations for your children. This is the best preventative medicine for many serious illnesses. If you have any concerns about specific vaccinations, consult your pediatrician. Another way to cut down on costs is to make all your appointments or cancel ahead of time. Most offices charge a fee for any appointments that are not cancelled more than 24 hours in advance. Lastly, eating well and exercising as a family will help to keep you all healthy and as illness-free as possible.

3. Use credit cards that pay you - Discover cards are well-known for their cash back bonuses. They gives you 5% on many categories such as travel, gas and groceries. Capital One has a no-hassle cash rewards card too which offers 2% for gas and grocery purchases and 1% on all other purchases. Chase rewards and Citi cash returns also offer cash back for purchases. For more information on cash back credit cards, see e-wisdom.

4. Schedule automatic payments - when you miss a bill payment, you end up paying a fee. To avoid these fees and the hassle of remembering when your bills are due, set up automatic payments, especially for those consistent monthly bills like mortgage, cable, trash and water. You can set up automatic payments either through your bank or through each individual service provider. There shouldn't be a cost with auto pay as many service providers and banks find it advantageous to get paid on time!

5. Use your discounts - if you are a member of AAA or Costco, you often receive discounts at hotels, museums and for trips. Also, if you own a museum membership, oftentimes there are partnerships with other museums and/or cultural or science centers. Happy Hollow members get into Coyote Point Museum and Oakland Zoo free. Make sure that you have a list of benefits for your membership.

6. Mark your calendar - if you are renting movies at the video store or loaning books from the library, mark your calendar with the due dates. This way you avoid unnecessary late charges.

7. Drive to save - you can save money on gas by keeping your car properly maintained. If you don't, you could end up with large car repair bills. A few things that take little to no effort and help you save money: keep your tires properly inflated, don't drive aggressively and clean out your trunk. These three things can give you better gas mileage immediately.

8. Help your schools - programs such as e-scrip, box tops and good search are no brainers for parents. Each of these programs lets you support your school without doing anything differently. escrip gives money to the school you register from purchases with your registered credit cards and grocery cards automatically. For each box top you turn in from everyday products such as Cheerios and Ziplock bags, your child's class room gets money back. For internet searching, you give money to your registered school for each search through Good search. How easy is that?!

For more info:
20 lazy ways to save money
5 ways to save without trying
Cutting children's health care costs

Flu and Cold 101

With the school year in full swing and H1N1 is making its mark, it is time to think about germs again. With greater contact along with the change of weather, colds and flus show up again. Believe it or not, viruses and bacteria can live up to 2 hours or longer on surfaces such as cafeteria tables, doorknobs and desks. But, there are many ways to prevent germs from spreading to your household too often.

1. Advise your children to avoid close contact with those who appear sick.

2. If your children are sick, keep them home. They will feel better faster and you will not spread the infection. This is especially important with the spread of H1N1 since it seems to be contagious a lot longer than seasonal flu.

3. Teach your children to cough and sneeze into their elbows instead of into their hands. This will avoid spreading germs by hand contact.

4. Model effective and frequent hand washing - wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.

5. Have hand sanitizers available when washing is not possible. Keep them in your car, in your purse and in the sports bag. If your children have been playing soccer, gymnastics or any other after school sport and need a snack once in the car, you will need hand sanitizers first!

6. Teach your children to avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth since these areas lead to the quick spread of germs.

Although flu vaccines are in short supply, call your healthcare provider to see if they have vaccines available, especially for your children who are considered high risk.

For more information, contact your healthcare provider and see the CDC web site for seasonal flu and H1N1 info.

Pumpkin patch visit

If you still have not made the customary annual visit to the pumpkin patch and are unsure where to go, check out Where to find pumpkin patches website. This site is great because it not only gives you a directory of pumpkin patches (with and without hay rides) but it also has the history of halloween, how to pick a good pumpkin, how to carve a pumpkin, pumpkin recipes and more.

Yes, the popular places to go are Half Moon Bay's Pumpkin Festival (this weekend - Oct 17-18) where they have prizes for the largest pumpkin and Uesegi Farms in Morgan Hill with a train ride. But, if they are not close by and you would rather take an hour or so at the patch vs. a half day, then check out G&W Farms in Livermore. They have pony rides, corn maze, big patch, corn kernal play box and hay bale maze.

Happy Pumpkin Hunting!

More kids eat free

We all love it when our kids eat for free. So, here are a few places that are offering "kids eat free" deals. Some of limited and others are ongoing. Check it out and enjoy a meal out as a family without breaking the bank!

