Search results matching tags 'christmas' and 'gifts'

8 Parenting Tips for Happier Holidays with Young Children

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:00:00 GMT

It's time once again to begin preparing for the holidays and gearing up for family, fun, and festivals. The kids will be getting excited and home for school vacation. Here are eight tips for ensuring a happier holiday season.

TIP # 1: Good Behavior in Someone Else's Home

At some point prior to arriving at someone else's home for a holiday party, get to your child's eye level and go over the rules for being at the party. You may even ask them to explain the rules to you and don't be surprised if they already know. Throughout the event, acknowledge them every time you witness the behavior you want. If their behavior has been a problem in the past, tell them there will be a consequence to bad behavior and that consequence will be leaving the party. If you choose this option, be ready to implement it immediately, and don't punish them. The punishment is the departure itself and your complete silence on the drive home.

TIP # 2: Reduce the Toys and Gifts

A few weeks before the holiday season arrives, allow your child to lead an activity to thin out the usable toys and clothes they already have and then donate them to a local charity. Let your child have as much participation in the process, especially the delivery to the donation center. Commit to buying your children less toys. Too many can create visual chaos and excess stimulation, and certainly do not teach crucial lessons of moderation and limits.

TIP # 3: Take Care of Yourself

When you become stressed over the holidays, your appearance of being frantic and frazzled will be felt by the children and they too will begin to simulate it in their own way. Take time out for yourself to recharge your batteries. You need extra rest, exercise, and healthy eating, ingredients for greater self-control and patience.

TIP # 4: Teach Children Gratitude

Make it a priority to get your family involved in a giving exercise this holiday season. Donate your time to volunteer for a charitable organization by wrapping gifts for a gift collection agency, delivering a meal to a shut-in, or serving the hungry at a soup kitchen. This act of compassion will remain with your children for a very long time. During the thanksgiving holiday, my family and I would prepare and deliver a meal to an elderly person living alone. I'll never forget the year we delivered our dinner to an elderly lady who was so grateful for our gift, she cried as we left. My son was silent as we drove away and he had tears welling in his eyes.

TIP # 5: Don't Over Schedule

During the holidays we automatically think about wanting to connect and be with family and friends. But if past holidays have not been fond memories because of over scheduling, reconsider your plans for this year and commit to simplifying the family calendar or take a vacation away from home. This move may require having to say no to some invitations or changing routines. One family we connect with often makes it a point to avoid the holiday rush. They plan plenty of get-togethers throughout the year and then disappear at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas to take cruises, go to Disney, or travel to see family out of state.

TIP # 6: Set Realistic Expectations for the Kids

Let's face it; December can be a stressful month for the kids and stressful or busy times for you. This guarantees that your children are going to behave differently and it will be a challenge getting them to cooperate and remain calm. Clarify your boundaries and rules and be patient when their excitement gets in the way. Remind yourself about the true meaning of the holidays; it's not about having the perfect family. A big mistake parents make is remembering the holidays from their childhood and trying to recreate them today.

TIP # 7: Create the Reverence of New Traditions

Participating in family traditions that were passed down can be fun and exciting, but it can also add to the stress of the holidays when it means having to recreate complex meals, trips, and events that originally belonged to someone else. Take bold steps to create new traditions for your immediate family that will leave lasting impressions, regardless of how simple they might be. When my children were young, we started a new tradition of allowing the kids to open one gift on Christmas Eve. We intentionally gave them new pajamas in this one special gift and they would be the pajamas they would wear to bed that night. Each year after that, I came up with fun and creative ways of disguising the gift to keep them guessing, because they knew what they would find in the packages. Creating new and fun traditions and faithfully celebrating them each year with consistency will teach your children how to do it themselves when they have families of their own.

TIP # 8: Be the Person You Want Your Children to Be

Finally, there is no better way to teach your children how to enjoy the holidays than to demonstrate being the person you want them to be. The most powerful training your children will ever have is the observations they make of your behavior on a daily basis. Work hard to remain calm and loving throughout the holidays. When you find yourself on the threshold of an emotional reaction to someone else's behavior, ask yourself if what you're about to say or do will bring your family closer together, or create more distance. Being close of course, is what the holidays are all about!

