“The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. President Jimmy Carter, in 1978, proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.”

 Many nursing homes would love your family to visit, not just on Grandparent’s day but on any day. It will give your children an opportunity to brighten the day of elderly people who might not get visitors on a regular basis. Just call ahead to pick a good time and just be ready to smile and to listen.

Please read on for more guidelines for a successful visit…

Courtesy of
Friendly Visitor Program
Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas

Several visits may be required before a bond of friendship and trust will be established between you and the persons visited. In the beginning, residents may simply not know how to accept your attention. The following suggestions may help to guide you.

• Learn something about your prospective friend before visiting: interests, background, limitations and needs.
• Touch and hug. Physical touch can go a long way toward letting the resident know you care.
• Respect confidence. Keep private conversations private.
• Be a good listener. Your friend may often have no one else sho spends time to talk.
• Keep promises. Be careful what you promise. Never say anything unless you mean it.
• Be conscientious about meeting your scheduled visits.
• Encourage friendship among the residents.
• Be gentle, kind and sincere.
• Respect privacy. Knock before entering a room.
• Remember that residents are adults and should be treated as such. Accept and respect each resident as a unique individual, regardless of mental or physical condition.
• Remember that you are a vital part of the community; so is the resident.
  

DON’T

• Be a clock-watcher while visiting. Quality, not quantity of time is important.
• Feel obliged to solve the personal problems of the resident. Just being there to listen and empathize is important.
• Let the resident dwell on negative feelings. Allow them to express themselves, then move on to a positive activity.
• Bring food items for the resident before clearing it with the activity director or nurse.
• Attempt to give nursing care or perform duties of paid staff such as lifting or transferring.

Cool school days – Let’s pretend game – create a classroom at home.

Grab a table for the desks, a chalkboard and chalk (or a piece of cardboard with markers), some paper and pencils and host your own classroom!

This is a great way to prepare your older children for school and fill in the younger siblings on what fun is ahead of them.

Make sure to take a turn being the student!

Jessican and Ashlee Simpson

During the ’70s and ’80s, no less than six Sutter brothers reached the NHL.

The Jonas Brothers

Beyonce and Solange

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are just some of the most famous sibling teams out there. They combined their strengths, love and family bonds to rocket into stardom.

For this purpose – I chose some familiar faces but there are endless siblings that created small businesses, wrote books together or made inventions that changed the world (Wright Brothers!)

Think about the magnitude of this and all that may lay ahead for you and your siblings or the siblings you are raising!

We just LOVE happy sibling stories and had to share this one with you.  I’m also a fan of their products. Maybe you’ll be inspired to start your own family business!?

What do you get when you cross an entrepreneurial-minded mom with four creative daughters? A growing company whose motto is “Funky Soaps 4 Funky Folks”!

4 Sisters Soaps specializes in unique handcrafted soaps all made (as the label on each
states) “With Laughter & Love” by four sisters, ages 1-11, and their mother. Ellen
Zagorsky Goldberg, the “Founder and Mom” of the company says “we work together,
and it’s a crazy-but-fun experience for all of us”.

The family got their soap-making start in 2004, when Ellen’s aunt gave her daughters a
kit for making soap. By the time the girls had made the two soaps possible from the kit,
they were hooked on this hobby.

“What mom wouldn’t like a hobby where the cleanup is so easy?!” asks Ellen. “Just add water, and the kids and all the supplies are clean!”
Ellen, a registered nurse with a master’s degree in pediatric nursing, also likes that the
soaps make hand washing fun: “One of our regular customers is a piano teacher. She
says all of her young students ask to use the bathroom during lessons so that they can
check out what new soaps she has each week. Then she hears the water in the sink run
and run while they do a long hand washing!”
The sisters like the creativity involved in the business. They have designed unique
creations like a ‘Best Friends’ soap that comes apart into two pieces and a ‘painted
toesies’ foot-shaped soap that looks like its had a pedicure! Even the baby was the
inspiration for an entire line of baby-themed soaps that are perfect favors for baby
showers and naming ceremonies, or as gifts for new parents.
The creative aspects are only part of the equation here. “I really like that my kids are
learning about how to run a business, as well as dealing with the more difficult sides of it,
such as following-through with a big order, even if it gets boring making the same soaps
again and again,” Ellen says.
The family also likes the growth potential of 4 Sisters Soaps. As the girls say, “Everyone
needs soap!”

