Make A New Year’s Resolution With The Kids

By Susanne Myers

Potty Training Tips
Potty Training Advice and Tips From Moms & Dads Like You.

As the year is coming to and end, many of sit down to ponder what we would like to change and improve in the coming year. In other words – it’s time for New Year’s resolutions. Usually we don’t really start making resolutions until we are adults, but this can also be a very powerful concept you can share with your kids. This year, take some time to explain the idea of the New Year’s Resolution to your kids. Sit down with them, grab a pen and paper and help them formulate some resolutions of their own. You could also get everyone together and come up with some Family Resolution.

What kind of New Year’s Resolutions do you want to make with your kids, or as a family? Just about anything that will help you improve yourself would be a good idea. Here are some ideas to get you started.

New Year’s Resolutions For Kids

Find something together with your child that he or she can improve on over the coming year. Maybe it is spending more time practicing reading every night, or doing a better job keeping his or her room clean. A shy child could resolve to make more friends or take to a new person once a week.

Another great resolution would be to eat less candy or junk food. It will be much easier for your child if you put an actual number on it instead of a vague “let’s eat less candy”. Instead you could both decide that your child should only have two pieces of candy a day, or one junk food snack after school, but all other snacks have to be healthy options like a piece of fruit or a piece of cheese.

New Year’s Resolutions For Families

A great New Year’s resolution for the whole family would be to spend more quality time together. You could resolve to spend 30 minutes a night reading to the kids, or establish a game night once a week. Actually getting everyone around the dinner table every evening is another great resolution. For a little extra motivation on this watch this short, but heartwarming movie at http://www.mealmovie.com

Now that you have decided on some New Year’s Resolutions, write them down and hang them up in a prominent place (like on the refrigerator door) to remind everyone on a daily basis to do their best to stick to the resolution.

Music and the Young Child

by: Sherry Frewerd

Potty Training Tips
Potty Training Advice and Tips From Moms & Dads Like You.

Having operated a successful Family Child Care in my home for over 10 years, I have had many opportunities to introduce various aspects of the Arts to young children. Being naturally musical myself, providing a musical curriculum to my kids was a simple and obvious way to enhance the daily activities of my child care and my own children as well.

Children respond to music at a very young age. Nearly everyone can remember their mother or grandmother singing nursery rhymes to them as little children. I have vivid memories of swinging outside and singing ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ as loudly as I could just to hear the sound. With my own children I have always used music to calm and entertain them; singing softly to them in the rocker or energetically leading them in finger-plays and sing-a-longs. However you may choose to do it, singing or playing music with children gives them a beginnings of music appreciation, not to mention the special memories that are created.

My son is a wild and wholly two-year-old, and greatly affected by his environment and the sounds and sights he encounters. Getting out of control is very easy with this little boy, and it’s up to me to find ways of calming him down and quickly distracting him and hopefully changing his mood. Music affects a child’s mood, and quiet, comforting music can relax an anxious child. It’s amazing the way my son reacts to his special CDs that he knows and enjoys. Often he’ll just stop what he is doing and I’ll see him stand and look toward the stereo and just sway and sing to himself.

Children will naturally relate movement with music giving them the opportunity to explore their own creative expression. They love to act out movements to the songs such as moving around the room like different animals based on the type of sounds they hear. They can explore how their bodies move and their physical coordination begins to grow and develop as a result.

Music activities in group settings help children develop social and interactive skills by sharing the activity with the other children around them. They love to join hands and form circles while singing simple nursery rhymes and dancing around together. Friendships are made easily when children share musical activities and even the shyest child can join in and become part of the group.

Recommended Music for Young Children:

1. Sing Dance and Play – Genius Products
2. Baby’s First: Animal Songs – Various Artists
3. Walt Disney Records : Children’s Favorite Songs, Vol.1
4. Best of the IQ Builder [2001] – Bach
5. Toddler Favorites – Favorites Series
6. Sesame Street Platinum: All Time Favorites
7. Baby’s First: Playtime Songs – Various Artists
8. Magic Mozart (Baby Genius Classical Series)-Mozart
9. Favorite Nursery Rhymes – Genius Products
10. Favorite Children’s Songs – Genius Products

Introducing music to young children will provide them with a foundation to help develop language and listening skills, along with enhanced coordination and emotional development. Little children love to express themselves through music and given the opportunity, will reap the benefits of a lifetime of music appreciation.

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About the Author: Sherry Frewerd is a Proud Work At Home Mother of 3 musical children. A Family Child Care Provider for 10 years, she also publishes several websites, specifically http://familyplayandlearn.com
Family Play and Learn: Play and Learning Resources for Parents and Family Child Care Providers.

Motivating Kids To Complete Homework

Getting your child to do his or her homework isn’t always easy. Setting up a good routine is a great way of motivating kids to complete homework – as long as you stick to your routine. Here are some suggestions for establishing a homework routine.

At the beginning of the school year you set the rule: Homework gets finished as soon as you get home from school. But by October, that rule doesn’t seem to be as hard and fast as it was in August.

If you don’t rein in the lax homework routine, before you know it you’ll be hearing those panicked cries at 7:30 a.m. that homework isn’t finished. Or worse yet, you’ll get the dreaded phone call from the teacher notifying you that your little angel hasn’t been turning in her homework. Heaven forbid you don’t find out about the missed assignments until you attend parent/teacher conferences!

No worries. The problem doesn’t usually lie with formatting a good routine; rather it’s with enforcing the routine. If you’re fortunate enough to be home with your child after school, it is a little easier to ensure the homework routine is maintained. If you don’t see your child for an hour or so after he’s been home, you can still follow through.

The rules should be simple enough to leave no room for misunderstandings.

1. Grab an after school snack then start homework.
2. TV stays off until all homework is finished and reviewed for completeness.
3. No extracurricular activity until all homework has been completed.

Number three tends to be a difficult one for parents to enforce. We tend to over book our children’s schedule. Number three, no extracurricular activity until all homework has been completed, means just that. It doesn’t mean the rule can be relaxed if junior has tae kwon do after school or if Suzy has gymnastics. It doesn’t mean its ok to take a pass on number three on days when Johnnie has T-ball practice.

Perhaps you decided that you paid good money for lessons and Suzy, Junior and Johnnie will participate. Okay, but what kind of example is that setting? How about if you take your child to the activity, but she must sit out until the homework has been finished. Then she’s welcome to join the other kids on the balance beam.

Remember you still have dinner and a bedtime routine too. Children should worry about being children, not about juggling schedules. Make sure your child has a snack so that his stomach’s growling won’t be a distraction. After homework is finished he can enjoy what little time is left in the evening. If you stick to rules one, two and three above, you’re on track for a great school year!

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Dine Without Whine
The family friendly menu mailer – Dinner recipes that you and your kids will love send to your inbox everyday. Christine will even create a grocery list for you. Fixing dinner every night couldn’t be easier. Give it a try!

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