Fifty Key Messages – Fun recipes to make together
(From Tusla’s Parenting24Seven website)
Check out some easy snacks to make with your child, Brown bread ice cream, sweet potato crisps and chunky oatmeal drops.
Remember these are treats so a little every now and then!
Brown bread ice cream
(Suitable for vegetarians)
This ice-cream is a novel way of including wholegrain into your kid’s diet and giving them a treat too!
Ingredients
110g / 4 oz. of wholemeal breadcrumbs
110g / 4 oz. of dark brown sugar
2 medium eggs
290ml / ½ pint of double cream
150ml / 5½ fl oz. of single cream
2 drops of vanilla essence
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas mark 6
- Leave the breadcrumbs to dry out in the oven for around 15 minutes or so.
- Mix the sugar in with the breadcrumbs and bring back to the oven for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, allow the mix to cool.
- Crush the sweetened crumbs together with the back of a spoon.
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites.
- Beat the yolks and mix in with the cream and the crumb mix.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are slightly stiff.
- Fold the whites into the mix and freeze in an airtight plastic container
Serving Suggestions
Serve with some fresh or tinned fruit like strawberries or raspberries.
Disclaimer Click here for more details
Sweet potato crisps
(suitable for vegetarians)
Kids will love these and they make a great alternative to crisps for a Halloween party!
Ingredients
500g / 17½ oz. of sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4.
- Peel a sweet potato and cut into very thin slices using a potato slicer or a sharp knife.
- Put the sweet potato slices in a bowl and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Get those little hands to mix the sweet potato slices and vegetable oil.
- Put tin-foil on the bottom of a baking tray and lay the sweet potato slices out on it.
- Roast in oven for 10 to 15 minutes until crispy and then serve
Serving Suggestions
Serve hot or cold. Add more flavour to your crisps by lightly sprinkling them with spices before placing in the oven.
Disclaimer Click here for more details
Chunky oatmeal drops
(Suitable for vegetarians)
These cookies contain no added sugar as the sweetness comes from all the fruit! They also contain lots of whole-grains that release their energy slowly.
Ingredients
180g / 6 oz. of oat flour
40g / 1.5 oz. of oats
30g / 1 oz. of whole wheat flour
65g / 2.5 oz. of pineapple juice
1½ teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
60g / 2 oz. of chopped walnuts
75g / 2.5 oz. of sultanas
2 tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
85g / 3 oz. of honey
165g / 8 oz. can of pineapple chunks, in own juice
Method
- Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend all the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl combine water, vanilla essence, honey and pineapple.
- Pour into the dry ingredients and stir. Place spoonful’s onto a greased baking sheet.
- Cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack
Serving Suggestions
This recipe works great with any type of fruit, dried or fresh, simply chop it up finely and add to the wet mixture before baking. Share these with friends to stop from munching on too many! Store in an airtight container.
Disclaimer Click here for more details
Source: Safefood
If you want to see more Key Messages check out https://www.tusla.ie/parenting-24-seven/6-12-years/
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Safer Internet Day takes place next Tuesday, 7th February 2023. Sadly more than 1 in 4 young people in Ireland have experienced cyberbullying, yet only 60% of victims tell their parents. As teenagers and children spend more time on the internet, ensuring it's a safe space is ever more important. To encourage conversation about life online and help parents keep their children safe, I'd like to share a free resource created by Switcher.ie. It's a comprehensive guide which includes things like:
I thought it may be useful to share the link to the guide - https://switcher.ie/broadband/guides/how-to-keep-your-children-safe-online/ - which you can include on your website ahead of Safer Internet Day, to help parents and children who may need some extra support. We've also put together some handy top tips you can use on your website: 10 tips to keep your children safe online
- How to reduce the risks online
- How to recognise cyber bullying and grooming
- How to educate children on cyber safety
- How to set up parental controls on devices
- Talk about it:Make time to chat about online risks and how to use the internet safelyas soon as they're old enough to go online. Encourage your children to speak to you about what they view online and empower them to act if they're worried about anything.
- Recognise the risks: Educate yourself about the potential dangers children could face online so it’s easier to spot warning signs. Get to know what platforms your children use, and learn about dangers such as phishing, grooming and cyberbullying.
