Crafting Secrets

You may not believe of Easter being a holiday for creating crafts, but that does not mean you possibly can not arrive up with some to appreciate together with your children, or perhaps together with your class if you’re a teacher. Crafts are enjoyable for just about any reasons, vacation, or for no purpose at all. Easter crafts might be religious in character, or they can be in regards to the Easter Bunny. Do what we like and what goes along with your views. You are able to also imagine of Easter crafts for young children as crafts for springtime in standard. That getting stated, you can probably appear up with some tips on your personal, and here are a few that you are able to attempt at the same time.

Easter crafts for kids which are religious in dynamics can middle around rebirth and also the miracle of Jesus. It is possible to make collages of everything you plus your children think this means to you and your existence, plus the globe as well. You are able to do merely coloring crafts for younger children, and you are able to add things to the photos with brads. Possibly your children could colour wherever Jesus was buried with a rock that moves above and away in the opening to symbolize the belief that he rose through the dead.

For more secular Easter crafts for little ones, anything revolving all over the Easter Bunny or Easter eggs will function just fine. The act of dying and decorating eggs for Easter is really a craft in itself. You don’t have to settle for single color, dyed eggs in case you don’t need to. There are various good Easter crafts for kids that are kits to decorate eggs inside a much more elaborate way. It is possible to even make some of equally, or it is possible to purchase ceramic eggs that could be decorated for any interests and then saved to exhibit yr immediately after yr.

In addition to eggs, other Easter crafts for youngsters could be about the Easter Bunny. There are lots of several methods to make bunnies. You could make bunny shaped cookies to be decorated, or possibly you possibly can make one on paper which could be colored. Will not overlook the cotton balls to generate the soft bunny tail. If someone in your house is musical, it is possible to even appear up with your very own song about Easter plus the Easter bunny being a write. Look in your community craft stores and on the internet for a lot more bunny interests ideas.

Spring and Easter generally arrive all over the identical time. Some families give kites for Easter gifts, as that is the very best time of year to fly them. It is possible to go while using the shop acquired kites if you ever wish, or you could discover directions to make them in your individual. Remember, kites require to become sturdy so the wind does not rip them to shreds, so you may wish to learn a lot more about kite construction prior to you select your resources. Something else that signifies springtime can operate to get a build, which leaves the ideas for Easter crafts for little ones vast open. Do everything you believe is enjoyable and then get outside to enjoy the warming weather too.

All parents have moments when they’re home with their young child and the cute bundle of joy runs up to them and screams, “Play with me!” and the parent stands there drawing a blank. Mom looks around the room and can’t think of anything to do. The child starts to get antsy and begins to whine. Finally mom decides to take the child shopping which in the end proves to be a bad idea.

Instead of enduring yet another shopping excursion, next time you could create your own game by using some simple items you can find in your home.

The educational game is called Falling Shapes.

Items needed:

4 pieces of paper (per 2 player)

2 pencils or pens

Crayons of any color

Instructions to Create Game Pieces

Create 32 Shape Cards:

Take 2 pieces of paper and cut them each into 16 squares. You will have 32 cards total, 16 per player. The easy way to do this is to fold the paper in half and cut on the fold line. Then fold again and cut and continue until you have 16 even pieces. Do the same with the second piece of paper.

Give each person 16 cards. You and your child should draw the following shapes on your cards. Only draw 1 shape per card. You should have 2 cards that have 1 square on each, 2 cards that have 1 circle on each and so on.

2 Squares

2 Circles

2 Ovals

2 Rectangles

2 Stars

2 Triangles

2 Hearts

Create Score Sheet:

Take the other 2 pieces of blank paper and draw the same shapes listed above on each sheet. There should be 16 shapes on each piece of paper. 2 Squares, 2 Circles etc… The shapes can be drawn in random places as long as there are 16 total.

Have fun coloring your cards and score sheet before you play the game. This will allow you to spend more time on the project and enjoy doing a craft before playing.

