Why is Reading to your Baby Good for Him?

Reading is very good for your children, no matter what age they are. It is never too early to start.

Reading will help build your child's vocabulary, stimulate his imagination, and improve his communication skills. The more you speak to your child from the get-go, the better it is for his growth and development. Studies have actually shown that language skills (and even intelligence) are related to how many words an infant hears each day. In one study, babies whose parents spoke to them a lot-an average of 2,100 words an hour-scored higher on standard tests when they reached age 3 than children whose parents hadn't been quite as verbal. Naming the parts of your child's body is a good way to chat. Reading is just another fun way to add variety to your verbal interactions with your little one.

Our daughter is read to on a daily basis. I generally read to her out of children's books, while her father is obsessed with cars. He has a million different car books and magazines, so-of course-Angelina gets to hear about the different components of cars and how they run and all that stuff every day when her father reads to her. At such a young age that she doesn't even know what he's talking about, she enjoys it. She's just happy she gets to hear his voice. Who knows what she will think of that once she gets older. Either she'll actually like learning about cars and what not, or she'll be more like her mom who gets so tired of hearing about cars and engines day and night (especially when I have no idea what he is even talking about!).

And remember, it is never too early to begin reading to your children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends reading aloud daily to your baby starting at about six months of age. This is about the time when he'll really begin to enjoy looking at books with you. (Angelina loves it, though she almost rips out some pages here and there.) But Jim Trelease (a longtime read-aloud expert and author of the Read Aloud Handbook) says that you can start when your child is just a newborn. (Angelina has been read to nearly everyday since about one week of age.)

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Does Sugar Really Make Kids Hyper?

I'm sure all of you have heard that sugar makes kids hyper. But does it really? I read an article in a Parenting magazine recently that discussed this topic.

More than 20 studies show that sugar has no effect on behavior. In reality, it's more like guilt by association. Kids tend to eat a lot of candy at parties where they would go wild, anyway. It may also be a matter of perception, says Mark Wolraich, M.D., a chief of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. In one study, moms who were told their children had eaten sugar rated them as very hyper compared to kids who ate an artificial sweetener, even though they actually all ate the sweetener.

So to get right down to it, limiting sugar is a great idea for your child's health-it probably isn't what causes them to be hyper at times.

Now I don't know if I necessarily believe this, even though it makes sense. A trick I have heard from several people is to buy sugar-free candy (found in the pharmacy part of most stores). The kids usually can't tell the difference, and whether it's a case of not wanting your kids to get so "hyper" or simply not wanting your little ones to consume so much sugar-it's a good idea.

Angelina is only about 6 1/2 months old, so candy hasn't even entered her life yet. Her father is a health food nut, and he keeps stressing that she will only be able to eat fruits and vegetables for snacks. While I think this is a wonderful idea, it's only going to last for so long before she realizes there is candy and other snacks out there besides fruit. But we'll make it last as long as we can. Either way, I do plan to keep her from the candy and chips for as long as I can. And once she is introduced to those foods, limit her consumption of them. Because her father is right, the eating habits children learn when they are little stick with them for the rest of their lives.

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