Parenting Tip - Save the Cookie Cutters for Cookies

Cookie cutters.  Metal or plastic shapes devised to cut out cookies so they will all turn out uniform and identical. 

 

Mothers.  Teachers of offspring, responsible for teaching them to become law abiding and loving citizens.

 

Does our society produce cookie cutter mothers?  Do we put pressure on ourselves to become a cookie cutter mother? Do we look at our neighbors and try to mother the way they do?    Do we try to get our children to look the same way? Act the same way? Be involved in the same activities?

 

Every family is different because the make up the family—the Mom and Dad and children—are different.  Celebrate these differences!

 

Are you a Mom who is active and likes sports?  Then run and swim and dance and have fun with your children.

 

Are you a Mom who loves to draw and paint?  Then get out the crayons, markers, and play dough and draw and sculpt with your children.  Have fun being an artist.

 

Are you a Mom who loves to read?  Then read with your children.  Go to the library or sit at home and read, and laugh and share books.

 

Are you a Mom who doesn’t know what she likes to do or is good at?  Then explore.  Go to the park and play, go to the library and read, go to the museum and discover new ideas.  Involve your children in your discovery.

 

Be a mother YOUR way.  Be a mother who lets her children discover THEIR way. Put blinders on what the other mothers are doing that cause you guilt and envy.  Allow them to be mothers in their own way and take advantage of your differences.

 

                                               Be a MOM and enjoy doing it YOUR way!

 

 

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Parenting Tip - Press Here

I just discovered THE coolest book.  It’s called “Press Here” by Herve’ Tullet.  I found it in the gift store at the Phoenix Children’s Museum, which is THE coolest museum!

 

 

The book is so clever.  You start with just one yellow dot on the page with the instructions to “press here and turn the page”.  The next page has two yellow dots with the instructions to press the yellow dot again. Guess what?  Yes, the next page has 3 yellow dots.  But now the directions say to rub gently the dot on the left.  Turn the page, and poof, it has become red.

 

On each page the child is asked to do something, like lean to the left, or shake the book, which then changes the dots and colors on the following pages.  I was so intrigued with it.  Then my son said, “it’s like an e book, but it’s not.”  Right!  That’s what caught my interest.  It is what you would expect from technology—touching the screen and dots change color and move around—but it’s in a simple old fashioned book.

 

I took Press Here to school and used it with my Kindergarten and 1^st grade music classes and they LOVED it.  They squealed with excitement each time I turned the page.  I let them take turns pressing the dots and gently rubbing them or whatever the book said to do and they were totally engrossed.

 Then I divided the class into three groups (representing the yellow, red and blue dots in the book) and gave each group a different instrument family.  This time when I read the book, they got to play their instrument at the appropriate time.  There’s even a few pages where I turned the lights off—but you’ll have to read the book to find out where that might have been.

 

Check your local library for other books by Herve’Tullet.

 

Thanks for reading,

Cathy

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Music Tip - Hand Clapping Games

I love hand clapping games.  They are so fun.  Even as an adult I love them.  Of course there are more benefits than just having fun that are connected with hand clapping games. A  study conducted at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel (BGU), “has found that young children who engage in hand-clapping songs and games show an increase in the development of a range of cognitive abilities including social integration, spelling and handwriting as well as a reduction in rates of dyslexia and dyscalculia.”  

Other research  shows that rhythm and a sense of timing has an effect on our brain and body functions.  Children diagnosed with dyslexia may be deficient in their sense of timing.  Brain training using a metronome is helping children with their reading fluency and language processing.

Babies usually learn to clap by age one.  By playing and singing clapping games with your toddler you are helping him develop his eye hand coordination. Songs like Pat a Cake and If You’re Happy involve simple clapping that you can do with your child.

I’ve been teaching clapping games to my 3-6^th graders at school. They are loving it.  I found some really fun routines on you tube but they looked so complicated, I wondered if I could learn them myself, so I could teach them.  But the two girls doing them on you tube, slowed the patterns down and it was surprisingly easy.  In fact, there was a trick.  You only sing 3 words and each word has a different movement.  So all you have to do is learn 3 movements, then figure out the pattern.

