Parenting Children

The official start of summer is here for us and I know how hard it is to keep kids entertained all summer long. I found that making a list on my calendar helped me pick a fun thing to do every day. Here are 45 cheap or better yet free, great ideas for summer fun for you and the kids:

Catch fireflies

Decorate t-shirts outside with paint or dye

Have a tea party outside

Make a birdhouse

Make your own ice pops

Bake a pie or cookies

Feed the ducks

Go swimming

Plant a garden or a herb garden

Play with water balloons

Play with water guns

Go on a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood

Play hide and go seek in the dark

Find a new playground

Have a picnic

Make S’mores

Learn how to knit and teach your kids, maybe even take a class

Visit the zoo

Visit a museum or children’s museum

Let your children play outside in the rain

Make a theme day, like a “red day” wear red eat only red foods (tomato, apples, strawberries, polish your nails red) or “dinosaur day” (read about dinosaurs, color dinosaur pictures, eat only veggies that day)

Write a letter to a grandparent or friend

Have a lemonade stand

Pick fruits or veggies at your local farms

Make an indoor sand or (Rice!) box
Find free movies in your town

Play hopscotch

Draw with sidewalk chalk

Make a tent indoors with blankets

Play with bubbles, have a biggest bubble contest

Race some bug you find on the ground

Join a reading club for grades 1-6

Have a “day of beauty” paint nails, have masks, give your kids a massage

Go to a free reading time

Buy a hammock and take a nap together

Play with a remote controlled RV or boat

Visit a day fair or carnival

Go for a hike

Can berries for the winter

Grab your sleeping bags and sleep on the floor together

Do some arts & crafts

Grow butterflies (My kids LOVE this!)

Visit a neighbor

Make a bubble pool in your backyard

Make ice cream

Check out free classes at Lowes or Home Depot

Make a trip to a board walk

Bowling!

Have movie day at home complete with popcorn and candy

What are your favorite family summer fun ideas?

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New research finds that stimulant medications commonly prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are associated with an increased risk of sudden death. Although rare the researchers in this study sifted through mortality data from 1985 through 1996, and found 564 cases of sudden death that occurred in children aged 7 to 19 and they found 10 sudden, unexplained deaths in children taking stimulant medications.
The study found that children and teens taking ADHD stimulant medications were seven times more likely to die suddenly than their peers.

“What we found — to our surprise — is that even if you take out confounding factors, the association between stimulant use and sudden death was still significant,” said study author, Madelyn Gould, a professor of clinical epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City. “I’m confident the association is real and significant, but it’s very rare. I don’t want our findings to change prescribing patterns or for a parent to change their willingness to use stimulant medications if they’re called for, but physicians should monitor patients with any new medication you give a young person.”

Results of the study were published in the June 15 online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
As many as 2.5 million children in the United States take ADHD stimulant medications, such as amphetamine, dextroamphetamine (Adderall), methamphetamine or methylphenidate (Ritalin).
reserchers say that if your child has been on a stimulant for awhile there may be no need to worry and parents should not abruptly stop their child’s medications,. If you are concerned call your pediatrician and go over the risks and side effects of the medication and if necessary have a full physical of your child before taking these types of medications.

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Last year I reviewed The Daring Book For Girls, which I loved. It had pages upon pages of fun things to learn, games I played as a child and facts and tips. Now they have a sequel to the popular book, The Double-Daring Book for Girls.

Again, this book is perfect for girls of all ages and perfect with the long summer months ahead of us. From how to tie a sarong, picnic games and dyeing your hair with Kool aid to how to make a sundial and moon lore, this book is packed with great information!
I love these books and have purchased them as gifts for my nieces. This is an easy, inexpensive way to get all of your children, not just girls, some summer fun and excitement. It also makes a great gift idea for hard to buy for girls (all of them!).

How about a little challenge. There is a section of this book called, “How to Hula-Hoop”. I was a hula-hopper from way back so I thought this would be no problem. I had to get my rhythm back and I finally made my best time with 18 times around before I nearly tripped and fell.
Can you beat me?
Try your best and leave your best hula-hooping skillz in the comments!

