The Number One Global Community Of Reviewers
TO THE WINNERS OF
Ginny – #70
Shelly – #36
Staci A – #53
The winner is required to do the following:
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAD PARTICIPATED!
GIVEAWAY CLOSED!
My mother was always very particular with what things I ate growing up. I hardly ever had those “sugar aide” drinks and those fancy “hey kids!!” cereals with tons of sugar and sometimes even chocolate chips? Forget about it! I thank my mom for this (and always making me eat my veggies!) because now I know what’s healthy and still have pretty good eating habits. I’ve passed this knowledge on to my son, Xander who is four years old. Xander was born in Spain where we lived for three years due to my husband’s US Navy job – so he was exposed to fresh food and was always happy to try new things.
Now that we’re living in the ‘States again and Xander has ideas of his own I’m quite happy that he CHOOSES to eat healthy! His favorite cereal is Honey Nut Cheerios and he doesn’t like (at all) Coco Puffs or any of those other sugar cereals. He loves veggies and applesauce and drinks plenty of milk (and water!). We buy organic foods and snacks when we can – thankfully, the Commissary (the military grocery store) has great prices for this! Coupons (when I can find them) also help.
Xander and I had the opportunity to try out some healthy, organic juice boxes, fruit sauces and peanut butter. The fruit sauces (think applesauce) and the peanut butter came from a company called Santa Cruz Organic and the juice boxes came from R.W. Knudsen.
Sensible Sippers™ are juice boxes for kids featuring the Berenstain Bears that are 50% organic juice and 50% water. They have less sugar than regular juice boxes but let me tell you – they taste just as good if not better. They also don’t have that super-pucker aftertaste that a lot of the full-juice juice boxes have. My son loved them and loved seeing “the Bears” on the boxes! We tried Apple, Mixed Berry and Fruit Punch flavors.
The Santa Cruz Organic fruit sauces unfortunately didn’t go over as well with the kid. We got to try out Apple-Blackberry, Apple-Raspberry and Apple-Cinnamon flavors and really only liked the Apple-Cinnamon flavor. I guess the other combinations were a little too ‘unsweet’ (due to the lack of sugar) for us. We both really liked the Apple-Cinnamon flavor because the cinnamon added the bit of ‘sweet’ that the sauce needed. I think I actually might put some cinnamon into the other sauce packs and try them again!
Now – I saved the best for last – the Santa Cruz Organic Peanut Butter! My son and I LOVE (with all caps), LOVE peanut butter! So, when I open up the jar of 
crunchy (light roasted) peanut butter and saw the oil on the top I was like – eh! But – it’s normal – promise! I spread the peanut butter on some warm, toasty bread along with my ever-favorite blueberry (no-added sugar) jam and had a great sandwich! My son even liked it! The peanut butter is made with USDA certified organic Spanish peanuts and contains no hydrogenated oils, no added sugars and no artificial ingredients. It tastes like smashed peanuts – which is extremely yummy! Just remember to stick the peanut butter in the fridge – that will get rid of the weird oil on top!
BUY THEM : Santa Cruz Organic and R.W. Knudsen products can be found at local health food stores. Don’t forget to snag a coupon here and here!
WIN THEM : We’re giving away a HUGE box of goodies comprising of Santa Cruz Organic Fruit Sauces, Peanut Butters and the R.W. Knudsen Sensible Sippers to one VERY lucky reader. Love to win? Here’s what you need to do:
TO THE WINNERS OF
Michelle L – #79
and
2. Pediped Flex
Amandasue – #104
The winner is required to do the following:
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAD PARTICIPATED!
Parenting Spike: The seriously difficult child-Splitting Parents
by Andrew Gibson, Ph.D.
Spike, the ten year old out of control kid, splits his parents because they let him. Splitting means Spike comes between them and, in this case, he comes with a vengence. They are so tied up in their own marital unhappiness that they can’t hear themselves fight. They haven’t got a clue that Spike is caught in the middle of the squabble. If they did, they might do something about it. But one parent is so disapointed in the other and so convinced that the other is, among other things, a lousy parent that the idea of yielding ground to the opposite is impossible. So they fight. Spike gets drawn in and behaves badly, but predictably. So one of his parents yells at the other, “ Do something!” and the other parent yells back, “Like what?” and the other one says back, “ You’re the expert! You know everything. You figure it out.”
