The days when kids took up hobbies like stamp or coin collecting, often due to the influence of an older family member, are surely in decline if not altogether dead. Computers, handheld devices, and gaming consoles appear to have supplanted traditional hobbies, the ones that taught kids something about self-discipline, thrift, and the world around them. If you’re a parent seeking to engage your children in something more enriching and educational than Fortnite or Grand Theft Auto, why not introduce them to a whole new world this summer while they have the time to devote to a new hobby? Here are some suggestions.

Music

Learning to play a musical instrument develops cognitive functioning and enhances motor skills in children. If your kids are hesitant, try running over to the local music store so they can see and interact with musical instruments firsthand. Think of it as a way to encourage a child who’s always been interested in the guitar or single or double reed instruments. Most music stores will allow you to handle and sample any instruments that interest you, allowing your child to get the feel of a guitar, violin, or trumpet. In the meantime, check out some online instructional videos on YouTube to whet your kid’s appetite.

Play Ball!

Team sports offer many benefits and lessons that are healthy for young people. There’s physical exercise (a precious commodity among kids these days), hand/eye coordination, and learning to work collaboratively with teammates, which enhances social skills. Soccer, baseball, tennis, and volleyball are especially popular sports during the spring and summer. If socialization is a problem with your child, playing a sport is a great way to bring him out of his shell.

Self-Expression

Invest in some art materials, such as sketchpads, colored pens, pencils, paint brushes, and clay, and let your kid’s imagination run wild. Summer’s an excellent time to introduce kids to art. If the weather’s good enough, allow them to get creative outdoors, instead of turning the dining room into a disaster area that has to be cleaned up every afternoon before dinner. Sometimes, being creative outdoors can produce inspiration in a way not possible in more sterile surroundings indoors. Best of all, it’ll give the kids an outlet for self-expression that diverts their attention from gaming online with their friends.

Haute Cuisine

Cooking isn’t usually considered a mainstream hobby for children — it’s something that mom and dad have always taken care of, so what’s the use? Well, it’s actually a terrific hobby that teaches kids to be self-reliant and grows their confidence. A child who learns to transform a recipe into a tasty dish has done something they’ve always thought of as beyond their ability. Cooking empowers kids because it encourages them to believe in themselves. Also, they learn kitchen and food safety, which are important lessons for anyone to learn.

Science

Science is a broad field with many interesting branches if you’re looking for a hobby. Backyard astronomy is an increasingly popular choice, though you’ll need to invest in a telescope to make a go of it. The great thing about chemistry is it gives kids an excuse to make things fizz, make sounds, and change physical properties. There are many online experiments for kids to try, including homemade puffy paint and the glass of lava.

Think of hobbies as a way for kids to have fun while learning something useful. Spend some time exploring possibilities with your child. If he sees that you’re interested in a given subject, it might spur his interest as well. You might even find a hobby you can both enjoy together.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Photo credit: Twenty20

It’s all about the kids

Before we begin, we want to warn you of a hidden danger. Parents today want their kids to have the biggest and best. They take mental, note. If Billy, down the street got a radio control jeep for his birthday, Your kid must have a drone for his birthday. The kid may be too young for it, or they may have asked for a particular action figure. But mom and dad couldn’t be outdone.

Duel themes

There are ways to give your child a unique and special party, without dipping into their college fund. We will share a few of these ideas with you below. Before we begin, we would like to point out that we are not going back to the plain traditional party, we will be pushing against tradition here. For example, instead of a sheet cake that costs a fortune, we suggest buying candy from an online supplier. Make goodie bags that match the theme of your party. If your party colors are blue, get with your supplier. Order online and get any candy you want with a sweet delivery. Save the cake for your family dinner that is in honor of your birthday child.

Set up one long table or two smaller tables. Select the two colors you will be using to separate the themes. Maybe Billy’s theme color is green, and Milly’s color is red. Place a piece of material or felt over their table (or their half of a large table. Make the corner triangle to hand down the front in a point. Then cover their tablecloth with a plastic theme tablecloth. This separated the table well. If you want to, you can have one theme facing the opposite.

Photo credit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uXwZhDarl0ZdlnQnbBfM9rV5Gg0wGKlzk3kYVPAtPww/edit?usp=sharingPixabay

Water balloon roundup

Now that it is  warm outdoors have some fun. Be sure to remind them to bring extra clothes. Buy some green and red balloons and fill them with water. Put the balloons all over the ground. Make two lines for a green team and a red team. Place two empty tubs as far across the yard as possible, but you only give the five minutes. When you say go the team will run to find a balloon in their color and run as fast as they can and put it in tub. If it pops, it no longer counts. At the end of the game, the winning team gets a prize.

