When keeping in touch with those far away, it is sometimes hard to find a time you can both chat on the phone. Social media makes it possible for quick communication that allows everyone to be connected with each other while doing their other daily tasks.

Facebook is a great way to see what loved ones are up to. You can view a friend’s status and their pictures so you know what they’re doing even if you don’t get the chance to talk to them.

Skype is a fun way to both see and talk to those at a distance. Using a webcam allows you to see the person you’re talking to and feel as if they are right there with you. But you do need to find a time when both sides of the computer screen can meet.

With social media at our finger tips, it is easy to send text messages as well. Email and instant messaging can be a quick way to communicate one on one.

Social media can be used to strengthen relationships and connect with those you love. Even if friends or family live at a distance, you can still be a part of their lives and show you care. Use social media to your advantage!

Teaching Children How to Love and Care for Pets

Here are some tips to help you teach your kids about taking care of your pets:

Assign Your Child Some Responsibilities

The first tip is to give your children some duties regarding their pet. You can ask your child to feed the pet. Or they can be involved in activities, like playing with the animal, taking them outside for a walk, or giving them a bath. Participating in their care will help to instill a feeling of responsibility in children. However, you should only assign activities that can be done easily by your child.

Set A Good Example

Another way to teach your kids how to be gentle towards animals is to set a good example. When children see the way you take care of your pet, chances are they will do the same.

Treat Them With Kindness

Parents should encourage their kids to bond with the pet. They can be taught to hold them properly; when and how to groom them; and depending on the animal, basic training commands. Never allow your children to tease or harass any pets or other animals; this can be dangerous for both parties.

Give Them Proper Care

All of our pets should receive good care. Always visit your local veterinarian for annual exams and vaccinations. When it is appropriate, spay or neuter your pet. Feed them nutritional pet food appropriate for their age, size, and weight. Your children will understand that it’s important to do things that are helpful and beneficial to your family pet.

It is important to teach children how to respect, love, care and be sensitive to animals. Parents should always guide their kids towards discovering that having a pet is a wonderful experience. It teaches children how to be responsible and how to care for another living thing.

What type of pet do you and your family have? How do you decide who takes care of your pets?

Featured image courtesy of Flickr.

Jane Warren is a pet owner, who enjoys helping others learn about the needs of their animals. Her website, www.pamperthepets.com, has tips for pet owners. She also provides reviews on important products like Frontline pet meds, which help to prevent fleas and ticks.

How to Save Money on Your Summer Trips

Many are still strapped from the weakened economy, but do not let that put a damper on your family’s summer trip. There are still many fun places to visit even on a budget.

• Check online discount vacation, hotel and cruise websites. Many are offering packages for up to 70% off.
• If you plan on traveling through Florida, take in the Pirate and Treasure Museum in St. Augustine for the little pirates in your family. The pricing is fairly inexpensive at $12 for adults, $6 for children 5 -12 and children under age 5 are free.
• Call resorts personally and ask for summer specials. They often offer rooms for $99 per night and free breakfast, some will throw in dinner vouchers where kids eat free or even dinner vouchers for four.
• Take in the sights of a National Park. If your family likes to hike, bike, swim or fish, a camping trip could be a fun family experience. Some parks have cabins for rent as well.
• If the kids do not get to see the grandparents often, take a week to go visit. Most likely this will include a free stay and most meals. You can afford to take in the zoo, amusement park or putt-putt.
• Visit a working farm or dude ranch. Schedule a weekend trip for your family.

These are just a few ideas for fun family vacations that will not break the bank.

What fun and inexpensive summer activities do you have planned with your family?

Robin Greene is a Kindergarten teacher and a mom of two teenagers. She is looking forward to her summer break and plans with her family. During her spare time Robin will be watching her daughter dance, her son play baseball and freelance writing for mybabyclothes.com. Get some great summer deals on baby clothes, baby tutus and baby headbands that you won’t be able to find anywhere else.

How to Teach Your Kids About Seeds and Gardening

One way to teach gardening is to plant seed starters together. Seed starters are planted seeds that start growing inside and are transplanted when they are large enough to plant outside. By growing your plants and vegetables on your own, you can save a lot of money by not purchasing plants that have already been started. Planting seeds teaches children to grow their own fruits, herbs, vegetables or flowers.

