Essentials for Traveling With Children

March 2, 2010 by TiaHejny · 1 Comment 

By CanCan of MomMostTraveled.com

Though I do review travel gear, when thinking about “must-haves” for travel with children, it isn’t material items that come to mind.

Starting when my first child was seven weeks old, I have traveled with my children to places like the Bahamas, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, spending time to get to know each place beyond the guidebooks and at our own pace.

When I think about it, I don’t really buy anything special for use only during trips.  We use sun clothing with UPF +50, but I also send them to school with it sometimes. Recently we have made trips without the child carrier or even a stroller, but there was a time when we used those too.

I often pick our destinations on a whim or based on a good ticket price. Next I read about the history of the place, which in Asia can span back thousands of years.

Searching out specific things to do is actually my last priority, and I think that when traveling in an uncertain place where real life happens, this is actually a strength.

I guess you could say that my first “essential” is to be relaxed. Do what needs to be done to keep your family safe and fed, but be prepared to take detours and enjoy the unexpected.

The second essential is like the first: be flexible. There will always be times when things don’t go as planned. Usually these are things that provide hilarious stories once you get home! Sure, it is frustrating in the moment when the double room turns out to be 2 twin beds instead of 2 queens, you are forced to share your “day train” seat with a goat, or you can’t stomach the regional specialty. But it is the shared experiences, the awkward and the enjoyable, that cause you to stretch and grow as an individual while bonding more closely as a family.

Lastly, lead by example in showing your family that learning and doing new things is what traveling is all about. I didn’t set out with a goal to eat a plate of deep-fried crickets, but I did it, and lived to tell the tale.

What I really want my kids to learn through travel is that you can find adventure in the everyday. It doesn’t have to be a theme park or other manufactured environment to be thrilling.

Life is happening and everyone does everyday things a little differently. That is the beauty of traveling with eyes wide open rather than scanning the pages of a guide.

About CanCan and MomMostTraveled.com:

CanCan is the mother of two strapping young boys; Jojo (born 10/04) and Deeds (born 8/07). They have logged in lots of miles, traveling around the globe.

Since 2002, CanCan has flown between Asia and the USA fourteen times (and counting…).

Mom Most Traveled imparts the wisdom gained from experience on the road with my children. Read about my triumphs and mistakes, and be armed with information to have the best travel experience possible!

What kind of baby food can I buy in Laos? Are there disposable diapers in Thailand? Mom Most Traveled is continually adding more information about child-friendly activities at each destination, as well as available infant and child care items.

Balancing Life 101 Part 3

February 4, 2010 by TiaHejny · 1 Comment 

By Camille of www.makeitworkmom.com

Finally, the most important factor in the balancing act of motherhood and career is YOU!  No pressure, but so much, and so many people, depend on you.  Aside from trying to meet the expectations of your supervisor at work, you have your own expectations and responsibilities in your personal life that are demanding your attention.  Bills need to be paid. Clothes need to be washed and folded. Meals need to be prepared. The house needs cleaning.  You may have community or church responsibilities. And on top of everything, your children need you.  Unless you take care of yourself, you will not perform at your highest level.  And, if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

Woman doing yoga

  • Give health a priority.  You need your body to function properly in order to accomplish so much!  My back went out last month and I was reduced to lying flat on my back or walking doubled over.  It slowed me down and frustrated me to no end because I could not function!  You need your sleep. You need some exercise. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you need your fruits and vegetable and all other healthy foods that provide energy and a healthy body.  Cupcakes are fine in moderation.  :)

 

  • Lower your standards. We all have good intentions of completing everything on our agenda.  However, the reality is that sometimes we just won’t be able to accomplish everything we want to.  Life doesn’t follow the same routine every day.  There will be disruptions, distractions, and disappointments.  Prioritize your agenda according to what absolutely needs to be done, and don’t punish yourself if the list isn’t checked off completely at the end of the day. 

   

  • It’s OK to say “no”.  You know your abilities and limitations.  Don’t be afraid to tell the PTA president you can’t make cookies for the meeting, or the neighbor that you aren’t able to help with a carpool.  Stay focused on your own priorities and don’t overload your schedule.  I found a great article the other day, sharing the secrets of multi-tasking.  During your “me” time, you can check it out for more tips.

