Great Homemade Gifts Kids Can Make

Although it is hard not to get caught up in all the glitz and glamor that is the holiday season, it is always nice to remember that the best gifts are those from the heart.  Creating gifts with your children not only reduces the need to shop for the holidays, but provides an opportunity to spend positive time together and teach your child the satisfaction of creating a personal gift.

1. Stuck on You
It's hard to believe that I Love to Create's adorable photo magnets are simply made from just recycled bottle lids. We love this idea for a holiday gift and truly believe that one can never have enough magnets; especially personalized ones! See below for directions.

2. Bees Wax Beauty
Fun in My Backyard (FIMBY) gives an excellent pictorial on how she made these beautiful beeswax candles with her children two years ago for their advent celebration.
FIMBY lists many reasons why making beeswax candles is a really neat kid-friendly activity, including the fact that it's super simple (no 'crafting' experience necessary!), they smell wonderful (and help clean the air!) and of course, because they're absolutely gorgeous. FIMBY also suggests keeping little hands away from the boiling water and making sure to put down plenty of newspaper, as this project can potentially get a bit messy. But the best projects are always those that are a little messy... Right?

3. Early Bloomers
Maya*Made shares a great and simple holiday gift suggestion for planting paper white bulbs and giving them as presents to family and friends.
Keep in mind that these bulbs take about 4-6 weeks before they bloom into beautiful flowers, so you may want to speed up your process at the beginning of the month. But, boy, do these flowers ever turn out to be gorgeous! Check out the rest of Maya's tutorial for tips on how she created this lovely gift, including photos of how the flowers will look once they've bloomed!

4. Patchwork Pretty
Jazz up a plain notebook with some cute patches of patterned paper and voila -- you've got a personalized journal that is perfect for a thoughtful gift for friends and family.
iHannah's Blog gives a great tutorial on this quick and easy kid-friendly project. And we have a feeling that the writer or journal-keeper in your life will love getting one of the beautiful patchwork notebooks as a Christmas gift! That is, if you can part with them yourself!

5. Christmas Cookie Cheer
Some of our all-time favorite homemade gifts that we've received in past years have been recipes in jars. We've gotten lentil soup mixes, breadmaking ingredients, and even a fruit cake once -- from a toddler! (Best present ever.)
Needless to say, we love the Food Network's idea for making a super-chunky Christmas cookie recipe in a jar... Just look at the ingredients! Simply find a cute jar, have your child help you measure and add ingredients, and pin a cute card with the recipe onto the jar with a festive ribbon or string. So absolutely

Parenting the Perfectionist Child

We often find that parents in classes are not wanting to be the "perfect parent," rather struggling to raise their perfectionist children!  The folks at Focus on the Family recently released a great article that address the challenges, and provides some strategies, for dealing with those often tricky kiddos.

Many years ago, I watched Little Shop of Horrors, a humorous musical about a nerdy florist named Seymour who raises a house plant named Audrey that feeds on human blood. When Seymour accidentally pricks his finger, he discovers that Audrey needs blood to survive. What Seymour doesn't know is that the more blood Audrey receives, the larger and more demanding she would become.
As the musical progresses, Audrey grows into a deep-voiced, obnoxious, palm-sized plant which screams, "Feeeeed me!" A few drops of blood from Seymour's fingers couldn't sustain Audrey any longer, so she eats him.
Having a perfectionist child can be a lot like dealing with Audrey. Without realizing it, parents can encourage idealistic tendencies in their children by "feeding" their perfectionism. The result can be a child that grows out of control, and, like Audrey, is very demanding.
Here are five ways to tame the perfectionism in your child and recover your sanity.

