Category: Healthy Living

Food/Beverage, Healthy Living, Natural Foods

HINT launches kid-friendly Tetra boxes that help children drink more water

Erin Sluka

With a 10 year old who has ongoing constipation and digestion issues, drinking water is the number 1 thing he can do to lessen his symptoms. He is on a Miralax regimen and for that to work, water is imperative. The big problem is he hates drinking water. It is such a fight to get him to drink a healthy amount. I needed a solution that works to help children drink more water and HINT was my answer.

HINT water for kids comes in four fruit flavors, Watermelon, Cherry, Blackberry and Apple. Hydrate your thirsty kids with our refreshing fruit-flavored waters that contains no juice, sugar or sweeteners.

HINT kids waters are available at drinkhint.com, and soon at Costco and grocery and specialty stores nationwide. I also found it on Amazon. This is a long-awaited water for parents like me who struggle to get water down their kids with no other option but sugar juices!

Gift Guides, Healthy Living, Kids, Reviews, Reviews by Anthony, Summer, Video Reviews by Anthony

The Priority Bicycles Start 20 Kids Bike Review

Erin Sluka

Thank you to Priority Bicycles for sending the bike for feature

The Priority Start 20 Kids Bike Review

Is it time to introduce a quality bike to enhance riding skills and introduce gears? Are your bike rides hindered by kids bikes that can’t use the same terrain as yours can? If they can fit on a 20″ bike it is time for the Start 20 from Priority Bicycles. This is because you get a quality bike with quality parts at a reasonable price. Let’s take a better look!

Imagine having no more chains and no more grease. The Priority Start 20 kids bicycle has

  • Comfort all-weather grips
  • 3 Speed Shimano hub with grip shifter
  • Comfortable all-weather seat
  • Dual hand brakes
  • Rear free wheel
  • All terrain durable tires
  • Solid platform pedals
  • Rust and grease free belt drive

I worried at first that perhaps with Anthony’s growth spurt that he was a bit tall for the bike, but he says he loves it a bit low. He says he can jump it and turn much easier that way. He hardly rides sitting down as he always lifts up and he has such great comfort in this bike with the grips and shifting is easy.

new bike

This bike makes learning gears easy as I can hear the clicks and catch and can help him out as he learns to shift up and down depending on hills or terrain.

bike rides

Let’s see how the Priority Start 20 rides:

Priority Bicycles has bikes for kids as small as balance starters and 16″ to adults. They really are a fantastically built bike for the price point. The good thing is that my local bike shop says when he wants they can put a higher stem in to raise the handle bars so he can grow with this same bike.

They do 100% of their sales through https://www.prioritybicycles.com/. Just a small NYC company bringing you a comfortable and easy-to-ride bike for all sizes and abilities.

Books Reviews, Education, Healthy Living, Kids, Parenting, Tips and Tricks, Wellness Wednesday

Fun Ways To Teach Hygiene To Your Children

Erin Sluka

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A few nights ago I sent my son in for his pre-bedtime potty and to wash his hands. He is the child that at age 4 ALWAYS washes his hands after using the restroom as Daycare and myself have installed that method into his head. I noticed he came out of the restroom way too fast. “Hold on, Mister…did you wash those hands?” I got a “Huh?” look and he shoved his hands in my face and I smelled soap.  It then hit me….we tell him to wash his hands and he knows to put his hands under running water, use soap and rinse but I have never actually given him any concept of why or how long. At 4 1/2 he is perfectly capable at comprehending the concept so I thought fast about all those books and articles I have come across on creative ways to help him learn and to not just wash his hands or brush his teeth, but to CORRECTLY wash and brush! Here is what I found and will use from now on with my own son……

Click for photo source
Click for photo source

Washing Hands

Facts

  • 80% of germs are transmitted by hands
  • CDC protocol is to wash hands in warm, clean & soapy water for 20 seconds.
  • The proper sneeze etiquette is to sneeze into your sleeve, NOT your hands.

