The Nanny Experts | Newsletter, Issue 1

Newsletter, Issue 1 - January 06

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE NANNY EXPERTS!

Welcome to our first newsletter: a newsletter for all parents and anyone caring for young children.

We are a newly established childcare agency based in Hong Kong. We offer professionally trained and experienced Western nannies and maternity nurses across Asia. Our nannies provide parents with peace of mind, help children with homework, stimulate their minds and teach them a new language or improve their English speaking and writing skills. Our maternity nurses will live in with families in those early critical weeks after you bring your newborn baby home and help mothers settle baby into a good feeding and sleeping routine by giving hands on advice about breastfeeding and training the baby to sleep through the night.

Our newsletter will be sent out on a monthly basis and aims at providing useful childcare information to parents and nannies. If you think it would be of interest to your friends, we would appreciate it if you forward it to them simply by clicking "Tell a friend" above.

We hope you enjoy our newsletter!

JANUARY'S TIP FROM THE NANNY EXPERTS

Recent research shows that educational videos are not the best learning tool for a child. Exposing your children to educational videos without any adult guidance is not ideal. Unless there is a parent or a qualified nanny present to teach the child while watching the video, they amount to a lazy tool to get a child to stare at the screen. To help your children get the best out of such learning tools and to learn the right messages from them, you need to have someone interact with them to stimulate their interest in learning and to gain the maximum knowledge.

THE NANNY EXPERTS IN TATLER MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2005
	Click here to view the article.

HEAD INJURIES CAN BE SERIOUS
By Peter Sommer RN (UK), Director Training Division Asia Medical Services Ltd.
	Head injuries are common in children and more often than not are minor, such as a bump on the head but with a more severe impact, they may be serious. Bleeding, tearing of tissues and brain swelling can occur when the brain moves inside the skull at the time of an impact. But most people recover from head injuries and have no lasting effects.
A concussion is a jarring injury to the brain. The person may feel dazed and may lose vision or balance for a while after the injury. A brain contusion is a bruise of the brain. This means there is some bleeding in the brain, causing swelling. A skull fracture is when the skull cracks or a crack in the bone. Sometimes the edges of broken skull bones cut into the brain and cause bleeding or other injury.
Bleeding in the brain that collects and clots, forming a bump known as a haematoma - may not be apparent for a day or even as long as couple of weeks. So it's important to tell your doctor if your child with a head injury feels or acts out of character or strangely. Keep observing and watch out for headaches, listlessness, balance problems or vomiting.
How bad is the damage?
Your doctor will ask about how the injury occurred, about past medical problems, and about vomiting, seizures (fits) or problems breathing after the injury. The injured child may need to stay in the hospital to be watched. Sometimes, CT scans and other special pictures of the brain may be needed to find out more about the damage.
What happens after the injury?
Your child may have a headache and nausea, and feel dizzy right after a head injury. Other symptoms include ringing in the ears, neck pain, and feeling anxious, upset, irritable and tired. The child who has had a head injury may also have problems concentrating, remembering things, putting thoughts together or doing more than one thing at a time. These symptoms usually go away in a few weeks, but may go on for longer if the injury was severe.
Will the head injury cause permanent brain damage?
This depends on how bad the injury was and how much damage it did. Most head injuries don't cause permanent damage. It's common for someone who's had a head injury to forget the events right before, during and right after the accident. Memory of these events may not come back. Following recovery, the ability to learn and remember new things almost always returns.
If the doctor at the hospital sends you home, you will be given a card with a list of signs and symptoms to look out for over the next few days / weeks. If you see changes then go back to the hospital - it could be serious.
Any symptom that is getting worse, such as headaches, nausea or sleepiness Nausea that doesn't go away Changes in behaviour, such as irritability or confusion Dilated pupils (pupils that are bigger than normal) or pupils of different sizes Vision problems Trouble walking or speaking Drainage of bloody or clear fluids from ears or nose Vomiting Seizures or convulsions
Click here for information on AMS courses

WHO CAN MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR CHILD?
By Dr. Eunice Wong, Paeditrician
	Before we answer this question, we need to define the needs of your child, which is a complicated task because it not only depends on the developmental stage and temperamental traits of the child, but also on you, on your spouse and your other family members.
The child's developmental stage includes his (or her) cognitive, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, gross motor, language and social development. When we look closely at who the child is, we discover that he/ she (we shall use 'he' from hereon) is almost always unique. He may be unique in his sensitivity in emotion, in his reaction to different tastes and textures of food, touch, etc. He may be high in energy levels, or very intense in his emotions, whether his way of expression is externalizing (such as shouting, tantrums) or internalizing (such as keep his worries or sadness to himself). He may have an excessively long attention span in one activity, but too short in others. He may not be regular in his timing in feeling hungry for meals or feeling sleepy at bedtime. For example, if the child is very intense in his emotions and is irregular in his sleep-wake hours, when his parent wants to impose regular hours on him he may react intensely by crying and screaming. In this case, we need to step back and actively 'listen' to him, to find out what his needs are. He may perhaps need to have more specific bedtime rituals before he is settled to sleep. It is also important to separate 'bedtime' from 'sleep-time' because we can set his bedtime (discipline), but we cannot control when he can fall asleep (respect his biological needs). In conclusion, the caretaker not only needs to have good skills in providing daily care, but also to be emotionally healthy, sensitive, and reliable. It is even more important that she/ he is connected to the child in order to provide the care which meets his needs. Dr Eunice Wong is an American board certified paediatrician, licensed in California and Hong Kong who has studied Counselling Psychology at Columbia University and worked as a mental health worker in New York City. She is in private practice in Hong Kong, seeing children with chronic medical/or behavioural problems including attention deficit/ learning difficulties. Her goal is to optimize each child's potential in the context of their family environment.

