A special outfit
We aren’t talking onesies and knitted booties (although they are useful gifts too). Often mums will have a new bub, stock up on the practical clothes and miss out on those adorable designer booties. Buy the little bundle of joy something truly unique and a little bit designer. They’ll have something cool to wear to a special event and their parents will love the sentiment.

The things we just don’t think about
Of course we can often think we have everything but really we aren’t as prepared as we think we are when baby arrives. Talk to friends and relatives that have had children. Ask them their opinion for something they wished they had from the beginning but didn’t think of until later. This could be something like quality sterilizing equipment or a mosquito net.

Ask mum and dad what they need
Sometimes the best thing really is to ask the parents if there is anything they really need. There’s no point in buying them the 20th bodysuit when what they really need is some more plastic bottles for feeding. Sometimes the best thing to do is to find out what they would like to receive. This will ensure they get something they can really use when bub comes home. A great idea is to get a group of friends together and all chip in to buy a larger item such as a quality portable cot or something similar.

A gift of memories
Sometimes the gift of memories is something the proud new parents will love and probably haven’t thought of yet themselves. This could be a voucher for a baby photographer, or a voucher for having their baby’s feet and/or hands cast in plaster. This is a wonderfully unique gift that not many other family members or friends will think of getting.

A special toy
There are some wonderful baby’s first toys out there. These are things like baby’s first doll or train set. A beautiful doll or teddy bear can make a wonderful gift for a newborn and something they will treasure for many years to come. For an added touch, have the plush toy embroidered with the child’s name on the foot or ear. Whether you purchase offline or online toys of this nature, make a very special gift for a newborn and something their parents will appreciate.

Buying for a newborn can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be. I hope our list of tips has given you some useful ideas for what would make just the perfect gift for the new little tyke in your life.

Iron out any behavioural problems
If your hound is a little on the naughty side you need to take these nine months to iron out any problems. This is the time for you to make sure that your dog knows who’s the leader of the pack. If they are currently running your household, you will have problems when your baby arrives.

Routine is key
When the baby comes home, you need to ensure that the dog doesn’t receive extra attention or is completely ignored. Make sure that you treat your dog the same as you always have, maintaining their routine. Take them for walks, give them pats. This will make them feel comfortable with the new addition to the family.

Teach your little one
Once your baby begins to explore and move around, make sure that you begin teaching him/her how to interact with your dog. For example, don’t pull the dogs tail etc. As soon as you can teach them, these lessons are vital. Always ensure that you are supervising all interactions with your baby and your dog as well. It’s when parents take for granted their dogs peaceful nature and leave a child unattended that has not been taught how to interact with animals appropriately, that accidents can occur.

Your baby’s smell
Before you bring your baby home from the hospital, use cloths or online toys you’ve bought for your little one and keep them close to your baby. They will then have your baby’s scent on them. Before you bring your baby home from the hospital, bring home one of these items. Start by allowing the dog to sniff the item from a distance. Make sure you are holding the item. This will communicate to the dog that this is your item and they need to follow your rules when around it. This is the beginning point for ensuring your dog has respect for your newborn.

First introduction
When introducing your newborn to your dog for the first time here are a few steps you should follow:

• Take your dog for a walk and exhaust much of their energy. Make sure he/she is in a calm and submissive mood before taking them inside.
• The mother or father holding the baby needs to be in a calm and assertive state as the dog enters. Immediately it will acknowledge the new smell.
• Allow the dog to sniff the baby from a reasonable distance.
• Don’t have the baby too close on their first meeting.
• Eventually allow your dog to get closer and closer to your baby. By making it a gradual, controlled process you are making sure your pooch sees your newborn as another pack leader.

When a newborn comes along there is so much excitement in the air it can be easy to forget the importance of introducing your dog to your baby in the appropriate way. But if you do follow these tips you will be ensuring that your household will be a safe and peaceful place for two and four-legged family members well after your bundle of joy arrives!

Experience Presents
Kids love spending time with their aunties and uncles. For one thing, they’re less likely to get into trouble, more likely to be able to eat junk-food, and if you’re a young auntie or uncle without kids of your own and a habit of self-censoring, they might even hear you accidentally swear–for a child, that’s pretty much a trifecta of fun! It’s for this reason that one of the best presents to buy a child is tickets to see a concert or movie that they’re into–with you! The best part is that it’s usually just a credit card and the click of a mouse away, so there is no need to plan buying a gift into your workday. While a live show of Dora the Explorer or the Wiggles might not be your cup of tea, it’ll all be worth it when you see how excited your little niece or nephew is at the idea of hanging out one-on-one with you.