- Teach the do's and don'ts: Be clear about the non-negotiables. For example, teach your child not to share personal details or photos with strangers and instruct them not to click on links to unknown websites or texts. Do encourage your child to question what they see and only accept friend requests from people they know.
- Spot the signs: Pay attention to your children's behaviour whilst on and off their devices. Being alert to changes in your child can help prevent problems from escalating. Some warning signs are withdrawing from friends or family, sleeping and eating problems or losing interest in previously loved hobbies or interests.
- Set boundaries:Let your children know what they can and can't do on the internet from the get-go. Agree on what devices they can use, when, and how long they can spend online. As they get older, explaining and negotiating boundaries may be more effective.
- Take 'parental' control: These ready-made boundaries put parents in control of what children can see online. They can be set up through your internet provider at device level to block specific websites and filter out inappropriate content.
- Be social media savvy: The popularity of social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat makes it harder to keep track of what your child is accessing online. Fortunately, each social media platform has its own privacy settings and safety tips for parents. Check them out before you let children have their own accounts.
- Protect from harm:Install antivirus software on family devices to minimise the risk of cyber attacks or scams. Use two-factor authentication (2FA) for extra security on your online accounts. This can also stop children from signing into services they're not allowed to use.
- Set a great example: You're the greatest 'influencer' in your children's lives when they're young. Limiting your time online, discussing dangers you've come across, and questioning what you view can help reinforce the rules you are setting for your children and, in turn, influence their online behaviour.
- Seek support:The more you learn about online dangers, the better equipped you'll be to handle them. There are some great resources like webwise.ie, internetmatters.organd cybersafekids.ie to help you recognise and reduce online dangers and seek advice if you think your child is experiencing cyberbullying or is at risk online.
Short videos on the Importance of Play have recently launched which was a collaboration between North Central CFSN and Lifestart Services. Volume 1 https://youtu.be/xl2F2vZXhbg Volume 2 https://youtu.be/OOy4lmWggtM Volume 3 https://youtu.be/tmv40--l7fA Volume 4 https://youtu.be/Wr9bfTWddts Volume 5 https://youtu.be/7HLkBXvVTFE Volume 6 https://youtu.be/NuUXb51qZY0
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week runs from June 13th-19th.
This week provides an opportunity to focus attention on the wellbeing, social and emotional development of our babies and young children. It highlights the importance of early relationships and a relationship based approach to interventions with infants and families. As our understanding of IMH and its evidence base develops, so also does our knowledge of how to apply this knowledge and an ‘IMH lens’ to interactions with infants, parents and caregivers in health and social services.
What is infant mental health?
Infant Mental health (IMH) refers to the healthy social and emotional development of Infants starting at conception up to three years of age.
The first 1000 days of life are recognised as a critical period of opportunity to support infant mental health. Decades of research have shown that it is the quality of the early caregiver relationship that is a significant determinant of the infant’s healthy social and emotional development and in turn physical health, right up to adulthood.
The National Healthy Childhood Programme has embedded IMH as the foundation of the development of its resources and in the approach of the delivery of the universal child health service. This embedding of key messages can be seen in the My Child suite of books (www.mychild.ie/books) and also on www.MyChild.ie where key messages around bonding and relationship building have been embedded for the parent/caregiver.
In clinical practice the topic of IMH has been included for the first time in the National Standardised Child Health Record. To build on this, the National Healthy Childhood Programme have just completed a suite of three eLearning units which are now available on HSEland for healthcare practitioners / caregivers who are working with children and families.
Throughout the week you will see videos and key IMH messaging being promoted on the HSE MyChild social media pages ( Facebook / Instagram ). Keep an eye out in the National Newspapers for articles from our experts also. (IrishTimes article)
In addition The National Healthy Childhood Programme have developed a series of ten practical videos with HSE expert advice which are now available on YouTube and on the relevant pages on the www.mychild.ie website.
These videos (2-3 minutes each) are aimed at parents/guardians of children (0 – 3 years).
These new video resources are available here while lots more expert advice for every step of pregnancy, baby and toddler health can also be found at www.mychild.ie
There are a suite of posters available focusing on the promotion of IMH messaging to order from healthy.childhood@hse.ie