Tag Archives: parenting advice

Sunday Post: Cities…A Good Place to Raise Children?

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Jake at Time after Time has a Sunday Post Challenge and every week he provides a theme…this week’s theme is CITIES.

 

Do you live in a big city like Chicago?

Or are you raising your family in a smaller town?

Wherever children grow up, they enjoy doing things with their parents.

“If you want to be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you need to be in their lives today.”

How can we do this?


Read with them.  This is Carter with the interactive Cheerios Halloween book that was part of the Halloween Prize Package I sent to his family.

Introduce them to nature and let them get dirty!  This is my grandson, Jeremy, having a ball with mud!

Share your interests with them!  This is my granddaughter, learning to fish.

Be joyous with them!  Laugh with them!  Love them!

 

Want more information about Jake’s Sunday Post?

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

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Sunday Post: People: Who Are the Most Important People in Your Life?

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Jake at Time after Time has a Sunday Post Challenge and every week he provides a theme…this week’s theme is PEOPLE.

When I saw the theme, I immediately began thinking of the most important people in my life.  First, I thought of my husband.  We’ve been married over 45 years and still enjoy sitting on the couch, watching a good movie and walking down a country lane, hand in hand, talking about anything and everything under the sun.  Yes, I know, we are so very fortunate.

A WORD TO THE WISE:  Every relationship has its ups and downs and no one is perfect.  We all make mistakes…don’t be ashamed to say, “I’m sorry!”  Be consistent, be compassionate and think before you speak.

Then I thought about my children and grandchildren.  I love spending time with them…and count myself fortunate that they enjoy spending time with me as well.

WORD TO THE WISE:  Parenting young children is a difficult task…you need patience and energy and lots of love.  We all make mistakes…don’t be ashamed to say “I’m sorry!”  Be consistent, be compassionate and think before you speak.

Then I thought about my friends…some I’ve known for many years.  Jane and I met each other when we were only two years old…we played house and Superman and colored in coloring books and had picnics together in the park.  When we each got married, we continued that friendship and now, after sixty-three years, although we live thousands of miles apart, we are close in heart and soul.

WORD TO THE WISE: Friendship is a skill we need to teach our kids…how to care for and respect one another.  We all make mistakes…don’t be ashamed to say, “I’m sorry!”  Be consistent, be compassionate and think before you speak.

Then I thought about the friends I have made this past year in the blogging community…especially those who blog about writing and illustrating for children.  There are dozens of them…authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers, moms…and they inspire and encourage me to pursue my dream of seeing my own children’s picture books on the bookshelves of libraries and homes around the world.

Does this dream sound familiar?  Would you like to pursue your writing in an unbelievable setting?  Have you always wanted to go to Italy, but hesitated because you didn’t want to go alone or with a group of travelers with whom you have nothing in common?  Here is your golden opportunity to spend a week in Italy, learning and writing with a fantastic group of like-minded women.

A writer friend of mine has organized an amazing retreat for women writers in Florence, Italy.  It will take place from April 7-13, 2013. I cannot attend, but you might like to go. Julie has an overview of the retreat on her website, plus specific information about the Program, Faculty, Accommodation and Rates. If you do register, please let Julie know I sent you!

 

We have ten more days for nominations to give a dozen free copies of Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cookingto schools or other childcare facilities.  Nominate your child’s school, or your own school if you are a teacher, in the Show Me How School Initiative by leaving a comment and telling us why you’d like that school or classroom to have this book.  If you don’t have young children, but know people who do, please tell them about the free book their child’s school can receive!  Please tweet this or spread the word across any of your social media networks.  At the beginning of October we will use Random.org to choose 12 lucky schools.

Author and educator Susan Case just did a fantastic review of Show Me How! on her Kindergarten Basics blog.  Click on the link if you’d like to see what she thinks about this award-winning resource that makes planning activities and spending quality time with your kids a SNAP!

Want to scoop up a copy of Show Me How! while you can still get FREE SHIPPING and a BONUS GIFT?  Please visit my book’s website.

Want more information about Jake’s Sunday Post?

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

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Project 365 Challenge: Clearing up Some Confusion

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Woman and Child looking at a Picture Book
Image via Wikipedia

Project 365 Challenge

The 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge

Perfect Picture Book Friday

Comment Challenge

I’ve had a few questions about the challenge I issued to parents and other child caregivers the other day.  It’s no wonder some people are confused.  Perhaps I just have too many challenges going on at the same time!  So here is the background of each “challenge” and what it means to me and how it affects you.

