|
Articles about family activities (0-50 of 10520)
- Keeping Christmas Alive
By: J Gardener. | - The holiday season always seems like a whirlwind of shopping, parties, pageants, and family gatherings, a month or two of furious, but joyful, activity, leading up to Christmas and the New Year celebration. By the time it's all over, most of us need a breather, a bit of time to relax and reflect and renew.
But after a few weeks without the parties and colors and music, many of us start to miss the holidays. Winter sets in, with its cold, dark days, and the whole world seems to s ...
Tags: family activities, family fun, holiday planning, family, holidays, Christmas
- Family Christmas Parties And Kids
By: J Gardener. | - Once again, the holiday season calendar is filling fast. There are all kinds of Christmas-related activities that families are involved with, each year. There are private parties for friends, civic gatherings for whole towns, office parties for businesses, and of course, large family gatherings. Most families try to schedule at least one large party for the extended family members, every Christmastime.
As wonderful as these family events can be, many parents face them with at l ...
Tags: family issues, family activities, family holidays, holiday planning, holiday issues, family concerns, parenting issues, family, holidays, parenting, children, Ch
- Adorn Your Holidays With Your Children's Decorations
By: J Gardener. | - It's the holiday season, again, time to break out those boxes of Christmas decorations and fill the house with all of the bright colors, fabrics and joyful messages of the season. Through the years, we collect these decorations. Some are just hand-me-downs, some are genuine heirlooms, and some are ornaments and lights and various baubles we've bought or been given, through the years. After a while, we have a hard time remembering the significance of any of them, if there ever was any.
...
Tags: family fun, family activities, family holidays, family fun, holiday planning, children, family, holidays, Christmas, crafts
- Avoiding The Holiday Bulge
By: J Gardener. | - As much as we love the onset of the holiday season every year, most of us know that one of the pitfalls of Christmas is the extra weight we put on, from eating all that wonderful food. There are so many parties and gatherings, with so many gorgeous and sugar-filled treats, most of us tend to sigh and accept the fact that we'll gain a few extra pounds.
If there's any time of year when we should enjoy good food, without worrying ourselves too much about the extra calories, it's thi ...
Tags: family activities, holiday planning, holiday issues, diet & exercise, family, holidays, fitness, Christmas
- Sharing Christmas Joy
By: J Gardener. | - You're probably already planning this year's holiday celebrations. They will probably center around the gathering of your family, to share the fellowship and the love which this season always promises to bring.
Your family's plans are probably full of tradition, developed and passed down through the years. Most families develop comfortable holiday habits, and follow them year after year. Rarely is anyone surprised, not even Santa Claus, as he makes his way down your chimney and ...
Tags: holiday planning, holiday issues, family holidays, family activities, family fun, family, holidays
- Share The Gift Of A Christmas Story
By: J Gardener. | - Each holiday season, one of the challenges every family faces is finding a way to manage Christmas spending. As extended families grow, the pressure to spend more and more grows with each December. But many families today have chosen creative ways to give to each other, without spending money, especially at large family gatherings.
Of course, this trend is historically what the holiday season was all about-sharing the love and the joy of family, rather than expensive gifts, at a ...
Tags: family activities, Christmas, family, holidays, families, family holidays, family fun
- Christmas Shopping With Kids
By: J Gardener. | - Parents with small children might long for those pre-family days when they could do their Christmas shopping quickly, but they know now that nothing happens quickly, when little shoppers are involved. Christmas shopping with young children requires the kind of planning that would impress military strategists.
There's no such thing as rushing, for instance. You don't zip around the slow shoppers at the mall. You can't just hop in the car and dash to the next location, when you'v ...
Tags: Christmas, kids, shopping, holidays, children, activities, family holidays, family activities, family fun, families, family issues
- Your Children Want To Be Part Of Your Family's Christmas Planning
By: J Gardener. | - When most parents face the holiday season, they imagine themselves busily shopping, cooking, cleaning for guest visits, and of course, doing whatever is necessary to make their childrens' Christmas special. Adults are so used to being busy and stressed, during the holidays, that they forget that their kids may want to be a part of all the preparations, too.
Christmas is the culmination of the season for children, with a visit from Santa Claus as the crowning event, but that doesn ...
