Life Happens In REAL TIME: Just 15 Minutes a Day!

Posted on February 26, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Mother and two children posing for a portrait,...

Image by State Library of Queensland, Australia via Flickr

Several weeks ago, I watched a wonderful Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation.

THE LAST VALENTINE, starring Betty White, was a poignant look at a woman who had lived her life positively and lovingly, even though a cloud of tragedy had been ever-present.

One of the things she said made a lasting impression on me.

I wanted to share it with all of you.

It really relates to my new book and the Positive Parental Participation approach that builds self-esteem, develops pre-literacy skills and creates a life-long parent-child bond.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IN MEANTIME…LIFE HAPPENS IN REAL TIME.”

Most of us are so busy these days.

Many two parent households have both mom and dad working at least one job each to provide the necessary income.

Single parents often have a difficult balancing act between work responsibilities and children’s needs.

But think about it.

Our children are growing up in REAL TIME.

And, in the MEANTIME, we are missing opportunities to interact positively with them because we are so BUSY, taking care of our daily responsibilities and tasks.

Do you have just 15 minutes a day to interact positively with your child?

Just 15 minutes a day can set your child on the path to a happy and successful life.

Just 15 minutes a day…read a picture book story together with your child.

Just 15 minutes a day…do a simple craft project together.

Just 15 minutes a day…prepare an easy healthful recipe with your child.

Right now…take just 2 minutes…and stop by my website to take advantage of the half-price sale and 365-day money-back guarantee.

Yesterday, I promised I would post some of the comments I’ve received from people who have already used the book and love it. I’m only including a few…but if you have lots of time (which I know you don’t) you can click the testimonial tab on my website to read lots more. 🙂

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Calling all parents and teachers!!! This book is required reading!! I loved it!! As both a parent and sub-teacher I found the book very resourceful and helpful. The central focus of the book is to help build your child’s self-esteem. The book is full of crafting, cooking, and reading ideas! I personally enjoyed the child-friendly egg salad sandwiches…one of my kid’s favorites. We also enjoyed making egg carton alligators. My son who is 7 has always been too hard on himself and I enjoyed seeing his face light up during these activities. I give this book my mommy seal of approval.” Amber McIntyre: The Frugal Military Wife

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“I loved this book. I am not very creative when it comes to activities with my kids, so this is the book for me. I have loved going to the library with my boys and picking out the books and then doing the craft and cooking. Sometimes I don’t do all three, sometimes I just do 2, but we still have so much fun. This is especially great because we live in snowy land and we get so crazy with cabin fever in the winter! I like the crafts especially because we generally always have the supplies at home! This book is a must have for moms! I have loved using it and I have loved the bonding that my boys and I have done while using the book!”

Melissa Au: MomsReview4You

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Here’s the cool thing about this book – each craft and cooking activity is tied to a children’s book. You read the book, talk about the purpose and then do the activities as a follow up. Each story and linked activities have a purpose – not just to have fun, but a lesson on building your child’s self-esteem. According to Vivian, “Helping your child develop a positive self-image is one of your primary goals.” I agree 110%!

I know to some parents, hands-on activities can be scary. From one busy mom to another, don’t worry! Vivian has included easy, realistic and fun activities. Most of the supplies you will need, you probably already have lying around the house. You will find activities like making collages, paper plate faces and animals, costumes, puppets…nothing too overwhelming. There are also some great cooking and yummy recipes to do with your little one.

Here’s my favorite part about the Show Me How!…every story suggestion has a “Positive Parental Participation Note” in which Vivian addresses the main focus of each “lesson.” I love these little statements because sometimes as parents we forget to focus on the positive. The saying is to give three positive praises for every negative. As parents it’s a lot easier to focus on the negatives – don’t do this, don’t do that, but we often forget how important that positive message is.

Show Me How! is recommended for ages 2-5, but there are definitely some hands-on activities in the book I can use right now with Christopher. And even more exciting, I pulled out a handful of lessons to use with my kids at school. I will definitely be sharing the book with my colleagues!
Triana: Rocky Mountain Mama

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“So, it’s near spring now, and by summer you may be signing your little one up for kindergarten or preschool. If there is anything that you can do for them now, it’s to get them prepared. This book is something I think all parents should have. It has crafting, cooking and reading projects and it helps young ones get started on the reading skills they will most definitely need for school. For those that are too young for big kid school, it has crafts and cooking activities. This stimulates the child’s creativity, and, while having fun, they are also learning the basics they will need. There is no doubt this book deserves 5 out of 5 stars.”

