Discipline~we have to do it~

Ok, so you're on your roadtrip and your child starts acting unruly in front of complete strangers, talking back to you, and being stubborn.....do you...

• Stop him in his tracks and tell him that you don't like what he's doing and if he doesn't stop you are going to beat him to death?
• Tell him to apologize to the stranger for being nasty and apologize to you.
• Go sit in time out

• Tell dad

I say go with option 1. Ok, for real...I am a firm believer of spanking. It's how I was raised. Now I don't agree with spanking a child for every little thing, but for some things. I do believe in timeout and taking away certain privileges also. I located this discipline guide online and I do advise you to check it out. We all know when our children are trying us and so sometimes we react in a way that they do not expect. (Sometimes that's the best!~lol~) We don't want to scare them. But we do want them to fear us. Do we really? I used to flinch when caught in the act and my mom would raise her hand slightly as if she were reaching for something else. ~that's not funny~

Discipline Internet Resources:

• Discipline and Your Child: AAP parent's guide to discipline, explaining the difference between discipline and punishment, how to encourage good behavior, tips to avoid trouble, and strategies that work, including using natural consequences, logical consequences, withholding privileges and time-out. Plus six tips to make discipline more effective and information about why spanking is not the best choice.
• Disciplining Your Child: Information from kidshealth.org about disciplining your children at different stages of their life and a word about spanking.
• Guidance for Effective Discipline: American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on discipline using a developmental approach, plus strategies for effective discipline and punishment.
• Effective Discipline for Young Children: Learn to understand children's behavior better, how to prevent misbehavior, how to deal with misbehavior, that discipline helps children learn how to behave, that there are many acceptable ways to discipline children.
• Discipline Facts: 'Helping a child to behave in an acceptable manner is a necessary part of raising the child well. Discipline varies at different ages. There is no one right way to raise children, but child and adolescent psychiatrists offer the following general guidelines...
• The argument for spanking vs. not spanking your child
• When your child wants discipline: This is a good one too!
• Just because..LOL! This is coming from a black mom, her view on spanking. Thank you for the picture!
  

But how do you discipline your children? Spank or no spanking.....please share. Your comments are welcomed!

Road Trip

Hey everyone! Planning any road trips lately for your family? I came across a fabulous website for moms...and dads. LOL . The site is called momsminivan.com. They have so many car games, travel games and road trip tips here. They say that they have over 101 tips and by looking at the site, I surely think that they miscounted. ~smile~ At mom's minivan, they have ideas for toddlers and babies, as well as printable car games.

Also another great find that I went click crazy is family-roadtrip.com. Just to quote them: "This is the place to start planning your next family road trip or other vacation." When they say planning, they mean planning! You can get free travel planners from every state as well as coupons, maps and other useful information. Just swing on by and give it a looksee.

After continuously crusin'~per Smokey Robinson~ I came across another great find, Roadtrip America. This site list several other links to help you create more summer memories with your children.

Last but not least I saw a site that listed Travel Tips and Ideas when traveling with your children on your roadtrip. It list things to bring that even I hadn't thought about. A frisbee, plastic box, compass, and of course plenty of snacks.

Don't forget a camera to capture all of those embarrassing moments, and the memorable moments as well. Be safe and happy traveling!

PS. Here's one for the road...~pun intended~ ccb.lis.uiuc.edu/.../hettling/roadtrip.html.

Summer Camp Anyone?

Summer camp is a great experience for a child. It provides an arena for developing social skills as well as getting to know themselves. You make new friends. Learn how to make crafts, singing, dancing, acting silly, and having your first crush......~sigh~, can all occur at summer camp. To find a camp in your area try http://www.kidcamps.com/. This site features listings for summer camps and day camps in each state. So if you are in the good ol' state of North Carolina, you can go to http://www.kidscamps.com/camps/north-carolina-day-camps.html. To find a place for you young one to go to for the summer.

Also some churches provide day camps so that your child can go for a 1/2 day or a full day in your area. There may be community centers as well that provide summer camp for your child in which they may go on field trips, have quest speakers and have fun with arts and crafts.

Give your child a summer to remember. Summer camps are a great experience for children. The camp environment offers your child the opportunity to learn to live, work and play with others. Adventure, fun, friends and unique learning activities make summer camp an essential part of a child's emotional and educational growth. This makes choosing the right summer camp very important.

