How to Raise a GREAT Citizen

September 14, 2009 by admin 

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…”

-President John F Kennedy

Make community service a top priority. There are numerous ways to involve your family in community service. Community service projects do not need to take an extreme amount of time or empty your pocketbook. There are wonderful websites to put you in the right direction: The Volunteer Family, The United Way, U-Can-Do, and many more. Ask your local church group, library, senior center or school if they are in need of any help.

Golden Rule Treat others with respect and dignity, the way they would like to be treated. Teach them to care and have empathy for those around them.

Following Rules Teach them to follow the rules of your home, their school and society. Make sure they know what their responsibilities are as a citizen of their country.

Environment As a family, talk about what you can do to help take care of our earth in order to leave it better than when we arrived!

Leadership Teach your children by example that sometimes it takes courage to be a leader but that you care about fighting unfair laws, improving current conditions, and seeking equality and tolerance for everyone.

Education Read stories about different cultures, community service in the news, and civil right books.  Explore with your children issues going on in your community and nation. Teach them of our wonderful forefathers who fought for our freedom.

Raise them to be PROUD to be an American!

What do you think the keys are to raise a great citizen?

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Seven Smooches

September 11, 2009 by admin 

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Seven Smooches is an inviting little shoppe with items created and hand sewn by two mothers who have seven children between them. Their company is inspired by the indulgent natural softness of a child’s kiss. All of their beautiful products are one of a kind, machine washable and made out of 100% recycled wool sweaters.

I love the beautiful astrology blankets they offer.   Each blanket is hand felted and stitched with the constellation of your choice. These would make a perfect little baby gift.

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Astrology Blankets $50 each

Seven Smooches also offers many different types of clothing, from kimonos to cardigans - with attention to every detail.

clothes

Hollywood has gone crazy over this shoppe, rumor has it that Halle Berry, Laila Ali, Marcia Cross and Courtney Cox Arquette’s daughters wear the clothing. I have fallen for it too.  I just love everything they offer.

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Learning About the World Through Food

September 7, 2009 by admin 

I am thrilled that Angelina from The Little Travelers is our Guest Writer today.

Over the years, I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel a bit and learn from many great teachers around the world. My intention for my blog is to share what I’ve learned in the realm of parenting and raising children. I hope that what you find here has a meaningful impact on you and your families as it’s had on mine.

Learning about the world through food

One of my favorite ways to explore other cultures is through their food. If started when your children are young enough they will gladly join you in the journey. Remember, children eat what they’re used to eating. Indian children eat curry, Thai children eat Pad Thai and German children eat Schnitzel. If you only offer your children chicken fingers and carrots with ranch dressing, they will likely turn their noses up to Persian stew. So start young and really stretch their pallets while they are malleable.

Indian
This year, we have decided to cook a meal from a different country once a week and go for no repeats the entire year. So by the end of the year we will have eaten 52 meals from 52 countries. We are also coloring in a map each week to keep track of what we’ve made and posting pictures to our website in hopes that other families will join us on our journey, tell us what recipes they’ve enjoyed, and share them with us.
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The best way to include children in cooking is by having them help cook. Rather than keeping your children busy while you cook, either pull up a sturdy chair, use a Learning Tower, or set up a small table where they can sit and give them real jobs to help with the prep. Yes, it takes longer when they ‘help’ but it is really worth it in the long run. Give them their own cutting board and if they’re very young a butter knife to cut with.
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I also offer this tip to those of you with small children at home. This one small thing saved my sanity when my girls were little. At the time my husband traveled half the year, so I pulled duty as a single mother even when I was married. I was a stay at home mom who often did my outings in the mornings. The girls would nap in the afternoon and then we’d play at home, and I’d try to start dinner around 5.  It was rough! They wanted to be held or they fussed or fought with each other. And then someone told me this tip. Just before getting ready to start dinner go for a walk outside. No matter the weather, take at least 10 minutes to walk outside- around the block or up and down the street. Then come in and start dinner. Such a simple thing made such a huge difference. They were in a totally different place and were eager to do a focused indoor task again after being outside for a while.
Also, a big tip for those with very young children is to sing while cooking. Here’s my favorite veggie cutting song: “Chipitty chop, chippety chop. Cut off the bottom and we cut off the top. What we have left we throw in the pot. Chippety chop. Chippety chop.”
It can seem silly to the adult but you’d be amazed at how much it helps children relax into what they’re doing and keep focused at the same time. Definitely have the TV in the off position and don’t stress about the mess. If the child spills, assist in cleaning it up. While the meal cooks, clean up the prep area together and then set the table together. Lighting a candle at mealtime also makes a HUGE difference to children in the enjoyment of the meal and eagerness to participate in the process.