Project 365 Challenge: This is a challenge by Word Press and individual bloggers to encourage blogging every day.  Some bloggers are doing photography challenges and are posting a new photo each day.  Other bloggers might be offering a different recipe every day.  Some follow the prompts given by Word Press and others will have posts about random subjects. 

What Project 365 Challenge means to me: I hope to offer a helpful positive parenting tip, tool or tactic each day that will make the difficult job of parenting a little easier…a picture book review, a simple child-friendly recipe, an easy craft project, a new resource for parents such as another blog that gives great parenting advice, information about a library or school program I’ve done or just a little humor to lighten your day.

How Project 365 Challenge affects you: All you have to do is read my posts.  If there is something you find valuable…I’ll be thrilled.  If you have the time and want to comment, I love to hear your thoughts and will always comment back.

Click to enter and comment: 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge

 The 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge:  This is my challenge to parents and anyone involved in the care and education of young children to read with their children every day and also to spend time positively doing crafts or cooking or playing puzzles or taking a walk with their children.  There will be a prize of a picture book at the end of each month and anyone who participates is entitled to a special $5 discount off the price of my book on my website.

What the 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge means to me:  I’m excited about this challenge and hope to encourage everyone to read to their children on a daily basis.  The impact on a young child of being read to every day is enormous and life-changing.  When adults spend quality positive time participating with children, it builds self-esteem, develops literacy skills and strengthens the parent-child connection.  We all want that, don’t we?  I’ll try to make it simple, giving you quick and easy activities and book suggestions during the week.

How the 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge affects you: All you have to do is read a picture book to your children every day…and do some other positive activities like drawing a picture or letting your children help in the kitchen.  Even having your little ones help sort the wash and fold the towels will count.  Every day…or as often as you can, just post a comment on the official comment page (click this link or click the top button on my right sidebar), sharing with us the book that you read and/or the activity that you and your child participated in.  If you write your comment on a different page, no worries…all comments count.  One of the most helpful things about blogging is how we can become a community…a village.  Let’s become a Positive Parental Participation Community and share our stories with each other and help each other.  At the end of each month, we will randomly pick one comment and that person will receive a picture book.  If you take part in the challenge and post even one comment in the month, you are entered to win the picture book AND you are eligible to get a $5 discount off the price of my book, Show Me How!  This great resource will give you hundreds of picture book summaries, quick crafts and easy cooking activities.  I met a preschool teacher yesterday who recognized me and told me how much she is enjoying my book that was given to her as a Christmas present by one of her students.  “I don’t have to make lesson plans anymore.  I just open up your book and I have the story recommendation, craft project and cooking activity all right in front of me…with a tip on how to use that particular story to build self-esteem and also some room on the page to write notes.”

Perfect Picture Book Friday: Picture book author, Susannah Hill, has a special page on her blog where she recommends picture books and provides summaries and other important information about them.  She also invites other bloggers to contribute their favorite picture book stories for her list.

What Perfect Picture Book Friday means to me:  I will be participating in Susannah’s list.  Every Friday I post a review and summary of a picture book that I feel every young child should hear.

How Perfect Picture Book Friday affects you: Read my post every Friday and you will have a great book recommendation for your child.  Visit Susannah’s blog (her button is on my right sidebar…you can just click it and it will take you there) and you will have lots of picture book suggestions for the other days of the week.  Your local library is a super resource for picture books and the children’s librarian will be thrilled to help you pick out great stories for your child.

Comment Challenge:  The Comment Challenge has been issued to encourage bloggers to comment on each other’s blogs.  The goal is to comment on five blogs each day.  Writing frequent posts is a lot of work…and takes a lot of effort.  It is nice to have someone comment and this can motivate people to keep on, even when it is difficult or they don’t have much time.

What Comment Challenge means to me: I love reading other blogs…I learn so much!  And I love to respond to what others are saying…so I enjoy commenting on their posts.  I will try to do at least five comments each day.

How Comment Challenge affects you: It doesn’t…unless you are also blogging and taking part in it.  But I hope you will comment on my posts as part of the 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge, as you share with us the books you are reading with your children and the activities you are doing

Jennifer, a super mom blogger at The Toy Box Years, is taking part in the Positive Parental Participation Challenge and she just posted a great review of my book.  Take a look…she tells why she loves using it.

I hope this explanation of all of the challenges was helpful…and I look forward to reading your comments and sharing great parenting tips with you in the coming year.

Come back tomorrow for Perfect Picture Book Friday and a review of must-read book for your child.