The Relaxing ? Tween Years

Just when you think your child is finally old enough to spend some time playing with friends without your constant supervision, can fix their own snacks and can entertain themselves- it's time to get even more involved in their lives! You thought you could go back to relaxing a little , watching adult TV shows , and having adult only conversation.. Forget it. It's time to coach , attend performances, bus kids to activities and host sleepovers!!

The tween years, 8 to 12, can be smooth sailing for many kids , with 13 being a jump into the rough teenage moody years. For other kids, especially girls, the tween years can be the rocky beginning of the tumultuous teens. Either way a parent must be prepared for the teen years when kids crave independence and control of their lives and yet have displays of behavior that prove their immaturity.

How can a parent best prepare for the bumpy teen years?

The answer is to insure a close relationship in the tween years. If a tween enjoys and respects their parent, setting rules and getting compliance from a teen will be much easier.

Here are a few tips to help bond the parent and child relationship during the tween years

Ensure your tween has an opportunity to find activities besides school work and home leisure that are challenging and fun. The possibilities are numerous; sports, music, art, science , volunteer organizations, civic clubs etc. Make sure they try a variety until they settle on a few favorites. As a parent you must ensure they follow through with the commitment they make and most importantly you must get involved in helping to support the activity. The involvement can be simply attending performances, or keeping records, or running the whole show if you are so inclined. Your tween will be thrilled you are there and you will have lots to discuss at the dinner table.

Schedule daily time to talk to your tween. Ideally this is a meal time but could be bedtime or right after school. Your work schedule may dictate this time, but it needs to be every day. It needs to be a relaxed, non-rushed period when the two of you can just chat about life or problems or anything really. The point is to let the kid know you are available and you care.


Get to know your tweens friends and their parents. Allow the friends to be at your home frequently and include them in activities and fun. Your tween will want to stay at their homes and you want to know that environment is a safe and supervised home. Again, you are showing your kid that you care enough to get involved in their lives.

So, keep your tween busy in healthy activities, be a part of these activities and be available to listen and chat. Build a strong bond before you head into the teens years, the ride will be less "bumpy." ( there's that cute word again to describe the TEEN years LOL)


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COME ON.................KARMA!

OMG I am so excited - I'll probably jinx myself by blogging about it but..................BlogHer is having it's third annual conference, BlogHer'08, in San Francisco on July 18 and they are having a contest. They are giving away tote bags to the 1000+ attendees. Many of these ladies are the top bloggers in the country or maybe the world. The bag of course has the name of the conference, sponsers, date etc, blah-blah-blah........boring stuff on it.

More importantly, they are having a contest to determine the tag line to go on the bag, and I entered. and my submission was chosen as one of the 6 to be voted on in the next 10 days. The winning tag line will go on the bag as well as the .............are you ready .................The name and URL of the blog of the winner!!! I'm already envisioning it


GoGoGlueGunFun.com

up in lights ............I mean on the bags ...........and everyone ( all 1000) saying

" I have to go check out that blog with the cute name"

How cool would that be .............WAY COOL!!

Here's what I have won so far in my lifetime
1- A free rewiring of an old lamp ( I am not joking- that's why I remember it clearly)
2-A Pumpkin - I do love halloween
3-I was May Day princess in 2nd and 3rd grade - I was a cutie then....
4- A Fondue Set........well sort of, it was missing the skewers (used?)

And that's it for my whole 54 years .................I'm due for a WIN don't you think? Come oooooooooon Karma!........... I've been a dedicated nurse for 25+ years!

Oh,................ and here's my tag line

"Girls Gone World Wide", .................. cuter than me in 2nd grade!

So please go over to BlogHer the fantastic place for women bloggers to learn and chat and share ther wisdom................... and vote for my tag line !

Three Cheers for a Bar of Soap !

I finally went to the Dove website and viewed all the films and played with the interactive stuff. I am going to buy their products from now on ! They are" right on" the whole point I'm yelling about on my blog :

" WE HAVE TO STOP THE CONSTANT MESSAGE TO OUR GIRLS THAT THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH !!"

Please go to this site and let your girls play with the programs. This will start lots of chat between the two of you and give you a chance to bond over common girl worries and problems and answers --PERFECT ! Here's my favorite video............Make sure you turn off my music player first ( far right and down,down,down)

That little girl is so innocent. I read an article that stated by the age of 12, girls have seen 77,000 commercials from the beauty industry telling them they must improve their appearance. I find it sickening. Don't get me wrong................. Hey, I wear a little makeup, I color my grey hair and I gel my frizzy wild hair but this I feel falls under the category of grooming. I would not want to stop my grooming routine for fear of causing a shock to my friends and hubby. For young girls to believe they have multiple serious flaws and resort to behaviors such as anorexia, bulimia, depression, skipping school, cutting and suicide is just horrific ! Go to the Dove site and use this tool as one way to build your daughters self image.

