family — Page 16

Renaissance Kids – 4 Tips for Raising Well-Rounded Children

May 9, 2019 By Anne

Photo by J carter from Pexels

What does it mean, exactly, to raise a well-rounded child? According to some experts, it means giving your children a good mix of academics and people skills with a little empathy and character thrown in for good measure. It’s difficult raising kids in our all-about-me culture full of computer screens, tablets, and smartphones. For parents like you looking for ways to help your children become the best versions of themselves they can be, we’ve put together the following short list. These tips are sure to help you raise well-rounded children.

1. Encourage Your Children to be Active

Today’s technology encourages children (and adults) to be very inactive. With so much entertainment right in front of their eyes, kids are less likely than ever to get outside and be active. Young bodies need exercise, and as a good parent, it’s your duty to encourage your youngsters to put down their devices and get moving.

An activity that many kids find fun is swimming. If your child doesn’t know how to swim, consider enrolling your family in swimming lessons for adults and kids. Since swimming is such a low-impact activity, kids don’t even realize their exercising. All they know is that they’re having fun!

2. Let Your Child Find His Own Passions

It’s common for parents to push their kids, especially when it comes to things you’re passionate about. However, it’s important to remember that just because you enjoy something doesn’t mean your child will too.

Let your kids figure out what they love to do – be it playing a particular sport or writing poetry. Whatever they discover they love to do and are good at, be encouraging and be proud. Their passions may not be yours, but they’re passions all the same.

3. It’s Okay to Let Them Quit – Sometimes

Quitting is often associated with failure, but that isn’t always true. For instance, when your kids are young, it’s important to expose them to many options so they can figure out what they like to do. If your son is begging you to play tee-ball but then, after just three practices, realizes he doesn’t like it, it’s okay to let him quit and move on to something else.

If you have older children, however, it’s important to teach them that quitting isn’t an option if they’ve committed to something that affects others. For example, if your daughter is part of a baseball team and wants to quit mid-season, she needs to know that quitting isn’t an option since her team is counting on her to do her part. Be sure she understands this before she commits to the team so she’s less likely to want to bow out early.

4. Offer the Right Kind of Praise

Praise is a powerful tool as it helps build character. Unfortunately, many parents have taken praise to a new materialistic level. Kids want to do well. They love to hear they’ve done a great job. Verbal praise is all that’s needed to let your child know they’ve made you happy. Don’t resort to gifts or treats when your child does well. Instead, offer an exuberant high-five or a few words of encouragement to keep them striving to do their best.

Raising well-rounded kids is simultaneously harder and simpler than you think. You go into the whole parenting thing with high expectations but soon discover that it takes a lot of effort on your part to grow those precious babies into people you can be proud of. Use the tips above to help ensure you’re raising well-rounded kids.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Mini Master Chefs – 6 Essential Kitchen Skills to Teach Your Kids

May 6, 2019 By Anne

Image by laridra from Pixabay

There is no age limit for a good cook. Children are now competing in televised cooking, and baking competitions creating dishes and treats that many adults could never assemble. If you don’t need a mini Master Chef but would like to get your child more comfortable in the kitchen, below are six essential skills you can teach them.

1. How to Use the Stove

Your child may have been fascinated by the stove since they were a toddler, but around age six you can start teaching them how to cook with it. Help your child with turning the stove on and off and explain the various levels of heat available. While you are there, make sure to enlighten them about the correct position of handles so that they avoid heating them up or knocking them over. When they start cooking, increase the odds of a successful meal by providing the best cookware available.

2. Measuring Ingredients

Learning how to measure ingredients correctly is something some adults have never done, but an essential skill if you want to teach your child how to follow a recipe accurately. Liquids are measured in a different way than dry ingredients, and some ingredients you pack down into a measuring spoon while you gather others lightly. You can begin to demonstrate how to measure each component when your children are as little as three.

3. Knife Skills

It is essential that children not only understand how a knife should be used but also develop the appropriate respect for the tool. At about age five, you can begin to teach your child how to hold a soft fruit such as a banana with a claw-like grip to keep their fingers out of the way while cutting with a forward-rocking motion. During your training sessions, you can also explain how knives should be carried and by whom they should be used.

