Parenting Articles

5 Myths About Signing With Your Child

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C. We’re so happy you’ve decided to start signing with your child! The decision to do so often comes with lots of questions, and maybe even a few misconceptions. Let’s bust some of the myths about signing with children so you can have the best experience possible. Myth 1 – There’s a perfect time to start (and we might have missed it!): Parents of infants always ask when the “best” time to start signing might be. They worry they are starting too soon, or too late. Parents of children who are talking think it is definitely …

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It’s Signing Time! Teaching ASL Signs for School

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   For Teachers: Research shows that when your students’ hands are moving, their minds are learning! This activity will help you teach ASL signs related to school. Review the school signs with your class. Learn them by watching Volume 13: Welcome to School or by printing these School Signs Flash Cards. Say and sign the poem “This is Our Teacher” from the Signing Time Classroom Edition. This is a great activity for the beginning of the day. This is our TEACHER This is our SCHOOL This is our CLASS Our CLASS is cool! We are the STUDENTS Who come here …

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

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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 …

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Creating Good Habits

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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 …

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Setting Goals – Creating Success

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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 …

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Teaching Children About Other Cultures

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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 …

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Teaching Children About Family Tradition

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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 …

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Teaching Children About Charity

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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 …

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Rachel and the TreeSchoolers Activity Guides

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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, …

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Helping Children Show Gratitude

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   We recently wrote about teaching children the concept of gratitude. While much of that article centered on what you can do to model and encourage the concept of gratitude, we turn now to helping your children express the gratitude they are learning to notice and feel.   Here are some ideas to get you started!   1) Write thank-you notes: This is the old fashioned skill that never goes out of style.  Whether it is birthdays, holidays, or just the occasional nice gesture your child can be thankful for, encourage them to write and …

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