Media Use and Kids What the AAP Says

This is something that is often a hot topic in mom circles and one that I am interested in for sure: Media use for kids, especially really young kids.  While I was pregnant with Bear, Andrew and I saw so many families using media (iPads, iPhones, etc) while out and about to essentially soothe kids or keep them entertained so they didn't have to interact with the adults.  One family we can both still picture were sitting at dinner at a restaurant, both parents on their phones and both kids with headphones and iPads, all mindlessly eating and not interacting with each other at all.  Might have worked for them but Andrew and I knew that is not what we wanted for our family.

I researched this quite a bit and chatted with our pediatrician as well and these guidelines kept coming back as a good place to start in deciding your "rules" on this topic:

Media Use Guidelines from the AAP
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Healthy-Digital-Media-Use-Habits-for-Babies-Toddlers-Preschoolers.aspx

Whenever I'm wondering if something has been researched or if there is a good recommendation for anything having to do with kids, I go to the American Academy of Pediatrics first.  They have all sorts of great publications and guides for parents from allergies to media use to pacifiers, all sorts of things.

Now there are certainly exceptions and sometimes giving an iPhone to a toddler who is hangry while checking out at Target is a Godsend (can I get an Amen!) but having the toddler not expect to get an iPhone to entertain them every time they are in Target is probably a good thing too.  Because then you get to talk about what you are seeing and buying.  You get to answer all the questions and whys.  Yes, it will take longer but it will also be worth the extra time.

Here is the archived blog just for prosperity's sake:

Archived Things To Do In Denver When You're In Love

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37769734/Things%20To%20Do%20In%20Denver%20When%20You're%20In%20Love.pdf

Easy One Pan Dinner

So a couple of friends asked for me to send them a recipe every once and a while since cooking is something I really enjoy. Here is a basic one pan oven dinner that my family enjoys.

Ingredients:

Package of chicken sausage (any flavor, 4-8 depending on your family size and how much you want for leftovers)

2 zucchini (cut into coins about 1/4 inch thick)

4 potatoes (cut into small chunk about 1 cm cubes)

Put sliced zucchini and potatoes on each side of a sheet pan.

Preheat oven to bake at 375 degrees. Toss separately with olive oil, salt, pepper, and any additional seasoning you would like to add. I like to add rosemary and garlic powder to the potatoes. Put the sausages in the middle.

Put the pan in the oven and set a time for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes are up, take the pan out to flip the sausages and toss the vegetable. Put back in the oven and set a timer for another 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes is up, take the pan out and flip the oven to a high broil. Remove the sausages and zucchini and spread the potatoes out across the pan. Put the potatoes back in for 5-10 minutes depending on how crispy you like them. (I use this 5 minutes to cut the sausages and zucchini up for the kids, get milks and waters on the table, etc.) Pull out of the oven when the time is up and serve. 

So I think I'm going to revive this thing...  We'll see how it goes.  We had this blog under the same names years ago but archived it after a few friends and family starting asking when the next post would be coming if we had not posted for a while.  It started to feel like there was too much pressure to post frequently when really we just wanted to post when we felt like we had something to share.

If I do start this back up that will be the rule: Only posting when I want to.

I can imagine this being a place where I post some of the things I really like and am passionate about.  Cooking, dinner parties, mommy tidbits.  Things like that.

To protect the anonymity of my family, I'll use code names.  Husband = Beast, Daughter = Ladybug, Son = Bear.

I guess that is it until I feel the need to post again.