01.27.07
Posted in Family Fun at 7:02 am by scortright
If you are planning your next big party for your kid, don’t forget about the goodie bags. Kids love parties because there is usually some type of gift-giving involved. As you get ready for your party, keep these tips handy for planning the perfect goody bag.
Age matters
If you will invite kids of a large age-range, be sure to incorporate gifts for each appropriate age group. Here’s a good rule of thumb to remember: 2-3 years age difference is no big deal; an age difference of 4 or more years will require greater consideration as to what type of gifts to include in your goody bag.
Size matters
Kids love to compare. The “mine’s bigger than your’s” syndrome will probably never die. When planning your goody bags, remember to include a comparative variety in every bag. This will prevent a big headache from whining kids in the end.
Price matters not
Don’t feel pressured to purchase high-ticket items to put inside your goody bags. Kids are often so excited about the party itself that they don’t pay very much attention to the gifts. While you don’t want to necessarily purchase the cheapest things on the shelf, don’t feel like you have to buy expensive or flashy gifts to include in your gift bags.
Quality is better than quantity
Stay away from buying lots of small, cheap toys and items that will simply fill your goody bags. As an alternative, search for quality items that will last and that the kids will want to use over and over again.
Quick Ideas
Some good ideas for the perfect goody bag gifts include: party-themed plastic kid-sized cups, colorful pencils, small notepads, plastic jacks and ball, stickers, plastic hand clappers and kazoos.
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Posted in Teens at 7:00 am by scortright
Many parents want to know at what age they should have “the drug talk” with their children. There should not be just one talk. Ongoing, open communication, ideally starting by age eight is appropriate. However it is never too late to start the dialog.
Talk with your teen, not to your teen. They won’t be receptive to a lecture. Look for opportunities to talk about drugs. Television and the news will provide you with more opportunities that you care to have.
While it’s important to stress that drug use is not allowed in your house, merely forbidding your teen to use drugs could back fire on you. However once your stance is clear, you need to be careful that your hard and fast rules don’t cause rebellion. There needs to be a mutual understanding.
After you explain the dangers of drugs and addictions it’s imperative to talk about peer pressure and self esteem. If your teen has the ability to say no and be ok with that decision, it will be so much easier to avoid drugs all together.
Give your teen some suggestion on how to respond by role playing. If you receive an unenthusiastic response such as, “No Mom, I don’t want to do that [to role play], it’s stupid.” Then you still forge ahead with your idea. How they practice their response at home is how they will respond in an actual situation.
Offer suggestions such as “No thanks, let’s go to the mall instead.” Or “Nah, let’s go shoot some hoops.” Another alternative if they feel they need to offer a reason why: “No thanks, I need to [study, stay in shape for tae kwon do, stay clean for gymnastics]”
Let your teen know that you understand they want to be part of the crowd, but that they need to make intelligent decisions. They are not fully capable of understanding ramifications; that is your job to help them choose wisely.
Expect some resistance. You are the parent; and you have been given the responsibility to equip your child to be a responsible, well rounded adult. Remember to keep talking. The drug conversation should not be a one time event. Look for opportunities to bring it up again and again and again.
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Posted in Parenting Tips at 7:00 am by scortright
Sibling rivalry is common among children. Many times when introducing a new baby into a family, the existing child will display feelings of jealousy. Even established families, with two or more children, frequently deal with rivalry between siblings.
As a parent dealing with this rivalry, you should not expect your children to overcome sibling rivalry and jealousy overnight. This is something that usually needs to be addressed on an ongoing basis, especially as your children grow older.
One way to help your children overcome their feelings of jealousy is to spend special time with each child individually. By sharing in quality time with each child on a one-on-one basis, you let them know that they are not in competition with each other.
When you a forced to referee, allow each child a turn to speak. Listen to their opinions and give each child time to speak. Many times sibling rivalries can be easily resolved by just offering an ear. Frustrated children may not always know how to express their frustrations without becoming irritated. Teach them to use their words to express their feelings to you and each other.
Above all, never take sides. The last thing you want to do is give one the idea that you are more partial to him than another. This will only lead to even more sibling jealousy and just escalate the situation even more.
Lastly, help your children by offering them a simple solution. Even better, offer them questions to make them think about the conflict and come up with their own solution. Don’t just focus on breaking apart a war of the words between your children. Make sure their conflict ends in a resolution with a plan to follow for the future.
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Posted in Teens at 6:59 am by scortright
Children learn what they live. Teenagers are no exception. If they live in a household where shouting, profanity or worse goes on, the likelihood that your teen will deal with aggression in the same manner is high.
But even in households where these examples have not been set, many teens go through an aggressive or acting out phase.