   

  • Give yourself “me” time.  You need time to unwind, and to focus on yourself and your own development.  Maybe it’s spending time scrapbooking or baking. Maybe it’s shopping at an antique store or blogging. Maybe it’s just soaking in the tub. If time is so limited that your only time alone is on your commute, plug in an audio book, or your favorite CD and relish the moment.  Get together with your girlfriends for dinner or a pedicure every once in a while, and remember to leave the guilt home! 

About the Author:  Camille is a thirty-something mommy with two beautiful daughters, Ad and C8, living in two worlds.  By day, she works full-time  as an employment recruiter/ staffing supervisor, with a 100-mile daily commute, living in a world governed by policies and professionalism.  And by night, she transforms into a mother, living in a world where everything is governed by “Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe” and fun.   Like so many other moms, she wishes she could stay at home with them, but certain situations require her to work full-time.  To learn more about Camille visit www.makeitworkmom.com or contact her via twitter @makeitworkmom.

RSVP to Share Family Togetherness & Meal Time Tips This Tuesday on Twitter

September 12, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 47 Comments 

Libbys_image_300x250Stop for a second and think about your most favorite meal time experience with your family. What made it fun or meaningful? What did you eat? What did you talk about? What was it that helped you connect and grow closer as a family?

Now think for a second about what gets in the way of achieving that on a regular basis. If you’re like me, quick and simple meals are never quick or simple enough, meal times are rushed, and while I’d love to have all sorts of meaningful conversations with the family during meal time, we are usually lucky to get a home-cooked meal and even luckier to get conversation with it.

But… statistics show the importance of family togetherness during meal times. So, this Tuesday, we are fortunate to have Libby’s and Feeding America along with other #gno gals to share with us their fabulous tips for making the most of meal time. Have lots to share? Want to learn? Or, want to connect for a little girl power? Then, join us this Tuesday for #gno.

And, don’t forget to enter to win one of our amazing giveaway going on this week.

  • What: Libby’s is sponsoring this week’s #gno Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
  • When: Tuesday, September 15, 9-11 p.m. EST
  • Where: Party with us on our custom Tweetgrid. (Use hashtag #gno.)
  • Topic: Family togetherness and meal times
  • Who: @feedingamerica @goodlifeeats @hannahkeeley @janemaynard @savorthethyme @rockinmama
  • Party Favors: Click here to check out this week’s giveaway sponsored by Libby’s.
  • RSVP: Please leave your Twitter ID in the comments to follow and be followed (on Twitter, of course!) by other #gno gals. The best format is as follows: http://twitter.com/jylmomIF.

RSVP to Learn Cleaning & Organizing Tips & Tricks at This Tuesday’s #gno Twitter Party

August 30, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 131 Comments 

Dyson Vacuum Cleaner with ChildIf you’re like me, you didn’t quite get to spring cleaning this year. I won’t mention that we’re still in boxes even though we moved the beginning of June.

Now that the kids are back in school, cleaning and organizing is just where my focus needs to be for a while. So, it’s a good thing Dyson is sponsoring the #gno Twitter party this week to help me get a little more motivated for fall cleaning.

Whether you love to clean or avoid it like the plague like I do, please come and share the good, the bad, or the ugly on housework, cleaning, and organizing with your favorite #gno gal pals this week. And, don’t forget to enter to win one of three Dyson vacuum cleaners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com.

RSVP to Discuss Back-to-School Survival on #GNO Tuesday on Twitter

August 2, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 150 Comments 

Girl on the Playground_Crayola_Back to School_BackpackLooking for tips on how to transition from summer break to back to school? Then tweet the night away with other Mom It Forward gals at #gno this Tuesday on Twitter as we talk about back-to-school survival.

Mom It Forward Moments

June 27, 2009 by Danielle Smith · 2 Comments 

2 copyFor a mother, giving is innate.

