In June, France’s minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a “cry of alarm” to parents about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them “a danger” and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.

She was referring to Baby First TV and Baby TV.

The ruling cites health experts as saying that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development.

“Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens,” the ruling said.

I think that France may be taking this whole thing too far. My son has been watching TV since he was 8 months old. It has helped him learn how to talk and has taught him new songs and dances.

SOURCE

Now the American Physical Therapy Assn. wants parents to know that position is for when they’re sleeping and unsupervised.

A national survey of 400 pediatric physical and occupational therapists by the children’s health advocacy group Pathways Awareness found that two-thirds of therapists reported increases in motor delays in infants who spend too much time on their backs.

“We have seen first-hand what the lack of tummy time can mean for a baby: developmental, cognitive, and organizational skills delays, eye-tracking problems, and behavioral issues, to name just some complications,” said association spokeswoman Judy Towne Jennings from Fairfield, Ohio, in a news release. “New parents are told of the importance of babies sleeping on their backs to avoid SIDS, but they are not always informed about the importance of tummy time.”

It’s not just when they’re asleep that babies are on their backs. What with car seats, infant carriers, strollers and swings, the new generation of babies spend much of their awake time locked into a variety of protective containers — on their backs.

Tummy Time promotes muscle development and helps avoid flat areas on the backs of heads. So regularly get the little tykes out of those convenient containers and get down on the floor with them – even if they don’t like it.
Babycenter offers these tips to help make Tummy Time more enjoyable for both parent and baby:

1. Join them on the floor – get down on their level and encourage them, talk with them, shake their rattle, make funny faces or play peekaboo.
2. Buy a few tummy time toys – invest in a tummy-time toy or gym, designed especially for babies to play with while on their belly. Some have lights, mirrors, moving pictures, music and/or squeaky toys attached.
3. Get the other kids involved – if you have other kids at home have them join you to distract the baby.
4. It’s all about timing – make sure that you baby isn’t hungry or tired when you set them down for tummy time. A just-fed baby may also be uncomfortable if you try it just after feeding

Tip: Some parents find it helpful to roll their babies over on their tummy for a little while after every diaper change. It’s easy to remember to do it, and your baby may come to expect it. Your baby may also enjoy the view, if he’s up on a changing table. Just be sure to hold on to him so he doesn’t roll off.
Some tummy time toy suggestions:

Each video was created to introduce babies, toddlers or pre-schoolers to a second language. (Spanish, French, Mandarin, English/ESL)

Because my son was a bit behind in his speech, I opted for the English version to help expose him to common phrases for everyday activities.

I wasn’t sure what he was going to think because he is a singing and dancing video guy, but he quickly bonded with Little Pim, the Panda that hosts the series.

After watching all 3 videos with my son over and over, I have to say that I am impressed by many parts of the Little Pim program.

1. The Lead Character – Little Pim, the panda is a gracious host who is animated nicely. He is funny, personable and very cute. My son now refers to him like they are friends. It is very cute!!

2. Consistency – I like that each video is broken into smaller segments to help with quicker learning. Every segment has all of the key sections repeated so that younger minds can retain the information learned at the beginning. In between every segment Little Pim entertains with his funny ‘Pandaisms’ and cute antics. On top of learning common phrases – your child will also learn about Pandas!

3. No promotional crap to sift through before the video starts. I LOVE the fact that the video starts almost immediately after you put it in the DVD player. There is no promotional crap to fast forward or detailed maps to sift through, PLUS if the video ends instead of it cycling the main page, it re-starts after 2 minutes of sitting idle.

I highly recommend this video series to any parent looking to expose their child to a second language or to those who would like to help their child master their primary language.

The video touches on all aspects of everyday life from nap time straight through to spending time with your pets.

Once my son masters English, I would definitely love to introduce Spanish or French.

The 3 disc set we have retails for $49.95 at littlepim.com

They are great for teaching hand-eye coordination and creativity.

While I know that there are millions of lacing toys, here are some that I like the best:

1. Melissa and Doug – Lace and Trace animals($7.99)- 7 Lace and Trace Farm Animals are made out of sturdy wood pieces. The set even comes in a sturdy wooden box for easy storage!
2. Lacing Hedgehog($10.49) – This no frills lacing toy comes with a no frills price. There are lots of holes for looping and crossing over.
3. Sew and Sew($7.95) – This best selling lacing toy is simple and popular. It features a blunted wooden needle that fits through the ‘cheese’ holes easily. Because it is small, it can be used during travel or tucked in your purse as a surprise toy when you are out for dinner.
4. Lacing Bear Dress-Up($9.97) – What more could a child want? They get to learn a great skill and dress a bear at the same time. This set, by Melissa and Doug, includes one adorable bear, seventeen clothing and accessory pieces, and two extra-long laces!
5. Lacing Sneaker($10.95) – This toy is great because it takes your child through many developmental stages. It teaches lacing skilling and helps with learning how to tie laces. Kids will love it’s bright red colour and fun striped laces.
6. Lacing Apple Tree ($21.99) – This hard to find wooden tree is interesting because it is almost 3-D. Kids can string the laces through in many way creating an almost Christmas Tree garland effect.
7. IQ Preschool Ladybug Lacer($3.97) – This simple, reasonable priced toy will help your child practice their lacing and tying on a cute, painted wooden ladybug with holes. The 4-piece ladybug has a smooth finish and is brightly painted with red, green or yellow.

Sorting toys are a great way to encourage motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Here are a few of the ones that I have found that stand out.

The shape sorting Caterpiller – This multi-colored caterpiller encourages stacking, sorting and creativity. The brightly colored discs helps toddlers to recognize shapes and patterns.

$16.00

Wooden Shape Sort Cube – This wooden cube features unconventional shapes on 3 sides of the box. When your toddler puts the colored shapes through the right holes they receive a satisfying “clunk.”

$24.00

Stacking Clown from Plan Toys- While this toy is primarily a stacking toy, it also features a neat shape sorting feature. In order to be able to stack it properly, your toddler must be able to match the right shapes first. We will eventually have this clown in our house, he is just a tad intermediate for my guy yet.

PlanToys are made from natural, chemical free rubber wood and finished with non-toxic and child friendly colors.

$19.99

Shape-O® Toy by Tupperware - This classic toy is a must have in any toybox. Toddlers can use the 10 pieces to match the shapes on the toy, allowing them to identify shapes and develop coordination and dexterity. Each piece also has a number on one side with the corresponding number of dots on the other to teach preschoolers number recognition and counting.

On sale right now at Tupperware for $17.50

Haba Shape Sorting Board – Haba is famous for their solid beech wood toys that are made with completely non-toxic paints. This shape sorting peg board will teach colors, shapes and different sizes. Set comes with 20 large wooden blocks and one base.

$48.95

Geometric Sorting Board by Plan Toys - I love this sorting toy because it teaches so much. Your toddler will learn sorting, colors, numbers and shapes with this toy. lanToys are made from natural, chemical free rubber wood and finished with non-toxic and child friendly colors.

$11.99

Battat Shape Sorter House – This house helps kids to develop hand-eye coordination and teaches them colors, matching and sorting skills. It comes with 6 doors with locks, 6 geometric shapes that fit into doors, 6 different shapes fit into the chimneys and a key ring with 6 keys for the door.

$17.99

Fisher-Price Laugh& Learn Cookie Shape Surprise – This smiling-face cookie jar features a magical opening that senses baby’s hand, or the cookie shapes, and plays music and sounds and says phrases. It has a shape mode and a number mode. Includes 5 cookie shapes, magical cookie jar and lid

$14.99