Jessica G: Review Avenues

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“My little 2 1/2 year old son is a little bundle of excitement and curiosity. I have been feeling kind of bad over the last few weeks since my little Kailana was born, because I feel like I haven’t been able to spend as much time alone with him teaching him and playing with him to his heart’s desire.

Then, I received this great book, “Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting, and Cooking.” The book is a shortcut for today’s busy parents and teachers. The simple fun-filled educational activities, easy-to-use format and gentle parenting tips give parents a newfound sense of confidence and competence in their own parenting abilities as well. If parents like me have a new baby and preschoolers at home, the book will provide instant activities that don’t need to be planned by the harried new parents. Hooray for less stress!!!”

Your World Healthy and Natural Blog

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Please stop by tomorrow for Cinema Sundays: My Picks of Great Flicks. But don’t forget to click over to my website so you can grab a copy of the book and start spending just 15 minutes a day with your child doing an activity from the book…it will be time well-spent!

Temper Tantrums: 3 Winning Solutions!

Posted on February 19, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image by dschubba via Flickr

Whether it is weekly grocery shopping or a quick run out to grab a container of milk and a loaf of bread, if we take our preschoolers, there is always a possibility of a temper tantrum. WHAT! NOT MY CHILD! NO, NO, NOT EVER!…STAMPING MY FEET WITH STEAM COMING OUT OF MY EARS

Realistically speaking though, here are three easy discipline tricks that really work.

Make a game out of what must be done: Sing a silly song, make funny faces, say the ABC’s in a high/low voice. This works for things like buckling up the seat belt of the car seat (don’t all children hate that), leaving the toy store, putting on a jacket or hat.
Be matter-of-fact: Don’t ask, “Do you want to put on your jacket?” or “Shall we put that toy down because we are ready to leave?” Just say, “We are ready to leave and we are putting on our jackets.” (and maybe start singing a song about now we are putting our jackets on, jackets on, jackets on, etc.) Or, “It’s time to leave the store and put the toy back…which shelf are we putting it back on, the top shelf or the bottom shelf?” (always make sure that when you give your child a choice, BOTH choices will lead to the goal YOU have in mind)
Warn, distract, and then proceed with what needs to be done: Children like to know what the plan is…and they need to realize that what you say goes and that there is no discussion or negotiation. It helps, if possible, to give a warning. For example, when you need to leave the store, give your child a warning in a friendly upbeat tone of voice, “One more hug for mister bear and then we will put him back on his shelf and go and get a drink at the water fountain on our way to the car.” After the hug, help your child put the bear back, scoop him up, head towards the water fountain, singing a song about bears or water or whatever. Or, if you are at the library, you might say, “You can turn two more pages and then we will take our books to the librarian to check out so we can go home and read one of them. Again, scoop up your child (if there is any question he disagrees about your plan to leave), and head towards the library checkout. Let your child know you understand how he is feeling, “I bet you wish you could stay in the library all day, but it’s time to check out. You can hold the library card and give it to the librarian.”

One of the hardest things about dealing with preschoolers is that they are easily distracted and often cannot stick with one thing for very long. This distractibility is a blessing in disguise, however. No matter what they are involved in: looking at a book, playing with a toy, having a temper tantrum…they can almost always be distracted from it if your are able to turn their attention to something else. I am not really a very good singer, but when my children where little, I sang ALL the time…when I buttoned up their jackets, put them in the stroller, washed their hair. Silly songs, happy songs, high songs, low songs…it really worked! I can remember only one temper tantrum…one of my children (I won’t say which one) wanted a candy bar as we were checking out at the grocery store (don’t you LOVE how they put all those tempting sweets right at child-level?) and, being busy putting up the food on the counter and trying to watch the register read-out as the items were being scanned, I “ignored” my child’s rising whine of “I want a candy” and soon I had a 2-year-old laying flat on the floor, kicking his feet. Had I been paying attention and intervened at the start of this candy demand, I think I could have distracted him and avoided the temper tantrum altogether.

