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Bright-Kids
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Vol. 5, No. 22 - June 2nd, 2008
http://brightkids.wordpress.com
mailto: debi@simplemom.com
Copyright 2008 Deborah Taylor-Hough
ISSN: 1536-0466 All Rights Reserved
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Subscribe: join-bright-kids@hub.thedollarstretcher.com
***: leave-bright-kids@hub.thedollarstretcher.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-- "Dear Readers"
-- Quote-able
-- Lots of Enrichment Activities: Good or Bad?
-- Parenting Babies and Toddlers Philosophy
-- Reader Tips
-- Assorted Information (resources, archives, etc.)
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< < O U R . S P O N S O R > >

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Dear Readers ...

There's still time for people in the Seattle/Tacoma area to register
for the free video parenting seminar being offered at my church in
Auburn. The seminar features the team teaching of Dr. Scott
Turansky and Joanne Miller, frequent contributors to this newsletter,
founders of Effective Parenting, and authors of the popular parenting
book, "Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes ...
in You and Your Kids."

For details, go to:
http://snurl.com/2as1y


"These people are absolutely right on the money in
everything they say! Plus, they're easy to listen to
and I love their use of humor."
--an Auburn-area grandfather after previewing a video
from the parenting seminar


Simply Yours,

--Debi
(Deborah Taylor-Hough)
Editor, Bright-Kids Email Newsletter
--Author of the popular 'Frozen Assets' cookbook series, 'A Simple
Choice,' and 'Frugal Living For Dummies(r)'
--Editor, Simple Times and Bright-Kids email newsletters

http://brightkids.wordpress.com
http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com
http://snurl.com/DebiTupperware
http://dsimple.wordpress.com
http://whiteriverpres.org

________________________________

QUOTABLE

"Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but
direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may
be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the
genius of each."

--Plato

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LOTS OF ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES: GOOD OR BAD?
by Shari Steelsmith
Copyright Parenting Press
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
http://www.ParentingPress.com


Tip: Strike a healthy balance between enrichment activities and
downtime at home.

Is your family over-committed? It happens easily. One big culprit
is extra-curricular kid activities. It used to be a child would play a
sport or perhaps play the piano. Nowadays it seems he plays one,
maybe two sports per season, takes piano and belongs to boy
scouts. If you have more than one child in the family, you can times
that by two or three and you have a recipe for an over-committed
family.

Don't get me wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing
sports, taking music or dance, or participating in scouts. Each of
these activities are wonderful in fact, and enrich a child's life tremend-
ously. A compelling argument can be made for the value of every
single activity, but when the schedule eliminates family meals, family
together-time, or simply all available down-time, then there's a problem.

Kids need enough unstructured time for creative pursuits to emerge
and thrive. They need time to simply hang out at home and amuse
themselves in non-electronic ways (ie., just about anything with
screens). What I mean here are things like reading, drawing, building
forts, playing with toys, making comic books and putting on puppet
shows.

Sufficient time at home is also necessary for homework and chores.
Helping around the house and yard are pretty much the only practical
ways children have of contributing to the ongoing welfare of the family;
it's an important part of their development.

Tools: So what do you do when you realize that the extra-curricular
activities have gotten out of hand? Or maybe you're just wanting to
evaluate and make sure the amount of time your kids spend away
from home is reasonable and compatible with your values.

It helps to do some prioritizing says psychologist Harriet Heath, Ph.D.
and author of 'Using Your Values to Raise Your Child to Be an Adult
You Admire.' Heath points out that simply identifying values for your
family isn't enough. You must prioritize them and then integrate them
into your parenting. If creativity is high on your list, then more time
at home may be appropriate. If being physically active is high on your
list, you will naturally lean more toward having your children in sports
or other physical activities. When you sense an imbalance in your
family life, Heath recommends the following process.


Step One

Describe the situation that needs attention. For example, "Between
the three children, we have seven after-school activities per week.
We rarely manage to eat dinner together. Saturdays are taken up
with soccer games -- sometimes more than one. We parents feel
frazzled. The kids are all attached to their individual activities and
teams, but often complain when a sibling's activity requires them
to go along. No one feels like they have enough leisure time at
home."

Brainstorm. Think of as many ideas as you can to solve or improve
the problem. Write them all down, silly or serious, workable or not.
Get input from all family members involved.

Make a plan using ideas that support your values. Pick a couple
ideas that seem workable. For example, if your family values
physical activity highly, you might choose to limit how many
sports each child is allowed to play, but schedule family activities
like hiking or biking instead. If creativity is a high value and your
daughter is busy three afternoons with two dance classes and
piano, you might require her to drop one of the dance classes.


Step Two

Carry out your plan. Put the plan into action and try it for a month
or two.