Photo credit: Pixabay

Animals in a bag

Place scraps of paper in a box, On each piece of paper put a sticker of an animal, You may have to do it a couple of times to show them how, but they are to act like the animal while the others guess what it is.

Photo Booth

If you have one of those instant cameras use it, set up a photo booth. You can use dark blankets hung from a tree teepee stye. Make sure you can spread it out enough for a chair for the kids to sit on, and pin an old towel with a hole cut for the photographer, Use the instant camera for their take home. But also snap a couple of pictures with your phone so you can shoot photos to post on social media.

Taking Candy Home

Be sure you provide plenty of goodie bags so your guests can take the candy home. This saves you the money of plastic party favors and you will not have tons of candy.

Keep in mind, there are children who need sugar-free, gluten-free, and kosher. You can get these selections with your order. Just have some special take home bags for those who need t

I thought if I could put two spoons together that were easy to hold in one hand then feeding my twins would be easier. In creating the spoon, I realized the solution for feeding time would also need a custom bowl. The bowls would need to fit the spoons and be easy to hold. I reached out to several doctors and twin experts to ask for their input. The spoons and bowls needed to be marked so that it would be easy to remember whose was whose.  Creating a product requires you to pick the look, the materials, and the people who will make it. I started looking for a local manufacturer that could help me create the product. I found a company that had a great reputation and was a small business. They had worked for major baby brands with great reputations for quality and safety. This made me feel comfortable in moving forward, but it was not an easy process.  I wanted to pick the highest quality materials available that I trusted for feeding my twins. It was incredibly important that the materials I used were safe because my babies would be using this product. 

I never pictured myself as an entrepreneur, but the twin feeding set had helped me and I thought others might be looking for a way to simplify feeding time as well. Starting a business is scary and I did not have the resources like major baby brands do. So, I had to research and take a risk by investing my time and money in hopes that this product would help other twin families like it had helped us. Being a mom pushed me to start because I wanted to show my boys that I was not afraid to follow a dream. 

The first twin feeding set was created and was used by me and my twins for 7 months before I thought about selling them online. When the first model was developed and it arrived at our home I was so excited and nervous. When we tried it out and it worked I was thrilled. It made feeding time easier, faster, and safer which is what I was hoping to accomplish. Even my husband loved the Twin Feeding Set and how it kept the boys engaged during mealtime. He noticed and loved how our boys ate more because they were less distracted. It made feeding time a family activity that was fun. Our first customer was my 94-year-old grandmother which proves you never truly out grow the twin feeding set. Everyone in my house still uses it. It is perfect for snack time and for moms that don’t always get to sit down to enjoy their snack.

I decided to call the company Baby A & Baby B because all twin mothers know those names. It is a name filled with hope and love. That is why our goal is to also give back to help twins and a portion of all our sales goes to the Twin to Twin Transfusion Foundation for research and support. Inventing the twin feeding set has changed my life, it has taught me so much. This opportunity has connected me to mothers of twins from around the world. I love meeting and talking to other moms. It has taught me so much and I thank everyone who has purchased our product. It means so much to me and my family that you have tried and used the Twin Feeding Set for your feeding time. Thank you for letting us be apart of your meal time.

Did you know that people commonly advise moms of twins to save time by using one utensil to feed both babies?

Is it faster? Probably.

Easier? Maybe.

Healthier? Definitely not!

“When you share utensils, it’s like giving germs from one baby a FastPass directly into the other baby’s mouth,” says Rallie McAllister, MD, MPH, a mom of three sons, a family physician, and coauthor of The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby’s First Year, in Lexington, KY..

“Using the same spoon to feed two babies spreads germs,” adds Jennifer Gilbert, DO, a mom of boy-girl twins and an ob-gyn at Paoli Hospital, in Pennsylvania. “When you have twins, it’s hard to totally keep everything separate. Twins are always drinking from each other’s sippy cups and eating each other’s snacks.”

To avoid the spread of germs, moms of twins have to do the best they can to keep everything within their control separate. Utensils certainly fit into that category!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the mouth is home to millions of germs, including germs that cause colds. Babies haven’t yet developed immunity to the 100+ different viruses that cause colds, and so babies catch a lot of colds. According to the US National Library of Medicine, some babies get 16 to 20 colds before their second birthdays.