I pointed the pattern out to my students and even wrote it on the board.  I really believe in helping my visual learners by writing patterns on the board.  I’m a visual learner and I need to see something before I can learn it. 

Here’s the pattern of part A (do it twice)

Bim   Bum   Bim   Bum                         Bum           Bum                      Bum    Bim   Bum

(clap) (snap) (clap) (snap)

                                          Biddy biddy           Biddy          Biddy biddy

                                            (pat legs 2x)

              

Part B  (2xs)

Bim            Bum                         Bum           Bum                      Bum    Bim   Bum

(clap)         (snap)

                               Biddy biddy           Biddy          Biddy biddy

                             (pat legs 2x)

So go have some fun.  Do the hand clapping games with your family.  Have a contest to see who can do it the fastest.  Can you beat Dad? 

And if you want more fun, look up Boom, Snap Clap.  It's a really fun one too!

Thanks for reading,
Cathy

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Music Tip - A New Music Class is Starting

For those of you who live in the Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert/Tempe area, I have a new music class for preschoolers/babies that is starting this coming week.  

It is free!   We meet with some of the residents who live in a retirement apartment complex and call them the "grandmas and grandpas".  We have lots of fun as the preschoolers and "grandparents" interact with each other through music.  We dance with scarves, play instruments, do clapping games, sing with the guitar, jump in hula hoops, tell puppet stories and lots more.

The class is the 2nd and 4th Tues of each month, Jan-April from 10:00-10:45.  The Courtyard Towers, 22 N. Robson, is located in downtown Mesa by Country Club and Robson, across the street from the Youth Museum. The room is small, so I need to limit how many families can be involved each semester.  If you are interested in coming to the classes I need to have you commit to coming each month (unless sickness or other problems crop up, which they sometimes do).

If you are interested in coming this semester, please reply back quickly to reserve a spot.  Babies are welcome too!  If you have neighbors or friends or family you think would be interested, please invite them. 

Thanks for reading!

Cathy  

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Parenting Tip - Ways to Filter the Internet on your Computer

My Church had a special Fireside last night and though I didn't want to go, I went.  I hated every minute I was there because it was on a subject I hate--pornography.  But the information was so positive with a twist on parents teaching their children good things, I felt impressed to share it with you.

The title was "Shepherding Your Son's Sexuality".  The speaker, Dan Oakes, talked about positive things to do with your children and said it is our duty, as parents, to teach positive sexuality to our children because Satan is teaching them otherwise.  Here are some points to consider:

*Teach your sons (and daughters) early about developmental facts of their bodies (He suggested age 8 for the "mechanics" of reproduction, then again at age 11 before puberty really starts to happen-though sexual feelings start gradually at a earlier age too)

*Focus on the physical development of the body and also the moral issues.  Talk about how it's natural to feel the feelings they are experiencing.  God made them that way on purpose, but there is a time and place for expressing love and these feelings. 

 

*Talk about what is normal and what is not acceptable behavior.

*Acknowledge sexuality as a gift from God--that's how families are made and how husbands and wives remain close to each other in marriage

*Show strong and abiding affection for your spouse

*Talk regularly about sexual feelings, computer use, things you see on TV, happenings at school—on a monthly basis!

*Control your computer!!!  Filter the internet before it gets to your house by using a DNS server company.  This is a free service and filters about 80% of the pornography.  See OpenDNS.com

Some routers are designed to filter even banner adds.  Pandorashope.com
Filter by limiting the access through the log-in screen. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Turn-the-guest-account-on-or-off

Filter the internet with tools already in internet explorer to filter content.  Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button.  In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.  Click the Tools button and then click Internet options.  Click the Content tab.

Filter the internet by utilizing Safe Search on the major search engines.  You must have an account with these websites like a Gmail account or a MSN or Hotmail account, and has to be activated in the account settings.

Parents, you must TEACH your children correct principles before the world teaches them false lies.

What a blessing we have as stewards over our children to teach them of a loving God and His plan for happiness.

Thanks for reading-Cathy


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The Give-away Winners are......