From the moment we discover we are pregnant, or that we are being blessed with adoption, our inner ‘giver’ stirs. And, we may not even know it is happening.

Instead of worrying about the sleep we will lose, we think only of the quiet moments in the middle of the night when we will have our babies all to ourselves.  We can focus on the beauty of those precious moments, and sacrificing sleep will seem minuscule.

No one will teach us to take the burnt piece of chicken, to sing A-B-C’s until our ears ring, to walk 15 blocks to find the lost blanket our little one ‘has to have’ or give up hours of our time to work on math homework.

We will just do it.

No one told us we would come last—even in our own minds—from the moment we conceived.

And we don’t complain.  Because we realize, we are teaching by example.  For every hug we give, every hand we hold, every kiss we share – you – our children – will learn.  You will see that giving makes the world a brighter and more beautiful place.

We take our big hopes for a kinder world and we pass them to you in a million small ways every day.

When we listen to you, we hope you will open your ears to others.  When we hold you tight, we trust you will one day do the same.  When we open a door for a stranger, share a meal with someone who needs it, donate clothes to a family with a new child, dedicate a prized Saturday to building a home, or simply smile, we believe we are shaping you.

You may not recognize it as it happens.  But the giving will occur all around you.  These will be the moments that mold.

We are momming-it-forward.

danielle s 031awfixRESUMEPICAbout the Author: Danielle Smith is a mommy to two smart and sassy small people, as well as the founder and primary author of ExtraordinaryMommy.com. You can catch her hosting a brand new live show, The Spin Cycle, on MomTV.com every Wednesday at 9pmEST. She also hosts a show on Blog Talk Radio and contributes to WhyMomsMatter. Danielle is thrilled to be contributing to MomItForward as ‘giving back’ has always been an important part of who she is and what she hopes to teach her children

Inspiring Women—Strengthening Each Other Through Our Trials

June 26, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 8 Comments 

Women, Connecting, Girl's Night Out, Trials, Strenthening Relationships, MomsI attended an event last night sponsored by Cherish Bound where I was taken back to my childhood as I listened to professional story tellers share their growing up tales. If I were an artist and could have captured one sketch of the room it would have included women laughing, sharing, talking, delighting in delicacies, and relishing in the beauty of a simple, yet rejuvenating girl’s night out. And yet, one element would have been missing, because how do you capture strength and dedication in a drawing?

If you could look closely—perhaps only possible through a 3D sketch, allowing you to go much further beyond the surface—you’d realize that the laughter and sharing was made up of far more than glee and fun. It was made up of experience, learning, and LIFE!

You’d learn that one woman in the room has breast cancer and had recently undergone a double mastectomy. One woman has Lupus and she made a choice to trade one night of connection for several energy-less days after. Of course, we only saw her laughter. One woman has had 42 staples in her head and 4 screws in her jaw from Epilepsy. Another is in and out of the hospital on a monthly basis with her toddler, hearing shifting diagnosis and unanswered questions.  Yet another is fighting a court battle to keep her adopted son. A couple are on the brink of bankruptcy. More than one woman is pregnant and one in particular is experiencing the joys of all-day/all-pregnancy sickness. Another was experiencing her last hooray before uprooting her family to move them cross country for her husband’s education. More than one woman didn’t know a single soul in the room. One gal was recently divorced and many were single parents. A couple were empty nesters, vying for more time with their grandchildren. Yet another was fighting to keep her business afloat during these hard economic times. The list could go on, making the stories within the stories much deeper and richer in color.

But to look at the room—or the sketch I would have drawn—wouldn’t have told you all that. And yet, that strength, that dedication to endure and triumph through life’s challenges is what makes inspiring women out of us all. It connects us, draws us to each other, gives us the compassion and knowledge to support each other. Ultimately, it empowers us to change the world one mom at a time.

Today’s “inspiring moms” post is a dedication to women everywhere who have stories upon stories, some for public view and others under lock and key. The tightly woven and intricate patterns of your lives, with broken thread and mistakes and all, make the world a better place to be! Thanks for inspiring me!