Get more help for discipline for small children at http://www.StopTheTantrums.com

Bill Corbett is the author of the award-winning parenting book series, LOVE, LIMITS, & LESSONS: A PARENT'S GUIDE TO RAISING COOPERATIVE KIDS (in English and in Spanish) and the executive producer and host of the public access television show CREATING COOPERATIVE KIDS (http://www.CooperativeKids.com). As a member of the American Psychological Association and the North American Society for Adlerian Psychology, Bill provides parent coaching and keynote presentations to parent and professional audiences across the country. He sits on the board of the Network Against Domestic Abuse, the Resource Advisory Committee for Attachment Parenting International, and the management team of the Springfield Parent Academy. Bill's practical experience comes as a father of 3 grown children, a grandfather of two, and a stepdad to three. You can learn more about his work at http://www.BillCorbett.com and http://www.StopTheTantrums.com.

Take a Peek ....Holiday Tile Gifts

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 17:48:00 GMT

My students make these decorated tiles for their family holiday gift.

I bought the tiles at Home Depot for 16 cents each. In all, it cost me less than $5.00 for a class set.

Then I cut squares of scrapbook paper.

Students picked the design they liked and modge podged it to the tile.

I chose more generic designed paper that could be displayed all year, but you can also use seasonal designs.

Then I sprayed them with a sealant.

This is one of the easiest gifts I've made over the years for both the students and ME!

The finished tile can be put on display or used as a coaster.

Don't forget that I'm having a TPT sale

Logo courtesy of From the Pond

Ideas for a Reading Christmas

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:42:00 GMT

I'm always looking for ways to bring some reading fun to the holiday season. Things can get so busy, so working some ideas for encouraging reading into the holiday plan can make sure you don't get too busy for reading.

Here are some ideas for a holly, jolly, reading Christmas:

1. Check the events going on at your local library. Weekly story times often take a hiatus this time of year, but instead there's usually lots of holiday programs and activities going on.

2. While attending a special holiday event at the library, go on a hunt for some great Christmas books. Some libraries will mark the spines of their books to make special titles (like holiday titles) easier to find.

3. Do a reading advent calendar, like this one here. Have you seen this idea? Wrap 25 Christmas picture books (they can be ones you already own), then allow your child to unwrap one each day and read it together as you countdown to Christmas.

4. Make books a part of your gift-giving tradition. Unwrapping a cool new book or two on Christmas morning attaches the right connotation to books - they are something to be enjoyed! Some families make gifting a new pair of pajamas a Christmas Eve tradition; perhaps pairing a new book with their snuggly pajamas could become part of the tradition as well. Think about subjects your child is especially interested in, or books in a series they might be specifically wanting. We might be gifting some fun magazine subscriptions in our house this year!

5. Start a tradition of adding a new Christmas book to your family library every season. Make a special trip to the bookstore together to pick it out. Maybe get some hot cocoa while you're at it, and make a whole date of it!

6. If you do Elf on the Shelf, incorporate some reading fun into your elf's repertoire of tricks. Perhaps he will get caught reading the kids' Christmas books? Or perhaps he will get caught reading to some of your kid's toys, like in this photo?

7. Gift some fun items to your child that help encourage reading. We're giving neat reading lights to our kids to encourage them to stay up late in bed with a book.

Another idea is the fun book timers for keeping track of their reading time (they are book marks that can be stored right in the book your child is reading).

How about a kit for creating their own books?

Or a fun bag for toting books to and from the library?

8. Give books as gifts to others with your child. How about for their teacher? Friends? Family? Ask for their input and help in selecting the right book for the people on your list this Christmas.

9. Make some festive sugar cookies with alphabet cookie cutters. Spell out festive words like "joy" and "merry" and then box them up and gift them to friends and family. Isn't this pretty? You could also make fun alphabet ornaments and gift tags using a variety of different supplies and things. Get creative!

