Practical Positive Parenting Advice and Resources
Free Printable Holiday Gift Tags
The holidays are such a busy and expensive time of year! Here is a little something to help you wrap and tag those gifts for free 🙂
Simply print out as many copies of these holiday gift tags as you’d like and add them to your presents this year!
Created by Shari Medini
For more on this topic, check out the full Gift Giving collection
A few years ago, I threw a Pirate Party for my son’s birthday. The kids had so much, and I had a lot of fun planning it too! Below are free Pirate Party Themed Printables which include a pirate treasure map and pirate signs that you can use for your own pirate party. You can soak them in tea, bake them, or burn the edges to give them an edged look if you want to go the extra mile 
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This Pixie Belles Interactive Animal Toy is normally $14.99, but it’s currently on Amazon for only $4.99! This is an even lower price than Black Friday, and they are a fun gift for any of the kids in your life. Choose Layla or Rosie for the special limited time pricing.
It’s safe to say that all children have a creative spark somewhere inside them. They may choose to indulge in this creativity by playing, singing, drawing, or letting the creativity overcome them. This can turn into something beautiful that you’ll be happy to remind them of for the rest of their lives. Or perhaps even embarrass them at their wedding. Being creative is a fantastic way for your child to express themselves. And as a parent, you should do everything you can to foster their creativity. So here are six ways to make that possible and help foster your child’s creativity.
For more on this topic, check out the full Staying Home collection
While many people feel that the tablet or TV can only entertain kids, this isn’t the case. Reading aloud to your child will help them explore different scenarios and worlds. Many kids will gravitate towards fantasy or science fiction as it’s something totally unlike the world they know. Still, their positive experiences with reading can help them branch out towards other genres as they grow up. By reading enough, they can find nuggets or creativity wherever they are. And they might even find that becoming a writer is their path to creating, too.
Having a space to create is one of the most important aspects of fostering creativity. This can be a spare room or an area where there are no rules (within reason, of course). If your kids have a dedicated space where they know they can paint, write, draw, build, and play; their brains will immediately switch into creative mode whenever they are there. This will enable creativity to flow freely. Over time they will associate creating with positive experiences. Which can then foster a love for creating, showing them plenty of ways to do so.
[Read:Â How To Create Your Own Art Station]
We’ve all seen the TV shows and movies where the parents have been solidly against any form of artistic expression. You shouldn’t need telling that this is not what you should do. Instead, you must show enthusiasm for anything they create. They won’t be making masterpieces right away, but they don’t need to. The more enthusiastic you are about songs they make, the stories they write, or the paintings they produce; the better they will feel about the creative process. As they get older and more sophisticated, they will look back on your enthusiasm as something that gave them the confidence to continue.
Some people will tell you that kids should never be bored and must always have something to do. However, if they are always doing something, they won’t have the chance to be inside their head, which is where the best creative adventures begin. By allowing them to be bored, they are forced to create fun all by themselves. This will help them cultivate ideas and develop intricate other worlds that they can easily get lost in.
[Read:Â The Benefits of Creative Playtime for Kids]
Many creative people will look back on their time at school and remember how they hated it when tasked with being creative. They preferred the creativity to come naturally. Being told to be creative, while still in the confines of an outline, does not sit well with truly creative people. So you must remember this if you want to foster creativity in your child. Scheduling creativity can stifle their potential, so try to allow them to be creative in their own time. Furthermore, you shouldn’t make suggestions about which color to make trees or how a story should go. Allow them to find their way themselves.
Similarly, your child’s creativity can also become stifled if they feel pressure to perform. For most children, the simple act of imagination excites them. However, when they are expected to do well or show off in front of friends and family, they become shy. With this in mind, it’s important to allow them to create freely, rather than for any successes or competitions. While there’s nothing wrong with encouraging kids to enter contests that could provide opportunities, it shouldn’t be the sole aim of creativity. This enables the invention to flow and seep into as much of their life as possible.
Creativity is something everyone has, whether they realize it or not. It’s a fantastic way for kids to learn more about the world and escape it on days where they have nothing to do. By encouraging creativity as much as possible when they are young, you can help them find their niche that will boost their self-esteem throughout their life.
