Monthly Archives: April 2015

From the moment the warm light of the summer sun streams through the pane of glass in your bedroom window to gently awaken your well-rested eyes and muscles, you know that another vacation day is waiting for you to step in. A full day of earnest living and learning, wrapped in a cloak of friendships and random acts of adventure.

As you brush your teeth, there is no shivering before a heating vent. There is no dress code or hurried schedule to stress your start. Only an open mind wondering what will be found on this warm, sunny, summer day.

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How Music and Singing Help Shape Children’s Lives

As a teacher who also works at a music store part-time parents often ask me,

“How do I get my children interested in music?”

Chances are, they are already interested. Music is everywhere in our culture, and the options for listening to it and participating in it are broader and more convenient than ever. If you’ve ever experienced a two year old blurting out a commercial jingle out of nowhere, you’ve seen the power music can have on a listener. The power, and the rewards, for a child who wants to make his or her own music, can last a lifetime.

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Making It A Journey To Remember

 
Memories That Linger On

Every summer of my childhood, virtually without fail, there was a family vacation. Typically, they were extended family vacations – not just my parents and my brother and me, but also a grandmother, an aunt, and sometimes a niece as well. We loaded up the car and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains. The next week was spent laughing, hiking, shopping, swimming, and eating. These family vacations were a highlight of our year, and they still leave me with some of my fondest memories of childhood.

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Financial Advice From America’s Financial Advisor

 
Pay It, But With Caution

Dear Dave,

– Elizabeth
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The Few Summers You Get To Spend With Your Kids Are Too Precious To Take For Granted

 
Time is Relative

Seven years seems very long, but having only seven summers seems very short. Time is relative.

“They grow up so fast” are words often uttered by parents that have already raised their kids past childhood. The phrase is an acknowledgement to the years gone by, and the wonder of those years when the kids are at “magical” ages. They are words spoken in both disbelief and in a knowing tone. Time is always crawling forward, and, at the same time, flying by, when it comes to children.
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Picnics are about fun, taking in the sun, and embracing the outdoors with a childlike mindset, whether you are a kid or just feel like one.

Picnics are a great way to encourage kids to try new ways to eat foods they might have resisted before. It is also an adventure for them to help prepare a few simple snacks, and to learn the “art of packing a picnic.”

A picnic is about breaking away from the everyday-ordinary, eating with your hands, and leaving behind the proper use of utensils and the usual manners like keeping your elbows off the table. Whether you go out in your own backyard or embark on a hike through the woods to a grassy knoll, you are doing something different, and the destination is not the most important aspect, by a long shot.
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Family Projects, Outings, Vacations, Camps

There are certain things that I am surprised I remember from my childhood. When it comes to TV, Camp Candy and Salute Your Shorts are included among these. My reasons for remembering these aren’t so much their cinematic value. I remember them because of their thematic ties to the yearly ritual of summer camp. Between church youth trips and annual Scouting summer camp trips, I could relate to the summer camp experience in these shows.

We often lament the idea that when summer comes, children stop learning and turn to play. However, after nine months of sitting in a classroom for the school year, children need time outside rather than being stuck inside. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, said “A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room.” We can turn summer play into summer learning.
 
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From The View of a Mother of Two

 
Being Mom

Every day is Mother’s Day for me.

I‘m lucky enough to have a son and a daughter, and both are young. I’m totally enjoying this time in our lives. Not that I have perfect kids, but I look forward to coming home every night to love on them and have them hug me right back. If the day at work was hard and long, it doesn’t matter; it fades into a memory as soon as I am home with my family.

I remember each phase of my kids’ childhoods, and learn something about them and about myself too!
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