As parents, we sometimes are so busy taking care of our children that we lose track of some of the details of their lives.

Take 5 minutes and test yourself with this 16-question quiz recommended by our Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families staff. It will help you to see if you are having enough conversations, spending enough time, and showing enough interest to share in your child’s life each day. A parent needs to know his or her child better than anyone else in the world!

1. If your child could paint his room any color, what would it be?
2. What does your child want to be when he or she grows up?
3. Who is your child’s best friend?
4. Does your child think he or she is too big or small for his age?
5. What does your child think others think about him?
6. What does your child like best about school? Why?
7. What does your child dislike about school? Why?
8. Who outside your family has influenced your child the most?
9. Who is your child’s hero?
10. How does your child feel about you?
11. What would your child change about his family?
12. Does your child think you are fair?
13. If your child had $5 today, what would he or she buy?
14. What is your child’s favorite toy?
15. What would your child change about you?
16. If asked, “What do you do well?” what would your child say?

Find a time to sit down with your child, check your answers and see how well you did!

Helping Vulnerable Kids and Families Succeed

ALL parents need reminders from time to time on how to be the best mom or dad they can be for their kids. HealthNet’s Better Indy Babies and Healthy Families teams work with at-risk Indy parents during the critical early years of their children’s lives. They help increase parent knowledge of early childhood development, improve parenting practices, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect and increase children’s school readiness.  Kudos to these programs for making Indy a healthier place for children!

You knew your baby would cry. But, did you know how frustrating that crying would be when you tried everything to comfort your baby, and she just kept crying?

Dealing with a crying baby can be very hard, and parents often don’t realize just how frustrating it is until they are in that situation. No one thinks they will shake their infant, but research shows that crying is the number one trigger leading caregivers to violently shake and injure babies.

Poverty can also be a contributing factor to shaken-baby syndrome. The stressful effects of a faltering economy, skyrocketing unemployment and precarious personal finances can be dire. People take up smoking or use alcohol to cope, they become depressed or suicidal, and they develop stress-related illnesses like heart disease. Now researchers report that the harm may be spreading to children too.

The fact is that crying—including long bouts of inconsolable crying—is normal developmental behavior in infants. The problem is not the crying, it’s how caregivers respond to it.

The “Happiest Baby on the Block” program teaches parents the mystery of colic with the discovery of a calming reflex – the incredible “off-switch” for infant crying and on switch for baby sleep that can soothe most fussy babies in minutes and add 1-3 hours to a baby’s sleep.

HealthNet Health Promotions’ certified teachers offer free classes in these techniques for low-income parents living in Indianapolis.  If you’d like to support a new mom with a “Happiest Baby” gift basket including a swaddling blanket, soothing sounds CD and helpful tips, please  consider making a donation to HealthNet Health Promotions today!