With Father’s Day just around the corner, mothers, fathers and kids alike are looking for creative ways to celebrate on the greatest accomplishment of any man …being a dad.
Fathers are traditionally defined as the strong, stable provider for their children, but the reality is father’s also play a key role in the development of their kids’ social and emotional resilience.
Here are some tips from Devereux (one of the largest not-for-profit behavioral healthcare organizations in the country) for the perfect Father’s Day celebration that combines fun, fanfare and family.
Below are 5 activities for this Father’s Day that Dad and the kids can do together to strengthen their bond and build their child’s social and emotional resilience.
That’s My Name (Infants) – Make some daddy-baby time to read some stories, or make up your own. Be sure to incorporate your baby’s name and of course the man of honor, daddy, into the story!
Still as Statues (Toddlers) – Top the day off with a dance party – we know you have it in you, Dad – put on some of Dad’s favorite songs and encourage your toddler to dance-it-out and freeze when the music stops!
Walking on my Knees for You– (Pre-School ) – Dad and child can spend some time getting on the same level…literally! Take some time to talk about your favorite childhood activities and then show them how it’s done!
Let’s Get Physical-(Pre-School) A catch with Dad is as iconic as ice cream and apple pie, bond with your child through traditional outdoor games and make some memories of your own!
All About My Feelings Book (school age 6-10) – What better gift than finding out all the amazing ways your child loves and cares for you as a Daddy?! Start with how time spent with dad makes them feel, and you’ll be amazed where it can go!
On the heels of the E3 gaming conference in California, Disney Interactive Studios and Harmonix have announced that the highly-anticipated game Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved will be released on October 21, 2014. in the above trailer, you can get a look at the new game, including a peek at a new area called “The Neighborhood.”
In “The Neighborhood,” players will work their way through a restrained 2D urban cityscape, using music and magic to unleash a vibrant and magical 3D environment by interacting with billboards, rooftops, trains and other surprises hidden within the city landscape. Through this mind-bending experience, players will watch and listen as their movements create bold colors and whimsical music that make “The Neighborhood” a fantastical adventure.
The latest announced tracks from a range of award-winning artists that will appear in-game include:
Depeche Mode – “Enjoy the Silence”
Drake – “Take Care” (ft. Rihanna)
Tchaikovsky – “The Nutcracker Medley”
Police – “Message in a Bottle”
MIA – “Galang”
The Who – “The Real Me”
These tracks are the latest additions to an already-impressive list of music that will be featured in the game, including the following:
AVICII – “Levels”
David Bowie – “Ziggy Stardust”
Antonin Dvorak – “Symphony No. 9 from the New World”
Fun. – “Some Nights”
Peter Gabriel – “In Your Eyes”
Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
Cee Lo Green – “Forget You”
Elton John – “Rocket Man”
Kimbra – “Settle Down”
Lorde – “Royals”
Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”
Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”
Modest Mussorgsky – “Night on Bald Mountain”
Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
Antonio Vivaldi – “The Four Seasons: Winter, 1st Movement”
Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved will be available this fall for Microsoft’s Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Be a reader yourself: Allow your child to see you reading for pleasure as well as for information. Put together a Summer Reading List for yourself as well as for your child. Then be sure to demonstrate how relaxing it can be to enjoy a good book by the pool or beach after swimming.
Get relevant books into your kids’ hands: If your family is going on vacation to a different region of the country, pick up a children’s book about that destination. It can be short or long, fiction or non-fiction. Ask your local children’s librarian for recommendations. For example, say you’re going to the Chesapeake Bay area for a few days. Pick up a copy of Misty of Chincoteague, a beautifully written novel that is based on the true story of the wild ponies from that region.
Read aloud: Don’t be afraid to try reading your favorite children’s chapter book to your younger child. While storybooks form the foundation of a young child’s library, longer books without pictures encourage children to use their imaginations to paint pictures in their minds. These types of books can also be a good way to pass the time on road trips without always having to resort to video games.
Download the Hooked On Phonics Learn to Read app (for iOS or Android or Kindle): When appropriate, let technology work for you. The Hooked On Phonics app is loaded with music, games, activities and open-ended play that keeps your child engaged, but it’s also correlated to National Common Core Standards. So you can rest easy knowing that your child is practicing critical reading skills that he or she will need to know to be a successful reader.
Join a book club: One convenient and inexpensive way to feed your child’s need for books is to join a book club (like one from Early Moments) that is geared to your child’s age and interest.
Visit the library: Not only is the library a perfect place to get suggestions and books for your Summer Reading List, but most public libraries have summer book club discussion groups for kids, book-based crafts, and meet the author events that are both fun and free.
Nationally, 37% of children arrive into kindergarten without the necessary skills to start the learning process of reading and writing. This is why Hooked On Phonics is the number one at-home educational tool for 3- to 6-year-olds. Now, with the mobile apps via iOS and Android, the company is hoping to triple the number of kids who have learned how to read with Hooked On Phonics.
