Hosting young children during the holidays can create some risks around the house you might not think of. Creating a safe, functional home, especially in areas like the laundry room, kitchen, medicine cabinet, and bedrooms, is essential for the whole family.

Watch this episode on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VsVRA-qIWTg

As an example, a survey by the American Cleaning Institute, from 2024, showed that 36% of Americans use decorative jars or containers to enhance their laundry space, a trend made popular on social media. However, putting products into clear jars or containers for aesthetic purposes is one way you may be unintentionally putting children at risk.  

In this mini episode, Brian Sansoni, Senior Vice President, Communications, Outreach and Membership at the American Cleaning Institute and Torine Creppy, President of Safe Kids Worldwide show us how to help parents create safe and child-friendly spaces without sacrificing aesthetics.

Both highlight the importance of proper use of cleaning products and the dos and don'ts of storing them, additional items to keep an eye out for throughout the home and areas to prioritize safety. Whether you’re organizing, revamping, or preparing to bring a new baby home, ACI and Safe Kids have the resources, including a new safety guide, to help get your home in tip-top safety shape without scarifying style. 

About American Cleaning Institute:  ACI is a non-profit organization.  Established in 1926, ACI is dedicated to advancing public understanding of the safety and benefits of cleaning products, and protecting the ability of its members to formulate products that best meet consumer needs. ACI serves both its members and the public by developing and sharing information about industry products with the technical community, policy makers, childcare and health professionals, educators, media and consumers. Find them at https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/

About Safe Kids Worldwide:  Safe Kids Worldwide® is a nonprofit organization working to reduce unintentional injuries to children ages 0-14 and build equitable and sustainable systems that support injury prevention. Most people are surprised to learn preventable injuries are the number one cause of death to children in the United States.

Safe Kids works with strategic partners and an extensive network of more than 400 coalitions in the U.S. to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, sleep-related deaths, falls, burns, poisonings, and more. We achieve this work through a public health approach that includes research, interventions to educate and raise awareness, safety device distribution, and advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels. Safe Kids also supports a worldwide alliance of like-minded organizations in more than 20 countries. Find them at https://www.safekids.org/

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Watch the great ideas on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/pqLiobMux8k

Meaghan B Murphy is a dynamic and influential figure in the world of lifestyle and wellness. As the Editor-in-Chief of Woman's Day magazine since 2020, she has been instrumental in reshaping the publication to focus on positivity, practical advice, and everyday inspiration. Her approach emphasizes the importance of embracing joy and finding balance in our hectic lives.

Apart from her editorial work, Meaghan is also a motivational speaker and author, known for her energetic and relatable style. Her book, "Your Fully Charged Life," offers readers a roadmap to cultivating happiness and resilience in their daily routines. Through her work, Meaghan Murphy continues to inspire individuals to lead more fulfilled and optimistic lives.

Her website is meaghanbmurphy.com

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Sleep and Skincare for Busy Moms

Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Alexis Stevens discusses how significant sleep is for skin health, emphasizing the role of nighttime skincare routines in repairing skin damage.

She recommends using ingredients like AHAs, BHAs, glycerin, niacinamide, and peptides in skincare products for optimal results.

Dr. Stevens also addresses the issue of insufficient sleep for busy moms, suggesting the use of multi-functional products like the Olay Super Serum Night Repair. She further highlights the benefits of caffeine, niacinamide, vitamin C, and peptides in combating dark circles and eye puffiness.

Dr. Stevens encouraged listeners to visit Olay's website or local retailers for more information on these products. https://www.olay.com/

Alexis Stephens, DO, FAOCD, FAAD, specializes in improving upon each and every one of them with expert dermatological and cosmetic treatments. As the lead board-certified dermatologist and founder at Parkland Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery in tropical Coral Springs, Florida, Dr. Stephens brings the latest techniques and technologies to communities in the area. 

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Melissa DiNapoli Vice President of Marketing for Party City joins us today for a mini episode filled with fun, not-too-scary ideas for costumes, decoration and all things Halloween-related - it's such a fun little episode and make sure you check out our YouTube channel to watch exactly what she's showing us too!