In fact, neither are experts or this wouldn’t have happened. All the yelling does is throw more fuel on the anger fire. Nothing changes except Spike gets nastier. Thus, he gets in all kinds of trouble; home, school, neighborhood. Somebody needs to pull back. Somebody needs to call a halt. Who will do it? Probably neither parent. Pride is in the way. Dad becomes more rigid. Mom compensates by becoming looser. This is going no where.
Their relationship stopped being a marriage a long time ago. And just to make things worse, Spike takes control of the place simply by becoming outrageous. His outrageousness is coupled with his parents inability to control him. Couples counseling might be a good place to start. But this isn’t the time for one party to enter into a deal with the other. Sensitivities are too raw. There isn’t much trust between Mom and Dad. What they really need to do is to agree on an approach that they separately perform. They shouldn’t set themselves up where one parents says to the other, “See! I told you so. I knew I couldn’t depend on you.” Any deals that might be made ( “You do this for me and I’ll do that for you”) need to come later when they can actually depend on one another to be supportive.
About The Author
Dr. Andrew Gibson was born in Detroit at the close of WWII. He grew up in the midst of farming country in central Michigan. Both parents were teachers. He keeps a picture of his childhood companion, Wags, to this day (you had to see the tail to appreciate the name). After discharge from the Navy after the Viet Name war, he graduated with a BA and MA from San Diego State University and earned his Ph. D from the University of Connecticut. He has taught at Portland State University, n Portland Oregon, at the University of Maine, Presque Isle and at SUNY New Paltz. He resides in Eastern Connecticut, with his wife of 41 years, where he conducts a private practice in parenting seriously difficult children. His book “Got An Angry Kid? Parenting Spike-A Seriously Difficult Child’ is the first of a series examining seriously difficult children at various age and emotional disturbance levels. He invites you to find him on the web at DrAGibson.com.
GIVEAWAY CLOSED!
I was ecstatic to receive three eebee’s Adventures DVDs ~ Exploring Real Stuff, All in a Day’s Play, Figuring Things Out, from Every Baby Company. I had read about them, in a mothers’ forum, and was really happy to have had this opportunity to review them.
I had to wait impatiently for my littlest guy to wake up from his afternoon nap, to test it out on him. Was the longest 2 hour wait ever! Normally, I’d relish for such quietness, but this was a rare occasion where I would have preferred him to wake up earlier!
So, the little guy finally got up, and I excitedly turned on the TV. I had picked out “Exploring Real Stuff”, and it had super cool reggae tunes coming out. He kept bobbing his bum up and down, to the tune. I knew that he’d ‘dance’ to the music, but I wasn’t sure if he would be paying attention to eebee’s actions.
I say this, because, he kept walking around and around and around the room, bobbing his bum.
However, I knew that he somehow absorbed some of the material in, when the very next day, he dug into my kitchen cabinets for a plastic bowl and marched towards my laundry room. I had kept a small bucket of recycled water (for my plants), when I heard a water pouring sound.
Yes.. you guess it, my lil guy decided to go for some eebee adventure, taking the water from the smaller bucket, and pouring it into a bigger bucket . I knew then… eebee really works!
About eebee :
eebee’s adventures are designed to engage you and your baby with rich play experiences that provide powerful lessons that memorizing letters, numbers, colors and shapes simply can and do not.
Watching and, importantly, “doing” eebee’s adventures will allow you and your baby to see and learn first-hand what happens when you explore a crinkly, crunchy, smooth and bumpy paper mountain or roll, bounce, bop, bang, slide and toss your way around a world of balls and ramps.
We know that when your child is playing, she is actively trying to figure things out about objects and people—why did that ball roll and the block slide? How did he do that? Why did that happen?… The questions, theories and solutions just continue to evolve as your child develops and masters a myriad of critical physical, social and intellectual skills—playing and learning about how the world works and he works in it.
Every parent can recount a time when their infant headed straight for that curtain to give it a pull; or happily opted to tear the wrapping paper rather then engage with the gift; or tried and tried to get the round peg into the square hole; or simply offered you whatever was in their hand.
BUY IT! : What I really liked about eebee, is that the lil character “eebee” is really colorful and engaging to look at. The actions/adventures, eebee and other babies go through are, stuff we can do with our baby at any time, in our very own home. Yes! We can re-create the whole adventure ourselves, because we can find most of them at our homes.