10 Tips to Raising Service-Oriented, Giving, and Charitable Children

May 21, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 2 Comments 

handsGrowing up, I remember feeling frustrated when my parents dragged me from service project to service project, forcing me to give up precious time with my friends and, let’s face it, even more invaluable time sitting on the couch watching tv LOL! I was convinced my parents were service-a-holics. And what that meant for their six children, especially me being the oldest, was a life of indentured servitude… or so I thought.

Now, with two children of my own, I have realized that my parents taught me one of the most powerful lessons a parent could teach—a knowledge and a love of service. So, now as I “drag” my own children from project to project, I have wondered what, exactly, it was that my parents did that helped me turn my drudgery for service into a passion.

Here are 10 tips I have extrapolated from their parenting that I hope to instill in my children.

make-and-takes-mom-it-forward-service-project_i1. Serve With Your Children. Serving side by side with your children is one of the most powerful teachers of how to serve all while bringing the family closer. While kids may complain, the bonding time you share sticks in their memories as a positive experience. When they have children of their own and search for ways in which to bond with their children, they will want to repeat the positive experiences they had as a child and the cycle will continue.

  • One of my most memorable service projects as a child was a family picnic where my dad did all the service. My dad was the president of our local Rotary Club and they were raising money to wipe out Polio. I was 10 years old and remember the hot Arizona day, watching my dad prepare the dutch oven luncheon for the event and him talking to me at length about Polio, explaining why the Rotary Club was focused on raising money to eradicate it, and the importance of my participation. I felt important! I didn’t do a thing but talk to my dad and eat the picnic lunch, but I felt I had made a huge difference for mankind.

2. Talk to Your Children About Giving and Sharing. When you are not able to serve side by side with your children, share in detail your experiences after the event. Specifically, help them understand the need, how you helped to meet the need, and why your giving and sharing was so important. If you can, take pictures or video and share it with them. Your excitement for your volunteering will be contagious!

Family Service Project at Assisted Living Facility

Family Service Project at Assisted Living Facility

3. Choose Service Activities Your Children Are Passionate About. Service activities come in many shapes and sizes. Identify what is important to your children and choose activities and causes that fit with their interests. Some suggestions include animals, the environment, children will illnesses, an illness a family member suffers from, etc.

4. Choose a Cause That Taps In to Your Child’s Talents, Skills, & Abilities. Does your child play a musical instrument? Does she like to do arts and crafts? Is he good at weeding or picking up trash? Can she make homemade greeting cards? Can he sing in a group? Nursing homes is just one example of a place that allows kids to visit and share who they are with others. This act of sharing and giving boosts self esteem and helps children learn that their talents, skills, and abilities can be used for good.

5. Tie Everyday Tasks Into Service. Make service an everyday activity and giving a constant thought by reinforcing these concepts in simple things like sharing toys, taking turns, secretly doing a sibling’s chores, giving family members hugs and kisses, etc. You can do this by saying things like: “Johnny, great job at sharing your toys with Billy. That shows that you are a giving person.” To help kids recognize the many ways to serve, create a Giving Chart, where they identify either in written or drawing format things they can do on a daily basis to serve those around them.

Cousins Creating Treasure Boxes (Gratitude Charts)

Cousins Creating Treasure Boxes (Gratitude Charts)

6. Show Gratitude. Helping kids recognize and show appreciation for things they are grateful for is an important aspect of service. Involve your children in gratitude activities such as keeping a gratitude journal or art book; going on gratitude walks; keeping a Daily Gratitude Chart on the refrigerator where you, as a family, can list your blessings; and having activities such as sitting in a circle and sharing what you are grateful for about the person sitting to your right. Check out Fishful Thinking for their Grateful Sayings activity.

7. Add an Aspect of Giving to Holidays & Events. The Christmas and Hanukkah season is a terrific and natural time to give to others, but you can add a touch of service during many other events as well. For example, many people are now donating their birthday gifts to charity.

