“Positive Parenting Tips” newsletter April 2011

Inspiring Quotes:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"Fun is about as good a habit as there is." - Jimmy Buffet

"Imagine." - John Lennon

Kids Activities:

Not only do kids of all ages love to play games, games are a creative and inexpensive way to entertain children. With a little imagination you will soon have them making up their own games!

Whether you're looking for birthday party games or just something to keep the little ones busy for a little while, I think you'll find these games easy to learn and fun for all ages.

Backyard Play Structures for Children

Playing outside is fun, but many children get bored with traditional outdoor activities. To cut down on the boredom in your family, you are encouraged to think about purchasing your child an outdoor play structure. Outdoor play structures are different than most toys because they are larger in size and often come equipped with more than one activity. If you are interested in purchasing one of these popular play structures, you may want to take the time to familiarize yourself with what is available.

When familiarizing yourself with popular outdoor play structures, you will find that you have a number of different options. Perhaps, the easiest way to go about seeing what is available is to visit your local retail stores. Many home improvement stores, toy stores, and department stores should have a fairly large selection of play structures available. In addition to seeing what is available locally, most storefront retail locations will have displays setup. These displays may give you an idea as to what your child’s new toy will look like in your backyard.

While it is nice to view the selection of local play structures, you may also want to examine a number of different online retailers. You may not get to see product displays, but you should be provided with detailed information, including pictures. What is nice about online shopping is that most online retailers have a larger product selection, when compared to most traditional retail stores.

Whether you shop online or at one of your local retail stores, it is likely that you will come across a number of different items that are referred to as play structures. As previously mentioned, most play structures are large in size and are often equipped with more than one activity. Popular play structures include, but should not limited to, swing sets, playhouses, sandboxes, and tree forts.

Sandboxes are often referred to as outdoor play structures because they are made of durable materials. Popular sandbox styles include ones that are made with plastic or wood. It is also important to note that sandboxes come in a wide variety of different sizes. This means that if you have a large yard or a small yard, you should be able to find a sandbox that is perfect for your child.

Tree forts are another popular backyard play structure. Unlike many other play structures, tree forts may be hard to find for sale. This is because a large number of them aren’t just big, but enormous. If you are able to find tree forts for sale, it is likely that only the supplies are for sale. It is rare to find a fully assembled tree fort in most, on and offline, retail stores. If your child would like to have a tree fort, but you are unable to find the supplies for sale or make one yourself, you may want to seek the assistance of a professional contractor.

Tree forts are many children’s dream toy; however, not every child can have one. If you are unable to afford the cost of a tree house or if you do not have any trees in your backyard, you may want to think about purchasing a playhouse. In a way, playhouses are similar to tree forts. The only difference is that playhouses are ground structures. Playhouses, like most other outdoor structures, come in a wide variety of different styles. Many of these styles are great for boy, girls, or even both.

The above mentioned play structures are ideal for small children; however, if you are looking for a structure that can be used for a long period of time, even as your child grows, you may want to look into swing sets. Swing sets often come equipped with swings, slides, teeter totters, and monkey bars. Metal swing sets are available for a reasonable price. For a more expensive and dependable structure, wood swing sets are also available.

In addition to tree forts, playhouses, swing sets, and sandboxes, there are also a number of other outside play structures that are available for sale. Whether you purchase one of the ones mentioned above, another, or make your own, your child will likely be pleased with the purchase. So pleased, that they may never want to play inside again.

Visit for our Free Kids Games & Activities from A to Z

Easy Kids Recipe:

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies - These cookies use sweet rice flour, also known as glutinous rice flour. Don't be fooled by the name; there's no gluten in glutinous rice flour (or any rice flour, for that matter). This flour, like most gluten-free flours, is easy to find if an Asian grocery can be located. It can also be found in many boutique grocery stores, such as Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Other gluten-free flours may be substituted, but be prepared to adjust the amount of flour needed to compensate for variations in starchiness.

It should go without saying, for any household coping with celiac disease, that it is imperative to make sure all your ingredients, work surfaces, and utensils are free of gluten contamination. Special care should be taken with compound ingredients such as baking powder; make sure its ingredients list does not include gluten-containing items such as modified food starch.

The cookies are pictured to the right with various additions to the dough. Experimenting is encouraged, but please be careful choosing additions. Some of the cookies pictured have oats added, which introduce trace amounts of gluten and are not safe for celiacs.

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl

• Stand mixer and bowl (or a hand-held mixer and a medium mixing bowl)

• Wooden spoon

• Cookie sheet

• Non-stick silicone baking sheet liner (Silpat, etc.)

Ingredients

• ½ cup (1 stick) (120ml) butter

• ½ cup (120ml) sugar

• ½ cup (120ml) brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1¼ cup (300ml) (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) sweet rice flour

• 1 tsp xanthan gum

• ¾ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp baking soda

• Chocolate chips (as many as you like)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

2. Mix the sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.

3. In a smaller mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue mixing.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Don't worry about over-mixing; since there is no gluten in the flour, there is no danger of overworking it.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Line cookie sheet with silicone mat and spoon on balls of dough, about 1½" (4cm) in diameter.

7. Bake until golden brown.

Notes

This will likely take longer to bake than a gluten-containing cookie recipe—perhaps about 25 minutes. Baking time will depend on the flour you use, since the protein content of the flour will determine the rate of browning from the Maillard reaction.

