Heart to Heart at Home

Transitions

2013-05-18T12:38:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's visited my blog more than once might have noticed some changes recently. Yes, I'm rethinking everything; it's a stage of life. Slowly but surely this blog will upgrade. Transition is a big theme in my life right now because my youngest child is graduating from high school (home school) and getting ready for college. That might not seem like such a big deal if you haven't been there,

Religious Freedom/Freedom of Speech

2013-05-08T11:34:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me this today and I was so moved by it that I have to share it. Religious liberty is a basic right of the US constitution. There is a good reason for that and this video expresses it well. Please watch and listen to the end as it is well worth it.

Kid's Creating Peace

2013-04-30T12:41:00.000-04:00

Once again, My Peace TV has featured some great content that would cause all parents to reflect on how we raise our children. When you live in an affluent democratic country it's easy to take for granted the relative peace and prosperity we enjoy in everyday life. It's easy to not concern ourselves too much with major world conflicts while we go about pursuing our personal or family goals and

Brain Power - The Internet

2013-04-15T14:47:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across this great video that says a lot about how we co-create our world, by comparing internet development to the development of a child's brain. I encourage you to watch, it's entertaining, informative and definitely thought provoking. BRAIN POWER From Neurons to Networks on Vimeo.

School Answering Machine

2013-04-11T15:56:00.001-04:00

In case you didn't know, my husband is from Australia. They have an interesting way of dealing with things down under. A friend of his sent him this YouTube video. Check it out and see if you can relate.

Creative Kids!

2013-04-02T18:38:00.001-04:00

Do your kid's complain about not having enough... Show them this short video and encourage them to be creative! Posted by My Peace TV: "Cateura Paraguay Amazing Is Not Even The Word For These Gifted Children, So We Had To Feature Them On NCNN Voices of the Youth. Now here is their "Recycle Orchestra" page:https://www.facebook.com/landfillharmonicmovie Landfill Harmonic Movie Outstanding!

One Woman

2013-03-11T11:38:00.000-04:00

Women Can Heal the World I was so moved by this song that I had to share it. In large and small ways women have the power, through the love and generosity in their hearts, to bring healing and help in a suffering world. http://song.unwomen.org/ Woman, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Wife, Friend, a person who deserves to be treated with respect because she is valuable. Regardless of whether you

Girl Thoughts & Media

2013-03-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

Media's Impact on Kids I'm the kind of person who looks for the good in everything, however I'm also aware of the negatives. When I was growing up, by the time I was 11 or 12 I became aware that TV was kind of addictive, so I tried to cut back on mindlessly watching shows. Much later in life I became aware of how deeply TV had influenced my views about lifestyle, in both negative and positive

10 Before 10 - Productivity

2013-03-04T12:43:00.000-05:00

Most parents will agree that comfort, stability and security is the best environment for a child to learn and grow. After these basics are provided there is a wide range of viewpoints about what else children need, or how to raise a child well. The trends tend to change from one generation to the next as we learn from our experiences, try to do better or as well as our own parents, and keep pace

10 Before 10 - Respect

2013-02-25T17:04:00.000-05:00

In my last 10 before 10 post I spoke about universal morality and ethics. It's interesting that the list of 7 teachable points I made began with respect - respecting oneself and respecting others. Love and respect go hand in hand; when you truly love someone it's natural to act respectfully toward them, that is if you've learned how to treat others respectfully. The idea of respect has gotten a

Children's Voices

2013-01-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

I've been having a little trouble keeping up with my posts lately due to family circumstances. Anyway, here I am and I'd like to pass along this inspiring video clip I found on MyPeace.TV. Check it out. "Playing For Change is proud to present a new video of the song "What A Wonderful World" featuring Grandpa Elliott with children's choirs across the globe. In these hard times children and music

10 Before 10 - Morality & Ethics

2013-01-23T19:20:00.000-05:00

Morality & Ethics What do you believe? How do you live your daily life in relation to others? These are important questions for self-reflection that all parents should consider because our children are learning daily what we believe even if we're not purposely teaching them. This is a difficult subject for many parents because we often have undefined beliefs ourselves, or we may feel inadequate

Getting Kids To Sleep

2013-01-17T20:08:00.002-05:00

The Best Bedtime Stories for Your Little One When it’s time for your kids to go to bed, you will surely hear some protests and complaints. Sometimes they want more TV or computer time but most of the time they just want to spend a few more minutes with you. This is almost always true if they rarely see you because you are always out for work. Bedtime stories are a great way to calm your children

