A recent study by US scientists involving mice found that raising the creatures in a sterile, germ-free environment increased the numbers of invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT) in them, specifically in their colons and lungs. This translates as them having the mouse versions of bowel cancer and asthma as a result of growing up shielded from germs.

People have been talking for a few years about the effects of our increasingly sterilised environments. Cleaning products, plumbing, hygiene are big sellers today. Watch TV, particularly during programmes seemingly aimed at parents and families, and you’ll see lots of ads for hygiene products such as anti-bacterial spray for high chairs, hand soap that you don’t have to touch and washing powders that claim to sterilise your clothes.

These products pray on the fears of us loving parents that our children will ingest some germs and get horribly ill from it, but there has been some backlash from people who believe that these germs will not unduly harm children and actually, not exposing our kids to them could actually cause long term problems.

The “hygiene hypothesis” proposes that when children are developing, being exposed to bacteria and other microbes teaches their immune systems to be resistant – it’s a “know your enemy” kind of situation - only by encountering the germs that we can know how to fight them.

Children increasingly spend more time indoors, with the amount of entertaining attractions inside keeping them on the sofa, and with more families being raised in urban environments with few open, grassy spaces. This means that in addition to sanitised environments the children are frolicking around in mud less, breathing in less fresh air filled with oxygen but also microbes and all sorts of unidentified floaty things.

Letting your children play outside alone, letting them get filthy and dirty, letting them make a mess in the kitchen are great not just for their immune system but for their development in general. It teaches them about risk, independence, what their bodies are capable of. It teaches them that mud tastes disgusting, and that spilling something isn’t the end of the world. It also allows them to connect with nature, how to explore their surroundings, be creative and use their imaginations. Telling children not to play and make a mess, wiping up everything they come into contact with and keeping them inside won’t allow them to be creative and make decisions for themselves, and it will mean they miss out on a lot of vital fun!

Bio

This post was written by Kat for Creative Play, creators of playground equipment for schools, parks and homes

You always have to be careful about what you say around your kids but there are some things that parents should not worry about saying around them.

Here are 5 things that parents should have no worries about saying around their kids and will actually make them better people if you do.

I Have Made A Mistake - This is a perfect way to show your children that it is ok to make mistakes and will show them how to fix mistakes when you make them. Mistakes are a natural part of our lives and we need to make them to learn from them. They need to know it is ok to admit to your mistakes.

I Need Some Help - Kids need to know it is ok to ask for help when you feel overwhelmed. Be it a little help or a lot of help, showing them how to ask will show them how valuable it can be to have the ability to ask for it.

I Am Sorry - Don't think giving your child an apology will make you look weak to them. They will appreciate it if you apologize after making a mistake. Let's say you grounded them for whatever reason and then afterwards it turns out that your information was wrong because it came from the wrong source. Well if that happen your child is due an apology and to be ungrounded. You might even owe them an ice cream...hehe. They need to know it is OK to apologize for making a mistake that affects someone else.

I Was Fired - People would never even want to tell there wife or husband this one. It's embarrassing and it also affect them if you are the only one that brings in money to the household. Of course you need to keep this stuff age appropriate but your kids should not be shielded from life and put in a bubble. When they get out on their own, a little bit of a view on how you handle your life will go a long way.

Our Bills Cost This Much - My parents would never tell me how much a bill was or how much money they had. To some degree it is not their business but there is age appropriate levels you can show them so they are aren't left in the dark. In this day and age, kids need to learn about personal finances and how to manage money because it is not a skill that is taught in our school system.

In reality there are many more things that are perfectly ok to say around your kids and they need to be able to see the solution to many of these problems in real life so they have a head start on being able to solve them. If you grew up in a household where you were "protected" from certain information then you might want to take a step back every time you feel the need to hold back what you say to you kids because letting them get involved could be the key to preventing them from getting into any bad situations that you yourself are having a hard time with.