4. Meal Planning

Help your child get a healthy understanding of food by allowing them to plan meals as early as seven years old. Explain that a meal needs to include a source of protein, a type of carbohydrate and a vegetable or fruit, then allow them to assemble their own lunch to start with. As they become more comfortable with the concept and grow older, challenge them to plan a meal for your family.

5. Grating, Zesting, Kneading, Folding

By age 8 kids should be able to distinguish between the types of actions a recipe calls for and perform them safely with the required tools. Work with them through both cooking and baking, asking them what the different instructions mean and how to perform them. The more repetition, the better.

6. Recipe Math

Around the age of 12, your child should be comfortable with math concepts like addition, multiplication, and fractions. Invite your little math whiz into the kitchen to help you double a cookie recipe and practice all of the different math equations that challenge contains. Once they feel comfortable, try cutting a recipe in half. Teaching your child that recipes are not static will allow them to become more adventurous as they approach recipes because they will understand that they are flexible.

Your child may never aspire to be the next Master Chef, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competent in the kitchen. Don’t be afraid to show them how to use the stove, measure ingredients, perform the various actions a recipe calls for, and the correct way to use a knife. If you encourage them to plan meals early and help you with recipe math, they will be unstoppable!

Anne

Summer is Coming: Holiday Fun the Whole Family Will Enjoy

May 5, 2019 By Anne

Now that May is officially upon us, we can safely start to plan our summer holidays without feeling premature. There are still some great deals out there, after all, and particularly if you plan on vacationing in August rather than the middle of July.

Image via: Pexels

The only problem with these family holidays is, of course, the endless moans about being bored unless you’re constantly keeping your kids entertained.

While it might be tempting to just hand them an iPad each and call it a day, you’d still like them to experience the kind of summer you used to have as a kid; you know, the one where you laid by the river for hours, getting slightly sunburned and eating ice cream all day.

Luckily, there are ways to accomplish this without having to ruin your own hours of relaxation this holiday. Here is a handful of fun family activities that will keep your kids entertained and give you the cookie points you need to enjoy a full afternoon without any nagging.

First: Relaxing the rules a little

A part of leaving work busy work-mind behind means that you should also try to leave your busy parent-mind behind slightly. Of course, you’re still the parent and in charge regardless of any holidays, but it’s good for everyone to feel that the rules are a bit more flexible once in a while.

Allow your children to go to bed a little bit later, for example, let them have that extra ice cream if they want it, and try to wake up in the morning without having an agenda for the day. It gives you that sense of freedom you crave in your everyday-lives and makes the whole holiday-vibe a lot nicer.

Wake up a bit later, spend the entire day by the pool and go to bed a few hours later than usual – it will make it feel a lot more like a holiday.

Next: Spending the afternoon in a boat

It’s summer, after all, and you’re not going to feel like you experienced it fully if you spend every waking hour in the hammock with a book – however tempting it may be. Try to find some family fun that you will enjoy just as much as the kids; being out in the water is definitely one of those and it’s something your kids will remember as they grow up.

You can start by checking out some local boat rentals or even a yacht Miami rental site if you have some extra money to burn. That way, you might be able to make a proper boat trip out of it and the kids will definitely have something to tell their friends about when they’re back home.

Try to think about everything that you enjoy doing that the kids will also enjoy – and that will get them to spend some of that energy they’ve got bundled up. Go on a hike, for example, see the scenery and give them a sense of adventure at the same time.

While watching movies and browsing the web are great activities for when you’d like to unwind, your children will definitely get restless and rowdy with time; get out there, experience the surroundings together, and they’ll be soundly asleep so that you can enjoy the evening a bit.

Anne

Fun Easter Gifts for Kids from Radz and Bullsitoy

April 7, 2019 By Marijean

Easter is definitely my favorite holiday! I love watching my kids hunt for eggs and watching the priceless looks on their faces to see what the bunny left them. I created a list of fun Easter gifts that the bunny can bring to your kids!

Radz Easter Foamz Candy Dispensers

These are adorable little clip on candy dispensers! Each come with candy and are foam so your kiddos can squish them! You can collect white, pink and blue bunnies and also a cute yellow chick! Your kids can clip them on their backpacks or anything they would like to clip it to!

“These EGGciting squishable Easter dispensers are available in three hoppy bunnies – Cookie, Clover, and Cooper and a chick name Conner! The Foamz dispensers can even double as finger puppets so you can add to the Easter festivities by entertaining your family with an amusing show.”

