RockIt Times AmuseLetter
Kid
Rock Celebrates The Fourth of July!
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Quote Of The Month There are only two lasting bequests
we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. Editorial Hello and welcome to another issue of the RockIt Times AmuseLetter! I am pleased to say that this issue goes out to close to 100 subscribers. I have so much fun putting these issues together, it just makes it better to think that people might actually be reading them. <Smile> We recently had our Kid Rock summer curriculum meeting, where one of the teachers (you know who you are, Ms. Carol) requested that I start adding pictures of the completed projects and snacks! I think she had some doubts as to whether I was actually doing all the stuff myself. <Wink> Au contraire, Ms. Carol! So...beginning with this issue, you will get to see pictures of my own lovely children, Ian (4) and Reece (11) making, eating, or proudly displaying, the activities in the issue. Please keep in mind that both of my children are a bit creatively challenged in the drawing/coloring area, so I feel pretty confident that I can present examples that won't be too overwhelming for you to live up to. Please forgive my lack of photographic ability, as well. I have an explosive issue for you this month! This issue is timed just perfectly for you and your children to put together some fun things for the 4th of July holiday and have a blast doing so. Let your child create a great hostess gift, if you are attending a 4th of July bash, or awesome decorations and snacks for your own party that your child can show off proudly. Even my husband, a big, tough Chicago stagehand, enjoyed creating a firework display for the 4th of July! I have to admit that I was a bit surprised when I invited him to join us and he actually did! Remember, creative play gives parents the opportunity to have fun, too, and with an excuse! Popsicle sticks were a bit hard to locate, but I managed to get a HUGE box of them at Hobby Lobby for less than a dollar. In my search for the sticks, my girlfriend pointed out that it would be much less expensive to just buy those red, white and blue pops already in a box. Well, true. But not nearly as healthy and definitely not as much fun! It also was a good chance to work on the virtue of patience, as we waited for each layer to freeze. I do a lot of rushing around in my life, as I'm sure you do, as well. On top of being a Kid Rock instructor, I also own a budding Internet company, which eats up the majority of my time, energy and resources. Add that to just trying to manage my household, participating in all the necessary "Mom" functions (I have served as PTO President for my son's school for the last 3 years, among other things), and being a good community member (I serve on the Special Events Planning Committee for the Mayor's Office), I can find myself a bit short fused. By the time my children remove the cushions off the off-white sofa (that I purchased unwisely BEFORE I had children) to create their 5th "illegal" fort of the day, or my 4 year old decides that helping me type when updating a client's website is a great idea, or going out for pizza within the next 10 minutes becomes a life or death issue...I have to admit that my patience with them starts to wane. This issue's guest article, Revering The Crayon Marks by Susie Cortright, certainly helped me get things into perspective. Our time with our youthful children is too short to waste! I look at Reece, now 11. When I hug him, his cheek now rests on my shoulder, instead of my tummy. He can pick me up with relative ease. I just inherited his "too small for him" jazz dance tennis shoes. I'm absolutely sure that yesterday he was a baby, and now he is getting closer to being a man. No matter how busy you are, revel in the time you have to spend with your children. Schedule time for them, if you must. And don't let your quality time involve sitting in front of the television, either. Learn to make each other laugh, talk to each other, and develop a relationship with your children that will role model parenting for them when they grow up. It's our opportunity to make the world a better place by raising loving, patient, understanding and caring children. With the 4th of July holiday upon us, celebrate our nation's independence with gusto! In spite of all our country's problems, we still are very blessed to live where we have the freedoms that we do. As dramatic as it may sound, the quality time that we spend with our children today will have a great impact on the future of our nation in the tomorrows to come. Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday! P.S.