Sweet Tomatoes: National Pajama Month is this month and Sweet Tomatoes is celebrating with a free breakfast special for kids from 9 am to noon on Sunday, October 18th. This is the third annual "kids eat free" celebration and features Belgian waffles, French toast, burrritos, frittatas and scrambles. Kids 12 and under eat free at the locations in Fremont, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

Boston Market offers two free kids meals per family through October at their restaurants in Foster City, Fremont, Mountain View, Oakland, Palo Alto, Pleasant Hill and Santa Clara.

Pasta Pomodoro continues to offer its free kids' meals Tuesdays at selected East and South Bay locations. Check the web site for more information.

Happy Dining!

Spanking may lower a child's IQ

A report was presented in San Diego on September 25th by a sociologist that suggests children who are spanked or physically punished have lower IQs. Murray Strauss along with his colleague from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation looked at 1,510 children — 806 kids ages 2 to 4, and 704 ages 5 to 9 over a period of 4 years. They "found that roughly three-quarters had endured some kind of corporal punishment in the previous two weeks, according to interviews with the mothers. Researchers measured the children's IQ initially, then again four years later. Those kids who hadn't been spanked in the initial survey period scored significantly better on intelligence and achievement tests than those who had been hit. " The connection between physical punishment and brain development is explained as fear and stress from the hitting which inhibits focus and learning. They even tracked countries that accept corporal punishment and the lower levels of IQs in those countries. Most of us know that hitting doesn't solve the problem or teach our children the lessons we want to teach them. But, now there is strong evidence to suggest we are truly doing our children a disservice by hitting them when they need discipline. For more information on this study, visit the time.com link to the article covering this story. There are also other sites who are covering these findings so you can simply google it.

Homemade fruit and vegetable wash

These days with all the pesticides and concern for contamination in fruits and vegetables, many people choose to use fruit and vegetable wash. However, it can be expensive if you use it with all your fruits and vegetables as I do. But, making your own wash allows you save money while ensuring your fruits and vegetables are as clean as possible for your family. Here is the recipe as found on about.com.

Items needed: spray bottle, white vinegar, water

Directions: Fill the spray bottle with equal parts of water and white vinegar. Spray your fruits and vegetables, rub the wash into them and rinse well.

Easy and cheap!

Helping your strong-willed child

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." --Jim Rohn

I have two strong-willed children and it is wonderful to see such determination, drive and passion in my children. Yet, it is a challenge keeping the balance of discipline and determination. How do you teach your children to mind you and learn the rules when their personality leads them to question everything, negotiate with everyone and "test" ways to change the rules? This is their nature. And, we need their curiosity, interrogative nature and sense of negotiation to continue in life. So, how do we discipline these strong-willed children? It is not easy and I question myself a lot. But, I have found a great book that is a pretty easy read too - Dr. Robert MacKenzie's Setting Limits with your Strong-Willed Child is a must read for all parents with strong-willed children. It gives you clear guidelines to set the limits with your children in such a way that avoids giving in unnecessarily, fights, escalation of emotions and overpunishing. It is organized well so that you can easily understand the information. It includes key points in boxes throughout which helps busy parents focus on the key points quickly. It is common sense advice but also gives great examples throughout which helps you deal with your own situations in a practical way. I find myself in many of the situations detailed in the book and am now given easy and effective ways to help my strong-willed children. It is available on amazon.com. Highly recommended read!

Saving money in easy ways

I am sure all of us are looking for ways to save money these days. And, what about making money without doing anything different from the usual routine? Check out some of the sites below that help you save money (even enough for college!) while shopping online, using membership discounts you already have and simply paying attention to return dates for videos. Check it out and start saving!

1. Earn money while you shop online - there are a few web sites that allow you to earn money for every purchase you make such as Fatwallet and Upromise. They have retail partners which give you back a percentage of your purchase when you sign up at Fatwallet or Upromise and order through their sites. Fatwallet and Upromise put the money earned with every purchase into your account. Fatwallet or Upromise will send you a check or you can save it in a regular account or even a 529 college savings account. What do the partners get from this? They get advertising exposure and enjoy customer loyalty. But, remember, you must go through the administrator web sites and not the retail sites. See Fat Wallet and Upromise for more information.

2. Cut health care costs for your children - ask if you can email or phone in to your pediatrician for questions before making an appointment that may easily be covered over the phone or on email. This is an easy way to cut down on office visit costs. Another way to cut costs is to keep current on all vaccinations for your children. This is the best preventative medicine for many serious illnesses. If you have any concerns about specific vaccinations, consult your pediatrician. One last way to cut down on costs is to make all your appointments or cancel ahead of time. Most offices charge a fee for any appointments that are not cancelled more than 24 hours in advance. Lastly, eating well and exercising as a family will help to keep you all healthy and as illness-free as possible.