Step Three

Reflect on your plan. Evaluate how well your plan is working. Are
the adults feeling less stress? Are the children satisfied with the
balance of activities and home time? Is the family managing to
be together more? Share with your children your feelings about
the family schedule and how it has supported the values you
hold.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
--You'll find more practical tips you can use right now in 'Using
Your Values to Raise Your Child to Be an Adult You Admire' by
Harriet Heath, Ph.D. You can order the book online at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1884734367/simplepleasuresp/

________________________________

< < O U R . S P O N S O R > >

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________________________________

PARENTING BABIES AND TODDLERS PHILOSOPHY
Copyright Dr. Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller, RN
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://effectiveparenting.org/


Parenting babies and toddlers is a complicated job with very few
easy answers. When parents try to simplify the job by setting policies
they think will last for years, they're making a serious mistake.

One mom said about her one-month-old son, "I'm going to stop the
teenage rebellion right here!" She proceeded to set some pretty strict
rules about feeding and sleep times.

An important thing to understand about children is that they grow through
stages of development. At each stage their needs are different. A young
baby must have physical and emotional needs met continually in order
to develop a sense of security and to view the world as a safe place.
Teens need something completely different as they try to develop their
own value system and decide who they are going to be as adults.

Because children go through stages, parents must make several shifts
in their parenting. Just because you allow your infant to eat “on demand”
doesn't mean that she'll be demanding when she grows up. Several
stages of growth and maturity will take place between now and then.
You'll want to change the way you parent according to your child's
developmental needs.

If your infant is having trouble sleeping, he might benefit from more
love and cuddle time. Getting on a schedule will come but we aren't
just trying to establish authority in a baby's life. We're also helping
an infant feel good about being in the world and relating to others in
it. There will come a time when you recognize that your child needs
to develop some independence at night or to get on a schedule for
feeding. When those times come then be ready to make the changes
necessary.

Before we are able to effectively set limits, we first need to establish
relationship. Infancy is a time to bond and learn the foundations of
communication. We want our babies to know some one cares about
them and their needs.

Firmness and tight boundaries are important as a child grows but be
careful about sacrificing love and security needs in the process.

For more practical ideas on working with infants and toddlers, check
out the helpful audio CD series, "Parenting Toddlers," available at:
http"//www.biblicalparenting.org


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
--Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN are authors
of a large number of books and other resources on parenting
and family life. You can visit them online and subscribe to their
free parenting email newsletter at: http://effectiveparenting.org/

You can order their books online at:

"Home Improvement: Eight Tools for Effective Parenting"
http://snurl.com/effectiveparenting

"Say Goodbye to Whining and Complaining ... In You and Your Kids!"
http://snurl.com/goodbyewhining

________________________________

READERS WRITE / READERS' TIPS
Submitted by Bright-Kids' readers.
Send your tips to Debi: dsimple@aol.com


== Simple Ideas ==

I have three children (ages 11, 7, 6), work full-time, we own our
own business (run by my husband), and add on top of that three
cats and two huge dogs, lessons after school (accordion & band
for all three, ballet/jazz, Arabic classes, church & homework) we
struggle to make our lives less complicated.

Sometimes silly things thought up by the kids work the best. My
two youngest have the biggest problem rolling out of bed on school
days. My son (age 6) simplified this problem by wearing his school
clothes to bed which his sister (7) sometimes copies. The clothes
don't get wrinkled, he gets a few minutes to relax after waking up,
and best of all, when it's cold/chilly, he doesn't have to put on cold
clothes.

Also, in trying to avoid the crud the kids want in their lunch boxes,
I've substituted different dry cereals in small containers (snack size
baggies or small plastic containers). They get the "crunchies"
without consuming high fat/salt/caloric chips. We use Cheerios,
Rice/Corn Chex, Life, etc.

--Debbie E.



We'd love to hear YOUR fun ideas to encourage kids to learn
something new or try something different! Or even just have
some good old-fashioned family fun. :-)
______________________________

READ-ALOUD BOOKS FOR FAMILIES:

http://snurl.com/reading4kids

Recommended books for children and families
(This is a great list to print out and hand to your kids'
grandparents for suggestions at gift-giving times!) :-)
_______________________________

A special thanks to Gary Foreman and the friendly folks at
The Dollar Stretcher for making this mailing list possible! :-)
http://www.stretcher.com/
_______________________________

< < B E . O U R . S P O N S O R > >

Would you like to place an ad in this newsletter? Contact
Andrea at marketing@stretcher.com Subject line: bright-kids
Discover the modest rates for reaching this targeted market.
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Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)
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BRIGHT-KIDS ARCHIVES

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DEBI'S RESOURCES:

Personal Blog: http://dsimple.wordpress.com
Nature Study Books: http://astore.amazon.com/naturestudy-20/
Frugality/Simplicity: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com
Cooking Ahead: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frozen-assets
Bright-Kids: http://brightkids.wordpress.com
Tupperware(r): http://my.tupperware.com/debihough
Personal Webpage: http://simplemom.com
My Church: http://whiteriverpres.org
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