Two Simple Steps to Healthy, Active Kids!

Is it easy to keep your kids active and healthy? As a parent you may feel like it’s a constant worry; are they doing the right activities? Are they eating the right things? Hopefully these two easy tips involving nutrition and sport will put your kids on the right track to a healthy, active and happy future.

Step 1: Are you really what you eat? School age children have high nutritional needs but often small appetites, you may wonder how your child isn’t wasting away before your eyes with the little food they eat (although obviously this is not always the case- and definitely won’t last into their teens when they’ll be demolishing the contents of your fridge daily!). The key to feeding school age children is regular eating and ensuring all meals and snacks are high in nutrients and energy. Not only will this give your child the energy they need for the playground but it will also contribute to developing healthy eating habits for later life! You should base your child’s meals on the five main food groups; fruit and veg, bread rice pasta and potatoes, milk and dairy foods,meat fish eggs and beans, foods containing fats and sugar.

The ‘healthy eating plate’ shows the proportion of each meal that should be made up of foods from each group. You should limit the amount of sugary snacks and drinks your child has, although it does provide energy it isn’t the right kind of slow release energy they’ll need for their day and it can contribute to tooth decay and weight gain. As well as varying the foods they consume by food group, there are also some key nutrients that should always be included in your child’s diet for healthy development; Calcium, Folate and Iron. Calcium, vital for healthy bone development in children, is found in milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais but also in fortified orange juice, green leafy vegetables and cereals. Folate is essential for growth in children and has been found to be low in children who regularly skip breakfast! You’ll find folate in cereals, bread, green leafy vegetables and pulses. Finally Iron is essential to keep red blood cells healthy and can be found in red meat, pulses and beans. A little tip to help iron absorb more effectively; combine it with Vitamin C rich foods such as orange juice!

Snacking is always a difficult thing to get right when it comes to kids, but before you give in to the prolonged “Pleeeeeeeease Mum” and reach for the jammy dodgers, here are some snack ideas that are full of nutrients and should hopefully put smiles on their faces to;

·                          Crunchy muesli and yoghurt

·                          Toasted crumpet or teacake

·                          Fresh fruit

·                          Low-fat yoghurt or fromage frais

·                          Nuts, seeds or dried fruit

·                          Small carton of milk

·                          Fruit smoothies

·                          Cheese and crackers or oatcakes

·                          Slice of fruit loaf or malt loaf

Step 2: Get them active!! Sport can be great for kids primarily for them to have fun and enjoy themselves, but it has a lot of other benefits too! Playing sport can encourage confidence in your child and establish a real sense of team work and achievement- especially if you provide them with bag loads of praise! Let your child have a say in what sport they play, if they are doing something they enjoy they are more likely to excel at it, make friends and much less likely to feel demoralised. While competition can be fun for some kids, some do shy away from it so don’t push them as it may put them off participating at all. Take the lead from your child as to whether they are keen to compete or just want to enjoy the game. A balance between sport and play is essential; they might need to try several sports before they find something they really enjoy! Taking part in sports and active games from a young age will encourage healthy active habits for later life and essentially keep your kids healthy and developing well- excellent news!

WEANING: Parent-Led VS Baby-Led

Firstly, a few tips on weaning in general. The government guidelines recommend you don’t start weaning your baby until 6 months of age. Before this time, your baby should only be fed breast milk or infant formula. This allows your baby’s digestive system to mature enough to cope with solid foods. Some signs your baby may be ready for food:

• They are able to sit upright in a sitting position and can hold their head steady.
• They are able to coordinate their eyes hands and mouth.
• They are able to swallow food (i.e. they don’t just spit everything back out!)

Now here’s the tricky bit, what foods do you give your baby, and how and when do you feed them? This is where we see a division in opinions between the more traditional weaning using purees (which we will call parent-led weaning) and the alternate method of Baby-led weaning.