Game Instructions

Place your individual score sheets in front of you and your child. Place a writing utensil on the table or floor next to both score sheets. Each player should hold the 16 shape cards in their hand. When you say, “Go” both you and your child should take the first card off the top of each of your card piles and hold that card above your heads. Then drop the card and watch it fall to the table or ground.

If a player’s shape card lands with the shape up then they get a point and should circle or color that shape on their score sheet. If the shape lands face down then that player doesn’t get a point. Place the dropped cards in a discard pile. Continue holding up and dropping each card and marking your score sheets. When you’ve dropped all 16 cards the game is over.

Winner

The player with the most shapes circled on the score sheet is the winner.

This game is fun for all ages and it’s a great way to teach young children about shapes.

If you want to print this game instead of drawing it you can do this at http://www.learnthroughgames.com. LearnThroughGames.com offers free, printable, educational games for children. It’s fun for the entire family.

Child discipline the easy way ~Part 1

My children run the gamut of unfortunate behaviors due to their own innate personalities. In almost nine years of parenting, I have picked up some handy tricks to bring happiness and peace in the household. Today we will discuss teaching your children to take you seriously. This can be done without yelling, spanking, empty threats and tears (on your part, at least)!

I learned John Rosemond’s “Ticket System” to discipline children years ago. It is simple and easy. The best part is that it actually works. We can remember it and kids understand it!

In a nutshell, my two older boys (8 & 6) both have four tickets on the fridge in the morning. With each ticket that is lost, privileges are lost. I explain to the Monkeys what is expected and what the consequences are if they disobey. It’s that easy.

This is important, listen close, don’t ramble on. Your kids will tune you out, like the teacher in Charlie Brown’s classroom. When you speak remember the three C’s.

The Three C’s-

Be Clear- explain exactly what expectations are and why.

Be Concise- K.I.S.S.- Kids will only listen to about two sentences, if you are lucky!

Be Commanding- speak with authority. Fake it until you feel comfortable. Pretend you know what you are doing!

We are working on one issue at a time with the tickets. Presently, the boys are learning to obey me when I give a direction. I have announced that nagging them and yelling is bumming me out, and I will do it no more. Do not try to use the ticket system for all the things they do wrong. There is time to teach and change behavior, and it shouldn’t be done all at once. Both you and your kids will go crazy. Focus on the BIG STUFF.

_________________________________

Here’s how it works-

The child will receive one warning before losing a ticket.

~”Hey Monkey, I asked you to put your dish in the dishwasher after breakfast. Here’s your one and only warning.”

2. The first ticket, of four, is removed from the fridge and put on the side when a second act of disobedience occurs.

~”Ok, Monkey, I asked you not to wrap your brothers in toilet paper to play mummies. You have lost your first ticket! Be careful, I’m sure you will work hard not to lose the second ticket!”

3. When the second ticket is removed be prepared for your little insurgents to riot! Do not lose hope, stay strong. If you back down now…..you are done!

~”Uh-Oh, Monkeys, you were told not to spray paint the dog pink. You lost your third ticket, no cartoons* for the rest of the day. “

*If your little henchmen are gamers, then no games is a great choice here!

4. When ticket #3 is lost, my Monkeys lose the privilege to watch any TV or go out and play with kids after school.

Third ticket will increase the screaming and gnashing of teeth tenfold. ~~DO NOT BACK DOWN!~~~ When your child blows you off, you pull that ticket and stand your ground. Remind your little terrorist that if he argues you WILL pull the last ticket.

“Monkey, I told you that if you juggled flaming toilet paper rolls in the front yard, you must wear your goggles. You didn’t, and now I have to pull your third ticket. No TV and no playing with friends today.”

5. Now you have hit the big time……The last ticket.

Depending on how ’strong-willed’ your little henchman is you may only have to pull it once, or it may take a dozen times. When the fourth ticket is lost the child must stay in his or her room until bedtime, only coming out for mealtimes and bathroom.

~~If the little wild child has a TV, Computer, or Game system in there (he shouldn’t!)……Take it out!

