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Tween Boredom Busters – Spring Break Edition

March 7, 2013 By 4 Comments

Tick tock. Tick tock. Only one more day and then the kids are out of school. *cue the ominous music*

I don’t know about you but I have two tween girls to entertain next week and, for the first time ever, we aren’t taking them anywhere. Aside from the fact that they are bemoaning the total cruelty of my husband and I taking off the week after without them, they are also pulling out preemptive cries of boredom.

Boredom, Shmoredom I say. This mom has plans and boredom isn’t a part of it. Aside from all the great staycation ideas I just posted over at ChildMode, I also have an arsenal of tween boredom busters up my sleeves.

So, because we’re in this gig together, I thought I’d share these ten tween boredom busters with you. Good luck Mom. Remember it’s only a week. We’ll worry about summer break later.

Let Them Have a Sleepover

Besties make everything better. They also keep your tween from following you around endlessly, saying “there’s nothing to do.” I sometimes think I love my girls besties more than they do for that very reason. For fun sleepover games check this post out over here.

sleepover

Put on a fashion show.

Let them put on a fashion show at home, with your hallway as your runway. Many tween girls are obsessed with make-up and this is safe place to let them play with it. Let them put make up on you and you can put make-up on them, all while subtly teaching the less-is-more philosophy. Get your camera ready and help them create their own model portfolio — put pictures in a scrapbook.

make up

Get in The Kitchen

Practice your own Home Ec 101. Get your kids to plan the menu for the week, write up the grocery list and prepare the meals. Seriously. Parents underestimate how much kids really do want to be in the kitchen. Look the other way on some of the grocery items and have fun! For recipe inspiration, my buddy Martha, has some great ideas.

tween boredom buster in the kitchen

Have a dance off.

Pull out your mom moves a la Michelle Obama. Delight when they cringe at your total lack of coolness.

boredom buster dancing

Challenge them to a video game.

I, for one, am a terrible video game player. It is something that I just never got into. It is for this reason, that my children love competing against me—because they can crush me! I like to put a big show on like I’ve been practicing while they were at school and then watch them collapse into fits of laughter when I crash Mario into every obstacle on the course.

video games

Bowling, Laser Tag, Indoor Mini-Golf

Basically anywhere you can blow off a little steam. If you haven’t shot a laser gun at a group of rowdy kids then you haven’t lived. Seriously. You may love it more than they do. Bowling, is actually considered quite retro by the kids, which is way cooler than old, so run with that. Plus, what’s more fun than bowling shoes? Finally, mini-golf is awesome. I kick my kids butts at mini-golf, but that could just be because I’m super competitive.

retro bowling shoes

Pull out your family photos.

Nothing gets your kids talking like looking through old photos. Especially old photos of them. Like this one of my daughter sucking her thumb and pulling my hair which she did whenever I was in reach! Or photos of you as a teenager. Kids love feeling connected to their history, so pull out your old family albums and start talking.

thumb

Go to the Movies.

Super predictable but a boredom buster all the same. Plus your tweens are getting older and the movies are getting a little more entertaining for you too. This Spring Break look for Escape from Planet Earth, Jack the Giant Slayer and Oz. Check out Common Sense Media for full reviews to see if your kids are ready.

Read A Book

I know it doesn’t seem as exciting as some of the other boredom busters here. Or maybe you think your kids are too old to read to anymore, but believe me when I say that reading tween books is so much better than the days of Goodnight Moon. Check out here for Top Ten Book for Tween Girls and lose yourself in a good story or two over spring break.

reading

Have a St. Patrick’s Day Party

March Break ends on St. Patrick’s Day this year, so why not have a party celebrating St. Paddy and the kids return to school. Win/Win. Get your kids to plan the whole event and turn it into a bit of sneaky educational experience. Get them to find Irish music, Irish food and Irish customs to share with friends and family. Bring on your Irish.

st paddy's day

 

 

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Bye-Bye Halloween

October 29, 2012 By 20 Comments

 

 

by Emily Cappo

 

The costume catalogs started appearing in our mail earlier this year, arriving even before school started.  I was annoyed, as I usually am, because I like to live in the moment and enjoy the season I’m in, rather than have to think ahead about the holidays and winter chill.  However, this year my annoyance was ratcheted up to another level.  I realized that only one of my three boys would even be interested in browsing through these catalogs.  The older two boys, at 12 and 15, have no interest in dressing up for Halloween.  And that makes me pretty darn sad.