For more on this topic, check out the full Staying Home collection
What Your Child Should Know Before Walking to School Alone
As loving parents, we want our children to be independent and grow into mature, well-adjusted young adults. However, the idea of giving them more freedom and the green light to do things without your supervision can feel utterly terrifying.Â
One of the biggest milestones in your child’s pursuit of independence is walking to school alone. They’ve probably been asking you for weeks or even months to allow them to complete this perfectly harmless task all by themselves. Of course, they know the route, and they know the quickest way to get there…but what about all the other potential hazards they could come up against along the way…and what if you’re not there to help them?
It’s a parenting minefield. However, when you believe your child is old enough (many experts recommend the age of 10) you’re going to need to put some rules in place and give them plenty of advice, not just for their own safety but for your own sanity.
Here we’ll explore what your child should know before they walk to school alone…
For more on this topic, check out the full Back To School collection
Your child is probably proficient when it comes to crossing the road, however, they should still be encouraged to exercise caution and be wary of cars and trucks. Drivers who are distracted by their smartphones, drivers who are fatigued or speeding won’t be able to react in time when your child is crossing the road. The last thing anyone wants is a road tragedy – in the worst case scenario, if you or your child has been hit by a truck for example, you can get more info from an Indianapolis truck accident lawyer, here.Â
The statistics of child fatalities and accidents involving vehicles and crossing the road are terrifying, so make sure your child understands the risks and that they never cross the road without ensuring it’s clear first.Â
If something does go awry, it’s important that your child knows that there is somewhere they can go to if they’re confused or get turned around. If their route takes them past a church, library or a store, speak with your child about heading into these buildings and asking for help if something happens.Â
Are there regular crossing guards at your child’s school? Mention to them that your child will be walking to school independently from now on and that you’d appreciate them paying closer attention to them. This will also ensure that your child crosses safely. It’s also recommended that you speak with your child’s teacher and let them know about the arrangement. That way if something goes wrong and they don’t turn up for school or they’ve arrived late and upset, they’ll know to contact you straight away.Â
Now that the afternoons and early mornings are a little darker and gloomier, it’s crucial that your child is seen. Brightly colored backpacks, reflective tape and cool reflective accessories won’t just look great, but they’ll help motorists and cyclists spot your child in the dark.Â
You know your child better than anyone, so sit down together and have a chat about them walking to school independently. You’ll both feel much more confident about the idea.Â
For more on this topic, check out the full Back To School collection
The fact is that at one point or another, most people will struggle financially. Money management is not always an easy task to get right. So if you’re currently struggling with financial worries, there’s no need to feel badly about it. Struggling financially is exceedingly common, so it’s not something that you should feel ashamed or embarrassed about.
When it comes to struggling financially, the important thing is to put an action plan in place to help ensure that you are able to effectively manage the financial struggles you’re having to deal with. It’s not always easy knowing how to go about doing so, however there are plenty of sources that you can utilize to make the process of getting your finances back under control a little easier and less stressful. If you’re stuck in a bad financial situation, it can seem like there’s no way out of it. But that isn’t the case. You always have options. It’s just about working out what option is best for you and your family.
To help guide you through the decision making process, below are a few useful tips that should help to make coping with financial struggles a little bit easier – read on to find out what you should consider
Yes, this is completely and utterly terrifying but it’s a vital step to putting your finances back on a healthier track. So regardless of how daunting or overwhelming this process is, it’s vital that you take the time to calculate the amounts that you owe into one total amount. While the prospect of seeing all of your debt added together might seem extremely scary, it’s an important step to take. Because only once you understand how much you owe overall, can you start to chip away at it, or work out an alternative solution to take.
When it comes to managing debts, you do have options. It’s not just a case of finding a way to pay the debt off. There are various options that it’s worth considering. For instance, if your debts total such a large amount of money that you’re going to be unable to pay them off, then you might want to look into the bankruptcy process to determine whether it could be a viable route to go down. Another option is to look for a debt consolidation loan, which would allow you to pay the debts off rather than write them off and start afresh.
Regardless of the route that you opt to go down, going forward it’s important to take a healthier approach to your finances. Because what you don’t want to do is end up back in the same position again. And in order to get out of the cycle of being bad with money you need to learn to take a healthier approach to your finances. In order to do so, you might want to speak with a financial advisor, and will need to take the time to reset your mindset regarding how to better manage your money.
Struggling financially is never a nice experience as it can be extremely stressful and upsetting. However, there’s always a way to fix any situation that you find yourself in.