The silicone baking sheet liner is important, as these cookies tend to stick to the pan more than most. If you don't have one, parchment paper might also work.

Child Arts & Crafts Activities:

Seashell Soap Dish

Supplies: Large seashell or clam shell, three or four smaller shells, all about same size and glue.

Directions:
The shiny inside "bowl" of the clam shell or large seashell will become your soap dish. The three or four smaller shells should be glued on the outside, to act as legs and prevent the dish from overturning. Experiment with the position of the shells until you have an arrangement that will balance your soap dish securely then glue the smaller seashells in place. Allow glue to dry completely before using.

Seashell Wind Chimes

Supplies: Assorted seashells, twine, craft glue, twigs or craft sticks.

Directions: Arrange the sticks in a cross shape, and wind a small amount of twine around the center of the sticks to secure them together. Leave a circle of twine at the top to serve as a hanger.
Tie a length of twine to each end of the crossed sticks. Cut each piece of twine to the same length and glue a seashell to the end. Tie four more pieces of twine between the end of each stick and the center of the wind chime. Make these four strings about the same length as well.
Finally, add one more piece of twine from the center of the crossed sticks. The length of this piece can be shorter or longer than the rest. Add a large, pretty seashell to this string. Let the glue dry, then hang your wind chime where the seashells will

Positive Parenting Resources:

Being A Happy Parent

When you were growing up, did you ever wish that your parents were happy? Did you feel safe when they were happy and peaceful?

My mother was rarely a happy person. Most of the time she was anxious, angry and felt overburdened, even though I was her only child. She rarely laughed and was often upset with me, or my father. Clearly, she made both of us responsible for her happiness and we consistently fell short.

I would have given anything to have had a happy mother – a mother who knew how to take responsibility for her own happiness and pain. I would have loved to have had a mother who showed me how to take loving care of myself instead showing me how to be an unhappy martyr.

Often, in my counseling work with parents, I ask them if their parents were happy. Most of the time they say no. I ask them if they wanted their parents to be happy and invariably they say, “Yes, I would have loved it.” Yet these same parents are not taking responsibility for making themselves happy now. They are acting just like their parents – anxious, angry, depressed, withdrawn, resistant, or compliant. They are controlling with each other or with their children in the same ways their parents were controlling.

“As parents,” I say to them, “it is your responsibility to learn how to make yourselves happy so you can be role models for your children. How can your children learn how to take emotional responsibility if you don’t? Right now, you are role modeling being a victim of your circumstances instead of being an emotionally responsible adult. You are using your anger, upsets and unhappiness to control your children, or you are putting yourself aside to take care of everyone but yourself. How can they learn to take care of themselves if you are not taking care of yourselves?”

Many parents take care of externals: they keep the house clean, they are on time, they pay their bills, and they earn money. Some parents even take care of their physical health by eating well and getting enough exercise. But many parents fail to take care of their emotional wellbeing.

Taking care of your emotional wellbeing means that you recognize that you cause your own feelings with your thoughts and actions. When you think and behave in ways that are unloving to yourself or others – that are not in your highest good - you will be unhappy. When you think and behave in ways that are loving to yourself and others – that are in your highest good - you will be happy. Your positive or negative emotions are completely the result of your own thoughts and actions.

If you operate from the belief that how your children act, or how your partner acts, or how your external life is, causes your feelings, then you are operating as a victim. As a victim, your happiness is dependent upon others doing what you want them to do and on getting the outcomes you want. If this is your belief system, then you are teaching your children to be victims.

Taking emotional responsibility means staying tuned into your own feelings and immediately shifting your thought process and actions when you are feeling negative feelings. It means that you learn to access a spiritual source of inner guidance to help you know how to take loving care of yourself. You need to learn to turn to your spiritual guidance to help you think the thoughts and take the actions that are true and in harmony with your soul, rather than operating from the false beliefs that cause you pain.

Do not kid yourself into thinking that as long as you are there for your children you are being good parents. You also need to learn to be there for yourself so that you can be a happy and peaceful parent.

About The Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D., best-selling author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You” and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or email her at mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com. Phone Sessions.

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Editor’s notes & humour:

If you need a laugh, read through these children's science exam answers :

Q: Name the four seasons. A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink. A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed? A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? A: Keep it in the cow. (brilliant!)

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans? A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids? A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age? A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty? A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes. A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? ( e.g., abdomen) A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is the fibula? A: A small lie.

Q: What does 'varicose' mean? (I do love this one...) A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarian Section.' A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome

Q: What does the word 'benign' mean?' A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

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In order to achieve any and every goal, you simply need to answer these 3 questions.

"In order to achieve my goal....

1. What do I need to STOP doing?

2. What do I need to START doing?

3. What do I need to DO MORE OF?"

THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO THIS FORMULA FOR SUCCESSFUL GOALSETTING...

But if you DO want more suggestions and tips for goalsetting, go to:

Personal Goal Setting free self help articles

Kids Are Quick

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America MARIA: Here it is. TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ? CLASS: Maria.

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor? JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?' GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'

TEACHER: No, that's wrong GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago. WINNIE: Me!

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty? GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.' MILLIE: I is..

TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am' MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him? LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating? SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his? CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested? HAROLD: A teacher

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Thank you for joining us this month, I hope that you have found some extra motivation and inspiration for your positive parenting.

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Your Editor,
Theresea Hughes.
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