This article was created by the author of giftcardfinder.org and you can view some of his other articles about Free Best Buy Gift Cards and more info about your Walmart Gift Card Balance and maybe try a few of the links to get a free gift card for any of the available retailers.

If you are a stay at home mom, or you've got little ones at home, it can be hard to find ways to entertain them. You might be juggling your online education, work, and your other responsibilities. But let's face it, your kids are one of your most important priorities. If you want to take a day off and do something fun with your kids, here are some great ideas. These are inexpensive ideas that will help you bond with your kids?while doing something creative!

1. Put on a production. If you have little ones that love to act, this is perfect for them. You can also get their friends in on the fun! You can put on a show with actors, magicians, singer, and dancers. This will encourage your little ones to get the word out?if they want to perform for an audience. It can be a fun way to get your extended family in on the fun! Don't take it too seriously, this is all for the kids to have fun!

2. Teach them about something you love. If you love to sing, or cook, why not teach it to your kids? Kids are fascinated with what adults do, and you should help them feel important. It's good to get them started on a hobby when they are young. 

3. Organize a scavenger hunt. If you have lots of little ones at home, you can organize a scavenger hunt around the house. You can make a list of things that they can find around the house. Kids of all ages will have fun with this activity. Have them take pictures of the things that they find so they can document their finds!

4. Bake a cake! Although baking with kids can be somewhat messy, it can be fund to have them help you bake a cake. They will also feel very responsible because they helped you make something! If you choose to bake something with your kids, choose a recipe that is relatively simple. Cookies or cakes are great ideas. While they are baking, you can take the time to clean up your little chefs!

5. Write a book. Have your kids help you write a book about their lives! It's a fun way to get your kids to tell you how they see themselves. They can even do all of the illustrations. Once it's finished, it's a great keepsake that you can give to them when they get older. 

About the Author
Neltje Ann is a educational writer for My Colleges and Careers, which is a site that is invested in helping you find the best online colleges. 

Children give us adults a world of trouble and stress with all athletic sports, tree climbing and rough-housing they do on an endless basis. Kids will be kids, and with some, that means injuries and broken bones are always a looming possibility. Knowing what to do when a child may have a broken or fractured bone is valuable knowledge for any parent, babysitter, older sibling, grandparent, teacher or other child caregiver when supervising a child.

Step 1: Assess the Situation 

Sports related injuries are the most common way broken bones occur for children because of the tough, competitive and uncoordinated nature of kids. The first step in handling a child’s accident is assessing the situation and determining how much pain the child is in and the seriousness of the accident. Not every fall or collision a child has results in a broken bone, but it is best to ensure that a child’s injury is not too serious right away. If there was a snap or grinding noise during the accident, this could indicate a broken bone. Look for any swelling, discoloration and/or deformity where the injury occurred. Ask the child if he can move the potentially broken body part or if there is any tenderness; all are indicative of a break. It is imperative you not move the child if you can see a bone poking through the skin or if the injury is to the neck or back. A neck or back injury could be life threatening and it is imperative that the child stays still and does not move at all. 

Step 2: Call for Help

Immediately after determining that a broken or fractured bone is a strong likelihood it is imperative you call for help. If the child cannot move, such as when the injury is to the head, neck or back or a bone is through the skin you should immediately call 911 and ask for an ambulance. If you are not the child’s parent you need to then immediately call the child’s parent and inform them of the situation and all of the pertinent details. If the child can walk and talk, you can drive the child to the hospital yourself if you are the parent or have permission from the parent to do so. 

Step 3: Stabilize the Injury

While you wait for an ambulance to arrive you need to stabilize the injury by removing the clothing from around it; do this by cutting the clothing off. Never try and force a broken body part out of clothing. Wrap ice in a thick cloth and apply it gently to the injury and create a splint with something hard like a board or rolled up newspapers and tape it in place with first aid tape. 

