Last night was the first night Hanukkah. I thought I was all ready. The candles were ready, the menorah was up and the first candles were in place ready to be lit. The Hanukkah geld (chocolate money) was all set. Dreidels were out to play with and gifts were wrapped. The spirit was in the air. We were going to have a small family dinner and celebration after the working day was over. On Friday night my sister and her family are coming over for the bigger family celebration and we will go all out not leaving out latkes or the jelly doughnuts. About an hour before hubby returned from work. My princess T asked where are the latkes? I told her that because it was a working week day, I did not have the time to fry them, but promise that they will be on the tables, on Friday night when her Aunts and cousins are here. Princess T began to sob. How can we have our first night Hanukkah without latkes??? After feeling horribly guilty hubby ran to the store before returning home and brought home some latke mix and there I was frying the latkes for heart broken princess T.

When my children were infants and toddlers, I used to be horrified by the parents that gave their bigger kids cell phones. I used to look it as pure spoiled. My son is almost 10 years old, he walks my 6 year old daughter home from school. This was not out of my original choice, but because I work full time, and interestingly enough neighbours were not willing to help me out and bring my children home from school, which I would’ve gladly done for them if I could, they have to walk. Being a little bit concerned about their safety, I have given my son my cell phone to take along with him. He keeps it in a special place in his school bag, and it is not to be used at school, nor are  his friends allowed to even know that he has it. If ever there is a safety or emergency issue, I have taught him only how to switch it on, call 911, and dial the very next emergency contact number. Each day when they are home safely I take it back from him and put it away. He does not ever use it during weekends or any other time, it is purely there for the safety of their walk home and that’s it. For those of you whose children are infants and toddlers, you are probably quite horrified at the idea, like I used to be. For me, it is just a tiny tiny bit of “peace of mind” for their safe walk home.

For those of you who live in places like Chicago, New York, or other winter climate places, you will know that we really have to make the most of winter. Living here in Canada, the winter can certainly be long, but I always make the most of it, and teach my children to as well. They are outside daily at recess at school, so that is good. On weekends, I bundle them up and go for walks with them. When we have lots of snow we all go outside and make snow angels, and snow men. We of course also go tobogganing down the snowy hills, and then afterwards really appreciate a warm cup of hot chocolate. I try my best to make  the long winters exciting and fun. So I hope that all of you who live in cold climates, also have a great time, and please feel free to share any other outdoor winter activities that we can continue to make the most of winter.

 It is hard to believe that this week my children will already be receiving their first school reports of this school year. They are in grade one and grade four. I have not received any phone calls from either of their teachers, so I am presuming that there will not be any major surprises. I am never too concerned about their grades, provided that they have shown me that they have worked hard to obtain whatever the grade is. I do not expect them to  do well in every subject. As much as it would be nice, every child does better in some things than other. As a mom I never compare my children to each other, and I never compare them to their friends or neighbours. Quite honestly I am not interested in their friends and neighbours school reports, it is none of my business, and my children’s reports none of theirs. I teach my children to be very proud of themselves and their achievements, and if any area does need work, we spend the rest of the time working on it. Every weekend just after their school reports, we take them out for dinner to celebrate their achievements.

My husband and I both work full time. We want to teach our children, that when you work hard, one can achieve a lot. We don’t have the opportunity to go on family vacations each year, but when we do go on a vacation, we try and teach our children that from working hard, we were able to go on a great vacation and have an amazing time. My children receive a very small allowance each month, but in order for them to get it; they have to do their responsibilities each day. Their responsibilities are things like: keeping their  bed rooms tidy each day. Putting their clothes in the laundry each day and taking their plates and cups to the kitchen after meal time. We don’t eat out at restaurants often as it can get very pricey. When they come home with their report cards each term, regardless of their grades, provided we know that they worked hard to achieve the grade what ever it is, that night we will take them out for dinner to celebrate. We are not trying to be cruel parents, but rather teach our children that luxuries are not things that are just given on a daily basis, but should also be earned. We don’t expect things to ever be perfect. We encourage hard work to get far in life. We never compare them to each other or to other children, but encourage them to do the best that they can do for themselves. We teach our kids to appreciate life and we celebrate passionately.

 My 6 year old daughter has  adjusted well to grade one and going to school five full days a week, plus a little bit of daily homework. However that seems to be enough for her. On Saturdays we do swimming in the mornings, as swimming is a “have to do”. For safety reasons, all kids have no choice but to learn how to swim properly on their own. She is really enjoying the swimming a lot, and at the moment it does not feel like it is a chore. She has no interest to do dance, gymnastics, skating, karate or any other extra curriculum. She loves to play with her princesses and Barbie’s and creates wonderful imaginative games. She loves play dates and socializing with all her new friends that she has from grade one.

