Gadgets For Busy Moms: MyFoxNY.com

As you know, we developed KidKupz to not only help children “take the ick out of sick”® and chase away the harsh taste of liquid medications,  but also to help parents ensure their child is always getting the proper dosage.  That is why KidKupz are made using standardized dosage cups with clearly marked measurements – no room for error and the cups can be used with ANY liquid medications.

Clearly, The Journal of the American Medical Association supports our concerns.  Here is the JAMA study, released yesterday.  Important reading for all parents and caregivers.

“ Evaluation of Consistency in Dosing Directions and Measuring Devices for Pediatric Nonprescription Liquid Medications ”

Also, here is the video from WABC and the esteemed Dr. Jay Adlersberg.

We’ve all heard the buzz about what are considered to be the top “super foods.” These are the foods that offer the greatest health benefits and needless to say, none of them are found at McDonalds. It certainly isn’t news that our kids need to eat more fruits and vegetables, but what may be news to you is that there are certain foods that can actually benefit our childrens’ developing brains.

On my trying-to-be-a-good-parent days I try to offer my kids some sort of healthy snack after school or I try and avoid resorting to chicken nuggets for dinner. So, while I’m at it, I figure I might as well go with the foods that doctors and scientists  may will actually aid my children as they tackle their schoolwork.  For instance, did you know that egg yolks are packed with something called choline which aids in memory development?  I often try and substitute egg whites for yolks in an effort to reduce fat and cholesterol but here is a case where the benefits may well be worth the few extra grams of cholesterol.

Take a look at this round-up from WebMD and get some great meal and snack ideas that may actually help your child get the most of out of his school day.

I guess I’m finding out a bit late that this week is officially, “National Turn Off TV Week” but better late than never. The phrase itself is unimaginable to many of our children, and if we’re being honest, to us grown-ups, too. I am always incredulous when I meet a mom or see an interview with a parent who claims that their children watch zero TV. I am either very cynical or just a lousy mom. I am all for limits, but let’s be realistic here.

Well according to www.nourishinteractive.com this may even may be an attainable goal for your family, which can then be followed-up with some great new habits for long-term limits on TV viewing. The key is finding the right alternatives that will keep your child engaged and connected without  sitting in front of some sort of screen…Scary, I know! Nourisheven has some fun printables that will help you and your child kick some old habits and create some new and improved ones. Take a peak…

When my mother and I first created KidKupz, our main objective was to make taking liquid medications easier for children while at the same time making the job easier on moms, dads and caregivers.  Having spoken with many pediatricians and health care professionals, we were also concerned with another of aspect of administering liquid medications. We wanted to help ensure that children were receiving the proper dosage of their medication and that each dose was being taken in full. That is the reason behind our clearly marked dosage Kupz with standard, easy to read measurements.

We interviewed lots of moms who told us the many different concoctions they would create and mix with liquid medicines, including chocolate syrup and applesauce. The problem with this approach is that you can’t be sure your child is getting the complete dose if the medicine is mixed in with a larger portion of another food that is then not entirely consumed.

Our dream was, indeed, to “Take the ick out of sick” but most important is that children are administered medication safely, and accurately. Take a look at this Web M.D. article and see why perhaps Mary Poppins should have been singing, “Just a cup rimmed with fruity flavors helps the medicine go down..”

Before I was married or had children, I lived in an apartment building in Manhattan and the building was chock full of families with school age children. One of the most memorable benefits I reaped from being around all of these kids was the ability to stock up on cookies when Girl Scout Season rolled around. I stocked up like no body’s business, for purely selfish reasons, and as a result became popular with the kids. However, as the old saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

The problem was that as these young girls and boys went through grade school, they were asked to participate in more and more school fundraisers which entailed going door to door in our building and getting the tenants to order things we did not want or need. The pressure and incentives for these kids to sell and sell hard was such that they were even hitting up the doormen and elevator men.  Shameless, right?  Candy, nuts, magazines, candles, popcorn tins and the dreaded wrapping paper. At first, the door to door visits were cute and you couldn’t help but feel like you must order something. After all, school programs are genuinely in need of funding. Year after year, I flipped through cheesy catalogs filled with junk that either never showed up or showed up months later bearing no resemblance to the picture in the catalog. I don’t mean to give these companies a bad name but I rarely received a magazine for which I had bought a subscription. The last time I gave in to a school fundraiser of this kind was about 10 years ago. I ordered tons of wrapping paper and ribbon from the lovely girl next door in the hope that I could make use of it that coming Christmas. That wrapping paper never came and when I tried to ask the girl’s parents to intervene and follow up with the school, I realized how emotionally fraught these things can get. After all, my check had been cashed and their daughter had been one of the top sellers in her class so they washed their hands of the matter.