YouTube: https://youtu.be/TCJ0EjUx5Uo?si=ywHpHiIaokgJlACk

Visit partycity.com for more information and to get the products Melissa shows us on the show

How would you feel if your child WANTED to go to school over the summer or was sad when school was closed for a snow day?

Mimosa Jones Tunney speaks to the Teaching Your Toddler show about the curriculum that is inspiring kids across the country to WANT to learn, who love school and who get sad for snow days and summer break. Can you imagine?

Mimosa is a writer, researcher and the founder of both the American Emergent Curriculum and The School House, a private elementary school in New York. She’s also a former political speech and Hollywood television writer as well as an avid philanthropist.

 She's also our favorite kind of guest - an activated mom! She saw the deficiency in public education where schools "dumb down" kids and "teach to the test" instead of what she calls "smart up" the kids and teaching to their interests and passions that keeps them loving learning throughout their school life.

Over 300,000 teachers per year leave the profession, often out of frutration. The curriculum The School House offers can be used by homeschoolers, "micro-schools"/learning pods as well as brick and mortar schools. This curriculum is so inspiring for kids and so successful, it could inspire those teachers back to the classroom. 

So far, communities using this curriculum have appeared in Texas and Florida, and continue to spread across the country. The school is private and continues to beat the state test scores, without ever teaching to the test, because the kids LOVE learning.

Mimosa also noted that in their school, they do not allow politics or gossip from the teachers so that everyone feels welcomed and the school can concentrate on learning. It's truly a novel approach that addresses children's learning stages and their areas of interest. 

This approach also often alleviates or eliminates typicial learning challenges that children display due to the antiquated approach most typical public schools take for learning. 

To find out more about Mimosa, The School House and American Emergent Curriculum, visit the links below. 

https://www.instagram.com/mimosajonestunney/

https://www.tshanywhere.org/

https://www.americanemergentcurriculum.org/

https://www.theschoolhouse.org/

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Have you ever asked yourself or your family, "How full am I?" BEFORE a meal? Our guest today suggests doing just that to help understand how different our bodies feel before and after eating as a way to regulate your body using Lifestyle Habits. She also says the scale isn't always right - listen to the episode to find out why. 

Our guest today, Sam Cutler, is a Harvard-trained nutritional health coach as well as the founder and CEO of the lifestyle medicine app, www.MINDFULL.so

According to the website www.MINDFULL.so is "a meal planning and health coaching app where [Sam] guides thousands of women to live a life of food freedom, walking away from counting and tracking towards a life of eating primarily whole, nourishing foods."

In this episode Sam discusses the importance of lifestyle habits as primary medicine for health. She emphasizes the role of food in this and shared her personal experiences with a health-conscious upbringing and the challenges she faced when she left home. Sam highlights the benefits of involving children in the cooking process and encouraging them to understand the benefits of different nutrients. She also discusses the value of being mindful of one's body and emotions, especially during hormonal fluctuations.

Sam discusses the importance of incorporating anti-inflammatory foods into our diet to regulate bodily inflammation, which can impact various aspects of health, including hormones, mood, energy levels, and bowel movements. She explains that inflammation can lead to the development of chronic conditions and diseases. Sam recommends incorporating foods like turmeric, ginger, leafy greens, and fermented items like sauerkraut and kimchi into their diet to support gut health, which in turn can lower inflammation.

Sam emphasizes that small changes in daily habits, such as incorporating more whole foods into the diet, can have a significant impact on health. She also discusses the role of stress and the need to lower it, as well as the influence of environmental factors on health. 

Sam discusses the importance of healthy meal choices and the challenges of meal preparation. She proposes a simplified approach to meal planning and preparation, focusing on ingredient preparation and ratio assessment to ensure balanced meals. She emphasizes the value of having flexible, repeat ingredients to reduce waste and allow for customization. She also suggests the use of an air fryer for quick and easy vegetable preparation. 