Fashion
Once kids get to a certain age, their parents go from being the centre of their known universe and the curators of all things cool to being about as uncool and embarrassing as it gets. It’s a natural side-effect of evolution, and eventually it’ll turn back around again, but in the meantime it means that you get to step into the ‘cool auntie or uncle’ position, which is a pretty enviable place to be. For this reason, things like fashion and music will be your areas of expertise in the eyes of your small relation, but only until you too are relegated to the uncool pile–so make the most of it while it lasts! Take the opportunity to buy them a grown-up fashion accessory like a bracelet, necklace or baseball cap that isn’t from a kid’s store. This serves the dual purpose of making them feel incredibly adult and cool, and you not having to make a diversion to a toy store!

If it’s toys they want, there are still ways of getting the toy they want without traipsing around the mall. Online toys are the busy auntie or uncle’s dream, because it’s possible to choose the perfect gift and have it wrapped, sent to your niece or nephew’s house and waiting for their birthday within a matter of days. Now that’s service!

Whether the adults like or hate the show there is no doubt that the show strikes a positive chord with the children of the world. Parents treasure that enthralled silent time when children are completely taken into the colourful world of Dora and all her friends.

The Dora Concept

Dora seemed to fill a much needed niche in cartoons available to the preschool/kinder age group and in some cases children older than that. It is in essence a show that teaches kids in a practical and fun way about many basic skills including math, problem solving, basic Spanish, music, and physical coordination.
But it may well be the underlying lessons that make the show a hit. Dora The Explorer deals with many social issues of differences and people having talents in differing areas, and that being okay. It demonstrates tolerance and love of things around us. It brings a different culture to kids seems to spark an interest in other parts of the world.

With all of this wrapped up in cheeky characters, bright colours, and catchy songs the show is still going strong after ten years.

Dora Gets a Makeover

In an effort to appeal the older generation of middle aged primary school children, Dora has gotten a makeover. But parents needn’t worry too much there will still be plenty of the original episodes airing, and the new look Dora is a little more fashionable with longer hair but not much else has changed for now.
There has been some controversy over the move to make Dora grow up from adults, but the real test will be whether or not the kids support the move and buy the merchandise. Parents will buy what makes their children happy at the end of the day, and for preschoolers right now that certainly is Dora.

Diego, The Male Dora

Diego has seen some success in winning over the boys. It seems that Dora is mostly marketed to the girls and Diego was developed for the boys. It may suffer a little from the fact that it is an obvious copy of Dora format using talking accessories, an animal best friend and helper, and the repetitive catchy tunes.
It’s a little hard to say right now if Diego will be as popular as Dora, but the toys are still selling well.

Dora Characters

• Dora – Dora is a cute young Spanish girl who loves adventures and all her friends
• Boots – he is the cheeky monkey friend that travels with Dora on her adventures. He has a token pair of blue boots that his name is derived from.
• Map – he pops out of the backpack when Dora needs directions. The children watching are instructed to say map to encourage him out to sing his song and tell us how Dora gets to where she needs to go
• Backpack – this cute little character is a firm favorite. The children are again encouraged to say backpack when he needs to show us what is inside him so Dora can solve a problem while getting to where she is going.
• Swiper – this crafty fox sneaks around and steals things from Boots and Dora throwing them away. Then Dora has to work out a way to find them. He doesn’t always get to swipe anything because viewers are encouraged to call out ‘Swiper, no swiping’ until he leaves.

There are many other characters that pop up regularly to help or to be helped and this forms the basis of all Dora’s explorations.

Dora the Explorer creative toys have a genuine popularity that means they will still be selling well in years to come and entertaining the next generation of children.

A most exciting development this year has been the introduction of Conrod, the Australian V8 Supercar, to the Silver Hatch Racetrack. Adding to the seventeen strong character cast, Conrod has been very much anticipated on our televisions.

Craig Lowndes Voices Conrod

Champion driver Craig Lowndes is the voice for Conrod and he has been out and about promoting his part on the show and Roary and Big Chris have been seen regularly at the V8 Supercar meets. Roary also gave a show at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne last year and has been popping up in shopping centres and other events during the lead up to the

Australian racing car addition.

With the addition of Craig, Roary The racing Car is sure to be a firm favourite for kids and their parents who love racing, and in Australia that is a lot of families. Craig Lowndes has three episodes to see how Conrod is received and then he’ll have more episodes if he proves popular.
Certainly it is a great opportunity to get V8 Supercar racing under the noses of the world and any publicity is good publicity.

Roary Toys

2010 is the second season and already the toys have been flying off the shelves. This may be predominantly appealing to the male market but there are some female elements to the show and many fathers are buying the toys for their girls as well. There is a good range from action figures to soft toys to racing tracks available.
Appearances

After the success of his appearances last year, Roary has already appeared at the Perth Zoo and at Westfield Eastland Shopping Centre in January 2010. He is sure to be appearing at more places this year so keep an eye out for news about the popular racing car character and his friends.