Personally I am not worried and feel it’s wonderful that my daughter actually wants to be a kid. She swims on a Saturday which is something, and better than doing no physical fitness programs. I feel that a lot of children are ‘pushed’ into doing so many extra curricular activities both after school and on weekends, that they have no time to be a kid. I will always encourage the other programs, but not force them, as I want them to come from my daughter as her choice and enjoyment, and not for it to be a chore. In the meantime she will enjoy doing a little bit of a fitness program, and use her creative imagination and while loving the joys of childhood.

Call us cruel parents, but our children who are now 6yrs old and 9 yrds old, have never ever been allowed to sleep in our bed. Were they perfect sleepers as infants, not at all. They were actually terrible sleepers as new borns and babies. But each time they woke up no matter how exhausted I was, they were put back into their own beds. Even if they had a bad dream or still do, and come to tell us in the middle of the night. We walk them back to their own beds. I am very close to both my children and now that they are a bit older they enjoy their sleep in the comfort of their own beds.

It’s amazing the moment we change our clocks back in November, both adults and the kids feel so much more tired as the sun sets earlier and earlier each day. The sun now sets by 5.30pm and in another month it will be 4.30pm and by the end of December it will be 4.00pm. It’s amazing how the dark days put an instant tired feeling inside our bodies. My children have been asking to eat dinner so much earlier too. The good part is that they do go to sleep a little earlier. I try my best to keep some sort of routine in the dark days so that they don’t get too tired too early. During the months of December I guess the Hannukah/ Christmas hype keep our minds off the dark days. At least by January I know that the days will stay lighter a little bit longer at the end of each day, and then it’s only about two more months of extreme cold and snow before we change our clocks forward again. I always like to watch how my children’s energy level jumps up as soon as we change the clocks forward again.

Childhood can be both very exciting, and very challenging. It is very important to have a positive approach to our child’s world.

Our children never stop learning. Each stage of their life brings new learning and growing opportunities.When our children are babies, they discover new sounds, sights and movements. Babies absorb so many new things each day. They become excited, when learning something new; it takes them to each new stage of development. Babies learn to roll over and start to reach toys by themselves. They learn to sit upright, they learn to crawl, stand and walk by themselves. As they enter these new stages of development, they learn a sense of self confidence and independence. They also learn to wave and clap their hands. Babies make different sounds and noises; they smile, gurgle and laugh. It is the most precious moment for a parent, when a baby smiles and laughs for the first time.

Being a toddler and entering preschool age is certainly a very exciting time along with different challenges. It is a time when children explore new avenues. They learn to communicate and express themselves; they begin this by pointing to what they want and also using a certain amount of sign language. They develop sounds, words, and slowly start putting words together to form sentences, until they are able to communicate properly with an adult. They discover how to play with different toys. They learn to use their imagination, and also learn how to interact and socialize with other children..

School age is a new chapter in our children’s lives. This stage of a child’s life is challenging. Exciting and rewarding. Parents and care givers should encourage school and learning to be a positive experience. Each challenge should be approached calmly and one should always encourage the “doors of communication” to be open. .

We need to be excited with our children, about each stage of their lives. As our children develop in life, and approach each new challenge that they are faced with, we need to instil a strong sense of self confidence and self respect as well as respect for others, within our children.

Each child is unique, and each child has their own ‘special’ quality in themselves, that he/her will excel in, in life. As parents, care givers, teachers and child care workers, it is important to bring out the best in each child, so that each child can “blossom’ in life.

The stores are packed with Halloween costumes and decorations.

The kids are beside themselves with excitement, as trick or treat night approaches us.Who can go to the most houses and who can get the most candy?Halloween is totally commercialized and totally fun.

So why not moms and dads dress up with your kids and dress up the dogs and cats too, we can all get into the spirit.All of our kids love Halloween. After a fun night and even some good exercise of lots of walking from house to house, the candy is then brought home.We check the candy to make sure everything is safe to eat. We allow them one small candy to eat as a Halloween night treat before bed. After that the candy bags get put away, the fun is over and the candy is lasts until next May, at that point there’s not much left but what ever is left gets trashed away, until the next Halloween. We won’t forget to share some candy and give some away  to those who did not have the privilege of celebrating Halloween night.