10 TIPS FOR PARENTS OF PICKY EATERS

Being the parent of a picky eater can be frustrating at best. Getting a picky eater to try new things can be a pretty stressful experience, especially when it comes to trying to ensure that your child eats a balanced diet of foods that will keep them healthy. Attempting to get a child who refuses to eat anything green or a kid who only wants to eat chicken nuggets to try different kinds of food is a difficult task, but it definitely isn't impossible.

Be Patient

Patience is key, especially when it comes to dealing with testy kids. It is important to remain cool, calm, and under control; this means keeping yourself in check and refraining from punishing a child for their food choices out of frustration. Start off by slowly introducing your child to different, healthier options in an exciting way, gauge his reactions and go from there.

Have Healthy Food Readily Available

Instead of filling the house with processed junk foods and takeout, always make sure to have plenty of healthy food options available in the house. Fresh fruit and veggies, organic juice, even clean eating homemade snacks. Doing this will help your children get used to eating good, fresh food as well as get them on the right track to maintaining a better diet.

Involve Them in the Cooking Process

Let your child be active in the kitchen. Involve them in the grocery shopping process as well as food preparation. While it may be pertinent to keep them far away from the knives, allow them to cook alongside you. Make the experience even better by making games out of certain activities and boasting about the delicious ingredients you are using to create the meal.

Let Them Have Treats Every Once in a While

It's definitely not beneficial you fill your child up with sugar regularly, but letting them have a little sweet treat every once in a while can actually be good for them. Teach your children how to moderate when it comes to sugary snacks.

Make Fun Food

Food is already delicious, but if it's not shaped like a dinosaur or in the candy aisle at the supermarket, kids have a hard time recognizing just how fun food can be. Make new foods fun for kids to eat by shaping them into something cool or using a bit of food coloring. They'll be so excited to dig into the cool new dish, the though of it being something different from the norm might not even cross their mind.

Don't Make "Special Meals"

As hard as it may be to resist, it is important that you don't make a special, separate meal for your picky eater. Being complicit in their habits only shows them that they are acceptable.

Get Creative with your Old Recipes

Try incorporating new twists into recipes that your child already loves, if your picky eater's favorite food is spaghetti, try mixing in a few fresh veggies in with the sauce. Introducing children to new things via the things they already love is a great way to get them excited about being adventurous.

Set a Good Example

As a parent it is important that you set a good example when it comes to food. If your child only views you eating fast food and fatty snacks, they may think that sort of behavior is acceptable and seek to emulate it.

Don't Punish or Reward your Child with Food

You should never offer things like dessert or their favorite snacks as rewards for trying new things, nor should you threaten to take them away for doing the opposite. Doing this allows children to see healthy foods as punishment or an obstacle that they must get through to enjoy "better foods." Encourage your kids to appreciate all foods for what they are.

Keep Distractions Away from the Dinner Table

When eating, turn off the television and keep cellphones and tablets as far away from the table as possible. Use dinner time as a chance to bond as a family, being open with each other may make your child more receptive to trying new things.

Source: lailaalilifestyle

NIGERIAN MADE HISTORY AS FIRST AFRICAN POLICE INSPECTOR IN NYPD

New York Police Department Promotes Nigerian-American Olufunmilayo Obe To Inspector; The First African Ever To Be so Promoted In The History Of NYPD.

 

The New York Police Department has announced the promotion of Deputy Inspector Olufunmilola F. Obe to the rank of Inspector. When her promotion was announced at a ceremony at Police headquarters in Manhattan on Friday, December 18, 2015, there was a tumultuous roar of approval from the audience of many Nigerians and other African leaders in the New York region, who had been invited to witness the ceremony, including Imam Souleymane Konate.

Inspector Obe began her career with the New York City Police Department in June, 1992 as a Police Cadet assigned to the 24 Precinct. In February 1994, she was sworn in as a New York City police officer and assigned to the 17 Precinct. She has also served at the 19 and 50 Precincts, as well as the Property Clerk Division. She was promoted to Sergeant in December 2000, Lieutenant in July 2005, Captain in September 2008, and Deputy Inspector in June 2012.

