The Map Magazine

Got a young son in your family? Well then perhaps you should think about starting with a three wheeler. Tri scooters are wonderful for the general development of children helping them to learn control and get them prepared for their future endeavours with a bike when they are become more skillful.

Teaching a child how to ride the greatest toy ever is easier than most parents think. Each parent feels proud to see there youngster ride their new toy. One of the easiest approaches when showing them how to ride is to begin with a tri scooter. This is a scooter with two wheels wheels at one end and a single wheel at the other end. The great feature about a tri scooter is that the extra wheel gives it better stability so it makes it easier for very young children to learn to ride. Tri scooters come in a variety of styles as well, mostly based on popular kids TV programs.

The entire concept of being closer to the pavement and having one foot on the pavement, gives them a miles better feeling of being in control. No need to stress over instructing them how to ride a scooter. A popular lesson is to let youngsters do what they do well. Just let them play. They will be riding that scooter in no time at all.

Tri scooter manufacturers take greatest care to make the products appeal to the kids while still ensuring safety. And what is a better attraction to kids than their loved kids TV characters?

Though themed differently, all the tri scooters score high on safety and comfort. The body has been kept light and the scooter is really portable. The reviews of the scooters have been extremely positive with buyers liking their capability to capture the kids attention while still teaching them some awfully valuable lessons.

Comments Off

Big Foot Relay. Have the children get 2 shoeboxes with them. Magnetic Tape the lids onto the boxes, then cut a one-inch-wide and four-inch long slit in to each one top. Have the contestants slip their feet into the slits in the boxes and race.
Batty Bowling. Get a number of stupid or different tokens that can be knocked over by a ball, much as a plastic milk carton, a candlestick, a stand-up dolly, a plastic vase of flowers, a pizza pie box, a tower of empty cans, an umbrella stand, an empty oatmeal container, and a book. Draw them up like bowling pins and get the bowlers try to tap them through with volleyballs, tennis balls, or golf balls.

Cross Step. Draw a ten-by-ten grid on the sidewalk or patio with chalk. Have each player stand on a different square. One at a time, each player must move to a new square after crossing out the square she or he was once standing in. The magic is that players cannot step into a square that is populated or crossed out. If a player cannot move to a new square, he or she is out. The game proceeds until one player is left.

Drag the Body. Split the group into two teams. Give each team a blanket. Have one player from each team lie down on the blanket. The teams must haul the body on the blanket from one end of the yard to the other. Whoever crosses the finish line first, wins.

Comments Off

Being a single parent is no child’s play, believe me. I have been trying to be father, mother, mentor, guide, and friend to my seven-year-old daughter ever since I lost my husband in an accident.

I could not have gotten through this trauma without both financial and emotional support from my parents and siblings. They saw me through my pregnancy and delivery, nursed me back to health and today dote on my daughter. I meet up with my friends who are also single parents, catch a movie and dinner once in a while, and exchange notes on being single parents.

It was during one such evening that one of my friends mentioned this organization called Parents Without Partners and how it was devoted to issues and concerns of single parents. Seems it was started in New York 1957 by two single parents who at that time were ostracized for their marital status. We were impressed and wanted to be a part of association.

Parents Without Partners welcomes single parents, married or otherwise, nor does it differentiate between divorced and widowed single parents. This organization provides opportunities to single parents to exchange ideas on parenting, and encourage children to meet their peers who too are in a single parent household. Unmarried members too form a small percentage of this voluntary group.

There are thousands of members between age 18 and 80 currently with Parents Without Partners. Single parents across the United States and Canada belonging to various religious backgrounds and financial status are eligible to join up. They look into three key facets of their members: family, educational, and recreational needs. Parents Without Partners is a real boon to single parents like me. After all I am engaged to this great guy I met at the Christmas party during one such meeting organized by Parents Without Partners.