Parent-led weaning would involve feeding your baby purees of fruit and vegetables to begin with, such as; carrot, parsnip, potato, sweet potato, apple and pear. These things should be cooked (steamed ideally to preserve nutrients!) and then pureed in a food processor. Additionally, you can feed your baby soft no-cook foods such as banana, avocado, peach and melon mashed with a fork or potato masher. It is also common to feed your baby porridge or baby rice mixed with their usual milk. As your baby develops more tastes you can give them soft cooked meats (like chicken) and fish mashed or pureed along with pasta, rice and noodles (little pieces). Also, full fat dairy products should be given, such as yoghurt, fromage frais and custard. So this answers what foods are involved in parent-led weaning, but a key factor is how this food is offered to your baby. As the food is pureed there is only really one way of offering it to your baby and that is from a spoon! You should wait until your baby opens their mouth for the spoon, and may like to give them their own spoon to hold. Eventually, when your baby has full coordination over their hands and eyes, they will be able to spoon feed themselves (hooray- although you haven’t seen the mess yet!).

This all sounds pretty straight forward right? Well yes it is, until you consider the other method of weaning being championed in books and on the web; Baby-Led weaning. Put simply, baby-led weaning involves letting your child feed themselves from the very beginning (so not a weaning spoon or food processor in sight). They idea is you just hand your baby food in suitable sized chunks and they take it off you and eat it…easy peasy! To start with, think of cutting foods up into sticks (i.e. chip sized pieces) as this is the perfect size and shape for a 6 month old to grasp. Try things like steamed carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, toast or soft fruit like banana or mango. Don’t worry about bowls, just hand the food straight to your baby and put a few bits at a time on their high chair tray. Demonstrate what they are supposed to do by munching a few sticks yourself! Never put the food into your baby’s mouth, letting them do it themselves gives them full control over the eating process and limits the risk of them gagging on the food. Baby-led weaning encourages your baby to chew their food and helps to develop those skills required in eating solid foods. Brilliant!

So which is the best method? They both have their pros and cons so I say why not create a hybrid; taking the best from both. Why not give your baby some soft buttery toast sticks to chew on at breakfast time while you prepare their baby porridge? Or some carrot sticks with their chicken and sweet potato puree for lunch? (You get the idea right?). This way, your baby is encouraged to handle food and feed themselves, as well as to accept food off a spoon. Their chewing skills will be developed by the finger foods and their swallowing perfected by the purees. Plus they will get to taste a range of different foods and textures and are more likely to enjoy the whole process (great news, except now you have mushy peas and half chewed carrot sticks to clean off the floor- sorry!).

Kids Recipe of the Week- Toad in the Hole with Potato Boats

• For the toad in the whole put the sausages in a ceramic baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and cook at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the batter by sieving 100g flour into a bowl, crack in an egg and mix in 300ml milk a little at a time to make a smooth batter.
• Get the sausages out of the oven, pour over the batter and place back into the oven for another 20--25 minutes. Do not open the oven door in this time!
• For the potato boats bake potatoes in the oven for an hour, then cut in half and scoop out the soft potato inside. Keep the skins in tact.
• In a bowl mix the soft potato with butter and your choice of ingredients (why not try ham or chives?) Scoop the potato mixture back into the skins, top with grated cheese and place under a preheated grill for 10 minutes.

Baby Recipe of the Week- Tuna, Bulgar wheat and peas- from 9 months.

• Simmer a handful of frozen peas in boiling water for 2-3 minutes until soft.
• Drain and mash with a potato masher.
• Cook the dried Bulgar wheat to the packet instructions (usually simmer in boiling water for around 10 minutes) and drain in a sieve.
• Drain and can of tuna and use a fork to mix together the Bulgar wheat, tuna and mashed peas.
• TIP: Use the potato masher to mash it all together until it is the right consistency for your baby (it shouldn’t be completely smooth but have small textured bits for your baby to chew). 

The First Year- Your Baby's Development

The first year of your baby’s life is an exciting time for him and you. So many changes happen in this first year to take your beautiful newborn to a troublesome tot! Hopefully this simple guide will help with what to expect and when.

At about the age of 2 weeks your newborn will develop facial attention. She will begin to look at your face and focus on you when you are looking at, or talking to her. However it isn’t until around 6 weeks that your baby will begin to recognise your face. It’s also at this stage that your baby may begin to smile at you (watch out for the ‘wind produced pseudo smiles' in the first few weeks!!).

It is between 6 and 8 weeks that you might begin to hear your baby making sounds. Presumably by this stage you’ve heard him cry but these new sounds are different, they are simply to get your attention. At this age games like ‘peek-a-boo’ are perfect for developing this new attention, recognition and little noises!

