Childhood Joy

"True joy is that which gives us more energy
and makes us feel more alive."

Robert Puryear

              

What an amazing treasure it is to get to experience things through the eyes of our children.  This photo does not fully capture the joy my 6 year old was experiencing during the rush of waves from Lake Superior, but it brings her giddy giggle to mind for me.

Children are so exhausting in so many ways that I feel it is so important to truly tuck into our minds and hearts these beautiful moments.  They offer a balance to all the "work" of parenting. 

Pure Joy.

When have you really enjoyed watching your child experience something new?

How did it make you feel?

Kids and Money

8 year old money management

There has been a lot of talk in the media about many specific areas of parenting lately.  I think possibly the two most popular areas of talk center around child obesity and raising a financially savvy child.  In our home we have always striven to eat healthy and exercise, but only this year did we implement the next step of raising financially literate kiddos.

Here is how we set it up to work in our home ~

We started with two main thoughts:

• Kids cannot learn to manage money without having some & some guidance about what to do with it.
• Regular chores / jobs will not be paid for (they are part of being a family member), but everyone gets a set amount each week and has the opportunity to earn more if they would like to.  (for more about set jobs see my earlier post - http://parentinginlittlefalls.blogspot.com/2012/04/managing-small-home-and-large-family.html)

After we had our purpose set, we set the wheels in motion - each kid got a "bank" - for our family we chose to do wooden boxes from the craft store and have each kid paint their own (see above photo).  Then each kid received three envelopes - one for money to give, one for money to spend, and one for money to save for bigger items.  There are so many great ideas out there on how to design kid friendly banks - check out Pinterest for more inspiration!

Here is specifically how this worked out this past year for my now 8 year old -

Nintendo 3DS savings envelope

First he created his three envelopes - money to give, money to spend, and he chose to begin saving up for a Nintendo 3DS.  He set his goal and made check boxes to record his progress each week.

Every Friday night (or Saturday depending on the week) (or sometimes it takes an extra week - I just hang on to our sheets for any unpaid weeks and keep them until the next time we do "payouts") is our family night -

Our Weekly To - Do Chart

Each child, including the 8 year old, has opportunity to earn more money by doing more jobs -

Our 8 Year Old, 6 Year Old, 4 Year Old, and 2 Year Old's allowances.
The top part shows how much they get every week and the bottom are the optional jobs & money.

At the end of each week we sit down as a family and look at how much each child gets for their bank and help them think through which envelope to put it in.  It was so fascinating to watch my 8 Year Old process whether to "spend" his money right away or keep on saving up for the Nintendo 3DS.

After many months of saving and a big help from birthday money, he had quite a bit saved up.  Now he did his research...he found that he could indeed buy the Nintendo 3DS, but would be unable to afford any games right away.  He thought about that while we looked at the other options and ended up being the happy owner of a Nintendo DSi and two games!

Proud Nintendo DSi owner!

I am very proud of him for sticking with his large goal.  Our 6 year old set a goal of saving up for a puppy from the local toy store and met it, and our 4 year old has been able to buy some smaller things and has had to pay for some things he has destroyed, he is still working towards his larger goal of a Captain America shield.  Overall, we have liked the blend of intentionally giving them money with the express purpose being to learn how to manage money and also giving them the chance to earn more.

There are many different parenting philosophies about money and how to teach kids about it, this is simply ours for now.  Yours may look very different and that is okay too!

Who taught you about Money?  What do you wish you had learned earlier?

How are you teaching your children healthy money habits now?  Why do they matter?

Managing an Inconveniece + What to do When Kids are Bored

Upon finding this quote on pinterest some time back it has weaved it's way into my brain and rattles around from time to time.  There are days when I all feel that I do is "manage" things.  Plan and make meals, get laundry washed and ready for put away, clean toilets and floors.  However, I hope that I take the time to make my children feel like valued little human beings.

I think this is harder than it sounds because it means that I both spend time and effort to train and love them, but that I also don't overdo it.  That I spend time stepping back and letting them discover parts of life on their own.  I want them to feel successful and confident as they grow.

As a society we are horrible at letting our children be "bored."  At my house I have found that typically boredom has a ten minute hump.  One of my children will come up and tell me they are bored.  I will respond with a few ideas (usually some fun and some chores) and let them know I will trust them to find something to do.  They then go on the whine and flop on the floor for 5-10 minutes, then they find something they are interested in.

During these "bored" sessions my children have made some of the things they are most proud of.  Creations of art projects are a popular one.  Reading a new library book, or even organizing a closet have happened too.

There has to be management of a home.  It is more pleasant to live with at least an outline of what needs to happen.  Some of you are great at checklists, some of you just have an overall idea of what needs to get done by tomorrow.  Whatever works for you is great.  As you are managing, think of ways to build your little human beings alongside you. 

Here are a few links to some "I'm bored" jar ideas - a simple craft to make for your family:

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/the-mom-im-bored-jar/

http://imom.com/tools/training-tools/im-bored-jar/

http://www.shabbybeachnest.com/101-idea-im-bored-jar/

http://www.homespun-threads.com/hp_zencart/download/bored.pdf

How do you "snap yourself out of it" when you are feeling like being a manager is your ONLY role?
What do you think are some of the best things you can encourage your kids to do when they are bored?

