Wishing you a healthy and happy winter

Here's a story of synchronicity (or simply coincidence). On the second day of our current cold snap, I noticed how foolish many people are about keeping warm.  There seems to be some unwritten understanding that because we live in Queensland, the weather is warm.  Most of the time this is true, but when the temperature is 12 degrees celsius, clearly it is reasonably cold. And one should dress appropriately.  But this is how the townsfolk of my regional centre were dressing: jeans with T-shirt and thongs (that's flip-flops for the Americans, and jandals for the New Zealanders); shorts and singlets; bare feet.  And everyone was exclaiming about how cold it was! Madness!  And the same day, our local paper's lead story was about our hospitals' emergency departments having treated over 64,000 people in the past year.  Many of them for simple colds and coughs.

  I saw red. I was fuming. I almost wrote a smarmy letter to the editor. Our health system is overstretched as it is. A popular sport around here is telling horror stories about waiting times at the hospital, and the poor treatment people receive there. Maybe if people looked after themselves, all through the year, but especially in winter, the peak of the cold and flu season, the figures would not be so high, and the overworked, underpaid doctors and nurses at the hospital would be able to give better and more efficient help to those who genuinely need it.

I know I'm probably preaching to the converted. But it won't hurt any of us to do a quick mental check that we are doing our best to keep ourselves and our families healthy and happy this winter. I have had a quick surf to find some sites which may help:

• Wendy Blume from Vegie Smugglers has a guest post, 5 ways to keep kids healthy in winter at Body and Soul . 

And since cabin fever can sometimes be just as bad as real fever....

• Christie Burnett, at Childhood 101 has come up with a great list of ideas for keeping kids active when it is too cold to go outside.
• Here are some craft ideas for entertaining tweens and some other rainy day ideas for kids of all ages.
• Lists of the best books for teenage boys and girls
• American Library Association's (ALA) list of best contemporary young adult fiction (some of which looks great - I will have to have a closer look at this list!) And here is the list of the ALA's award winners including the Newbery and Caldecott medals.

What do you do to stay happy and healthy in winter? Have you found any gems or germs online?

My Favourite Childcare Book

The Australian Baby and Child Care Handbook, by Carol Fallows, is the book I keep coming back to.  It is full of commonsense and pragmatic information and advice.  It isn't filled with silly, overexaggerated, attempting to be funny anecdotes about one person's pregnancy experiences (a la Kaz Cooke's Up the Duff, which I acknowledge is very amusing).

This handbook does deal briefly with pregnancy and birth,however, as its title suggests, its main focus is on childcare.  Topics covered include preparing for babies on a budget, (and how refreshing to read a book that does not encourage you to buy all sorts of unnecessary gadgets and gear for the newborn!), stages of development and how to play with your baby, (again, without encouraging parents to buy heaps of things - Fallows is adamant that for the first six months, a baby's favourite toy is his or her parents.)  There are also  lots of ideas about what sort of games children at different ages like to play.  I often dip into it for inspiration about activities to play outdoors, or using music, or ways children can help with household tasks.  (I have also found it invaluable for ideas about dealing with behaviour issues like whinging, sibling rivalry and dawdling!)

Some of the features I like in The Australian Baby and Child Care Handbook are the developmental tables which indicate what most children should be able to do by ages in terms of motor skills, language and cognitive development.  There is a comprehensive and easily understaood section about first aid and common childhood ailments, as well as a long appendix of support services available state by state. (Although because I have the second edition, which was published in 1998, many of these resources don't have a website listed - it may be time for an updated edition....).  There are brief but unobtrusive anecdotes from real parents on the sides of most pages, which you can read if you want to.  They do help the reader gain perspective and realise that raising children is a 'the same but different' for everyone.

Breastfeeding and weaning are covered, as is preparing first foods and dealing with fussy eaters.  There is some very sensible advice about adjusting to new parental roles and relationships, as well as organising one's time and home, and creating a safe environment for babies and toddlers.

I love this book's comprehensiveness and its sensible, friendly and supportive language.  I would recommend it to all new and expectant parents as an invaluable family resource. (I just wish it had a sequel that dealt with school aged children!)

Buy or Borrow?  Buy buy buy! Worth its weight in gold!