What You Need to Start Seeds:

1. Seeds: Planting herbs and vegetables are a nice summer treat. We like to involve the children in this process by allowing them to pick out a few seed packets on their own from the store.

2. Seed starter tray or small container: Seed trays can be purchased at your local grocery store or home improvement store for a few dollars. Small cups do the trick as well.

3. Soil, water, sunshine: Some experts prefer to use a soilless potting mix, but it really comes down to personal preference. Make sure the water can drain properly so the seeds won’t drown or get moldy. Direct sunshine outside may be too harsh on hot days, so setting the seeds in the window sill is a good protected place for them to soak up rays.

Other Teaching Ideas

After we planted our seed starters, we saved one seed from each and made a little poster using cardstock and some craft glue. We then labeled the seeds; it turns a family memory into a little science project.

Parents, baby-sitters or teachers can use gardening as an opportunity to teach growth principles:

1. We start as a seed

2. We need soil to sprout our roots.

3. We need sunshine & water to help us grow.

4. We grow and sprout leaves.

5. We see the fruit of our labors.

How do you involve your children in gardening?

Kathy is a marketing consultant and entrepreneur with a passion for social media and parenting on purpose.  She is also the CEO of Little Stinker, a natural skin care line for baby and moms.

Recognized as one of the 40 Under 40 by Utah Business Magazine, she was also a finalist in the American Business Association Awards and finalist in the Westminster Business Plan Competition.  Kathy has been featured in American Baby Magazine, Parents Magazine, Parenting Magazine and ABC.com. Currently, Kathy is writing a book Word of Mom.

Kathy blogs at Hello Hello Again and Danish Mama.

Tweet with Kathy: @kathydaltonslc // @helloagain

I thought a great way to honor Gigi’s memory would be to take up the challenge and try to recreate her signature dish with my boys. I knew this would be a tough act to follow. Gigi always said that the secret to great baked pasta is crumbled crackers drizzled in butter. With no crackers on hand, I reached for some Panko crumbs in the pantry.

Japanese-style Panko breadcrumbs are lighter and crunchier than my bread crumbs. When I want crunch without the seasonings, I grab Panko. It has less than one-quarter of the sodium you find in plain bread crumbs and ten percent the sodium in seasoned breadcrumbs.

With this recipe substitution in mind, we searched for a recipe that met our other requirements—real cheese, elbow macaroni and a baked preparation. To my delight, we found this baked Macaroni and Cheese topped with Panko Crumbs by one of my favorite TV food chefs, Alton Brown.

We shared a magical night making this dinner and I know Gigi was right there with us as we set the table and poured the milk, seeing delight on everyone’s faces as we savored this delicious macaroni and cheese recipe.

This Mother’s Day celebrate by honoring your mom and grandmother with this nostalgic dish.

• 1/2 pound Elbow macaroni
• 3 teaspoon Butter
• 3 teaspoon Flour
• 1 teaspoon Powdered mustard
• 3 cups Milk
• 1/2 cup Yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Large egg
• 12 ounces Sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• Fresh Black pepper
•  Topping:
  • 3 teaspoon Butter
  • 1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it’s free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Beat the egg in a bowl and slowly add in some of the hot milk mixture then add to the pot. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining Cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

What does or did your mother or grandmother make that you remember fondly?

Trina Robertson, MS, RD is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in sports nutrition. As a Meals Matter Mom she shares her positive approach to healthy eating with the goal of inspiring others to prepare and enjoy foods. As a Project Manager with the Dairy Council of California, Trina develops, evaluates and promotes nutrition education materials for students and adults. At home she enjoys cooking and sharing meals with her family. Her most rewarding accomplishment is that her tween boys are good eaters and are learning to cook. Follow Trina on Twitter @TrinaR_RD

But there was a time when I had to pull away from social media for awhile.