The give away winners are:

Heather, Mandie, Angelica and Anna.  Congratulations!  Please email me your addresses and I'll get them sent to the publishers who will mail you your CDs.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Cathy

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A Give-Away is Here!

I'm feeling guilty because I have 4 CDs I haven't given away yet.  So here's your lucky chance to win a free Christmas gift!

Eclipse is a great acapella men's choir. The album features "ten new arrangements that are both inventive and engaging".

Wee Jambore and Playground
Hootenanny are two CDs that are
produced by musical parents whose children
attend the same preschool together.
Really fun to listen to.




Last, but not least is another Daddy plays guitar lullabies. This daddy really know how to play them!

 

 If you haven't been a winner before, please leave me a comment before Thursday.  Some of my readers have mentioned that they can't leave a comment.  So if this is happening to you--I'm sorry.  Instead you can email me at: cathyplaysmusic@gmail.com and I'll enter you into the drawing.  I like comments--hint, hint, so please email me or leave a comment here.
Thanks!
Cathy

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Parenting Tip - Boycott Commercials-Make Your Own!

Commercialism.  Oh my gosh.  Are you sick of the tv commercials showing every toy imaginable and tired of your children begging you for everything they see?  If only you could ban tv watching from Oct through Dec.  I know lots of you do ban tv watching, and I applaud you.  But when you take something away, sometimes you have to put something back in.  Here’s an idea.

 

Let your kids watch videos.  NO, NOT VCR movies on tv. I’m talking about home videos.  All those videos you take at picnics and birthdays and holidays.  Make a folder of them and let your children watch them over and over again.  That’s what one of my daughters does.  She doesn’t have a tv, but her children love to watch family videos.

 

With this idea, you are actually dovetailing in several areas.  You are promoting and preserving family history by helping your children bond with the cousins and grandparents and their siblings they see on the movies and by reminding them of family traditions and family fun times.

 

You are encouraging memory recall and sequencing skills.  Kids are great at remembering details and when they watch the same family videos over and over again, they notice more details, recall the sequence of events and can see cause and effects that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

 

But what if you don’t have any family videos?  Start taking some!  Better yet, let your children take some.  Give them your camera (not an expensive one, of course) and have them make a home tour video so you can remember your house in years to come.  Have them make a video of a sibling singing a song or saying the Pledge of Allegiance or reciting a poem.  Have them make an informational or educational video on “How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich” or “How to do a Somersault on the Trampoline.”  Let them make their own commercials trying to sell something.

 

Hey wait, what a great gift idea.  Buy an inexpensive camera for your child and see what fun he will have.  Creativity will ooze from his snapping photo finger tips. You never know, this just may be the stimulus for the next great Steven Spielberg.

 

Parenting Tip - The 12 Days of Christmas

Tis the Christmas season.

 

When  I look back on Christmases when my children were at home, the Christmases I remember most with fond memories are the years when we did the 12 days of Christmas for someone.  Several years in a row we did what we called, The Funny 12 Days of Christmas.”  My friend told me about it and I’ll pass it on. If you decide to do this, make sure you buy everything you need for the 12 days to begin with and type out the message for each day in advance.  That way you won’t be scrambling at the last minute to buy something and find you’ve run out of time (I speak from experience!)

 

On the first day of Christmas, your pixie friends gave to you,

Some pear treats from the tree the partridge flew away from. ( a can of pears or fresh pears)

 

On the second day of Christmas, your pixie friends gave to you

Some  yummy turtle doves (candy turtles on top of a bar of dove soap).

 

3^rd day….some chicken noodle soup, compliments of the three French hens.

 

4^th day…a telephone message pad designed by the four calling birds (telephone message pad)

 

5^th day…five golden rings ( a can of sliced pineapple rings)

 

6^th day... the eggs we found when we were looking for the six geese that laid them

 

7^th day…the bubble bath left over from the seven swans after they went swimming.

 

8^th day…the chocolate milk we got from the eight maids milking eight brown cows .