We live in a neighborhood crawling with kids, and with the houses set close together, trick-or-treating on our streets is a child’s dream. You can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.  Perfect terrain for Halloween. My kids could trick-or-treat for just an hour and still come back with loads of candy.

It’s also fun for us parents because we walk around as a big pack, the kids scurrying up to ring doorbells, while the adults wait in the street and chitchat.  Some people have pre trick-or-treat gatherings, where they’d have pizza for the kids and beer and wine for the adults.

So this year, when the catalogs arrived way too early, I realized that I only had maybe two more years of Halloween trick-or-treating with my youngest child.  Soon he’ll want to join his brothers, either handing out candy or else head off with his friends to find mischief, which hopefully wouldn’t involve egging someone’s house.  And where would that leave my husband and me?  Would we turn into the couple across the street, whose kids are grown, and who turn off their lights on Halloween night so no one rings the bell?  That thought really depresses me.

But then I remembered that Halloween doesn’t have to come to an abrupt end for us.  I thought of our neighbor down the street who decorates her yard each year with zombies reclining in lawn chairs and other scary Halloween images.  She prepares her outdoor displays weeks in advance and it’s always the hit of the neighborhood.  And guess how old her kids are?  Both are in college.  Clearly, the ages of her kids did not stop her from continuing a tradition that she obviously loves.

While I don’t expect to start going full throttle on the Halloween decorations anytime soon, I do take comfort from my neighbor’s attitude.  When my trick-or-treating chaperone days are no more, I don’t have to completely say good-bye to Halloween if I don’t want to.  We can still leave the lights on, hand out candy, and enjoy the young princesses and Batmans that come to our door.  I just hope those costume catalogs stop clogging my mailbox by then.

Bio

Emily Cappo is a mother to three boys, ages 8, 12, and 15 and one girl dog.  When not parenting, she can be found writing, blogging, playing tennis, or drinking iced tea.  If you’d like to read about more of her adventures as a mom to boys, go to: http://ohboymom.com

 

 

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Shark Week

August 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

Dear Readers,

See this kid right here? I LOVE this kid. My best friend’s daughter, I’ve watched her grow over the years into a beautiful young lady. A beautiful young lady with a passion for soccer.

This year her soccer team, the Southend United Sharks have been nominated as one of 15 finalists for the BMO Soccer Team of the Week. If they win, they get at $125,000 soccer field refurbishment for their city and $5000 donated to Relay for Life, their chosen charity.

So, why this post? Well for your vote of course. I have a platform here, and when it comes to someone I love I’m going to use this platform. That kid you see above and all her teammates are the good stuff. They’re the hard working, bright, smart, athletic, community minded kids that will grow up to be tomorrow’s leaders. They don’t want to win a new wardrobe, or makeup or concert tickets. They want to win a new soccer field for their city and money for their favourite charity. Did I mention I love this kid?

Please take a minute an go vote for the Southend United Sharks here Then set up a wee reminder in your calendar to vote everyday until August 27th.

Watch the video below just for an extra little tug on your heart strings ;)

Thank you
Candace
xo

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Small Medium at Large

July 27, 2012 By 9 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that my tween daughter has a voracious appetite for books. It’s hard to keep up with her, especially considering I’m very careful about what she reads. I was lucky enough to have Canadian author Joanne Levy contact me and ask if my daughter would like to read her new book, Small Medium at Large.

The premise of the book is this:

After she’s hit by lightning at a wedding, twelve-year-old Lilah Bloom develops a new talent: she can hear dead people. Among them, there’s her overopinionated Bubby Dora; a prissy fashion designer; and an approval-seeking clown who livens up a séance. With Bubby Dora leading the way, these and other sweetly imperfect ghosts haunt Lilah through seventh grade, and help her face her one big fear: talking to—and possibly going to the seventh-grade dance with—her crush, Andrew Finkel.

What I saw was this:

A little girl smiling to herself as she read it. A little girl that would not put this book down. A little girl that laughed out loud several times and cried happy, mushy tears when it was finished. And I also know a little girl that has picked it up to read again.

To me, this is the sign of great book! I love when books sweep me away in the story and I find myself blurting my emotions out rather than holding them in. It’s so nice to see my daughter do this! I also have deep respect for authors who write for this age group. It takes a special talent to relate to kids at this age and not be too grown up for them. So, hats off to Joanne Levy.

You can order Small Medium at Large through Amazon or Chapters, and if you’d like a signed copy you can order it through the independent bookstore Bryan Prince Bookseller.

