Empowering Language Tips for Parents

SheKnows recently published an article on raising bilingual kids featuring our very own Julia Pimsleur Levine! The article encourages parents to "Fill Your Baby's Brain with Language" and includes some incredible case studies and language tips for parents who want to raise multilingual children.

The take home message is this: all parents are capable of giving their children the gift of a second language. Different families take different strategies: from One Parent One Language (where each parent picks a different language and sticks to it) to simply learning a new language along with your kids. The is no one right way to do it, and each family provides a bevy of useful language tips for parents who are thinking about introducing a new language. There is a style for every family.

Elsewhere on the internet, our friend Ana Flores of SpanglishBaby reminds us not to "underestimate how important commitment and consistency are in successfully raising a bilingual child." In her piece, she runs through some general Do and Don't language tips for parents to keep in mind as they begin to incorporate another language into their family's lives.

Both pieces are must reads for families who are just starting to speak in new languages and for parents who are looking for ways to expand on what they are already doing!

1. Fill Your Baby's Brain with Language
2. 7 Do's and Don'ts of Raising a Bilingual Child

Instagram Contest: Let's Eat!

Yes, we're a little late to the party, but we finally entered the 21st Century and joined Instagram... and we're having a holiday photo contest! Here's everything you need to know:

Sweepstakes

Get Holiday Shopping Advice and Win Prizes at our #SmartHoliday Twitter Party!

Let's be honest: holiday shopping is stressful. Especially for kids. You're on the hunt for wholesome gifts that will delight and entertain your little ones... but there is so much stuff out there. How do you shop smart? Why not spend an evening chatting with the experts?

You're invited to a very special holiday party. No, it's not black tie. No, you won't have to travel a long way on a cold night to get there. It's a Twitter party!

Please join us for a night of Holiday advice and exclusive giveaways on Tuesday, November 12 at 9pm EST. Our esteemed panel includes our amazing host, Allison McDonald (No Time for Flashcards), along with Amy Mascott (Teach Mama), Mia Wenjen (PragmaticMom) and Tara Ziegmont (Feels Like Home).

All you have to do is RSVP and keep your eye on the #SmartHoliday hashtag on Tuesday night. Follow @LittlePim for more twitter party details – and don't forget to follow our panelists! Details below.

Also: check out our Amazon page to get a head start!

3 Things You Didn't Know About the Bilingual Brain

The internet is abuzz with news of a new study published in the journal Neurology that indicates that bilingualism can delay the effects of dementia (including Alzheimer's). While other researchers have certainly drawn the same conclusion in the past, this study has the largest sample size and is certainly worth reading about! But if you're more interested in how learning a second language will impact your child's brain NOW, here are a few more fun facts about the bilingual brain and language development from some of our favorite articles around the web:

1. Children who learn multiple languages may make grammatical errors at first, but it won't last! Just as monolingual children sometimes make errors as they begin to learn the structure of a language ("I go'ed" vs. "I went"), so do bilingual or multilingual children. It's all a part of the language learning process.
2. Socio-economic status has a greater effect on vocabulary than bilingualism. Some parents fear that adding a second language to the mix will stunt their child's development in their first language, but more and more evidence indicates that multilingualism is an insignificant indicator of how a child's vocabulary will develop. Read more at the New York Times.
3. On the other hand, speaking a second language helps delay dementia regardless of education level. This new study demonstrates that even illiterate participants reaped the benefits of bilingualism, experiencing the same 5-year delay in symptoms as more formally educated participants.

Little Pim at the NJ Baby Bazaar (11/3)

Calling all New Jersey families! Come join Little Pim at the 1st annual NJ Baby Bazaar this Sunday (11/3), brought to you by Mommies247 and Jumblzar! You'll find us at the W Hotel in Hoboken (225 River St). This exclusive all-day family event will help you connect with the best new baby brands, which were hand-picked just for this event (including Little Pim, of course!). On top of all the amazing shopping, you'll have the opportunity to hear experts speak on a variety topics ranging from pediatric health to baby gear. PLUS you could turn out to be the lucky winner of one of the amazing raffles and giveaways. Oh, and did we mention that the day will be packed with entertainment for you little ones (including 30 minutes of babysitting in the "kiddie corner" so you can walk the floor and do some top-secret holiday shopping)?

What's the moral of this story? This Sunday (11/3), stop by the NJ Baby Bazaar at the W Hotel in Hoboken and say hi to your favorite panda.

For more info on the event, click here.

New for Halloween: Free Little Pim Coloring Sheet

Little Pim is in a spooky mood this week! He's all dressed up to celebrate Halloween in this coloring sheet produced by the same artist who's creating our holiday E-book (check out the full-size version here).

Happy coloring!

Little Pim Kickstarter on the Interwebs

This is it: the Little Pim Kickstarter has entered its final week and we have entered crunch time here at Little Pim HQ. We have already managed to reach 50% of our pledge goal and are absolutely over the moon about this accomplishment. Your generosity and support means the world to us. Of course, that does mean we have $6000 left to raise in... oh... 6 days. No biggie.

Lucky for us, we have an incredible army of mommy and daddy blogger friends helping to spread the word about our project and give us the boost we need, so we just wanted to give all of our blogging pals a shout out before the campaign is over.

If you'd like to help us out with a share or a feature on your blog: (1) We love you! (2) Hit us up!

...and if you haven't backed us yet, time's a-wastin'! Consider giving $19 in honor of our 19 blogger heroes! (Pro-tip: $20 gets you a fancy upgrade.)

