![]() New parents of today are often looking for furniture that they won't have to store or dispose of when their child gets just a little bit older. However with thousands of convertible and "grow with your baby" cribs available, it can be even harder to find the right one. To help, we've created a breakdown of our favorites - the most beautiful and best loved convertible cribs currently on the market...click here to see the cribs we found! ![]() New parents of today are often looking for furniture that they won't have to store or dispose of when their child gets just a little bit older. However with thousands of convertible and "grow with your baby" cribs available, it can be even harder to find the right one. To help, we've created a breakdown of our favorites - the most beautiful and best loved convertible cribs currently on the market. Most of the cribs come complete with mattress, but the included mattress is usually not the softest so you may want to purchase another, more comfortable mattress in the appropriate size. If you're interested in a particular crib, clicking on the image will take you shopping (the really good news is that Amazon ships these cribs for free)!
![]() Summertime means days on the beach, afternoons picnicking by the lake, and memory making in the local swimming pool. Summertime also means lifeguards, potential drowning, and increased dangers. We all think we know what a drowning looks like: said victim will flail arms, call out for help, and create quite an overall ruckus, right? Nope. That is called Aquatic Distress. When you see this, you are seeing a person who indeed needs some saving but is not yet drowning. A person experiencing Aquatic Distress can call for help, grab onto lifesaving gear, and thrash around. Distress is a noisy process that sometime precedes a drowning – and sometimes does not. You see, drowning is a silent process. When you are drowning, your body moves automatically into drowning mode and usually only a trained lifeguard is going to actually notice the signs of your distress. This is why so many children (nearly 10%) drown each year – right in front of their parents. As a parent, always remember that noisy children are not drowning. A quiet child is the true red flag for a drowning and, in all honesty, even turning your back for one minute (which we all seem to do) is too little vigilance because the Drowning Response only lasts from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs. Dr. Francesco A. Pia has thoughtfully set out a description of the Instinctive Drowning Response or what a person looks like when drowning:
This is why parents are told to never turn their backs on a child in the water – even for a minute. One minute is too long and drowning is not always preceded by the thrashing and calls for help seen in Aquatic Distress. One parent noted that a drowning child looks like he is kind of doing a doggie paddle. Mario Vittone, an expert in water safety, provides a video of a person who is literally drowning so you can see what it actually looks like. (Spoiler: the person is saved by a lifeguard.) To provide even better safety, consider taking a Red Cross Swimmer Safety Course and remain ever vigilant of your children when they are in or near water. This way, all of your summer activities can remain safe and memorable. Mario Vittone also has a fabulous Facebook Page that is rich in information on water safety. Check it out. |