BUT, one lucky person here is going to win a signed copy for their tween! All you have to is follow @joannelevy on Twitter and leave a comment here with your Twitter name telling me you did. That’s it. Contest is open to Canadians (excluding Quebec) and readers in the United States. Contest will run until Tuesday, July 31st 11:59:59pm. Winner will be chosen using Random.org.

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Posh Places to Stay in England

July 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

They’ve just finished celebrating their Queen’s 60th Jubilee and now they’re bracing themselves for the 2012 Olympics, which take place in London this summer. Europe might be suffering economic woes, but the British seem to be having lots of fun at the moment. We love to holiday in England, and have grown familiar with their broad range of accommodation, from fun but admittedly cramped vintage caravans, to comfortable luxury family hotels in beautiful parkland.

These days, we err towards the latter. The novelty of sleeping in an Airstream in a soggy British field wore off as we grew older and – well – pickier about our mattresses. Our favourite British hotels are converted old mansions, once occupied by English kings and queens of old, or lords and ladies at the very least.

It’s hard to imagine these places ever being someone’s home. And some of these aristocrats didn’t even live there all year round, leaving staff to take care of the place (and any bedridden aunties and uncles, I suppose) while they spent the winter at their London townhouse, or travelled in Europe.

The wealth involved in even building these places is staggering – and maintaining them, along with all the maids, housekeepers, gardeners and so forth, required a wealth that few English landowners can boast today, at least in their private residences.

These days, many of these fabulous old buildings are owned by an organisation called the National Trust, which preserves and protects heritage buildings, restoring their interiors to an authentic state and opening them to the public.

Luckily for us, some of them have also been converted into hotels. The interiors aren’t quite so authentic as they used to be, but that’s fine by me – 16th century tapestry bedding would probably make me sneeze all night.

Thornbury Castle, near Bristol in the South West, is one of our favourites. I’ve been fascinated by the Tudors (who ruled England throughout the 16th century) and Thornbury was owned, briefly, by Henry VIII, who stayed there with his ill-fated queen, Anne Boleyn. It’s not actually a real castle – times were fairly peaceful, when it was built, and the fashion then was to make your country mansion look like a castle, without going to the expense of building nice thick cannonball-proof walls.

This kept your aristocratic pride intact, even though your nice big windows – large enough to let lots of light in – wouldn’t offer much protection in a crossbow fight. Thornbury does actually have little arrowslits (aka ‘loopholes’) up its main tower, so you can still play at being besieged, if you want to.

Down South, in the New Forest – a wonderful area originally set aside by William the Conqueror as his private hunting ground, and now home to diverse British wildlife – New Park Manor is also popular amongst our family. We love the area, for a start – it’s excellent for walking, cycling and pony trekking on the indigenous New Forest Ponies that have inhabited the region since before the last Ice Age. It’s fun at night, too, when you can go out looking for bats and owls. The Manor itself was used by King Charles II as a hunting lodge. We can see why he liked it so much and, heck, if it was good enough for him; it’s good enough for us. And these days, the mattresses are much nicer.

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Pool Party Cake

July 5, 2012 By 4 Comments

I love baking….when it doesn’t have to look pretty. When I want something that looks pretty, I go to the experts. For example, when I want amazing decorated cookies, I use my friends business, A Couple of Squares. When I want cookies that taste delicious but don’t have to be all Martha perfect, I bake my own.

I simply don’t have the patience to make it look pretty. Basic cakes, pies, cookies, I’m all over, but anything that requires patience and skill….not so much. That’s why I laugh when people are impressed with this cake I make for my daughters whenever they have a pool party. It’s so ridiculously easy to make there is really no need to be impressed. But feel free to make and impress the people you know. You don’t have to tell them.

Pool Party Cake

2 cups boiling water
2 pkg (85g) of Jello Berry Blue
4 cups ice cubes
1 1/2 cup thawed low-fat Cool Whip
1 bag of round “lifesaver” shaped candy
Teddy Grahams
Gummy Lifesavers
Striped flat sour candy
Vanilla wafers (you’ll need one for a diving board)

Prepare cake batter and bake in a 13×9 inch pan as directed on package. Cool completely. Remove cake from pan; place on platter. Use serrated knife to cut and scoop out a shallow rectangle from centre of cake, leaving a 2-inch border on all sides and thin layer of cake on bottom. Reserve removed cake for snacking or other use.

Add boiling water to jelly powders in large bowl; stir 2 minutes, until completely dissolved. Add ice; stir until jelly begins to thicken. Remove any unmelted ice. Pour jelly into centre of cake. Refrigerate 4 hours or until jelly is firm.

