The Meaning of Bridges and a Giveaway

Studly Hubby and I took a walk around the neighborhood with specific intention of inspecting this new bridge.

The bridge connects two neighborhoods split by a dry creek bed that sometimes serves as run-off and habitat for small city-dwelling animals. Since we are in a drought ‘round here, well, the bridge gives a safe route for children walking to the school on our side of the creek.

SH was particularly fascinated by the built-in angles at each end, and surmised that this design was intentional for thwarting extreme skateboarding deaths events.

 

The bridge is a tool.

A connecting tool. 

An optional tool.

A means to get from one side to the other.

One might choose the bridge as a shortcut to the other side [or walk the creek bed as SH did.]

Bridge is my new and until-further-notice metaphor or symbol for tips [pearls of wisdom] that I will post on this blog.

Here’s a bridge to better hand function.

1).  Check the level of the tabletop against your child’s anatomy. If the table top is near your child’s armpits (axillas) – lower the tabletop or raise the child. Even nipple-level is too high. (Try working on a table with your hands with similar orientation to your body.)

If you have the option to adjust the height of the table easily to many different heights, you can experiment with the heights between laptop (lowest) to waist high. By experiment I mean set-up a height and then watch your child. You could make notes on your observations - if you will try a different height later – or better yet, video your child and review the tapes later to decide if the height-change make a difference.

2).  Give your child a chair or seating that allows her to rest her feet on the floor or be supported flat if the chair is higher than the length of her lower legs. (See how long you last on a bar stool with your feet dangling.) Her thighs should be parallel to the floor in sitting. Yes. If you change the height of the chair seat, you may have to change the height of the tabletop. Can’t fool you folks.

These ergonomic recommendations apply to children of any age.

All kinds of good physical effects come from what your grandmother called ‘good posture’.

If your child usually sits reclined-with-head-forward, his ability to use his hands will be less than if he learns to sit upright.

From reclined, bring your child forward to rest his elbows and forearms on the tabletop – if this is a new position, start without any expectations for using his hands – during a time when your child is observing you or a video.

If your child is learning to sit, perhaps does not even sit independently on the floor, she might learn to sit (without falling) in furniture first. Safety can be built-into a sitting set-up by having the back of the chair against a wall using a table that does not slide easily on the floor. Sitting-learners need to be supervised closely, of course. Can’t fool you folks.

A flat chair seat is optimal, with a thin cushion, if it helps.

Got too much to do to follow these recommendations?

Thinking this is a bridge too far?

Try this seating arrangement during meals.

*****

Did you miss me?

Starting off the year with a bang-of-a-giveaway. 

  I have FOUR copies of this dvd. (One copy was opened so I could preview the video.)

Max’s Magical Delivery: Fit for Kids was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. [Your government dollar$ at work.]

This ~30-minute video is made in the style of Sesame Street and combines live actors with animation. Intended for children ages 5 years to 9 years, the messages are eating healthy foods and becoming more active.

My review is that it is a nice production and might appeal to and influence some children and parents. A couple of turn-offs (my opinion) are vignettes of former-HHS Secretary Carmona and Tommy Thompson. The video was made in 2004 [yes, I’ve had these a while].

If you would like one of these dvd’s leave a comment here. I’m not technically up for the random number system I see on other blog giveaways, but I can draw names from a hat.  I will announce winners on January 7.

Generally, I am suspicious of media methods to change population behaviors – like this dvd. I think these costly-campaigns are more feel good than effective. Kind of like this magnet provided by the Texas Governor’s Commission for Women. Would putting one of these on your refrigerator magically change your family’s eating behaviors? 

I now advance my feel good concept to another metaphor – the magic wand. This wand was my Christmas gift from ManChild. ManChild also gave Younger Teen a pair of HP Quidditch goggles. SH thought it was perfect for me – the Headmistress model. We are an HP-lovin’ family, so I really liked this gift.

Tired and frustrated parents are frequently searching for magic wands. I bet you’ve been there yourself.

Just a reminder, bridges are tools to try, and use repeatedly if you choose.

Bridges do not equal magic.

I hope you will come back here often in 2009 – for my bridges [if not my entertaining prose. Ahem.] Along the way, I will giving you more spell-breaking [counter-curse] opinion on what I think really works (changes) the lives of your children.

If you are new to this blog, click on the links under Bridges in the sidebar for previously posted tips.

Comments

[Stacey]

My father likes to always remind me -- and any who will listen "Don't burn bridges"

I would say that in the realm of kids with special needs-- don't burn bridges-- try really hard to keep the lines of communication open and don't forget to ask for help from EVERYONE. Sometimes people who have helped in the past, can offer support or suggestions for the current.

anyway... that's my two cents, I hope I can follow my own advice all year long!

[Fran]

I love the "bridges" analogy.

I'll talk to Jeanette this weekend about getting together next week.

[Trish @ Another Piece of the Puzzle]

Love the bridges concept as well; I am all about connecting and bringing people together. And I think my son would really like this DVD - it is definitely in his age range and he needs to get moving more!

[JoyMama]

Nice metaphor. And bridges can be beautiful as well. They can also take effort and resources to maintain properly... always good to look out for the infrastructure.

Happy New Year!

[The Barbara who lives here.]

Interesting how one word suggests different perceptions, almost to a person.

Stacey, I too work at honoring the don't-burn-bridges concept. Your father is wise.

Connecting people with matching or complimentary needs is a bridging concept, and I hope that happens via this blog, too, Trish.

I'm also hoping I was clear enough in what I intended for MY meaning of bridges. The bridges I want to show here are not so much communications, but tools or means to an end.

JoyMama is right-on by mentioning infrastructure. For instance, this bridge implies that a family has child-sized furniture, or that the parents might be willing to modify their high-chair to the criteria suggested by me.

Another infrastructure to my bridge is that readers consider me a worthy resource or voice. (One of the lessons of my Reading Research page http://www.therextras.com/therextras/reading-research.html.) More of this at Ellen's To The Max blog in the Jan 1 post.

Which leads me to call a therapy ball a magic wand. Parents (and some therapists) believe ball work is a potent solution for motor development. Not me. A therapy ball used properly with a child can provide a relatively good (passively-induced) work-out. No magic in a ball any more than there is in free weights.

Thanks, JoyMama for triggering my button for adding more (keyboarding - inside joke).

[Julie]

I am sure David and Beverly would love this DVD. Well, Beverly would anyway. David has yet to sit through an entire movie. He came close the other day and I was puzzled by the movie that caught his eye. We have been working our way through Times 100 best movies and had rented Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans a silent, black and white film.