For more on this topic, check out the full Saving Money collection
Adore Them is proud to be the Marketing Partner for the Lancaster Baby Shower
A Huge Thank You to every sponsor, exhibitor, attendee, and volunteer that helped to make Lancaster’s 5th Baby Shower a huge success!
This year’s virtual event was presented by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health. While we missed seeing everyone’s smiling face in person, the virtual event allowed attendees to participate no matter their location. And it provided them with the convenience of tuning in from home, or from wherever their schedule allowed. This feature ensured that every guest could take advantage of all the wonderful show features, and didn’t miss a thing!
The Lancaster Baby Shower featured dozens of local and national businesses that showcased their incredible products and services that cater to young and growing families. With a focus on pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond; this event offered something for everyone! Attendees appreciated the variety of learning sessions, the vendor videos, the free raffle items & giveaways, the lunchtime entertainment, the baby & pregnancy trivia, and even the interactive opportunities through comments and photos.
A very special thank you to our show sponsors – without your help and support we would not have been able to offer such an amazing event for our attendees!
We hope that you will follow us for continued updates and parenting information throughout the coming months as we plan the rest of our 2020 events, and begin planning for 2021.
Ways to Follow Us:
To learn more about this event, check out the full Lancaster Baby Shower collection
Hard boiled eggs are arguably the perfect food. They make for a great breakfast on top of toast, lunch turned into egg salad, afternoon snack sprinkled with salt, or dinner thrown into some fancy looking ramen or on top of a hearty salad! Part of adulthood is figuring out how to boil eggs… And luckily, I’ve put together six different ways to hard boil an egg so that you can choose whichever option seems easiest for you.
Important Note: In every single one of these methods, the eggs become very hot. Please be careful when handling the eggs and other items that you will be using to cook them!
In this Article:
Somehow my mom has mastered the art of making hard boiled eggs. She always chuckles when I marvel at her ability to simply boil eggs on the stove top without having to Google “how to boil eggs” first. As you already know, we’ll be covering many different ways to hard boil an egg; but since a boiling pot of water is the most traditional method… let’s start there!
My life changed after buying an inexpensive egg cooker off of Amazon. I mean… it didn’t change drastically, but having an egg cooker has allowed me to make hard boiled eggs more often without having to use any pots, baking sheets, or bowls. I bought my sister an egg cooker from Amazon for Christmas, and she has now also agreed that this little appliance is a game-changer 🙂
An egg cooker is simply a steamer type appliance. You add water to the bottom of the cooker, poke tiny holes in the top of each egg (with the protected needle that comes with the egg cooker), close the lid, plug it in, and it’ll alert you when your eggs are ready! I also love that my egg cooker allows me to choose how hard or soft boiled I want my eggs by simply changing the amount of water that I add. It comes with a tiny measuring cup with clear labels on it – it’s seriously fool-proof!
The following list contains affiliate links. This does not change your price or shopping experience, but we simply receive a small commission should you choose to purchase items through our links.
Dash Rapid Egg Cooker: 6 Egg Capacity Electric Egg Cooker for Hard Boiled Eggs, Poached Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, or Omelets with Auto Shut Off Feature
Dash DEC012AQ Deluxe Rapid Egg Cooker: Electric, 12 Capacity for Hard Boiled, Poached, Scrambled, Omelets, Steamed Vegetables, Seafood, Dumplings & More with Auto Shut Off Feature
Maxi-Matic EGC-007: Easy Electric Egg Poacher, Omelet, Scrambled, Soft, Medium, Hard-Boiled Boiler Cooker with Auto Shut-Off and Buzzer, Measuring Cup Included, 7 Capacity
Cuisinart CEC-10 Egg Central: Egg Cooker, Brushed Stainless Steel
Hamilton Beach Electric Egg Cooker: and Poacher for Soft, Hard Boiled or Poached with Ready Timer, Holds 7
Before buying my egg cooker, my favorite method was to make hard boiled eggs in the oven. (Sidenote: I also make bacon in the oven because it minimizes the smell and mess of bacon grease and cooks it beautifully!) It just felt easier to put the eggs in the oven and set a timer instead of trying to babysit a boiling pot of water. I know, I know… boiling water is nothing difficult, but I’m all about taking the easiest route in the kitchen!
