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.
Summer is a time for kids to kick up their feet, play with friends, go to camp and continue to explore their independence. With that comes the discovery of new behaviors, some good and some bad. To help kick off a summer of kindness, the creators of the Tacky Box Set want to help parents encourage the message of respect and goodness to as many young, impressionable minds as possible. So, through June 30, 2014, shipping and handling for the Tacky Box Set is free.
Michael Brody, a child psychiatrist in private practice in Potomac, Maryland, and member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, emphasizes the benefits of unstructured time to play – which, over the summer, often includes independent exploring. “As a parent, you know your child, and you have a pretty good instinct about how he or she will behave without you around.” Brody suggests “independent exploration with minimal supervision…You risk freedom for the child in exchange for responsible conduct.” Responsible conduct includes the ability to self-police acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors and words.
Chris Kent Phelps, inventor of Tacky Box Set and co-author of Margo’s Magnificent Choice, Winner of the 2014 Silver Nautilus Award, says, “Parents cannot control the world around their children, especially during the summer months when kids are out of school and often away from home. As part of our ongoing mission to make the world a kinder place, we want to help parents arm their children with this fun educational tool.”
According to The Children’s Book Review, “This is a well-written story that teaches kids about the power of words and the impact of making good choices. When combined with a Tacky Box, the story makes a very effective and hands-on parenting tool and proves that learning about kindness can be very fun.”
The Tacky BoxSet is available for purchase at www.TackyBox.com. Each set costs $29.95 WITH FREE SHIPPING THROUGH JUNE 2014 and includes an authentic Tacky Box, a 32-page Margo’s (or Max’s) Magnificent Choice book, and a notepad illustrated with monkeys to use for writing down tacky words.
In conjunction with Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration this year at Disneyland, California, the folks over at Disney put together a breakfast to preview and showcase some of the company’s major projects. Included in the preview were advance looks at Disney’s Maleficent, Disney Nature’s Bears (and next year’s Monkey Kingdom!) and some upcoming Disney Channel features like Girl Meets World!
The event also included appearances by celebrities like Tim Gunn, David Arquette, Ariel Winter, and LeVar Burton (who read books like Mickey and the Beanstalk to support literacy), producer Don Hahn and actress Elle Fanning (who discussed Maleficent), and a performance by music artist Savannah Carpenter (who is set to star in Disney’s Boy Meets World followup show Girl Meets World.)
The breakfast and preview event was unquestionably one of the major highlights of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, and an excellent opportunity to get a look ahead at all the great things on the way from Disney! Check out some pictures from the event in the gallery below!
David Arquette, Ariel Winter, and Tim Gunn
LeVar Burton
Producer Don Hahn and Actress Elle Fanning of “Maleficent”
As part of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were treated to a wonderful dinner at Disneyland’s Big Thunder Ranch on the first night of the conference. The dinner, focused on on “The Magic of Healthy Living,” emphasized the importance of eating well and staying in shape. Particularly featured were Disney’s line of flavored apple slices (apples infused with flavors like grape, blue raspberry, and vanilla), as well as their “Snackers” and “Foodles,” which are snack packages containing healthy treats like grapes and cheese, apple slices, pretzels, and yogurt.
We got to sample some of the flavored apples and the snack packs, and they were pretty great. I especially enjoyed the grape-infused apples, and the Avengers-themed pretzel, cheese, and apple “Snackers” were a big hit!
Overall, Disney’s got some great snack options for kids and “grown-ups” alike, and to someone as health-conscious as I am, that means a lot. I definitely see us picking up some of Disney’s “Snackers,” “Foodles,” and flavored apples in the future.
Check out Disney’s “Foodles,” “Snackers,” and apple slices at a grocery store near you, and in the gallery below!
We’ve all heard about the importance of reducing our carbon footprint but did you know that we have a food footprint as well? Your food footprint is the amount of farmland, grazing land, forest and fishing grounds needed to produce your food, plus all land and water needed to absorb carbon emissions from the production and transportation of your food.
