www.1001TopWords.com |
Helping Your Kid?s Grow a Garden
Start some gardening traditions with your kids. Give them their own garden patch and a spot to dig. Children love getting their hands dirty and watching things grow. Be sure to buy good quality, child sized gardening tools. Plastic toy versions just won't hold up to the task. You will also need children's gloves and a watering can. Mark off the garden area and turn the soil. Kids can help break up any lumps with their hands. Work in some organic compost. Choose seeds that will grow quickly. Small children get impatient if their plants take too long to sprout. Radishes, Snapdragons, Cosmos, and Sunflowers will all germinate quickly. Carrots and strawberries are also easy to grow-- and yummy to eat. Large seeds like beans and Morning Glories are easy for small fingers to push into the ground. You can start your seeds indoors in an eggshell carton. When the seedlings are an inch high, tear off the egg carton, and leaving the soil intact, transplant the seedlings outside. Or, try placing beans on a wet paper towel inside a zip top bag. Tape the bag to a sunny window and wait for the seeds to germinate. I can remember, as a child, checking my beans every morning before school. The first shoots appeared to my delight and we carefully transplanted the beans outdoors. Make garden markers by painting small rocks. This will help kids keep track of their selections. Make it fun! Grow a sunflower house by planting the sunflowers in a circle with a space in the middle big enough for your kids to hide. Be sure to leave room for a door. Grow a spaghetti garden. Plant herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, and parsley. My kids love to snip fresh herbs. They stuff their pockets full of scented "spaghetti" herbs. Share your garden with butterflies and hummingbirds. Zinnias, Verbena, and Cosmos are butterfly favorites. Hummingbirds love the nectar from Nasturtium and Lantana, and Hollyhocks. Children love to pick up bugs and worms. Poke holes in the top of an old jar. Add some dirt and a few, new found specimens. Be sure to release the critters back into nature after a few hours. Arm your kids with cameras to take photos throughout the summer. They will enjoy remembering the fruits of their labor. And, the pictures will help your budding gardener plan for next year. Happy planting. And, don't forget to pick a few bouquets for mom. You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, free of charge, provided that each article is: 1. Printed in its full form with no changes 2. Includes an active link 3. And the following byline appears at the bottom of each article:About the Author: Rondi Hillstrom Davis is the co-author of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out her website that's jam packed with family ideas, visit http://www.togetherparenting.com To subscribe to her online newsletter, go to http://www.togetherparenting.com/feedback.asp Please send us a courtesy copy of your publication to the above contact Contact: info@togetherparenting.com About the Author: Rondi Hillstrom Davis is the co-author of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out her website that's jam packed with family ideas, visit http://www.togetherparenting.com
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Couch Potatoes Beware! It's no surprise that the self-image and self-esteem of overweight children are generally quite poor. And this is only exacerbated by the teasing and ridicule of their peers ? a situation that, in these post-Columbine days, can result in much more than hurt feelings. Even if children aren't tormented into taking their frustration out on others, they may well take it out on themselves. In 1994, an Associated Press article told the story of 11-year-old Brian Head, an overweight child who shot and killed himself as a last resort against the ridicule of his classmates. Growing up can be difficult enough; growing up feeling isolated can be too much to handle. Parenting Univeristy: Potty Training 101 When your child shows signs of potty training readiness, it's time to purchase some essential potty training items. There are many new products which can help to make potty training quick and easy for both you and your child. We have researched all of the latest and most effective potty training products. How Can I Teach My Child To Be Responsible? Most of us when asked what we want our children to become, we include "responsible" among other things such as happy, fulfilled and caring. We want our children to learn to make wise choices, be responsible for their actions and live responsibly. Who Are You When the Professional In You Meets Baby? Are you a professional? Bless Your Child With The Name What a dreamer I am when thinking about parenthood. Most of the time, I do this without knowing to whom my heart will belong and who will share that sacred responsibility. Even though, I am connected with the billions of souls that have always faced the stars at night to decide on what would be the perfect name for our not-yet-conceived little angels How To Be A Bad Mother As I sit here and reflect on the past two days and really the past two months, I am flooded with memories of the past and present. All of these thoughts run through my head and I feel so angry and resentful. Let me say I have been mad in the past few years but in complete honesty I haven't been quite this angry and at this point I don't know how to begin the healing process. I am back down that road of self- awareness and concern. See