Living for Social Media

I have been speaking and teaching for years on parenting and family on a personal blog, as we had so many unusual circumstances and challenges raising wild boys. As I began to increase my activity on Facebook, Twitter and my blog, every scene or circumstance in my life was directed in my head like a Facebook timeline update. “ACTION … aaaaaaand cut!”

It was cute when my boys were small. Adorable little lessons of boys and bugs and life analogies, from a child’s perspective, can inspire us all. Raising boys requires a LOT of humor, and they provided great fodder for that humorous perspective. But then they got older.

Everything we did as a family, that may end up being a goofy flub or a great laugh, my boys would say, “Mom, you’re not gonna Facebook this, are you?” And I realized one day how much my Twitter and website and Facebook page were controlling my reaction and response.

Social media was writing my life, instead of just journaling my life. I had to take a break and get unplugged for awhile.

Recording memories is not a bad thing, but when we cannot enjoy the moment because we have to charge the camera and make sure the lighting is right, and fix our hair, and tweet again, instead of just looking our family in the eye and hear them, and enjoy them, or make them dinner, something is wrong.

How to Live Unplugged

One remedy for us is traveling home. When we visit my parents, there is little internet, minimal TV, a lot of gardening to pick, woods  to hike, fields to romp, and nature everywhere. It is a heaven for boys, and for a mom who wants to unplug for awhile.

I still love to blog about my boys and our joys. It is a ministry and I hope that our experiences will make a difference in the lives of others, if only to relate and offer a humorous perspective.

But they are older now, teens themselves, so we try to discuss it first. We also try to help them realize all they are posting should be edifying and considerate of others. And some things are just better left un-posted. I want them to feel the freedom of being kids, enjoy the moment and plant memories that may take years to savor and truly appreciate.

Our goal this summer is to create as many offline, humorous memories as possible. We will work in the garden, walk the woods, and chase some fireflies. If they think they are too old for fireflies, then they can sit on the porch in the rocker, and laugh at their mother chasing fireflies.

During those fabulous goofy times that are so great, I am sure the writer in me will still think, “This would make a really great post.” But I won’t be instantly worried about my hair or make up, or the phones losing their charge. I will just be gazing, adoringly at my beautiful boys growing before my eyes. Literally.

Then I will intentionally NOT post about it, but just hold it in my heart, as a memory unplugged, and  cherished. Which makes it even more special. Of course, I can still scrapbook about it in my latter years. … aaaaand cut.

What memories do you plan to create for your family this summer?

Visit Sophia Dare at www.yourdaringlife.com, sophiadare on Twitter and Facebook.

]]> http://momitforward.com/live-unplugged/feed 0 http://momitforward.com/start-family-garden http://momitforward.com/start-family-garden#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 17:00:30 +0000 Cambria VandeMerwe http://momitforward.com/?p=51370 Time to plant your family garden! You can create so many memories and teach your kids so much by planting a garden. Here are some tips to get your garden started:

How to Start Your Family Garden

1. We
…

Several people who influenced me most through my childhood and teen years were teachers, pastors, a couple of really close friend,s as well as a few famous people who I feel have maintained their character and integrity unlike so many others today.

As for me, I want to be a positive influence for my kids, and hopefully by doing that, someone along the way will see me as a positive example. This is how I want to influence my children:

1. I want my kids to see me handle everyday life with a positive outlook. God blesses me with the breath to wake up in the morning, so I want to start everyday with a thankful and happy heart.
2. I want my kids to witness my kindness towards others. Showing sincere kindness, concern and love to everyone should be a habit, not something you force yourself to do. This is just as simple as saying “thank you” to the cashier when you are at the store. I want my kids to understand this truth.
3. I want to instill my moral standards and values into my kids. I want them to dress appropriately, act appropriately in public, stay pure until marriage, and stay away from harmful substances like alcohol and  tobacco.

These are just a few influences I would like to pass onto my kids. We are not all going to be famous and well-known but we can make a difference to the people around us on a daily basis.

What can you do to be a good example to your family and friends?

Robin Greene is a mom of two teenagers, a wife, and a Kindergarten teacher.  She enjoys her work and strives to set a good example for all of those around. Robin enjoys watching her children participate in their extra curricular activities, participating in church functions and writing for mybabyclothes.com.  You will find the perfect baby clothes, baby headbands and baby tutus for any baby shower gift that you may be in the market for.