In the new book from Disney’s Mickey & Friends Collection, Go Green! A Family Guide to a Sustainable Lifestyle, Mickey, Minnie and other notable Disney character highlight the importance of understanding the role our food plays in living a greener and healthier life. Providing details that help children and families to first understand this specific impact and then put them into practice, Go Green! also offers:
Tips for starting a container garden to grow your own fruits & vegetables
Guidance on starting a compost piles and information on the important of healthy soil
How to reduce waste by safely reusing things like plastic bags and bottles, not only for food use but arts & crafts as well
Recipes for making your own healthy chips from carrots, kale, turnips and more
Why we need to focus on eating locally and seasonally
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A survey by a leading coupon brand has revealed that the average age of a first time cell phone owner is six years old, with 53% of American children owning a cell phone by the time their seventh birthday arrives.
A leading coupon brand conducted a survey to find out more about the digital age and its effect on American consumerism. The survey intended to find out just how old people are when technology begins to integrate into their daily lives and habits. 2,290 US parents took part in the study, all of whom had at least one child aged between 11 and 16.
The survey, conducted by www.vouchercloud.net, revealed that the average American child gets their first cell phone when they are just six years old. Parents taking part in the poll were first asked to identify all devices which their children owned and were provided with a list of everyday technology items. The results were as follows:
Cell Phone – 96%
Own TV / Sound system – 83%
Tablet – 75%
Handheld games console e.g. Nintendo DS – 71%
eBook Reader – 65%
51% of parents said their child had a games console, such as an Xbox or PlayStation. Without exception, the respondents who indicated that their child did not have a cell phone had children in the youngest age bracket (11 -12 years old), suggesting that the children over the age of 12 involved in the survey all had their own cell phones.
As a website that aims to save users money, vouchercloud.net wanted to determine how much money was being spent on gadgets by parents for their children. When asked to estimate how much their child’s gadget collection was worth and asked to take into account all technology devices that were exclusively theirs, the average answer stated was $462.00 per child.
The respondents whose children owned cell phones were asked, “At what age did your child have their first cell phone?” The vouchercloud.net team collaborated all of the answers given and calculated the average age for a child to have their first cell phone, which was revealed to be six years old.
When asked, “What made you decide to get your child their first cell phone?” the majority of respondents whose children had one (31%) confirmed that they made the purchase for ‘security reasons, so my child could always contact me’, while a quarter (25%) said ‘my child wanted one to keep in touch with friends and family’. A further 20% confirmed that they felt their child had to have one in order to ‘keep up with their friends at school’.
In order to explore the social pressures on parents, the relevant respondents were then asked “Compared to your child’s friendship circle, how quickly did s/he have his/her own phone?” The majority of the parents polled, 41%, confirmed that they were ‘not the first, but not the last’ to get a handset, while 23% confirmed that they felt their child was ‘among the last’ to have a cell phone they could call their own.
Asked about the risks and dangers of digital independence, 74% of the relevant parents confessed that they felt ‘concerned’ when they first purchased a cell phone for their child, with 46% of these installing parental filters and monitors prior to giving their child the device in order to keep a watchful eye on their usage.
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.
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.
In conjunction with Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration this year at Disneyland, California, the folks over at Disney put together a breakfast to preview and showcase some of the company’s major projects. Included in the preview were advance looks at Disney’s Maleficent, Disney Nature’s Bears (and next year’s Monkey Kingdom!) and some upcoming Disney Channel features like Girl Meets World!
As part of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were treated to a wonderful dinner at Disneyland’s Big Thunder Ranch on the first night of the conference. The dinner, focused on on “The Magic of Healthy Living,” emphasized the importance of eating well and staying in shape. Particularly featured were Disney’s line of flavored apple slices (apples infused with flavors like grape, blue raspberry, and vanilla), as well as their “Snackers” and “Foodles,” which are snack packages containing healthy treats like grapes and cheese, apple slices, pretzels, and yogurt.