This option is also great for when you need to hard boil dozens of eggs at a time – like for Easter. You’ll need some eggs for the kids to decorate and eggs to serve while hosting Easter brunch!
{ READ: The Easiest Way for Kids to Decorate Easter Eggs }
Note: The eggs will often come out of the oven with brown spots on the shell, but this does not affect the flavor of the hard boiled eggs. You may also need to experiment with setting your oven to a slightly lower temperature if your oven tends to run hot.
Yes. You can hard boil an egg in the microwave. And you know that I had to go try it out for myself! As you can gather, if you can use something to boil water, you can use it to boil an egg – including your microwave. This is a method that I could see the kids having fun with too – just be careful when removing boiling water from the microwave!
I think I am the only mom on the block that doesn’t own an instant pot so I had to go do some research for this one! From what I here, you can use these handy appliances to make just about anything so I wasn’t surprised to find that many people are using their instant pot to make hard boiled eggs!
There was a time in my life where I used my crockpot on a daily basis. The house always smelled like a mixture of whatever was cooking for dinner, which meant that the house usually smelled like onions – not ideal. Even though I’ve moved away from using the crockpot as regularly, I still understand the appeal of it! Making hard boiled eggs in a crockpot seems like a great idea – especially if you have to make a large batch of them.
Co-Owner: Shari Medini
Shari Medini is the co-owner of the parenting website Adore Them. Her prior experience includes working as a marketing strategist and writer on multi-million dollar capital campaigns, website designs, advertising campaigns, and book launches. Shari’s parenting articles have been published in dozens of publications; and she enjoys doing various speaking engagements. When she’s not on her laptop, Shari can be found spending quality time with her husband and two sons exploring their hometown of Lancaster County, PA
Contact: Shari@AdoreThem.com
There is a form of synesthesia where people see letters and numbers as colors! It is a beautiful way to imagine the world, and it seems like it would automatically bring more personality to each and every name, word, or equation that you come across. (Would taxes be more enjoyable if they were more colorful??) Of course, the first question that comes to mind when learning about this phenomenon is, “What color is my name?” Luckily, there is a synesthesia tool created to let you discover and share just that!
I had fun looking up my family members’ names, and then looking up other words in general!
I also encourage you to spend some time browsing the synesthesia site and learning more about the topic! It is a fascinating project that is a great reminder of just how differently we see the world sometimes 🙂
How many days have I been a parent? This simple question resulted in a whirlwind that has reached 2 million people on Facebook (and counting)! To find out for yourself, Google this: “How many days since [ your first child’s birthdate ].”
– Check out the viral Facebook post HERE –
How many days have I been a parent personally? 3,500 days right on the nose! And that number was amazing to see.
Those numbers are validating because we know just how much goes into each and every day as a parent! Being a parent is not a 9-5 job. There is no paid time off (in fact you don’t get paid at all). And you work nights and weekends. Picturing thousands of days of parenting makes you understand why you feel permanently tired!
It also puts the various stages of parenting into perspective. My heart goes out to the parents who haven’t even hit triple digit numbers yet. Those early days of parenthood are so challenging in so many different ways! Making it through baby’s first year is an accomplishment all on its own because each and every day is so intense.
There are the parents like me that are currently in that sweet spot of parenting. Our kids still need us, but their problems are still relatively small. Sure, we spend hours in the minivan trekking to and from youth sports and other activities; but the kids can at least buckle themselves into said minivan unlike the toddler stage that is in your rearview mirror.
I was able to look up to the parents just a few thousand days ahead of me and respectfully understand that they are trying to navigate the teenage years. Those parents have bigger concerns with real world ramifications for their children, and I can only imagine how many sleepless nights they are still enduring. The waiting, the worrying, and the wondering that goes along with raising a teenager can’t be easy.
Parenting also doesn’t stop once your child becomes an adult! There were many people commenting who were well past the 10,000 days mark, and yet they still have an incredibly important role in their children’s lives. Parenting is a beautiful commitment to a lifetime of love and helping your family through the ups and downs.
So whether you have been a parent for 8 days or 8,000… you are amazing! And you deserve credit for the many, many long hours you have dedicated to raising your family.
How many days have YOU been a parent? Share with us on Facebook!
And for parenting tips and resources, check out our full website: AdoreThemParenting.com