Tags: Christmas, kids, family activities, holidays, children, family fun, family holidays, families, family issues
- Lake Of The Ozarks Family Fun
By: Dave Huffman | - Bringing the whole family on a vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks can lead to plenty of good, family fun. There is so much to do and see in the area. Many of the activities are made for families. Of course, if you are looking for specific family fun activities or events in the Lake area, there are many to suit families with members of all ages, even the most finicky. In short, the Lake of the Ozarks has family fun for everyone.
The following locations and activities are just a br ...
Tags: lake of the ozarks, lake ozarks, osage beach, family activities
- Sharing The Joy At Christmastime
By: J Gardener | - Terri is one of those women other mothers either envy or resent. With two boys, both under six, she's always sunny and upbeat, even as she goes about the many daunting tasks required of a working mother as the holiday season approaches. While her friends look at the calendar and see two months of shopping, cooking, house-cleaning and party-planning-and they wonder how they'll get through it all with any resemblence of sanity-nothing seems to slow Terri down or dampen her enthusiasm for this ti ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- On The Plane With Kids
By: J Gardener | - It's not "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house", anymore. Your new and growing family lives a thousand miles away from your childhood home, so a visit to your childrens' grandparents is a long trek that a horse-drawn sleigh won't cover. Still, your parents live for the visit at Christmastime that you promised you'd make.
And that means a plane flight-the bane of all young parents. Traveling with children has never been easy, but with all of the airline re ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Caroling At Christmas
By: J Gardener | - You're still young, by any standard, but your little ones can make you feel old, at a moment's notice. And the holiday season seems to have more than its share of those moments. Like tonight-your family's been invited to a potluck get-together with friends. There are games and activities for the kids, while the adults are spending an all-too-rare evening, socializing and catching up. It's relaxing, enjoyable, and fun-until some idiot opens their big mouth and announces aloud their bright ide ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Presents Vs. Time
By: J Gardener | - It's hard enough for most parents to arrange good, quality family-time, under normal circumstances. But in December, with holiday preparations dominating so much free time, and talk of Santa's arrival dominating so much conversation, parents are lucky to keep up with their children's lives.
One complaint that parents have had since Santa became a part of Christmas is the cost of the season. And today, with Christmas advertising aimed at children beginning before November, parent ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Parents Can Help Each Other At Christmas
By: J Gardener | - The first few years that they were parents, Gail and Darin dreaded the stress of the Christmas season. The difficulty of shopping with a child in a stroller made an already arduous task even more tiring. The only way to avoid taking their baby daughter with them was to do all of their shopping seperately, while one spouse stayed at home. They avoided Christmas parties, caroling with their friends, and many of the activities they would have loved to take part in. They weren't bitter or begrud ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Planning For Christmas Past
By: J Gardener | - Your child's at the age, now, when she understands that Christmas is coming, and that it's a very special day, so you're going out of your way to make sure you don't disappoint her. You've planned everything perfectly, because you want it to be a day the whole family will remember. But have you planned a way to make sure you remember the day?
Too often, as families grow and family traditions are followed, or new ones take hold, memories of individual Christmases blend into one a ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Enjoy The Snow
By: J Gardener | - Remember how your parents always seemed old to you, even before they reached middle age? They could never relate to you, they could never remember what it was like to be a kid. Now, you're an adult with children, but you've made a pact with yourself-no matter how old you get, you're always going to think "young". You'll always be able to relate to your kids. Right?
Here's a quick test of your resolve:
The weatherman just predicted freezing temperatures and heavy ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Make A Deal With Santa
By: J Gardener | - Your daughter: "Mommy, mommy, I want Santa to bring me a (insert the name of this year's most popular toy) for Christmas!"
You: "But you got a (insert the name of last year's very similar most popular toy) last Christmas."
Your daughter: "It's old now! I hate it!"
You take a look around your daughter's room and you sigh. It's crammed full of "old" toys and dolls, last year's most-desired Christmas must-haves. And you realize that the cycle has b ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Good Deeds & The Santa Factor
By: J Gardener | - Looking back, it may seem a little like cheating, but my friend Annie found a way, several years ago, to instill in her young kids the habit of performing random acts of kindness. She didn't call them that at the time-this was before the phrase became popular-she called these acts "good deeds". And here's the kicker: her kids, young as they were, were tickled to learn the habit, becoming anxious and even competitive in finding ways to help others. And the habit has stuck with them, as they've ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Help Your Child Help Others At Christmas
By: J Gardener | - Whether you celebrate the holidays for their religious significance, or as a time for the fellowhip of friends and family-if you have small children, you know that Santa's visit is definitely the focus of their attention.