AVIAN FLU
By Jasmin Blunck, Urban Soul Editor-in-chief
The avian flu that has affected birds and people in Asia and parts of Eastern Europe is different from the flu that many people get during the cold-weather months. In most places, there's no immediate threat from bird flu unless you happen to be living in a place crowded with and/or in direct contact with infected birds, or surfaces that have been contaminated by them. All the same, the best thing you can do to safeguard your family from any contagious illness is to practice good hand-washing habits, teach your child to do the same and take proper food safety precautions. Do not eat undercooked or uncooked poultry. Use a separate chopping board and make sure it is not wood as the germs can harbour in tiny cracks. Wash it in hot water and clean any kitchen surfaces and equipment where you have handled or worked with any uncooked meat.

NEW PARENTING MAGAZINE IN HONG KONG
By Jasmin Blunck, Urban Soul Editor-in-chief
Violet is a new quarterly parenting magazine aimed at today's modern family that appeals to mothers, fathers and families. The premiere issue offers such feature stories as Prader-Willi Syndrome and profiles of atypical parents like championship surfer Shane Beschen. Violet is available at Bookazine.

BEDTIME TALES
By Jasmin Blunck, Urban Soul Editor-in-chief
	Grandparents not around, no uncles no aunts - in Hong Kong there are many of us families without our extended families around. So here is a great idea from Kids Magazine - Let friends and relatives that live overseas share bedtimes stories to your children by making a recording of themselves reading one aloud. Label the tape or CD and send it with a copy of the book. Brought to you by Urban Soul Magazine - Hong Kong's hippest little magazine. http://www.urbansoulasia.com/

CHOOSING A TOY FOR YOUR KID
Choosing a toy for your little one is about fun, a little nostalgia and sometimes we even try to find something which is educational too! Tall order? Well look at this adorable pelican ($220) which will keep your baby happily busy while on travel or in their crib. There is a rattling crab, squeaky octopus, crunchy fish and a rattling shrimp. They all go into the pelican and come out from the Pelican's tummy. Stimulating and fun too. For your inquisitive little one, how about a brilliant torch ($105) with 3 coloured beam and lantern function? It features: Red, Green or White beams and flashing signal button. Perfect for illicitly reading your favourite book at night! Finally, what is a more potent sign of your child's growing independence and abilities than their first bike. Look at this pretty bike ($899), just perfect for all our little Princesses. In pink camouflage, white wheels and coming with a trendy backpack, it is just gorgeous. Selection available at Bumps to Babes in Central and Ap Lei Chau.

SAVE ON FAMILY HAIRCUTS!

Our favourite salon, The Colour Bar, is offering Back to School discounted haircuts to our readers for the whole month of January. Please print out this coupon and take it to The Colour Bar to enjoy this exclusive offer. Make it a family outing and save $$$!
	CHILD Regular price - HK$200 for child's cut and blow dry Back to school offer - only $100 for child's cut and blow dry

	MOTHER AND CHILD Regular price - $550 for ladies' cut and blow dry + $200 for child's cut and blow dry Back to school offer - only $450 for ladies' cut and blow dry + $100 for child's cut and blow dry
	FATHER AND CHILD Regular price - $350 for gentlemen's cut and blow dry + $200 for child's cut and blow dry Back to school offer - only $250 for gentlemen's cut and blow dry + $100 for child's cut and blow dry
	BOTH PARENTS AND CHILD Regular price - $1100 for both parents' cut and blow dry + free child's cut and blow dry Back to school offer - only $900 for parents' cut and blow dry + and free child's cut and blow dry

*The Back to School offer is limited to children up to the age of ten.

The Colour Bar, 19th Floor, Asia Pacific Centre, Wyndham Street, Central (Tel: 2525 4228)

Disclaimer
The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of The Nanny Experts and we assume no responsibility or liability for such content. You are advised to seek professional advice before relying on the accuracy, safety or value of such content. This message is brought to you by The Nanny Experts. This is not unsolicited email. You have received this as a result of having subscribed to this database or somebody using your mail ID has. If you have not subscribed to this database or feel that this has been sent to you in error, please click UNSUBSCRIBE to have your email address removed immediately. © Copyright 2006 The Nanny Experts Limited. All rights reserved.