Parenting by Design: Sunday Post

Posted on March 11, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Design, according to the dictionary, is to plan and make something in a skillful or artistic way.

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

The above photo was taken by my son and daughter-in-law on a recent trip to Europe. As they strolled down a street in Milan, they passed a building where the contractor had skillfully hidden the scaffolding and on-going construction with a façade that mirrored the neighboring architecture. How lovely that someone took the time and expended money and effort to create a pleasing view for passers-by!

Another dictionary definition for design is to make a detailed plan of the form or structure of something.

Do you have a design for your day?

Setting up daily routines can make the difficult job of parenting quite a bit easier.

Allow time for morning routines.
If you have children in school, help them lay out their clothes the night before.
Have lunches in the refrigerator, ready to go.
If you will be home with a preschooler or it is a day off from school, plan some activities that you and the children will enjoy. Choose a picture book story, craft project and cooking activity and build self-esteem and reading readiness while everyone has a great time. Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking provides quick and easy activities and great storybook suggestions. During the month of March, we are offering free shipping on my website (an additional $5 off the price of the book for participants in the PPP Reading Challenge) or you can purchase the book on Amazon.

I also wanted to share a link with you to Mile High Mamas, a Denver-based blog. I will be contributing to Mile High Mamas every second Saturday with Building Literacy and Self-Esteem One Picture Book at a Time.

If you’d like more information about Jake’s Sunday Post:

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

Here are some other entries in Jake’s Sunday Post on Design:

1. http://orples.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/sunday-photo-challenge-design/

2. http://postadaychallenge2011.com/2012/03/10/sunday-post-design-theme/

3. http://northernnarratives.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/sunday-post-design/

4. http://wp.me/p296YA-41

5. http://jayjaysfavorites.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/water-dragon-weekly-sunday-post-design/

6. http://truthaboveallreligions.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/sunday-post-design/

Sunday Post: Treasured Pleasure or Guilty Pleasure

Posted on March 4, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Mommy, you said just one bite!

Which is my pleasure? My daughter and grandson whom I love dearly? Or the chocolate ice-cream they are eating?

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

Life is filled with pleasures…watching a sunset, dancing in the moonlight on a summer evening, completing a difficult project successfully, carving out a chunk of time so that you can read a great book, riding in a convertible with the top down (as long as the weather is pleasant)…the list can go on and on.

For me, the greatest pleasure is spending time with my loved ones.

But food is also one of life’s pleasures…that’s probably why cooking shows are so popular on TV. Each of us has our own particular favorites. For me, ice-cream tops the list. I must admit that EVERY night I have a small bowl of ice-cream…and my dear sweet husband makes sure that the freezer has at least four or five exotic varieties so that I will never be without…here’s a look at what’s in our freezer right now: Denali Extreme Moose Tracks, Black Raspberry Chocolate, Italian Café Tiramisu, Chocolate Ganache, French Silk and Rocky Road. Do you notice that each has chocolate in it…that is not by accident, you can be sure! It’s a good thing we have a good-size freezer…honestly, we do have “real” food in there also!

This love that I have for ice-cream is probably a carry-over from childhood, as are many of the things most of us like or dislike. If you haven’t seen the poem I wrote (it won second place!) that addresses the topic of overcoming childhood fears, you can go to: Marylin Warner: Things I Want To Tell My Mother: February Poetry Contest Winners.

Ice-cream has always been a part of my life. My dad loved ice-cream…Friday night was shopping night (I guess Thursday was payday) and my sister and I were allowed to stay up until he came home from the store…there was always a box of ice-cream sandwiches or pops, and we were allowed to have one as a treat. And on summer evenings, when the ice-cream truck rolled down the street, playing that calliope melody, my dad would always ask us, “What do you girls want?” Those are memories worth holding on to.

If you’d like more information about Jake’s Sunday Post:

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/sunday-post-pleasure/

http://orples.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/weekly-photo-challenge-pleasure/

http://reflectionsinapuddle.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/eat-play-love-sunday-post-pleasure/

http://imagesoftheheart.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/sunday-post-pleasure/

Sunday Post: Colorful

Posted on February 19, 2012 by viviankirkfield

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way…things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Why am I so passionate about encouraging parents and teachers to provide young children with arts and crafts activities?

Even Georgia O’Keeffe stated that colors and shapes enabled her to express what she couldn’t express in words. Art activities and art education are crucial for kids…and unfortunately, those are the first subjects to be eliminated when school budgets are cut. Working in different mediums such as paint, clay, crayons and colored pencils allows young children to express their feelings and their thoughts in ways they may not be able to verbally. Give a child a box of crayons or a palette of watercolor paints and a pad of paper and watch the magic happen! Participate with that child and draw a picture alongside him and open the door to a wonderful opportunity for a discussion about…anything and everything!

Connections are formed in so many ways and I’ve made two wonderful new connections in the last week.

The first connection is with another Word Press blogger. Whenever I receive a comment on one of my posts from someone new, I always go to their blog to find out who they are and what they are all about.

That’s how I met Jake from Time after Time.

I was enthralled by the dragon button graphic!

And I promised that I would try to link up with his Sunday posts. This week the theme is Colorful!

Here’s how the weekly photo Competition works:

1. Each week, Jake provides a theme for creative inspiration. Show the world…based on your interpretation…what you have in mind for the theme, and post them on your blog anytime before the following Sunday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. Subscribe to jakesprinter so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

GET THE BADGE FOR YOUR IMAGE WIDGET….

Make sure to have the image link to http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/ so that others can learn about the challenge, too.

The second connection I made was with Jim from ArtClick.tv. This website offers art instruction videos for all age levels. They even have special art instruction videos for children…what a wonderful tool for schools, homeschooling families or even individual parents. I’m really excited about this and I’ve been asked to contribute to their newsletter with a “Kids and Art” column! I’ll share more about this “art connection” in future posts. If you are interested in checking out the fantastic selection of art instruction videos they have, you can click on the link above or on the button on my sidebar.