“Darling, you stole mommy’s Suburban to drive to Toys-R-Us with your little homies. I told you that you couldn’t drive for 11 more years. You have lost your last ticket. You will be in your room until bedtime. I’ll call you out for dinner when it is ready.”

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Ticket System F.A.Q.s-

Dear Fussypants,

My little Carson went to his room at 11:30 this morning. I feel so sorry for him. He’s apologetic and sweet. I think he should come out. He’s only 7 and I can’t leave him up there all day. What should I do?

Thanks, Wimpy in Washington

Dear Wimpy in Washington,

If your little sweety were so sweet he wouldn’t have misbehaved and lost all his tickets. Hopefully, today will teach him never to blow you off and ignore your directions again. If you let him out now he will have won and he will not take the system seriously. The point of the system is to keep parents from getting angry and giving out a million empty threats. Stand your ground, Sister. You are the parent right?

Love, Mrs. Fussypants

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Dear Mrs. Fussypants,

When I pulled little Gracie’s fourth ticket she became furious. She screamed and it ripping up her room. I put up a baby gate to keep her in. I had to let her out because she would have ruined all her things. What else can I do?

Thanks, Bad Mommy in Ohio

Dear Bad Mommy,

Gracie won, didn’t she? Some children use sympathy to get their way. Gracie used force. If she is able to make you back down as a small child, then she will laugh in your face as a teenager. Children do not get easier with age. Children, over the years, simply become more ingrained in their behavior patterns. Pack up Gracie’s breakables in a couple plastic totes from Target. Explain to her that all her favorite belongings will be put away until she can control herself. Next time she is put in her room when all her tickets are gone, she will think twice about channeling the Tasmanian Devil. If you stand your ground now, she will learn to respect you.

Love, Mrs. Fussypants

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Dear Mrs. Fussypants,

At what age should I start the tickets? How should I make them?

Thanks, Clueless in Colorado

Dear Clueless,

You can start as early as four. Four year olds need more chances than say a six to nine year old. I used 6 tickets, and gave other punishments with them, when my kids were under 5. What punishment should you use? Take away what your child really enjoys. If it were fun, it wouldn’t be punishment, would it?

I made the tickets from supplies from the craft store. I used- interesting scrapbook paper (footballs, ballet shoes etc…), and sticky backed magnets. If you choose paper that shows each child’s personality then there is no confusion. I keep my tickets on the fridge.

Love, Mrs. Fussypants

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Dear Mrs. Fussypants,

I don’t like the idea that I have to be mean and lock my child in his room! This seems like child abuse. I want a happy loving family!

Sincerly, Fran in Fantasyland

Dear Fran in Fantasyland,

Think about how many interactions between Moms and kids turn out……

Mom, “Honey, please don’t pour milk on your sisters favorite American Girls Dolls!”

Mom, getting louder, “Swee-eety, how would you feel if someone did that to your toys?”

Mom, angrily yells, “Get away from then, NOW.”

Mom, when ignored again, is furious.She screams, yanks him up by the arm and pops him on the bottom.

What happened? The boy learns not to listen or take Mom seriously because Mom won’t take action until she is furious. Until Mom is mean, he won’t be bothered to listen.

Children need limits and clear guidelines. Parents have the moral responsibility to civilize their children. To not teach your children to control themselves and yield to a higher authority you are essentially neglecting them.

Is it “mean” to put them in their room all day? Only if you don’t feed him regular meals, hurl unpleasantries at him, or throw snakes in with him. Now that would be mean.

No out-of-control child is happy. Happiness comes when ALL members of a family can behave in a resonably civilized manner!

Furthermore, child abuse many times occurs when an exasperated parent just can’t take it anymore. “I’ve done everything I can. That boy won’t listen. I have spank to get his attention!” This escalates quickly and sadly, this is the moment parents just SNAP and abusive* interactions can occur.

*Verbal abuse and emotional abuse is very common, and just as painful as physical abuse.*

I hope this helps!