The show has begun airing on ABC1 in the mornings with Conrod but can be seen on pay TV as well. There are plenty of season one episodes to keep the kids happy as well. This might just be one cartoon that you find the Dads sitting down to watch with their kids.

Nick Jnr

Roary The Racing Car is yet another hit show on Nick Jnr and comes from the makers of Bob The Builder and Fifi And The Flowertots, so there isn’t any doubt at all that this show has attention to detail and is completely tuned in to what it is that kids love to watch these days.

Australians are hoping that Conrod becomes a permanent fixture at the Silver Hatch Raceway next season and a lot more episodes are made with Craig Lowndes voice. It not only adds another cross to his bow but demonstrates V8 racing as a world class motorsport alongside Formula Ones and and the USA Indy Cars.

Motorsports will continue to be loved around the world in its various forms which will keep Roary The Racing Car toys, books and DVDs selling extremely well in the 2-5 yr old age group.

Raising a new infant, especially for the first time mother, is both expensive and demanding. The National Children Study in the US has conducted a number of studies into the total stress a new mother must deal with, from conception to birth and through the first year of an infant’s life. While every mother will experience different stress levels based on factors such as income, marital status, employment and so on, pregnancy and motherhood are almost invariably amongst the most stressful periods in an individual woman’s life.

Furthermore, the cost of raising a child from birth to their first birthday, according to a survey conducted by Baby Center, an online resource for new mothers, will average a minimum of ten thousand dollars US, or about seven thousand AU. This is a minimum. For many mothers, it may wind up being several times this number. The average income amongst Australian households is said to be around fifty thousand dollars a year, but most Australians actually live in states with an average income of under forty thousand a year, and many are lucky to make half the average annual income in a year. In other words, seven thousand dollars as a bare minimum of what you can expect to pay for an infant’s first year of life can take quite a toll.

Make no mistake, having a child is also a wonderful experience, but it is just as stressful and expensive as it is joyful. As a friend or family member of a mother-to-be, it should be considered a duty, an honor, and a privilege to help lighten the load placed on the baby shower’s guest of honor.

This brings us to our second point: Selecting a gift for a friend or family member is something like solving a puzzle. Sometimes, the recipient will make it easy on you and let you know exactly what they need, but in any event, your goal is simply to select something that will be needed and useful.

While something utilitarian like, say, a vacuum cleaner, might immediately spring to mind, remember that, to put it bluntly, preserving the new mother’s sanity should be top priority. Something like a Fisher Price remote control musical monitor is helpful in this regard. The few minutes a mother has to herself in a day are valuable and precious. The musical monitor plays lullabies for the baby while allowing the mother to sit on the living room sofa with a cup of tea and just rest for a moment.

Then there are gifts to simply save the mother some money. Formula alone can cost up to one thousand dollars a year, so simply outfitting the mother with some necessities should be well appreciated. For example, simply providing the mother to be with an INFANTINO baby carrier or a full set of bottles and rubber nipples will save the trouble and money of buying them herself, and ensure that she is prepared for her new child the moment he or she is born.

In short, giving a gift should be seen as a gesture of love and consideration. There is no point in a person’s life that they need and deserve more love and consideration than when they’re expecting their first child.

The answer: Before they’re born.

Playing is the most important part of a human being’s development. We’re not just saying that to sell some toys, it’s true. In every sense of the word, playing is the most important part of personal development.

If wolf cubs don’t wrestle and fight in the litter, they’ll never be able to hunt as adults, and if children don’t play in their early developmental years, the entire learning process will never be anything but a chore to them.

In a way, every form of learning is a type of play. When you’re solving math problems on a worksheet, you’re not solving a real math problem, like “how many hours of overtime do I have to work to make the car payment?” you’re solving a pretend problem on a sheet of paper to practice for when you have to solve a real problem. That’s what playing is, and it starts in infancy.

For an infant, playing is how the basic functions of life are first learned. Playing for an infant is, of course, not quite the same as it is for a slightly older child. An infant isn’t able to piece together some Lincoln Logs and make a cabin, or drive a remote control car around the living room. What an infant does is much simpler, and much more critical. For an infant, playing amounts to things like watching the mobile go around in circles, feeling the textures of stuffed animals and blankets, and learning from a game of peekaboo that just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there.

One of the more recent and significant studies in the importance of play was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, or the AAP. “The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds”. The basic gist of that 2006 report was that free, unstructured playtime is one of the most important elements in helping a child reach critical developmental milestones in socializing, cognitive development, emotional development, and even in teaching them to deal with stress, and become resilient against the emotional slings and arrows of life.