Show how much you appreciate all that you have by sharing a bit with Noah and
Mia, our two KidRock children struggling to battle cancer. Monetary donations
in any amount are welcome and greatly appreciated. You can get an update on our
Splash-tacular fund raising event and make your donation by visiting: http://www.rockitkids.com/splash-tacular.htm
Reading Rocks! Recommendation
Kid Rock "Party In The Spotlight" Kid Rock 'n' Roll Time to kick up your heels and get down with some ole' time rock 'n' roll! What better way to share the excitement of the 4th of July, than to invite your child's friends over for a Kid Rockin' 4th of July bash! This party theme may include the following songs or other rockin' tunes:
Reserve your party date today! Email to parties@rockitkids.com or call us at 847-961-6584. Craft Of The Month Fireworks for the Fourth of
July Help your child develop color recognition and cultural awareness with this great sensory activity. When you draw with wet chalk, you will notice that it goes on darker, like paint, then instantly lightens at it dries. Point this out to your child to provide for additional visual stimulus. Materials:
Description: Your child can make colorful fireworks using the chalk. Have your child dip the chalk into the water before drawing. The water helps the chalk adhere to the paper better and gives it a more vibrant look with less mess. Every firework will look different...be sure to add a lot of "ooohhh's and ahhhhh's" in for encouragement! It may be helpful to tape the paper to the table for younger children so it doesn't slip away! Also, only put a little water into each container. Not much is needed and less water helps to prevent messy spills! Bonus Craft ! - 4th of
July Wands I couldn't resist these easy to make wands! My 4 year old son could find these suitable for ANY occasion and I'm sure your child will, too! Materials:
Can be used for a parade or dancing and is delightful for endlessly twirling around and around! Note: Ian and I decided to wrap our entire wand with red, white and blue crepe paper. We used sparkly red and blue curling ribbon, which we taped on to the newspaper tube BEFORE we wrapped it with the crepe paper. Obviously, Ian is very happy with it! Having a party? Don't forget to invite Kid Rock! If you are in our neighborhood, we happily provide stress-free, interactive children's party entertainment for any function. Or, make it a Kid Rock day no matter where you live, with our perfectly assembled gift bags and party favors! Visit the official Kid Rock
website at http://www.rockitkids.com/ Snack Of The Month Red,
White and Blueberry Freeze Pops Your child and you will have a great time making these sweet, cool and healthy, fruity, frozen pops! (We sure did! And we had fun eating them, too!) Ingredients:
What to do:
Music Rocks! Recommendations
Motor Activity Of The Month On Independence Day (Sung to the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" Fireworks go snap, snap, snap! (snap fingers) Special Guest Article Revering The Crayon Marks
"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.
What we need is to love without getting tired." ‘'Twas one of those days when my husband left promising to return home a little early, and to bring with him a pizza. I had started the day, even, in one of those relatively rare but still very real moods in which the best I was going to be able to do in my role as a stay-at-home mom would be to fake a smile and turn my back, when necessary, to count to ten. It was on this particular day
that the girls and I were heading to a distant store to pick out just the right
gift for someone. My 3-year-old, who is much less adept (thankfully) at reading
her mommy’s moods than her daddy is, was passing the time by speaking every thought
that occurred to her. Right now, those thoughts revolved "If you get up early enough, it’s night," she announced. "Callie gets earbubble," (that would be "irritable") "right before her nap." "Daddy comes home when it gets dark." I answered yes to all of these things, only half-listening. Then, making conversation in the distracted way I do on days like this, I sputtered a question: "What’s your favorite time of the day?" Silence. Had I stumped her? "What did you ask me, mommy?" So I repeated the question. "What’s your favorite time of the day?" Silence again. I looked in the rear view mirror. Her blank stare told me she thought my question was absurd. After a time, she answered: "This one." Now Cassie does enjoy a good long car ride, so I asked her the question again as she was getting ready for bed that night: "Cassie, what’s your favorite time of day?" The answer was the same: "This one." Ah. This one. And so should it
be for me. You see, my daughter is better than me at something I long to be good at. It’s what Richard Foster, author of Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, calls the Prayer of the Ordinary. "We
are Praying the Ordinary," he writes, "when we see God in the ordinary
experiences of life. Can we find meaning in the crayon marks on the wall made
by the kids? Are they somehow the finger of God writing on the wall of our hearts?"
In the same chapter, he writes: "It is in the everyday and the commonplace
that we learn That, I’m sure, is true. Particularly that patience part. My fear is that, like everyone
with adult children tells me, the time will go too quickly, I fear that I’ll wish
for it back, even those mealtimes interrupted by the whisper "Mommy, I pooped."
