Parenting Projects

[musical]

Spoiler: Thread summary

Some participants shared various ways that technology has helped them stay connected with their busy family members and manage their schedules:

- happyfeet mentioned how digital tools like WhatsApp group messaging help keep the lines of communication open, even if messages are shorter than in-person conversations. The whole family can quickly connect and share thoughts or updates this way.
- Many participants raved about using physical or digital boards to consolidate ideas for different aged children visually. Having a centralized place makes planning easier and gets everyone excited and on the same page.
- luciana suggested incorporating gratitude into daily life, such as saying grace before meals or having moments of silence where each person thinks of one thing they're grateful for. This helps foster an attitude of appreciation and positivity.

Participants also shared some fun ideas for themed weeks to keep family time special and memorable:

- Space week, with celestial-themed crafts and lessons about space.
- Wild West week - transform your home into a saloon with desert landscapes!
- Beach week.
- Hero week.
- Junk Food week, with fun, themed cook-offs.
- Movie week.
- Holiday around the world, to learn about different cultures and traditions.
- Sound week, exploring all the different sounds beyond what you hear on the radio.
- Outdoor Explorer week, focused on discovering nature - birds, bugs, trees, and more!
- Harry Potter week, with lots of dressing up.
- Ancient Egypt week, learning about mummification and making papyri.

Themed weeks are a fun way to keep family time exciting, collaborative and full of positive vibes!

There's so much to gain from connecting with other parents and learning from each other! Share your current parenting projects, goals, and initiatives. Whether you're focusing on family organization, positive discipline strategies, or emotional intelligence development, this thread is a great opportunity to brainstorm together.

My current project is creating a family activity plan for the upcoming month. With the busy schedules and multiple extracurricular activities, I want to ensure we still connect over fun, quality experiences. So I'm planning some themed movie nights, a board game night, and a weekend picnic!

What are your parenting projects or goals? Let's support each other with ideas and inspiration!

 

[lioness]

That's a wonderful idea to plan themed movie nights, board game nights and a picnic to ensure quality connection despite busy schedules.

I'm currently working on improving my patience and using positive reinforcement for my toddlers. I find myself getting frazzled too easily these days, so I'm focusing on slowing down, being more present, and using intentional discipline strategies like redirects and lots of praise when good behavior is happening.

I'd love to hear about ways other parents foster emotional intelligence! I feel it's such an important skill for our kids to navigate social situations and their own emotions healthily.

 

[bananarama]

Emotional intelligence is so crucial, and it's wonderful that you're actively working on fostering it! We do a lot of feeling 'check-ins' throughout the day, especially when my kids come to me with an issue or something exciting. I'll ask follow up questions about their feelings and really try to help them label and understand what they're going through.

We also recently started a gratitude journal as a family, where each person has their own section to write down three things they're grateful for daily. It's helped us all become more mindful of the good in our lives and made dinner conversations much richer!

I also love the 'feelings faces' idea I pinned on Pinterest. Basically, you draw or stick pictures of emotions onto mirror boards or pieces of cardboard and have your kids hold them up to practice identifying feelings. You can even make it into a game!

What other ways do you all actively foster EI in your little ones? I'd love more ideas!

 

[koala]

Those are some wonderful strategies you've got there!

We focus a lot on names for feelings too and I find it fascinating how many different emotions there are and how nuanced they can get. I think it really helps us to better understand ourselves and each other.

I like the gratitude journal idea - it's great that you're doing it as a family and involving everyone. We do something similar, but it's more of an evening routine where we each share our highs and lows of the day.

I've also found that talking about past experiences and memories helps too, especially if they're emotional ones - it allows us to process those feelings again and learn from them, plus it's an opportunity to reinforce how far we've come since then.

It's great to hear about your methods and I'd love to hear more about the Pinterest idea too! Always looking for new ways to approach this important topic.

 

[chickadee]

I'm a big fan of the evening highs and lows routine - it's a great way to connect as a family and reflect on the day.

The Pinterest board is a fun way we've found to engage the kids in decision making. We use it as a visual tool to plan our next family adventure or weekend outing. It's an online mood board of sorts, where we all contribute ideas and pictures we can then discuss.

It's amazing how engaged the kids get when given some ownership and it's a fun way to uncover their secret desires or hidden talents! We've discovered some great places and experiences through their suggestions and it makes the planning process more interactive and fun.

The gratitude journal and sharing past emotions are such wonderful ways to foster emotional intelligence. It's a great topic - I could talk about it for hours! Would love to hear your thoughts on the Pinterest idea if you give it a go!

 

[luciana]

That's wonderful to hear how engaged your kids get with the Pinterest board and evening routine! It's a lovely way to involve them in decision-making and create those special family moments.

We've also started something similar - a family WhatsApp group where we each share our daily highlights and lowlights. It's been fun seeing everyone's reactions and responses, especially the kids'. It's a great way to stay connected, even with our busy individual schedules.

The board is a fantastic idea for visual learners especially; it's amazing how these simple strategies can help bring families together and give an insight into children's minds.

It'll be interesting to hear other people's thoughts on this thread! I'm keen to hear more about the gratitude aspects too - that's one aspect we haven't explored yet.

 

[wellness]

It's incredible how technology can help us connect as a family, especially with busy schedules. The WhatsApp group is an awesome idea to keep the communication lines open and create some family bonds.

The board has been such a lifesaver for visual learners; it's so true! It's fascinating to see how these kids' minds work and what captures their interests. Their excitement is infectious too, which makes the whole experience so much fun!

I agree about the gratitude aspect - it's a wonderful way to teach appreciation and perspective, something we could all benefit from exploring further. I'd love to hear any tips on this too - it's definitely an area we're working on as a family and could use some fresh ideas!

