This is our favorite version of the summer slide!
If you haven’t already seen the catch phrase everywhere lately, you soon will. From the headlines and pin titles, it appears people are working to avoid “summer slide” like it was the next pandemic. So what are the facts about the summer slide and what’s the best approach for you and your school age kids? Continue reading
Filed under Building Readers, Child Development & DAP
It’s graduation season. Odds are fair that, whether it was a preschool graduation or a elementary school promotion or the long and arduous university or high school ceremony, you’ve seen a bit of pomp and circumstance during this past month or so.
Graduation easily invites reflection. Whether you’re the one graduating, thinking about the years of work that brought you to this point, or if you’re the parent, wondering if you’re ready to launch this quasi-adult into the world though you would swear you just barely brought her home in a bundle of blankets, graduation is a natural spot to stop and think.
Filed under Celebrate!, Child Development & DAP
Cooking, as a Life Skill {Playful Learning}
A Smart Answer to the Season of “I’m Bored” {WSJ}
Filed under Weekend Reads
Father’s Day is Sunday. Are you ready? My boys and I picked up my husband’s present yesterday afternoon and before dinner they had each dropped enough hints that we finally decided to enjoy the gift giving portion of the holiday a little early!
Filed under Building Readers, Celebrate!, Uncategorized
Advice is never hard to find. Good advice? Well, that may take a little more looking.
Consider, for example, the many suggestions to simply “live in the here and now” and to “do what makes YOU happy”. There are certainly times and circumstances when these little gems are just what the doctor ordered. But as pervasive, overriding guiding principles, we may be well on our way to missing the mark.
For as much wisdom as there is in the zen-like suggestion to live in the moment, there is something powerful — and necessary — in teaching our children to see beyond that. The term used in academic literature to describe this ability to imagine and value life beyond the hear and now is future orientation. In one study, the review of data from 850 at-risk teens showed a direct correlation between positive future orientation and lower levels of violence in the teenage years. Continue reading
Filed under Child Development & DAP, Uncategorized
No one wants to be accused of raising a spoiled brat, but gratitude doesn’t usually come naturally. So this months’ question asks, how do we get our kids to feel gratitude and show good manners?
PS – Bonus points for spotting my husband sneaking past in the background. (And I was worried that the kids might make an appearance!)
When my husband and I were dating and newly married, we made a lot of camping trips to the national parks near our home. I clearly remember one day, while hiking in the Narrows we passed a family hiking, the husband with a toddler in a backpack carrier. We looked and each other and said we’d be that family.
Filed under Child Development & DAP, Get Outside
You’ve got to love a little special time with Grandpa!
Let Your Kids Get Dirty! {Simple Mom}
Filed under Uncategorized, Weekend Reads
