May 2020

Advice Column, Parenting, Toddler

Teaching your young child manners

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As parents, it is our job to ensure that our children grow up knowing and practising good manners. It is not always the easiest thing to instil – especially in young toddlers. From birth onwards, it is a child’s instinct to be somewhat selfish in order to self-preserve. Often, from one to two years old, you will find children playing alongside each other as opposed to with each other. It is our responsibility to encourage them to play with each other, share and have good manners. But how do we go about it? The experts say there are three main ways to instill manners from a young age.

Advice Column, Education, Parenting

How to help your child think critically

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Have you ever experienced your child challenging something you have told them? It may seem frustrating, however I urge you to encourage your child’s natural instincts to inquire about the world around them. Critical thinking is beneficial for a number of reasons, it forms a vital role in their development and it helps them make sense of the world around them. It allows them to ask valuable questions and make valued judgements, and try to figure things out if they don’t make sense.

Advice Column, Early Learning, Education, Toddler

Cleverdon Preschool

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Our engaging and inspired teachers take a zoom class each morning at a set time where they cover brain gym/movement, theme related topics, songs, sensory activities, science experiments, baking, stories and fun activities, which develop the preschool skills. Further activities and videos are loaded onto the google classroom for each class which the parents and children can access.

Advice Column, Education, Home Education, Parenting, Study Assistance, Study Tips

Studying from home: Impaq learners and parents share their tips

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Many learners who normally attend traditional schools have temporarily become homeschoolers due to the national lockdown. While some are finding it easy to adjust others are struggling. We wanted to help, so we asked the experts: Impaq’s learners and parents. They successfully study from home all year round, so we asked them to share their creative tips and tricks on how to study from home during the lockdown.

Advice Column, Bonitas, Health, Lifestyle, Parenting

Making sense of the numbers – cases, co-morbidities and costs

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As the number of COVID-19 infections creeps closer to 20 000, both public and private healthcare is going to be under constant pressure. The World Health Organization (WHO) says its COVID-19 data to date suggests that 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe infections, requiring oxygen and 5% are critical infections, requiring ventilation.

Advice Column, Baby, Lifestyle, Motor safety, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby

Addressing rear-facing concerns with science

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I am a careful driver. I don’t have any history of accidents, whether from my own doing or anyone else’s. But I also don’t have any illusions – almost every other day I have some kind of close call situation. There are always people who don’t look before driving… Or change lanes without checking their blind spots… Or who reverse out of a parking spot without checking. Sometimes, I’m even guilty of those things and only remain accident-free thanks to good luck and quick reflexes. With Harley along for the ride, I’m even more aware of the risks, and the importance of car seats, particularly rear-facing car seats. But there were some rear-facing concerns that arose.

Advice Column, Parenting, Toddler

Is your child’s temper tantrum normal?

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Believe it or not, young toddlers use temper tantrums as a way to self-soothe. Temper tantrums are their bodies, and minds, way of dealing with stressful situations. Because a young child has not yet developed the ability to communicate or the means to create their own equilibrium like an adult, what comes out of these situations is a tantrum.

Advice Column, Baby, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby

Baby suffering with colic during lockdown? Try these soothing techniques

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Usually colic is short-lasting for just a few months, but nevertheless it is an upsetting time for both you and baby. It is commonly believed that colic in young babies can be a result of digestive or feeding problems, which can be linked to swallowing air when feeding. Air can be ingested by baby when it enters the bottle and mixes with the milk, and also when baby ingests air while feeding from the teat.

Advice Column, Baby, Breastfeeding, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby

A simple guide to the basics of breastfeeding

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Becoming a mom is one of life’s greatest gifts, and whether it is your first or your third time, the feeling of immense joy you experience when you first lay eyes on your baby, is unbeatable. Having said that, many new moms express that these feelings of joy are quickly pushed aside by feelings of complete panic and helplessness when it comes to breastfeeding for the first time.

Advice Column, Education, Home Education, Parenting, Study Assistance, Study Tips

Tips for studying from home during lockdown

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Keeping up with your studies during the national lockdown? Whether you’re a seasoned homeschooler or usually attend a traditional school, keeping up with your studies during lockdown can be challenging. You’re confined to your home with family members around. To succeed in studying at home, you need to be prepared and become actively involved in your studies.

Advice Column, Bonitas, Health, Lifestyle, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby, Tech

Supporting you through your pregnancy

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Bonitas Medical Fund believes that as an expecting mom your pregnancy should be a unique and joyful experience. Through targeted support during each trimester, pregnancy education and specific related engagements – via telephone and digital channels – we aim to help you achieve this. With the new Maternity Programme we hope to improve the health of moms-to-be and, as a result, reduce possible complications.

Advice Column, Baby, Lifestyle, Motor safety, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby

So what do you look for when selecting an infant seat?

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When it comes to investing in items for your kids, it’s important to remember that all our needs are different. The items we choose are dependent on our lifestyle, our financial situations and what’s best for baby. When choosing an infant seat, find a reputable brand that you can trust, that has the highest level of safety… A seat that’s functional and comfortable for your child considering that they spend quite a chunk of their lives in various seats.

Advice Column, Education, Parenting, Tech, Tween & Teen

Navigating the e-learning terrain

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For generations, we have grown up in classrooms where we learnt the same information at the same pace, regardless of our interests or needs – the ‘one size fits all’ approach. But the dawn of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and more recently the Coronavirus pandemic, has shone a light on the need to take a different approach to learning and teaching. For example, E-learning, which refers to the use of information and communication technologies to enable the access to online learning/teaching resources, has the benefit of flexibility; convenience; cost effectiveness and immediacy. In addition, a dynamic e-learning platform not only meets the needs of different students, but it also enriches learning in classroom settings. The Western Cape government, for example, has committed to spending R1.2-billion to implement e-learning in 1 250 local schools, which is a significant step toward bridging the education gap in South Africa.

Advice Column, Baby, Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby, Toddler

HELLO WE’RE ORGANIX!

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We’ve been cooking up scrummy, nutritious baby and toddler meals and snacks since 1992. It may seem like common sense to us today, but making sure little ones ate a varied diet, full of texture and taste from real fruit and veggies, was a much less talked about idea back then, when our healthy-eating campaigner Lizzie Vann founded Organix. After searching in vain for healthy organic baby and toddler food she decided to make her own and this was how Organix was born.

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