Turning Travel Time Into Learning Time With Kids

(NewsUSA) – Sponsored News – With many parents making plans to get out of town this spring, it’s the perfect time to introduce fun toys that can turn a road trip or visit to Grandma’s house into a learning opportunity.
Whether you’re playing peek-a-boo, singing nursery rhymes or reading a book to your little one, experts suggest that learning through play is imperative to a child’s development.
“Engaging children in play at an early age is incredibly beneficial to their physical and mental development, but it’s important that they’re getting the right kinds of interaction,” said Dr. Lise Eliot, early brain development expert and member of the expert panel at VTech, a world leader in interactive learning toys for all ages.
To help create the right toy for every age, VTech works closely with doctors such as Eliot, as well as its expert panel of early childhood education and development experts to ensure its toys help children meet important milestones. The result is an extensive range of more than 100 baby, infant and preschool learning products that cater to each child’s unique age and stage.
“Learning begins at birth, and babies absorb much more than we realize from their moment-to-moment interactions with the world around them,” said Dr. Eliot. “As parents strive to do what’s best for their child, they can introduce activities that help him or her learn through play. Babies are strongly motivated to reach developmental milestones all by themselves, and toys in VTech’s baby line can encourage them, make learning fun and grow with your little one over those important early years.”
To help discern which toy is right for your child, VTech has taken the guesswork out of the decision with its easy-to-follow milestones guide. The recommendations include some toys that are great for travel, such as:
* For babies, VTech’s Crinkle & Roar Lion features buttons, sounds and tactile fabrics for little hands to discover, and a baby-safe mirror to help introduce self-awareness. It can be attached to carriers, strollers and more, making it the perfect take-along toy.
* Infants will love the working Spin & Learn Color Flashlight, which introduces opposites, colors, letters and animals. They can spin the color-changing ring and explore buttons to hear fun melodies, nature sounds or play an interactive game.
* For long car rides, the Count and Learn Turtle encourages early math skills with toddlers and preschoolers, and lets them explore colors, shapes and instruments. Kids can also exercise their memory and hand-eye coordination skills with a fun repeating sequence game.
For more information, visit www.vtechkids.com/milestones.

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Why Sunglasses Are a Must-Have for Kids

(NewsUSA) – Sponsored News – Most parents know how damaging the effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can be to our skin, which is why they dutifully slather sunscreen on their kids during the summer. But one thing that often gets overlooked is protecting their children’s eyes.According to vision-care experts, kids receive three times more UV exposure than adults annually, yet less than 30 percent of parents currently protect their children’s eyes with sunglasses.The reason for concern is that children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the sun’s rays because their ocular lenses aren’t mature enough to filter UV light as effectively as adults, causing damage to the retina."Everyone buys into what happens to your skin when it comes to sun damage, but many parents are really surprised to learn about the cumulative UV damage to the eyes," Dawn Hartman, an optometrist at Columbus Ophthalmology Associates in Columbus, Ohio, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.But the right sunglasses can help, as parents become more aware that protection from the sun isn’t just skin deep.Babiators, for instance, is a brand that offers safe and durable sunglasses for babies and kids. They protect them from harmful rays by offering 100 percent UVA and UVB protection, flexible frames and shatter-resistant lenses in stylish colors and patterns. In addition, Babiators are backed by a one-year "Lost & Found Guarantee" — if the glasses are lost or broken in the first year, they will be replaced for free."We created Babiators because we know that habits form at a young age and we wanted to promote a healthy habit of wearing sunglasses to help protect children’s eyes," Carolyn Guard, co-found of Babiators, told The Optician in an interview. "Not only do these glasses shield little ones from UV rays, they are also fun, unique and vibrantly colored so that children love wearing them and parents can rest at ease knowing they are doing their part to promote healthy vision."Experts say that risk is greatest to the eyes between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., because during those times, UV rays come from different angles and eyes receive nearly double the amount of UV than during midday hours.For more information, please visit www.babiators.com. 

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Kids Willing to Step Up to Help Aging Parents, Study Finds

Do you wonder if your kids will have your back when you’re older? Apparently the answer is a surprising yes.

That’s the good news in a conversation many people are having these days — around aging parents — that comes courtesy of the third biennial “Fidelity Investments Family & Finance Study.” Less heartening is that nearly 4 in 10 families seem to be suffering from what can only be described as — hats off to “Cool Hand Luke” for this — a failure to communicate.

