 | author unknown Taking care of children is not always easy and can be considered to be one of the most difficult jobs out there. Afterall, it takes someone with a whole lot of patience, flexibility, time, creativity and a love of children in order to care for a child and to help put them on the right path. Our purpose at Cincinnati Child Resource is to provide you with an online resource for you to use that will hopefully take off some of the stress that comes with caring for children and make things a little easier. Whether you're a provider or parent looking for new ideas for activities to do with the children, a mom who looking for other moms to talk to, or a family in need of child care, hopefully we can help.
EnterTRAINment Junction For many young children (as well as for those who are young at heart), trains are a great fascination. Large, yet graceful, they can provide hours of entertainment. Coming to West Chester in July 2008, EnterTRAINment Junction offers one of the world's largest indoor G scale train exhibits with over 2 miles of track and over 90 trains that take you back to the earliest days of railroading. Take a journey through time as you begin back in the 1860s during the Civil War and see what it was like for the Union Army back when trains were just beginning to come of age. Continue your journey through the late 1800s and into today, where trains still play a large, vital part of the country's history. Located just off of the Tylersville exit in West Chester, EnterTRAINment Junction is bound to become one of your families favorite places to visit. Toy Safety It seems as though almost every single time you turn on the news or pick up the newspaper, there seems to be another recall, which has lead to concern over toy safety. Which toys should you buy? Which toys should you avoid? It is recommended to purchase American or European made toys. Some American made toys can be found through U.S. Made Toys or Still Made in U.S.A. Both sites feature toys that are made in the U.S. and also help support the American economy. For a list of some toys that can be considered safe, visit WCPO.com and click on the link for John Matarese's "Don't Waste Your Money" page. For toy recalls and recall reports/notices, please visit Consumer Reports or Recalls.gov. 
A second item of interest when it comes to toys is something called phthalates, which is added to vinyl to soften it and has been linked to many health problems. There is a listing of toys that have been made with phthalates, as well as more information concerning it, found at www.healthytoys.org.There is a toy store located in Cincinnati that puts a new twist to toys. The toy store (called Happen's Toy Lab) is a toy store where children can bring in their old toys and literally turn them into something new. They are located on Beechmont Ave. and will bring new interest to some old toys that your child may have forgotten about. It's definitely something that is worth checking out, especially since toy safety has been a major concern for many recently. Child Abuse Awareness Unfortunately, there are children currently living in a household where they are being abused. Plenty of information regarding this topic can be found at childabuse.com and Prevent Child Abuse America. No child (or person) should have to suffer from any type of abuse. Please take the time to learn more about this issue and how you can help. The Cure Starts Now Foundation The Cure Starts Now Foundation is a non-profit charity that is helping to assist in finding a cure for not only pediatric brain cancer (such as brainstem glioma), but for all cancers. Losing a loved one from something like cancer is hard enough, but is even harder when it is a child. Finding a cure is of the utmost importance for The Cure Starts Now Foundation and you can help. Information about The Cure Starts Now Foundation, as well as information on what you can do to help, can be found through their website. Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale® In an effort to end childhood hunger, Share Our Strength's (a national orginization that is working toward eliminating childhood hunger) has teamed up with Domino® Sugar and C&H® Sugar (along with several other sponsors) to bring about Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale® to help end childhood hunger. Every year, as many as 12 million children will be affected and need help. To find more information on this cause (or on how you can help), please visit their website.
| |||||
• Cincinnati Child Resource | ||||||