Filed under: Organic Eats
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Veggies!!!

September 4, 2009 by admin 

Aside from a side dish at dinner, it hasn’t been easy for me to get my daughters to eat their vegetables. After a few failures and a little frustration I have finally found a few things that seem to work. I can rest easy knowing my daughters are eating their veggies–whether they know it or not!

Breakfast

Bolthouse FarmsCarrot Juice. Yes, carrot juice! Start your child on carrot juice when she is young. It is a fantastically nutritious juice and they will learn to love the taste. I started buying Bolthouse Farm’s 3-pack of 100% Carrot Juice at my local warehouse store as soon as my daughter began drinking cow’s milk. Since then she’s learned it’s breakfast drink.

Carrot juice is naturally rich in powerful antioxidants including Vitamin C and Vitamin A from alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. It is also a natural source of potassium and is fat and cholesterol free. My trick is to mix it with pomegranate juice, which gives it a fun color and a little bit of sweetness.

Fritters are another item I incorporate into breakfast to ensure we eat enough vegetables. I grate zucchini and other vegetables and mix them with an egg and a cup of pancake mix. I form them into patties and cook them in extra virgin olive oil.

Lunch

Roasted and pureed butternut squash frozen into ice cubes is something I always keep on hand. I mix sliced or shredded cheese, cracked pepper and two thawed cubes of squash together and grill it on some multi-grain bread like just like a grilled cheese! I don’t think my kids even know what a regular grilled cheese sandwich tastes like! :)

“Pasta” spaghetti squash is a weekly meal in my home and which we eat as leftovers the next day for lunch. Spaghetti squash is so yummy; you have to give it a try! I cut it in half, season it with olive oil, salt and pepper, cover it with foil and roast it on high for an hour in the oven. Take it out and start pulling on the flesh with your fork and it turns into “pasta!” I saute some bell pepper, onion and whatever other veggies I have on hand and throw it in with the squash. To make it extra tasty you can add a tiny bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I am still in need of new ideas for squeezing veggies into my daughter’s meals other than the normal sliced and diced raw veggies. Those mini peeled carrots are great, but it’s nice to change it up once in a while. Any suggestions?

Butternut squash photo by romanlily, shared via Flickr.

Filed under: Organic Eats
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Refrigeration

September 2, 2009 by admin 

fridge

What counts for 25% of most households’ electricity consumption? Your refrigerator. So, of course, you are going to want to make sure you are running it the most efficient way that you can!

1. Be Organized–You waste time and energy with keeping the door open while trying to find something in your messy fridge. I have to admit that I am horrible with this, which is why I tidy up my fridge one day a week.  If I didn’t, it would be scary! Up to 30% of the cool air in the fridge escapes every time you open the door, which is quite a bit!  Be quick when you get something out!

2. Going on Vacation–Usually we think of going through our fridge before a vacation so nothing spoils, but it turns out the emptier the fridge, the better. You can turn down the power or even turn it off entirely.

3. Clean Yearly—By keeping the coils in the back of your fridge dust free it makes your fridge 30% more efficient!

4. Wait for Food to Cool–If you wait for the food to cool before putting it in the fridge and make sure it’s covered, it means less energy is used from the fridge to cool it!

5. Check the Door Seal– Try this great test I found online, “By putting a piece of paper in the door you can check your door’s seal! If it slips out when the door’s closed, you may need to change the seal and/or door magnets, to stop cool air from escaping.”

Now we can all get to work on checking our fridges!

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