Comments Off

Did you know that this is the Week of the Young Child? It is! And this year’s theme is “Building Better Futures for All Children.” (It’s already proving to be much more popular than last year’s theme of “Building Better Futures for White Middle-Class Children.”)

From the NAEYC website:

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age lay the foundation for children’s success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we–as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation–will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

Sounds good to me. Right up until I remember that I have only a few weeks left before my daughter turns 8, and then I’m OUT OF TIME to FIX HER. Oh, the pressure! Will I look back on this, during her teen years, and wish that I’d done more? Will I regret not properly observing this week, lo those many years?

The NAEYC website has a great list of suggested activities to help you recognize this week, but I thought I’d come up with my own ideas, as well. I really want to do what I can.

Here are some things I pledge to do this week, in celebration of the Week of the Young Child:

* I will not make fun of the Doodlebops hair, nor will I comment that having to look at this would make me lose my appetite in a wave of neon-color-induced nausea.

* I will not say a word about how the only thing scarier than having to watch Barney and his pals on television would be inviting them into the tub with your child.

* I will not mention even once that a talking Caillou doll would cause me to develop a nervous twitch, or that I would almost rather my children remain illiterate than learn their ABCs from the world’s whiniest 4-year-old.

* I will continue my deep love for all things Max and Ruby, without my compulsive need to point out that these poor children have clearly been abandoned by their parents.

* I will pretend to understand what Caillou is saying, and not poke fun at his speech impediment.

* I will stop rearranging and dismembering The Wiggles and instead accept them for who they are.

Well. I think that’s a good start. What will you do to celebrate this week?

DoddleBopMan
NewToyDeals.com
One Stop Shop for The Wiggles, Wiggles, Doodlebops, Strawberry Shortcake, Teen Titans, LazyTown, Caillou, Barney, Atomic Betty, Miss Spider, and JoJo’s Circus.

Comments Off

This recipe can be prepared easily by children 12 or over and nothing spells contentment like kids,
creativity, and clay. (Not to mention, these ornaments are a great gift for family members!) For younger
children, have a parent or older sibling do the first few steps, then let children take over. This
clay will keep for two weeks when stored in a zip-top bag or airtight storage container. Try creating it a
week before school let’s out to keep kids busy and creative.

1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup hot water
1/8 cup cold water
1/4 cup cornstarch

Bring salt and water to a boil in a saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch and cold water. Once the cornstarch has dissolved, add to the boiling water, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low. Continue cooking and stirring constantly until mixture forms a stiff dough. Drop dough onto
waxed paper and once cool knead for five minutes. Proceed to work with dough just like cookie dough. Roll to about 1/4-inch thickness and let children use a variety of shapes to cut ornaments. Make sure to remind children to put a hole through the ornament for hanging. Toss on some painting t-shirts and add tempera or acrylic paints.

When done: Let ornaments air-dry for 72 hours or cook in a 200-degree oven for an hour on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Visit www.rushhourcook.com/holiday.htm for a full holiday meal plan with shopping list and www.changeyourlifechallenge.com for a free weekly newsletter with sanity-saving solutions.

The Change Your Life Challenge
http://www.changeyourlifechallenge.com
Take control of your home, finances, relationships, clutter, time-managmenet and more with this 70 Day Program. Sign up for the free Challenge Weekly Newsletter and the motivational daily Good Morning.

Comments Off

Children’s entertaining is one area of magic available to us all - whether you are a parent performing to your child at a birthday party, or a professional magician hoping to expand your repertoire, children’s entertaining is a rewarding and enjoyable branch of magic.

Kid’s magic is very different from close-up magic or sleight of hand - it is nearer to stage magic, with visual illusions to keep your audience attentive.

When planning your children’s magic shows, it is essential to bear in mind that children have a relatively small attention span, so you need to keep them on their toes by using visual props (such as magic wands, colourful tricks etc.), funny jokes and a lot of audience participation. The magic illusions should be varied, exciting and most importantly, entertaining for the children.