I love eebee’s philosophy and approach, as it doesn’t just stick to the “conformed” child development approach, and instead, it really aims to connect with your baby with fun activities, colors, different music genres, realism and most of all, it’s simplicity.
The signature tune was so catchy, my two elder boys started singing to it! I was totally floored by these DVDs. No wonder they’ve won many Parent’s Choice awards for their products!
eebee has books, DVDs, clothing, gift sets and even it’s very own eebee plush toy ! It is suitable for babies from 6months onwards. Plus, I saw an eebee beanie! How cute is that! I’d like one myself!!! LOL!
WIN IT: Here’s the exciting part! The generous people at Every Baby Company, were kind enough to give one a set of eebee’s Adventures DVDs to one lucky winner!
All you have to do is :
Parenting Spike: The seriously difficult child- Divorce
by Andrew Gibson, Ph.D.
The most common way Spike, a ten year old out-of-control boy, gets to be Spike is through divorce. But it isn’t the only way and a divorce does not guarantee you will get a Spike. The culprit isn’t really the divorce anyway. It is all the fighting both before, during and after the divorce. Spike picks up two things from all the fighting: one, his fighting parents scare him and he ends up believing the split is all his fault. He believes that if he were a better boy this wouldn’t have happened. This is a hard thing for adults to grasp but it is true. Spike can’t handle the blame he feels and so he lashes out. He is a kid, after all. His understanding as an adult won’t come for decades. By then the damage could be immense. Two, Spike will manipulate the difference between his parents. They are not on the same child rearing page. Dad insists his way is best. Mom insists hers is best. Spike hears it all, especially the arguing parts. He calculates his advantage and happily shows his resentment. He will , then, drive an even bigger wedge between them. Let’s say they aren’t divorced yet; Spike will just about guarantee that divorce happens. It will take a lot to prevent it. Spike will keep pounding and pounding on that wedge. Spike still feels responsible for all the upset but he is also angry. Rather than turn anger entirely on himself, he turns it on his parents, too. Spike’s parents need to pay for his anger. Spike is too young to understand how he feels or the dynamics of fighting parents. He just know his life is awful, that somehow the unhappiness is a reflection on him and that somebody must pay. That somebody is almost always parents. They pay big time. They will pay through a life that is even harder and more disruptive than just the life approaching divorce alone. Of course the divorce can be avoided, unless everyone has already driven over a cliff. It can happen if parents can bring themselves to agree on how to deal with this increasingly hostile child of theirs. One of these parents is going to get Spike in custody; probably Mom. Think she is ready for it? However worthless Mom thinks Dad is, she is likely to find that unless he is an utter jerk, that life without him is actually harder. For more information or to ask a question, go to DrAGibson.com #parenting
About The Author
Dr. Andrew Gibson was born in Detroit at the close of WWII. He grew up in the midst of farming country in central Michigan. Both parents were teachers. He keeps a picture of his childhood companion, Wags, to this day (you had to see the tail to appreciate the name). After discharge from the Navy after the Viet Name war, he graduated with a BA and MA from San Diego State University and earned his Ph. D from the University of Connecticut. He has taught at Portland State University, n Portland Oregon, at the University of Maine, Presque Isle and at SUNY New Paltz. He resides in Eastern Connecticut, with his wife of 41 years, where he conducts a private practice in parenting seriously difficult children. His book “Got An Angry Kid? Parenting Spike-A Seriously Difficult Child’ is the first of a series examining seriously difficult children at various age and emotional disturbance levels. He invites you to find him on the web at DrAGibson.com.
GIVEAWAY CLOSED!
Jealousy runs deep in this house. Deep, when it comes to getting your very own customized book. With your very own name.
And then, there is another bad trait that lounges on our sofa, called ‘Mr. Show-off’.
When my middle child got his very own personalized book, he would not stop telling his big brother, about his book, with his name in it.
My eldest son’s favourite color is, green, but to see him go green like that, was not a pretty sight. He was relentless in asking me why this book has his younger brother’s name and why his very own name did not appear in it. It was practically driving me up the wall! He knew that because they had unique chinese names, I did not just get this book off a shelf. He knew, there was something special going on here.
These books, “If I were Big”, “What Animal Are You?” and “A Day at the Park”, were written and published by MJM books, made of 3 brothers, Mike, Jeff and Matt. Living in three different parts of the US, they found a unique way of staying connected by publishing children’s books that both kids and parents love!