By 3 months your baby should have reasonable control over her head. She will begin to reach out for toys, hold onto them and follow them with her eyes. Plenty of tummy time is great at this age to strengthen your baby’s back (use a rolled up towel under her chest and don’t forget to give her lots of interesting things to look at and reach for). Don’t be put off if your baby is less than keen on this activity, even a couple of minutes a day can help!! It is also at this stage that your baby will begin to respond to you and engage in conversation, so make sure you leave spaces after you’ve spoken for her valuable input!

When your baby reaches 6 months, congratulations- you’ve made it through those exhausting first few months. Now the real fun can begin. It is at this stage your baby will start rolling, sitting up and even standing whilst you hold his hands. This is a really exciting time as they develop and perfect new skills almost daily! Your baby will also begin to babble, laugh and imitate sounds you make. However amongst all of this fun, it is around 5-6 months that the terrible teething can start. You’ll spot certain tell tale signs such as excess dribbling, red cheeks, nappy rash and most of all fussiness and pain. He’ll probably wake early and need lots of cuddles… but this phase will pass- eventually!

Crawling is usually seen between 7 and 12 months, although this varies hugely from baby to baby. Don’t be concerned if your baby chooses an alternative style, such as only going backwards or bum shuffling or even if they skip crawling all together and go straight onto two legs!! By 9 months they should be able to pull themselves up to standing using you (or the cot bars!) for support. Your baby will also have developed her pincer grip by now, this is when she uses her thumb and fore finger to pick things up (challenge her with raisins- they’re tricky!)

Your baby has reached his first birthday- by now he understands that if an object can’t be seen it still exists and he’ll be making repetitive sounds. Don’t forget to sing and talk to your baby lots- he’ll love your singing even if no one else does!

Kids Recipe of the Week- Fish and Chips

• Cut skinless boneless white fish fillet (one per child) into bite size chunks.
• For the batter sieve flour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt then add cold sparkling water and mix. Add enough water to make the batter thin and runny.
• Heat oil (sunflower or vegetable) in a sauce pan- a couple of inches deep.
• Coat the fish chunks in flour and then the batter and then put them straight into the hot oil. Fry 3 or 4 pieces in one go but don’t overcrowd them or they’ll stick together.
• After a couple of minutes in the oil take the fish pieces out and drain on kitchen paper. Keep going until all the fish pieces are fried.
• For the chips cut new potatoes into quarters and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and cook at 180 degrees for 30 minutes (shaking around occasionally during cooking).
• Serve with peas and ketchup for dipping!
• TIP: Test the oil is hot enough by dropping a small amount of batter in. If it fizzes to the surface your oil is hot enough to start cooking the fish.

Baby Recipe of the Week- Little Fish Pie- from 7 months

• Place a skinless boneless fillet of white fish in a frying pan, cover with baby’s usual milk half way up the fillet and poach until flakey. Once finished keep the milk and put it aside.
• Boil potatoes and mash with butter and your baby’s usual milk.
• To make the cheese sauce, melt 50g butter in a sauce pan, and 1 tbsp flour and mix to a paste. Add poaching milk slowly over a medium heat until you get a smooth consistency. Add 50g grated cheddar cheese and stir in well.
• Steam 4-5 broccoli florets, then add these, the fish and the cheese sauce to a food processor and blend to the desired consistency. Mix in the mashed potato and serve.
• TIP: You can easily freeze this for another day. Straight after making it divide the fish pie into individual sized portions for your baby, leave to cool and then place in the freezer. It will keep for up to 6 weeks.

Summer Fun

As August approaches we are well and truly into the school summer holidays, 6 weeks of quality time with your favourite little people!! But… as the weather continues in its miserable fashion and the voices stating “I’m bored!” begin to be heard throughout the house we take a look at what is happening around Richmond and London in the coming weeks that is sure to keep your kiddies entertained come rain or shine!

My advice is to check those weather forecasts daily, and at the slightest hint of a warm and sunny day get those buckets and spades packed up and head over to Twickenham Play Beach. Running from 23^rd July to 31^st August, 8am to 8pm and totally FREE!! Who wouldn’t love a day at the beach? You will find the play beach at Champions Wharf, Riverside, Twickenham TW1 3DU (near St Mary's Church). Make an appearance on Thursday 21^st August at 2:30- 3:30pm for a Free Storytime session at the beach.