Love, Mrs. Fussypants

Between the ages of 3 and 4 children change a lot. They gain an independence that demands a different style of toy, more like what the older kids like but with the safety precautions for the younger market. Here at the top 10 toys for children 3-4 years of age.

The Disney Pixar Car Doodle Pro quickly made the list of top 10 toys. This is a no fuss no muss toy that’s similar to the Magna Doodle with an encased box holding magnetic shavings. Different magnetic wands are used to make designs, limited only by the child’s imagination. Kids of all ages love it.

Alex Super Art Table – Young children love their arts and crafts, and many can spend hours drawing. This super art table will seat up to 6 pre-school kids. There’s storage for all their art supplies and crayons and because it’s roll paper, it’s a breeze to have a new piece of paper in seconds.

What’s a toy list if it doesn’t include at least a couple of bath toys in the top 10 toys for children 3 to 4 years of age. Kids just never out grow their bath toys. Bath Time Adventures Dinosaur Island is a great choice. It is made up of 20 foam pieces that when wet from the bath water will stick to the wall. Your child can use their imagination and make up their own dinosaur adventure.

The top 10 toys for 3 to 4 year olds also includes the Kettler Scooter Fox TR, which is an excellent choice for a first scooter. The footplate is slip proof, durable, and extra wide, which makes it sturdier. It’s built to last and children as old as 8 can easily use it.

All pre-school children need to have at least one puzzle in their toys, and it’s a great idea to have many available to your children because they stimulate the young mind. Pattern Blocks & Boards made the top 10 toys. This is a puzzle where the child can create their own patterns or use the ones in the wood set.

Three Fisher Price toys made the top 10 toys list in the educational arena. Fisher Price Learn Your Number Cell Phone looks and sounds like a real cell phone but it’s a whole lot more fun to play with while helping your child learn important phone numbers.

The Fisher Price Little People Time To Learn comes with 10 little people that will help your child discover all kinds of things and finally the Lil People Movers School Bus also made the list. This toy school bus comes with Michael, Maggie, and the bus driver Carlos. It’s action packed.

There has to be at least one musical choice in the top 10 toys and this year there are two. The Lollipop Drum is perfect for the pre-school age and the Paz’s Musical Band Set. You’ll be impressed with just what tunes they put together.

These top 10 toys for children ages 3 to 4 will get you started with a nice variety of toys to stimulate your child and provide hours of fun.

Lessons from books are great, but children learn through play far better than they do in other forms. There are several reasons for this. At the heart of it is their desire to learn. When learning is not so much work but is fun, children are more willing to participate. They want to jump in and have a good time. As a parent, the more that you can teach through play, the more that your child will retain later on. While some skills need to be taught formally, such as math facts and reading, there are still great ways to teach through play.

Children learn through various methods, but often their physical and social world teaches them the most. Even small infants learn this way. Parents can enhance a young child’s learning process by giving them a variety of ways to learn through sight, touch, taste and smell. For infants, play the games that children love, such as peek a boo and other interactions that teach cause and effect. It also teaches them how to interact socially with their families.

As children grow older, they still need stimulation. Remember, kids having fun gives them an added incentive to do the activity you want them to. Pretend play is one of the core elements of the development of imagination. Pack up a truck full of great costumes (you can pick these up very inexpensively after Halloween) and encourage both boys and girls to play. What you will find is that many of the role playing games they play now are direct reflections of the experiences they have had. For example, a child who may be going to daycare for the first time, may practice leaving her baby doll at a pretend daycare. The act is helpful, but the conversations they have of telling the doll that “mommy will be back very soon” will help them later to deal with their fears of being left. Encourage this type of play.

Child’s play through the years changes even more so. During preschool and kindergarten, one of the best ways to teach a child is through stories and pictures. They learn to interact with each other as well as with the outside world. For example, set the stage for a great adventure story. Read them the story during the morning hours. Then, give them a few ideas and let them act out the story in their own way. You can teach many of the fundamentals in this manner, everything from manners to helping those in need.