Making a Memory: Babe the Blue Ox Hunt

Last fall we had an evening with no Daddy home and a Mom (me) who was going to go crazy in the house with four lovely children - we needed something to do...however this something needed to be free or almost free.

We ended up using an idea I remember my friend Wendy Kresha doing with her children one summer - going on a Babe the Blue Ox Hunt.  There are 19 individually decorated Babes in the Brainerd / Baxter/ Nisswa area.  We took one evening and were able to find 10 of them and have a lot of fun doing it!

This activity was great for our family because it appealed to everyone (then ages 1-7).  We didn't unbuckle the youngest for every picture, but for enough of them that she definitely felt included too.

So, for the cost of gas and a little prepping (when you act excited about something like this, it tend to rub off on your kiddos) we had a great night!  My kids talk about this experience often and have some fun shared memories of these few "spur of the moment" hours.

More "Making a Memory" posts to come!

What ways have you made one day or one evening memories with your kids?
Why do you think it is important to have spontaneous fun with your kids?

Themed Summer Activities for Families!

A Little Summer DQ Treat - 2010

The first summer I had four children I craved a way to instill a little summer "homeschooling" and have a little order to our weeks - This is the brain child of that desire.  I am happy to share these with you - use one idea or the whole bunch - several resources are specific to Central MN, but could easily be adapted to other areas with your resources.  During this summer my kiddos were - 6, 4, 2, and 6 months - so the activities are pretty geared to these ages.  We did not accomplish everything on this list, but had so much fun doing many of these things!  Enjoy ~

SWAT Weeks (Swisher Weeks of Activity Themes)

Every week includes whatever books I order from the library (www.griver.org) , coloring sheets(http://www.coloring-book.info/coloring/; http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html ),  plus info from the field trip destination’s website.  Of course intermingled with this will be lots of opportunities for letter and word learning, vocab building, coloring and other projects, etc.   We have purchased a family membership at Pine Grove Zoo, MN Historical Society , & State Parks Pass….to accomplish all of this with a reasonable amount of money J   FAD - is my code for Family Adventure Day.

Little Falls Greenhouse

Week one: Plant Week –

·         Visit greenhouse, plant flowers (and veggies?)

·         Field Trip to Munsinger Garden (Friday)

·         Carnation Science project (white carnation in colored water – each kid picks the color)

·         Walk to Lindbergh State park to find as many different plants that we can

Underwater Adventures (Mall of America)

Fish Project - Cut a triangle out of a paper plate and attach to the other side with a staple - decorate!

Fish Cookies!

Week two: Fish Week –

·         Field trip to the MN Fishing Museum (not sure what day yet)

·         FAD to the Underwater Adventures & Children’s Museum

·         Hopefully fishing with dad

·         Look at fish at Walmart

·         Watch Finding Nemo, Shark Tale

·         Eating Nemo fruit snacks, Sweedish fish, and Goldfish

·         Eating Tuna and Salmon

Reading with Dad

Week three: Book / Reading Week –

·         Write a book as a family and publish it

·         Meet an author, have a book signed

·         Read, read, read

·         Do letter learning activities

·         Go on a word scavenger hunt around town

Baking at Home

The BEST Bakery Ever - Pete and Joys!

Week four: Baking / Cooking Week –

·         Field trip to Bakery (Wednesday)

·         Kids choose things to cook and bake

Apollo Space Shuttle - Apollo High School, St. Cloud

Week five:   Solar System Week - 

·         Field trip to SCSU planetarium (?)

·         Track down someone with a telescope

·         Paint glow in the dark stars on kid’s ceilings or attach plastic ones

·         Visit Apollo space shuttle if in St. Cloud at all

·         Visit the Lindbergh House – flight, space, etc….

Creating birdfeeders - pinecones covered in pb, rolled in birdseed, hung with some yarn - fun and messy!

Our bird checklist for bird watching at Crane Meadows near LF

The clipboard is almost as big as the 2 year old -

Week six: Bird Week -

·         Set up birdfeeder

·         Watch birds with Grandma

·         Make pinecone feeders (pb, seeds string)

·         Field Trip to Hemker Zoo?

Releasing our Butterflies

Como Zoo Butterfly Pavilion

Week seven: Butterfly week –

·         Order butterfly garden habitat http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000ISC5/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

·         FAD to Como Zoo & MN History Museum (?)

·         Butterfly paint projects

Week eight: Bible Discovery Week –

·         VBS

·         Bible Stories for book times

·         Veggietales for all shows

River Bats Game (now St. Cloud Rox)

Week nine: Sports Week –

·         Field trip to River Bats game, Sun night 6:05

·         Play different sports, different places

Week ten: Bee Week –

·         Watch a Bee Movie

·         Contact Elizabeth for any bee ideas (?)

·         Try honey on new things / different kinds of honey

Week eleven: Dinosaur Week –

·         FAD to MN Science Museum / Kelly Farm (?)

·         Dinosaur dig in sandbox

·         Dinosaur egg discovery

·         Watch Dinosaur Train on PBS

·         Watch The Land Before Time

Week twelve: Farm & Vegetable Week –

·         Contest between mom & dad and kids as to how many different kinds of veggies each can eat

·         Visit the Farmer’s Market

·         Field trip to a farm (?)

·         Help Grandma & Grandpa with garden

What fun activities for learning have you done with your kids in summer?
Does your family have favorite places to visit that you feel have educational value?