It was then that I vowed to no longer participate in this type of school fundraiser, no matter how cute the child and how persuasive their sales pitch. Fortunately, the school that my own children now attend, does not raise funds in this way. But, for those of you who have had similar traumatic experiences, I have come across some sage advice . Read on and spare yourself the buyer’s remorse while still making a valuable and much needed contribution to the schools in your community.

We’re excited to share some great KidKupz news with all of you. As of September, you will be able to find KidKupz medicine dispensing cups at over 5,000 Walgreens stores nationwide!

Our ever popular Sour Cherry and Blue Raspberry flavors will be available on Walgreens’ shelves in an even more convenient box size – still six dosage cups, same great taste. As always, all four flavors will still be available at our web store but now you also have the comfort of knowing that come back to school time and cold and allergy season, KidKupz are as convenient as a trip to your local Walgreens.

Pick up a box for your family and let us know what you think!

As the final days of summer were upon me, I began, as I do every year, to obsess about how to best approach my children and their homework routines. My son and daughter are now entering 6th and 5th grades, respectively. They are both good students and I have always felt that it was partly due to their abilities and their hard work and partly due to the fact that we have worked on organization and good study habits from 1st grade on. I guess the question is, what constitutes “good” study habits.

I have always been taught that a child does better when he or she has a quiet, organized, designated study area–a spot where they do their schoolwork and their reading every day. I have always been a stickler, or according to my children, an evil witch, when it comes to homework and studying. When my kids started asking if they could stay at school and get their homework done in the library, I thought that sounded like a great idea, and less of a struggle for me at home.  I would meet them at school and stay in the library to do some work or read as they did their school work. That experiment was short-lived. Both kids, but especially my daughter were distracted by every single movement or sound as people whispered or sharpened pencils or opened and closed a door. She must have looked up from the desk every 20 seconds and they both seemed to rush through the work in order to be done and head home free of any more work.  Of course, all of this just went to validate my theory that they need to be at their desk, in their rooms or at the dining room table, with no potential distractions.

Well,  according to a fascinating article in this week’s Science Times, it seems that, I too, may have a few new things to learn. In his article, Benedict Carey explores an entirely new perspective on study habits and how kids from elementary through college and grad school can get the most out of their time spent hitting the books. This is a must -read!

If your family is anything like mine, then summer throws your normal school year routine right out the window.  Of course, our kids aren’t heading out to class but that’s not the only thing that changes at my house. Sleep schedules, bedtime routines, meal times, reading time, eating habits and some semblance of a dress code…all of these things seem to take on a life of their own at my house come Summer vacation.

My kids still need to get wake up early so that I can drive them to day camp, but let’s face it, it’s camp and wandering in late in your flip flops is just fine. Meal times and schedules slide around and I even find myself allowing ice cream to sneak in more frequently during the week.  It is Summer, after all, and the ice cream and the fresh corn and the cookouts with smores, well aren’t they just a necessary part of childhood?

So, with summer slowly winding down, what is the best way to gradually start transitioning our children, and ourselves, back into more of a routine that will prepare us for back to school? Take a look at WebMD’s Ask the School Nurse for some practical advice that may not have crossed your mind while you were relaxing on the beach.

If your children are old enough to begin taking on some basic household chores then you may want to take a look at this article from WebMD for some great perspective on why assigning chores is so important for raising independent and confident children.

Somehow it seems that many parents of today have things a bit backwards. We all love our children so much and want them to be joyful and free of stress 24-7. After all, kids have so much going on in their lives today with schoolwork and after school activities, how can we expect them to be pitching in with the laundry or the gardening on top of their own “stuff?” The truth is, kids need to feel that they are an integral part of their household and that in turn will provide them with the crucial self-esteem that so many kids lack. Read on for some super suggestions!