It's not unhealthy, according to most experts, for children to learn to relate to the season from an inherently "selfish" point of view. As every parent knows, in early development, kids regard what is satisfying-whether it's a hug or a meal-as special, so if a ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Golden Oldie Toys
By: J Gardener | - It's the season of giving, the season of joy, the season of peace and love for all mankind, the season to give thanks for family, friends, and all the blessings we share. But if you're the parent of a small child, and your child watches commercial TV, it's also the season of frustration, befuddlement, and ear plugs.
The frustration comes when when you realize that Christmas advertisers have been wooing your kid since September. The befuddlement is what you feel about the electro ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Remember Your Pets This Holiday Season
By: J Gardener | - In the Martin household, last Christmas Eve was typical, for a family with two children under six. Marci and Dan got the kids to bed as early as they could manage- which really wasn't early at all, considering all that pre-school adrenaline pumping at the thought of actually catching Santa in the act of dropping down the chimney. Then the young parents spent the next three hours assembling dollhouses and bicycles, installing batteries in video consoles, pushing their inquisitive dog, Jazzy, ou ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Flying With Kids: The Airport
By: J Gardener | - When you were single and traveling, you'd watch those families, whose small kids were already screaming, before your flight boarded, and you'd pray that your seat on the plane was far from theirs. Then you promised yourself that you'd get traveling out of your system, before you got married and had a family of your own-you'd never fly with little kids. Too much hassle. Did you really think you'd get away with such a ridiculous dream, considering your parents live a thousand miles away?
...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Christmas Cookies: Santa's Midnight Snack
By: Jeremy White | - Cookies. Who doesn't love them? We dip them in milk. We cover them with icing and sprinkles. We make them in various shapes and sizes and devour them with abandon, not giving a second thought to their caloric content.
Why? Because they're delicious!
We eat cookies year 'round and don't need an excuse to crave them, but the holiday season is the perfect time to overindulge. No cookie is better than a freshly baked Christmas cookie, after all. We bake them with our ch ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Sleigh Bells Ring...
By: Jeremy White | - Sleighs are intertwined with Christmas traditions and have been for ages. Our favorite Christmas songs include the use of sleighs. Jingle Bells romanticizes the one-horse open sleigh, while several songs about Jolly Ol' St. Nick make mention of Santa's favored mode of transportation - yep, you guessed it ... his sleigh.
Perhaps we love the sleigh for its simplicity. Its design - a platform or box on two runners - is anything but complex. Or maybe we love it because of the feeling ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Spoiled Rotten Angel
By: J Gardener | - You really lucked out, in the child lottery, didn't you? Just look at her, that daughter of yours. She's beautiful, obviously-everybody says, she's going to have movie star looks, when she grows up. She's healthy-just the usual childhood illnesses, and she's in the ninetieth-percentile of height, for her age. It goes without saying that she's smart-she was the best thing in the kindergarten Thanksgiving pageant last year, (O.K., so she flubbed a couple of lines; at least you could hear her!) ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Yuletide Gifts For The Religious Adult
By: Jeremy White | - As Christmas approaches and we begin procuring gifts for family and friends, it's sometimes difficult to know exactly what to give certain individuals. Spiritually inclined adults are often a challenge because you want to evoke in them their spirited passion for the true meaning of Christmas without over commercializing the sacred holiday.
Rest assured, however, that the perfect gift does exist. Here, we offer several for your consideration.
Inscribed Bibles - This ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- A Family Christmas After Divorce
By: Jeremy White | - The popular saying goes like this: "Breaking up is hard to do." Yet, when it comes to marriage in the U.S., a large percentage of us do it. Divorce, however unpleasant, is commonplace in today's society, and dealing with it during the holidays is a fact of life with which adults and children alike must deal.
A divorce - especially a fresh one - can be particularly trying during the holidays. The Yuletide season is one of giving and family, and the dissonance of a divorce can great ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Great Christmas Tales Your Kids Will Love
By: Jeremy White | - If you teach your children to love books at an early age you're doing them a lifelong favor. And there's no better place to start than at Christmas. Not only do books make great holiday gifts, but there are hundreds of wonderful children's books that deal with Christmas themes. So, what are you waiting for? Get going.
