 Veteran's Day is an important day for our country. It is our chance to honor those who have served and sacrificed for our freedom. As adults, we understand its importance. For kids, it can be quite confusing, especially if they do not know anyone who has served in the military. There are some easy ways you can teach your children about the importance of Veteran's Day.
1. Talk about what it means to be in the military and their importance to the lives we all get to live. Explain the concepts of freedom and sacrifice and talk about some of the freedoms they have in their life. 2. Meet with someone who has served in the military. If you know of someone in your family or ocmmunity that has served in the military, ask to meet with them so they can explain what their role was and talke a little about their experiences. Don't forget to thank him/her for their service . A nice touch to the visit would be a homemade thank you cad from your child or a batch of homemade cookies 3. Read a book: The odds are you don't have alot of books at home related to Veterans Day, or the military. This is a great reason to visit your local public library . Your local library is a a great resource for these specialized books. And they may even have a special display/ other information that you and your child might find interesting. 4. Make Thank You Cards: Get out the crayson and the paint and make some thank you cards for a special Veteran or Veterans you don't even know. There may be a local veterans' home or VFW chapter close by that you can even drop them off. However, if this isn't the case. If you don't have any place to take your cards locally, this site provide some good tips. https://organized31.com/thank-you-veteran-card-writing-tips/ 5. Attend a Veterans Day parade/ local celebration : Some communities have their own local events. Some even have parades. Check out how your community is honoring Veterans and participate. You might even find some events online Don't let the day go by without using this as a teaching moment. These men and women have all sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.
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Kids experience stress at all times during the year. The holidays can be especially challenging. Here is a great article from the American Academy of Pediatrics on how you can help the kids in your life, handle stress. Source: www.healthychildren.org  As children reach their school-age years, they may experience pressure from a number of sources. These may be from within children themselves, as well as from parents, teachers, peers and the larger society.This pressure can take many forms, to which children must respond and adapt. Whether these are events are lasting, like the divorce of their parents, or merely a minor hassle like losing their homework, these demands or stresses are a part of children's daily lives. There is a silver lining is that when children get the chance to practice setbacks at younger ages. They develop resilience and the tools needed to be an independent adult and handle future challenges. Dealing with stress in daily life Children welcome some events and are able to adapt to them with relative ease. Other events may feel to them like threats to their own or the family's daily routines or general sense of well-being. These stresses can be more troublesome. Most stress faced by children is somewhere in the middle: neither welcomed nor seriously harmful, but rather a part of accomplishing the tasks of childhood and learning about themselves. Children may have to cope with a bully on the playground, a move to a new neighborhood, a parent's serious illness or the disappointment of a poor sports performance. They might feel a constant, nagging pressure to dress the "right" way, or to achieve the high grades that can put them on rack toward the "right" college. Children may also worry about making friends, dealing with peer pressure, or overcoming a physical injury or disability. Children are sensitive not only to the changes around them, but also to the feelings and reactions of their parents. This is true even if those feelings are not communicated directly in words. If a parent loses a job, children will have to adjust to their family's financial crisis; they must deal not only with the obvious family budgetary changes but also with the changes in their parents' emotional states. Good and bad stress Not all stress is a bad thing. Moderate amounts of pressure from a teacher or a coach, for example, can motivate a child to keep her grades up in school or to participate more fully in athletic activities. Successfully managing stressful situations or events enhances a child's ability to cope in the future. Children are future adults, and through these experiences, they develop resilience and learn how to deal with life's inevitable bumps and hurdles. However, when the stress is continuous or particularly intense, it can take a toll on both the psyche and the body. Major events, especially those that forever change a child's family, such as the death of a parent, can have lasting effects on children's psychological health and well-being. Minor daily stresses can also have consequences. Sudden stressful events will accelerate your child's breathing and heartbeat, constrict blood vessels, increase blood pressure and muscle tension, and perhaps cause stomach upset and headaches. As stress persists, it can make a child more susceptible to illness and experience fatigue, loss of sleep, nightmares, teeth-grinding, poor appetite, tantrums, or depression. Children may become irritable or their school grades may suffer. Their behavior and their willingness to cooperate may change. How stress can affect children A child's age and development will help determine how stressful a given situation may be. Changing teachers at midyear may be a major event for a child in the first grade and merely an annoyance for a sixth-grader. How a child perceives and responds to stress depends in part on development, in part on experience, and in part on a child's individual temperament. How different children cope with stress Children's temperaments vary, and so can their ability to cope with stress and daily hassles. Some are easygoing by nature and adjust easily to events and new situations. Others are thrown off balance by changes in their lives. All children improve in their ability to handle stress if they:
Children who have a clear sense of personal competence, and who feel loved and supported, generally do well. RememberTalk with your pediatrician or family practice doctor about ways to help your child manage stress  Whether it is because of the pandemic, you have relatives that live far away or you just can't travel at the holidays, you can celebrate virtually with loved ones "virtually" Here are some great tips from Connecticut Children's Hospital on how can you make it special. Before
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Original Source: www.mindful.orgGrateful kids and teens are less likely to experience depression or jealousy, and more likely to do well in school, according to research from the American Psychological Association. Researchers have identified four parts of gratitude that help children practice gratefulness using the “notice-think-feel-do” questions:
ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a time when many families travel long distances to celebrate together. Travel increases the chance of getting and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others. If you must travel, be informed of the risks involved.