Trying to deal with your teen in the middle of an aggressive episode is like trying to pick up leaves in a windstorm. You may need to remove your teen from the situation, but trying to reason with her is best left until she calms down.
Anger is being upset. Aggression is acting out. It is important to find out why there is so much aggression in your teen. Don’t over look that it could be a chemical imbalance. Other reasons could be guilt, deep seeded anger, fear, feelings of betrayal, entitlement or insecurity.
In some cases outside help will be needed. Counseling at school or by a third party can on occasion work wonders if your child is able to openly discuss concerns with a nonbiased person. Other times you may be able to work toward a resolve with your teen.
He may be harboring feelings that you didn’t even know existed. While not acceptable, these hidden, unresolved feelings can manifest themselves in outrage. Aggression is often brought on by certain triggers. Sit down and discuss these triggers with your teen.
He may be able to tell you that when someone tells him what to do he gets furious. That’s a good starting point to figure out where the control issues are coming from. The fact is all our life people will tell us what to do. That doesn’t stop into adulthood. There needs to be a non-aggressive outlet to channel that emotion into.
While not directly dealing with the emotions, a physical outlet can certainly help. Enroll your teen in a martial arts class. There she will have an opportunity to spar in a controlled environment. She can also learn respect and discipline.
A Tae Kwon Do class may not solve all your teen’s problems, but it is a step in helping him deal with his aggression. Just remember if you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting.
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Posted in Teens at 6:59 am by scortright
“I’m fat!” “I’m ugly!” “I have nothing to wear that doesn’t make me look like a cow!”
Despite all your pep talks and positive reinforcement, you can’t seem to get through to your daughter. She’s miserable. You’re saddened that she’s so disheartened with her body. How do you help your daughter develop a good body image?
Below are some tips to help you help your teen daughter:
It’s important for girls to play sports or do some kind of physical activity so that they learn to love their bodies for what their bodies can DO instead of only what their bodies look like. This is key.
Look at magazines with your daughter and talk about how the photos were airbrushed and how the models were made-up so that she understood they were not “real”.
Try to emphasize health over looks. Not everyone is genetically able to be a size 2, but you can still be healthy at a size 12. Girls need to find their comfortable weight and love themselves for who they are instead of comparing themselves to others.
Sports for girls. Some girls start T-ball at the age of 5 and play up until late teens. Even if your daughter didn’t start playing sports at a young age, it’s never too late to start. If basketball, softball or soccer doesn’t appeal to her, try martial arts.
Help her pick out clothing that is flattering to her body. Girls want to wear what everyone else is wearing. Unfortunately not all styles are becoming to all body sizes and shapes.
While you are working toward building your daughter’s image, remind all siblings that teasing, name calling and rude comments about their sister will not be tolerated.
Lastly, if your daughter is overweight you should institute an exercise / healthy eating program family-wide. Start going for runs with her, start a sport, join a gym, anything to get her in shape, healthy, and fit. An overweight teen is going to have a low self image. Work together as a family – it will go a long way in helping your teen daughter develop a good body image.
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Posted in Family Fun at 6:57 am by scortright
It’s often the case that kids are bored at home with nothing to do and mom can’t face another costly activity.
But your children’s activities don’t have to cost much and they certainly don’t have to be boring.
Here are a few ideas:
Take a trip to the airport. You don’t actually have to go in the airport but you can park close by and spot the airplanes. Talk to your kids about where the airplanes may be going or how many people may be on board. Kids find airplanes fascinating.
Visit the train station. Again, kids are fascinated by anything loud and with an engine. Help them spot the different trains and talk about where the passengers may be going.
Go to the sea side. You don’t have to save the beach for summer breaks only. Go anytime of the year and collect rocks or sea shells. Let your kids play and run on the sand.
Take them to yard sales. Make a morning out of it and have fun. Tell each child they can choose a small toy or item. They can have fun chatting to different people, help you pay for things and even get some good exercise if you walk or take the bikes.
For the older kids, sometimes the best thing can be to let them chill out with a friend; a sleepover with a rented DVD can go a long way. As your children get older, you could try dusting off the hobbies you have hidden in the attic, such as the old hockey stick or the fishing equipment and let them follow in your footsteps.
A little investment in a new hobby for them may be just the ticket to keep them entertained and active.
With a little thought and imagination the possibilities for fun and frugal activities are endless. And don’t worry about not spending a lot of money, all that really matters is that you’re spending quality time with your kids.
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Posted in Family Fun at 6:56 am by scortright
Why spend the money on those boring party invitations that everyone uses when you can make your own!
Scrapbook stores are the perfect place to go when you want to make your own party invitations. All you have to do is visit a scrapbook supply store and your creativity will spark with ideas.
