Valentine’s Day Projects

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Connie

Valentine’s Day may be my favorite day of the year. It is a day to show your love and appreciation for your family and friends. Plus I love the color red and chocolates. For those who love to bake, Valentine’s Day Cookies maybe up your alley. Kids love to participate in the kitchen. My son loves to “help” and dig in. My eldest is in middle school and isn’t into Valentine’s Day (yet). I remember when he was in Elementary school.

At his school, he had to bring something for each classmate on Valentine ’s Day. One year, I forgot about it and had to scramble at the last minute. Luckily, I love buying school supplies at the back to school shopping sales. There are great bargains to be had.

Here are some things that I always keep in stock for the last minute projects or Valentine’s Day cards

Colorful construction paper
Stickers, glitter, ribbons, and glue
Markers
Old Shoe Boxes—they come in handy if you have to bring notes for 25+ people.
Fancy cut scissors are extraordinary. They are a simple twist that goes a long way.

With supplies, the options are truly endless—simply making “love” coupons that they can give to their friends or siblings for a hug or a smile or a nice gesture could make some kids truly happy. And don’t forget that you can make a special valentine for your kids as a surprise as well such as a Valentine’s Day Coupon Book. Use any of these ideas as a starting point and think about what would make your kids feel the most loved.

Most of all, remind them that caring for each other should happen year-round, not just on Valentine’s Day. But there’s nothing wrong with an extra-special treat on this extra-special day.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

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This is a guest post written by Aparna Vashisht who is the founding mom and CEO of Parentella.com.

How Children Give Back This Holiday Season

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Connie

Teaching children to give back during this holiday season is an important part of parenting. We want to raise kids who are generous and understanding. This is a good time of year to get started or to continue teaching your children about giving since they are getting gifts. There are lots of examples around them in their community of people in need. They just need to be informed.

: Image via Wikipedia

Build-A-Bear Workshop has provided information on how to have a Helping Holiday that is aimed at children. The main lesson is to do something that your children enjoy and turn it into a way to raise money for a charity, collect items to donate to a charity or to help individuals close to home.

Here are some suggestions:

A Bake Sale - donate the money raised to a charity of your choice
A Food Drive – ask family, friends, your school, place or worship, etc. to donate food and donate to a homeless shelter
Make Ornaments or Cards – do this on your own or gather up some friends, then bring the finished products to a nursing home or hospital
Collect Toys – new, unwrapped toys can be donated to Toys For Tots
Collect Clothing – gloves, socks, coats, etc. can all be used at homeless shelters

You can also purchase Build-A-Bear Gifts That Give Back, where a portion of their proceeds go to specific charities. For example, Kennel Pals raise money for animal shelters, pet rescue and rehabilitation. Bearemy’s Kennel Pals® at Build-A-Bear Workshop®, Shop Now!

Build-A-Bear Workshop has been involved with giving back for the holidays and every day for years. Their program, Huggable Heroes, recognizes young leaders who make a difference in their community. You can nominate some one you know and encourage your children by learning about the Heroes already chosen and teaching your children to give back this holiday season.

(affiliate link included)

Eating Disorders in Children – Warning Signs

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Connie

Eating disorders can happen in children as young as 8 years old, but there are warning signs to look out for. There is discussion among professionals as to why, but the media, family issues and low self-esteem may be causes. Keeping an eye out for warning signs can help with early intervention.

Here’s a list of some warning signs:

Excessive exercise – instead of playing with friends or taking part in other activities you may find your daughter using a treadmill and timing herself. She may keep charts of her exercise time.
Believing that she is overweight when she is normal weight or thin. She may not say it to you, but you may hear your daughter telling her friends that she is “fat”.
Dieting or not eating as she did before. She may skip meals, or pick at her food. You may find from meals at home hidden or thrown out.
Overeating excessively also known as binge eating – this is a sign of bulimia.
Focus on food – asking about calories in the foods you serve, only eating low fat foods, low or no sugar foods or “diet” foods and asking you to buy these type of foods.
Being obsessive about how female celebrities look, especially their weight.
Being concerned about how clothing makes her look. She may ask, “Does it make me look fat?” She may also be interested in ads for clothing that makes people look slimmer, such as Insta Slim.

I’ve used the words “she” and “daughter” in this post, but even if less likely, eating disorders can occur in boys. Be aware of the warning signs of eating disorders in children and get them professional help when necessary.