A doctor will give the child a splint or cast and a time frame for recovery; the recovery time frame depends completely upon the child’s individual circumstances, such as the extent of the break, the age of the child and the severity of the accident. If the accident is quite serious, other methods of treatment may be required. Bone screws and bone plates may be inserted in surgery to ensure the recovering bone remains stable, and to ensure the bone structure is not deformed.

Accidents happen, and knowing what to do in the event of an type of injury can save a child’s life, whether you are their parent or simply a caregiver. Knowledge is the best form of safety; but when in doubt, always contact a doctor.

Citations:

• Image via Listener42

This article was contributed by Autocam Medical, a manufacturer of bone plates.

Working parents tend to think they can do it all: work, kids, cook, clean, organize, and schedule. If you're wonder mom or super dad, perhaps you can do it all with style and grace. If you're like the rest of us, you're always searching for corners to cut. When it comes down to it, what matters most is your family. Parents must make their kids and spouses top priority on their to-do lists. That makes it easy to fall behind on household chores. Try some of these time-savers to keep your home in order without sacrificing time with your family.

Set Goals

Most parents can easily walk through their days staying busy every second. If you don't have a clear plan, however, you might spend time on the things that don't matter much. Make a list of a few priorities for the day. Perhaps the laundry pile has grown to the size of Mt. Everest, or you were supposed to schedule dental appointments for the entire family two weeks ago. Make the list manageable, and then set to it. Tackle any other tasks that come up throughout the day once the list items have already been accomplished.

Prepare Ahead

If mornings are hectic at your house, and most likely they are, get things ready the night before. Lay out clothes for your kids, pack backpacks and leave them by the door, get work items ready, and set your goals for the next day. You can even set the breakfast table, or prepare lunches so the kids can grab them from the fridge and go.

Just Say No

When your life becomes too busy with outside commitments, it's okay to say no. Your son's teacher can find someone else to bring a craft project to kindergarten, or your boss can ask another to work extra hours on Saturday. Remember that you are only as busy as you want to be, so keep your commitments manageable by saying yes only to the things that matter most to you.

Accept Imperfection

It's okay to designate household chores to your kids and husband. Whatever you do, don't criticize a job that is done. It's not the end of the world if your kids dusted the living room with Windex instead of Pledge. Try to appreciate the fact that family members are willing to help and understand that they will not do the chores exactly as you would.

Prioritize

When you generate your to-do list, put them in the order of importance for the day. This will ensure that you at least get the most important things done, even if you fail to accomplish the entire list. If the dog and your potty training daughter have wet on the carpet one too many times, make scheduling a carpet cleaning your top priority for the day. You just can't do everything yourself.

Schedule "Me" Time

It might not seem like there is an extra second in the day to take for yourself. However, this is a necessary part of maintaining your sanity on a long-term basis. You must take time for yourself regularly. Perhaps it's a weekly yoga class, a 10-minute chunk when you get home from work to sit alone in your bedroom, or a daily workout.

Take the little bits of alone time and make the most of them by doing something that is selfish and fulfilling.

Give a youngster a pencil, crayon or texta and leave them unsupervised for five minutes and I'll almost guarantee they will have drawn somewhere they shouldn't. The table, the floor or themselves are common areas, so too are walls. In fact, children and walls are probably the bane of my existence these days. My little ones (and not so little ones) have a bad habit of dragging their hands along walls as they walk, and of swinging around door frames instead of walking into a room.

The result is dirty walls, and it's darn hard to keep up with them. I'm not interested in having a spit polished home. However, I do like to have things reasonably clean. When it comes to walls and door frames (and doors for that matter), if you don't keep on top of the situation, that lovely white or light colour rapidly turns darker. Left alone, I'm sure it would turn black.

As parents, we all find solutions to some problems in the strangest places. When it comes to drawing on walls, and discolouring the walls and door frames, the easiest solution is a humble old nappy wipe - unused of course. I am not sure what's in them, but they seem to remove most marks from walls, especially pencil, crayon and texta. They are also good for removing same from a child's skin.