The tricks you choose for the magic show are very important - you should pick tricks for children that are suitable for their age and sex. A patter about football wouldn’t go down too well at an all-girls birthday party!

Before you perform a show, watch a little children’s television and see how the presenters act. They smile, laugh and appear to be enjoying themselves - a very important part of being successful! Try to also remember some of the characters names - you can (temporarily) rename your pet rabbit to a ‘Teletubby’, for example.

To be (almost) as successful as famous magicians, you need to enjoy performing magic, the kids will know you are enjoying it, and your positive feelings will help to make them enjoy your magic show - there’s nothing worse than watching magic performed by a bored magician!

Improve your chances of repeat performances by rewarding the children with merchandise. A skilfully crafted balloon model is great, but once it pops, you’re forgotten. If you can afford some promotional material with your contact details to give to the children along with the balloon, then the parents will have a way of calling you for their child’s next party.

To sum up, try to create a fast-paced, varied and exciting magic show to keep the children entertained. Reward participation with merchandise, and word of mouth will be your main source of income.

Edward Jellard has been a professional magician for many years, and finds Children’s Entertaining to be the most enjoyable aspect.

For more advice as well as free magic tricks, please visit Magic Hat - Free Magic Tricks. Why not sign up to the Monthly Magic Hat newsletter to be kept up to date with the new tricks on the site?

Comments Off

Lets review you!

Get a pen and piece of paper and list all the skills that make you who you are, these can include things like;

* A good listener

This is when you are good at taking information in by reading something or listening carefully to what is being said. It also shows that you can provide accurate information either by speaking or producing a document.

* Application of number

This is when you are confident with numbers and can use them effectively. You will be comfortable about using them and able to solve problems quickly and accurately.

* You are good on computers (IT)

This is when you are able to deal with new technology, use computers and other technical equipment to produce and present accurate data.

* You are good at solving problems

This is when you can use your own initiative to work and solve problems. You will be able to provide information and describe the problem and be able to recognize a problem when it occurs.

* Your a quick learner

This is when you have the ability to learn new things quickly.

* Can speak other languages

This is when you have the ability to speak fluently in another language.

* Good written communication skills

* Good verbal communication skills

This is when you are good at taking information in by reading something or listening carefully to what is being said. It also shows that you can provide accurate information either by speaking or producing a document.

* The ability to work in a team

This is when you can show that you work well using your own initiative as well as being able to work well as part of a team. You will have great interpersonal skills, you are good with people from a wide range of backgrounds and will be able to manage your own workload and recognize when and where improvements can be made.

* The ability to work independently

This is when you can show that you work well using your own initiative.

* Prompt and reliability

This shows that your are always prompt (on-time) and you are reliable enough to do the job at hand.

* Improving own learning & performance

This is when you can recognize your weaknesses and make the appropriate steps to improve them. You will be learning throughout your time at school or college and the more you do the more you will improve

Now you know what skills you have, you can now make a list of what type(s) of jobs you would be willing to do. Here are some examples;

* Working at a fast-food restaurant

* Working as a clerk in a store

* Shelf-filling at a local supermarket

* Paper boy / Paper girl

* Baby-sitting

* Lawn or yard care

* Cleaning

So lets check, we have a list of your skills and now also have a rough idea of the kind of job that you want to do.

Lets move on . .

Now we have the basic information we need to put this on paper and present it this is often called a “Curriculum Vitae” or CV for short.
You have most probably heard about CV’s in school, for those of you that hav’nt heres a quick introduction .

Your CV is a very important document; it is quick simply a story of your life telling the employer what kind of education you have had, what work experience you have had (If any), what your skills are, and why you would be suitable for the job.
Other information that can be found in CV’s are your name, address, contact details, etc and quick often a little “about me” section where you can describe you as a person and the kind of things you enjoy doing, going out with mates, hobbies etc.
-
Need help with writing your CV? Fear not heres a web site that was designed for helping teens write CV’s.

