Parenting Articles

ways to make coloring more exciting

Ways to Make Coloring More Exciting for Our Kids 

By / 4 minutes of reading

Do your kids love to color? It’s a pretty standard activity for most children. And while coloring is an old standby kind of activity, it can also be easily forgotten. In my own home, there is a collection of coloring books that haven’t been used for ages. Or it could be that your kids color so often that it’s become boring. So how can we make coloring a little more engaging for our kids? It may be that we simply need to take out some crayons and paper and place them out to be used. But maybe we could find …

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ways to grow your intergenerational circle

3 Ways to Grow Your Intergenerational Circle

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September is Intergeneration Month! We’re usually pretty good at spending time with our own peer groups. With our own age groups, we tend to feel like we have more in common. But Intergeneration Month is all about helping different age groups to get to know each other and build valuable relationships. Why does this matter? There are surprising benefits to having sincere friendships with different generations, for both you and your children. Let’s look at 3 ways to grow your intergenerational circle. Do you and your kids tend to hang around only your own peer groups? It’s so easy to …

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ways to build contentment

3 Ways to Build Contentment in Our Kids

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We live in a world where there is a lot of wanting. Many of our wants are reasonable and fair, like the things we really need. Of course we want our families to be cared for, to have a place to live and food to eat. At the same time, most of us can honestly say that we want a lot more than we need. Again, not automatically a negative thing, but it is a thing that can take us over. And it’s no different for our kids. In fact, learning to regulate their wants is a part of maturing …

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Make some happiness happen this month

Make Some Happiness Happen this Month

By / 5 minutes of reading

It’s August, and many of us feel the end of summer approaching. Many places have started back to school already, and we can feel the end of the fun sinking in. It’s easy to feel a little down with the end of summer time. So it’s kind of fitting that August is officially “Happiness Happens Month.” Happiness Happens Month is about celebrating things that make us happy. It’s a great way to focus on the good and to squeeze in a little more fun, and maybe even stretch it past the summer into the fall season. So what can we …

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Ways to Fight Your Kids' Summer Boredom

Ways to Fight Your Kids’ Summer Boredom

By / 5 minutes of reading

Here we are at the end of July. Summer camps are finishing up, and our kids have been to the pool dozens of times. There are only a few weeks until school begins, so parents of school aged children are getting into a school-prep mindset. While we parents are leaving our summer mindsets behind, our kids are not. They are still off from school, but they are probably getting bored. And while it can be good for our kids to work through their boredom, it’s nice to have a few ideas to help them. So here are 5 ways to …

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Learn Some Picnic Signs This Month

Learn Some Picnic Signs This Month

By / 3 minutes of reading

July is National Picnic Month, and the timing couldn’t be better. The middle of summer is the perfect time to get together with friends or to spend time in nature. It’s also a great time to escape to the mountains, the lake, or the beach. And of course, food is always a fun part of time with friends or a fun getaway. So while we enjoy picnicking this July, let’s learn some signs to use with our kids along the way. Here are some picnic signs to learn this month. Picnic Signs It makes sense for us to begin with …

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things to teach our kids

3 Things to Teach our Kids During Children’s Awareness Month

By / 7 minutes of reading

3 Things to Teach our Kids During Children’s Awareness Month June is a fitting time for Children’s Awareness Month as the name for this month comes from the Latin word for youth. Those of us who are parents are certainly aware of our youth and the issues that they face. And yet there are always ways we can each grow and learn more. As parents, the children we can influence the most are our own. So let’s look at 3 things to teach our kids during Children’s Awareness Month. What’s the point of Children’s Awareness Month? The intent of Children’s …

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National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

It’s National Chocolate Ice Cream Day!

By / 2 minutes of reading

What a fun summer theme to celebrate with our kids! National Chocolate Ice Cream Day! And this is something so simple that we can do so easily with our kids. The theme is quite straightforward: enjoy some chocolate ice cream today! Celebrating National Chocolate Ice Cream Day Well, there’s a tiny bit of trivia for your celebration. Chocolate ice cream has been around for more than 100 years! In fact, it became popular in the late 1800s. And here’s another fun fact for your celebration of National Chocolate Ice Cream Day: chocolate ice cream is the second most popular flavor …

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ways to build contentment

Learn Some Fun Family Signs Together

By / 2 minutes of reading

As we head into the season of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, we’ll be helping our kids to plan and create fun gifts and activities to honor their parents. So as we work on these activities, let’s think of a few signs we could help our kids learn in the process. This family celebration time of year is a perfect time to learn some fun family signs together. Family Names The most obvious place to start is with family names. The People section of our free Signing Time Dictionary has instructions for signing several names for people in our communities. …

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reasons to appreciate your library

Four Reasons to Appreciate Your Library Today

By / 4 minutes of reading

Today is Thank You for Libraries Day! And we sure are thankful for libraries. Libraries are such a helpful resource for our communities, for families, and for each of us as individuals. And while we tend to think of libraries as large collections of books, they offer a whole lot more. So on this day to celebrate libraries, let’s look at four reasons to appreciate your library! The obvious one – the books If you’re a reader, you probably already appreciate your library. What a resource! How could any of us expect to own so many books? But thanks to …

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