Frost borders of cake with Cool Whip. Decorate with candy and teddy grahams creating an outdoor pool party. Claim your mom of the year award.

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The Training Wheels are Off

May 21, 2012 By 8 Comments

by Deb Lowther

I am a hands-on-stay-at-home-working-all-the-time mom of 3 daughters. These kids continue to grow and keep me on my toes. Most times as parents we mourn the passing of certain milestones as our kids get older, especially when it is your youngest! Riding a two wheeler is one of those passages into being a big kid and can be a big transition for parents as they see their kids gain new freedom.

For the 10 years that I have been a Mom, I have juggled kids, car seats, activities, schools, lunches, snacks, friends, groceries, dinner, my job, birthdays, play dates and laundry. Somehow I managed to also fit in running and time at the gym. Never easy, it was a priority, so I moved things around and squeezed it in. I took babies to gym babysitting centers, I ran in the rain, I ran to soccer games, I ran during birthday party drop offs. I moved mountains to fit in a run . . . until the day a few weeks ago that the last set of training wheels came off!

Enter Life in Pleasantville!

It has been 4 weeks since my youngest daughter learned to ride her 2 wheel bike and can I tell you, when you have 3 kids on two wheels, YOU have freedom my friend!

I have waited years for this day. Having all 3 on big kid bikes with no training wheels means no one will get stuck on the curb, no one needs to be pushed up the tiniest hill, no one is lagging behind because those small bikes have so little pedal power! I can now go running whenever I want, without calling a babysitter or bribing my friends to take a kid for an hour.

If I want to go for a run the 2 wheelers come out and we are off sisters!

The summers are always a challenge as I like to run a fair distance and the kids are all home with me. They are too old to push in a stroller and too young to be left at home alone. The two wheel freedom we have now means the kids can go for a nice long bike ride on our local pathways and Mom can knock herself out trying to keep up running behind them.

As a Mom you take your opportunities to squeeze in the things you love where you can get them, and for this running mom, I plan to give my kids loads of miles on their bikes this summer.

Who knew teaching the kids to ride a big girl bike would bring Mom the freedom to chase her dreams and do the thing she loves most!

Pleasantville Note: Deb Lowther is a mother of 3 young daughters who, when not running after the kids, is running in the trails! She blogs about Raising Healthy Kids and ensures her own have fun while eating healthy & staying active. To read more articles you can visit her websites www.iron-kids.com & www.adultgummies.com or visit her on Facebook at IronKids.Health and Adult Essentials.

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Ottawa Tourism

May 3, 2012 By 5 Comments

Those who know me well, know that I LOVE my adopted hometown of Ottawa. I sing it’s praises everywhere I go. I truly believe it’s one of the best places to live in Canada. It also happens to be a great place to visit, any time of the year. Summer is loaded with activities, as you’ll see in a minute. Fall is bursting with colour, winter has our world famous Rideau Canal and Winterlude. Spring sees us burst into colour again with tulips everywhere. There is no bad time of the year to visit us.

Riding the Double Decker Bus

Last summer, I started to feel a little bad about always rushing out to another tourist locale and not giving Ottawa the love she deserved. Isn’t that always the way? We rush to other destinations and forget what wonder we have in our own back yard. So we grounded ourselves. It was the best summer ever. We enjoyed our backyard, and our glorious summer weather and never felt like we missed our vacation because we got out and did those “touristy” things. Perfect.

Today, I was on CTV Ottawa Morning Live sharing some of the great things we found to do.

You can find the posts I wrote about our Pirate adventure here, our perfect day in downtown Ottawa here and yet another great day trip here. Finally, our visits to Calypso and Saunders Farm. Phew! We were busy. I can’t wait to do all of it again and then some this summer.

If you’re planning to visit Ottawa, make sure you check out the fabulous Ottawa Tourism website to help plan your trip or feel free to leave me a question in the comments. Always happy to help a guest.

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Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

April 30, 2012 By 2 Comments

One of the best things about visiting Walt Disney World in Florida is staying at one of their resorts and enjoying the magic the entire time you visit. Disney makes your entire vacation an experience to remember from your accommodations, to your dining, to your parks visits. Nothing misses the pixie dust.

For larger families though, staying at a Disney resort has always presented a bit of a hurdle, as most Disney resort rooms are built by the industry standard of four people to a room. Always listening to their guests feedback, Disney took the thousands of requests they received over the years and have built their first resort with families of five and six in mind. Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is set to open in phases through the summer of 2012.

