The intents of the diaper bag are more important than the actual bag itself. In a pinch, if you lost your diaper bag, or just don’t really need to lug that huge thing around, you can use a plastic bag. Evan a paper bag will do the trick. What is inside however, is much more important. Fist of all you need to make sure you have twice as many diapers as you think that you are going to need. You never know when a baby is going to surprise you with some massive Hershey squirts, and you don’t want to be forest to go al MacGyver on the baby. Give me a towel, sock and some duct tape. Bring lots of wipes. If you skimp on the wipes I am sure that you will be sorry. Wipes are not something that you would want to mess around with. Just be sure to have lots of them, you might need to pick up a little more than poop. Could be poop, could be pea, spit up, puke, dirt, or even bird poop. Bring a burp cloth or two, they can soak up a lot more mess than the wipes and can also be used for a diaper like I said before. A burp rag can just be what it is. Just a rag will do, or maybe a old t shirt. Just be sure to clean them first. You wouldn’t want to wife a bunch of motto oil on your kids face, would you. Maybe it would make the tougher.

In the news, we hear and see an increasing number of reports about violence among children. This goes from rude fights on the playground to armed incidents in schools that result in injuries or even casualties.

Now asking ourselves where this behaviour is originated, we quickly come to media as a scapegoat: TV violence, computer games and the Internet. Often we lack overview of what our children experience while dealing with these influences.

And there lies the root problem. Various scientist groups have tried to prove the influence of visual violence on children’s behaviour. There has been proof and counter-proof - so what we can conclude from this is that the connection between observed violence and violent behaviour depends on more circumstances than can be applied in a experimental environment. (links)

An observation that we can make ourselves is that children tend to imitate behaviour. Aside from what’s experienced in media, they’re influenced by their parents, their friends and idols.

If we are realistic, we have to admit that as soon as our children start going to school, we lose overview on their experiences and are often astonished or shocked about the new ideas they’re coming up with. Now here comes the parent’s part. The fact that our children are going to school doesn’t mean they’re grown-up and their character is stabilized. Trend and group force are strong against the learned attitudes and behaviour patterns from childhood, so we need to stay in touch with our children and try to understand what’s on their minds.

It’s far too easy to say that a child’s violent behaviour is caused by media. That’s only an excuse, because this way parents don’t have to blame themselves for neglecting their duty of education.

For sure there is a negative influence of visually explicit violence to a child’s mind. But what influence it is, if our child is considering it “cool”, following possibly their friends’ attitude towards it, or if it’s scared or even repelled, that’s up to us to teach. Parents have to guide their children with their experiences, and that includes violence, no matter where experienced.

So take your time to share the experience, show real interest and add your opinion. Avoid prohibition as much as possible, because that will just make it much more interesting. For example, if you ban your child from seeing a popular, violent cartoon series, it will probably see it anyway - with a friend or when you’re not there. But with simply banning it, you stripped yourself of the chance to influence the conclusions your child will draw - surely it won’t consult you afterwards regarding the forbidden.

And, as with all other things, be a paradigm - if you present verbal or even physical violence in your family, then you don’t have to be surprised if your child copies that behaviour.

Brigette Meier is an occassional author for http://www.e-nterests.com - visit the site for more interesting articles.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we
take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

I was fortunate enough to fly to Atlanta over the weekend with my daughter, Cristina, who is eleven, to attend the wedding of my former choir director from Miami. (The very one who took our choir to perform in Carnegie Hall.) We were both so excited we could hardly sleep the night before. The thought of seeing all of our old Miami friendsas well as a dear family from Kentucky who had since relocated to Atlantawas almost more than we could bear.

Saturday night I walked into the church as the harp, violin, and flute had just begun to play. The candles were lit, and the church was slowly filling up. I was surprised as an usher grabbed me from behind; he was none other than the gentleman from New York who had arranged our Carnegie Hall trip. He escorted me right down to the second row, where all of my Miami friends were already seated. As the church was not yet filledalthough it was certainly quiet enoughwe made quite a scene as they jumped up and engulfed me with generous hugs and kisses. And then Kathy, one of my travel buddies to New York, said “Oh dear! I’ve just gotten lipstick all over your gorgeous suit!” And sure enough, on the sleeve of my granny-smith-apple-green (the color for which my obsession for it should probably have me medicated) suit was a pale pink lipstick smudge. It was an Escada suit, bought at a consignment shop and, even at consignment prices, was not inexpensive.