Other activities to encourage helping children learn through play include:

· Craft projects: they explore their talents and explore texture, dimension, color and shapes

· Dance: They explore their physical bodies and stay physically fit

· Building with blocks: Everything from wooden blocks to Lego’s helps children to learn structure, dimension, balance, and help them to grow their imagination.

· Drawing: Use various types of mediums from paints to pencil to help them to learn numbers, letters, shapes and much more

These activities can incorporate other skills, too. For example, perhaps an art project can center around a specific letter of the alphabet. Do not be elaborate, but do be dramatic.

Kids having fun is something you definitely want to consider for the long term. For example, children who are nine years old and up need to develop great reasoning skills and need to learn to think strategically. They also need to develop good social skills. Great ways for kids having fun through these lessons can be anything from fun science projects to advanced building sets done in teams and even 3-D puzzles. Encourage computer projects and video games as well. Unbelievably, the video game they love to play is teaching them great hand eye coordination (assuming that the content within it is appropriate.)

How children learn through play is really up to you, their parent. Encouraging them to play, pretend, and learn all go hand in hand. The skills most children learn at these early ages are not just their math facts and their ABC’s, but they are the foundations of how to learn, how to interact with other people, and how to explore, reason and strategize. These items will carry on with them throughout their lives.

Does your 5 year old wait for you anxiously when you come back from work, wondering what gift would Mum bring?

Kids love presents and gifts, especially if it is a surprise gift. And the best thing about them is that they sweetly give you a hint on what they are expecting or what their desires are. But what happens when you have to buy gifts for other children? Do you run short of ideas?

If purchasing gifts all the time does not come across as a good idea to you, and yet you want to present something that is beautiful, then here are some excellent tips on presents for children that would not just save you the money but would also tickle your kids’ creative bones. And what you have at the end is a wonderful gift – handmade – and that too by your own child.

Presents for children have to be as creative as they are. There should be ample use of colours. The patterns, motifs and designs and most importantly the presents for kids should be something that they love and something that they can use on a regular basis. For example, a wall clock with the kids’ favourite cartoon characters, or a colourful face mask, or photo frames with cute designs and jewellery box for little girls.

There are many websites which offer complete kit with all the things that you need in order to make presents for kids. For instance if you want to make a wall clock, then they offer kits that have clock face, clock mechanism with the hands, battery and numbers. Then there are the things that you need to decorate the clock with, like paint, glue and decorative pieces.

The kits can be usually completed within one to two hours time which also teaches the child the importance of time management. Besides this, such activities are good learning sessions which help a kid grow into a complete individual and you into a successful parent.

There simply isn’t a way to embrace the idea that divorce is just great fun because it isn’t. It’s a horribly painful experience to go through. No one in their right mind would want to go through this experience and would do all in our power to avoid it. We all want our marriages to work.

And yet, divorce continues to happen. We’re decimated by it and we’re adults! Consider this: with all the years we’ve been alive, with all our schooling, and with all of the experiences that have taught us, we are still decimated by divorce. Can you imagine what very little education, very little experience, very little living does for our children when they have to go through a divorce with us?

Divorce is horrible for children. We are our children’s caretakers. Their needs must come first. It’s awfully nice if there is both a mom and a dad to care for the children. But when a divorce makes that impossible, their needs must still come first and the parents must make their welfare a priority.

All kids need both parents and they need to rely on them with full trust. Squabbling between parents is just too difficult for a growing-up child to endure and it wounds them emotionally. Please consider not fighting with their mommy or daddy in front of them. Please consider not badmouthing their other parent in front of them. Please be there for them 24/7. If your ex has a tendency not to be there, write him a note and explain how you see this affecting his children and could he please plan to be there for them?

Together with your ex, write a Parenting Plan that you can both agree upon. Your attorneys can devise a plan for you, if you are not capable of doing this with your ex yourself. Both of you should have input into creating it and tweaking it until it suits both of you. The internet contains many ideas to be incorporated into a Parenting Plan. Discuss the feasibility of sharing your Parenting Plan with your children’s caregivers or babysitters.

