A friend was with her child when the earthquake struck the East Coast the other day. They were still feeling the earthquake aftershocks when the child pounded her with questions that made her more dizzy.

How do you talk to yours kid about an earthquake? If they’re not experiencing this, they can see it happening from watching news on the television, or seeing it online.

First of all, if the earthquake was something you’ve experience, the first thing to teach your child is to remain calm. Your fears can rub off on your children. They can easily pick this up and you may be trigger a trauma that will never go away. Look into the tips from FEMA for disaster preparedness.

Second, if she has any questions about what happened, be patient and answer her questions. If you are unsure about the answers, you can always tell her that you both have to find out more from the news. Watch credible updates together and from there, guide her into what is happening. Don’t overwhelm her with so much information, though. Some kids can have very wild imagination that can compound their fears.

Remind her that earthquakes are something that happen to the earth all the time, it’s just that we don’t feel most of it often. You can also teach her about the earthquake by asking her what she knows and how she feels. Ask her about what she may have picked up form school and then expound these to her even more.

In spite the devastation and even when the earthquake continues to shake Japan and its citizens are still experiencing aftershocks, students of the country are going back to school after a short holiday.

The school term was supposed to start last April 8 but because of the rehabilitation going on, this was delayed until three weeks later.

Ever since the earthquake, those who have lost their homes have relocated to schools and gyms or classrooms became their sleeping quarters. Thus, school facilities were not used for teaching, or if they were, the evacuees would stay not a few feet away from class.

There were also more than 200 schools damaged in the prefect of Fukushima, Miyagi, thus classes were held outside the premises and students stood all the time, listening to their teachers.

Some things have to also be given up, like tennis teams and other extra curricular activities, while the rehabilitation process is ongoing. As everyone deals with the result of the earthquake and the tsunami, students are expectedly going to have to have a difficult time. Because of this, school counselors and psychiatrists have to be on board all the time. They are tasked to help kids deal with the trauma.

Teachers in Japan are very significant to the child’s development. And so, going to school is not only important to Japanese children, but also very much part of their lifestyle and culture.

As the children of Japan return to their classes this week, despite all the possible obstacles, let’s all say a prayer for them and wish they recover from this soon.

One of the things that a parent has to love would be that of kid shoes. Rarely would you see kids shoes last long though. At such a fresh age, kids are expected to grow out of them and apparently the reason why some kids shoes end up being kept for remembrances without being worn out.

However, the practical parent thinks in advance. Normally, kids shoes are bought at a larger size, forecasting that they will be used for a longer span. Especially now that parents have to be wiser when it comes to finances and spending, the need to see a child grow out of toddler shoes is a great way to save some bucks in the developmental and growth stages of young tykes.

But for some, the frequent purchase of kids shoes would not matter. For one, they don’t cost that much unless you go for the branded ones that are normally reserved for the rich and abled. Especially during special occasions such as birthdays and weddings, some parents tend to overdo it, wanting the best for their child where some footwear will only be used on certain occasions which on the average can be used at most for two years.

Toddler shoes normally come in various variants. They are separated by color, design and of course brand. Of the three, color and design normally take up the preference of parents since they consider the kids interest. There will be cases when some kids would not like to wear shoes for some reason such as that of preferring another design or favorite shoe over a new one. These are common cases especially for the toddlers which a parent cannot really force. But there are some who do that and eventually it ends up becoming a trauma for the child and making them hate it even more.

As for preferred daily shoes, it is a toss-up between everyday sandals and that of rubber shoes. Design is important as well and normally parents pick out cartoon-themed shoes for a child to wear. This is done since most of the time, it takes the child’s interest to love their shoes, something catchy like a cartoon character or an appealing color that normally gets their attention.

This has been in the news quite a bit this past week, but the science isn’t what people seem to think it is–at least, what the headlines are proclaiming it is.  A study has been done that says that children who have had 2 or more surgieries by age 3 often end up with learning disabilities. 

But it has not been shown to be a causal relationship between anesthesia and learning disabilities.  I mean, there’s no evidence that learning disabilities are caused by the use of anesthesia.  Kids who need multiple surgeries so early are already facing serious health problems–their learning disability could simply be one of those.  Or, whatever went wrong in their pre-natal development could also have affected their brains.  Or, the trauma of invasive surgery could have provoked a chemical imbalance that led to the learning disability.

Parents, please don’t be afraid to get your child the medical care he or she needs.  Nobody takes lightly the decision to subject a baby or toddler to an operation.  Do your own research, and don’t let headlines scare you.  All in all, we are very blessed to live in a time when we have access to these treatments at all.