  • When I was 11 years old, my parents enlisted our help in doing the 12 Days of Christmas for a family whose mom was dying of breast cancer. Together, we picked out all of the gifts, items that would help the family feel joy during the holiday season. We created a strategy for how we would anonymously deliver the gifts. Then, we created a schedule of which family member would take responsibility for various tasks: wrapping the gifts, delivering them, etc. Each day, we huddled together after it got dark to work on our tasks and carry out the project. I will always remember that as one of the best Christmases. Not surprisingly, I don’t recall what I received for my gifts that year.

Kids Bowling to Help Fight Poverty in Africa

Kids Bowling to Help Fight Poverty in Africa

8. Serve even when you’re away from home. What a better way to get to know and bond with a destination location than to serve it or its community? If you’ll be away on a long trip, you can arrange a project through an organization. Nearly every major city has a homeless shelter or rescue mission, for example. For shorter stays, simple tasks like picking up garbage at a park and smiling at strangers on the street can make a big difference. Before going on a trip, plan as a family by answering the question: What can we do to give back to the towns and people we’ll be visiting?

  • When I was 12 years old, my parents gave me the wonderful opportunity of visiting their friends in Costa Rica for the summer and encouraged me to do a service project before I left. I planned and ran a bake sale with the help of some of my church friends. I raised a whopping $30, which felt like a million bucks! Once I arrived, Silvia, the mom of the family I was staying with, took me all by myself to the grocery store where we purchases items for three families—food that would help them survive for 6 months. The most memorable part of my summer was delivering the food to the three families, crying with them as they humbly accepted it, and gaining a stark realization at the age of 12 of how other people suffer and that I had the power to make a huge difference. I count that as one of the most fortunate experiences I’ve ever had and thank my parents for ensuring it happened.

Decorating Tree at Center for Abused Children

Decorating Tree at Center for Abused Children

9. Do Unto Others as They Need You to Do Unto Them. What’s valuable to teach your kids about service is that everyone needs to be loved in different ways and that finding out and meeting their needs is most important. While some people need your undivided attention, others need a quick smile or hug. Still others may need a meal brought in (and yes, kids can and should help with that!) or their houses cleaned. When you look at a person and ask yourself and your child: What need does that person have and how can we meet it, you are getting at the heart of selfless service.

10. Emphasize the Role of Money in Charity. Giving includes all sorts of things, many of which do not cost a cent. A child can donate old toys, clothes, or art supplies to organizations that need them. But, since charities also require money to operate, volunteer opportunities and causes that require money offer a wonderful way to teach children about its value. For example, just as you can teach kids to save by reserving a percentage of their allowances for a savings account, you can also have them put aside a specific amount for a giving account. Turn this into a craft activity where they get to decorate three cans or envelopes, labeling them: “Spending,” “Saving,” and “Giving”.

For some great child-oriented service projects, read http://www.parents.com/family-life/work-money-politics/volunteering-philanthropy/10-kid-oriented-causes/.

(Top photo used with permission from Flickr.)

Mom Donates Her Gift of Photography to Families, Children, and Charities

May 21, 2009 by Danielle Smith · Leave a Comment 

Inspiration comes in many forms, but for me, right now, it has taken the shape of a petite brunette. She is sitting across from me calmly drinking ice tea as she talks about her drive to ‘give back’. Photographer, Gina Kelly works with more than 20 charities in the St. Louis area. That’s right, 2-0.

The questions are galloping through my mind, leap-frogging over one another to spill out of my mouth first: How does she find the time? How does she choose who she works with? Does she have a favorite? How does she give…is it time, talent, or money? Why does she do it?

new-image-dominican5Gina Kelly’s story is amazing. Any given week you can find her photographing (for free) a Mother-Daughter Tea or Bowling Event for little girls with Down Syndrome, flying to the Dominican Republic to document and participate in charity work with the Albert Pujols Family Foundation, (Gina will head to the Dominican for the third time next week) snapping priceless family moments, taking pre-school class pictures, catching a bride and groom in their perfect moment of love, or donating her time to tell the stories of previously homeless teenagers.

But to understand Gina, you need to know where she has come from and how hard she has worked to get where she is.

ginaphotoIn the 1990’s, under the tutelage of several well-known photographers in the St. Louis area, Gina explains, “I got a great foundation.” She learned the ropes, paid her dues and honed her own innate talent for getting the best shots, developing a special rapport with her subjects and working quickly. But the chance to use this talent professionally was jeopardized by her personal situation.