Let’s start by paying homage to at least certain offspring and giving them their due credit:

• While 93 percent of parents felt it would “unacceptable” to become financially dependent on their kids, 70 percent of the adult children had no qualms about opening their wallets.

• Children were much more likely to expect that they, or a sibling, would care for an ill parent than their moms and dads were (47 percent vs. 11 percent).

“Despite this welcome news for parents, the study suggests several areas where they [parents] need to speak up to ensure their wishes are heard, as it appears the children may not be getting the message,” says John Sweeney, Fidelity’s executive vice president of retirement and investing strategies.

Whether it is estate execution, long-term caregiving during an illness, or help in managing investments and retirement finances, it often turns out that the very child that parents expect will handle things doesn’t have a clue the responsibility will fall to him or her. (Reaching as high as 44 percent of children, in the case of helping to manage their parents’ household expenses.)

Part of this miscommunication is attributed to “timing,” given that only 33 percent of parents and their offspring agree on when it’s “appropriate” to initiate conversation related to aging. Before retirement? Upon entering retirement? Closer to when health and/or finances become an issue? (The correct answer? Before retirement.)

Compounding the problem is that even when those conversations do occur, the study found, they’re not as detailed as they should be.

Think about it: Has your family discussed, say, how it will cover the estimated $245,0000 the average couple can expect to spend on healthcare throughout their golden years?

Probably not. But as, Sweeney notes, “At some point, every family will face issues relating to aging — perhaps even dementia — and there are real emotional and financial consequences when family conversations either don’t happen or lack sufficient depth.”

If peace of mind is important to you — and at least 93 percent of both parents and children reported attaining it after having had those all-important talks — online tools can help get you there.

Fidelity, for example, has a variety of resources available at fidelity.com/families

that, among other things, list the documents you’ll need should a key financial decision-maker die.

After all, “Cool Hand Luke” moments are best saved for the movies.

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How to Build Better, Stronger Bones in Kids

(NewsUSA) – Sponsored News – It’s been ingrained in our heads since we were little: building strong bones is important. The problem is that these days many children aren’t getting the daily recommended diet and exercise needed to do so. And, with technology use at an all-time high, children are spending less time playing outdoors, which increases the risk of obesity.
Today, approximately 32 percent of American children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are considered overweight or obese. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) wants to help empower families to get up, get out and get moving to ensure optimal bone growth and reduce the risk of osteoporosis and other diseases later in life.
“Building your child’s bone bank is like a college savings plan: the earlier you start investing, the better,” says AAOS spokesperson Dr. Jennifer Weiss, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. “Parents should ensure that kids are getting adequate calcium to keep their bones strong as well as appropriate levels of vitamins D and C to allow the body to absorb the calcium.”
So what’s a parent to do? The following tips from the AAOS will help get your kids (and you) moving while building better, stronger bones:
* Move it. Make physical activity a part of a child’s schedule for at least 30 to 60 minutes per day. Make it fun. With fall weather coming in, walking around the block to see the colors, throwing a football in the yard, or riding a bike is a perfect way to engage with your kids and still get in some exercise. Bonus? Being outside gets you and the kids some much-needed vitamin D, which also helps build strong bones.
* Watch what you eat. Life is busy. Which makes on-the-run snacks and meals an easy fix for harried parents. Unfortunately, most of this kind of food does not have the nutrients to ensure good bone health. Adolescents should consume a healthy diet with calcium to maintain strong bones and lower the risk of excessive weight gain.
* Lift things up, and put them down. Studies show that strength training is key to healthy bones. During resistance training, muscles have to work harder and, over time, become stronger. Although resistance exercises focus on increasing muscle mass, they also put stress on bones and have bone-building capacity.
* Set limits. It’s understandable that kids’ whims change with the seasons, as do the number of teams they want to play on. However, try to limit the number of teams a child plays on in one season to avoid overuse injuries. In addition, if your child tells you that something hurts, discourage him or her from playing through the pain.
For more information, visit orthoinfo.org.

