Chipper Kids(R) Bears

This is a guest post from Nicole:

Crisp mornings, falling leaves, holiday hustle–oh, the feel of fall.  While the summer is great for beach vacations and trips to the pool, fall opens the door for intimate, traditional family fun.  Fall is a time for tradition, honoring old ones and creating the new. It is important that your children have special times to look forward to during this season as it is centered around family.  Excursions that may seem so simple (or boring) can be so much fun.  We often have fun with our families when and where it is least expected.

There’s nothing like a warm apple pie to warm the heart.  How much more heart warming is a pie made with love?  Several apple orchards throughout the country open to the public in the fall.  Sometimes for free or just a small fee (about $5 per person), you and your family can go pick fresh apples. Visit www.pickyourown.org to find a farm near you.  Top off the day by making an apple pie together when you return home.  Grab a fun CD, crank the tunes, delegate the tasks and enjoy the fun.  If all goes well, you may walk away with great dessert and a new family tradition.

For recipes, click here.

Don’t forget the ice cream!

Happy fall,

Nicole

Parents everywhere are looking for ways to get their children to eat healthy foods, and Autumn is a great time to do this by discussing farm harvests and gardening with preschoolers and elementary-age students.

Here are my top four suggestions for using Autumn to teach healthy eating habits to young children.

1. Visit a local farm to pick a pumpkin

If there’s a farm in your area, schedule a trip to help your child pick a pumpkin themselves.  Many farms have organized activities for children, including hayrides and farm animal sight-seeing.

2. Make healthy treats

When you get home, make a healthy but fun treat with your child, using the produce you just picked.  Have a conversation about how this is the season for harvesting.

3. Create a “Top Ten” book with your child

Let your child draw their ten favorite Fall pictures.  They could paint a bright orange pumpkin, color a tree with changing leaves, or paste a picture of a cup of hot apple cider from a magazine.  Help your child number the drawings one to ten, if necessary. 

4. Go to the library and pick out Fall books

With a library book and your imagination, your family can travel all across the country without leaving home.

This is a guest post from Nicole:

My family is composed of three children.  I am the oldest and I have a younger sister and brother. When my sister was in elementary school she acquired a great love for reading.  First in line at every book fair, she read each and every book my parents ever purchased from cover to cover.  In third grade she graduated from the Bernstein Bears and Arthur to chapter books like James and the Giant Peach and Where the Red Fern Grows.  Amazingly she would finish them in less than a week.  I wondered how she read so fast, especially when I was four years older and it took me more than a week to read my books.  As I was in the works of launching an investigation, my father discovered her secret.

Prior to bedtime she would place her book and a flashlight between the boxspring and mattress.  When everyone had gone to their rooms for the night she would take out the book and flashlight and begin reading.  One night I guess she got a little overanxious and began reading before my parents went to sleep.  During my father’s final scan of the house, he caught her with the flashlight.  I am sure you are wondering if he was upset and the answer is no.  How could he be upset with her for reading?  I think they were more surprised (and impressed) than anything, especially since my brother and I would never do such a thing.  If we stayed up it would’ve been to watch TV.  She risked getting in trouble to do something intellectually productive.

Unlike other things, reading time should be limitless.  Motivating children to read is hard enough with some many other forms of entertainment readily available.  So if a child finds joy and excitement in a good book, let them read as much as they like.  Her rebellion led to advanced reading skills and the ability to read at an eighth grade level as a fifth grader.

Nicole

This is a guest post from Nicole:

I’ve enjoyed reading the bad mommy moments featured on several baby Web sites and mommy blogs. No mother is perfect, no matter how hard we try. There are always moments where we falter and our child may bump his head or roll off of the couch.

 However, more and more I’ve seen television featured in this category. In order to keep their children occupied instead of maneuvering around the house, many mothers are placing their children, especially babies, in front of the television. Instead of toys, parents install television monitors in the car to entertain children. Has reading fallen as a primary source of entertainment for children? I remember when the school book fairs were just like going to Toys R Us, but that was also a time when we climbed trees and set up lemonade stands.

The literacy rate in America is dropping steadily and I can’t help but ask myself if this could be a cause? I, too, am guilty of propping my son on the couch in front of Handy Manny while I finish some work. It’s easy and seems pretty harmless at the moment, but as he grows into a toddler that could become a problem. Watching television is much easier than reading and requires little to no essential skills or imagination. Cognitive development is most influenced during the early stages of life and babies develop preferences that flow into preschool age. While I believe it can be an enriching experience to watch something on television after reading about it, reading should always come first.

Nicole

Hi Everyone,

JenPrint Publications is growing and has just announced a new publicist, Nicole Williams! We’ll be learning more about Nicole in the next few days, but she’s already eager to share her parenting insights, so she’ll be posting here immediately. She’s the mom to an adorable seven-month-old boy, and giving him the right foundation is especially important to her. That’s why she’ll be sharing parenting tips here. Let’s welcome Nicole to our blog!

Thanks!
Margarette