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How to Make Kids Feel Special

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Valentines Day Highlight

My Aunt and Granny are the most thoughtful moms I know. Not just I’ll keep you in my prayers thoughtful – I’m talking about make you feel like you’re special thoughtful. My Granny sent each of her Grandkids and Great Grandkids cash and encouraging words for Valentine’s Day. The kids loved every dollar of course 😘 Winning, right?

My Aunt sent home made brownies (they were delicious) and bought McDonald’s treat books for the kids ( I won’t eat those 😉 McDonald’s treat books are available for purchase during Valentine’s Day and Halloween. And the treat books are only $1 and include 12 coupons for burgers, apple slices, Go Gurt and chocolate milk. The treat book coupons don’t expire until May 2015. Ask your neighborhood McDonald’s for details.

Valentine’s Day gift giving goes back to my childhood. Growing up, we didn’t have men in our family to give the ladies gifts, so in true Superwoman fashion the moms decided to celebrate each other and their kids. Oh I just love women that take a day that many are thinking of what they’d like to get on V-Day and turn it into a day of giving. 

How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day with your family?



Goal Setting for Kids – How to Help Your Kids Get Ahead

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Goal setting may be something new to kids,  but just like brushing their teeth or studying every day, we want goal setting to be a habit for them.  So since they’re just starting out, it’s important to keep in mind that the emphasis should be on the process itself, not just on the end result which is the achievement of goals.  The idea with goal setting for kids is to get them started in the life-long frame of mind for thinking, planning and taking action to achieve results.

Goal setting tips
Make it easy on yourself. Start out with a simple, easily achieved Goal. Here’s an example of a process which can be replicated to any level:

1) Find an easy goal which can be expressed clearly e.g. “After one month, I would have saved $15 so I can buy a Nerf Super Soaker.”

2) Have your child write this on a piece of paper, you could stick a picture of the toy next to the words, and stick it up on the wall where it can be seen everyday.

3) Prepare a savings jar and have him/her calculate that they need to save 50c a day for 30 days to achieve their goal. It will help if you set aside the coins from the start.

4) Think of a special surprise for them if they manage to stick to the plan and achieve the goal.

Read more 

 http://humanbean.com/goals.htm

Locked in a Room with a Zombie Review

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When my best friend said “I want to do something different for my birthday”, I knew we were all in for a treat. This woman never disappoints when it comes to events. And a night out with the girls is always filled with adventure. No boring chicks over here.
 In a group text we got the message “I want us ALL to do this activity called “Locked in a room with zombie.” 
Zombie! Room! Locked! Isn’t Halloween over, I thought, but in my group of girlfriends the birthday girl always wins. 
She sent out the details to purchase tickets online. Bucket List Productions, the brains behind the zombie room, was nice enough to add a 10:30pm show just for us. Bucket List Productions has been putting on this performance for over a year, Travelling to more than 20 cities. 
That made me feel a little better. Someone would’ve shut them down by now if the zombie had actually bitten someone like the disclaimer warns. 

We all made it safe and sound to 400 s. Michigan Chicago, IL. The location wasn’t exactly covered in flashing lights. You could easily miss the kindergarten construction paper slapped on the door that read, “Enter here for Locked in a Room with a Zombie.”
The girls night out was in action. The host, a charming performer that entertained us with what sounded like a creative British accent, set the tone for the night. 
He gave us the deets on the crazed zombie we paid $30 to be attacked by and ran down the rules. No punching, slapping or spitting on the zombie, no phones, no pictures of the zombie. Nothing too ridiculous.
It was time to get locked in for an hour with a zombie. One of the girls quickly began to second guess her decision to be apart of the theatrics. “YOLO, you’ve seen much worse than a zombie,” I told her. 
Any who we headed into the room, huddled up like a group of Rugrats scared but ready for an adventure. 
And that’s when it happened…
Haha did you think I was going to tell you what happened in the room. Nope you’ve got to go yourself 
Enter at your own risk 💀💀💀

10 Free Learning Websites {For Kids}

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10 Free Learning Websites {For Kids}

Here’s a list of some fun, educational and fun safe websites for your child to visit and explore on those cold winter days!
Switcheroo Zoo
www.switcheroozoo.com
Watch, listen and play games to learn all about amazing animals.
Fun Brain
www.funbrain.com
Play games while practicing math and reading skills.
Nat Geo for Kids
www.kids.nationalgeographic.com
Learn all about geography and fascination animals.
PBS Kids
http://www.pbskids.org
Hang out with your favorite characters all while learning.
Into the Book
reading.ecb.org
Go “into the book” to play games that practice reading strategies.
Star Fall
www.starfall.com
Practice your phonics skills with these read-along stories.
Seussville
www.seussville.com
Read, play games and hang out with Dr. Seuss and his friends.
Storyline Online
www.storylineonline.net
Have some of your favorite stories read to you by movie stars.
ABC Ya
www.abcya.com
Practice math and reading skills all while playing fun games.
Highlights Kids
www.highlightskids.com
Read, play games and conduct cool science experiments!

About the contributor:

Chanel is the founder of MommyMakinMoves.com and full time brand marketing professional. She is the lipstick, book and accessory obsessed mom of an energetic kindergartener and fabulous big sister to a creative pre-teen. Find Her on Twitter @MommyMakinMoves

3 Tips for Making Reading Fun for Your Kids

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How many times have you heard someone say reading is boring? Probably more times than you can count. My reply to that is, reading isn’t boring but the person that is reading might be.

No kid – or adult for that matter – wants to hear the dry eyes for clear eyes man read the Cat in the Hat. That’s torture! So let’s see how to make reading fun for your kids.
3 Tips for Making Reading Fun for Your Kids
1. Read about subjects that naturally interest them. Choose sports books for basketball lovers, fashion books for fashionistas and animal books for your little lion tamer. Remember your kids interests are different from yours. The key is to get them hooked on reading first, not to bore them with what you’d like them to read.
2. Act out scenes from the books. Kids love to pretend. So get out your capes and crowns. Brush off your acting skills and bring the books to life.
3. Let your kids see you reading. Our kids are grade A copy cats. They look  to us for what’s cool and acceptable – atleast before they turn 10. Brag on what you learned from reading a book, news article or blog. Hopefully, your kids will see that even old people can learn new fun facts by reading 😊

See the Best During the Worst

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Just because a situation looks hopeless doesn’t mean it is. The biggest lie we can tell ourselves is things can’t get better and it’s out of our control. You can not control everything that happens to you but you do have authority over what happens next. 

Positive thinking doesn’t mean smiling all the time. It means always be optimistic even in the lowliest of situations. It means seeing Rainbows during a storm. It means seeing recovery after accidents. It means seeing love after heartbreak. It means seeing opportunity after failure. It means being open to better after the worst. 

We choose how we see the world! 

What do you see?

3 Knowledge Bombs for Moving Forward in Life

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If there is anything I know a lot about, it’s self motivation. Being the oldest child of a single mom warrants a lot of “figure it out on your own”. There will be times that all you’ll have is you!!!! You’ve got to use everything you were born with to your advantage. I’m not just talking looks. I’m talking about God given hustle, personality and common sense. 

Here are a few Knowledge Bombs to keep you going:
1. Don’t be discouraged by the effort it takes to achieve what you desire.
2. Believe in your own ability to learn quickly and perform efficiently.
3. Don’t let lack of credentials stop you from going after what you want.
Now use what you got to get what you want. ( I bet you don’t remember what movie that’s from lol)