I don’t know if it’s the hot summer air, the kids running wild on the old-school play equipment, or the ridiculous amounts of yummy snacks we bring with us, but there is just something special about going to a drive-in movie. Not only is it a fun twist on family movie night, but for me…it’s full of nostalgia! It feels like a scene out of a feel-good 80’s movie. It just feels so relaxed, easy…carefree.
Does the start of the school year have you mourning summer, or are you jumping for joy? Before you break out the champagne, remember to squeeze in any last appointments, get the new backpacks, and label all the things! Oh, and a photo-op! Don’t forget the photo-op!
As we inch closer and closer to September and the start of a new school year, students may be starting to feel some anxiety about the academic challenges that lay ahead. I consider the first day of school as a kind of academic “new year’s day” – a new class, a new curriculum and very often, new educational challenges await. Whether your child is starting junior kindergarten, grade 5 or grade 9, the first day back to school can be daunting! A good way to ease some stress about starting a new school year is to set some academic goals or targets at home before they hit the classroom.
Being organized and on top things can be daunting for parents, let alone our kids! While research shows that kids can benefit from set routines at home and at school, including better behavior and better academic performance, sticking to a schedule is sometimes easier said than done. Let’s face it, we all have unique lives, with different pressures, obligations and stresses that rule our day-to-day. Teaching our kids to be organized isn’t easy, but it is something that we should at least try to encourage. Some negative effects of not being organized that students can suffer from include losing confidence in their ability to handle things, self-blame, a decrease in academic performance, challenge avoidance and more.
I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream!
Once I found a diamond.
With summer break in full swing, many parents are searching for ideas to keep their children engaged until school resumes. Working in the education field, summer learning, engagement and enrichment is a topic I get asked about a lot.
“Have you got big plans for the long weekend?”
How many times have you picked your child up from daycare, your in-laws or your parents and he starts to act out? Whining. Throwing a fit. Not listening.
When my daughter was diagnosed with a tree nut allergy 3 years ago, it changed the way I looked at food forever. I always thought of myself as health-conscious, especially when it came to my kids, but now I was constantly scouring the ingredients list of everything that came into my home! We had to be very vigilant which meant that buying baked goods from bakeries and grocery stores became impossible as most could not guarantee that their products had not come into contacts with any nuts. While nut-free products and bakeries are becoming more popular and accessible, I wanted to provide healthy, nut-free snacks for my daughter that I could make at home and that tasted GOOD! And so these nut-free, no-bake energy bites were born!