A lot of this can be explained further if you want to read a thick book on affective neuroscience, but in plain English, what it comes down to is that a baby needs to play if he or she hopes to develop their brain and their physical coordination. Squeezing a teddy bear is vitally important to hand-eye coordination and learning to interact with one’s environment. Heck, chewing on the corner of a blanket has a huge impact on a baby’s physical and mental growth.

At the very earliest stages, luckily, there’s not too much to worry about when it comes to picking out toys. You could hand a baby a comfy blanket and any stuffed animal without loose buttons, and they’ll figure out how to make the most of it. Perhaps more important is that they spend a lot of time playing with those toys with both of their parents.

In learning basic motor functions, how your body works, and how to interact with the world around you, playing is one of the most important ingredients to proper development.

When you’re shopping for toys for infants and newborns, bear in mind what the baby is learning and developing at this early stage. This would include the five senses, but babies should also get a little bit of exercise and physical activity into their schedules, and remember that infants are always chewing on things to assist in the teething process.

Some things to consider for newborns…

Stuffed Animals

As long as the stuffed animal doesn’t have a lot of buttons and plastic eyes that can pop off, the colours, the shape, the feel of a stuffed animal can do a lot for a baby’s sensory development.

Interactive Toys

Things like little dials you can turn to make them click, those crazy Fisher Price toys that make ping pong balls bounce around inside of a plastic dome, anything where the baby can see their own actions have an effect on their environment can help a baby learn how to interact with the world around them.

Teething Toys

Anything with a soft plastic or rubber surface, like teething rings and similar toys. These can help to reduce the aches and pains of teething.

Mobiles

Crib and child seat mounted mobiles usually feature plenty of motion and sound, which can help the baby learn how to observe their environment.

Exercise

Okay, we’re not talking about buying lifting weights and protein shakes for babies, here! Rather, anything that can keep a baby physically active and stimulated will provide the basic exercise a baby needs to ensure that their body builds strength and develops correctly. Within the first six months or so, this could just mean things that give the baby an opportunity to pull, push, twist, and turn the toy in various ways. Something like a Lamaze Play and Grow doll, which are packed with little doodads to keep the baby moving around.

Just Keep in Mind…

At the earliest stages, what you should really worry about are the development of the senses, learning how to interact, assisting in teething, and keeping the baby active. Even though toys usually go through a rigorous inspection first, inspect them yourself, as well. Make sure there’s nothing cracked or broken in the plastic, no loose seams on the doll, etcetera. You don’t just want a developmentally helpful toy, you want a safe toy, as well.

The first step is to relax. Raising a child certainly ain’t easy, but it’s a lot harder to make all those mistakes new parents worry about than most realize. Just make sure to be prepared, and you should be okay when the baby arrives.

If you are expecting a child, you may want to start looking for toys that are appropriate for newborn babies, so as to ensure that the learning process begins right away. And while you’re at it, you might want to check out some maternity items, as well (note to baby shower invitees, this list is for you, too!).

Stuffed Animals

Stuffed animals are great for children less than a year old. The plush, soft feel helps children to learn about texture, the design of the animal can help to teach them the basics of recognizing faces and shapes, and the colour can help their eyesight develop.

If you stick to dolls and animals intended for babies, there should be no problem. Otherwise, just be on the lookout for things like plastic eyes and buttons, which can pop off more easily than you might think.

Baby Toys

Toys for babies look ridiculous to older kids, “Why is the dog seven different colours with a rubber ring sticking out of his head?” but the zany designs are usually put together with a purpose in mind. For example, the Playskool Let’s Play Together Puppet shaped like a monkey has a few plastic rings of various colours and a dial that makes clicking noises when turned left or right. These bells and whistles actually help to teach babies about various tactile surfaces, colours, sound, and interacting with their environment, as well as providing something safe and harmless to chew on to assist in teething.

Strollers, Baby Carriers, and Baby Care

This one should be obvious. You’re going to be carrying your baby pretty much all the time for awhile, so strollers, baby carriers, baby seats, and so on, are vital to giving your arms a break once in awhile. And of course, you’ll want a well-stocked supply of baby safety and health items, like electrical socket covers, Q-tips, cotton balls, infant medicine, and so on.

Your Shopping List

Okay let’s be frank, here… You’ve got a big shopping list to fill out. Baby clothes, diapers, bottles, formula, breast pump, crib, baby food… We can’t possibly list every single thing you’d need in one short article. Rather, we’ll just recommend a couple of things…

1. Don’t neglect toys for the baby, and…
2. Don’t neglect yourself.

Look, having a baby is tough. If you can get yourself something to lighten the load, be it a baby carrier, or your favourite tea and chocolate, do it. Having a baby is wonderful, but it’s also a lot of stress and hard work. Being prepared means taking care of yourself, too.