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Now that schools are letting out for the year and summer vacations are upon us, I am always looking for some family friendly things to do. At the end of the day when the kids are worn out from their fun, television is a great go to activity for our family. I try to watch TV with my kids and monitor what they watch as well. During the summer, the networks will all have on reruns and reality TV that is not appropriate for little ones, and there is only so many times I am willing to watch Finding Nemo.

Starting this month, TCM is launching TCM Essentials Jr., bringing families together by making moving watching a family experience. TCM Essentials Jr. will have classic must see movies every Sunday night suitable for the whole family. This year it is hosted John Lithgow and it gegins Sunday, June 7 at 8 p.m.

Tony®, Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning actor John Lithgow is coming to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) to host this summer’s edition of TCM’s ESSENTIALS JR. Lithgow, who has also earned acclaim as a children’s author, will present 13 classic films ideal for parents to introduce to their kids, beginning Sunday, June 7, with the musical classic Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). The following is a complete schedule:

June 7 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

June 14 To Have and Have Not (1944)

June 21 Father of the Bride (1950)

June 28 The Philadelphia Story (1940)

July 5 Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)

July 12 The African Queen (1951)

July 19 An American in Paris (1951)

July 26 High Noon (1952)

Aug. 2 Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Aug. 9 Notorious (1946)

Aug. 16 It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963)

Aug. 23 Gaslight (1944)

Aug. 30 You Can’t Take It With You (1938)

I also love the book The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide For Watching Together and would be a good companion to these movies this summer!

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These days money is tight for everyone. If you do not know how to spend responsibly then it may be worse for you. Good spending habits and monetary responsibility start young and we are trying to teach our twins already how to save and what to spend. Discover has a new way to teach teens just how to manage spending.

Current by Discovery Card is a debit card for teens, ages 13 to 18 and works like a bank debit card (but looks much cooler!). The card will not work once the limit is reached, which protects teens from overspending and incurring costly fees. But this card also provides parents with controls that let you set (daily, weekly or monthly) spending limits, block the card from being usable at some merchant categories (like ATMs or liquor stores), and allows you to track your child’s spending either online or through e-mail and text message alerts!
Teens can learn how to spend smart by logging onto the Account Center at Current by Discover Card. In addition, Current by Discover Card is sponsoring a nationwide Money Smarts Program in high schools to educate students on basic money management skills.
Kids are also eligible for coupons and online discounts at select restaurants, theaters and more. Parents earn Cashback Bonus or Miles when they load their teen’s Current Card by using their Discover Card.

The pricing for this card is a $5 monthly charge for each card or an annual fee of $50.
I think this card is better than just giving your child one of your credit cards. It gives them ownership of the money and if they are irresponsible with it, then they have a lesson to learn. I think it is a great idea for teens.
Thanks to Mom Central for giving me the chance to review this product!

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Norton On-Line Family is software for parents to to help track where you kids are going on the internet. You can track what they are doing, what instant messages they are sending and what websites they hit.
The software enables you to block certain web sites, or a certain type of sites.
The software can warn the child they are getting ready to enter an prohibited site or block the site entirely. It has a safe search feature so your child doesn’t use a search engine to lookup something for a report and end up on a porn site.

The features of this software are:

-Simple, One-Time Set Up
-Easy to Use and Access
-Easy to adjust the settings to customize your preferences (which include Profile, Web, Search, Chat, Social, Time and Notify)
-Clear Reporting
-Secured Personal Information
-Real-time Messaging
-Custom Alerts and
-Useful Time Management (limit your childs time on the internet)

I am not sure I would use this for my teens in “stealth” mode meaning tracking keystrokes and websites. I think it is a good tool for parents who are given a reason for them not to trust their children 100%. I do believe everyone, even teens and tweens, do deserve some privacy in their lives including on the internet.
Click here to sign up for their free trial of Norton Online Family and tell me how you like this new software to keep your children safe on the internet and if you will use it for your family.

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Every week I hear another news story of a missing teen who left with someone he or she met online or cyber bullying. It doesn’t matter how safe of a town you live in, online safety should be a huge concern for parents, I know it is for me. My twins who are six like to play online games and they are learning to email with their freinds and cousins in New Jersey. I know it won’t be long until they will want a facebook page!
When I had the chance to review NSTeens for Mom Central, I was grateful to learn more about this site.