Weekend Activities

Not sure of what to do on the weekends with the little ones? Try Creative Kids At Home. This website is sure to provide many fun activities for you and the children. They post new activities each month and science projects that you and your child can do together.

For the busy body that keeps complaining of being bored try going here. This site design and colors are enough to keep your child and yourself excited for hours on end. Online games, jigsaw puzzles, coloring pages and more!

If it happens to be a rainy weekend. DLTK Crafts is a site that you should see for yourself. Not much to see here, but plenty to do. DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids provides a variety of fun, printable children;s crafts, coloring pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of our children's favorite cartoon characters. If you are also in the UK, try this site . At the activity village, there are several more rainy day activities to keep the laughs and smiles coming.

Also try this oldie but goodie: PBSKids.org

Keep A Stash:

Above all else, have age appropriate emergency toys for rainy day occasions. Board games, coloring books, special movies, and little dollar store toys bring excitement to even the grayest day.

A rainy day can seem ever worse if the family is bored and searching for things to occupy their time. With a little preparation, and advanced thought, rainy days can be as fun as sunny ones.

Friday's Fun Fact

Who invented the popsicle?

It was the Romans who made the first popsicle (ice lolly). They took some ice and added flavour to it and then licked it. What a great idea!

Many other interesting facts can be found here at this cute site for you and your children.

Children Starting Daycare, School, Or College?

Then I have some sites here for you to check out. Let me know what you think. For all of those pre-k's out there there is a site that will be beneficial to you. There is a site for K-2 that is great for helping your child to learn how to read. I checked it out myself, it caught my attention! The website is http://www.starfall.com/. It states on the website that it is primarily designed for first grade, but also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade. Starfall is perfect for homeschooling. I completely agree. I also came across another site for those that are having difficulty in Math. I honestly loathed math in school. If I would've had access to this website, then I would have had less headaches! The site is sorted by grade level. It goes from kindergarten through the eight grade....can someone say pre-algebra? For all of you future spelling bee champions or for those of you wanting to brush up your vocabulary , that site is an excellent place to go to. It helps with spelling also! For all of you high school students the website you need to be visiting regularly is www.fafsa.ed.gov/ this is the place to be! You should know the commercial: Apply and get money for college. This is so important to find out what is available to you. Research! Research! Research! Learn everything you can about each College or University that you are interested in attending. I personally went to a private hbcu. Learn more about the my college (Falcon Pride!) ~Ahem~ But take the time to think about what you want to do and where you want to go to achieve that goal.

Parents: Do you think that in today's society, that the importance of college is forced or not as important?

Children: What College or University do you want to go to?

Shout out your favorite one! Leave a comment! Enjoy the links provided, if you have some, feel free to leave them in the comment section. Have a great creative day!

What is or was your favorite childhood game?

What was your favorite childhood game? Was it hopscotch, hide-n-go seek, or tag? I have several favorites. I think the one I liked the most was hopscotch. You never really see any kids today playing hopscotch. In doing a little searching. I was curious to know how hopscotch originated.

This is what I found:

Hopscotch dates back to the Roman occupation of Britain. The first thing to be done is to draw a course. Several common court styles are seen below:Each player then chooses a marker, usually a stone. Play begins with the first player tossing his stone into the first space. If the stone lands completely within the designated square, the player proceeds to hop through the course. A player can only have one foot in any given square, so single squares must be balanced and double squares (side by side) are straddled.While hopping, the player should alternate the foot he lands on for each square. Any space not marked with a number, ie London, Home, etc., are considered rest squares and can be landed in in any fashion.When the player reaches the top of the court, he then turns around and comes back, collecting his marker along the way. Play then continues with the player tossing his marker into the second square and so on.

If a player fails to toss his marker into the correct square or if it touches a line the players turn ends. The same is true if the player stepson a line, misses a square, or loses his balance and falls.The first player to complete the course for each numbered square wins.

I located this information at web.northshield.org/.../moy/games/hopscotch.php.

I did notice when I was coming up that more girls played hopscotch than boys. The boys would just walk through when you were jumping and mess you up. They thought it was funny. You would get hurt especially if you were the one that had a big gap and you would've made it if he hadn't walked in front of you. Then you spent the rest of the time chasing him, trying to hit him for the remainder of recess. ~sigh, the memories~ If its a beautiful day where you are today. Make time and introduce your child to hopscotch if they don't know about it. Play to win...and play to learn. Have a fun day!