Wash Your Hands, Please

Special thanks to the creative team at Anthill Studios for making this wonderful video teaching young children the basics of staying safe during the #Coronavirus pandemic.

Raising Kids with True Grit: The Power of Resilience

PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3 There’s a topic that makes many educators and policy makers uncomfortable when it pops up.  So of course, I’m going to jump right into to it today because our kids need for us to confront this hard work for their sake.  One of the greatest fears parents…

How To Make Story Time Work Well For Young Children AND YOU TOO

As we celebrate Black History Month and the lives and legacies of icons like Dr. Martin Luther King, we have a marvelous opportunity to share the stories of historic figures with young children in a way that is accessible, meaningful and lasting. That mechanism is called read alouds with children’s picture books.  When you’re standing…

Do You Need A Parent Collective?

🏝 Are you a preschool parent who feels like you’re marooned on Gilligan’s Island? _ 😩📝 Are you struggling to keep up with endless worksheets disguised as homework and stressing when your preschooler rebels? _ 😥 Do you find yourself unable to name one other parent in your child’s class? _ 📲 Do you wish…

Parent Power in Action

I came across a very interesting statistic the other day while researching the greatest concerns of preschool parents. While parents over all were concerned with issues like separation anxiety, transitions from home to school, their child’s abilities to get along and make friends, as well as academic expectations (in other words could they keep up),…

Collecting Memories Over Things Thru Family Travel

During my recent family vacations to Europe, as we hoped in and out of plans, trains and automobiles, I took some time to reflect on what travel has meant to me and my family. I remember a summer trip with my parents and 8 siblings from our home in Georgia to the nation’s capital, Washington,…

Your Children Will Take You Places You Never Dreamed You’d Go

My father used to say this to us years ago and weight of his words revisited me this past week as I toured northern Italy with my children and grandchildren. For those of you who tuned in last week, I shared my first impressions of arriving in Venice, the floating city. I was awestruck. I…

Making Christmas Count – Part 3

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 It didn’t work out for my husband and I to spend Christmas this year with our kids and their families. But one of the great things about being retired is that we can come and go as we please (and as our budget allows). So we spent a…

Family Stories and Traditions

When I think of family stories and traditions one of my fondest memories is that of my mother-in-love and her afghans. She made some of the most beautiful blankets you’ve ever seen. She made one for both of our children when they were first born. She even made one for me and my husband early…

Shoutout Saturday-Back Home

It’s Shoutout Saturday! Let me tell you about this very special gem from my collection by @gloriajeanpinkney entitled BACK HOME. _ 👨‍👩‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👴👵 Living far away from extended family can make it tough to build and maintain bonds that help young children build their identity. _ 🚙👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 This book reminds me of the many road trips my husband…

Want to help your child adjust to a recent move?

🎉👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🎊Host or attend several gatherings with family and friends to announce the move and celebrate this new chapter in your lives. — 🏖🏕🎡 Take the time to visit special places as a family that hold great memories and draw you closer to each other. — ✈️🗺🏫 Visit your new location if possible before you move so that…

We ALL Need Great Teachers

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬ This one goes out to all of my brothers and sisters who have taken on…