 

9^th day…some canes used by the nine ladies who were out dancing all night—they needed the canes to get home! (candy canes)

 

10^th day…some vitamins recommended for use by the 10 Lords we saw out leaping (or give them Ben gay instead)

 

11^th day… some pickles since the pipers stopped piping and started picking a peck of pickled pickles (we changed it to whistle suckers one year and other years used candy bars and said the pipers decided to “hum a few bars”)

 

12^th day…the drumsticks we wished the drummers had used when they were drumming (pretzels sticks—plain or dipped in chocolate).

 

Whatever you do this year to celebrate, make it simple, involve your family and enjoy it.

And the winners are......

Thanks, ladies for the quick comments.  I wish I had more of the living scriptures to give away, since they are so popular.

But the winners --in order of time of comment emailed--are:

Michelle - scripture video

Velika - Hilary Weeks

Liz - Carmen Rasmusen Herbert

Please email me your addresses ( send them to my email so they're private) and the publishers will mail you your CD's and DVD.

Thanks for reading!

Cathy

A Thanksgiving Give-Away!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I have been so richly blessed in my life.  I am living my dream.  Even though my husband passed away recently, I feel his love and God's love in my life everyday.

I have several free items to give away and thought today would be a great day to do a special give away.

So.

To the first 3 people who leave me a comment I will send them one of these items (if you want one in particular, please let me know):

Hillary Weeks's CD- always great singing

Carmen Rasmusen Herbert became an overnight success on American Idol.  But along with the spotlight she has remained true to her standards of modesty, chastity and healthful living.

 The popular animated Book of Mormon stories.  This is the anniversary 25th edition of Nephi and the Brass Plates.

Music Tip - Help! My Child Wants to Quit

Lately I’ve had a couple of piano students that have started complaining about having to take piano lessons.  Shocking, I know!  The mothers have talked to me to ask for any advice and of course, I’m anxious and willing to give them some.  I’ll mention some of the things I’ve told the moms, and tell you the one that has really helped the most.

Here’s some ideas:

1.       Explain that you are a musical family and that’s what the kids in your family do-- take music lessons.  But then give them a time limit of when they can stop.  Maybe it’s when they reach a certain level or age or ability to play.

After that bombshell, give your child some sympathy/encouragement and support to make it fun.  Offer some incentives to keep practicing like purchasing them their own box of cereal—I know, that’s random.  But kids LOVE to get to choose a sugar cereal that you normally refuse to buy.

Or offer to do one of their chores while they practice.  My daughter loved to have me do her turn of washing the dishes while she practiced.

2.       Back off the practicing help.  My moms are Suzuki moms and have been trained to help their child practice at home.  Suzuki children start musical training early-like age 4 or 5 and need their mother’s help.  But by the time the child is 9 or 10, he needs to start learning independence and good practicing skills on his own.  This is a good time to start weaning the mother from the actual practice time session at home. 

This is the saving grace that has helped many a child.  I’ll tell the parent that now the student is old enough to start practicing on his own.  I’ll teach the student how he  should practice his pieces at home and how many times to play a piece and olay!  the fights at home now cease.  Mom is out of the picture and it’s the student and teacher and the pressure is off.

3.       Ask the student what kinds of songs he wants to learn to play.  As a teacher I need to sometimes back off on the classics and introduce more popular and fun pieces.

On my next post I’ll offer some ideas on helping a student practice effectively on his own.

Music Tip - Christmas Music

Now is the time (actually two weeks ago was the time--but I forgot to write this post).  So if you haven’t started, you better start RIGHT NOW!  What am I talking about?  Why Christmas music, of course--that is, having your children practice and play Christmas music on their instrument (piano, violin, banjo—whatever!)

I love to have my piano students practice Christmas music and it seems that they are much more willing to practice when it’s Christmas music, too.  I like to give them songs that are just a little easier than their usual reading songs.  I want them to be able to learn a song in one week’s time, not have to take several weeks to master it.  That way they can learn several songs during the season and enjoy playing them for recitals, or family or for grandma when she comes to visit.

I like to use Christmas songs as a good remedial sight reading exercise or a boost to a child’s reading self esteem.  Put a lower level song in front of them and challenge them to play it perfectly or with only a couple of mistakes.  Then help them realize how much they have learned in the past few months.