Here’s more about them :
MJM Books is also a celebration of little Olivia. Olivia is Matt’s little girl and became the inspiration for their company. This spunky little girl needed a very special Christmas present one year so Uncle Jeff put himself into her tiny shoes to write and illustrate “If I Were Big.”
Family and friends loved the story and pleaded for more books with their own child as the star. MJM Books was born.
I was very honored in receiving “If I were Big”, and when I saw the illustration of a lil boy with black hair and brown eyes, it really looked like my second son! He was so excited to see ‘him’ in the book! He could not stop looking through it, and I’ll tell you, it was a very very very quiet 30 minutes, before he started his monkey business again!
When it was bedtime aka storytime, he took out this book, and wanted me to read it. In fact, I think he wanted to learn the words, so he could read it himself!
All I could think to myself was, “What a fantastic way to get him reading on his own!”. I’ll have to say that I’m particularly biased in this review, because I absolutely loved the illustrations. I love clean simple lines..and the illustrator, Erin Drewitz drew it beautifully.
BUY IT! : Unfortunately, since the eldest son has been bugging me about it, I waved the white flag and decided to get him, his very own customized book “A Day at the Park”. Not only that, to preempt any future complaints of favoritism, I have also gotten another book (”What Animal Are You?”) for my third son. While I’m glad there are two other books, I think MJM Books better get their act together and come out with a whole series of them!
So you see, these are the books to get for Christmas or any celebration in life. You can customize the name, gender, hair color, eye color, and even the underpants! Ok, just kidding about the last bit! 
I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is a father, mother, aunty, uncle, grandpa, grandma, second cousin, third cousin..heck, even if you’re an acquaintance and you know of a child who would simply love to get this book.
Right now, they are offering free shipping across the US, if you order 3 or more books.
This book is a really unique keepsake. For life!
WIN IT! : Gosh..the generous guys at MJM Books are giving a chance for one lucky reader to win a customizable book with their title of choice (oh..you are so lucky!) and here’s what you need to do:
Parenting Spike: The seriously difficult child-Out-of-control
by Andrew D. Gibson, Ph. D.
Let’s say that you have an out-of-control ten year old kid named Spike. How he got there isn’t clear. But out of control is out of control: that’s more than clear. There is nothing you can do in the name or reward or punishment that makes a dent in his behavior. Some people think that out of control just means you forgot to take Spike’s cell phone away; they think he’ll snap out of it when you do. They are wrong. If you take away his cell phone, he’ll attack you. He uses implied (and not so implied) threats and has backed you into a corner. He also lies, cheats, steals and swears; and that is just before breakfast. So not only is Spike out of control, he also owns you and the household you live in. He is in charge. You can get just as angry as you like but he is still in charge. Think this scenario is unusual? It isn’t. It is very common. And you, the tax payer, end up paying for it because you foot the bill when Spike is sent to a residential school. The cost is about $75,000 per year per kid. And guess what? The placements almost always fail. Spike just learns to shut up so he can be discharged. When he returns home, he often starts up all over again.
If parents weren’t so desperate they wouldn’t think that the State could be a better parent than they are. But since they feel like complete failures as parents, they don’t think clearly. They need to learn how to distance themselves from their kid. The problem is they have been trying to put boundaries around their Spike. It doesn’t work. They need to put them around themselves. It is much more effective. If they will, they actually can have a family again. A good place for them to begin is to examine all the things they do for Spike which aren’t absolutely necessary. Then they should stop doing them. Parents are only obliged to provide the basics. When Spike decides to be decent, they can add the special things back in. Anything above basic he needs to earn by being respectful. This is not a deal; they say nothing to Spike. They simply begin quietly to take back the control that they lost in a futile effort to corral Spike. For more information go to DrAGibson.com #parenting
About The Author
Dr. Andrew Gibson was born in Detroit at the close of WWII. He grew up in the midst of farming country in central Michigan. Both parents were teachers. He keeps a picture of his childhood companion, Wags, to this day (you had to see the tail to appreciate the name). After discharge from the Navy after the Viet Name war, he graduated with a BA and MA from San Diego State University and earned his Ph. D from the University of Connecticut. He has taught at Portland State University, n Portland Oregon, at the University of Maine, Presque Isle and at SUNY New Paltz. He resides in Eastern Connecticut, with his wife of 41 years, where he conducts a private practice in parenting seriously difficult children. His book “Got An Angry Kid? Parenting Spike-A Seriously Difficult Child’ is the first of a series examining seriously difficult children at various age and emotional disturbance levels. He invites you to find him on the web at DrAGibson.com.
