Okay, not really but I'd feel much better about being so late if I had. :)
Bad me! My 3 are keeping me busy with fall activities, illnesses and general mayhem. I promise to try to make this issue extra full to make up for it-- and to send wishes that you win the lottery, lose 10 pounds and that your kids get on a house cleaning kick. ;)
Are you taking care of you? And are you giving out lots of kisses and being dreadfully, hopelessly silly? Please do. If you must deal with traffic, laundry, messes, noise and chaos, it is much more bearable if you periodically act like a total fool, laugh, sing songs and sneak yourself some chocolate.
And now,
without further ado, here are various bits of info and ideas I've gathered
up for you...
Boredom
busters
Nothing to
do? Here's a pile of free and easy ways to turn a lazy day fun...
Car Maps...
Daryl
made up some neat car maps for use in spotting license plates while traveling
with kids. We've been using them for about a month and 6 year old
Victoria has accidentally learned where about half of the states in the
US are. The whole family is having fun trying to spot other states
so we can completely color in our map.
We have
one that's labeled and a blank one to really test your memory. It's
harder than you think!
http://www.magicalchildhood.com/activities/carmaps.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Every
stage in a child's life is there for a purpose.
If
we can respect and respond to her needs fully
during
each stage of her life,
she
can be done with that stage and move on."
~ Naomi Aldort
Magical Mama Cindi shared this fun vacation idea:
My husband
is a teacher so we are doing a house trade with another teacher.
I highly
recommend it for families. Having a regular house with kitchen is
so much
nicer than a hotel and so much less stressful. We also are trading
cars. We
save money and can stay longer. Very family-friendly travel.
Thanks Cindi!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Domestic Violence affects 1 in 4 women sometime in her lifetime. In the United States, it is the number one cause of death in pregnant women, as well as the number one cause of emergency room visits for women.
For information on types of abuse, legal options, the effects on children, how to help a friend who's being abused and much more, see this web site: http://www.letswrap.com which also includes links to domestic violence agencies in your area.
It's also a good idea to educate yourself on all of these issues in order to teach your children how to keep themselves safe in a relationship.
If you are being abused, there are people out there who can help. You are not alone. You're not crazy. You don't deserve it.
I've been there, both as director of a domestic violence agency and as a survivor. I also lost my Aunt Linda to domestic violence. Feel free to write me if you need info or just need to talk.
We now return to the fun stuff. :)
*******************
Magical Mama Rachel writes:
I've been doing a fun thing with my 2 year old son lately that I thought I would share. I had been having a time of it getting him settled down at night, so I started trying to make up stories to tell him after the lights were off, but I'm not always good at coming up with story ideas. One night I handed him an inflatable globe he has, and told him to point to any place on the globe and I would tell him a story about an animal from there. It worked so well, that it has become a staple of our nighttime routine. We've had stories about the jaguars in Brazil, the wolves in Russia, the Kangaroos in Australia, etc.. The other night he stunned me when he grabbed the globe, turned it over and pointed to the South Pole, asking if I would, "say another story about the penguins in Antarctica". Kids can really surprise you.
Thanks Rachel!
Dinosaur
Concentration
Here's a page
where you can print out your own dinosaur cards to play concentration,
match up, or make up your own games. Fun!
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag50.html
Tie Dye Socks!
Here's an easy way to do tie-dye with the kiddos.
Materials:
Permanent markers
in 2-3 colors (NOT washable)
White socks
Rubber Bands
Rubbing alcohol
Spray bottle
1. Bunch
the rubber bands around the socks in lots of places.
2. Use
the markers to color all over the socks. The more the better.
You can unbunch some places and rewrap them to cover more of the socks
with ink.
3. Spray
all over with alcohol (have an older child or grown up do this part and
watch your eyes) or blot the alcohol on with a paper towel.
4. Let
sit for 20 minutes.
5. Tumble
in a hot dryer or iron to set.
Make sure you
wash in cold water only and keep them separate in case they run.
Kids can try this on t-shirts, pillow cases and more.