Hooked On Phonics mobile app development team is always working on the latest technology to assist students, parents and teachers with reading, phonics and education. To learn more about the company and to see the latest products, please visit www.hookedonphonics.com .
After the ceremony, I was able to speak to Vince Camuto who expressed the heartwarming feeling that his children are not his only family, but that he sees his employees, most, at least a generation younger than him, as his family. All part of why he won the award and his company has been so successful.
I was able to speak to Curtis Martin at length and was impressed by his calm. He had answers ready for all questions asked. Because his father was an abuser his mother was his mentor. Asked how to guide children in the balance of winning and sportsmanship, Martin said, just try to be the best you can be. Winning at all costs is fine as long as you don’t break any rules. “But it is not competition with others that is important, it is the competition within oneself. Be better than yesterday,” he suggested, “and let the chips fall where they may.” This reporter responded with “And for you, the chips fell pretty well.” And Mr. Martin gave the broadest, warmest smile of ease and grace. It was easy to see how even though the father of rather young children he was honored on this day with father’s of twenty and more years, he is a role model for being the best while remaining cool. A full interview has been recorded.
Father’s Day is June 15 but at the NY Hilton Father’s Day celebrations started yesterday. The Father’s Day/Mother’s Day Council held it’s annual event awarding FATHERS OF THE YEAR to 5 awardees. Fashion Icon Vince Camuto, Governor Chris Christie, medical device executive Robert Reid, Bloomingdales Chairman Tony Strong and Football Hall of Famer Curtis Martin shared the award and one other thing. Each of these men of wealth and power stated in rather similar words “The most important thing that I get to do every day is to be a father.”
In the world in which we live where women in the workplace fight for equality, men are learning to balance responsibilities of work and being a dad. Several of the recipients had children there to speak about the role models their fathers are to them. Robert Reid was nominated for his award based upon his being a swim coach for his daughter’s swim team in the Special Olympics. While four of Camuto’s five children attended, Governor Christie told the audience that only one of his four children could make the ceremony and, in front of the audience of more than 1,000 he told her she was “My new favorite child.” Then smiling, he suggested to her, “You have no idea what this is going to do for you.” Curtis Martin, the final awardee to speak, explained that neither of his children were there, nor his wife, because she is home, breast feeding their new baby and his 2½ year old son was a bit too young to understand what this means. All the other recipients, as well as the Hostess of the event, CBS news personality Nora O’Donnell, who was awarded one of the Mother of the Year honors just last month, expressed humility in winning the award and told of the reaction of their children based in surprise. Basically asking “You? You’re the best?”
Governor Christie has taken heat for his relation with his children for being in Disney World during a snowstorm that buried New Jersey and for taking a state police helicopter to watch his son’s baseball game. The Governor garnered praise when this past Easter he invited another son’s Princeton baseball team to the governor’s mansion, because their team schedule did not allow the teammates to go home for the holidays. He proudly announced that the daughter that attended was going to start Notre Dame in September.
Another common thread of all winners were their recalling their childhoods and the fathers they had. Vince Camuto’s father died at a young age, which caused his family lose their home and build a life from that point. He found his first job as a ladies shoe salesman on Fifth Avenue and he learned that all ladies wanted was for a man to listen to what they need, and that early experience became the cornerstone for his business. He felt that while his father gave him lessons, which he used in life, it was his mother who reared the family. Curtis Martin learned from his father what not to be. The lesson he learned from his father was to forgive for the abuses of his childhood. He recalled that one of his greatest moments in life was getting his mother to forgive his father for his lifetime of improper actions. But other fathers were true role models, which guided these fathers.
As a father, this reporter was reminded by this ceremony, the commonality of mankind. Every fathers first day of becoming who they are, was the day their first child was born.
Lord Stanley has the modern equivalent of the perfect finals for the Cup. Los Angeles Kings vs. New York Rangers. In Los Angeles tickets were going for thousands of dollars and when the Finals comes here tickets will be going for more. But last night the Stanley Cup Finals began on the most glorious night of the season and Bryant Park became Ranger Town, where 10,000 of the closest friends watched a hockey game under the stars. The game started well for Ranger fans with a 2-0 lead, but the Kings came back and the game was tied going into the third period. The Kings attacked and the Rangers defended and the game went to overtime tied at 2. While the Kings held serve, winning in overtime on home ice, we the fans of NYC had a night to remember for free. Saturday night’s game will probably get an even larger crowd and even as the Finals comes back to New York City, Ranger Town will be the center of the hockey universe for those New Yorkers who cannot afford the scalped price of a Stanley Cup Finals ticket. We the People thank the Rangers for getting to the Finals and hope for an even record coming back to NYC.
As a father, this reporter was reminded by this ceremony, the commonality of mankind. Every fathers first day of becoming who they are, was the day their first child was born.