GIVEAWAY CLOSED!
I was recently given the chance to check out the FLEX shoes from Pediped™. They’re the next generation of pediped™ footwear for children ages 2 to 5+ years. My little princesses, who love shoes, just like their mommy, were more than happy to try these shoes out for me! The reviews are in… from my 4 year old girls.
ABOUT : pediped™ footwear was created in 2004 by Angela and Brian Edgeworth. After their first daughter Caroline was born, Angela started to do a lot of thinking about footwear and the kind of shoes that would be best for her child. She wanted a shoe that was comfortable, stylish and could be worn both indoors and out. Most importantly, she wanted a shoe that was healthy for her daughter’s feet.
After doing a lot of research, Angela discovered that doctors recommended barefoot walking or soft leather sole shoes, but the choices for infants and toddlers were limited. That is when Angela and her husband Brian decided to create the perfect shoe which was “the next best thing to bare feet”.
Today, pediped™ uses the latest technology, plus the highest quality materials and craftsmanship to create shoes for children that are designed to care for their feet from crawling, to those amazing first steps and into the toddler years. The philosophy of pediped™ has always been Comfort, Quality and Style, which is why pediped™ was one of the first children’s shoe companies the American Podiatric Medical Association awarded their Seal of Acceptance for promoting healthy foot development.
The Originals™ line for pre-walkers is designed to most closely mimic barefoot walking and the natural foot shape of a child. The Flex™ line combines everything she wanted for her daughters when looking for a rubber soled shoe; high quality, fine leather and a soft flexible rubber sole.
The name pediped™ came from a doctor friend of Angela’s while her daughter was wear testing shoes. Pedi is for pediatrician and ped is Latin for foot.
The company believes in creating shoes that are healthy for children’s feet, being corporately responsible and giving back to the community.
Again, they do not disappoint! The shoes are very soft and flexible, with padded heel collars and cushioned insoles. I can’t tell you how many shoes I went through as a child that dug into and rubbed the back of my heels raw. These shoes are so well cushioned, that won’t happen to your little ones’ feet. Their cushioned insoles protect against shock and distribute the pressure evenly across the feet. This makes a huge difference, especially as they get older, run faster and play harder!
Another thing that I liked was that, they came with additional insoles so that we could customize the fit just a little. It helps me get them just a little larger so they can last just a little bit longer. Makes spending that extra money on a really good pair of shoes very worth it. My girls like to wear the same thing every now and then, but as you can see from the photo, they can change the look even for identical twins! I love how cute those shoes are! Even more, I like how they’re good for their feet. My girls absolutely love shoes, and will run them through the paces. They’ve run around in our backyard more than I can count in these shoes, and they seem to hold up pretty well. Granted, it’s only been a few weeks, but there’s no sign of splitting or scuffing as of yet
BUY IT : Pediped™ is ready with shoes and sandals for every day and for every occasion ~ at a price you can afford while caring for your baby’s feet.
WIN IT: Guess what!?!?! We’re giving away a pair of pediped™ Originals™!
Here are our 6 winners of last month’s email subscriber draw:
For September, six of our email subscribers will have the opportunity to win a copy of The Chicken Soup For The Soul’s “Extraordinary Teens” each.
Extraordinary Teens opens with a special story from Sean Covey. If are an avid reader and still do not know who Sean is, I’m pretty sure you have heard of his father, Stephen R. Covey, the very famous best selling author of Seven Habits For Highly Effective People. I was very surprise to discover that Sean Covey was a pretty ordinary and shy teenager despite the success of his father. He was terrified of public speaking and had to learn to overcome his fear. Learn how he triumphed and became the author of Seven Habits For Highly Effective Teens.
This book is a great example of how ordinary but motivated teenagers can make a difference in this world as long as they put their hearts in their goals and stay true to themselves. With more than 50 stories from teen contributors, sharing their troubles and triumphs, Extraordinary Teens will serve as a great resource to inspire young adults to achieve greater success. Celebrity contributors include Brenda Song, Anna Kournikova, Danica McKellar and more. Even though this book is targetted at teens and young adults, it is also perfect for readers of all ages.
To win a copy : Just subscribe to our feed via email. Button on the right side bar.
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