10 Before 10 - Compassion

2013-01-15T16:03:00.000-05:00

Is Compassion Natural? "Of course!" you might say. But think again, it's only natural to a certain degree and the degree of compassion that each person has seems to differ a lot. That's because although all humans are capable of compassion, it is a character trait that needs to be nurtured, practiced and focused in the appropriate directions in order for it to be beneficial. Look at each of

Organizing Toys for Kids

2013-01-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Great article on organizing toys for kids rooms. Keep it simple & practical. Candy at Finding Order in Chaos knows everything about cleaning up messes, so check out her valuable tips. Organizing Toys For Kids

The Common Cold

2013-01-11T16:00:00.001-05:00

What Do You Do With A Cold? I woke up Monday morning with a stuffy nose and thought to myself, "No, I won't have this!" I took vitamin C all day, drank lots of fluids, and went about my day thinking that I would get over it. By evening I was looking for the Alka-Seltzer Plus cold medicine and the tissues. You know how it goes. Tuesday I sat on the couch and surfed the internet, caught up with

10 Before 10

2013-01-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

Teamwork Lots of times we think of teamwork as something related to sports, or people working together on a project for school or business. However, teamwork is a great concept to incorporate into your home life and daily routines. It helps everyone in the family to feel that their contribution is valued and that they are part of something bigger. It's a little too easy for the primary

Happy New Year

2012-12-30T01:32:00.000-05:00

Wishing you and your family hope and happiness in 2013. May we all find solutions for our troubles and live in love, knowing that each day is a gift and an opportunity to do something good, to add value to the world, and to celebrate life!

Crafty Dad

2012-12-20T04:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a clever dad who put his creative skills to work to entertain his young children. What started as making thoughtful and loving toys for his twin babies, grew into a full time occupation. As his family grew, his ideas grew, and the interests of friends and others grew. Check out Made by Joel for lots of clever family crafting ideas. If you'd like a sneak preview, have a look at this video

10 Before 10

2012-12-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

Kindness We all think we are kind, don't we? How do we become kind though? Is it a natural stage of development that just happens with maturity? Maybe not quite. I started babysitting when I was 12 and by the time I was 15 I decided I never wanted to have children because they were all so mean! Why are little kids so mean sometimes? They seem to think it's great fun to be mean. Does anyone ever

Difficult & Meaningful Holidays

2012-12-13T12:32:00.003-05:00

I have often heard about people who have difficulty celebrating a holiday because of the memory of a loved one who died at that time of year. I never really understood that feeling before, but now I think I do. Christmas was my parent's favorite time of year, they made it festive and wonderful, but they are no longer here. I miss them, but instead of not celebrating the holidays I've decided to

A Gap In My Heart

2012-11-24T11:03:00.000-05:00

Yes, there has been a gap in my posts. It was an emergency, something we did not expect to happen just yet. The day after my previous post I left town to be at my mother's bedside in the hospital. I spent 3 days and 3 nights with her. My husband drove for 11 hours on Wednesday to get our daughter from college and bring her and her brothers to say goodbye to their grandmother. Wednesday night and

10 Before 10

2012-11-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

Responsibility No parent would say, "I want to raise an irresponsible child." That would be crazy, even heartbreaking, because an irresponsible person can not live a good life. So all parents do their best to teach responsibility, but it can be a very hard lesson to understand for kids growing up in this crazy mixed up world. Responsibility has to be learned according to the situations and

Family Fun

2012-11-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Home Made Candles We heard a funny crackling noise outside last night. My son looked outside and said, "It sounds like rain but it's not raining." Meanwhile the house grew colder so I turned up the heat and piled on the blankets. We woke up to whiteness with a heavy damp atmosphere. No longer could we feel the crispness of Fall or see the beautiful orange, red and yellow leaves against the

10 Before 10

2012-11-05T10:55:00.000-05:00

Cleanliness - (Call before you come to my house) It goes without saying that all parents struggle with getting kids to clean up after themselves. I thought I had it all worked out in the beginning; label boxes, show them where to put their toys, sing the clean up song, do it together, etc. etc. My patience was stretched to the limit with this one and I often asked myself, "What am I doing wrong?