Don't feed perfectionism

Perfectionism grows when it's encouraged. If your perfectionist daughter will not eat dinner because it's not arranged the "right" way on her plate, let her know that she'll either eat it as it's served or she won't eat at all. To a permissive parent, this may sound mean. But by not bending to your child's demands, you keep from being controlled by her. And you won't be so wiped out at the end of the day from being pushed around by a perfectionist kid.
If your child throws a temper tantrum because her shoes are the wrong color and don't match her dress, don't feed her perfectionism by cajoling her or reasoning with her. Instead, step over her as she is wailing, and go on with what you were doing. She'll learn that to function in life, she has to bend — a skill that all successful and confident people need.

Recognize a firstborn's tendency to be a perfectionist

Dr. Kevin Leman, author of a number of excellent parenting books including Have a New Kid by Friday, says that firstborn children are often perfectionists because parents tend to treat their firstborns differently from their latter-born children. You may have heard the joke that a mother sterilizes every pacifier for her first born. But by the time the same mother is on child number three, if the pacifier falls into the dirt, mom brushes it off and sticks it back in her child's mouth. Naturally, because parents are more structured with their firstborns, those children generally desire more structure.
In a conversation with MSNBC, Dr. Leman said, ". . . children are like wet cement. It's true that they are much more moldable in the first six or seven years of life. It's one of the few things you'll get psychologists and psychiatrists to agree on. You are not going to change the perfectionistic nature of a driven firstborn. But you know, you might round off the edges."¹
The good news is that many CEOs and presidents of companies are firstborns. It's no wonder. If they were in charge at home over younger siblings, it's a no-brainer for them to be in charge at work.

Take a personal inventory

If you are a firstborn, you'll need to do the best you can to "round off your own perfectionistic edges" if you want to help your kids become more flexible. Amy, a firstborn mother of two small children says that she often wondered why her firstborn child was so picky about the smallest things. Then she learned about Dr. Leman's analysis of firstborns and realized that her child was demonstrating what she herself had modeled. Not surprisingly, a perfectionist child and a perfectionist parent will butt heads because when each doesn't have their own agenda met, there will be fireworks.
If you suspect that you struggle with perfectionism, ask yourself if less than perfect is OK in some instances. Is it OK for you not to feel in control if your child doesn't pick up every toy before she goes to bed at night? Is it all right if she misses her back teeth when she is brushing now and then?
When you can embrace your own imperfection, your child will realize that less than perfect is acceptable. This will help her develop into a secure, confident and flexible adult. If you struggle with extreme perfectionism, remember that there are trained counselors who can help you with your challenges.

Use humor

There is nothing like a little humor to lighten a tense moment. When your perfectionist child feels like life is falling apart, a little joking, teasing or acting silly will send a strong message to your kid: Imperfection is not the end of the world.
Granted, it can be a challenge sometimes to find the light side of something that seems like a disaster, but it can be done. Additionally, when you can laugh at your own mistakes, your child will learn to laugh at his, too.

Tell a story from your own experience

In moments when humor is not appropriate, you can tell a hopeful story from your own experience to encourage your son or daughter. When Robert's son Mark was angry at himself because he missed a free throw that caused his team to lose a basketball game, Robert pulled a story from his past out to share with his son. He talked about the time when he missed a touchdown pass in overtime. He was also able to tell Mark that by the next game his team had forgotten what happened, and he did much better.
Story telling about your own experiences can help you bond with you child, but it can also help your son or daughter see that survival is possible after failure.
"Rounding off" the perfectionist edges in your child will help him become more successful and secure in his mistakes.

Incorporate Literacy into Your Holiday Count Down

 While parents may not associate holiday preparations with building literacy skills, the season offers a variety of fun, easy and educational ways to help get your child ready for school.  Here are just a few great ideas.

1.  Letters to Santa/Holiday cards: Have your child practice writing skills by creating a wish list or letter to Santa.  You could also use this time to learn how to properly address an envelope!  You could also have young children practice writing their name by letting them help sign all those holiday cards.

2. Sing some Holiday Songs:  Many traditional songs incorporate numbers, letters and rhymes, all critical elements of early literacy! 