Want to write your own CV? Great heres a site that can give you some CV writing tips.

So you your CV all nicely printed up what now?

Nows the part where you go from shop to shop handing out your CV, all you simply do is walk in the shop and ask the person working on the till if there is any jobs going if there is then great ask them if you can hand in your CV (some jobs might also require you to fill out a job application form), if there is not any jobs going then that is also ok because most shops will allow you to still hand in your CV and if a job ever pops-up they already have your contact details etc to contact you if you are suitable for the job.

Handed out all my CV’s - Whats Next?

Well nows the wait, if your lucky enough then you will receive a phone call or letter asking for you to come in for an interview, the interview will be what makes the difference between getting the job and not getting the job. (I hope to write an article on interview tips & techniques soon)

The End

Hopefully now you have a nice part-time job and you are now making an income for yourself which means you can now go out with your mates and have some fun without having to ask mum or dad for money.

===============Author Bio===========================

I am a 18yr youth worker (as of 2005) who not only works with teenagers as a living, but still has a brain of a young teen, so i can use my ups and downs in life to help guide other teens into the right path.

© 2005 http://just-4-teens.com/

Comments Off

Kids often start using the Internet at about the same age they go to primary school, or perhaps a bit later. If your son or daughter is new to the Web it means he or she is relatively young — and you, a parent, are an indisputable authority. Your kid tries to imitate you, bombards you with questions, listens to your advice (and sometimes even follows them), asks you for help, appreciates your tutoring him. It’s the best time to tutor your child how to avoid various online dangers.

Kids and young teens can freely access the Internet from computers at school, at their friends’ homes and in public places such as libraries and even from cell phones and video game consoles. Internet is everywhere, that is why kids and teenagers (and their parents, too) should be well aware of its perils and know how to avoid them.

Searching and Surfing

Kids and young teens are usually content with resources aimed at kids and teens and rarely look for more — in case you don’t make one mistake. Introducing these search engines to kids for the first time,don’t contrast special search engines for kids and those which you use. Don’t say that they are “clean” — unlike those used by grown-ups. Don’t just declare that dibdabdoo or Yahooligans are “cleaner” than Yahoo or Google.

You’d better say that their search results on dibdabdoo will be more interesting. People who know what kids like and what they are looking for built these engines SPECIALLY for them –isn’t it nice? You certainly will have to mention explicit sexual content, porn sites, gambling sites and other junk one can meet while surfing the Web. But please show no fear of it — just disgust. And don’t overwhelm your kids with plenty of negative info all at once.

There are plenty of search engines and resources for kids. Here is just several links to look for them:

http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html

http://www.kidinfo.com/Search_Engines.html

http://www.searchability.com/children.htm

Look for more links. A simple search will bring you plenty of information.

Chats and Strangers

Even before your kid reaches his teens, he or she will be actively mixing with other kids in chat rooms and probably will start a blog as well. It is YOU who must warn your son or daughter about the risk of posting private information for everybody (both good and bad people) to read.

What kids and teens say in chat rooms, whom they communicate with and what they post on web logs and other public Internet places can get them into much more serious trouble than just viewing some inappropriate websites.

These figures are taken from the telephone survey made by the Pew Internet and American Life Project:
81% of parents of online teens say that teens aren’t careful enough when giving out information about themselves online and 79% of online teens agree with this.

Unfortunately, kids and teenagers carelessly post online their first and last names, postal addresses, phone numbers, pictures and give lots of personal information about themselves. It enables an online predator easily identify and find any of them.

Unfortunately, sex predators teem in cyberspace. Sometimes they immediately start sexually explicit conversations with children in chat rooms. If a kid or a teen is forewarned and taught to end such a conversation immediately, he or she is relatively safe, except for moral damage from such a talk.

But there are others. They gradually allure their future victims by attention, affection, kindness, and even gifts. These individuals usually devote much time, money, and energy to this process. They listen to and empathize with the problems of children. They are aware of the latest music, hobbies, and interests of children. Some time later this person may succeed in arranging a face-to-face meeting with the kid offline — you can guess what for.