Nappy wipes, or baby wipes, are also good for removing grime from walls, doors and door frames. They quick and easy to use, and don't contain any nasty chemicals like most wall cleaners.

It does make one think, however. If baby wipes are good for removing stains from walls, what chemicals are they using? More importantly, what are they doing to baby's bottom? Still, they do the job, both on baby and on walls, and for three or four bucks for a packet of 80, they're cheaper than most cleaners. If you find your child has drawn on a wall, don't pull out the heavy duty cleaners, try a baby wipe, you'll be surprised at the results.

How much time do modern day parents have to spend with their children?  We constantly ask ourselves this question as we juggle the rigours of modern day living and all that life has to throw at us along the way.

We look around and measure ourselves against other parents who seem to be getting the work life balance right and we even feel envious of those who do seem to have more time –did they make better choices than us along the way or were they born with a silver spoon in their mouth?.  Is this sounding familiar?

The stark reality is that most parents have a lot to juggle whether it is home life, work life, relationships, childcare; the list seems to go on and on.  The stresses of modern day living are all around us no matter who you are. The real question is how “do you deal with them?”

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering if the situation will change in the very new future.  We drift off to dreamland where we have all the time in the world and we’ve become the world’s best parents overnight.  We don’t have to worry about paying the bills, they just pay themselves!

Okay, back to reality.  We’ve decided to enjoy every moment we have with our children instead of worrying about the time we don’t have.  Every second counts and the time you share can be very simple like:

• Talking about the day on your way home from school together
• Sharing family meal time together
• Reading, singing or dancing together
• Spending time playing together e.g. playing in the park, going swimming, playing games, doing creative art together
• Going on bike rides, or taking the scooters into the park

Setting up our own children’s furniture, toys, gifts and accessories business has given us the opportunity to explore what is good for our children and “mummy and daddy” time is the highest priority on the list. Whether you have a lot or a little time, it’s the time that you do have that matters.

We choose all of our games, toys and creative art sets with the intent of “maximising the time spent together”. We are great advocates for giving parents greater control over the time that they spend with their children.

Even when the going gets tough, make every day an opportunity to enjoy your children. We do.

This is a guest post by Mr & Mrs Kinderroom, owners of Kinderroom, a website of unique children’s furniture and creative games and art sets.

As watching long hours of television every day has become more common all around the world, it has raised some serious questions about the healthiness of spending too much time in front of the television. One of the main concerns is about babies who watch television; is there a limit that should be placed on how much they can watch?

It's been suggested by many experts that babies shouldn't watch television at all, but many infants are still allowed to watch it. Take a look at the video section in your local chain store and you'll see lots of videos targeted at babies.

The huge market for television shows for babies was only brought about because of the demand for it. Parents quickly realized that babies enjoy television and that they can become engrossed in it. The question still remains though: how much TV should a baby be allowed to view before it's considered unhealthy?

There are many factors that contribute to whether or not babies should be allowed to watch television. Before you discuss the amount of television a baby should watch, you should first consider the type of programming. Some shows completely fail to provide any kind of useful entertainment, such as cartoons.

Thankfully, there are many educational videos for babies as well. These programs can teach infants new skills that will benefit them throughout life. Some popular options include programs that teach babies how to read, speak another language, or recognize sign language.

In fact, it hasn't been proven that television is harmful to babies under two years old as long as the time spent watching television is controlled and the programs are educational. Many parents feel that their children have grown intellectually through educational programs for babies.

Even beneficial television shows don't provide a quality substitute for the interaction between parents and babies. Still, they can be useful when a parent just needs to get a few things done while the baby stays occupied with a television show. It's really something that a baby can expand his or her mind while the parent takes care of things around the house.

Of course, a baby's exposure TV should always be carefully monitored. Babies should watch no more than an hour of television in a day, with this time preferably split up between two half-hour segments.