3. Homemade Gift Wrap: Why not turn those scribbles and drawings into something more useful.  Buy a large roll of butcher paper and get out the markers.  Use your kid creations to wrap gifts for family and friends. While you are at it, have them write the gift tags.

4. Get Cooking:  From cookies to dinners, the holidays are usually a busy time in the kitchen.  Make this an opportunity to teach your kids family traditions, how to read a recipe and work on the measuring/math skills needed to cook!

5. Share a Good Book: There are dozens of fabulous holiday books, from traditional to brand new.  Head to your local library or book store to find a new story to share.  You could also start a new tradition:  Have a book to open Christmas morning, or send a book to your children with a return address of the North Pole! 

Create a Thanksgiving Tradition.......

Why not make this the year that you start a cherished family tradition?!?!  Here are 5 great ideas to think about adapting to your families annual Turkey Day!

Sit down with your family and reminisce about your childhood celebrations

What do you remember most about Thanksgiving and the days that follow? Thanksgiving traditions can be much more than just food and recipes. In what ways did your childhood traditions symbolize particular values, such as abundance, generosity, the importance of family? What would you like to do that's the same? What would you do like to do differently?

Make a small booklet or a mini scrapbook album

Write "Five Things I Love About My Family and Friends" and keep it out on the table during your Thanksgiving celebration. Each guest can come and record thoughts and insights. Other themes to try: "Five Things I'm Thankful For" or "Five Wishes for my Family and Friends." An even simpler approach would be to put one sheet of cardstock out for each year - and combine them together over the years in a Thanksgiving Gratitude Scrapbook.

Keep a family gratitude journal throughout the year

Each night, a family member can share something that they are grateful for. Share the highlights of this family tradition at the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day.

Make a gratitude circle

Before the Thanksgiving meal, everyone stands and holds hands in a circle. Guests each take a turn sharing what they are grateful for. Or - if your guests are on the shy side - ask everyone to write down their blessings on a piece of paper, which you can read before or after dinner.

Designate a particular tablecloth for your family Thanksgiving celebrations

Provide fabric markers where guests can record their "gratitudes" or special prayers for the year ahead. Ask your guests to sign and date each message, as you'll be using the same tablecloth year after year.

Start Making a Reader Today

Want to help your child get ready to read?!?!?!  Reading for All, in partnership with McMinnville public Library and the Oregon Community Foundation, produced this video to demonstrate real early literacy interactions between children and parents. The video features physicians, librarians, and parents discussing early literacy activities and why they are important. This video is available streaming online English and Spanish.



http://reading4all.com/entries/view/547


For more resources on early literacy, reading with young children, and selecting books for young children, don’t forget the Reading for Healthy Families website:

http://www.oregon.gov/osl/LD/Pages/youthsvcs/rfhf.home.aspx. 

Ideas of Thanks

The beginning of the month is the perfect time to get your kids to start thinking about what they are thankful for!    The following craft ideas are fun, easy and a way to get your kids excited about giving thanks!

1. Create a I'm Thankful For........book using paper bags, construction paper and pasta!

 

2. Thankful Tree: Gather some fall twigs, cut out some paper leaves and have family members write 1 think they are thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving.

 

3. Thankful Turkey: Even the smallest of kids can help make this cute Turkey!  With household items (toilet paper roll, paper plate, paper) and some writing help, your toddler or preschooler could make this year's centerpiece!

 

Show Some Faith

One of the biggest mistakes some parents and teachers make, when they decide to do Positive Discipline, is becoming too permissive because they don’t want to be punitive. Some mistakenly believe they are being kind when they rescue their children, and protect them from all disappointment. This is not being kind; it is being permissive. Being kind means to be respectful of the child and of yourself. It is not respectful to pamper children. It is not respectful to rescue them from every disappointment so they don’t have the opportunity to develop their disappointment muscles. It is respectful to validate their feelings, "I can see that you are disappointed (or angry, or upset, etc.)." Then it is respectful to have faith in children that they can survive disappointment and develop a sense of capability in the process.