Where to start? With our list of the best Christmas books for kids, of course. Making a best-of list is always tricky. The process is subjective to begin with. A ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Take Care When Choosing A Christmas Tree
By: Jeremy White | - Selecting and decorating the Christmas tree is one of our most valued Yuletide traditions. Of all the symbols we associate with the holiday season, few are more recognizable than the Christmas tree. We take great care in selecting a beautiful, fragrant evergreen to place in our homes or businesses. We watch with delight as our kids hang ornaments, often as early as the day after Thanksgiving. We attend civic Christmas tree lightings in small towns and large cities alike. And, of course, on Chris ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Christmas In Another World: Romania
By: Jeremy White | - While much of the civilized world celebrate ancient Christmas traditions, it wasn't always so in Romania, a country once shackled to the now-defunct Soviet Union. Prior to the country's break from the communist-led Soviet bloc, Romanian residents were forced to abandon - or at least submerge - many of their Christmas traditions.
It has been 15 years since Romania regained its independence, and its citizens are once again filling the Christmas season with joyous celebrations. Young ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- The Dreaded Stage-mother
By: J Gardener | - "I dread it," Barbara tells me. She's the head of the local community theatre, and is preparing to direct the group's big Christmas show-The Sound Of Music. "By the time the show opens, I'm gonna hate it!" I assume she's talking about the difficulty of directing a big musical with non-professional talent. "I'm looking forward to that!", she replies, "It'll be a challenge! It's the stage-mothers I'm dreading. From the first audition in September, to the final performance in December, they' ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Adjusting To A Second Child
By: J Gardener | - Nothing changes the dynamic of a couple's life together like the news that they're expecting their first child. And, later, nothing will change the dynamic of their young family's life more than the news that a second child is on the way-especially if the first-born is still very young.
Most couples are surprised-having been through it, once, and believing that they're experts, now-at how unprepared they feel, once their second child is born. The problems of time management, sle ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Christmas Shopping With Kids
By: J Gardener | - Remember when Christmas shopping was something you could put off until the last minute, and then rush through, in one evening? Alone? Ahhh-those were the days, weren't they?
Now you have little shoppers, and you can't rush through anything, anymore, and a trip to the store-any store-is an operation which requires military-style planning. You can't wait until late at night. You can't slide and squeeze and speed your way through the crowds. And, most of all, you can't dawdle, ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Top Songs For The Holiday
By: Jeremy White | - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (What's in a song?)
Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Do you roast chestnuts over an open fire as part of your family's Christmas tradition? Does caroling and gift giving go hand in hand come December?
If so, you undoubtedly know dozens - maybe even scores - of Christmas tunes by heart. These songs enter our consciousness during childhood and stay with us the balance of our lives, their joyous and reassuring melod ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Christmas Dinner Made Memorable
By: Jeremy White | - Christmas dinner. Is any other meal of the entire year, save the requisite Thanksgiving feast, more anticipated? In industrialized nations, food has evolved from being simple sustenance. It's now a celebration; eating is an important part of our social fabric. Gathering around a bountiful table with friends and family is part of what makes the holiday season so special.
No wonder we dutifully plan our Christmas meals and decorate the dining room with festive frivolity. We hang mis ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Yummy Yuletide Recipes You'll Love
By: Jeremy White | - Of all the traditions you'll embrace this Christmas season, few are as resplendent and revered as a bounteous holiday feast. A table full of family and friends with cups that runneth over truly brings joy to the occasion. Here are a handful of recipes to help with your holiday dinner preparations.
We're not chefs and space constraints do not allow us to plan your entire meal, but the recipes here are easy, time tested and will make a nice addition to the other dishes you plan to p ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Don't Let The Rain Stop You
By: J Gardener | - Even though it's the weekend, you couldn't wait to get up. After all, it's autumn and the weather's been perfect. You made the decision that you were going to enjoy the outdoors with your family, today, on one of the few really beautiful days the season promises, before the cold of winter sets in.
You thought about taking a scenic drive, or walking through the woods, collecting leaves with your kids-they're growing up so fast, and this is the kind of weather that's perfect for s ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Being A Daddy & Livin' The Dream
By: J Gardener | - A few years ago (it seems like a lifetime ago, now) you were in your prime, physically and personally. You and your wife wanted a family, so you figured, it's now or never, right? You were in your prime, professionally, too, climbing that career ladder surely and steadily. Soon enough, it was 2.2 kids and a great job with a future-you were livin' the dream.
