GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Wonderful Experiences with Dad Across the Miles

Wonderful Experiences with Dad Across the Miles

Although Kinji’s dad works in Japan, my grandson thinks his relationship with his father is quite normal when he shares extended time with his father in the United States or in Japan. Between visits, their close relationship is maintained through regular FaceTime phone calls throughout the week. Ongoing phone conversations focus on:

  • Their daily life activities and Kinji’s new Lego creations
  • My grandson’s exciting adventures at school
  • Kenji’s participation in various afterschool programs including Karate and swimming
  • Math discussions on prime numbers, multiplication, and how to identify number patterns

[Read more…]

The Power of “No”

The Power of “No”

My daughter was always an eager, adventurous eater. Once she was old enough to be introduced to solid foods, there was no stopping the discovery of culinary delights! She slurped down noodles, chomped up her vegetables, sipped on bone-broth soups. She sampled foods from every cuisine including American, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, and Greek. However, we started discovering that she complained about certain cookies, or Vietnamese noodles, or some but not all granola bars. Completely baffled, we asked her what was wrong with these foods and she said that they were spicy. Soon enough, she had her first ever PB&J sandwich. That’s when her face got red and swollen, her throat closed up making breathing difficult – she was experiencing an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. [Read more…]

How to Become a Mindful and Attentive Parent

How to Become a Mindful and Attentive Parent

Each January, I consider how I can do a better job of balancing my daily life when considering my family’s needs, work obligations, and needs for play, exercise, and spiritual growth. When I consider my family’s needs, I find that my ability to give sufficient attention and listen to individual family members can be challenged when working on another project or trying to multi-task to finish a household chore. This coming year, I plan to overcome this challenge by becoming more mindful and attentive in my daily interactions with family members. I also plan to track how many minutes a day I am able to focus on individual family members when they are talking to me or when I am engaged in one-on-one activities. I plan to also implement the following time management strategies: [Read more…]

Celebrate Martin Luther King’s Holiday by Promoting Peaceful Solutions

Celebrate Martin Luther King’s Holiday by Promoting Peaceful Solutions

Many schools and families celebrate the Martin Luther King Holiday by participating in community service activities to promote peaceful solutions. Our blogging team created a reflective writing activity for students at a local school. After reading an article about Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on nonviolent social change for freedom, students completed the following questions:

List 5 dreams you have for a more equitable and peaceful life in your classroom or at home. Draw a picture of 1 dream.

  1. _________________________________________________________________________________________
  2. _________________________________________________________________________________________
  3. _________________________________________________________________________________________
  4. _________________________________________________________________________________________
  5. _________________________________________________________________________________________

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Helping Our Children Manage Their Feelings

Helping Our Children Manage Their Feelings

I just survived another challenging Monday morning in the classroom. My second-grade students were scheduled to attend an educational assembly early Monday morning until a series of power outages forced the staff to cancel the assembly. Then we returned to our classroom after completing a few exercises.

We started our classroom activities by talking about feelings for the day. We listened to a guided mediation where two children have built sand castles on the beach. After a couple of hours, the ocean surf washes away the sand castles. One child is happy while the other child is sad. [Read more…]