Last week, I joined media from across North America for a the unveiling of the first phase, Finding Nemo, set to open May 31, 2012. The first thing that strikes you upon entering the resort is the size, at a incredible 87 acres. Walt Disney himself, wasn’t kidding when he said that in Florida they would have all the land they needed for their imaginations!

The second is the color. All the buildings, signs, and structures are vibrant and bright, it’s like walking around in technicolor and you are part of the animation. In fact, the Finding Nemo property was built on the premise that guests were the size of Nemo. All models were then built accordingly, like Mr. Ray and Crush who serve as ambassadors to the rooms and the pool.

Perhaps the most impressive feature though is the pool, or the EAC (East Australian Current) dude. It hold 310,000 gallons of water and is the largest pool on any of the Disney resorts. Kids, young and old, will delight when they put their heads under the water for the first time and hear Nemo and Dory talking to them. Then there’s Squirt’s Splash Pad for the little dudes and dudettes. Seriously, how cute is that?

Finally the rooms, built with families in mind are perhaps the most fun of all! Take a look at these pictures and all the incredible detailing from the imagineers at Disney.

Note the submarine numbers and the lighting in the kid's washroom, as well as the familiar phrase "Fish are Friends".

A place for the family to chill dude. The sofa turns into a comfy bed for two at night.

Play cards or a board game, even enjoy a snack or pizza in the comfort of your room.

At night the dining area converts into a cozy bed for your little swimmers to snuggle up in.

The perfect place to prepare snacks, keep drinks cold or make much needed coffee Mom and Dad.

Wonderfully understated parent's washroom.

A place for mom and dad to drift off.

This resort is a value resort with rooms starting at $249 for value season and up to $425 for peak periods. Art of Animation is booking rooms now for all four wings. Finding Nemo opens May 31, 2012. The Cars wing will open June 18, 2012. The Lion King opens August 10, 2012. Finally, the Little Mermaid wing will open September 15th, 2012 for a grand total of 1,984 rooms, 1,140 of which will be family suites. Sweet, dude.

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Top Ten Books for Tween Girls

April 4, 2012 By 6 Comments

If you have a girl, it’s not long before your daughter is a little beyond Ramona and Beezus but not quite ready for The Hunger Games or Twilight. It can be a challenging time. Tween girls don’t want to be treated like little kids anymore and are looking for something more adventurous and challenging to read. As a mom, you want to ensure that the content doesn’t get too mature too fast. As the mother of an avid reader, I’ve spent a lot of time finding age appropriate books that we can both agree on. The ten books listed below are all recommended for kids 9 to 12 years old. So relax and get your daughters into these great books.

1. The Penderwicks – Jeanne Birdsall

This is actually a series of books. My daughter has read The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. Next up, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette.

2. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart

Another series, that includes The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, and The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner’s Dilemma.

3. The Last Hero: The Heroes of Olympus Book 1 – Rick Riordan

Are you sensing a theme here? My daughter loves series. I don’t blame her, it’s nice to be able to continue along with characters you love. The Last Hero author is also the author of the Percy Jackson series, another great read for tweens.

4. Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

My daughter had seen the movie for this first starring Anne Hathaway and loved it, so I was surprised when she told me she enjoyed the book more.

5. Little Women – Louisa M. Alcott

My daughter found an old copy of this in a used book store in The Florida Keys. She read it in a day. Some stories never get old.

6. When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead

This book is classified as sci-fi, but it’s also a great glimpse of childhood in the 1970s. Winner of the 2010 Newberry Medal and several other awards, my daughter gives this an very enthusiastic thumbs up. Ooops, sorry, two thumbs up.

7. The Care and Keeping of You – American Girl

My daughters have several American Girl books and as a mom I have absolutely no complaints. Whoever is running their book department gets a standing ovation from me for keeping content age appropriate and wholesome. The Care and Keeping of You is currently my 9 year old’s bible, as it guides her through the changes her body is going through.

8. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling

Meant to be read as your child grows, the Harry Potter series is perfect for kids from 7 to 17. This year my daughter has reached the third book, The Prisoner of Azkaban and she’s ready for the darker material and scarier depictions. This is how my family has been tackling The Harry Potter books.

9. Eragon – Christopher Paolini

Oh look, another series. Eragon, the first in the Inheritance series is classified as fantasy and centres around dragons, a boy and a mythical land called Alagaesia. What’s not to love?

10. The Girl Who Could Fly – Victoria Forester

Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, calls this book a mix between “Little House on the Prairie and X-Men”. That was enough to suck my 9 year old in on this one. I won’t let her read Stephanie Meyer yet, so this was as close as she could get. As it turns out though, she loved it.

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