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For Residential Solar, Homeowners Seek American-Made

For Residential Solar, Homeowners Seek American-Made

(NewsUSA) – With residential solar systems gaining popularity in the U.S., a growing number of consumers are choosing American-made solar panels for their homes. According to a national solar survey conducted in 2011, 82 percent of those polled support American solar manufacturing.
“We’ve all heard about the importance of manufacturing to the American economy,” said Robert Fortunato, whose California home hosts 26 solar panels made by SolarWorld in Hillsboro, Ore. “We selected our U.S.-made solar system for its quality, reliability and financial return, and because we think it’s important to support the companies and workers who are building tomorrow’s energy sources in America today.”
Solar installers and electricians offer a range of domestic products. “We only install American-made solar panels,” said Nancy Milford, president of SunLit Solar, a family-owned solar installation company in Medina, Ohio. “For our family and for our customers, it’s important to support the U.S. economy by selling and installing products that employ as many Americans as possible.”
According to industry experts, here are the top reasons that homeowners select solar panels from American manufacturers.
Quality and reliability. A residential solar system is effectively a power plant installed on a home rooftop, and it’s designed to last at least 25 years. Consumers trust American solar-panel manufacturers to stand behind their product guarantees because these companies rank high in quality, responsiveness to warranty claims, accessibility for customer service and compliance with safety requirements.
Sustainability. Sustainably-minded Americans see little logic in buying a solar system that was made in Asia and shipped via a diesel-burning cargo ship halfway around the world. Instead, green buyers select domestic solar panels, produced according to stringent environmental, labor and quality standards, to reduce the environmental impact.
Energy independence. For the U.S., solar power represents an important tool for achieving energy independence. Just as people believe the nation should not rely on the Middle East for imported oil, many also understand that America should not depend on foreign technology or manufacturing.
American job creation. The U.S. solar manufacturing industry employs thousands of Americans across the country. Study after study shows that technology and manufacturing jobs, with comparatively high wages and benefits, are the types of jobs that the U.S. should aspire to create and maintain. To learn more about American-made panels, visit www.solarworld.com/MadeinUSA.

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Latest High-Tech Cars May Keep Drivers’ Hands off the Wheel

Latest High-Tech Cars May Keep Drivers’ Hands off the Wheel

These days, it seems that you can’t open a newspaper (if anyone, in fact, still does that), or read the news without hearing about Google’s latest acquisition or invention. Now the Internet giant is working on ground-breaking technology: the driverless automobile.

A prototype of Google’s new self-driving car—a two-passenger electric vehicle with buttons to turn the car on and off, but without a steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal—was unveiled in May. Without a driver at the wheel, the automobile is instead guided by a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) rotating sensor on the vehicle’s roof that scans the car’s surroundings to determine its driving route, as well as to identify such everyday obstacles as pedestrians, bicyclists and other cars.

Although Google has come out as the clear front-runner in the development race for such advanced automobile technology, major automakers are also getting into the game—albeit at a more conservative pace. To date, some current automobiles already have automated features that perform certain tasks—such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and collision-avoidance braking—to new car models.

According to a recent report by Lux Research, cars with these “Level 2” features are expected to account for 92 percent of a worldwide $87 billion-per-year autonomous car market in 2030. Only 8 percent of the market will go to “Level 3” automobiles, which would be primarily driven hands-free, but would allow the driver to regain control of the vehicle in an emergency.

In addition, the research firm doesn’t expect any fully automated vehicles on the road by 2030. “We consider that ultimate level, Level 4, to be full autonomy, where you just get in and you don’t interact with the car at all,” explained Cosmin Laslau, lead analyst at Lux Research. “And we don’t think that’s coming by 2030. The biggest opportunity that we see will be actually from the Level 2 features, which are the more conventional advances that we’re already starting to see come onto the market from higher-end developers.”

Hermann Winner, director and professor of automotive engineering at Germany’s Technische Universitat Darmstadt, agreed. “We will start with a partially automated car, then a highly automated one,” he said, adding that he doesn’t expect a completely autonomous car—one with no specific limitations in respect to traffic environment or driving speed—on the market for the next 40 years. “The big challenge to total automation is getting safety approval. Even if you assume the system is ready by 2020, approval is going to be problematic.”

Winner is scheduled to address the challenges facing the development of the driverless car during the panel session “IT Meets the Automobile: Interactive Advanced Vehicle Technologies and Self-Driving Cars” at the ◊ASME [www.asme.org]◊ Advanced Design and Manufacturing Impact Forum in Buffalo, New York, this August. Visit www.asme.org for more information.

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