A victim of domestic violence, she survived an abusive marriage, only to fall in love with a man who would eventually kick her and her two young children out into the street. A mere 8 years ago, Gina was a homeless, single mom.

The photography business she had started on her own had to close as she needed to make money to support her family. Gina says, “Prayer was huge. I did whatever I could. I painted baby rooms. I gave piano lessons. I worked part time at a local deli.”

img_0788-copy

But, she continues, “I started thinking about getting on my feet. I was absorbing like a sponge – (trying to understand) how is he or she successful?” Gina began working with another local photographer, “(This woman) enabled me to financially get on my feet and try out new stuff.”

This new beginning for Gina allowed her to blossom into the mother, photographer and giver she had always wanted to be. She explains, “I needed someone to light the fire within.” Her epiphany: the realization that ‘to give would be to receive’. “Prayer was huge. I prayed about my husband, about my home and it all happened,” she says with reverance.

Her philosophy for photography became, “It happened and you caught it (on film)”

a-392-copyThis philosophy, combined with her desire to give, paved the way for Art by Gina, which opened in 2001. With this company, Gina has focused mainly on children, maternity and family portraits. Early on, she began ‘doing little things’ to help others. She realized, through work with her daughter’s Girl Scouts, her son’s day care, and a few local preschools that many families couldn’t afford pictures. She wanted to help. Gina explains, “I started throwing in coupons, giving some portraits away for free.”

She continues, “Almost all of my giving is kid based. I did that purposely. I donate where my heart is.”

ginadominicanAnd her heart continues to grow. Her life has become a beautiful circle. As she has continued to ‘give’, she has been blessed with more work, amazing connections and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. For Gina, this means, a greater opportunity to give of herself.

To continue this giving tradition, to allow for opportunities to help others and to continue sharing her talents, Gina started a second photography company in 2003. Lace Images focuses mainly on weddings, corporate events and charity. Each photographer who works at Lace knows ‘giving back’ is part of the job. They regularly donate their time and talents to charitable events around the city.

This is a woman, a mother, a photographer who gives back, not by writing checks, but with her own time and talents. In keeping with her desire to help kids, Gina was recently walking through The Covenant House, a home taking teenagers off the streets. She noticed that the walls were bare. When told that there was not yet enough money to put anything up, Gina did what she does best, she offered to help. Her suggestion: use photographs to tell the real-life stories of the teens that had been saved from the streets. Gina did it for free. One by one, she has taken these teenagers to the areas of the city where they were found, photographed them, and documented their current triumph.

new-image-dominican4

Also, touching Gina’s heart: The Make-A-Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Kurt Warner Foundation, the Pujols Family Foundation (benefitting Down Syndrome), Young Moms of Down Syndrome and the St. Louis Family Church (benefitting inner city kids).

I think we could all take a page out of Gina’s book to begin a new chapter in our lives.

Know a “Mom It Forward” mom—someone who inspires you, gives back to others, is changing the world one mom at a time? Nominate her to be spotlighted in our “Be Inspired!” section by writing us at momitforward [at] gmail [dot] com.

danielle-s-031awfixresumepic
About the Author:  Danielle Smith is a mommy to two smart and sassy small people, as well as the founder and primary author of ExtraordinaryMommy.com.  You can catch her hosting a brand new live show, The Spin Cycle, on MomTV.com every Wednesday at 9pmEST. She also hosts a show on Blog Talk Radio and contributes to WhyMomsMatter and ChicksWhoConnect. Danielle is thrilled to be contributing to MomItForward – as ‘giving back’ has always been an important part of who she is and what she hopes to teach her children.

RSVP Here! #GNO Makes a Difference—Social Community & Responsibility

March 29, 2009 by jyl johnson pattee · 8 Comments 

One Person Can Make a Difference!

ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AND EVERYONE SHOULD TRY.

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Please Enter Your Twitter URL and not your Blog URL to RSVP.

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