What you can — and should — do for your kid not to become one of these victims?

The most important is to maintain trust and mutual understanding in your family. Listen to your son or daughter. Encourage your kid tell you about his or her online acquaintances — freely, without fear of being scolded or punished.

There are simple rules any kid should learn by heart from the very beginning of his or her online experience:

Don’t believe everything you are told online, never reveal your name, age, birthday, nickname or any other personal information while chatting. Think twice before posting something personal in a blog, too.

Should You Monitor Your Kid?

To monitor or not to monitor kids online — that’s a question millions of parents face. On the one hand,software for monitoring kids’ behavior in the Web and other computer activities is a relief for ever-busy Moms and Dads. On the other hand, parents should be very careful when relying on technology in uch a delicate matter as parental control.

Should everybody who has a child apply software for monitoring his or her computer activity? Not just checking browsing history, but monitoring every keystroke the kid makes?

Monitoring software isn’t a panacea, though advertising sometimes tries to prove the opposite.

My opinion is that monitoring software is a VERY “strong medicine”. Like any medicine, it has its own side effects which can be worse than the disease. Any medicine, if overused, can do harm.

Using monitoring software will be appropriate if you feel you are losing control of the situation, or have lost it already. Please think more than twice before you install such a program.

It’s always easier to prevent a problem. Do it in time.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at Raytown Corporation, LLC — an independent software developing company that provides various solutions for information security, including software for parental control.

Learn more — visit the company’s website
http://www.softsecurity.com

Comments Off

In the early hours of Dec 26th 2004 the Western world awoke to the unfolding horror that we came to know as the Asian Tsunami. Those of us still recovering from obscenely large amounts of food and drink from the previous day sat transfixed as we watched a horror story of biblical proportions unfold before our very eyes.

The United Nations estimated that the Asian Tsunami left more than five million people homeless, including about 1.5 million children most of whom became orphaned. The outpouring of emotion from around the world was of mixed benefit as far as the region was concerned in that yes we all dug deep into our pockets and yes we all lobbied our Politicians to something about it and yes bizarrely this tragedy may have had some knock on effect in the movement to alleviate Third World debt and poverty but the blessings were mixed as far as the people on the ground were concerned.

Since the disaster, adoption agencies around the world have been fielding phone calls from well-meaning families wanting to adopt a child from one of the countries hit.

Adoption experts say the best thing people can do is to donate money to causes that directly help the children. They say it’s wrong to take a traumatized child away from the environment that they have grown up in.
“Adoptions, especially inter-country ones, are inappropriate during the emergency phase as children are better placed being cared for by their wider families and the communities they know,” said the charity Save the Children in a statement released Jan. 6, 2005.
International Adoption needs to be well planned
“The last thing they need to do is be rushed away to some foreign land,” said Cory Barron of Children’s Hope International, an American adoption agency. “We have to think of the child first.”

Adoption by some well meaning couple in the west flying half way round the world bearing large sums of money to whisk the child away to a life totally alien to everything it has known isn’t always what is in the best interests of the child.

It is worth bearing in mind the following facts after any tragedy like this:

• Children will be experiencing an immense sense of loss and grief.
• They will need to know what they feel is normal and that they’re not going crazy.
• They need to be with people they know and to feel as safe as possible.

• They need to establish a daily routine as soon as possible to reduce their fears.
• They should play with other children to have time away from their fears and allowed to have creative expression such as materials to draw.
• Those separated from family members need to be registered as soon as possible and reunified quickly.
• Putting children in a temporary care facility or an orphanage should be the last resort.

Around 200 children were orphaned and many more lost one parent when the Tsunami struck the district of Nagappattinam in Tamil Nadu state, the worst-affected region in India.

The local administration has handled scores of queries from individuals and organisations wanting to adopt the children.