Even those whines for another Go-gurt. Even the stray Legos I nail with And yet, though I’m infinitely conscious of trying to freeze those moments the good and the bad in my memory for some distant future, it’s hard. It’s hard to see Foster’s crayon marks on the wall as anything but crayon marks. Crayon marks that I will have to scrub. I’m experiencing a crayon mark of sorts
right now. As I jot notes for this column at the kitchen table, my 3-year old
is sitting on my lap, trying to push my pen along the page with her Three Little
Pigs book. She has just dragged her grape lollipop through my hair and For a moment, I have an unbecoming and out-of-the-blue urge to chuck her beloved book across the room. And it is precisely times like these when I need to indeed see the crayon marks as something left by the finger of God. To feel a sense of reverence for my every moment of my life as a mom. To once again find meaning and glory in my daughter’s cherubic yet filthy face. But
for this, I need some kind of tool, some trick for the heat of the moment. A trick
to bring myself back in an instant to the kind of mother I long to be, the kind
of mother I sometimes know myself to be, and the kind of mother I want my daughters
to remember me At this moment, I have a little talk with myself.
My daughter and I end up tucking our feet under a blanket on the couch and reading
the very book that I wanted to hurl. And I enjoy it. I always do if can just sink
into the moment and remember what a little miracle Perhaps that tool, then, is surrender. Or maybe it’s distraction. The same trick that all moms learn when their youngest is about 18 months old. When Cassie was that age, and she’d get angry and frustrated, distraction worked wonders. When she was 2 ½, distraction worked wonders on MY anger and frustration. Sometimes, the best tool for me is to change my scenery -- to get my mind on something else. Perhaps that tool is compassion. Compassion for our children and a conscious understanding of what they must be feeling at certain times in their precious and sometimes bewildering lives. And compassion to ourselves, which we can show by not over-scheduling our lives to the point where it’s impossible to get down on the floor and play for 20 minutes, if that’s what it takes. Or to call your own mommy just to chat for 20 minutes, if that’s what it takes. Perhaps that tool lies in the realization that our lives are long and full and that there will be plenty of time to do what we need to do when we no longer have little ones pulling on our pant legs. Perhaps it is the tool of single-tasking. So we don’t feel distracted all the time. This is the tool that involves downshifting out of overdrive, because it’s in overdrive that we talk too much, eat too much, think too much. Enjoy too little. Perhaps it is the tool of shifting your awareness. A conscious committing to memory of the ripe physical sensations of motherhood: The feel of your baby’s marvelous, heavy head on your chest. The smell of Cheerios on her breath. This is how we bring ourselves back--gently--to the gifts that are under our fingers and, oftentimes, directly underfoot. Perhaps it is the tool of solitude. So that, by enjoying the pursuit of something, solo, we may return to them renewed--and without resentment. Perhaps it is the tool of being honest and talking it out with other moms. It helps me to remember that we’re all in this together. Most days we are genuinely loving it. Some days we are genuinely faking it, just as generations of good moms before us have done. There is a certain solace in this story told by my mother-in-law, whose three grown children would describe an ideal, involved, committed, and very loving mother. There were days, she says, when her face hurt at the end of the day from smiling. A clear and present sign that her smile was, for days at a time, forced. But her kids didn’t know. With grace, neither will mine. And tomorrow will be a different kind of a day, with new tools to look upon those crayon marks with the reverence they deserve. About the author: Subscriber Talk! Hi Mari! Thanks for a great issue on Luaus! How fun! We made the Hawaiian Leis, but added our own little twist. My daughter had some big plastic threading beads, so in between each flower, we put 2 beads. She had a great time threading the beads and the flowers and it gave us a chance to work on sequencing, which she is currently learning at her preschool. Thanks again for putting out a great AmuseLetter! Keep up the great work! ~Lisa Reply from Mari: Thanks Lisa! I wish I had thought of the sequencing idea myself...my 4 year old had just recently been doing sequencing at his own preschool! Thanks for the suggestion AND the nice feedback on the AmuseLetter. I am really glad you are enjoying it! Great Links and Freebies Check out these great links for parents and caregivers!
General & Unsubscribe Info Rock It Times © Copyright Rock-It Productions, Inc., except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. This ezine may be accessed online at: http://rockittimes.rockitkids.com You may subscribe to our AmuseLetter by visiting our website at: http://rockittimes.rockitkids.com or by sending any email to RockItTimes@onfireteam.cc Unsubscribe any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email you receive announcing your new AmuseLetter issue. Please feel free to use excerpts from this AmuseLetter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: http://www.rockitkids.com Mari Peckham RockIt Times is an opt-in, subscription only AmuseLetter. | ||||||||||||||
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