Gold-Winning Products Bring Out the Best in Parenting
MOMS CREATED many of the most innovative products that our parent testers and judges evaluated in this year's Parenting Resources competition for the National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA). From an ingenious cloth diaper system and baby sleep-positioning blanket to money management and creative learning tools, moms are at the forefront of making parenting easier, more playful and rewarding. They've also authored a number of this year's top winning books. While some are written to specific populations and issues, many transcend a target audience and offer informative and inspiring reading to everyone. Read on to find the best baby shower or new parents' gifts, household saving tips and solutions to your own parenting challenges!
Preschoolers & Up
Music Together Family Favorites
Music Together LLC; www.musictogether.com.
Every family needs a music library for movement, development and parent-child interaction! The Music Together people have created two Gold winners drawn from their patented, parent-child music education program for children from birth through kindergarten:
The newly released Music Together Family Favorites CD and Songbook for Teachers Combo ($39.95) includes activities to accompany 19 songs on the first Family Favorites CD (included), which range from original compositions to tunes from the folk, jazz and world music traditions.
The equally engaging sequel, Music Together Family Favorites 2 CD ($14.95), features 19 more songs for listening fun at home, in the car or in the classroom.
Snip It!(tm)
MWV (MeadWestvaco); $7; www.mead.com.
This learning-to-use-scissors activity tablet helps children build hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills in a developmental appropriate progression. Children create art projects, such as paper mosaics, by cutting out bright colors and simple shapes and then pressing their pieces onto a sticky picture template.
SCHOOL AGE
Encore Winner
Internet Keep Safe Coalition Web site (iKeepSafe.org)
Internet Keep Safe Coalition; free; www.ikeepsafe.org.
This site's animated cat provides engaging scenarios that show kids where risky or irresponsible behavior can lead in the virtual world, giving parents a springboard for discussion on screen time, privacy and online abuse. Parents and teachers will find informed and creative tools to use with children from pre-K through high school.
Kidpreneurs
By Adam Toren and Matthew Toren; Business Plus Media Group LLC, 2009; $12.95; www.kidpreneurs.org.
This book helps kids decide whether to start a business, which business to start and how to take it to the next level. Children interested in making money will learn lots from the step-by-step approach and the confidence that the Toren brothers bring to the topic.
Rusty and Rosy Learn with Me
Waterford Institute; $130 plus subscription; www.waterford.org.
Appropriately paced for young learners, the activities and games are engaging, nicely animated and fun. Based on traditional early childhood learning and development models, this software program reinforces early skill development in math and language arts. A perfect supplement for those needing support beyond the classroom and workbooks.
Tweens & Teens
Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World
By Ken Beller and Heather Chase; LTS Press, 2008; $21.95; www.greatpeacemakers.com.
Read the true-life stories of 20 markedly different and inspiring individuals from around the world who have made peace their path in life. This book explores five paths to peace: choosing nonviolence, living peace, honoring diversity, valuing all life and caring for the planet.
Raised for Richness
By Karyn Hodgens; Kidnexions Press, 2010; $12.95; www.kidnexions.com.
Author Karyn Hodgens understands that financial literacy isn't just about money; it's about emotions and values, too. She provides dinner-table discussion topics and written exercises for reflection, such as examining your own money personality. Parents will learn about their attitudes toward money and how these impact their children.
General Parenting
Top Pick
Mixed Signals: Understanding and Treating Your Child's Sensory Processing Issues
By Mary Lashno, O.T., Woodbine House, 2009; $19.95; www.woodbinehouse.com.
All children have to figure out sensory processing (touch, sound, coordination, controlling emotions, new environments, etc.). Thus, all parents will recognize their child at some point in this book. Parents of kids who have more significant difficulties with sensory processing or integrating sensory information will applaud how Lashno makes these difficult topics understandable.
Encore winner
Autism Asperger's Digest
Future Horizons Inc.; $49.95 annual subscription, $29.95 special discount; www.autismdigest.com.
Find a wealth of practical tips, resources and research in this bi-monthly magazine for families with members on the spectrum. The articles are reader-friendly, inspirational and focus on the strengths and positive aspects of being non-neurotypical.
The Autism Checklist: A Practical Reference for Parents and Teachers
By Paula Kluth, Ph.D. and John Shouse; Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Johnson Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009; $15.95; www.josseybass.com.
Every parent must advocate for his child. This concise and easy-to-read guide gives insights into how the child's needs can be met by parents and teachers to create a supportive, empowering environment. The book addresses a broad range of ages and provides excellent references across developmental stages.
Encore Winner
OneToughJob.org
Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund; free; www.onetoughjob.org.
Parenting is the hardest job you'll ever love, and OneToughJob.org strives to bring out the best parent in each of us. The organization's Web site earned a NAPPA Gold for its depth and breadth of topics, actionable tips, credibility of information, links to additional resources and bilingual (Spanish, English) access.
Putting Children First
By JoAnne Pedro-Carroll, Avery Books, 2010; $16, www.puttingchildrenfirst.wordpress.com.
Step into the shoes of a child going through the first stages of a divorce or transitioning to a stepparent. Author Pedro-Carroll helps readers hear what their children are saying and, more importantly, to hear what they are not saying - but might be thinking or feeling.
For Grandparents
Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars: Grandma's Bag of Tricks, by Sharon Lovejoy,
Workman Publishing, 2010; $14.95 www.workman.com.
Strengthen the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren with this book's 100+ nature-based activities. Besides making solar ovens and firefly lanterns, grandparents learn the importance of nature education, how to arrange their home for their grands' visits, and how to prepare for unusual projects and crafts!
Editor's Note: While all of these NAPPA-winning products have been judged, to the best of our ability, to be safe and well-constructed, we do not warrant their safety or appropriateness for your child and we are not liable for any injuries that may result from their use.
BOX:
See More Winning Parenting Products!
Check out all the 2010 NAPPA Parenting Resources Gold and Honors Winners at www.NAPPA.Parenthood.com, where you'll find more great gifts, sanity-saving resources, product details and judge/tester comments!
BOX:
The NAPPA Judges
NAPPA salutes the team of specialty judges, family testers and veteran parenting editors who, under lead judge Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., named the winners of the 2010 NAPPA Parenting Resources competition. Cohen, a former NAPPA winner himself (for his bestselling book Playful Parenting), is a licensed psychologist, author and nationally recognized speaker who specializes in children's play and play therapy. This is his fifth year with NAPPA.
Fourteen specialty judges from leading institutions across North America joined NAPPA this year. Together with their teams of professionals, their collective expertise focused on pregnancy and lactation, pediatric and chiropractic health, dermatology, injury prevention, nutrition and fitness, child development, education and technology, and special needs.
Finally, dozens of family testers also played a key role in choosing this year's Gold and Honors winners. We thank all of our judges and testers!
Source: Tidewater Parent Magazine