Check Us Out...

(is your favorite blogger on the list?)

1. 3 Sons Have I
2. Adventures of Frugal Mom
3. And Then There Were 5
4. Ashley Suzanne
5. Ben Spark
6. DeDa Studios
7. Family Travels on a Budget
8. Home Grown Families
9. Lost Island of Book Reviews
10. Mama's Spot
11. Motherhood Later
12. Newly Crunchy Mama of 3
13. Nicki's Random Musings
14. Open Hands
15. Our Whiskey Lullabye
16. The Rock Father
17. Spit Up is the New Black
18. The Squishable Baby
19. That Bald Chick

7 Great New Baby & Toddler Inventions

A Julia's Corner Feature. Last week the Little Pim team attended ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, which proved to be a smorgasboard of baby carriers, organic cotton clothes, mom-invented products, and toys and gifts of all stripes. I admit some of the products made me feel lucky that I had my babies (now 6 and 9 years old) before the explosion of baby products in the last few years. Now, there are so many brands to choose from that shopping for baby gear practically requires an excel spreadsheet and a GPS. It also seems that cloth diapers are de rigueur! (Big sigh of relief that those days are behind me.)

Here are a few of the things that caught my eye in the two football fields full of baby products at ABC Expo (click on any of the images to enlarge):

1. Baby Tooth Album

Lala and her husband invented, and got a patent on, this little roulette-inspired book for kids to keep their baby teeth. And who knows, the tooth collections may come in handy for macabre Halloween costumes in a few years' time!

Lala is raising her kids bilingual in Armenian, her first language. You can find the Baby Tooth Album at Hallmark and on their web site at babytoothalbum.com.

2. Baby Elephant Ears

We thought Little Pim's friend Lola the Elephant might be behind these Baby Elephant Ears. As it happens, this is not Lola’s creation, though we might see if they need a spokes-elephant. This cute pillow supports baby’s head while she naps. I definitely could have used one on my 5-hour flight home!

3. Chic Cups and Cutlery

Zoli Baby, created by a mom from San Francisco, has a line of beautifully designed cups, plates, bowls, and containers for the fashionable mama and her brood. I like this pink stackable canister.

4. Snowtime – Anytime!

Kids want to have a snowball fight but you live in Florida? No problem! Mother-daughter inventor team Juanita and Dianne spent two years working with manufacturers to perfect the synthetic (not cold) snowball. Your kids can go nuts and not break any teeth. I didn’t get this for my boys, because they really don’t need more encouragement to throw things at each other, but it kind of makes me want to have a snowball fight party…in June!

5. Diaper Bag Meets African Chic

Ousimine is from Nigeria and couldn’t find a diaper bag made of any fabric that came close to the vibrant patterns of Nigerian textiles. So she created House of Botori, a line of colorful bags and accessories for the multi-culti mommy. Her 4-year-old son speaks Yoruba in addition to English!

6. Pacifier on Demand

When I entered into the pacifier zone, I didn’t realize I was opening up a Pandora’s box. Out came the designer pacifiers, the sterilizers, the clippy things, the stuffed animal meets pacifier, and the carrying cases. I think today’s pacifier has more bling than the iPad. PullyPalz is a mom-run company that has upped the ante once again on the pacifier gear, combining a stuffed animal with a stroller clip to keep pacifier within reach of baby. With a PullyPal a baby as young as 6 months old can reach up and pull down the pacifier from an elastic cord. Talk about instant gratification!

7. CoughSpot

Invented by a mom who wanted to make it easier for her young children to remember to cough in their arm instead of on each other, this is a clever arm band kids wear when they have a cold. Or they can sport a temporary tattoo! Here is Denise at the show in her adorable scrubs. Look for CoughSpot in your closest drug store this winter. I personally am hoping that her next invention will be something to help my kids remember to use a tissue not their shirts!

There were thousands of products on display, so if you want more, check out what some of our mommybloggerfriends had to say. It was great to see many of the retailers who carry us at the show, and meet new store owners and entrepreneurs. There are so many women who took the leap into business for the same reason I did: they wanted to give their kids an experience they couldn’t find on the shelves and decided to just will it into being. If you are one of those moms incubating an idea right now, I salute you! And maybe I’ll see you next year at ABC Kids Expo? Bring flats.

-Julia

Bilingual Kids in the News!

Last week, our friend Ana Flores of SpanglishBaby made an appearance on NBC's Today Show to talk about raising bilingual kids and the importance of starting early. #BilingualKids swiftly became a hot topic on twitter, and we want to keep the conversation going. First, watch the video in which Ana and Columbia professor Erika Levy make the case for bilingual kids. Note, especially, how adamantly professor Levy dispels the myth that bilingual children start speaking later than monolingual children – good news for all!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you'd like to continue to explore the topic of bilingual kids in the news, here are two informative articles from the last two weeks.

1. This Huffington Post piece by Dr. Gail Gross delves into the effects language can have on babies before they are born. Even in the womb, babies can begin to distinguish their mothers' voices and languages!
2. And this recent article in TIME Magazine also reveals how different languages affect the way children process and analyze information. The more languages they learn how to balance, the more analytical tools they have!

Pin It to Win It with Little Pim

Yes, it's true, we're as obsessed with Pinterest as you are. We're so into Pinterest these days, in fact, that we've decided to hold our very own Pin It to Win It contest! This only runs through October 16, so enter now for your chance to win a Discovery Set in the language of your choice.

*Winner will be notified via a Pinterest comment on Saturday, October 26.