this is the thing, I become angry about my raw deal and the way I have been treated but then it doesn't end there, this is what people don't get about me. I get angry at those who hurt me but then I also turn around and become more angry with myself for not knowing better. I refuse to listen to that inner voice that usually carries me through every hardship in life, I push it to the side and then I think there is no way you can have all this anger and a relationship with God. That will usually get me through every thing I have to go through but this time I feel it penetrating to my soul. Using Pocket-money To Promote Independence In Kids In seminars I am often asked about pocket-money and whether it should be earned or only given when children behave well. Lets Protect Our Children There are software programs that you can purchase to keep your children from accessing undesirable websites. There are two good ones, Cyber Patrol and Net Nanny. Muscle Pain And Children Do Not Mix I am in pain. I've been in pain all day. Last night, I was in "searing pain", which is pain multiplied by pain, divided by relief, then multiplied by pain to the tenth power. In case you are not a math whiz, that equals pain with 33 zeros after it. Two days ago, I was in pain (just regular pain, no zeros). In fact, I was in pain all week. The Recipe For The Making Of A Self-Assured Child: One Part Communication, Two Parts Love Each child carries a unique picture of the self, shaped in part by the influence of parents. Your child is not born with a self-image or self-assurance. Both traits are learned through experiences beginning from birth. Identifying Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Classroom: Eight Things Teachers Should Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the phrase that is used to describe children who have significant problems with high levels of distractibility or inattention, impulsiveness, and often with excessive motor activity levels. There may be deficits in attention and impulse control without hyperactivity being present. In fact, recent studies indicate that as many as 40% of the ADD kids may not be hyperactive. Useful Jogger Stroller Accessories There are many useful jogger stroller accessories out on the market today. Whether you are using your jogger stroller out in the hot sun, in the middle of winter or in a highly buggy area you will be able to find jogger stroller accessories to fit almost any situation. 10 Tips for Making Daily Physical Activity Part of Your Childs Life! Here's some of the bad news about sedentary lifestyles: My Husband Prioritizes Making Money Above Family Time "Money is tight, and my husband's obsessed with doing everything he can to make more of it. It's gotten so bad that he's lost interest in our daughter. He hardly spends any time with her anymore. What can I do?" Parenting Your Teenager: 4 Dangerous Myths MYTH: All teens have to rebel, and the teen years will be miserable years for a family. What the Matter Is When my oldest boy was really young, he tickled my mother with that phrase. I would ask him, "What's the matter?" and he would answer me, "Well, what the matter is..." followed by whatever it was that he needed to discuss with me. He would say it with that very serious face that children get when they are expecting to be taken very seriously. We all loved the cute way he prefaced his concerns. Guide to Choosing Plush Toys for Children Many people consider plush toys great for children. They say that plush is a soft material that children love very much and that plush toys are so adorable, that you can't resist them. Friends Are A Gift You Give Yourself My oldest boy is fifteen and was a real jerk about a month ago. He had gotten pretty full of himself and acted like he was too cool for the rest of the family. Pretty typical teenager behavior, but I didn't like it. I had gotten to the end of my patience with him and laid into him about how lousy it felt to be treated that way. We ended up in a huge fight. He argued that he wasn't acting any different than normal and that I was just choosing to see things negatively. So, I laid out numerous examples of his selfish "me me me" behaviors without stopping to take a second breath. He hates it when I go off like that, but once he was ready to really talk, I came down off of my soapbox. He was close to tears. Apparently, I'd hit a nerve. He confessed that his closest friends at school had been trying to tell him the same thing recently and he wasn't hearing them. Now he suddenly knew what it was they had been trying to say. He felt awful and began to make immediate changes in his behaviors towards others. He really hated the idea that he was hurting anyone's feelings by being cold and uncaring. Social Engineering via Robotic Toddlers Is there a way to build a robot to help toddlers and pre-schoolers learn proper social behavior without the parents intervention? A robotic friend so to speak; one, which will play with the child and explore colors and shapes. Perhaps build legos? Now before you say I am wacked, let's discuss this. The parents cannot be everywhere all the time. Also the child needs to learn to get along and share with others and be self-sufficient; a robotic partner and friend with a special behavior program. How NOT to Motivate Your Children and Students Chaim Ginott was a schoolteacher whose ideas and observations helped to bring about a near revolution in the way teachers interact with their young charges. |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |