Newsletters

New Year’s Resolutions for the Little Ones (and You!)

By / 2 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C Are you setting a New Year’s Resolution? How about trying one with your child? In recent posts, we talked about Setting Goals – Creating Success and Creating Good Habits. The New Year is upon us, so it’s a natural time to put these ideas into motion!   We often think of adults making New Year’s Resolutions, and not so much young children, but working on goals as a family is a great way to model to and guide your children on how to set goals and make positive life changes.   Take stock of your …

New Year’s Resolutions for the Little Ones (and You!) Read More »

Creating Good Habits

By / 2 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   As we raise and love on our children, we are also creating tomorrow’s adults. And we want those adults to make the world a better place, both the little personal world they will live in, and the big wide world they will inherit. To that end, it is never too early to begin instilling good habits in the hearts and minds of our young ones.   Food: The impact of how we instill eating habits in our children is almost staggering. In many ways, their nutrition can set the stage not only for their …

Creating Good Habits Read More »

Setting Goals – Creating Success

By / 2 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   Are you setting goals with your kids? This article from the Wall Street Journal tells us that, “Students’ ability to set and achieve realistic goals is linked in research to higher grades, lower college-dropout rates and greater well-being in adulthood.”   Sounds pretty good, right? But just how do you go about beginning to set goals with little ones who have a limited attention span and only an emerging grasp on things like the passage of time and delayed gratification? Here are some tips to get you started:   Start small: What developmental milestone …

Setting Goals – Creating Success Read More »

Teaching Children About Other Cultures

By / 3 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   Our world is truly a global village! This phenomenon makes it easy and fun to introduce your children to other cultures from all over the globe. Fostering an appreciation for other cultures not only expands children’s borders, but also begins to lay an important foundation for tolerance and understanding of others who are not like us, or live differently than we do. Our world can always use a little more of that.   If your child is old enough, choose a country of focus and find it on the map or look at some …

Teaching Children About Other Cultures Read More »

Teaching Children About Family Tradition

By / 2 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   The holidays are a wonderful time of year to bring out cherished family traditions and begin to share them with your child. From favorite dishes served at a special meal – to the music played, to the way gifts are given – how we celebrate with family is likely steeped in tradition. While your child is caught up in the whirlwind of holiday excitement, take some time to also slow things down and explore together why you do what you do.   Generations: Begin with a grandparent, or an older friend or neighbor, that …

Teaching Children About Family Tradition Read More »

Teaching Children About Charity

By / 3 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   ‘Tis the season! We work our way through Thanksgiving very shortly here, and then the full-on holiday giving season arrives. It can be so much fun to shop for the perfect gift, wrap it beautifully, and anticipate the opening. And of course there’s the fun of getting all those gifts.   But as we rush about filling our lists and checking them twice, the season also gives us a perfect opportunity to begin to teach our children about the concept of charity.   We’ve been braving tough economic times, and families continue to feel …

Teaching Children About Charity Read More »

Hand-y Craft: Paper Plate Turkey

By / 1 minute of reading

Create and Celebrate! November is the time to celebrate Thanksgiving and reflect on what we are grateful for. Enjoy creating a turkey to decorate for your Thanksgiving festivities. Download directions Download other Signing Time Hand-y Crafts  

Rachel and the TreeSchoolers Activity Guides

By / 2 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   The release of episodes two and three of Rachel & the TreeSchoolers is not too far off! We hope you are getting as excited as we are (with thanks to our amazing Kickstarter backers!)   One really unique thing about these DVDs is that, along with education-packed content, great songs, and engaging characters, you will get a downloadable Activity Guide.  Spanning approximately 50 pages, this guide is filled with activities that further the learning your child is doing with Rachel & the TreeSchoolers. Essentially, the guides double as content-rich lesson plans, perfect for preschools, …

Rachel and the TreeSchoolers Activity Guides Read More »

“Ew, Mommy, I Don’t Want This!”: Win the Picky Eater Battle (And raise a healthier kid!)

By / 4 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   One of the biggest concerns from parents that I hear as a health coach is the challenge of the picky eater. Mainly, “How do I get my kids to eat right when they just refuse?”   Well, I believe that there are three things in life you can’t truly force kids to do. These are: sleep when they don’t want to, potty train before they’re ready, and eat the way you want them to all the time!   Sometimes you may need to lay down the law and say, “This is what our family …

“Ew, Mommy, I Don’t Want This!”: Win the Picky Eater Battle (And raise a healthier kid!) Read More »

“Noooo! Peanut Butter and Jelly AGAIN?”: Back-to-School Healthy Lunch Ideas!

By / 3 minutes of reading

By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   One of the many hats I wear is that of a certified holistic health coach. I work to support happy kids and healthy families, and this includes working with busy stressed out parents to streamline the process of feeding their family well.   With Fall here (when did that happen?), our thoughts invariably turn to back-to-school time, and the next 180 or so days of lunches that have to be produced.   It can be a challenge to pack balanced healthy lunches that your kids will actually eat. While there are pre-packaged options, many …

“Noooo! Peanut Butter and Jelly AGAIN?”: Back-to-School Healthy Lunch Ideas! Read More »

Scroll to Top