Fun Ways to Encourage Hand Washing

  • Have your child sing Happy Birthday twice or the Alphabet song..any song, really. It needs to be a minimum of 20 seconds of their hands under water rinsing with soap!
  • Glitter! It is great for teaching hand washing for 2 reasons. First, you can put glitter on your hands. The glitter resembles GERMS. Have them see how easily the “GERMS” spread as you shake there hand, open a door, touch the flusher, etc… Second, glitter is a challenge to wash off. Give your child a paper towel and see them struggle removing the GERMS. Then have them rinse under cool water without soap-better, but still doesn’t get the GERMS. Finally, have them rinse with soap and warm water. The GERMS go away!
  • Buy the fun and colorful soaps for them
Brushing Teeth
Facts
  • It takes 3 years for toddlers to grow their 20 primary teeth
  • 40% of kids will have a cavity by Kindergarten
  • 2-3 years old is when self-dental care should begin-supervising them until about age 6-8
  • Use soft Bristle Brush with Flouride paste
Fun Ways to Encourage Teeth Brushing
  • Mix 3-4 drops of red food coloring in about 2-3 tbsp of water. Have your child rinse and spit out carefully into the sink or another cup. Let them look into a magnifying mirror and see their plaque and germs.
  • Put Tempura paint between your fingers and give them a piece of string. Demonstrate flossing. The paint is a bit challenging to remove resembling the work it takes to floss well.
  • Don’t forget the eyeball catching toothbrushes and toothpaste. Let them be Germ superheros. I did this with my son as I started him brushing his teeth (he brushes after I do it first as he is only 4). We went to the store and he picked out his own toothbrush and paste then he had his “weapons” for fighting the germ monsters that invade his teeth morning and night!
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A great book to use is ‘Germs Are Not For Sharing’. I highly recommend it!
Whatever you do, have fun with it and educate them!

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. The link to the recommended book is that of my Amazon affiliate page. Book suggestion is my own.
 
 
Beauty, Healthy Living

Seriously! You Need To Know What is in Your Sunscreen

Erin Sluka

Thank you to Goddess Garden for partnering with me on this feature

Seriously! You Need To Know What is in Your Sunscreen

You heard it and maybe you rolled your eyes….Hawaii bans certain sunscreens. Great! Another everyday product you are not supposed to use anymore. The Oxybenzone ingredient that is the center of the ban is in most sunscreens and IS INDEED VERY UNSAFE! Sorry! Like when everyone smoked cigarettes because it’s just what everyone did. Only later did we realize we made a mistake accepting cigarette smoking for so long due to known health effects, so did we accept Oxybenzone and other similar ingredients into our sunscreens for too long.

Please! Before you read on would you humor me and go grab your sunscreen right now?

I’ll help you look at the label and if you go through your label with me and still aren’t convinced or maybe you are using the right sunscreen, then pardon me for this little extra education. If you read through this and toss that sunscreen across the room and run to bathe your child real quick, then this feature was worth it!

Do you see the ingredient, Oxybenzone? This chemical is well-known in sunscreens and absorbs through your skin layers and will enter your blood stream. This chemical is in the same class as BPA, only stronger. The EWG has rated oxybenzone an 8 on their toxicity rating scale, meaning it is one of the most toxic ingredients found in cosmetic products. Yikes!

Do you see Parabens? These are in many sunscreens, bath products and beauty brands. It is a preservative and is genuinely linked to cancer and add in the sun UVB rays to get damaged DNA and an increase in skin aging.

Moving down the ingredient list, do you see Phthalates? These and your hormones DO NOT get along. Guess where you won’t find these ingredients? In mineral sunscreens like Goddess Garden. Natural, or mineral-based, sunscreens instead reflect the sun’s rays, like a mirror on the skin and they rub in sheer and start working immediately.

Goddess Garden sunscreen varieties do not contain the PABA, parabens, phthalates, BPA, Oxybenzone, Avobenzone, Petroleum or toxic chemicals that most brands may contain and absorb through all of the skin layers.

How did your sunscreen fair? Let’s just start right with a natural and mineral sunscreen and take one health worry off of our plates while we enjoy the outdoors!