Ten Tips To Prepare Your Tween For A Cruise

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Connie

Ten tips to prepare your tween for a cruise vacation:

Planning The Cruise – When you’ve narrowed your choices down by what you can afford, let your tween in on the planning phase. Gather brochures, library books about the areas you’ll be visiting and visit the online cruise sites. Many of the online sites provide video tours. The brochures and sites include information on what is available for children, tweens and teens to do on board, which is plays a big role in the choice of your cruise.
Buy Clothes – Choosing cruise attire will help your tween get in the mood for the activities on board, the excursions, the pool, etc.
Countdown The Days: As your cruise gets closer, mark off the days on your calendar or use an online countdown calendar. This increases the fun!
Music Downloads: Find music from the places you’ll be visiting and download it for your tween. Let them get an idea of what to look forward to.
Attend A Formal Dinner: Either prepare one at home or go to a formal restaurant so your tween is ready for formal nights on your upcoming cruise. It will make you all comfortable not having to remind them what fork to use, etc. Although mistakes are overlooked on cruises, it’s nice to at least know some of the basic manners.
Visit The Cruise Forum: Almost every cruise line has their own forum now. Join and/or visit to learn about what regular cruisers are sharing. There’s usually up to date information about the tween clubs on board.
Choose Excursions: Involve your tween with deciding on what excursions to take. Read about the rules and regulations carefully to see if there is an age limit.
Earn Money: Give your tween extra chores so s/he can earn some extra money for the cruise. There’s souvenirs, tween club sleepovers and other extras that are tempting. Provide the opportunity for them to make money so they can pay what they want.
Camera: Let your tween have their own camera and be responsible for it during your cruise. Find an inexpensive one at a yard sale, online or give them your hand-me-down. Let them practice taking photos before the cruise so they’re ready to shoot lots of their own when you’re on board and sight seeing.
Motion Sickness Items: Just in case, talk to your tween’s doctor about what is recommended for motion sickness. Buy it and bring it along.

: Image by jshyun via Flickr

We’re off on a Carnival Cruise within the next few weeks. This will be the third cruise for my 11 year old daughter. She’s enjoyed every one.

Do you have any questions or suggestions for tweens traveling on a cruise? Please leave a comment.

Supplements For Health

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Connie

My 11 year old daughter goes through phases of eating everything in sight to not eating at all. Common problem, right? Add to this that she has serious allergies and gets sick often, causes me to be concerned that she needs something extra to make up for the food she’s not consuming. I’ve bought vitamins and supplements that are made for tweens. She’s OK with taking them, but when she doesn’t have an appetite, it’s like trying to ask her to eat something extra. So we’ve gone back to those gummy, yummy, candy-like vitamins. She’ll eat two of those each day without a problem. Of course she understands that they are not candy.

Another thing that helps my daughter remain on track with her vitamins, is to take them when I take mine at breakfast time. I take vitamins, glucosamine and prescription medications every day. We eat a healthy breakfast, talk and both take our vitamins while we’re enjoying our meal.

I’ll continue to teach her about nutrition and provide healthy foods for her, but while this stage is going on, supplements are a way to get the things she needs to continue growing and be healthy.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

Preparing For Middle School This Summer

Posted on May 29, 2010 by Connie

We’re preparing our daughter for middle school this summer. Do we sound like awful parents who won’t allow our daughter to enjoy her summer vacation? Just take a look at what we’re doing and then judge us!

Social Skills Readiness

In middle school, children will be meeting new students from other schools and from home school. This is a time of making new friends. For some children, this is something they can handle easily, for others it is one of the most frightening events in their lives. Our daughter is in between. She’s not shy, but doesn’t make friends easily.

We’re preparing her by registering her for summer activities where she doesn’t know anyone. When we travel, she’ll go off to the children’s events on her own. She’s been reading books about friendship and I’ve bought one for her as a surprise to read over the summer – Fab Friends And Best Buds: Real Girls On Making Forever Friends

Getting Organized

We’ve already started helping our daughter get better organized during the end of this school year, but will work on it more over the summer. She’s going to be responsible for getting herself ready in the morning. When we go out for the day she’s going to be in charge of bringing her belongings. When we travel, she’s going to pack for herself. We’ll be buying school supplies that she can use to help in this area too. She’ll be using her calendar and the one on her computer to remember important dates.

She’ll be rewarded for her accomplishments over the summer and of course when school begins again. She wants more time on the computer, to see movies and to have friends over the house. All fine with us.

More Focus on Academics

When we went to the middle school open house, we were given a list of the Florida Sunshine State books, which are recommended reading for students based on their grade level. The principal stated in his speech to us that this was not required reading, but since our daughter enjoys reading, she’ll be going through the list. To keep her focused on math, one of problem subjects, we’ll be using math in our daily lives. We’ll have her choose the lowest price items when we shop, figure out the tip when we eat out, help with measuring when we cook, etc. She’ll also play math games online.

She enjoys meteorology so she’ll track the weather for our trips, keep track of the tropical storms and hurricanes and play with a new weather device she received as a gift. None of these are things that she doesn’t enjoy. We plan on making them fun and exciting for her.