The babies who are most harmed by television are the ones who are allowed to sit in front of the set all day. As with many things in life, moderation is the way to go.

by Adriana Noton

While our children are growing up we want only the best things for them. Giving them science educational toys which help build their imaginations and strengthen their minds is the perfect way to ensure a healthy and happy child. These toys not only entertain them but teach them about the world and how things within it work and grow. They can also let them have the opportunity to grow plants as wells as hatch tine sea creatures and watch their life cycles.

If your child has interest with the dinosaurs of the prehistoric ages then why not let him see what a real one looked like skeleton wise anyway. These kits come with a complete replica that measure two and a half inches long. Your child can have fun putting this replica together. It is made of durable poly-resin parts, model stand and is painted by hand for more realism and unique character.

Let them grow unique crystals instantly by just adding water and chemicals. They will need a rock and a container for the crystals to grow within and then once water is in the container dissolve the chemicals and watch miraculously as they instantly take form in vibrant colors and shapes. Children can enjoy their crystals for months and once they break or are not looking their best make new ones. This is a kind of chemistry lesson in fun form.

A classic educational toy which also habitats living things is that of the Ant Farms of the early days and still high in popularity today as well. Only now these great farms have new technology to make them even better. Some have illuminated LED colored lights to let your ants live in color. This also helps you to see what goes on in the ant habitat at night as well.

Little girls can experiment with making their own perfect smelling perfumes with kits to do just that. These are simpler chemistry kits that teach them how to mix scents to make beautiful smelling perfumes for them to wear. Most of these kits include ten different perfume essential oils, tiny bottles to place the finished product in and a guide on important things you need to know regarding the perfume industry.

They can live in their habitat up to three months and get at adult stages about three inches in length. Each day you will notice them growing even more. Their coloring is very bright and they oftentimes can be viewed swimming on their backs leisurely. Most habitats cost you but come with about thirty Triops and everything from gravel fossil rocks and food to make their lives healthy and happy.

Remember that interesting and colorful bird who drank water from a glass when you were little? Well they are still around for the kids science of today to enjoy just as much. These birds are all hand-blown in glass and come with their very own stands and drinking glasses. Most have liquid in reds, pinks, blues and yellows in their bottoms. You just fill the glass with water dunk the birds head into glass were the beak goes in and then watch as the liquid travels into the neck and the bird bobs an d drinks on his own.

A favorite of the science educational toys and science lab equipment are the digital clocks which are ran on potato power. This is a true experiment in science any child will be astonished that actually works. Wires which are pushed deep into the potatoes of copper and then zinc cause reactions of reduction and oxidation to submit a very low surge of power which then can run a small digital clock. Try different fruit or garden vegetables for even more entertainment and see if they hold the dame or different effects as well.

by Kelly Nixon

Midwifery has been a popular job that provides health care to pregnant women makes it a rewarding experience and a widely sought career. The salaries vary depending on the experience and is very competitive. Midwives are hired by pregnant women who opt to have their baby born at home in comfort and privacy. Let's learn more about the roles of a midwife.

Midwives in general takes care of pregnant women. Midwives are there to assist pregnant women all through out the pregnancy and even after the baby is born. This means the midwife must attend to her patient when she is in labor until she delivers a child.

The prenatal period is also a part of the pregnancy that midwives help women. As the woman waits for her time to deliver a baby, one major task of a midwife is to provide the necessary assistance and care to her patient. She must make sure her patient learns how to take of herself to avoid miscarriage and other problems.

A midwife does not only take care of the pregnant woman but also to the newborn child. Before and after the birth, a midwife is expected to monitor the condition of the baby so she can give necessary medications for the pregnant mother or the baby. She should also help educate the parents about how to breast feed and baby sit and all the other stuff that parents need to know.

After the birthing process, the least task of every midwife is to give advice and information to both parents. It is mostly information regarding nutrition and how to take care of the baby that she offers to the parents in order for the newborn to be taken well cared for.

You have just read the different roles that a midwife has. A midwife not just helps during the delivery but in educating the parents and the people about what to do before and after the delivery as well. Midwives can be trusted in their expert professional skills for assisting you during labor and delivery