With Colleagues

Currently the Commanding Officer at the 28 Precinct, Inspector Obe has also commanded Police Service Area B. She also served as Executive Officer of the 19, 25 and 34 Precincts.

Inspector Obe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from The City College of New York and a Master of Public Administration from Marist College. She is a 2014 graduate of the Police Management Institute at Columbia University.

Inspector Obe has been married to her husband, Peter, for 19 years, and they have three children, Ayodele, Tola and Timi.

The African community congratulates this trail-blazer in policing in the United States of America, and wants the world to know that they are very proud of her accomplishments.

Source: African Opinion

4 SIGNS YOU ARE DESTROYING YOUR MARRIAGE

Marriage is a game that involves two hearts coming together to become one. More than anything, being blind to our spouse’s wants and needs and also getting lazy in love is what kills the human spirit.

As humans, it is normal that we be selfish and self-centered to a certain level, but some people are even much more selfish than others. And this is not something that helps with the human spirit.

After I divorced my husband this year, I had to do some thinking, during which I came up with a list of things that I hope will help some couples who are in love and married people who haven’t come to a dead end in their marriage.

I’m sure there a lot more other reasons, but these are the things that I know destroyed the spirit of two people (My husband and I) who had a promising relationship, and which should accordingly be paid attention to.

These are the 4 signs your marriage is destroying your spirit, take it from a newly divorced mum who totally missed them.

1. You stop making love

We want so much to be wanted and yearned for by the person we love, we want intimacy and we crave the chemistry that occurs when we kiss the lips of the one we love. But when something like making love on the couch once in a while fades away in a marriage, then something really awful is happening to the human spirit. Even people who have a hard time showing their love want intimacy too. But most times it’s one of the first things that fade away in marriages. We end up acting like two poles apart, we sit down on the edges of the same couch yet we have no impulse nor the exciting urge to quickly give our spouse a kiss. And this is so bad.

2. You bottle up emotions

The idea of keeping things that are bothering us in our minds for the sake of peace has been going on now for years, but the opposite of what we want is what happens, we become upset and begin to resent our spouse which is as a result of bottling up our emotions. Add anger to resentment and you become a time bomb that can blow at any slight provocation.

In other to share a life together with your spouse, you need to feel comfortable with each other, and that means you have to place all the cards on the table. Often, this idea of bottling our emotions and thoughts are conceived for so many reasons, and these reasons are untrue, a figment of our imagination. What we are unaware of is the fact that it’s when we refuse to work hard towards having trust, connection, openness and confidence in our relationship that we begin to kill an own spirit.

3. Focusing on the children

It is when most couples start having children that we turn away from our spouse, and that is when we see and treat each other differently. I agree that kids are very needy, and they will keep needing you for a long time from the moment they are conceived till ….. And the efforts put into giving them the time and support that they need can take its toll on a couple. Although some handle it better, others begin to loose their spouse at this time.

The romantic, independent, energetic, committed and sexy wife becomes a driver, exhausted, workaholic, and an incapable woman when the kid’s physical and mental well-being takes it toll. And so what the husband so much loved in the wife is gone, and that’s why we need to be very careful when we begin to have kids. It’s easy to forget the person you married when you are faced with the toys, screams and fights of kids.

4. You stop exercising

After my ex-husband and I started having kids, we were both having a good life, working and taking care of our home. But I started putting on weight, I ate late at night and I woke up early to take care of the children and dress up for work. So it was hard to find time to hit the road or the gym. You know how it is, wake up 5 am, sleep 10 pm, gives no time for me to exercise.

It’s surprising how I let myself go in my marriage, for me to drastically change so much in a marriage of 2-3 years is an indication that a lot of other things are going wrong too. And I’m sure it was a large turn off for my ex-husband to see the attractive girl he married, change to a very round, pot-bellied version of herself.

I know I was wrong to have let go like that, indeed there was no time to exercise because of how busy I was, and time was hard to come by, but it really destroyed my spirit, self-confidence, and my overall outlook of life.

Yet it was partly my fault, I let go, I stopped exercising, and became very un-sexy.

I have learnt my lesson and I have learnt it the hard way. Being a single mum is a journey I never thought I will embark on, and I wish I could reverse the hands of time. So as you read, take note of the mistakes I made and learn from them.

Source: Mamalette.com