Lower risk activities
Moderate risk activities
Higher risk activitiesAvoid these higher risk activities to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19:
 Written by Katie McLauglin and published in the blog "Pick Any Two" at pickkanytwo.net
1. Thankful jar Get an oversized mason jar and decorate it with your kids. If you’re feeling especially kind, you can even let them use glitter. Then explain to them that this is the family’s Thankful Jar for the month. Sit it somewhere accessible along with pieces of paper, pencils, and crayons for the younger kids. Then encourage everyone to fill the jar—be it with words, drawings, or both—with things they’re thankful for. Designate a time, maybe once a week or so, to sit down as a family and look through the slips of paper in the jar. Point out ideas your kids had that are especially thoughtful or creative. 2. Gratitude Journal Encourage everyone in the family who’s old enough to write to keep their own gratitude journal. Use cut-outs from magazines to decorate the front of a notebook, and then foster a daily or weekly habit of writing down a few things to be thankful for. This idea works well for older kids who might not want to share their thoughts out loud all the time, but it can also work for little ones who have Mom or Dad help them write their gratitudes down. 3. Gratitude Collage I’m not particularly artistic, but I know there are lots of families who love doing arts and crafts together. Making a joint gratitude collage is a great way to get creative as a group while simultaneously helping children think through what they’re grateful for in life. The collage can be any size you’d like, and can be layered with hand-drawn pictures, magazine cut-outs, photos, or all three. 4. Thanksgiving Calendar Advent calendars are all the rage at Christmas time, but you can take that same idea of counting down the days and apply it to thankfulness instead. Just replace the little treats you often get leading up to Christmas with a daily ritual of expressing gratitude. There are all sorts of forms your calendar can take, like a bunch of small boxes with slips of paper inside for writing gratitude notes, or maybe a “gratitude tree” where you write things you’re thankful for on the leaves. 5. Daily Thankfulness Postcard It’s important to teach our kids the importance of not only feeling gratitude but also expressing it. To that end, get a bunch of small postcards and encourage your children to create brief thank you notes and pictures for people who deserve their gratitude. Then you can pop them in the mail, or better yet, hand-deliver them. The experience will help your kids see how saying thank you can help them feel good too. Check out these free printable thank you cards for kids to color and send! 6. Gratitude Games Get kids in the spirit by turning your thankfulness exercise into a game. Let’s say you’re playing ping pong. Make a new rule that the person serving the ball has to say something he/she is thankful for beforehand. Or if you’re playing Candy Land, make a rule that you have to say something you’re thankful for every time you draw a green card. Or go around the dinner table saying things you’re thankful for that start with every letter of the alphabet. The point is to find a game that’s developmentally appropriate for your children and makes expressing thankfulness an interactive experience. 7. Thankful Hearts Another idea for the crafty families out there! Make a bunch of big hearts out of paper, fabric, felt, or whatever materials you have available. Then have your kids decorate them with crayons, markers, buttons, sequins, stickers, etc. It’s up to them to choose people they’re especially thankful for to give the hearts to as gifts. 8. Serving Those in Need There is perhaps no better way for all of us to cultivate gratitude than to serve others. Teach your children the value of service to those less fortunate by regularly finding opportunities to serve together as a family. As your children get older, have them offer ideas for ways or people to serve—such as collecting canned goods for a food bank, visiting elderly people in nursing homes, making a meal for a family in need, or raising money for a nonprofit. Of course, as with any lesson we teach our children, the key to teaching gratitude is to live it ourselves.A game of “gratitude ping pong” once a year or a few thank-you notes written here and there isn’t going to make an impact on our children—but a continuous dedication to expressing gratitude for our blessings both big and small will certainly stick with them.  Thanks to Chambanamoms at for these great ideas!
