Resetology: Calming And Connecting Secrets From The Principal’s Office – Get It Today
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Resetology: Calming And Connecting Secrets From The Principal’s Office – Get It Today

August 28, 2014 I’ll admit it. Sometimes I struggle with parenting. I catch myself yelling at my children to get out the door in the morning. I referee fights instead of letting my kids work it out themselves. I beg and plead for good behavior. But what if I didn’t have to? I met Jim House at a local…

Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016 with These Great Reads for Kids
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Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2016 with These Great Reads for Kids

January 19, 2016 January 27, 2016 is Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD). This two-year-old initiative, started by founders Mia Wenjen and Valerie Budayr, has achieved tremendous success and online support for diversity awareness by putting thousands of free books into kids’ hands. Last year on January 27th, Multicultural Children’s Book Day, they — along with…

Social Moms
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Graduation Gifts That Make the World a Better Place

June 14, 2012 Tis the season for academic graduation ceremonies. Parents and children alike are filled with triumph, hope, and an eye toward the future and its possibilities. As we watch our young people prepare for the next important stage of their lives, we can hope they will follow the following sage advice. “Graduation is…

3 Ways to Find Math in Your Vacation: Without the Workbook
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3 Ways to Find Math in Your Vacation: Without the Workbook

June 25, 2019 Summer vacation is a time for carefree fun and loose schedules. Kids want to fill the day with junk food and play while parents might want to shove in some worksheets or tutoring sessions when they start to worry about academic backslide. Backslide is a real thing but it is my mission…

Summer Learning: Fine Art in Five Minutes or Less
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Summer Learning: Fine Art in Five Minutes or Less

July 12, 2019 It’s vacation time. The kids are either running circles around the house or assuring you that they’ve never been so bored. You want to be the “good mom” that spends the summer filling their minds with new and important information. But you also want to be the mom that survives. Don’t worry!…

Last Minute Family Activities to Plan Before School Starts
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Last Minute Family Activities to Plan Before School Starts

July 24, 2019 Summer sure goes fast, doesn’t it? Often it feels faster than any other season. Yet, here we are. Did you do all those great things you planned with the kids? With the weeks dwindling down, it’s time to get in those last-minute family activities and small trips in … if you can….

Are You Reading to Your Child Every Night? (And Why You Should Be)
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Are You Reading to Your Child Every Night? (And Why You Should Be)

August 30, 2019 Many parents read to their toddlers as a nightly routine. It’s a fun, warm, bonding activity. Of course, it also teaches the little ones new words and engages their imagination. Yet as children grow up, many parents stop reading aloud. Their children get busy with activities, they go to bed early for…

504 or IEP What’s the Different Between The Two?
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504 or IEP What’s the Different Between The Two?

August 13, 2019 Back to school means new clothes and supplies for most parents. But, for parents of children with special needs, it also means reviewing and renewing their child’s 504 or IEP plans before the school year starts. Both 504 and IEP plans were created to help provide children with learning disabilities or special…

Back-to-School: Tips for a Mindful School Year 
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Back-to-School: Tips for a Mindful School Year 

August 9, 2019 We hear a lot about the benefits of mindfulness these days. Basically, the concept refers to finding ways of focusing on the present moment while acknowledging and accepting everything that we are thinking, feeling and experiencing. It can take practice, but the calming benefits are entirely worth the time invested. Back-to-school time…

Back-to-School Tips for Homeschooled Kids
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Back-to-School Tips for Homeschooled Kids

August 19, 2019 It’s back-to-school time, which means we’ll start seeing pics of parents celebrating the end of long summer days with their children at home. If you’re a homeschooler, you might have a very hard time identifying with that. Still, getting swept up in some aspects of this time of year can be beneficial…

Tips for Juggling Parenting and a Full-Time Job
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Tips for Juggling Parenting and a Full-Time Job

August 22, 2019 With school right around the corner, many people are wondering how to juggle parenting and a full-time job. Except for perhaps five weeks after my second child was born, I have always had a full-time job along with the main responsibility of parenting and homemaking. And, while it’s not always easy to…

Fun Back to School Gifts for Your Child’s Teacher
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Fun Back to School Gifts for Your Child’s Teacher

September 4, 2019 If your child hasn’t already gone back to school this month, chances are that they will be in the next few days. As parents, we spend a lot of time buying school clothes, backpacks, new sneakers, notebooks, crayons and a host of other back to school supplies. But, have you thought about…