 

[happyfeet]

Technology is a great way to stay connected, especially for families like ours who always seem to have something going on! I've found that using digital tools helps keep the lines of communication open - my kids are more likely to message me on WhatsApp than initiate a conversation in person, unfortunately! But it's better than nothing and I do love the instant connection it brings.

The board has been a fun way to tailor activities too. My kids are at such different ages and stages, so having a place to consolidate ideas that work for everyone has been fantastic. We're definitely leaning into the gratitude aspect too - it's a great strategy for keeping everyone's outlook positive, especially now as we head into the colder months. I'm keen to hear any tips on that front too!

 

[luciana]

Digital connection is a great idea, especially if your family is constantly on the go! It can be difficult to keep everyone's attention focused on one another sometimes, so it's nice to have those instant messages and feel connected.

The board sounds like an awesome way to keep track of activities that work for everyone. Consolidating ideas for different aged kids is no easy feat, so that's a great strategy! Keeping a gratitude focus is a lovely way to round out the chaos and ensure everyone is appreciate and mindful too - it's a great habit to get into.

Some tips to foster gratitude could include having a designated time each week where you all come together and share three things you're each grateful for , or creating a visual gratitude board that the whole family can contribute to. Something crafty like that could be fun, and it's an ongoing project!

It's also a good idea to incorporate an attitude of gratitude into daily life, by perhaps saying grace before meals or having a brief moment of silence where everyone thinks of one thing they're grateful for before digging in. Little moments like these can really add up and keep the positive vibes flowing.

 

[greenfingers]

Those are some lovely gratitude suggestions!

I especially like the idea of a visual gratitude board - very hands-on and creative, and a great way to see everyone's appreciations laid out. And yes, little moments do make a big difference - sometimes it's easy to forget the power of a simple 'grace' moment.

The board I currently use is a simple white board, which works well for our family's needs, and I agree that it's so helpful to have one central place for all our ideas. We tend to theme our weeks, which helps to keep some consistency - this week might be 'adventure week', for example, so we'd plan some outdoors time and maybe some related movies/books etc.

It's fun to keep coming up with new themes too, the kids enjoy the surprise element! But it definitely requires some advance planning, especially as my older ones start to have busy schedules. Digital connections are a lifesaver in that respect - group texts and quick video calls help us stay connected even when we're all doing our own things.

 

[sunnybunny]

Themed weeks sound like so much fun, especially with the surprise element! And I love that you can involve everyone's interests and come up with creative themed ideas together - a great way to foster collaboration too.

It's inspiring to hear how you're keeping the family connected with busy schedules; digital tools are definitely a lifesaver and make everything so much more manageable these days. Keeping everything centralized is such a great idea, and I'm sure the visual aspect of the board makes it all the more exciting for the kids too! Would love to hear some of your themed week ideas - any you're able to share? And do you involve the kids in the planning process at all?

 

[sunflower]

Themed weeks are a great way to keep things exciting and surprise the kids! Some of our past themes have included Space Week, which was filled with celestial-themed crafts and fun factual lessons about space travel and aliens. We also had a Wild West Week where we transformed our home into a dusty old saloon - complete with a faux desert landscape and cowboy hats!

For maximum fun and collaboration, we often involve the kids in the planning process for our themed weeks. They love sharing their ideas and get so excited when their suggestions are brought to life. It's a great way to teach them valuable planning skills, too.

Some other themes we've done include Beach Week , Hero Week , and even a Junk Food Week where we created fun, shaped foods and held a junk food cook-off!

I find that having a centralized digital board helps me keep track of ideas and plans, and the kids enjoy the visual inspiration too. It's a great way to make family time special and memorable without too much stress! I'm sure there are lots of fun themes others could suggest too - it's an addictive kind of fun once you get started!

 

[sunnydays]

Themed weeks have been a blast so far! Some themes we've done are Movie Week , Beach Week , and even Space Week - kids loved that one especially. We also had a great Holiday Around the World week where we learned about different cultural holidays and traditions.

I involve my older kids in the planning process which has been really fun! They love helping organize and come up with ideas. We use a large white board to map everything out and that keeps us all on the same page . I try to keep it centralized so everyone knows what's coming up and can look forward to the next theme.

Some other themes on our list: Superhero Week, Under the Sea, Ancient Egypt, and a Harry Potter week which I know will be a big hit! Keeping it fun and light makes the crazy schedules much more manageable. Can't wait to add some of your ideas too - would love to hear them!

 

[bookworm]

That's such a cool idea! I especially like the 'Holiday Around the World' theme - what a great way to teach kids about different cultures.

My son would love Superhero and Harry Potter weeks, those are right up his alley! For something a little different we did a 'Sound Week', where we explored all the different sounds around us and even made some instruments. There's so many cool sounds to discover beyond what you hear on the radio!

I also have a nature loving daughter so we did an 'Outdoor Explorer' week, where each day had a different nature-themed focus like birds, bugs, trees/leaves etc. We made bird feeders and went on a scavenger hunt - she loved it!

Keep us posted on any new themes you try!

 

[doctormama]

Some great ideas there! I love the Sound Week and Outdoor Explorer themes, especially as they get kids engaged with the natural world and all the wonderful sounds around us.

We did a Harry Potter week once too - so much fun! Dressing up is a must for that one. We also had a week focused on ancient Egypt which was really engaging; we learnt about mummification, made our own papyri and even built little pyramids.

Will definitely keep posting any new themes we try - it's great to have this list to refer back to!

 

[bananarama]

Those weeks sound like so much fun! Dressing up really takes themes to another level. I love the idea of an Ancient Egypt week especially learning about mummification and making papyri.
The possibilities are endless - what about Under the Sea or Space themes? You could even tie them together and do a week on oceans/planet Earth vs outer space!