She felt horrible about it. But what could I do?

No matter. I got to thinkingas I sat quietly in my pew listening to the strains of the harpabout the number of people who would gladly trade a lipstick smudge on an expensive suit for any one of those slobbery hugs I so enjoyed. I thought of folks sitting in other pews who might have recently lost their lover, their husband or wife, their child, their best friend, or their betrothed. How fabulous would a hug from them have felt that night?

How many times do weas mothersforego a hug from our little ones because strawberry jam is sticking to their fingers, or food remains on their tiny wet lips? Are we worried that we’ll get our new t-shirt dirty, that we’ll ruin the make-up we so carefully just applied to our freshly scrubbed face, or that the interruption of the hug will make us late to an appointment?

Perhaps I have gained perspective over the years. Call it rarely getting a hug from my sixteen-year-old son, or even from Cristina, for that matter. Call it worrying about my sixteen-year-old when he has almost exceeded curfew, and rejoicing when I hear the garage door screech up on its chain. Call it realizing with unhappy certainty that my eight-year-old’s goodnight squeezes will in the not-too-distant-future be a thing of the past.

So forget clothing. Forget your perfect make-up. You can always deal with dirt. That is, after all, why dry-cleaning was invented. Steal those hugs and kisses like there’s no tomorrow. And see how many moments you can add to life by the number of breaths it takes away.

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com

WHY LACK OF SUPPORT?

Several years ago, ACOG, American College of Obstetrician and Gynecology stated, that the risk of vaginal birth after cesarean poses a threat of uterine rupture and isn’t worth the risk to the fetus or the mother. Since then our hospitals and physicians have changed their views and policies. Larger hospitals with anesthesia coverage around the clock are a little more open to the idea of VBAC. Women aren’t given the choice if they are at smaller hospitals. Women who are going forward with their decision for a VBAC may find that the biggest obstacle is lack of support from the medical staff.

PREPARING FOR A VAGINAL BIRTH AFTER CESAREAN

First of all, know why you had a cesarean the first time. Was the cesarean for failure to progress or fetal distress? The reason behind the cesarean makes a difference in trying for a vaginal delivery. Discuss this with your physician. Hiring a labor assistant or Doula will be the most valuable thing you can do. She can help guide you through the entire labor, therefore reducing your chances of a repeat cesarean. Relaxation exercises, a pre-natal yoga class and visualizing a vaginal delivery will also help reduce your chances of a cesarean.

HOW TO COPE DURING LABOR

Being a professional labor assistant, I have been given the opportunity to help many VBACs. The most important thing you can do is keep a positive attitude throughout the entire labor and delivery. Don’t give up unless the baby indicates otherwise. Many health care providers do not have faith in a woman’s ability to deliver vaginally. It is important to stick to your agenda if the baby and your health are tolerating the labor. Also keep in mind that it will be scary when you reach the point when you had your last cesarean. Change your labor position at least every 30 minutes. Remember your relaxation and visualization exercises to reduce your stress and fear of the unknown. You will get through it one contraction at a time.

Julie L. Johnson is a wife and mother of three who has experienced every pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and breastfeeding situation there is and has lived to tell about. She is a Certified Lamaze Childbirth Educator, Certified Doula and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant practicing in Southern California. Her website http://www.birth-angel.com provides services and products to help ease the transition into motherhood.

The method know as three dimensional ultrasound scanning is used in early pregnancy, it provides 3d pictures of the unborn baby. Most times these ultrasound samples are collected and combined and animated to produce a 4d scan.

Three dimensional scanning works in the same manner to the normal scanning methods except that the ultrasound scanning pulses can be directed from multiple directions. The ultrasound pulses can be reflected back and captured and provide information to construct a 3-dimensional image in much the same way as 3d movies. 3 dimesional ultasound scanning was devised by olaf ramm and stephen smith.

It’s important to understand that sonologists worldwide have always conjured 3d pictures of the body in their minds while doing 2d scans. However, until recently it was not possible to do this kind of reconstruction on on data using ultasound scanning. With the introduction of baby scans for the first time allowed us a peek into the brain of a sonologist and so allowing us see the images on the ultrasound machine.

3d/4d imaging should utilize ultrasound energy following the same limits as conventional 2d ultrasound to create the 3d images. While there is no information of harm due to 3d ultrasound, its use in non-medical situations needs to be undertaken with an understanding of the risks that may exist.