Magical
Mama Shez shared this link to a free online magazine for kids and
parents alike. This month's issue of Saplings is 18 pages and includes
everything from jack-o-lantern pizza recipes to British slang to a fall
word search to information on the paraolympic games. A truly wonderful
little magazine. http://www.saplingsmagazine.com/
Here's
a page of little free, fun, educational games you can play online.
I got far too hooked on mythology hangman (it's hard!). There's also
build your own alien, solar concentration, coloring pages of famous scientists
and the solar system, and lots more, plus links to educational games on
other sites.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/games/games.html
Good books
for us...
I often
share great books I find for little ones but here are some wonderful books
I've read lately that help deal with those little ones. All 3 have
armed me with some wonderful new strategies for those times when I want
to scream, throw shoes or put my head in the microwave.
Siblings
Without Rivalry by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
This book
should be given to every mom the minute she sees a plus sign on the pregnancy
test for a second child. It's wonderful! It is simply written
with lots of examples and even has cartoons to illustrate each lesson at
the end of chapters. The authors deserve daily foot rubs for life
for writing this book. A must.
Easy To
Love, Difficult to Discipline by Becky A Bailey
This book
gave me a mental workout! I felt the need to buy my own copy and
use a highlighter, since it was so full of deep thoughts, lessons, ideas,
plans and things to think about. I found lots and lots of very helpful
stuff in here. This is not light reading but it can change the way you
think about your children and give you much more peace, plus it will help
you learn discipline for your own life. I really, really liked it.
Kid Cooperation:
How to Stop Yelling, Nagging and Pleading and Get
Kids to
Cooperate by Elizabeth Pantley (forward by William Sears)
This book
is small, simple and easy to read. It's full of discipline techniques
that help you manage kids without losing your mind. There are brief
summaries at the end of each chapter that can easily be photocopied as
reminders or helpful tips for parents, baby-sitters, grandparents or others
who may need a whole list of things to try besides the automatic responses
of yelling or hitting. A great basic little book about positive discipline
techniques that work.
.....................................
Quick fun for one year olds...
Ten
Ways to Make Today Magical.......
1. Fill the bathtub with water balloons and let your tike take a bath with them.
2. Carve mini jack-o-lanterns out of oranges and use as bowls for lunch or dessert.
3. Have a pajama party with another mama friend and her kiddos. Everybody camp out in the living room or head home at bedtime. Pop popcorn, watch movies everybody loves, play games and be silly.
4. Find a tiny little museum to explore together. The odder the better!
5. Go out for dessert together, just one-on-one with your child. Take forever and really talk.
6. Jump in leaf piles! Throw them, roll in them, stomp in them and be a total fool in them. No leaves in your part of the world? Make up a whole slew of them from all different kinds of paper and toss them around. Afterwards, use them as window and wall decorations.
7. Serve soup or dinner in a pumpkin.
8. Make homemade dolls. Challenge the kids to be creative and use all sorts of found materials-- acorns, corn husks, socks, tennis balls, scrap material, plastic bottles, spools, you name it. If you have boys, call them people instead of dolls. ;)
9. Start a tradition of blindfolding your kiddos and letting them point to a place on the map. Research it and decide on a meal to cook from that area later in the week.
10. Play Family Fear Factor! Design a whole slew of gross, scary, wacky and harmless tasks for the kids (and grown ups!) to go through together. One child can help plan the challenges with you each time. Some ideas... challenge them to eat a pile of cooked liver and onions without using their hands, close their eyes and fall backwards into waiting arms, drink carrot juice with tomato chunks in it, bob for apples, hop on one foot through the kitchen.... The winner can get a special crown or necklace and can help plan the next competition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And with that, I'm off to read some books and do some art with a couple of little girls while their brother naps. I promise to be back sooner this time!
Don't forget to take care of you!
Till next time....
Alicia
.....................................
A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
Copyright 2004, Alicia Bayer
A Magical Childhood Newsletter is just something I throw together because I love children and those who love them. To subscribe, send a message to abayer@rrcnet.org. We do not use ads. It's not about money. :)
Feel free to pass this on. Don't steal it,
that would be rude.