Easter is going to be a big challenge for many families this year as the Cornoavirus has had us 'shelter in place" and tightened our wallets. Community Easter Egg hunts are being cancelled, and trips to the store are limited. We love this list developed by Cambanamoms of fun things you can put into your kids Easter baskets, using things you have at home and without running around town. See what you think! . . Things you probably already have in your house, or can put together in your house
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 Spring Break means the kids are out of school and parents are scrambling to find some things to do. Here are some regional offerings that can help them "fill the gaps" . At the same time, kids are guaranteed a fun time.  The HUB in Marion is once again offering its Spring break camp. This year's theme is Secret Agent. The camp is being held from March 9th through the 13th. Drop off times are from
7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. and children can be picked up from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. The camp serves children ages Kindergarten – 13 years old.Cost for the camp is $30 per day for Hubbers and $40 per day for non-members. A $25 Registration Fee Also Applies if Not Currently Enrolled in A-Team REGISTRATION DEADLINE: MARCH 6 Families can enter to Win a FREE Week of Spring Break Camp: Go to our Facebook page to Like and Share our Spring Break Camp post and you will automatically be entered to win! ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: Swimming, sports, crafts, top secret mission/follow the clues and nerf wars. Kids may bring their own nerf guns but please label everything. We are not responsible for items that might get lost or broken during camp. Please, no electronics or other toys from home. Lunch is provided. Please pack the following: Snacks, waterbottle, tennis shoes, swimsuit and towel DAILY THEMES MONDAY: Secret Agent Training TUESDAY: Crime Scene Mystery WEDNESDAY: Top Secret Mission THURSDAY: Nerf Wars FRIDAY: Secret Agent Disguise (dress up day) For more information, contact Youth Coordinator Alexis Williams at (618) 997-2HUB or childcare@thehubmarion.com  With Thanksgiving only a few days away, it reminds us of everything we are grateful and thankful for. But what about the rest of the year? It’s really easy to forget when we’re buffered by our many comforts. Our children especially don’t know much about gratitude, unless we teach them. How can we emphasize to our children the importance of being thankful. Our little ones are like sponges, they soak everything up they see and hear. If you give them something to model after they will follow suit. Gratitude rubs off on your kids. You’ll notice they’ll say phrases like, “I’m so glad we have these crayons to color with.” And watch how you complain about first-world problems. Sure, it’s fine to vent, but follow it up with something you’re grateful for: “Darn, the hot water is off today! Oh well, at least we have water coming in at all with the cold water. Don’t give your kids too many toys Giving your kids too many toys has downsides, including appreciating what they have. When you have fifty teddy bears, how special can each one be? Instead, limit the toys you give. Donate or sell the ones they’ve outgrown. Give your kids “experience” gifts with invaluable memories without the feelings of leftover toys. Introduce your children to different livesIt’s no wonder travel is one of the best teachers out there. When you witness different worlds, you return home grateful for all you have. The same applies to kids who’ve lived in different countries or even cities. Granted, we’re all not able to travel, much less regularly or live as a local for an extended period of time. Instead, try these ideas:
No matter the age, involve your child in acknowledging the people who have given them gifts. Get tips on how to make writing thank you cards a fun activity. Create a tradition of what you’re thankful forThanksgiving is a great opportunity to start traditions and teach gratitude. That might mean playing a game of “What are you thankful for” with your family. Everyone can guess who wrote what. Draw a tree on a poster or make a wreath and write your thanks on leaves and glue them on. Maybe every night is a tradition of giving thanks as each person says what they’re grateful for. |
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