You can use primer level songs to reinforce or teach new notes.  Have your student say the name of the notes out loud while playing their piece.

This is my favorite site to get free folk and classical sheet music and they have lots of Christmas sheet music as well.

For my beginning Suzuki students who don’t know how to read music yet, I write out Jingle Bells for them in this format (EEE EEE EGCDE……).  It helps reinforce the names of the piano keys and they LOVE to play the song. Sometimes it helps to write the "Gs" a little bit higher  and the "Cs" and "Ds" a little bit lower to help them visualize where the keys are.

Don't forget to use lots of fun holiday stickers to reinforce practicing. 

Enjoy the season! Remember the reason!

Parenting Tip - Make Meal times--Memorable times!

Meal times—ugh! Sometimes that word conjures up “complaining, noise, eating-vegetable-fights”, etc. I remember one mealtime when I was a kid and all six of my siblings were being noisy. My parents were trying to get us quiet so we could say a blessing on the food, and my father loudly said, “silence is golden,” to which my younger brother asked, “is that why we’re so poor?”  I remember the whole family started laughing hysterically at that remark and it took another 5 minutes for us to quiet down so we could bless the food.

 

How can we make mealtimes not quite so hectic and more of a pleasant, memorable tradition (which, if you talk to the food nanny, you’ll see that it is a dying tradition)?

 

My son and daughter-in-law play 20 questions at dinnertime at their house.  When I visited them for a few days, I was quite amazed at how this game brought the noise level down and focused the grandkids on eating and thinking instead of complaining and fighting.

 

 

 And think of all the good side benefits for your children like: 1) involving the whole family (their 4 year old LOVES to think of the object but usually switches it 2 or 3 times during the game :) 

2) analyzing/categorizing objects into groups of  animal, vegetable or mineral  3) using deductive reasoning 4) using creativity 5) learning how to phrase a question….the list goes on and on. 

 

Time magazine says that "kids who dine with the folks are healthier, happier and better students, which is why a dying tradition is coming back."  

Meal times are a perfect time to let family members share their day.  School age children can tell one thing they learned that day.  Everyone can tell a funny thing that happened, or a service they did for someone or they can say something they are grateful for.  You can even listen to music or in my case, where it's just my mother in law and me--yes we have uncomfortable silences--I put on an uplifting talk to listen to.

But whatever you and your family do at mealtimes, make sure its FUN!

Because that’s what families do--they have fun together!

Parenting Tip - Cooperation!

I had a conversation with a fellow teacher at school the other day.  We were talking about children.  My children are all grown and I mentioned that it was so fun because they are my friends now.  Her children are in their teens and suddenly she has become the “policeman” and doesn’t enjoy the easy relationship they use to have.  She gets tired of being the parent who has to constantly monitor the video game playing and curfews and such.  She has become the “bad guy”.

 

That’s a hard time of life to go through when your children are learning how to become more independent. They want and demand lots of independence, yet they don’t quite know how to manage it.  Here’s some ideas on how you can keep a good relationship with your children through all the turmoil and growing up you all will experience.

 

Treat your children with respect.  They are people, albeit immature people.  They have feelings and want to be understood, so don’t talk down to them.  Don’t lecture and issue commands for them to follow.

 

Instead,

 

Talk with them.  Understand their needs.  Tell them your needs.  It all goes back to Sesame Street and kindergarten when your child learned about COOPERATION.  Both children AND parents need to cooperate with each other.

 

Case in point:  video games.  Your son wants to play them nonstop.  You hate them.  Cooperate.  Talk about your child’s daily schedule and what needs to be done at what time.  How much time is there for playing video games each day?  Do other things need to be accomplished first, like chores, homework, etc?  Is there a way your son can earn more time to play---say by doing an extra job around the yard or house?

 

Above all, listen to how you talk to your children.  Don’t be sarcastic, demeaning, demanding, or derogatory.  Talk with love in your voice and your child will talk back to you that way.  And if she doesn’t, then sit down with her and express your love and concern and desire to work things out so you both feel happy about the situation.

 

Parenting IS work.  But oh, so rewarding when you invest the best of you and appreciate the best in your child.