Keeping Communication Open

We have worked at keeping communication open between us and our daughter, but this summer we are going to work extra hard at this. We want her to voice any concerns she has about starting middle school.

Visiting The School

There are a few opportunities to visit the middle school over the summer and we’ll take advantage of them. We need to fill out forms when she decides what sport she’s interested in. I signed up for the PTSA so I’ll go to any meetings or see if there’s any volunteer events where we can help. There’s also another open house right before school starts which we’ll attend.

Book Recommendation

We already purchased this book and highly recommend it – Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, The: Middle School (Worst Case Scenario Junior Editions). It covers everything from what to do if you’re bullied to how to cope with pimples.

Are you more concerned about moving on to middle school than your child? What did you do to prepare your child for middle school?

Eyeglasses For Your Teen

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Connie

Has your teen just learned that she needs to wear eyeglasses? Does she feel like her world is going to fall apart because she’s afraid of what “everyone” is going to say about her? Maybe she’s decided she’ll never leave her room again, or she won’t wear her glasses when she’s out of your sight?

Looks are important during the teen years, especially fitting in with how your friends look and what they wear. If someone makes a comment that you look different it feels like you’re going to be branded “different” forever. When choosing prescription glasses, a teen needs to find a pair that makes him or her feel fashionable so they’ll fit in. Keep in mind that they’re either going to be wearing their glasses for reading or all the time. You want to assure they’ll wear them.

Not only is it important that your teen likes the glasses chosen, but be sure that they fit his or her face, coloring and style. Let your teen take his or her time in making a choice. If buying glasses online, there’s nothing wrong with you visiting a number of brick and mortar stores to try on glasses to see what looks good. Be patient because it’s best that your teen be comfortable with their choice. It may even be a good idea to buy 2 pairs of glasses, which you can afford to do if you’re buying from GlassesUSA.com, so they can switch pairs. They can also have an extra pair in case one is lost.

Buying eyeglasses for your teen need not be a chore if you take their thoughts and feelings into consideration.

Sponsored post by GlassesUSA.com

Teen Rehab Centers

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Connie

Parents don’t want to think about their teen becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol, but it happens to all types of families and at an alarming rate. Teen Rehab Centers are often the main treatment option that works in keeping your child sober.

Maintaining communication with your child, knowing their friends and what goes on at school and with their day to day life are ways to be aware if your teen is experimenting or abusing drugs and/or alcohol. If you have any concerns about your teen, seek the advice of a professional. A teen drug rehab is better suited to deal with the issues that teenagers go through, then an adult rehab. The same goes for teen alcohol rehab. Being in rehab with their peers who can understand, relate and guide them is an important issue.

Teens and some parents may believe that using marijuana doesn’t mean a teenager need treatment, but teen marijuana rehab is necessary. Marijuana has gotten much stronger than it was in the past. Teens can suffer damage to their growing bodies and brains, including memory loss and problems with their immune system. We all need to be aware of teen addiction info in order to keep our children safe and healthy.

This is a sponsored post.

Keeping Your Family Afloat Economically

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Connie

When you’re trying to keep your family afloat economically, it can be very stressful and can affect the everyone in the household, even your children. If a parent has lost their job, it’s not easy to find a new one as it has been in the past. You may be struggling to pay your bills and even at the point where you’re behind on some.

Parents want to be sure the essentials are in order, food, electricity, water, shelter, but in doing so families may end up missing bill payments. There goes your credit rating. That will stay with you even when things get back to normal. Buying a car can be next to impossible because of that, but there are ways to get financed. Don’t give up. Look for places that help with bad credit car finance. Just be sure to check them out so that you are not paying high fees.

This is a sponsored post. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Cuts, Bruises and Scrapes Oh My!

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Connie

I often wonder if there is a clumsy gene. If there is we have it and it started with me. My two daughters got it from me, poor things. Alicia, who is now 23 had it much worse. We were at doctors and emergency rooms so often that I feared that I might be getting a visit from child protective services because of all of the injury claims. Thank goodness our doctor understood that Alicia would fall over her own feet, walk into walls and trip over nothing. It was scary and I did all I could do to see if there were problems with her eyes or if she mobility issues.

She was fine, just clumsy. When Samantha came along, it was the same thing. She would fall and get hurt more often than other children. With her, she didn’t end up injured that badly that we would be at the doctors or hospital, but we did consider buying stock in band aids.

: Image by nathangibbs via Flickr

Now if we were greedy people, my husband and I could attempt to get some money from a Personal Injury Claim when one of our daughters got hurt in a public place. Knowing the history of our children we wouldn’t put the blame on anyone else for their injuries.

One thing that we’ve learned is that we purchase shoes and sneakers that are safe to try to prevent more injuries for Samantha. Alicia is doing much better now that she is older. I am too, but I do have my moments.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

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