When you first decide that you have to get a divorce, craft a way to telling your children without placing blame on either you or your soon-to-be ex. This kind of news is not easily absorbed by your children because they don’t handle change well if they are quite young. And this change is life altering. Give them time to absorb it. Revisit the discussion and try to help them to understand how necessary it is, even if you aren’t happy about it yourself. Work toward a way you can all live with the fact that a divorce is going to happen, like it or not.

Once the divorce is underway, give your children an explanation of the court agreement. They won’t appreciate the legality of it, but they want to know how it’s going to affect them. Make a list of those things and let them ask lots of questions. When you answer them, work hard not to place any sense of blame on their other parent.

Don’t force your children to take sides. They deserve to have a mommy and a daddy if that is at all possible. They are entitled to continue to enjoy a relationship with their other parent, even if you can’t. Try to keep their needs at the top of your list.

Most kids have fears that somehow they caused the divorce, that they’re going to be abandoned too, or that something painful will happen to them as well. Listen to their questions and fears with empathy, and keep asking them questions until you are sure they’re okay with the discussion. They’ll be losing a key member of their family from the home. They may have another family to integrate into their lives. There’s a lot of trauma involved in this for kids and they deserve to have their fears addressed.

At this link http://www.divorcesource.com/info/checklists/childbehavior.shtml You’ll discover a great tool to determine just how your child is handling your divorce. It can help you help them through their sadness and sense of loss.

Playing outside isn’t always an option. Whatever the weather – too cold, too much snow, rain, too hot, too muddy or too icy – sometimes we are stuck inside with young children who wish they were outside. However, you can certainly have a ton of fun by using some simple creativity and imagination. Here are several super fun ideas for indoor play that your child will delight in.

Make a cardboard puppet theater. A puppet theater can be made from any semi-large to large box. Simply find your box, cut off one of the wider sides and a large rectangular window in the other wide side. Then, with your child, be as creative or simple as you like decorating it. You can use paints, stickers, construction paper, ribbon, crayons, or markers. Basically, whatever you have on hand with work perfectly! After you’re done decorating it find a nice spot in your living room to have you and your child take turns putting on a puppet show. You can even practice one to put on for the other parent when they come home from work. You can gather a lot of stuffed animals to be in the audience and teach your child the art of telling stories aloud.

Do you ever wonder what to do with all those left over toilet paper rolls? Well, take two cardboard rolls, glue them together long ways, and you have binoculars! Let your child decorate them with either paint or markers. When it dries take your child with the binoculars on an indoor safari. Place stuffed animals or even pictures of animals all around the house in different rooms. Let your child go on a safari using his binoculars to discover these different animals. At the end of the trail you can read books together about animals.

Have an indoor snowball fight. This works especially well if you have more than one child, but it can still be fun with a parent and one child. First, figure out what you want to use for snowballs. You can blow up tons of white balloons or use crumpled up white paper. Then, construct forts out of couch cushions or chairs and blankets. Constructing this with your child can be a lot of fun in itself. When your forts are ready, begin the snowball fight!

Also, make dinner time an especially fun time. Take a large sheet of crate paper and tape it down to your table. Set the table as usual for dinner, but put out markers, crayons, stickers, glue and googley eyes, on the table. When dinner begins, and while you eat, let your children show their creativity on the crate paper. When they are done, cut out their works of art and display them. The crate paper can be used at any meal, anytime you just want to add a touch of fun to your meal. You can even make it a special Saturday morning breakfast tradition or do it every night for one week at dinner and such.

Have fun with these ideas and add your own touch to them. These ideas can have many variations and even spur your creativity bone. A good idea, if possible is to also prepare for indoor days in advance. When you’re at the store, stock up on your child’s favorite things like paint, construction paper, and other craft needs. That way, when an unexpected indoor day occurs, you and your child can make it an imaginative day!