Handmade party invitations are not only fun and easy to make, but they are personal. Your kids will love making their own party invitations to hand out to all their friends.
First, start with the basics: blank 3”x5” or 4”x6” cards. You can find these in any scrapbook supply store. They come packaged with blank envelopes. Next, browse the aisles and buy stickers, punches, markers, and whatever other fun things you see to make your party invitations in the following themes:
SPORTS
Use soccer, football, basketball or baseball stickers or page sets. Create a fun sports theme on the front and include the party information inside the card.
CHARACTERS
If your kids love animated characters, such as Elmo, Rugrats or Lazy Town, use these to create character-themed party invitations. Include bright borders and sticker confetti to add flare to the card covers.
PRINCESS
What girl doesn’t love anything princess? Use crown stickers, pink and purple confetti stickers, and heart punches to create pretty, princess invitations.
TEA PARTY
You can find cute teacup page sets and use these to create pretty invitations. If you want to get really fancy, trace a teacup template around the outside of your blank cards first. Then cut the cards to make them look like teacups. You might even include a fancy napkin inside the card.
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Posted in Family Fun at 6:55 am by scortright
Creating crafts with your kids can be a fun, yet educational process. There are so many ways that crafting can help your kids to learn things they didn’t know. Here are just a few ways your kids can learn through creating crafts:
Introduce new things – Making crafts is a really good way to introduce something new to your child. For example, if you’re crafting with a toddler, you can incorporate a new letter of the alphabet with each craft you make together.
The art of discovery – Let your kids experiment in their crafts. Let them try new things, or different ways of doing something they already know how to do. When your kid has that moment of discovery while crafting, it will cause them to want to craft more. What better way for your kid to discover something, than while crafting with you?
Coordination skills – For younger children who are still learning to use hand-eye coordination, crafts can be a very useful way to enhance these skills. From holding crayons and paint brushes, to gluing together a popsicle stick house, your child can practice their coordination skills.
Build on what they know – If you have an older child, crafts are a good way to help them build on the knowledge they already have. Use more advanced crafts to enhance your kid’s learning ability. For example, if your fifth-grader likes making cute bracelets, incorporate a math lesson into her next beaded bracelet craft session.
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Posted in Family Fun at 6:54 am by scortright
Crafting has long been a great way to bond with kids. These days kids are so consumed with technology that they often don’t even know what making crafts means.
Make a connection – If you are having trouble connecting with your child, try crafting with her. Find a fun craft that you know she will enjoy and block out some special time with her. Crafting together is an easy way to get one-on-one time with your kids and find out what’s going on in their minds.
Give emotional support – As you craft together, your child will probably be more willing to open up and talk to you about things that are on his mind. If there is something bothering your child and he opens up and shares his problem with you during your craft time, give him emotional support. Offer your advice and let him know that you are there for him, unconditionally.
Keep it light and fun – If you craft with your child specifically for the purpose of bonding with her, keep your craft time fun. Try not to obsess about how perfect she’s painting or getting the bead glued on just right. Keep your craft time relaxed.
Encourage and stay interested – Many adults suffer from low self-esteem as a direct result of their parents’ negative attitude towards them during childhood. As you craft with your kids, be interested in what they’re doing. Kids love to share their artwork. Be encouraging and pay positive comments to your kid about their craft. Show them that you are interested in them.
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Posted in Family Fun at 6:54 am by scortright
Kids of all ages love to craft. If you have younger kids, here are some really fun craft ideas to try with them:
FINGER PAINTING
All kids love the messy feeling of finger painting. Put an old shirt or paper apron on your kid before giving them the paints. For an even less-messy clean-up, take your kids outside and sit them under a tree in the cool shade to paint.
PLAYDOUGH ART
Another favorite of kids is play dough and clay. Lay newspaper on the floor and give your kids small tubs of their favorite-colored play dough. Encourage them to create sculptures with their fun dough.
SOCK PUPPET SHOW
Sock puppets are easy to make. Just glue on a pair of wiggle eyes and make a nose and mouth from felt. Then add a sprout of hair, made with colorful yarn. Make several of these sock puppets out of different sizes of socks and let your kids put on a sock puppet show for you.
PIPE CLEANER FUN
Buy a couple of packs of colorful pipe cleaners and let your kids create art with them. You will be amazed at what they can make from something this simple!
NOODLE ART
Give your kids a sheet of construction paper and a mound of dry macaroni noodles (any fun-shaped dry noodle will work for this craft). Let them draw a picture on their paper with a pencil or crayon first. Then glue around the outline of their picture with white school glue. Let them place their noodles on top of the glue to create a fun noodle art picture.
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