3. Use credit cards that pay you - Discover cards are well-known for their cash back bonuses. It gives you 5% on many categories such as travel, gas and groceries. Capital One has a no-hassle cash rewards card too which offers 2% for gas and grocery purchases and 1% on all other purchases. Chase rewards and Citi bonus cash also offer cash back for purchases. For more information on cash back credit cards, see e-wisdom.

4. Schedule automatic payments - when you miss a bill payment, you end up paying a fee. To avoid these fees and the hassle of remembering when your bills are due, set up automatic payments, especially for those consistent monthly bills like mortgage, cable, trash and water. You can set up automatic payments either through your bank or through each individual service provider. There shouldn't be a cost with auto pay as many service providers and banks find it advantageous to get paid on time!

5. Use your discounts - if you are a member of AAA or Costco, you often receive discounts at hotels, museums and for trips. If you own a museum membership, oftentimes there are partnerships with other museums and/or cultural or science centers. Happy Hollow members get into Coyote Point Museum and Oakland Zoo free. Make sure that you have a list of benefits for your membership.

6. Mark your calendar - if you are renting movies at the video store or loaning books from the library, mark your calendar with the due dates. This way you avoid unnecessary late charges.

7. Drive to save - you can save money on gas by keeping your car properly maintained. If you don't, you could end up with large car repair bills. A few things that take little to no effort and help you save money: keep your tires properly inflated, don't drive aggressively and clean out your trunk. These three things can give you better gas mileage immediately.

8. Help your schools - programs such as e-scrip, box tops and good search are no brainers for parents. Each of these programs lets you support your school without doing anything differently. escrip gives money to the school you register with your credit cards and grocery cards automatically. For each box top you turn in from everyday products such as Cheerios and Ziplock bags, your child's class room gets money back. For internet searching, you give money to your registered school for each search through Good search. How easy is that?!

Free flower at local flower shop for teachers!

Fremont Flowers is giving one free flower to each student to present to his/her teacher on September 2nd, the first day of school! Stop by between 10 am and 5 pm on September 1st to get a free flower for your child's teacher! Fremont Flowers is a family-owned flower shop established in 1956 whose address is: 37085 Fremont Blvd. and the phone number is 510-894-6343. What a wonderful way to make a great first impression on your child's teacher!

Free calls and chatting on skype.com

These days it is common practice to try to find something for nothing. Freebies, samples, coupons, BOGO and kids eat free are all commonly used and many make it part of the daily routine to find the best deals. Skype is one of those deals. And, interestingly enough, it is not new. It has been around for several years, even merged for a while with eBay and is now on its own after being spun off. If you and another user download the skype software online, have a microphone and web cam, you can not only talk for free but see each other while talking! It is a great deal for those of us who have relatives and friends abroad, who find ourselves working abroad and want to keep up with friends and family in the U.S. but even within the U.S. itself! It also has a chat component. And, if you want to call someone who doesn't have Skype, it is still much cheaper than a regular land line call. This is one of the VOIP service providers that does a great job to keep us connected.

Kids Eat Free

There are several restaurants that offer free meals for kids. It is always nice to get a free meal when you are dining out, especially since kids usually don't eat their whole dinner anyway. See a few of the restaurants listed below.

1. Denny's has free meals for kids on Tuesdays with each adult meal.

2. IHOP is now advertising free meals for kids from 4-9 pm for each adult meal as well.

3. El Torito lets kids eat free on Wednesdays with each adult meal.

4. Applebees has had 99 cent dinners for kids on Tuesdays as well. But, I am not sure if this is still the case. Check with your local restaurant.

5. Sadie Dey's Cafe - Kids eat free every night from 4-8 pm. They have a nice menu of sandwiches, salads and pasta.

Kids Eat Free Guide also lets you enter your zip code for any other free offers for children.
Kids Free Guide also gives you some information on free eats for kids in your area.

Back to School Shopping and Organizing

It is that time again...time to shop for school supplies, new clothes (or uniforms) and get back into the bedtime routine. It is difficult when the summer often means a more relaxed schedule, lazier days and often vacation or camp fun. But, the earlier we get back into the groove for the first day of school, the better. To help ease the pain, here are several sites to help you organize your to-do list and ramp up into high gear for back to school.

Organize and buy school supplies - Check the school supplies list and then go through your crafts bins and closets to see if you have left over supplies you can use. Then, scour ads and coupon sites for the best deals. You still have time to do this! You may also want to try dollar stores for some good deals on basic supplies. For backpacks suggestions, check out the Family Education web site. Some backpack companies, like Jansport, have lifetime guarantees and will repair or replace backpacks free.