The world is changing at an extraordinary pace.  Twenty-five years ago, most young people who mastered the “3 r’s” of reading, writing, and arithmetic and had a high school diploma were likely to be able to get and keep a decent job.  Not so today.  In research for my new book, I’ve come to understand that there are seven “survival skills” all young people need to master for success in today’s world.  The skills needed for careers, college, and citizenship have converged.  Students who leave high school without them are far less likely to get a good job, succeed in college, or be an active and informed in our democratic society.

All Kids, New Skills

Here are the Seven Survival Skills, as described by some of the people whom I interviewed:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
“The idea that a company’s senior leaders have all the answers and can solve problems by themselves has gone completely by the wayside . . . The person who’s close to the work has to have strong analytic skills.  You have to be rigorous: test your assumptions, don’t take things at face value, don’t go in with preconceived ideas that you’re trying to prove.”
— Ellen Kumata, consultant to Fortune 200 companies

Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
“The biggest problem we have in the company as a whole is finding people capable of exerting leadership across the board . . . Our mantra is that you lead by influence, rather than authority.”
— Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Cisco

Agility and Adaptability
“I’ve been here four years, and we’ve done fundamental reorganization every year because of changes in the business . . . I can guarantee the job I hire someone to do will change or may not exist in the future, so this is why adaptability and learning skills are more important than technical skills.”
— Clay Parker, President of Chemical Management Division of BOC Edwards

Initiative and Entrepreneurship
“For our production and crafts staff, the hourly workers, we need self-directed people . . . who can find creative solutions to some very tough, challenging problems.”
— Mark Maddox, Human Resources Manager at Unilever Foods North America 

Effective Oral and Written Communication
“The biggest skill people are missing is the ability to communicate: both written and oral presentations.  It’s a huge problem for us.”
— Annmarie Neal, Vice President for Talent Management at Cisco Systems

Accessing and Analyzing Information
“There is so much information available that it is almost too much, and if people aren’t prepared to process the information effectively, it almost freezes them in their steps.”
— Mike Summers, Vice President for Global Talent Management at Dell

Curiosity and Imagination
“Our old idea is that work is defined by employers and that employees have to do whatever the employer wants . . . but actually, you would like him to come up with an interpretation that you like — he’s adding something personal — a creative element.”
— Michael Jung, Senior Consultant at McKinsey and Company

New Learning and Roles for Parents in the Community

The problem we face as parents is that these are not the skills currently being taught and tested — even in our “good” suburban schools.  In America today, I’ve discovered that there is only one curriculum in most of our schools: “test prep.”  What gets taught is only what gets tested.  And because almost all of the tests students take — from state tests for No Child Left Behind to Advanced Placement exams — require a great deal of memorization and factual recall, these are the only skills being taught in most classrooms.  As a consequence, one out of every two students who start college never completes a degree, and employers report that young people today are ill-prepared for the 21st century workplace.

The impact you can have on teacher or school or district may be limited as one individual.  I believe parents and concerned community members must work together to become effective advocates for teaching and testing the skills that matter most.

In the last chapter of my book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need — And What We Can Do About It, I suggest that parents and community members must first understand some of the ways the world has changed and how schools need to differently prepare our students for success.  Book groups, PTA meetings, and discussions in our churches and synagogues all provide opportunities for the kind of adult learning we need in order to be prepared to ask school board members, educators, and policy makers some important questions like:

•    What do you think are the most important skills our high school graduates need today to succeed?
•    How are you teaching and assessing these skills?
•    How are you gauging the success of our schools — by test scores or by the numbers of students who go to college and succeed there, as well as by how well prepared students are for work?  Have you talked to employers and recent graduates of our schools to see if our students graduate with the skills they need?

New Ways to Support Our Children At Home

Many business leaders and educators alike worry about this generation’s “lack of work ethic.”  However, I’ve come to understand that the “net generation” is not unmotivated, but rather very differently motivated.  Growing up tethered to the internet as most are, today’s teens crave connection with others and learning through discovery.  They are accustomed to multitasking in a multimedia world and so find most work in schools to be pointless and boring.  But, as parents, we worry about our children’s futures and so push them to succeed in school.  We look at their grades and fret about whether they will get into a “good” college.  We push them to do more of the “right” things for their college application, and we hope that they will have a lucrative career some day.