NSTeen.org is a new teen website designed to, “Educate, engage, and empower kids as Internet users.” Sounds good, right? NetSmartz, a leading online resource of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, developed NSTeens to help the tween and teenagers educate themselves on online safety.

The site includes bios, videos and comics of seven teen characters. They show the consequences of improper Internet use, how even a little personal information put online is too much, cyber bullying, offline consequences of their online actions and shows the power of teens and how they can empower their peers.

I think this site should be reviewed by all tweens and teenagers and ideally should be viewed with your children and make sure they realize the seriousness of this topic and that they don’t have any questions. It is a great resource all parents should use.

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Electronic Arts has partnered with board game and toy company Hasbro, announcing Hasbro Family Game Night, a collection of classic board games for the Wii and PlayStation 2. This game debuted late in 2008, and includes a wide assortment of your favorite Hasbro games you know and love. Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Sorry, Connect Four and the newest game: Sorry! Sliders.

You get to play the classic games just like you remember or play the new version if you want a different way to play.
This isn’t just about teh games, you can also build and decorate a virtual game room, earn trophies, and play various mini-games, perfect for younger players.

Even though my kids are just starting out playing video games, we really enjoyed this game. This is a great game for some family time and you will never not be able to play because you are missing pieces!

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My kids are like most, if you ask them what they would like for Christmas they will have no problem rattling off two- or twenty things they would like. As they get older there are more things they can play with, more games they can learn and toys they can play with. Now though, they ask for gifts that we don’t like, or want them to have. I ask you parents, how do you handle your kids asking for a toy you don’t want them to have?

Last Christmas my daughter was almost five years old. Her number one must have was High School Musical 2 DVD. I thought she was waaayyy to young for High School Musical, but at the last minute I relented and let my sister buy it for her. I am glad I did because every gift she opened Christmas morning she said ” I KNOW this is High School Musical!” Needless to say that DVD was her favorite gift.

This year she is asking for a Bratz hair style. I have no idea what that is, but she saw it last year on television and has never forgotten it. We have a “no bratz” rule in this house, I don’t like those toys and will not buy them.
Will she get over it after she gets other gifts that she will love as much if not better? Sure, but you always want to give your kids the things they truly want.

How do you deal with your kids asking for something you don’t want them to have or is not age appropriate? Do you give in thinking about how you never got what you wanted as a child or do you hold firm?

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We always restrict what my kids can and cannot watch on TV. I think many cartoons today are mindless and many are much too violent for little kids. I think many tween shows are too mature for their audiences also, but maybe I am naive.

Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programing with risky sexual behavior by teens. I think that is common sense, if it is on TV and in movies you are exposed to you think it is more common behavior than it really should be for your age group.

The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy.
“In the study that worked with 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programing were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.”

The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows.
Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have been on the decline since 1991 but is still high compared to other industrialized nations.
Nearly 1 million girls aged 15 to 19 years old become pregnant annually.

Tell me do you monitor what your children watch? Do you let your teenagers make their own decisions on what TV or movies to watch?

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Doorknobs, TV remotes, refrigerator handles and other commonly touched household surfaces are hotbeds of cold germs, which can survive on those surfaces for two days or longer, says a University of Virginia study.

The study included adults with cold symptoms who were asked to name 10 places in their homes they had touched in the preceding 18 hours. The researchers then went to the participants’ homes to hunt for cold germs, the Associated Press reported.

“We found that commonly touched areas … were positive (for cold germs) about 40 percent of the time,” said ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Birgit Winther.
So how can you keep your family healthy this cold and flu season? Wash your hands often! Washing your hands often is the best way to prevent a cold.

About 100 different viruses cause infections that lead to the common cold. Colds usually come on gradually, starting with a runny nose or a scratchy throat. Most kids do fine with a common cold but require a little more TLC. Remind them to wash their hands often, keep them hydrated (if they don’t want to drink, try ice pops, juice or soup) and use the nasal aspirator if necessary. Having a humidifier and/or a vaporizer in a child’s room is great for winter too.
If your child has a fever, Call the doctor.
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I have some tips and tricks for Halloween this year with your kids. We also want to keep kids safe this time of year especially those that are old enough to trick or treat alone so lets talk about saety also.