How do you encourage reading and literacy during the holidays?

Ornament Gift

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:38:00 GMT

My students do this beaded ornament project for a family gift.

We use Fast Grab Tacky glue to stick the beads to the ornament and let dry overnight.

If there were bare spots the next day, we did touch up gluing of beads.

Then we wrapped the gifts and added this sweet little note:

Click picture to download notes

Cookies for Santa cookbook

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:21:36 GMT

Our Kindergarten class made these wonderful “Cookies for Santa” cookbook to give their parents as a Christmas gift. We happened to have a bunch of brown hot pads in a box that was supposed to be used for another project last year but never did. So our kindergarten teacher, Mrs. R., decided they would make [...]

Making Christmas gifts in preschool

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:00:28 GMT

I posted this on my old blog and wanted to repost this here. These are some Christmas gifts my daughter made when she was little and some suggestions for you to keep in mind as you consider what your preschoolers can make as Christmas gifts this year…. Photos are always treasured Hanging on my tree [...]

Educational Gifts

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:40:00 GMT

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
FUN EDUCATIONAL Gifts FOR KIDS

NEW LOWER PRICES ON CD'S - CLICK HERE

This year, give the amazing gift of Education with these fun Educational Gifts for Kids! These engaging CD's and DVD's will have your kids singing, dancing and learning! Check out these Phonics Packages for learning Phonics, Letter Sounds, Alphabet, Vocabulary and Handwriting Skills!

PHonics Packages - Click Here

How We Love You (from A-Z)

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:56:36 GMT

Sorry I haven’t posted a new blog for so long, but I’ve been busy with the holidays, especially this year—I hand-made gifts for close family members and friends. It was a lot of work, but a success! I made a photo album for each person and wrote why we loved that person, using the alphabet [...] Related posts:

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It's the best Christmas gift EVER, Charlie Brown!

misterteacher — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:15:00 GMT

On Friday, one of my kids presented me with a Christmas gift. It was very festively wrapped in green and red paper, with a sweet little note attached that wished me a happy holiday and thanked me for teaching.

I unwrapped the gift and found a blue and white box that said, "Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution, 0.083% -- For oral inhalation only."

Wow, somebody got me an asthma inhaler! SCORE!!! :)

Of course, (thankfully) they had only used the box as a carrier for the true gift, which turned out to be a bottle of Guess cologne.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Holiday gifts and Christmas presents for persons who are blind or visually impaired

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:08:00 GMT

Need Christmas presents or holiday gift ideas for someone who is blind or visually impaired?

From time to time, people ask me (or visit my blog!) for recommendations on specific items or holiday gifts for persons who are blind or visually impaired. So, I thought it might be useful to offer some suggestions for favorite holiday gifts for persons who are blind or visually impaired.

And of course, these gifts are not limited to the holidays, but are also appropriate year round as gifts. I am providing direct links to the items at Amazon, so you can do "one stop shopping" if you so desire. If you are unable to view the pictures, please click on the text links to get to the items. Enjoy!

Talking Scales - these scales will read your weight out loud.

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Reizen II Talking Bathroom Scale for Low Vision - Silver

Superior Bathroom Talking Scale

Talking Alarm Clock - this clock talks to you and also features very large numbers on the display.

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Talking 4-Alarm Clock with EL-Backlight

Talking Watches - Ladies' & Mens'

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Ladies Tel-Time Gold-Colored Talking Watch with Golden Expansion Band

Avalon XXL Series Low Vision 1- Button Talking Watch # 7425-1B

Large Button Remote Controls

Tek Pal Universal Large Button TV Remote Control

Giant Big Button Universal Remote

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Low Vision Playing Cards

Marinoff Low Vision Playing Cards

Braille playing cards

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Braille playing cards

Victor Reader Stream - this is one of the talking book players you can use with the NLS free digital download project to download free audio books

Victor Reader Stream

Please note it is not my intention to promote a specific item and/or product manufacturer. The opinions expressed are purely my own.