10 Family-Friendly Earth Day Activities
Posted by Auntie Em
Looking for ideas for celebrating this year’s Earth Day with your family? Here’s a list of 10 eco-friendly family activities compiled by the Kiddie Academy education team:
- Involve your children in finding ways to repurpose things you already own before you purchase new items.
- Ask your children to help you gather gently used items and donate them to charity organizations.
- Turn packaging items like cartons or plastic sleeves into new art projects – instead of sending them to a landfill.
- Sew an old pillowcase into a new tote bag; use it to replace plastic bags when you shop.
- Take a nature walk together and discuss what you see along the way – like streams or flowers.
- Walk – don’t drive – to the neighborhood playground.
- Shop at your local thrift stores with [...]
Top Five Lies Said to My Toddler
Posted by G.I. JaneI don’t even know how I got myself into these lies; they just happened. I think they appeared somewhere between trying to get through the day and knowing what’s best for my daughter. Not a good excuse, I know.
This past weekend I was consciously aware of the lies, or little fibs as I now like to think of them, that I repeatedly made. Here are my top five:
- Have one more bite and I’ll…fill in the blank with whatever sounds enticing to a kid. My toddler is going through the grazing stage and forgets to eat. Therefore, I’ll nudge her to take a bite every now and then…just so I know she’s getting some food. My “one more bite” is a lie. It’s usually three or four before I’m caught not doing what I promised.
- It’s broken. In an effort to not change the DVD every minute, or giving her my phone, or letting her wear my nice [...]
Pinterest in a box? Genius!
Posted by G.I. Jane
I won’t speak for every parent out there, but I think many moms (especially of young children) have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I have hundreds of thousands of ideas for everything from a complete ensemble for a getaway to Fiji to how to tile a bathroom to recipes for a five course meal and extravagant table settings for that meal.
However, I spend the majority of my spare time with Pinterest searching, evaluating and repinning. Wherein lies the rub. I don’t have time to do any of my pins! I’m too exhausted after a full day of work, taking care of my two year old (and husband for that matter), cooking, cleaning, tending to the miscellaneous items and searching all 400 of my pins to actually accomplish anything.
I came across this [...]
In the Bag
Posted by Martha
Before you hit the road this holiday season, consider packing a Kids’ Activity Bag. Yes, it’s one more thing for your list, but it will definitely be worth the effort.With a whopping four successful road trips under my belt, I feel like I’ve achieved a higher rank from these armed forces of motherhood. Activity bags are now my number one weapon against bored, seat-kicking, sister-hitting, whiny children. And they look positively cute! The best one by far was last summer’s trip to the grandparents. The long stretches of highway have resulted in a lengthy list of things no mommy soldier should be without.
At ease, moms.
Here are a few ideas for items to include in your Travel Activity Bag:
• Bubbles (with a reminder to blow them out the window)
• Ring Pops or [...]Kids, Choices and Guilt
Posted by ClairWhen your child is hurt, your heart breaks. When you think your child might be hurt, or he might be faking, your heart is filled with angst-ridden guilt. How do you know what to do? That is the million dollar question. And, after 2 kids, I can say with 100% certainty that regardless of whether you race him to the ER or tell him he is fine and just put ice on it, you made the wrong choice.
Two months ago I made the wrong choice. We raced to the doctor to get an x-ray. He was fine, nothing (and I mean nothing) showed up as even slightly abnormal on the x-ray. So, last weekend when he fell from the monkey bars and said his leg hurt I figured he was fine. 4 hours and many ice packs later, he was still complaining. So, after much deliberation I finally took him [...]
Talking Politics…with Kids?
Posted by Kiddie AcademyIt’s an election year and talk of politics is everywhere. Though this subject can often be a sensitive one, it shouldn’t be off limits with your children. There are many positive ways to talk about an election or politics with your kids that may help reinfoce the importance of respect.
Check out our tips and ideas about teaching your children about this subject:
To Respectfully Disagree
Posted by MarthaConfession time: I’m a pusher. When the opportunity presents itself, I share my political views with my kids. I am all for their independent thinking and building their own opinions and values of the world. But something in me cannot just leave it up to chance. What if Chelsea Clinton had grown up to be a Republican congresswoman? What if one of the Bush twins were the newly elected chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee? Call me a control freak.
The good news is that when we have political banter at the dinner table, it doesn’t get very heated because my husband and I are on the same page. The kids are starting to take part in the discussion, at least for short bursts. But last night at dinner, an important question was brought up by my 7-year old. Why, he asked, did the president refer to his opponent as Mr. [...]
A Parenting Lesson from All Dogs Go to Heaven
Posted by G.I. JaneI recently introduced the idea of letting my daughter watch a movie on the iPad during the daily 30-minute commute to work and child care (no judgment, please). In a desperate—and cheap—attempt to find something entertaining for her, I downloaded the slightly dated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven.
And before I got motivated to download more movies, I listened to this over and over and over for two weeks straight. However, during my date night with my husband last night I couldn’t help but reference a line from the movie: “you can never go back…”
Any of you that have seen the movie, not many I’m sure, know that Charlie the dog goes to heaven and then finds a way to go back to earth. The pink poodle angel dog says multiple times to Charlie that once he goes back to earth, he can never go back to heaven.
Now my [...]
Filtering for your Children
Posted by Kiddie AcademyIt happens when we least expect it. You’ve got the TV on in the background while you play Legos with your seven year old and a program begins on the 9/11 Memorial, and he asks, “What’s 9/11?” Your response? “Uhhh…well…it stands for September 11th… and umm, a few years before you were born…a long time ago…some evil people wanted to hurt the United States and, umm, kill a lot of innocent people…”
As parents we are genetically programmed to protect our children from harm, and we try to limit their exposure to negative situations. However, the reality is…we can’t always prevent them from uncovering a sensitive topic that will require an explanation. In order to maintain our children’s sense of security, we can filter the way these topics are presented, what is seen or answer questions with an age-appropriate response.
Claire Haas, vice president of education for Kiddie Academy, offers [...]
Two Green Thumbs Up
Posted by Martha
My kids are a little bit smug. They pick recyclables out of the kitchen trash and give me stomp toward the recycling container. They take peels and scraps out of the sink and place them into bowls as my hint to take them to the compost pile. They are wicked little earth-worm diggers and they lecture me. Who was the Frankenstein that built these little earth-hugging, arugula-composting crunchies?
Me.