Don’t want to give out candy for Halloween? How about giving out juice boxes or kid sized waters? Try stickers or other craft items and if you have any leftovers, put them into your child’s craft box for a rainy day. The other thing I have seen lately, which I love, is the mini playdoh containers. Although the older kids may rather have candy!
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Raising children is as hard as I thought it would be. Since I have b/g twins I can see the differences, their struggles and challenges right before my eyes. Right now I find it harder to parent my daughter and I so want to help her grow into a self confident, healthy woman without all of the body issues and wanting to please traps that girls get caught up in. When I had the chance to review The Self Esteem Trap Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance By Polly Young-Eisendrath, I jumped at the chance.

The first thing that struck me when reading this book, was that I recognized from my life, many of the examples given whether it was a helicopter parent or the child who demands everything- and gets it. There are so many people in my workplace that could not handle negative feedback or disappointment on any level, Dr. Young-Eisendrath says that parents are the main cause of this problem.
You have to agree that parenting children thirty years ago is very different from the way we parent today. Everyone gets a trophy on the team, we try to give our children every advantage and we excuse their behaviors.

I thought by telling my children how they are unique and special and making them feel great about themselves it would build their self esteem, this book tells me that this parenting technique is the opposite of what I should be doing because this may be making them expect this type of treatment throughout their lives and setting them up for disappointment.

When I finished reading The Self Esteem Trap I gave it to my husband to read and next up is my sister. I think this was an immensely valuable, and engaging book for guiding my children to be more empathetic, healthy and independent adults.

I think this book is a such an important parenting and self improvement tool that I am giving away FIVE copies courtesy of Hachette Book Group USA!

To enter to win one of the five copies, leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address. If you would like to double your chances, blog about this contest with a link back to this post! The contest will run until Monday October 13th at 11:59 p.m. EST.
This contest is open to the U.S. and Canada only.

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I was at my local farm with my kids this week and I could not believe how many overweight kids I saw. Maybe I was just now noticing, but there were so many more overweight and out of shape kids then I remember ever seeing in one place. Kids of all ages, and kids who were very young and it made me so sad. How can you motivate your kids to exercise and to eat healthy especially if they do not want to?

Set a good example. this is the most important. most of the kids I had seen had overweight parents as well. If you don’t buy the junk food for the house your kids will not have the opportunity to eat it. Kids lead by example.

Teach kids to eat “heart healthy”. Make healthier meals and always include vegetables and fruit. Make fruit an easy available snack too. Have your kids help you make dips for veggies or smoothies. If a child helps to make the food they are more likely to eat it.

Join the gym or local Y. Have your kids see you exercise and get them to join in too. Look for fun classes for them.

Get bikes. Bike riding can be a fun family activity and a great way to exercise without feeling like they are working at it. Bike to a local park or just around your neighborhood, it is a great time to catch up with your child’s day too.

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My family is gearing up for the first day of kindergarten for our twins. They are SO excited to go to school and although i was excited, it is bittersweet for me now. I will miss them and if I didn’t have this adorable five month old at home with me, I don’t know what I would do! We are trying to get our routines together so we can get the kids as ready for school as they can be. Here are some tips to help you prepare your kids for going back to school:

Talk to your kids about school, what to expect if they have any fears or questions. Give your child tips on how to introduce themselves or become friends with classmates.

Short goodbyes. Maybe even saying “see you after school” is better than saying goodbye to your child. Don’t ever sneak out of the classroom, though. If a child cries it is usually only for a few minutes.

Review bus safety, make sure they know the same rules that goes in your car goes for the school bus too.

Sleep. Make sure you get kids get moved back into a proper bedtime and night time routines before school starts. Be consistent with bedtime.

Food. Get into a good mealtime routine. Get any after school activities schedules so you can plan meals around them. Prepare snacks and healthy lunch ideas for the school year.

I am sure the first day of school will be harder on my husband and I than our kids, but I know they will have a blast. That will make all my tears worth it!

Go here to check out my awesome giveaway!

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