Gina Ogden

celebrate springtime with our kids

Let’s Celebrate Springtime with Our Kids!

By / 3 minutes of reading

Has it been a long winter where you live? Some of us began spring weather weeks ago, while some of us are still covered in snow. Either way, the official first day of spring is coming up, so it’s time to celebrate. Here are a few easy ways to celebrate springtime with our kids. Decorate Children love decorations, and springtime decorations are so cheerful. You can keep it simple or go all out. Younger children could make traditional paper chains in pastel colors. It could be fun to cut out flowers or even to make tissue paper flowers. If you …

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Kindness is More Than a Nice Ideal

Kindness is More Than a Nice Ideal

By / 4 minutes of reading

We love to talk about kindness. There are cute signs about kindness that we put up in our homes. We save and share inspirational quotes about it. And kindness is an important ideal that we teach to our children. But kindness is about so much more than nice thoughts and good ideals. It’s about how we live, how we use our words, and how we respond to the unexpected or frustrating situations in our lives. So let’s think about how to make kindness more than a nice ideal for our kids and for ourselves. It’s a practice  Most of us …

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ways to celebrate the New Year with your kids

5 Ways to Celebrate the New Year with Your Kids

By / 4 minutes of reading

New Year celebrations look different once we become parents. We used to meet up with friends to ring in the New Year, but now we may be rocking babies to sleep or coaxing toddlers back into bed. Many of us don’t even wait up for the New Year because we are so tired, and those little ones will be up early no matter what. Some of us find this to be no big deal, and we think it’s far more comfortable to spend a cozy evening at home. And some of us miss the big parties to ring in the …

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games and puzzles for Thanksgiving week

Games and Puzzles for Thanksgiving Week

By / 4 minutes of reading

What perfect timing this is! We’re heading into a week of family gatherings and celebration, and we will need things to do, especially with children in the mix. So it’s fitting that November 20-26 is National Game and Puzzle Week. These special calendar days help us to focus and be intentional about things, and sometimes we need help like this. So let’s break out our games and puzzles for Thanksgiving week! The entire purpose for an official Game and Puzzle Week is to bring families together. Sure, we tend to spend time together during the holidays, but often this isn’t …

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it's a great time to take a hike

It’s A Great Time to Take a Hike with Our Kids

By / 3 minutes of reading

Here we are at Thanksgiving month, heading into what many of us consider the major holiday season. We’re getting ready to focus on food and gifts and celebrations. Winter is setting in for many of us, and our thoughts about outdoor activities may be changing with the season. Some of us are excited about snow activities, and some of us are ready to hibernate for the winter. But even with the holiday craziness approaching, there are other things to think about. Our everyday lives continue, and we have a chance to get in a little more outdoor activity before all …

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survive the time change

5 Ways to Survive the Time Change

By / 4 minutes of reading

We are heading into another time change weekend, and these time changes can really mess us up! It’s a big adjustment for us adults, and it’s even more of an adjustment for our kids. And while the “fall back” time change does give us back an hour, little children don’t care about that. Their built-in systems will wake them up earlier than we would like. Then those same systems will shut them down much earlier than what we are used to. Is there any way to make this transition easier? Let’s look at a few ways to survive the time …

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family stories to share with our kids

Family Stories to Share with Our Kids

By / 4 minutes of reading

October has certainly flown right by, and here we are in its last week already. Although this last week of October is all about Halloween, November is still standing there staring right at us. So as we approach this next month, let’s think about November’s themes. Of course, there is Thanksgiving, but November has other themes as well. The entire month of November is also Family Stories Month. What a great thing for us to share with our kids in the coming month! Family stories go right along with our thankfulness efforts. So as we close out October with our …

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have some fun with National Pizza Month

Have Some Fun with National Pizza Month!

By / 3 minutes of reading

What could be better than a National Pizza Month? October is full of important causes, but pizza is a cause that most of our kids would wholeheartedly embrace. And thankfully, it’s a pretty easy thing to celebrate. So, between signing and food, we can have some fun with National Pizza Month!  Yes, we’re heading into the time of year when we are hit with holiday after holiday, and of course, October starts it all off. While we think of Halloween first in October, it is actually a very full month. October commemorates many health related causes like Breast Cancer Awareness. …

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fun snacks to enjoy

Fun Snacks to Enjoy This Halloween Season

By / 3 minutes of reading

When we think about Halloween food, we tend to think of sweets and candy. And while these sweet treats are part of the fun of the Halloween season, we can do so much more to have some Halloween fun with food. Our fun holiday food could even be a little bit healthy to balance out all our sweet treats. So let’s look at some fun snacks to enjoy this Halloween season. We parents really do want our kids to be healthy, even in the middle of a candy season, so let’s start with some relatively healthy snacks. Yogurt with creepy …

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the power of positive experiences

The Power of Positive Experiences for Our Kids

By / 4 minutes of reading

A child’s brain is wired for learning and storing information. So in the early childhood years, up to about the age of 8, our kids’ brains are taking in information that will help in its development, or that will cause a good bit of harm. When our children have positive experiences and spend time in positive environments, that sets them up for stronger, more healthy development. And of course, that’s what we want for them. So as parents, let’s consider the power of positive experiences for our kids. And let’s look at how we can help provide this for them. …

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