I guess the first discussion my husband and I had was pretty typical—public or private? If we chose public, what school district do we live in and how does it rate? We poured over school stats, visited a couple of schools, and crunched our budget, too. It was a lot of information to process.

When we decided to choose public we really did a lot of research. Not only did we talk to parents in our neighborhood, my husband also talked to the bus drivers of the school districts we were considering to get a different perspective.

We are doing everything we can to give our boys a strong educational foundation, but I also believe in allowing them to use that foundation to build their own lives. Of course, I want them all to succeed academically and head off to college and great careers, and I’m here to help them reach their goals. But it all starts with a great primary school education, and I’m so glad we chose the school we did. Now we’re dealing with the usual challenges—balancing work while helping with homework, school projects and other activities, such as baseball, and trying to support our local school district to the best of our ability.

In the eighteen months since I launched my start-up, I feel all of this has been easier than when I worked for a large corporation. As CEO, I implemented a “Comeback Mom” program with a flexible working program for the AboutOne team. This means all employees (including me) can work flexible hours so they can be a homeroom mom or attend school events, and doctor visits without feeling additional pressure to take time off work. We implemented technologies such as Skype and Zendesk mobile support to chat virtually and do customer support from the park if we want to!

While working in a start-up means much longer hours, of course, our home lives feel less stressful and we feel that we spend more time with our families because of these programs. It turns out that founding a start-up was the best choice for me when it comes to helping my children have the best school experience possible!

What do you do in your family to ensure your kids are getting a good education?

Joanne Lang is a mom of 4 boys, a wife, and the founder and CEO of AboutOne, an online family organizer that turns your phone into a remote control for your life, working with your existing calendar and contact tools so you can automatically organize, store, and share family memories and household paperwork. Through web and mobile apps, AboutOne guides you along the path to organization, rewarding you along the way for meeting your organizational goals.

Picture courtesy of flickr

Summer Game Ideas for Little Kids

Mother May I

Line the little ones up next to each other. An adult or older child can be the caller. Give each child a command, such as take five baby steps, three bunny hops or two giant leaps. In order to follow the command the child must say “Mother may I?”, then the caller replies, “Yes, you may.” The first child to reach the caller is the winner.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Sit the kids in a circle and choose one child to start as the “picker.” The object is for the “picker” to walk around the circle calling “duck, duck, duck” and then finally “goose!” The original “picker” will run around the circle to get to the goose’s spot in the circle. If he is caught or tagged by the goose before he sits down, he must take his spot in the middle of the circle or the “mush pot.” He cannot come out until another player is tagged by a goose. Continue the game until everyone has had a turn being the goose.

Summer Game Ideas for Older Kids

Capture the Flag

Use whatever you have (cones, empty drink bottles, umbrellas) as markers to divide your playing area into two halves, referred to as territories. Form two teams for the territories. Each side has a flag which can be a piece of material or any small object that can be easily carried. The flag is generally placed in an obvious place within the territory. The object of the game is for the players to make their way into the opposing team’s territory, grab the flag and return to their territory without being tagged. The flag is defended by tagging the opposing team when they try to take the flag. Players are “safe” within their own territory but can be tagged once they move into the opposing team’s territory.

• Jail – When a player is tagged, they are placed in “jail” for a short predetermined time. When released, the player is “walking free” until he returns to his team, meaning he cannot be tagged.
• Capturing the flag—Once a player has grabbed the opponents flag he is still not safe. He can run it to his territory and claim victory or can pass it off to another player to be taken to home territory. Victory is claimed when the enemy flag is brought to the home territory.

These are just a few games that my family has enjoyed playing over the years. The fun time you get to spend with your family is precious and irreplaceable.

What summer games do you enjoy playing with your family?

Robin Greene has enjoyed creating family traditions such as game night with her kids.  She also enjoys teaching Kindergarten and freelance writing for mybabyclothes.com.  Your friends and family will love the new baby clothes, baby headbands and baby hats that don your little one this Spring.