All of these concerns are understandable, but the young adults whom I interviewed — when I asked what advice they’d give parents — told me that much of this parental worrying and pressure is actually counterproductive.

Andrew Bruck, a Princeton graduate and currently enrolled at Stanford Law School told me that “parents need to respect the extraordinary capacity of students.  Our generation wants to do things.  It’s important to nurture children’s creativity.  There’s so much pressure to succeed and to go to a brand-name school.  There’s no need for parents to pile on the stress.” 

A young woman in a focus group I conducted at a New England college agreed, saying “Parents need to support children in their dreams — even if it’s wanting to be an artist.”  Another in the group chimed in: “Parents shouldn’t worry so much about how their children are doing in school.  They should find out more about what their extracurricular interests are.”  Bruck’s high school experience certainly confirmed the importance of extracurricular activities in students’ lives.   He told me that he learned more about writing and managing deadlines and leadership from his experience as editor of his high school’s newspaper than he did from any of his classes.

Matt Kulick, a Cornell grad who now works a Google, had perhaps the best advice for parents when he said “A lot of my friends never had a good idea of what they liked or wanted to do because their parents said ‘you’re going to be a doctor’ or . . . And it doesn’t help to tell your kids to do more homework or to always ask them what grade they got.  Parents need to find out what their kids like . . . My parents motivated me to do well — not to get A’s but to give my best effort.  They trusted me.”

Being an advocate in your community for 21st century teaching and learning, and trusting your children as they explore their interests.  Easy to say, but hard to do.  As parents we, too, need to continue to develop our mastery of the Seven Survival Skills — and to be models for our children — as we grow and learn together.

©2008 Tony Wagner

Children birthday party ideas are very many and you need to make a search and come up with the perfect idea for your child. You can undertake your search on the internet and you can also get ideas from family and friends. You are sure to come up with very many ideas and you might not handle the overwhelming ideas that you will find. If your child is at an age where they can express their desires well, your work will be made easier. Know what they love and based on this, come up with a suitable theme or idea that will spice their party. You might find that your child is not sure of what they want and they might have a favorite thing today and then have another the following day. Know how to go about this indecisiveness and decide on a final idea.

There are children birthday party ideas that can go together. This means that instead of having a tea party for the birthday occasion for your child, you can have a princess tea party. This goes a long way to ensure that your child enjoys what they like. There are children birthday party ideas that are very common and hence a favorite to many. They include sleepover parties, magic parties, jungle safari parties, beach or pool parties and the list goes on. Many children are always fascinated by magic parties and doing this kind of theme will guarantee you success of any birthday party.

When you are planning a magic party, you make out invitations that will give the guests a clue of what to expect. The invitations can be in shape of a top hat or a white rabbit. They can also be written in a ‘magic pen’ and this will reflect on the color and style. The invitation can also be cut into puzzle pieces. The next thing to consider are the decorations and they are not very hard to do. You can have very bright balloons and streamers. You can also create a personalized magic banner which will bear a special message. This banner will be great for photo opportunities. For the decoration, you can also have silver or gold confetti. You can also include magic props like hats, boxes, cards, handcuffs and others.

Children birthday party ideas of a magical experience will also have great and fun activities. They include inviting a real magician who will showcase some of his best magic to the children. The children can also explore their gift in magic. One way they can do this is by testing their acts and there can be a jar with candies as the children guess how many they are. The child who has the right guess will win themselves candy and other goodies. You can include many other great ideas in the party. Arts and crafts will also make the party more sizzling. Ideas for foods that you can have are animal crackers, seedless grapes, cheese cubes, popcorn, cupcakes and many others. Party favors may include magnets, deck of cards, chewing gum, rubber balls and others.