We all like change but something about childhood and children mean we can get stuck in too many fixed routines. Don’t get me wrong, routines are good but there are somethings that would be better if we switched who was doing it. Contributions are one of these things. If you call them chores see why we changed them to contributions… View Post
Most families like the idea of chores and have tried chores at sometime in their homes. At some point chores breakdown and they just don’t work. Slowly they slip down the list of things to do and gradually get done again by the parents. Chores are an opportunity for the family to work together without everyone doing the same thing…. View Post
Lots of people choose a word or phrase of the year to help their year be focussed. It’s a good idea for parents and families too to find a word of phrase they can regroup around and a place they are heading towards. Goals, words and phrases of the year can seem though to fizzle out pretty quickly. How exactly can… View Post
It’s really easy for meal time conversations to get stalled. We ask the same questions, “How was school?” and get the same one word answer. Now we’re kind of stuck. I’ve written before about Creating a Family Meal Ritual and how during meal time it’s a great way to have chance to have good conversations with different aged children and adults with… View Post
It all started with crumpets. Crumpets are a familiar breakfast/ quick snack in the UK served with lashings of butter. Something I took for granted now I can’t get them locally. Not to worry. Why not make them? Well if I go to the trouble of making them then why not include the kids and make it a family affair…. View Post
There are times when you find that family life has spun out of sync with what you had planned. It’s really easy to throw in the towel as that’s a big mountain to climb to get on top of things. I’m all about the simple things. This is actually a good time to really decide what matters and start… View Post
Rooting around in that first Christmas box we found the Christmas ornaments. Gradually unfolding each ornament, the boys tried to guess who made what and wished they had been more diligent about putting their names on things. Like most families we are blessed with one son who keeps the facts like this all straight and was happy to share who… View Post
Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, the summer holidays are all times when we have the opportunity to see extended family for longer periods of time. When you’re in the company of family how much time do we spend sharing stories from our family history? How many stories can the children recite because they’ve become family favorites? I came across this quote and decided it was… View Post
Choose a different type of gift this Christmas season by getting a non toy gift idea. A very welcome and different gift- a non toy gift isn’t a new thing but certainly since toys have become so popular non toy gift ideas look like they have fallen out of favor. Non toy gift ideas vary in price and… View Post
Audio books are not just for long car journeys. Since you can download the apps to your phone and other portable devices it’s even easier for the family to take their stories with them. I grew up listening to stories on the radio and love the theatre and drama of it all. There’s something about stories that bring them to… View Post
