goproudmama-blog

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Your Family: your TEAM

"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself!" Abraham Lincoln. The definition of a team is “more than one person working together toward a common goal”. The dictionary makes it sound easy, but teamwork in a family (and out of it for that matters...) can be extremely difficult. A successful family has a myriad of goals which may include things like raising children to be successful adults, educating all members of the family team, providing spiritual growth opportunities, balancing finances and learning about responsible money management, building and maintaining healthy relationships, keeping the family team safe, tackling good health through physical exercise and nutrition, handling medical necessities, and this is just a sampling. Families are like a team. Each individual family member brings skill, personality, and role to the family team, just as each sports player has a specific position on the team. As a whole, the family shares a history and goals, just as the team works together to win a game. One player may seem more important than others. However, one person can’t play the game by themselves. We need our families to help us live through the happy, good, sad, and painful times..

Three key pillars provide the foundation for a harmonious family: trust, respect and teamwork.

Family members who work together can help balance each others' strengths and weaknesses and bring everyone closer together, reports the University of Illinois Extension. Parents who work as a team have a positive impact on their children's emotions and relationships. Kids who work as a team can increase their sibling bond, tend to watch out for each other and want to help and take care of one another. Working together makes each member of the family feel good. Teamwork increases good feelings for both the helper and the person being helped. Knowing that we have our family to back us up in times of trouble can make bad times less stressful and give us the support we need to get through them. Family teamwork also builds trust, opens lines of communication and helps each person be accountable to other members of the family.

Because each person in a family has different talents, defining our roles can make working as a team easier. It is up to each team to define how this works, still everyone has to participate...Providing an opportunity for learning, trying things out, or accepting defeat is an important role of the family. As a family team, we can help each other get through tough times. In our family, the concept of being a team applies to every area of our lives and it has a very concrete example in the game of soccer (or any other team sport...). Making our family a TEAM has wonderful benefits:

#1 There is no “I” in Team.

Teamwork requires selflessness. Children who know that they are part of a bigger whole are more willing to let go of their own wants and wishes when it’s for the good of the “team”. This can come into play when deciding on what movie to watch as a family, or sharing that last piece of cake at dinner.

#2 Team Teaches Cooperation.

When a family has a team mindset, kids realize that as the team goes, so they go.  For example, we can’t go swimming if we don’t get the house straightened. So, if one child is having a hard time picking up his room, the other chips in. They cooperate because they know this will help the team move on to the prize.

#3 Team Victories Develop Closeness

Individual successes are celebrated, but so is family success.  Did everyone get dressed on time for school?  Yay, team!  Did we do a good deed as a family by helping someone in need?  Good work, team!  Helping your children feel a part of a bigger whole brings them closer to us and their siblings. 

Teamwork isn't something that happens overnight, and it requires effort from each family member. Keeping the lines of communication open. This means that family members listen to each other and work to help one another if they're having trouble completing their tasks. Holding a weekly family meeting that allows each person to talk about what's working and what isn't so we can all make changes accordingly. As teamwork becomes more of a habit for each of us, we might not need to have family meetings as often and may need to gather everyone together only if a problem arises or roles need to be rearranged.  

Never forget, our family can be the best team we ever work with! Take good care of this great gift!

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10 pictures of the 12 Things to do with Kids this Summer for under $10! Enjoy!

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12 Things to do with Kids this Summer for under $10

Do you need help thinking of kid-friendly activities for summer? I certainly do!

When you work at home you need practical ideas for kids' entertainment, things for kids to do by themselves, particularly summer activities. Otherwise, they may end up getting too much screen time. I am a huge fan of get out and figure it out!

Summer may be a time to relax, but tell that to kids who are bouncing off the walls or shrieking "I'm bored."Here are 11 ideas for your summer bucket list - to keep kids from being bored and create memories that they'll have for a lifetime (or at least for that first day of school when they're asked "what did you do this summer?").

#1 Use tape to create a fun outdoor board game.

#2 Build a tower out of cut-up sponges.

#3 Make a bird house out of Popsicle sticks.

#4 Get a map of the United States and mark off all the exciting places you want to visit -- create the ultimate road trip.

#5 Collect rocks and paint them to use as paperweights or pet rocks.

#6 Run through the sprinklers.

#7 Blend your own smoothie.

#8 Let kids paint the sidewalk or patio with plain old water and sponge brushes. When their creation dries, they can begin again.