For those older kids, 8 years and over, take them along to Teddington Pools, Vicarage Road, TW11 8EZ on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm-3:30pm for Fun Time Floats, a ‘float extravaganza’ in the main pool. They’ll have a splashing good time and it’ll wear them out enough for a quiet afternoon and an early night! Littlies can enjoy the floats as well at Winkles and Shrimps toddler playtime in the learner pool, designed to build their confidence in the water. The sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30pm-3:30pm. Click here for further details and prices of all the activities at Teddington pools.

For outdoor fun visit the One O’Clock Club at Marble Hill Park. The drop in play sessions run every weekday from 1pm to 4pm and offer a busy happy play environment for children 0-5 years. While the tots are busy digging in the sand pit or riding the bikes, their older brothers and sisters can swing from ropes and climb to their hearts content at the Adventure Playground next door. This staffed adventure playground is the only one of its kind within the borough and will undoubtedly entertain your 5-15 year olds over the summer! Click here for prices and opening times.

Of course we all know that the sun isn’t always going to be shining… so what do you do with the kids on rainy days? Why not take them to the theatre to see some much loved favourites. ‘Angelina Ballerina; The Mousical’ is playing at Richmond theatre throughout August and September, with tickets ranging from £13.50 to £17.50. For something that will keep Mum and Dad amused as well why not try Shrek the Musical showing until March 31^st 2013 at the Royal Drury Lane Theatre. The show is for 4 years up and you can catch a 3pm matinee performance on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays!

Looks like you’re going to be busy- Enjoy!!

Kids Recipe of the Week- BBQ Chicken and Veg Skewers

• Cut chicken breasts (one per child) into small bite size chunks.
• Place into a bowl and drizzle over 3tbs honey, 4tbs soy sauce and 2 tsps fresh orange juice. Mix well, cover with cling film and place in the fridge for anything from a couple of hours to overnight.
• Alternate the chicken pieces on skewers with chopped up red and green peppers, mushrooms and courgettes (or whatever your little ones like!).
• Grill or BBQ for 15-20 minutes, turning frequently, until the chicken is cooked through. 
• TIP: soak your wooden skewers in water for 30 mins before using to stop them burning.

Baby recipe of the Week- Chicken, Apple and Carrot Puree- From 7 months

• Gently Fry a chopped onion and one small chicken breast (cut into small pieces) in butter until the onions are soft and the chicken is beginning to brown.
• Add a peeled, cored and chopped apple and 2 peeled, chopped carrots.
• Add 250ml boiling water cover and simmer on a medium heat for 15- 20 minutes minutes.
• Puree to a consistency that suits your baby.
• TIP: Add a couple of tablespoons of your baby’s usual milk for a creamier consistency.

Parkside Nannies: linking nannies with families that need them!

Parkside Nannies can take the stress out of finding a nanny. All nannies are CRB checked and thorough reference checking is conducted for your peace of mind. Call Parkside Nannies to make finding a nanny child’s play!

Parkside Nannies is a specialist childcare placement service based in Richmond, London and the surrounding areas. If you are a family looking for a personal, professional service to help you find your perfect nanny then make sure you get in touch!

Whatever your childcare needs, whether you are looking for an Ofsted registered nanny, someone with newborn experience or a special care nanny for a child with additional needs, Parkside Nannies will endeavour to find a nanny who not only meets your needs but is a good fit for your family. The aim is to encourage strong, long lasting relationships between families and nannies. Parkside Nannies provides a personal service and meets all of the families and nannies to really get to know them before recommending a placement. The areas covered include, but are not limited to: Richmond, Twickenham, Teddington, East Sheen and Mortlake.

Parkside Nannies has been set up by Helen Toffa, a local experienced nanny who has worked for families all over the Richmond borough. The company strives to provide an extremely personal service, using knowledge of the local area in order to create lasting bonds between families and nannies.

For more information on Parkside Nannies please visit the website or contact Helen by phone on 07908534612 or email helen@parksidenannies.co.uk

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