But fears of human trafficking have made the government tread with caution. The emphasis now is on rehabilitating these children in the local communities. Suryakala, a district social welfare officer in Nagappattinam, says many children they talked to preferred to remain here rather than move out of the area.

The local administration has asked those interested in adoption to send in applications. But they are in no hurry to move these children out.

Around 60 children have been put up in an orphanage run by the Zion Church in Nagappattinam.

Parvathi lost her parents but has returned to the school to take her examinations. She visits her relatives once a month and says she prefers to stay in Nagappattinam.

Local charities and social activists have lobbied hard with the government not to “give away” these children for adoption. Aftab, a young activist, says he learned a lot from the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake in 2000.
He says that in the past two months there have been several instances of representatives of organisations trying to “forcibly” take away orphans. Nagappattinam was one of India’s worst-hit areas” The local community objected and expressed its willingness to take care of such children,” says Aftab. “None of these children want to be moved out,” he says.
The local administration, Aftab says, is still not clear about what it wants to do with them.

He has met representatives of different villages who back the idea not to move them out.

“Why should these children be sent to orphanages and homes far from here?” he asks.

Efforts by individuals like Aftab seem to have had an impact.

The local administrator’s office has decided against any hasty decision.

One official summed up the dilemma faced by the government: “The issue of children is a delicate matter in any community… one wrong step and we will invite the wrath of the people.”

Adoption experts are hoping the outpouring of interest in adoptions from the tsunami disaster might translate into adoptions elsewhere. The real tragedy is that the tsunami doesn’t even dent the numbers of orphans worldwide, the real numbers are unfathomable. Most adoption specialists say the number of orphans globally may be somewhere in the range of 40 to 60 million13 million in sub-Saharan Africa alone due to the AIDS crisis there, and many more in Russia, China and Latin America. Only a fraction of those children are in official adoption pools.

“We are hopeful that the tsunami-affected countries will eventually have an open mind to international adoption,” says Thomas Atwood, President of the US National Council for Adoption. “But we’re also hopeful that parents will look to adopt children in other parts of the world. There are thousands of children available for adoption right now. For those whose hearts have been tugged by the tsunami, perhaps this is a step in their journey towards another child.”

So perhaps even after the darkest and most terrible of tragedies there can be some positive long term benefits and these are that whilst a large number of people may ignore the need or desire to adopt from within their own communities in favour of adoption with an International dimension this raising of the Adoption Profile and the inherent potential problems may well bring some of those new to Adoption back to considering Adoption from within their communities. The other benefit that can be taken from this whole affair may be the overall increase in the awareness of the concept of Adoption itself. If this in turn leads to more children being partnered with Adoptive Families then that can only be considered good.

Stephen is the principal advisor for International Adoption Information, an independent advisory organisation in social and child welfare.
http://www.internationaladoptioninformation.com

Stephen is the principal advisor for International Adoption Information, an independent advisory organisation in social and child welfare.
http://www.internationaladoptioninformation.com and http://www.internationaladoptionusa.info.

Comments Off

There are multitudes of ways to purchase used clothing for your baby. In this article I will cover only the online options available in the hopes that it will help you to maximize your spending money with the least amount of hassle, stress or risk. I hope to cover some of the key issues of buying used clothes online such as private sales versus online stores, the use of PayPal and other forms of payment, purchasing through ebay and non-ebay auctions or non-auctions alike, online classifieds and more all in the hopes that you will benefit from some of the things I’ve learned and avoid the mistakes that I as well as others have made.

First of all let’s talk a bit about where to find used baby clothes online from private sellers. There are some areas on the web which allow you to post used clothing ads such as ebay and classified sites. Some classified or “for sale” sites are even specialized in either family or baby related items. Ebay, for those of us who are familiar but not necessarily all knowing about it, is a giant online auction with items being posted constantly in all possible fields and topics. Those selling can choose to list their items in an auction format in which the sky’s the limit. Bids can start as low as one penny or they can choose to invite people to purchase the items out right by using a buy now feature in which they set a price for their items. As a general rule the buyer pays all shipping costs on top of the selling price and most payments are made through PayPal, which I will cover later.

