Parenting Articles

get into the Olympics with your kids

Get Into the Olympics with Your Kids

By / 3 minutes of reading

We’re finally in the middle of the 2020 Olympic Games…in 2021. Another odd part of life from COVID-19. In fact, did you know that the Olympic Games have never been held in an odd year? And here’s another interesting piece of trivia. This is the second time Tokyo has had to cancel or reschedule their hosting of the games. The previous time was in 1940 during World War II. While young children may or may not get into the Olympics, you can help them to appreciate their significance. Here are some ways you can have fun and get into the …

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squeeze in some end of summer fun

Squeeze in Some End of Summer Fun

By / 3 minutes of reading

Are you feeling like this summer flew by? I sure am. My kids are mourning the end of summer, and I keep trying to remind them that we do have a few more weeks to enjoy. At the same time, my own mind is also telling me that summer is pretty much over. Our focus is on all the back-to-school activities, not on summer fun. But is there a way we can squeeze in just a little more fun? Let’s think about ways we can squeeze in some end of summer fun! What did you not get to do? Let’s …

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Learn Some Picnic Signs This Month

Does Your Child Know How To Be a Good Friend?

By / 4 minutes of reading

Did you know that there is an International Friendship Day? What a great thing to celebrate! And what a wonderful topic to celebrate with our kids. Do your kids know how to make friends? Does your child know how to be a good friend? Since International Friendship Day is coming up, this is a great time to teach our kids about how to be good friends and how to deepen the friendships they have. You can start with learning the sign for friend! Where did Friendship Day come from? The idea of a Friendship Day actually began in the early …

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modeling positive behaviors for our children

Modeling Positive Behaviors for Our Children

By / 6 minutes of reading

We’ve talked a lot about responsibility, kindness, honesty, and helpfulness around here lately. And these are definitely values that are worth teaching to our kids. Although, in thinking through how to implement these character qualities, we’ve hit the same point each time:  we as parents must be modeling these positive behaviors for our children. We all want our kids to be decent people. We’d like for them to be strong, capable of handling life’s problems. These are worthy goals, but if we only talk about these character qualities, our words will not do much. We must live this kind of …

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change the world

A Day to Think About How You Can Change the World

By / 4 minutes of reading

Nelson Mandela International Day is a day to remember that each person can have an impact on the world. It is observed on Mandela’s birthday, July 18, each year, and it has been celebrated officially since 2010. While Nelson Mandela was a controversial figure, he did indeed positively change the world, and your kids can learn good things from his historical work in South Africa. The purpose of Mandela Day is not to be a huge public holiday. Instead, it is a day to honor Mandela’s legacy and his values through community service. It’s a day to think about how …

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camping with little ones

Camping With Little Ones Can Be Simple and Fun

By / 4 minutes of reading

Camping is a favorite summer activity for many people. The outdoors, whether in the mountains or at the lake, attracts us with its scenery and its simplicity. However, even some of the most committed campers take a break when children come into their lives. It seems to get much more complicated when you are camping with little ones. When something becomes complicated, we’re less likely to do it. If camping with kids has become complicated, the only solution is to find a way to simplify it. Let’s look at a few ways to simplify camping with little ones. The first …

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bring more kindness into our world

Let’s Bring More Kindness into Our World

By / 5 minutes of reading

Kindness can be an overlooked character quality. Sometimes we think it’s an automatic thing, so we don’t work to develop it in ourselves or in our kids. Unfortunately, we’ve seen more than enough evidence that kindness is not always valued in our world. So how can we bring more kindness into our world? Can we make kindness become part of our culture? Part of our culture? That sounds like a very tall order. Can we really change our culture with our own families’ values? It does sound a bit overwhelming, doesn’t it? But don’t let that discourage you from making …

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balance responsibility and fun

How to Balance Responsibility and Family Fun

By / 5 minutes of reading

Summer can be both a fun and a crazy time for parents. Our kids are free from school or pre-school, and they have fewer pressures in their schedules. However, we parents can feel the pressure of more on our shoulders. We face our normal jobs, our regular daily work, plus the extra responsibilities of keeping our kids occupied. Many of us would like our kids to learn some responsibility during these summer months as well. So how do we balance all of this? What if we found a way to balance responsibility and family fun?  Decide between the necessary and …

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have fun with fruits and vegetables

It’s a Good Time to Have Fun with Fruits and Vegetables

By / 4 minutes of reading

The spring and summer seasons give us so many wonderful fresh foods to enjoy. With such a variety of colors and flavors, it’s a great time to help your littles learn about fruits and vegetables. It’s a good time to try some new ones too! You can have lots of fun with fruits and vegetables! Start with your favorites You can begin your learning fun with your kids’ favorite fruits and veggies. In the Signing Time Dictionary, we have several signs for fruits and vegetables, like apple, banana, carrot, grapes, lettuce, orange, peach, pear, and peas. Have your kids learn …

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Helping your preschooler get ready to read

Helping Your Preschooler Get Ready to Read

By / 3 minutes of reading

It can be daunting to think about helping your preschooler get ready to read. I think that teaching my kids to read was a task I dreaded as much as I dreaded potty training. The success when it was accomplished was equally celebrated as I sighed a relieved, “Whew, another one down!” And, just like when I finished potty training for good, when I finished teaching my youngest to read, my happy thought was, “I never have to do that again!” It’s a job worth doing, but we’re happy to be finished with it. While helping our preschoolers get ready …

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