#9 Assemble a family cookbook with all your favorite recipes

#10 Catch fireflies in a jar (and let them go at the end of the night).

#11 Paint canvas sneakers with fabric paint pens or acrylic paint.

#12 Make a photo journal or a family yearbook. But above all.....HAVE FUN!! Because that is what they will remember the most. To a happy FUNtastic summer for all!

PS: I’ll post pictures also!

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUyoLBg6fsQ)

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A Father’s Huge Contribution | Happy Father’s Day!

"Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a Dad." -- Anne Geddes

The role of a father is often relegated to a secondary status as compared to a mother. Nowadays, though, we know the father is just as important for a child as the mother is. If mothers are the heroes of child rearing, the significance of a father in the development and emotional well being of a child is no less. Children depend on their father for their spiritual, emotional, physical, financial and social well being. For daughters, the father is the ideal man in the world and also the first man they adore; while for sons, the father is an idol and the strongest man they aspire to emulate.

Sunday is Father's Day: the perfect time to honor every Dad who shows up for his children. It's not an easy thing, being the best father they can be. But they are making a huge difference in their child's life -- now, and every day of their child's future.

Every hug, every joke they share, every moment that they listen patiently, every time they take a deep breath and see things from their child's perspective, every time they role model for their child how to show up with integrity, they are shaping their child into a person who will make them proud. We celebrate you!

Now, to honor the contribution of Fathers, let's consider some recent research findings that may surprise more than one.

Did you know that:

-Children whose fathers are highly involved with them in a positive way do better in school, demonstrate better psychological well-being and lower levels of delinquency, and ultimately attain higher levels of education and economic self-sufficiency. One of the most important factors in girls’ academic achievement is their father’s belief in them.

-Boys who frequently wish their fathers spent more time with them weigh, on average, 10 pounds more than boys who are satisfied with the amount of time they spend with their dads.

-Kids who feel they have good relationships with their fathers are less likely to use drugs.

-Kids who feel they don’t have their father’s respect are more prone to anxiety.

-An active and nurturing style of fathering is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents.

-When fathers are involved in their children's education, the kids are more likely to get As, enjoy school, and participate in extracurricular activities.

-Toddlers with involved fathers start school with higher levels of academic readiness. They are more patient and can handle the stresses and frustrations associated with schooling more readily than children with less involved fathers.

-Kids who have problematic relationships with their mothers grow up to be worse parents -- UNLESS they have good relationships with their dads, in which case they can become very good parents. (And of course anyone who was parented poorly can become a great parent if they're willing to do the emotional work).

-Whether a girl has early and/or unprotected sex is greatly influenced by whether her father was loving and supportive to her. Adolescent girls living in homes without their fathers are 3 times more likely to engage in sexual relations by the time they turn 15, and 5 times more likely to become a teen mother.

-Fathers who take a week or more off to spend with their newborn are closer to their child at every stage of the child's life, right up into young adulthood.

-Dads often worry that they don't know how to care for a newborn. But research shows that men have a hormonal response to becoming fathers, including increased oxytocin, estrogen, prolactin and glucocorticoids, which creates a natural protectiveness toward the baby. So Paternal Instinct is as real as Maternal Instinct.

-The more time dads spend holding their new babies, the more their paternal instinct is activated, and the more comfortable they feel comforting and caring for their newborns. This is usually a transformative experience for Dad, a tremendous relief to mom, and a vital relationship for the baby.

-Fathers' parenting-related stress has a harmful effect on their toddler's cognitive and language development, especially with boys.

-Fathers' mental health issues such as depression causes behavior problems in toddlers, and can have a long-term impact, leading to differences in children's social skills, self-control and cooperation even as late as fifth grade.

-Teenagers watch an average of 21 hours of television per week. They spend only 35 minutes per week talking with their fathers.

Pretty impressive list, isn't it?

We don't need scientists to tell us how important fathers are. We can see it in the face of any child looking up at his or her father.

Happy Father's Day!

I would like to take this opportunity to specially thank my husband, the FATHER of our children, for he is doing a terrific job! And my dad, that although he passed away when I was very young, he has always been so present in my life...

Thank you for always being a great father and husband. Thank you for showing our kids how a man should treat their daughters and wife. Thank you for continuously encouraging our kids to run after their dreams. Thank you for giving your life away every day to work and support us. Thank you for lifting our spirits up when we are down. You are the daddy, hero, supporter and biggest fan of us all.

We love you!