Organize and swap or buy school clothes - Most parents have a good network of other moms and dads who are also going through back-to-school. Instead of everyone buying new clothes, see if you can swap clothes. Kids usually outgrow clothes before they outwear them. So, you all save money that way. If you still need to supplement clothes, stock up on basics like solid long sleeved shirts, jeans, sweaters and skirts. There are many places with back-to-school sales right now such as Old Navy, Kohls, LandsEnd, Sears, Macys and The Gap. Or you could even hit the second-hand stores or check online at Craigslist or eBay.

Label clothing - Any sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets or extra change of clothes should be labeled to avoid losing them. It is best to do this before the school year starts and you have a busy morning and forget.

Make medical appointments - If your child is starting Kindergarten, he/she has most likely already seen the dentist and had his/her five year well check as that is one of the criteria for entering the public school system. If he/she has not, you will want to do this before school starts to show they are current on vaccinations and seen a dentist. If your children are not new to the school, you may still want to get all those doctor, dentist, allergist etc. appointments out of the way before school starts to start fresh. For a back-to-school health checklist, click here.

Mark the calendar - Start to write important dates on the calendar and circle the first day of school so your children can count down the days until school.Fill out paperwork - If you received any paperwork in the mail, fill it out ahead of time to be able to drop it off promptly the first day of school.

Start a school folder - Make a new folder for school newsletters, event flyers and PTA information so you will know where to put them and find them. Once school starts, the whirlwind begins!

Set up a study area - If you don't already have a designated homework/study area, make sure you have it set up by the time the first day of school comes. If you need to buy a lamp or extra supplies for this area, you can do it the same time as you buy school supplies. Your children can then be introduced to the area and even start using it before school starts. This area should be distraction and clutter free for the best results. Organize this space so all your kids can personalize it, including file folders and/or bins for each child to use.

Get back in touch with school friends - Now that everyone is starting to return from camp and vacation, it is a good time to re-connect with former school friends. Make a playdate, sleep over or just a time to meet for ice-cream to get back in touch with your classmate friends. It will make it easier to start the first day if the connections have already been made.

Articles on examiner.com

I have started writing for examiner.com as the Oakland parenting examiner for the elementary years. Go to Examiner.com Oakland Elementary Years to see my articles. I would like to hear from you. What do you think about my articles? What subjects do you think I should write about next? Do you know of anything fun, exciting or unique happening in Oakland for families or children? What about the schools? Any topics you would like to see me cover there? Let me know your comments so that I can write on some of the subjects my blog followers would like to see!

Kids eat free until August 16th

If you are planning to shop at IKEA anytime until August 16th, you may want to stay for a meal as well. Kids meals are usually pretty inexpensive anyway, but now they are FREE until August 16th. You get to choose a combination of items so that your kids get what they want from meatballs, mac and cheese, pbj sandwich etc. The value is up to $2.49. Most stores are participating, including Emeryville and East Palo Alto. For more information, check out the link on the IKEA web site.

Fatwallet.com gives you money

Sign up for a www.fatwallet.com account and they put money into your account with most purchases. They have big retailers like ebay, 1-800 contacts, Barnes and Noble, Bath and Body Works, itunes, Lands End, Macys.com, Orbitz, Proflowers.com, Redenvelope.com, Sephora and Sears. They also are a source for coupons and shopping forums. Why not start saving more money today?!

Great freebies and samples

Everyone is looking for freebies and something for nothing these days to try to get their dollar to stretch further. Not only can coupons help, but freebies and samples can too. They offer everything from food, to toiletries, to restaurant offers to BOGO and even office products and services. Depending on your brand preference, you can find quite a bit on the sites below. And, as always, if you register on the site, you can receive alerts on your favorite products making it much easier.
Shop for freebies
Go freebies

Always freebies

I love freebies

EZ freebies

Art and Soul Festival in Oakland - 2009

The 9th Annual Art and Soul Festival in Oakland will take place next weekend, August 15 and 16. This date is a change from Labor Day weekend in years past, but there will be just as much food, art, music, vendors, kids'activities and family fun! The location is Downtown Oakland so that you can simply take BART without the bother of driving and parking.

Reviews for the Festival:
Many believe this is one of the best Bay Area festivals. For latest reviews on yahoo, click here. For the reviews of years past in yelp, click here.

Kids Program:
For the kids, there is a Family Fun Zone with carnival rides and bouncers (at an extra cost) along with interactive art, hands-on mural painting, face painters, a fire truck and more.
The festival takes place from 12 noon to 6 pm and the entrance fees are $10 for adults, $5 for 13-17 and 12 and under are free! So, not only do you get music, dance, art and food in once place, but it is really reasonable for a family to attend!

For more information, visit the Art and Soul homepage.

Hope to see you at the festival next weekend!