Baby clothing on ebay tends to be mostly new with or without tags attached and is either sold in batches of items known as “lots” (grouped by gender and size) or individually as outfits. Since I am focusing on used baby items let’s discuss those. Batches of baby clothing on ebay tend to get bid very high as there is a seemingly large number of people wanting to buy in this way and very few meeting the demand. I have found that items and batches of clothing of any note on ebay tend to sky rocket in price above what is reasonable for used clothing — particularly if they toss in a few name brands such as Gap, Osh Kosh, Gymboree etc… and more often than not a bidding war ensues and you are inevitably outbid or worse you get caught up and spend more than you’d originally expected for items you haven’t even seen and have no quality guarantee!

Auction and classified or selling sites other than ebay can be very chancy — since ebay is established it has the ability to set down rules which keep most dishonest people out while the smaller sights haven’t the same pull with those posting. Quite often these sites (this doesn’t really apply to local purchasing) are riddled with people who are no longer allowed to post on ebay for one reason or another. I have had experiences myself in which items promised ended up being fewer than what I’d paid for and set a price based entirely on quantity! I can’t tell you how upset that made me, and what was worse — I was informed that three of the items had small stains when in truth about 50 fell into the stained category. So what had originally been a good deal turned out to be very disappointing!

There are of course no guarantees with a private seller, no return policy or customer service after the sale is closed and once the sale is complete you must find a new seller down the road when you need clothing again and you run the risks of stumbling across a swindle or a sour deal every time.

One rule to follow in all private sales is to use a traceable method of payment like PayPal. PayPal is a third party which will ensure payment and receipt of product from both parties. Do not use Western Union in any online transactions, or any other non traceable forms of payment! There is no guarantee you’ll ever get the items you paid for when you use this method as it is meant to be untraceable!

So now let’s discuss the second option of buying used baby clothes online — the non private sellers or online used baby clothing stores. There are over 50 stores currently running online who specialize in selling used baby clothing. As with all things online there are stores which are shabbily run due to poor web design skills and such to no fault on the part of the store, they just don’t have the skills to make the process simple and enjoyable for you. They have great items and competitive prices and if you don’t mind a little extra effort when placing an order they do have more security than the average private seller — especially since you know where they are going to be when you need them.

There are a handful of sites which are a little better for service - for example you do not need to email them detailed descriptions of the items you’d like, mail them a money order or some such and then wait for them to receive it before they even send you the items these sites often have PayPal as an option and some even have shopping carts if a little confusing to use. There are an even smaller number of high service sights who offer credit card payment options, low shipping costs and things similar to those offered by online stores in general. Quite a few of all three levels of sites have quality guarantees for a week or so after you’ve received your order — one even offers a full year quality guarantee! This ensures that the items you buy from them have been inspected thoroughly by people who have a more universal understanding of the words “in great condition” and it is in their best interest to satisfy as they ideally would like you to come back and tell others! Shopping with these stores can be fun and you can save tons while getting the quality you are looking for!

Should you choose the more dangerous route of shopping through private sellers with ebay and non ebay sites please take care and remember to never use a non traceable form of payment, don’t be afraid to ask numerous questions — if something seems off in their responses trust your gut — there will always be another seller. Should you choose to explore the option of purchasing through an online used baby clothing store I wish you all the fun of shopping for baby clothes at bargain prices (doesn’t that mean you can buy even more?!) with none of the hassle or risks associated with private sellers and the added benfit of quality guarantees! Happy Shopping! I will cover more on this issue in later posts.

About The Author

Sharlene Rollins owns and operates a unique second hand online store www.gentlylovedclothing.com. Her email address is shar@gentlylovedclothing.com.

Comments Off