MSRP: $2.99 – $3.99. You can get Radz candy dispensers at stores like Target and Walmart.

Easter Radz Candy Dispensers

Another fun set of candy dispensers! They also have a clip and can be clipped to anything your kiddos like! These come in pink, purple or blue bunnies 🙂

“Each dispenser comes with a 0.7 oz pack of yummy Easter themed candy featuring Bunny Berry Blast, Eggcelent Fruit Jumble, Hoppin’ Bubble Gum and Tropical Spring Time flavors, and a coloring poster!”

MSRP: $2.99 – $3.99. You can get Radz candy dispensers at stores like Target and Walmart.

Cutie Cuffs Unicorns

These are so cute and remind me of slap bracelets I had growing up! These are little plush unicorns that you can put on your wrist and wear! They come in 8 different color varieties. My daughter loves them!

“Did someone say magical?!? Unicorn Cutie Cuffs are guaranteed to bring some sparkle to your day and add some rainbow magic to your wrist! With 8 huggable friends to collect, you’re going to want to take these enchanted creatures with you wherever you go!”

MSRP: $4.99 You can find these at Target stores!

LiL’ Flockers Blind Bags

Blind bags are the rage right now!! LiL’ Flockers come in blind bags and inside each package you will receive a unicorn figurine collectible and a sticker. They are super cute, colorful and fuzzy! They also have a fuzzy coating. Your daughter can collect all 18!

“The Lil’ Flockers fuzzy friends are besties you didn’t know were missing from your life! Each blind bag comes with a secret magical unicorn figure, a colorful unicorn sticker, and a checklist to keep track of your mythical friends! With 18 to collect, you’re going to want to collect them all!”

MSRP: $3.99 You can find these at Target stores!

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Family Trip to Vero Beach, Florida @verobeachcvb

March 18, 2019 By Anne

Spring Break is here or will be here shortly depending on where you live. Florida has some wonderful places to visit and spend time in the sun. I recently was asked to visit Vero Beach with my family.

We were asked to stay at The Disney Vero Beach Resort and had a fantastic itinerary set up for us. We were not able to make it down to Vero Beach until Friday evening. We got to the resort and settled in around 9:30pm. The resort staff was very helpful as Disney employees always are. My partner and I hit the lounge after the girls layed down. It was right across the hall from our room!

Vero Beach Sunrise

We woke up early to see the sun rise. It was so pretty to see right over the beach. Then it was off to Goofy’s Beachside Character Breakfast with Donald and Goofy.

We gathered later to head over to the Vero Beach Museum of Art. The director took us on a tour then took us over to the children’s Art Zone. The Art Zone has many hands-on activities that encourage children to play and explore. They have a magnetic wall with colorful geometric shapes and a chalkboard wall for the kids to make artistic creations. Another wall is an interactive sketch aquarium, which was my favorite part of this interactive children’s exhibit, lol. The kids were each able to color in a sea creature then it gets scanned into the computer and magically it appeared on the wall!

Every piece of the Art Zone has been designed with kids in mind. The adults explored the rest of the museum. This was my favorite piece.

Learn more at their website at www.VBMuseum.org.

We had lunch at Mulligan’s Beach House. We sat beachside and enjoyed the beautiful weather, the ocean, music and delicious foods.

We then drove over to the McKee Botanical Garden. The McKee Botanical Garden has 18 acres of tropical terrain bursting with activity. I thoroughly enjoyed the gardens. I miss my South Florida landscape, so this gave me a chance to reminisce. The kids had a blast exploring and checking out all the flowers and plants. McKee’s has a new program called, Garden Discovery Backpacks. Each backpack is filled with exploration tools, guides, journal and an activity guide. There is even a small gift for the children to take home.

I would to have all of this in my backyard.

I am looking forward to coming back to explore more. Learn more at www.mckeegarden.org

We hit the pool for a while and relaxed in the sun before dinner.

For dinner we drove over to Waldo’s Restaurant at Driftwood Resort. Oh my the views were amazing! Right on the beach!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to relax after a long, fun filled day.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed downstairs to the Disney’s Wind and Waves Grill for breakfast. Then we headed to the pool. The pool had a fun waterslide, jacuzzi, mini golf and a play area. W

It was a fun filled weekend in Vero Beach. I am looking forward to going back. Thank you VisitIndianRiverCounty.com.