My Cool New Header

I did It! I did It!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my new header ............Lots of color and pics of my projects. What do you think?????? Im going to look into promoting this program. It was fun and fairly easy. I' ll let you know all about it SOON. Gotta go network ..............now I want people to visit my fun blog :D

Jim Knows How I Feel !!!!!!!!!

Must See 3D Sidewalk Chalk Art !!!

This art is AMAZING. Don't miss the end where they show the pictures from behind and you can get an inkling of an idea of how he makes them 3 dimensional. It is very hard to believe but there is no water on the pavement and no holes in the pavement. I am in awe of people who have this kind of ability. My artistic talent is somewhere in the tip of my pinky and luckily on occasion creeps up to the trigger finger to work my glue gun.

Does this guy watch the weather channel and worry about grey clouds ?

And what's with the lobster about to eat the baby--creepy- but all great artists are a little "out there" or just "odd' in a good way

I'll show you another guy who makes art that walks ---all by it self ----tomorrow

Glue Gun Safety "Don't Shoot!"

Glue guns are a fantastic way to make projects quickly and very securely . I love them --obviously --I have a whole blog dedicated to the uses and fun you can have with one. A low temp glue gun is great for the kind of light weight crafts I will share with you - avoid the high temp guns ----maybe they are for furniture building or car repairs -- I'm not sure ????

Before I give you boring safety rules I'll share a funny story. Several years ago I was going to teach some classes at the town rec center and they required all new instructors to submit their class outlines for approval, and because I listed a glue "gun" on my supply list I was further required to meet with the city lawyer. A bright (?) young man. He was extremely worried that young boys might get rowdy and shoot each other with the glue guns and just how far was the projectile of this gun and were the kids at risk of eye injuries ...and could the town be sued..... and liability...... and risk factors...... and it was toooo funny. I calmed him down.

However I rarely teach classes to boys ......they are a crazy species. I love my son and grandson but they don't seem to have any interest in civilized activities. They are best entertained in rooms with non-breakable furnishings, padded walls or better yet outdoors.

For kids under 8 use Fabric Tac glue - dries very quickly and clear and rolls off your fingers like rubber cement. Here's my suggested safety rules.

1. Kids younger than 8 should not use a glue gun and 8 to 12 years should be closely supervised. Evaluate the maturity of the child to be sure they will observe caution when using a hot tool.


2. Always use a glue gun on a table with a lot of open space. The hot tool needs to say in view at all times and not get lost under craft supplies. Also to protect animals and toddlers from touching it.


3. Keep the glue gun on a paper or plastic plate to protect the table surface from drips and to allow for easy clean-up.


4. Never touch the metal tip or liquid glue OUCH!!!


5. Never leave a glue gun unattended


6. Never use a glue gun near a bath tub, sink, pool or any water.


7. When you unplug a glue gun allow it to cool for 15 minutes before putting it away.

Add more if you think I forget something

Some Adults Must be Undermined

Today I got to do one of my most favorite things - teach a doll craft party to 15 little girls ages 6 to 9. They were adorable and so eager to dig in to all the supplies, it's hard some times to get through the brief general directions and safety spiel before all the little voices start going "Can I?......How do I?.......Whats that?...........I want to ..........."

I always have lots of Moms on hand to help. Did I say "help"? .................. Most of the Moms are great helpers but today I had a "grandmother from hell" at the party. She was suppose to be assisting her granddaughter , Amanda, but instead she was "dictating" the young girls design of her doll. There she was "those colors don't match and that doesn't look right in her hair and you're putting on too many beads" Man, do I hate that!! Creativity, is the whole purpose of this activity and it drives me crazy when adults try to direct a kids imagination. So much so, that I simply refuse to let it happen, so with great tact and intervention skills, through clenched teeth and with a big fake smile I told the "control freak" grandma how I heard they desperately needed help in the kitchen. She was gone in a flash! Yeah!!

At the close of the party we had a little fashion show where each kid comes up and shows off her doll. Each doll gets a tiara and a sash with a title on it , "Miss America or Cutest or Beauty Queen, etc." Amanda came up and proudly displayed her doll that rightly earned the title I save in case there is a very unusual work of art " Freaky Funky Teen" She was so proud of herself and the other girls were applauding for her. I saw grandma in the back of the room shaking her head and I couldn't help myself I just laughed out loud, not to myself. Nobody noticed me, there was too much ruckus and party noise - just like I like it.