Sam mentions the practice of "extending" leftovers into new meals like soups or salads to prevent food waste and emphasized listening to your body's intuitive hunger and nutritional cravings, which fluctuate based on factors like activity levels, stress, menstrual cycles, and mental energy. She explains that increased demands necessitate more nourishment, rather than attributing it to "stress eating." 

Sam is offering the TYT listeners 50% off their first month of the www.MINDFULL app using the promo code "Toddler50" so check it out here! 

Find Sam here:

Her website: thefitfatale.com

Instagram: @thefitfatale

Facebook: thefitfatale

Tik tok: thefitfatale

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Stefanie Hohl, M.Ed., has been teaching children to read for years. She holds advanced degrees in both children's literature and early childhood education, and she has experience running preschool, homeschool, and local storytime programs.

Stefanie developed the ABC See, Hear, Do Learn-to-Read method to make early reading fun and easy for kids and their parents. Stefanie lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, five children, two very silly dogs and two cuddly cats.

The program combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles and has shown to increase learning and retention by 90%. In this episode, Stefanie also shares her journey of developing a parent-friendly reading method and emphasizes the benefits of incorporating movement into learning.

Stefanie emphasizes the importance of building a strong foundation in phonics before third grade to prevent kids from falling behind and struggling in school, as reading is essential for learning across subjects. The research shows phonics is the best way for kids to learn reading, though many schools have abandoned this approach, leading to an alarming percentage of students not being at grade level.

Stefanie's program consists of seven levels designed to make learning fun through games, activities, and books that teach letter sounds and different phonics patterns in a multisensory way.

We discuss the importance of parents selecting age-appropriate early readers for their children and the early signs of reading disabilities. Stefanie also shares details about her Christmas-themed books and her journey from her master's in education to becoming a writer. Enjoy the show!

The earliest reader for pre-readers board book here: https://www.abcseeheardo.com/board-books/my-first-abc-sounds

Find Stefanie here:

https://www.stefaniehohl.com/

https://www.abcseeheardo.com/

Instagram, FB, X, TikTok - @stefaniehohl and @abcseeheardo

ABC See, Hear, Do Level 1: Learn to Read Uppercase Letters (https://amzn.to/45OI0Px)

Her Christmas book here 

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What's so SAD about the Standard American Diet? Well, just about everything!

In this amazing episode, Zen Honeycutt from Moms Across America will tell you everything you need to know about the horrible things going on with the food supply from some of your favorite restaurants. 

From pollution and chemicals, to pharmaceuticals and hormones and beyond, you are never going to believe what is in the food you get at some of the most popular restaurants around the country. 

Zen is a return guest for us - her first visit was all about the food supply for school lunches and how, once she changed how her sons were eating, she saw astounding changes in their allergy symptoms and even in her son's symptoms of autism.

In this episode, she tells us about the suppliers of many school lunches and those are restauraunts. She'll tell us about that food and what's happening there but she'll also give you some great ideas on how keep your family safe as best you can from these terrifying conditions. 

The link to the latest study on fast food companies: https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/fast_food_results

Our first episode with Zen about healing your child's symptoms through food: https://sites.libsyn.com/112028/healing-your-child-through-safe-foods-with-zen-honeycutt

Moms Across America Homepage

https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/

Moms Across America Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/momsacrossamerica/

Moms Across America tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@momsacrossamerica

Moms Across America Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/MomsAcrossAmerica

Moms Across America twitter/X

https://twitter.com/yesmaam74

Make a donation

https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/donate

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Maybe you've heard of equine therapy but have you heard about "Cow Hug" therapy? Did you know that cows are matriarchal and take care of each other in birth, life and death?

We can all learn a thing or two about society, how to take care of each other and about a different way to heal from these amazing animals - cows! 

Listen to this ground-breaking episode with Ellie Laks, co-founder of The Gentle Barn and the author of the book Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything In Between (ARC, May 21, 2024)

Cows are wise and compassionate animal ambassadors who have helped countless people heal from trauma with their gentle, calm manner at the 3 different Gentle Barn locations. Each animal's story in this book will touch your heart and maybe make you cry, like me. 

