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Bright-Kids
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Vol. 5, No. 24 - June 16th, 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
-- What Kind of Decisions to Entrust to Your Kids
-- Nature Study: Gardening for Hummingbirds
-- Reader Tips
-- Assorted Information (resources, archives, etc.)
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< < O U R . S P O N S O R > >

Free "Financial Stewardship Activity Book" for Kids

The World tells us "he who dies with the most toys wins"
but the Bible lays down a very different formula for
"winning" both on earth and in the eternities.

The new Financial Stewardship Activity Book by KidsWealth
is an easy and fun way to teach your kids about giving and
sharing from a biblical perspective. Through the activities in
this 28 page booklet your children will become reflective,
learn to make good money choices, and shine in the glory
of giving.

You pay nothing to download the new 28 page Financial
Stewardship Activity Book at http://tinyurl.com/5ewuxj

________________________________

Dear Readers ...

Wow, I'm not sure what happened but somehow Bright-Kids
didn't go out on Monday. Sorry about that! Here's this week's issue
(slightly late).

Be sure to visit our sponsors this week. The Financial
Stewardship Activity Book from KidsWealth (above) is a truly
excellent value. It's a great product at an even better price --
free! Hey, you can't beat that. :-)


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

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QUOTABLE

"It had long since come to my attention that people of
accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen
to them. They went out and happened to things."

--Elinor Smith

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WHAT KIDS OF DECISIONS TO ENTRUST TO YOUR KIDS?
by Shari Steelsmith
Copyright Parenting Press
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
http://www.ParentingPress.com


Tip -- Give children decisions to make that are appropriate to
their age and level of development.

Those of us interested in raising children to become competent,
independent adults soon see the value of giving them practice
with decision-making. A child who is used to having the opportunity
to make decisions and experience the outcomes gradually learns
to make good, thoughtful decisions.

"When children make choices, they acquire control, and because
they've chosen it, they're usually eager to follow through," comments
parent educator Jan Faull in her book Unplugging Power Struggles:
Resolving Emotional Battles with Your Kids.

The challenge is in deciding which decisions are appropriate for
children -- even young ones -- to make. Obviously children shouldn't
decide for themselves whether to wear a seat belt, to watch movies
rated R, or to operate the gas barbeque without adult supervision,
but there are a host of non-critical decisions they can make that
don't endanger their safety or violate family values.

Faull recommends frequently asking yourself, "Is this a decision
my child can make for himself?" and then turning over control in
these non-crucial areas.

"Making choices offers your child opportunity to gain competence,"
says Faull. "Your child can't acquire confidence when you hold
all the controls."


Tools -- Faull offers a list of areas parents can safely give children
decision-making power in the following areas:

Preschoolers. Offer three to five-year-olds reasonable choices
regarding:

-- The clothes they wear
-- Family-approved TV shows to watch
-- Bedtime stories
-- Who to have over for a play date
-- What to play and where

School-aged children. Children in the middle years can choose:

-- Their extracurricular activities, such as sports, music, scouts
-- When and where they'll do their homework
-- How to spend their allowance or gift money
-- What kind of hairstyle to wear
-- How to arrange their bedrooms

Faull notes that young children ought to be able to direct their
own play (including creative art or dramatic play) without inter-
ference from parents. School-aged children need to be able to
pick and control their own hobbies without much input from
parents; hobbies offer control and competency for this aged
child.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
--You'll find more practical tips you can use right now in
Unplugging Power Struggles: Resolving Emotional Battles
with Your Kids, by Jan Faull. Order online at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1884734421/simplepleasuresp/

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

Stop Junk Mail! Save Trees!

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plants 10 trees on your behalf for $20. We also offer you
the choice to remove only the catalogs you don't want.

Our impact is huge. In just over a year, we've stopped
3 million pounds of junk mail and saved/planted 1,000,000
trees. We have over 75,000 happy members and have
gotten a ton of press -- NY Times, Ellen, Good Morning
America to name a few.

http://www.dpbolvw.net/email-1374001-10535906

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NATURE STUDY: GARDENING FOR HUMMINGBIRDS
Copyright Karen Bastille
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://www.grandmotherwren.com


Most plants with showy, tube-shaped, nectar-bearing flowers
(especially those that are bright red, pink, orange, or yellow)
will draw hummingbirds to your garden. Here's a list that
includes flowers that bloom early and some that bloom late
in summer for a season of color. There are flowers, vines,
shrubs and trees.

FLOWERS: Bee balm, bergamot, bergena, butterfly weed,
cleome, columbine, coral bells, delphinium, evening primrose,
four o’clock, foxglove, fuschia, geranium, gladiolus, hibiscus,
impatiens, jewelweed, lilies, nasturtium, nicotiana, petunia,
phlox, salvia, snapdragons, and zinnia.

WILDFLOWERS: Cardinal flower and trumpet creeper, scarlet
paintbrush, columbine, red-flowering currant, lobelia, monkey
flowers, prickly pear, scarlet passion flower, wild pinks and
yucca.

VINES: Flame vine, honeysuckle, morning glory, scarlet runner
beans.

SHURBS: Azalea, coralberry, flowering quince, honeysuckle,
lilac, rhododendron, weigela.

TREES: Chinaberry, flowering crabapple, hawthorn, locust,
mimosa, tulip tree. Trees with dense foliage -- evergreens,
deciduous trees and shrubs -- may entice hummers to nest
in your yard.


HUMMINGBIRD TIPS AND TIDBITS

1) Worldwide, there are 320 species of hummingbirds. Of
the fifteen North American species, only the ruby-throated
is commonly found east of the Mississippi River.

2) On its migration from Central America in winter to North
America in spring, the ruby-throated hummingbird may travel
2,000 miles and cross the Gulf of Mexico.

3) Some hummingbirds can fly up to 60 miles an hour, but
they aren't the fastest birds in the sky. One Asian swift can
zoom along at nearly 220 miles an hour, and the peregrine
falcon attains speeds close to 200 miles an hour.

4) Spiders, ants, gnats, fruit flies, and other small insects
and larvae provide protein for many hummingbirds.

5) Nineteenth-century naturalist John James Audubon described
hummingbirds as a "glittering fragment of the rainbow."


THE LIFE OF A HUMMINGBIRD

A lady found a hummingbird nest and got pictures all the way
from the egg to leaving the nest. It took 24 days from birth to
flight. Because you'll probably never in your lifetime see this
again, enjoy; and please share. This is truly amazing:

http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

Be sure to click on NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page
of pictures; there are five pages in all.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
--Karen Bastille (known online as "Grandmother Wren") has
a helpful collection of blogs and websites dealing with every-
thing from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease),
to family living, to crafts, to creative grandparenting. Visit
Karen online at: http://www.GrandmotherWren.com

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


== Simple Educational Ideas Shared in Bright-Kids ==
What a gift to know that there's a better way with a child:
to love to read, to love nature, love animals, be self-motivated
in learning, have his or her own ideas about learning and can
act on them, is closer to his/ her siblings than to other
children. What a gift. God bless you and your little ones
as you grow and learn.
--Barbara C.


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

For a list of most back issues of the Bright-Kids Email
Newsletter, click on the "Read Messages" button at
the following website:

http://hub.thedollarstretcher.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?visit=bright-kids
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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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