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3 Steps to Never-Ending Summer Activities for Older Kids
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3 Steps to Never-Ending Summer Activities for Older Kids

Ever wish summer wasn’t such a big stressor? That you, as a parent, didn’t have to worry about creating a summer schedule or organizing activities for your older kids?

You roamed free every summer. You woke up when you wanted to. Maybe you swam for a summer swim team. Then, you watched a little TV and read book after book. Babysitters Club, R.L. Stine – you finished full series.

Your parents didn’t seem stressed about entertaining you every minute of every day. We knew how to entertain ourselves.

Why don’t our kids know how to do that?

One reason: They don’t know how.

4 Phrases to Get your Child to Listen
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4 Phrases to Get your Child to Listen

“I’m so stressed. I have so many things to do.”

Nope, that’s not me saying it.

My five-year-old son rolls back and forth on our family room carpet. “MOOOOOMMMMM”.

Oh geez, this has nothing to do with how much he has to do. He’s 5. We don’t live on a dairy farm. His “so much to do” is filling his water bottle and putting his lunch in his backpack.

No, he does not have too much to do. I know what’s really going on. It’s what always happens in the morning.

My son wants my full attention. He doesn’t want me talking to his sister. He doesn’t want me to get ready. He wants my eyes completely on him and focused on his needs.

How to Stop the Homework Battle Even If You Kid Outright Refuses to Do the Work
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How to Stop the Homework Battle Even If You Kid Outright Refuses to Do the Work

What do we do when our kids refuse to do homework?

They fight us. They act defiantly. We know they need to do it but as convincing as we try to be, they fight even harder.

Carly, mom of a 10-year-old boy knows this well.

Each night she steels herself for the inevitable homework battle. Her son sits at the kitchen table where she tries to motivate him, encourage him… sometimes bribe with dessert.

But every night, he pushes back.

Wonder Park Review: 3 Reasons You’ll Want to See this Movie with your Kids

Wonder Park Review: 3 Reasons You’ll Want to See this Movie with your Kids

Kid movies – that also entertain you as a parent – are almost impossible to find.

There are times when all I want to do on a Saturday afternoon is sit in a dark movie theater with my kids happily by my side.

But usually, that experience starts well and then 30-minutes in, my five-year-old son tells me he’s bored.

Or, I start mapping the plot points in the movie calculating when it will be over.

(Yes I think, here’s the rising action and this is the climax. We have 15-minutes until closing credits)

But, Wonder Park from Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon movies is a film that we all enjoyed. I highly recommend it.

One Simple Way to Develop Perseverance in Kids

One Simple Way to Develop Perseverance in Kids

It took me by surprise.

My daughter was in first grade at the time. She had just started to read books longer than simple sight word readers.

As she struggled through a particularly difficult part, her eyes filled with tears and she threw the book down.

“I CAN’T DO IT! I’M NEVER GOING TO READ!”

She ran to the couch and buried her head in the cushions,

“Sweetie! It’s OK”
“NO! I’m just not good at it. I can’t do it. I’m stupid.”

Oh, you know how that makes your heart sink as a parent.

And she refused to try. I asked her to look at it again and she wouldn’t.