Through the stories of Buddha, her first cow, to many other animals like turkey, pigs, dogs, horses and other cows, their unique personalities will leap off each page to share life lessons with all of us. 

Ellie Laks is the Founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national organization that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted animals and heals people with the same stories of abuse and neglect.

Ellie is a powerful speaker, celebrated animal welfare advocate, humane educator, animal communicator, and the author of “My Gentle Barn: Creating a sanctuary where animals heal and children learn to hope,” and “Cow Hug Therapy: How the animals at The Gentle Barn taught me about life, death, and everything in between.” Ellie founded The Gentle Barn in 1999.

She invented her own “Gentle Healing” method that allows old, sick, injured, and terrified animals to fully recover. Ellie is the creator of cow hug therapy and has hosted hundreds of thousands of people who have come to The Gentle Barn seeking hope.

Find out more about Ellie here at gentlebarn.org and find Ellie's newest book here

Book a session with Ellie for animal communication or find out more about here at her website here. Follow Ellie on Instagram here, Facebook here and X/Twitter here. Follow the Gentle Barn here. 

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Disclosure: I was provided a preview copy of Ellie's Cow Hug Therapy book for this interview

Maybe you've heard this word "codependency" but you don't really know what it means. In this very important episode, Teaching Your Toddler's Marijo Tinlin talks with Dr. Frieda Birnbaum, research psychologist, psychoanalytic therapist, author and podcaster - also known as "Dr. Frieda" about what exactly that means.

So, what does codependency look like in a family? Do you have trouble setting boundaries? Asking for what you want? Expressing your true emotions? And what effect does this have on your children both now, in their childhood, and also later in life in their own relationships? Dr. Frieda will talk about all of this in this episode.

Dr. Frieda is also a mom to 5 children and is known as the oldest mom in America, having given birth to her twins at the age of 60. She is the author of a book about this experience called Life Begins at 60: A New View of Motherhood, Marriage, and Reinventing Ourselves. She has also recently started a podcast called The Doctor Frieda Show: Pushing the Limits.

Find Dr. Frieda at doctorfrieda.com and on twitter/x at @doctorfrieda

Please like and subscribe to our podcast and leave a 5-star review so we can reach more parents like you!

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For more expert interviews, fun activities and story time podcasts, please visit our website at TeachingYourToddler.com

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Wondering what the signs are that your child may potentially struggle with dyslexia? You HAVE to listen to our interview with Robin Zikmund, a mom-advocate from the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE).

It's estimated that about 20% of kids struggle with dyslexia; that's one out of five! AND - it's hereditary, so if someone in your child's family struggled with dyslexia, that could mean your child is more likely to struggle too.

There's a spectrum for dyslexia too so there's a huge range to how much it might affect someone. Early intervention is KEY, Robin says so this episode is even more important if you have little ones - like before age 5!

While this episode is not meant as a diagnosis, Robin will help you start looking for some of the earliest signs of one of the most common learning challenges - she will also help you understand what your next steps are to get the support you need from your child's school.

Robin's story of her son's frustration with reading and learning to the point of complete defeat, will break your heart, but also her drive to get to the bottom of what was happening and eventually "educating the educators" will inspire you to advocate for your child too.

She mentions the Orton-Gillingham methods which you can find out about on the IMSE's website here. https://imse.com/

She also mentions Emily Hanford's podcast called Sold A Story found here: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

Robin serves as the Dyslexia Advocate and Community Engagement Manager for IMSE, the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education - a literacy training company focused on the science of reading. She is also the founder of Decoding Dyslexia Idaho, a grassroots movement that aims to increase access to educational interventions and teacher professional development for dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities in public schools.

 Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) Website: https://imse.com/

Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) Journal: https://journal.imse.com/

Decoding Dyslexia Idaho: https://www.decodingdyslexiaidaho.org/

Robin Zikmund LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-zikmund-50a379141/

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