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Volunteering with Kids: Our Experience
One of our Family Goals is to volunteer our in our community at least three times a year. In Austin, volunteering with kids is incredibly easy thanks to an organization called Generation Serve.
We have done a lot of different activities over the years. Playing games and doing arts and crafts at a retirement center is fun. We have made greeting cards for people experiencing homelessness. We have planted tress (through another great organization called TreeFolks).
Recently, Henry and I went to a food pantry. It’s at a local church twice a week. People experiencing homelessness and/or poverty are able to walk through the pantry like a grocery … Read More
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How to Make Slime with a Large Group of Children
Henry’s 3rd grade class has “Family Fridays” where parents or guardians are invited to come to school and lead the class in an activity. Last year, we made awesome Sharpie tiles. That project was relatively inexpensive and not too messy. This year, Henry almost wanted to repeat that project. But then he decided he wanted to make slime. Thus began my journey to figure out how to make slime with a large group of children.
We went straight to the slime recipe book we got for Christmas. I made a bee-line for the simplest, cheapest, least messy recipe in the book. Fortunately, it was also cool!
Even though I … Read More
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Accepting Children for Who They Are
Last week, Daphne commented on this post and connected me to Tilt Parenting. I spent a solid hour going down the rabbit hole. First, I watched the Ted Talk. Then I downloaded every PDF. I read lengthy descriptions and manifestos. At the end of it all, I came up for air. I declared (to myself): It’s time to start accepting our children for who they are.
I know this is such an easy concept for many. But it’s hard for me. I haven’t understood—really understood—that Henry processes the world differently.
We will be getting started on another formal evaluation soon. (We did one when he was in kindergarten, but … Read More