Hiking can be a lot of fun and there are many reasons to do it. They include being one with nature, great excercise, amazing views and even for the challenge of it all. Just because you have small children does not mean that you have to miss out on this past time.

After my recent hike on Mount Monadnock got me thinking on how this can work for even the smallest children. Follow these tips and have a great time.

Just like with anything else you do with your children, picture it from their eyes. Forget any records you want to break during your hike and focus on being on your child’s pace. Walk for 15 minutes and break for 15. Let them throw rocks in a stream, collect leaves, run their fingers over moss or drag a stick around.  The benefits for this kind of exploration is endless!

For more motivation to move forward, promise a hiking party. Have a special candy to share, a book to read, a whistle to blow, etc.

Start with easy trails so that your child can feel secure and not exhausted. Avoid high altitudes for that can avoid breathing or cause fussiness.

For your youngest trailer use a backpack so that your back can have the support it needs. Your baby will love the sights and sounds from way up there.

Pack a knapsack with food, water, wipes (got sap on my fingers a lot), a camera, sweatshirts and a paper bag to collect nature items!

Have a blast!

Do you have a sister?

Did you know it can be good for your health?

Having sisters is nothing less than a blessing, says a new report published in www.dailymail.co.uk. According to a new study, people who have sisters have less risk of being depressed. It has been proved by the research that sisters have a role to play in making us nice. The research says that one can do away with the feeling of loneliness if he grows up with one female sibling in the family.

Read more…

Create a stained glass creature using nature to inspire you!

You need: newspaper, glue, black construction paper, a white crayon, tissue paper (lots of colors), and scissors.

1.) Take a look out at nature, a family pet or even a fun nature book to choose the animal you would like to create.

2.) Cover you work area with newspaper and trace a design of your animal onto black construction paper. Use the white crayon to do this!

3.) Add on any spots your animals has with the white crayon too. Cut out the outline and spots with your scissors.

4.) Place glue around each hole on your animal and stick tissue paper pieces to the back of the outline. Use lots of colors!

5.) Allow to dry and hang it up on a window.

Everyone in your family can participate in this great activity!

In our Outdoor Adventure chapter we have an activity that will give each of your family members something to think about while gazing into the sky. Your baby can be held or be laying on her back while she listens to the sounds of her family’s voices or the animals that can be heard only at night. Ask your toddler what he notices in the sky. Have him point to the brightest object and tell you what shape he thinks it is. Your preschooler and school age children might be more intrigued with a little preparation on your part. Using a constellation map, help them spot the North Star and other exciting constellations.

Whatever it is you decide to talk about or point out while lying with your family will be valuable. We all know it is important to “stop and smell the roses” but it is just as important to stop and gaze at the stars!

What is the big deal about treating our kids exactly the same and playing into their obsession of he gets more than me? First, it will never ever really be fair in their eyes (unless you walk around with a stop watch, a food portion weigher and scissors and two it teaches your siblings to work against one another.

Challenge yourself today, I will be doing the same (there I go again!) and try to not equal things out but give each child what he or she needs at the moment.

Lisa

It’s an age old question…how to keep young kids occupied…

That’s Heather Kempskie of Bellingham, who, along with her twin sister, has co-authored a book called, “The Siblings’ Busy Book: 200 Fun Activities for Kids of Different Ages.”  Her sister, Lisa Hanson, has advice for parents.

Kempskie has suggestions to get the kids up and going.

Hanson says some of their ideas are from their own childhoods.