Mmm, Mmm, Good! Mmm, Mmm, Good!

This is a shameless request for help - our kids' preschool started collecting Campbell's labels to earn cool stuff. Look at these adorable kids (not ours) and see if you can possibly resist them ;-)

These are all the scrumpdillyicious things that have Labels for Education - you can even register your grocery keychain thingy in some stores so that you don't have to cut. But if you have kids who need to practice cutting, it's a great ploy - I'll even do all the heavy lifting by filling out the collection sheets if you'll just send your labels to me.

End plea :-)

Campbell's jingle

Scissors Cut

I loved his look of concentration in this one - Jack LOVES him some scissors!
Tho it looks like he might be dropping the bomb, I loved this picture of Dean and Harry - lucky little boy (Daddy's Hands)

I found a good (pre)school worksheets website: TLSBooks

Art Garfunkel

Welcome To The World

The boys love Word World, a cute little half-hour show on PBS. The characters' voices are pretty grating, but it has really increased their reading!

Jack and I were scouting good sites on the internet today and we happened on the World World website - this is the intro page for parents and teachers:

http://pbskids.org/wordworld/parentsandteachers/index.html

Enjoy!

10CC

Attitude Dancing

Some of this 3 year-old behavior is driving me crazy, and I'm looking for ways to work through it. I found this article and thought I'd post it here in case anyone else might find it helpful.


Positively Speaking - Your Child’s StrengthsWritten by Kelly
*** Monthly Feature Column ***
Positively SpeakingBuilding Assets in your Kids
Your Child’s Strengths by Kelly Curtis from Pass the Torch

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by weakness.
The crashed computer. Unfinished taxes. Those 10 pounds I keep meaning to shed.
I’m guessing I’m not alone. And with children in the house, it seems there’s always something that isn’t quite how we pictured it: a whiny morning, a messy room, a bossy playtime, a spaghetti-stained shirt.
But if we’ve trained ourselves to look for them, there are also details that turn out better than we expected, or at the very least – are moments to cherish. Sometimes these identified “moments” show up often, becoming character traits. I invite parents to join me weekly to celebrate this – it helps to keep perspective in a busy and stressful life.
Research shows that the more 40 Developmental Assets children have, the more likely they’ll resist risky behaviors in the future. The premise of the Asset Approach is to focus on what’s right about kids – this in turn makes those strengths more influential on a child’s life, than his or her weaknesses are.
Jenifer Fox, author of Your Child’s Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them, agrees. She says that when parents focus on developing and utilizing their children’s strengths — rather than trying to fix weaknesses – children grow up to be happier, healthier and more productive adults.
She writes, “…strengths are not talents or skills, or what your children are good at. Strengths are far more personal – they are the activities that make someone feel strong.” Although a child might be good at math, if it isn’t energizing for that child, it isn’t a true strength.
Jenifer offers four ideas for parents who want to set the stage for a young child’s self-discovery:
• Record observations of preferences, quirks and choices
• Stimulate imagination through creative play
• Create rich memories with tradition and ritual
• Model positive attitudes and positive approaches to life.
The more we can help our kids identify their strengths, and channel them into the paths that work toward those strengths, the more likely they’ll pursue positive life choices that energize and motivate them.
So go ahead. Join the brag-fest! What are your child’s strengths?
Thanks for joining in to build assets in your kids! I look forward to seeing you again next month for Positively Speaking. Kelly

Carly Simon