The germs that cause colds are extremely hardy. They can live on objects for several hours. Babies can pick up those germs when they touch someone’s hand or pick up food, a toy, or eat from a utensil.

            Most people would probably agree it’s prudent not to share utensils between sick babies. Having one sick baby heightens your awareness about the spread of germs. If one of your babies gets sick, the other baby might be able to fight off the cold. But if family members share utensils, repeating exposure to the germs, the baby is more likely to get sick.

“I was especially vigilant when my babies were actively coming down with something,” says Susan Wilder, MD, a mom of a daughter and twin girls and a family physician and founder and CEO of Lifescape Medical Associates in Scottsdale, AZ. [link to www.LifeScapeMed.com]

Keeping babies’ utensils separate is actually a great policy to use all of the time. Why? Because babies can be contagious before you’re even aware of it.

“Using the same spoon could spread germs before you even know your kids are sick,” Dr. Gilbert says. “Bacteria and viruses are often spread before symptoms are evident.”

Preventing the spread of germs is especially critical in twins, who might have been born prematurely. Pediatricians urge moms of twins to limit their exposure to people with colds and illnesses until their second birthdays. If babies’ lungs weren’t fully developed at birth, they’re more likely to develop asthma if they have frequent colds.

Another danger of sharing utensils is people with tooth decay can transfer those germs to babies. Yes, you read that right: You can literally catch cavities from other people. According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, parents need to avoid all saliva-sharing behaviors, including sharing spoons and  other utensils, sharing cups, and cleaning dropped pacifiers or toys with their mouths.

Using two spoons, not one, is a key to keeping the colds and cavities away. A clever product to try is the Twin Feeding Set. Created by mom of twins Heather Karpinsky, it’s two spoons joined at the handle, allowing moms to feed one baby with each. [link to https://www.babya-babyb.com/] The Twin Feeding Set costs $16.99 (includes shipping), and they offer a money back guarantee. Save 20 percent with the coupon code MOMMYMD. Visit www.babya-babyb.com for more information.

About the author: Jennifer Bright Reich is the coauthor of the MommyMD Guides books, including The Mommy MD Guide to Getting Your Baby to Sleep and mommymdguides.com, in Allentown, PA

From getting both babies out the door safely and nursing two babies at night, to bathing two babies and soothing two babies when they cried, there was a lot of difficult situations I had to navigate.

But there was one frustrating twin-specific scenario that I would run into over and over again, which I never fully mastered. When one baby got sick, her sister was always the next victim. This was because they would share everything from bottles to spoons.

Occasionally I would try to separate sippy cups, spoons and bottles, but when the inevitable chaos hit, I would either forget who’s was who’s or give up out of sheer exhaustion.

As a parenting blogger, I am contacted fairly often about new products and Kick Starter campaigns. Unless, (as a seasoned mom), I really think I would use the product, I will often pass over them. But recently I was contacted by the Karpinsky family, who also happen to have identical twin boys. They have thought up the most genius idea that I wish I had when Mia and Everly were little.

This idea is the Baby A & Baby B Twin Feeding Set.

This dishwasher safe, dual spoon and dual bowl idea not only cuts time in half while feeding your twins, it also stops the spread of germs.

For parents like us, who tried and failed at switching spoons while one twin was sick, this is the perfect solution.

We also know how impatient hungry babies can be, and switching spoons and juggling two bowls can be very time consuming, making your little ones frustrated. This cuts down on time, making feeding your twins less of a frustrating process for everyone.

So, now you know. Feeding time doesn’t have to be a painful process and germs do not have to spread to the other twin.

You can order your own twin feeding set from Baby A & Baby B’s website, www.babya-babyb.com. This product is also a great gift idea for someone who is expecting twins!

Don’t forget to follow Nesting Story on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, to find out other ways we are navigating life with twins!

The idea came pretty quickly. When I was about six years old I went to Hallmark with my parents. I remember the trip well because I had just moved to Pennsylvania from Massachusetts and it was my first trip to our new local mall. My parents were looking at cards when I saw this figurine and I instantly fell in love.

 I asked them if they would buy it for me and they both said no. I was instantly disappointed. I went home to count up all my money and I had just enough to purchase it.  The following week I returned to the store and the figurine was gone.