I posted this several months ago…but thought it might be a good companion post to the one I did yesterday that was devoted to shopping with preschoolers. I hope these three tips help smooth out those rough moments that will almost surely occur at one time or another. At home, having a plan and activities to do also helps a day with preschoolers run smoothly. Stop over at my website: www.positiveparentalparticipation.com and grab a copy of my new book that provides 100 simple craft projects and 100 easy recipes and 100 picture book summaries to help you fill your child’s days with fun-filled educational self-esteem building activities…on special now at half price!

Please stop by tomorrow for Cinema Sunday: My Picks of Great Flicks!

The Fourth Lesson of Nanny McPhee: BE BRAVE!

Posted on February 5, 2011 by viviankirkfield

A grandfather teaches his granddaughter to use...

Image via Wikipedia

The dictionary defines bravery as:

“Courage in the face of danger, difficulty or pain…a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger, difficulty or pain without showing fear.”

We often think that brave people are without fear…but this is not what bravery is all about. In fact, in interviews with soldiers who have won medals for bravery, they often admit to having been afraid during their action of courage.

And perhaps that is the true meaning of bravery…when we proceed and follow through danger, pain or difficulties, even though WE ARE AFRAID. There are brave people all around us, dealing with all sorts of problems, but continuing on.

Nanny McPhee’s fourth lesson to the children is to BE BRAVE.

Why, you may ask, do young children need to be brave. Aren’t we there to protect them and watch out for them…and most of the time all they do is play, right? 🙂

Honestly, I think sometimes young children are the bravest of us all…so many new situations and experiences, so much to learn in order to navigate their way through those early years.

In addition, many young children have fears about a number of things which they need to acknowledge and overcome. Some of the most common are:

Fear of the dark
Fear of new experiences and new situations
Fear of illness and death
Fear of monsters (the monster may not be real, but your child’s fear is)

Children need to be brave about other things as well. Picture this: You are five years old and your entire family is crazy about sports….Mom and Dad play on an adult volleyball team and all your older and younger brothers and sisters love football, baseball and hockey. You, however, love music and want to learn to play the violin or the piano.

It takes a lot of courage for a young child to follow his own muse if it differs from that of his family or peers!

There are many children’s picture books that address this issue. One of my favorite stories is OLIVER BUTTON IS A SISSY by Tomie de Paola. In the story, Oliver Button wants to be a dancer and even though Oliver’s father would rather have him playing football with the other boys, he lets Oliver attend dance classes. Oliver stays true to his goal, even though his classmates tease him. When there is a talent show, everyone is impressed with Oliver’s great dancing, and his father and classmates are very proud of him.

In my my new parenting book, you will find a simple eco-friendly craft project and an easy child-friendly healthful cooking activity to help you extend the learning experience after you read OLIVER BUTTON with your child.

On that note, I want to let everyone know about an EXCITING PRE-VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL on my website.

It’s called SHARE THE LOVE

and it will go from 12:01am SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5^th TO MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7th AT 11:59pm.

If you buy one copy of SHOW ME HOW! at the regular cover price of $44.95, you will get a second copy for FREE!

If you have been thinking about getting a copy for yourself, but were hesitating at the $35.00 website sale price, NOW IS THE TIME TO GRAB YOUR COPY AND HAVE A COPY TO GIVE TO:

YOUR BFF OR ANYONE ELSE YOU LOVE WHO DESERVES IT AND NEEDS IT.
YOUR CHILD’S DAYCARE PROVIDER OR PRESCHOOL TEACHER.
A FRIEND OR RELATIVE WHO IS HAVING A BABY SOON.
A GRANDPARENT WHO TAKES CARE OF YOUR PRESCHOOLER AND WOULD APPRECIATE THIS SHORTCUT TO STORY RECOMMENDATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL FUN-FILLED ACTIVITIES THAT BUILD SELF-ESTEEM.

At the BOGO price, you are paying $22.50 for a BRAND-NEW FRESH-OUT-OF-THE-BOX SIGNED-BY-THE-AUTHOR COPY (some sellers on Amazon and Alibris are charging over $40 for a USED copy).

I’m posting the sale now so you will be able to order it in time for Valentine’s Day. The SHARE THE LOVE BOGO EVENT will only be available, ON MY WEBSITE, by clicking on the PayPal button. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Nanny McPhee lessons…stop by tomorrow for the last lesson: HAVE FAITH!