One child's a toddler now, the other just started first-grade, your wife's fantasizing about getting back to her career-and y ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Diffusing Sibling Rivalry
By: J Gardener | - Another long day is over, dinner's finished, the dishes are put away, and you can relax for the first time, sinceyou can't remember the last time. You think about curling up on the couch and watching a little TV, then you get an even better idea: What could be more perfect than a good book and some soft background music?
Moments later, you're all set-you've got your book, the lights are just right, the couch-pillows are arranged just the way you like them, and you pop the perf ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Fire Safety For The Family
By: J Gardener | - Statistically, you'll probably never experience the tragedy of a catastrophic fire in your home. But, statistically, if you do, your family's chances of survival are greatly increased, if, as a family, you've planned for the possibility.
Planning begins with prevention. Just as you teach your children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol (or, with younger children, the dangers of eating or drinking something they shouldn't), parents should also teach children-even young ones-a ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Family Time Takes A Backseat
By: J Gardener | - If it's Thursday, it must be soccer. Or ballet. Or piano, voice, religious school, jiu-jitsu, or t-ball. Or is that Wednesday?
Between school and all the available extracurricular activities today, kids-even very young ones-can seem busier than their working parents. Of course, we all want our children to have every advantage we can give them, and so many of the activities which used to be offered in school have been eliminated by budget cuts. And, gone are the days of kids j ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Enjoy This Perfect Autumn Day!
By: J Gardener | - It happens every October: You step outside on a Autumn Sunday afternoon and you can't believe it. Gone are the heat and humidity of summer, replaced by crisp, clear, clean air that fills your lungs in a way you haven't felt in months. You really notice it, and you can't help but smile.
You sigh, wishing you hadn't made plans to clean the basement or watch football or finish up that project for work orwhatever you made plans to do. Your kids are little; not really old enough t ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Choosing The Right Childcare Provider
By: J Gardener | - Family life in the twenty-first century presents challenges our parents and grandparents never imagined. With the preponderence of two-career marriages, and a growing number of single-parent households, no longer is it a foregone conclusion that a mother will automatically be her pre-school child's primary daytime caregiver.
Fortunately for parents today, the child daycare industry has grown exponentially in the past couple of decades. In most cities and towns, families generall ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Helping Children Cope With The Death Of A Pet
By: J Gardener | - The death of a pet can be a traumatic experience for the whole family. For a young child, it can also be confusing-it's often the first time a child must deal with such loss. In many cases, the pet has been with the family since before the child's birth, so he or she has grown up with the pet as a real part of the family. Children tend to relate to pets as playmates, so the loss, to a child, is often the loss of a best friend.
But while it's a sad time in a family's life, it ca ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- The Day My Preschooler Said "#@%$*&" !!!
By: J Gardener | - Even as your heart stops, you know you'll laugh about this, one day. Like, in 2046. It'll make a great story at the retirement home. But, right now, in the dead silence that fills the dining room, you just want to disappear, because everybody at the table knows-it's your fault. He must have heard it from you.
Why else would your cute little Daniel look over at Uncle Willard and blurt out, gleefully, "You're a #@%$*&!!" ?
Well, of course, everyone's right. You d ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Mommy...it's Football Season. Daddy's All Weird Again.
By: J Gardener | - If you're a football widow and the mother of a small child, it's a question you may have to face this fall. You may be hit with variations:
Why does Daddy paint his face blue (red/green/silver, etc.)?;
Why does Daddy yell at the TV?; or,
Why does Daddy hate the blind man named Ref'?
Over the years, you've come to dread September, but you've managed to cope with this dirty little family secret. Still, it's impossible to explain to a child the ...
Tags: family issues, holidays, family activities, family holidays, families, family fun, children, child
- Family Fun: Five Ways To Celebrate Everyday Life With Your Family
By: Jamie Jefferson | - Those of us who invest our time, energy, and money into raising a family know it better than anyone: there is no substitute for quality family time.
Here are ideas for fostering the closeness of your family:
1. Refocus. Its easy to lose sight of the greater picture. The pursuit of wealth can be so engrossing that we forget the real reason for our pursuit. And often this involves being a nurturing and caring provider for our loved ones.
Today, ma ...
Tags: family fun, family activities, family traditions
|
|