Use These Tricks To Curb Sugar This Halloween
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Use These Tricks To Curb Sugar This Halloween

September 12, 2019 Compared to 100 years ago, the amount of added sugar in our food supply is staggering. While the initial risks of having so much sugar in kids’ diets was downplayed, it’s looking more and more like something we should be taking seriously. The American Heart Association recommends that children consume no more…

5 Tips to Keep Halloween Allergy Friendly
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5 Tips to Keep Halloween Allergy Friendly

September 13, 2019 As a mom of a child who is gluten-intolerant, Halloween is not the most allergy-friendly holiday out there. Until we learned our daughter was gluten-intolerant, we never considered allergies when choosing our Halloween treats. If the candy was on sale and had a cute Halloween picture on the front of the package,…

Parents’ Dreams: When They’re Lost and How They’re Found
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Parents’ Dreams: When They’re Lost and How They’re Found

September 18, 2019 One of the hardest parts of parenting is the expectation. From the minute the test comes back positive, we start imagining who that baby will become and what life will look like with them in it. For some, those imaginings start even earlier. We laugh at the people who like to say,…

How to Encourage Kids to Give Back at Thanksgiving
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How to Encourage Kids to Give Back at Thanksgiving

October 14, 2019 When people think of Thanksgiving, the first things that come to mind are probably turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and visiting with friends and relatives. You may also think of Pilgrims, the change of seasons, and the approach of winter. And, if you’re like many people, you also think of the things in…

5 Thanksgiving Videos to Lift Your Spirits…or Take You Away
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5 Thanksgiving Videos to Lift Your Spirits…or Take You Away

November 6, 2019 This time of year always launches the crescendo of the to-do list, holiday expectations, and time-juggling stress. Rather than think too much about all of the stuff racing toward me, I want to relax and smile. And if I quietly pretending I’m vacationing on a deserted tropical island with a hammock, book,…

5 New Year’s Resolutions Busy Moms Should Make
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5 New Year’s Resolutions Busy Moms Should Make

December 19, 2019 Ready for the new year? The new decade? You’ve shopped. You’ve wrapped. You’ve baked. You’ve planned. You’ve visited. You’ve hosted. You’ve worked. You’ve risen early and stayed up late. You’re basically exhausted. Busy moms are always giving, doing, helping, and managing to juggle many things at once. Kudos to you! So now…

8 Questions for Kids to ask Grandparents this Holiday Season
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8 Questions for Kids to ask Grandparents this Holiday Season

December 9, 2019 Whether your children see their grandparents often or once a year on a holiday, there’s usually talk about school, sports, movies, new hobbies, and favorite toys … amongst other things. How often, though, do the grandparents get to tell tales of their youth? Perhaps some do, but my parents only do when…

Better Than I Thought: My Life as a Christmas Movie
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Better Than I Thought: My Life as a Christmas Movie

December 18, 2019 This time of year, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, whether you are romantic or not, whether you watch television or not, there is no avoiding those television Christmas movies. Love them or hate them, you’ve probably seen at least one. I love to tease my mom for watching them but I’ve…

5 Things to Teach Your Kids this Winter, that School Probably Doesn’t
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5 Things to Teach Your Kids this Winter, that School Probably Doesn’t

January 10, 2020 Winter can be long and keep many of us cooped up, but being home with your kids can make a great opportunity to teach them some elements that school likely doesn’t. Money Skills No matter the age, many children got money for Christmas. Without making it a math class or a complicated…

Helping Kids Interact With Black History Month: Art
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Helping Kids Interact With Black History Month: Art

February 14, 2020 Every year, February rolls around and we hear about Black History Month. It’s an important recognition of people left out of the mainstream narrative because of the color of their skin. We hear inspiring stories and see pictures of major event, but I always am left with a strange feeling of incompletion….

7 Communication Secrets for Parents of Elementary Aged Kids
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7 Communication Secrets for Parents of Elementary Aged Kids

May 20, 2013 At the end of January, I covered 7 communication secrets for parents of teens and received some great feedback from our Social Moms readers. I was talking with a friend yesterday and she asked for similar advice, but this time she needed tips for talking to her elementary-aged child. It’s definitely important to start…

5 Tips for Dealing With Your Spouse’s Ex
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5 Tips for Dealing With Your Spouse’s Ex

August 5, 2013 Today, blended families continue to be more and more common and, as a result, relationships with children, former partners and in-laws have become a lot more complicated.  While it may be possible to minimize contact with some people in the extended family, it can be next to impossible to avoid your significant…