That Valentine’s Day my parents gave it to me. They had purchased it without me knowing. I was so excited that it was mine and it was a life lesson that I have always remembered. It is a reminder that disappointments happen and it is important to have patience.  I have always found that the best things in life are worth waiting for!

This figurine has been on my dresser though grade school, high school, college, and my first home. It has been something I have seen everyday. I have looked at it every morning and it is a reminder of all the different homes and major events of my life. It is also a reminder that good things come to those who wait and it was fitting that my logo resembled it in some way.

Stopping the Spread of Germs: When we were able to go home after 6 weeks in the NICU, we were very happy and nervous. My babies had entered into this world as warriors and I wanted to do everything in my power to protect them. Leaving the strict rules of the NICU and heading home made me very worried about exposing Grant and Gavin to sickness. Parents of premature babies know that colds can be harsh and in some cases cause permanent damage to a premature baby’s developing lungs. When my son Gavin got a cold at just 6 months old, I did everything in my power to ensure he got better quickly and that Grant did not get the same cold.

Keeping foods separate due to allergy: Being a parent makes you want to do the best for your children. I wanted the best and most healthy foods. I started making purees at home. It was a great way to save money and ensure only the best ingredients were used. We soon discovered that Grant loved anything with apples and Gavin did not. Gavin would get an upset stomach when he ate anything with apple. So ensuring their foods were not confused became important.

Making things a little easier: Feeding twins is so different than feeding a singleton. I always felt so silly juggling separate bowls and spoons while frantically trying to feed my boys. I also felt weird using the same spoon and bowl when both boys were healthy, because would you want to share every meal like that with someone? It was a stressful experience. I hated making them wait so long in between bites. I searched online to try to find something that would make the process easier, but was unable to locate anything, so I started looking into doing it myself.

These circumstances gave me the idea for the twin feeding set. We started using the first model of the twin feeding set for my boys when they were 7 months old and they have yet to spread a cold or germs. We tested out the product for 6 months before we started to sell them online. The twin feeding set has enabled them to eat their favorite foods at every meal. It was a dream come true for us because it turned a stressful time into an enjoyable time for everyone. They can’t imagine eating any other way and either can I.

Twin Love Concierge reviewed one of our products, the Twin Feeding Set:

From the review:

Why We Chose To Review?

Every parent of multiples will tell you that there are unique challenges that we face with twins in just about ever facet of their day and feeding time is no different. If only one parent is available during feeding time, the challenge is easily identified as one pair of hands to feed two mouth just isn’t easy! The Twin Feeding Set is claimed to ease the process during every meal.

Yellow & Green Twin Feeding Set now available on Zulily.com

Click to purchase our Yellow & Green Twin Feeding Set from Zulily.com

Two and a half years ago we anxiously awaited the arrival of our twin boys (Grant & Gavin). Wondering what they would look like, what they would be like, and if they would be ok. I dreamed of the first moment I would hold them and get to kiss their tiny faces. Our birth story is similar to other twin birth stories in that our miracles arrived much earlier than expected. They were born two warriors arriving at just 31 weeks. My husband and I were both scared, happy, and overwhelmed with love. We are forever thankful to the exceptional doctors and nurses that took care of them and enabled us to bring them home safety after 3 weeks for Gavin and 6 weeks for Grant. Each moment of their first months (and even to this day and ongoing) will be forever saved in my heart….. The first time Gavin smiled and when he kept waving and cooing at his brother’s photo while sleeping in his NICU crib. His first word…dad, his great laugh, and his love of books. Grant doing his exercises, his sweet smile, his strength, and his determination to get the toy he wants at the moment he wants it.

I think all parents might feel a little alone and struggle with a lot of strong feelings that their hearts endure when in the NICU or preparing for a different arrival for their babies than expected. I wished during those first weeks that I had somewhere to go where I felt known and seen to share my experiences and hear other experiences. So I will be starting a monthly newsletter to discuss different birth experiences, parenting experiences, and pregnancy experiences that are different than planned. A little “Help for the Unexpected” that will hopefully help us all. I hope everyone will submit stories via Facebook or my email (babyababybllc@gmail). Although we might never get to all meet face to face lets work to help each other. We are all a member of a twin family and all a member / visitor of this page, so let’s try to take our “Facebook Friendship” or “Our Like Button Hit” up a level to helping, supporting, and friendship. Who’s with me?