Family Life

When it comes to raising kids with character, one of the most important things I want to teach my daughter is how to be empathetic towards others. I know, of course, that one of the best ways to do this is by example. What are other ideas for how to teach empathy to kids? Let’s take a look at a few of the easier ways. Why does empathy matter? Empathy is a strongly needed quality among all people. It is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. With more empathy comes more compassion, lower crime rates, and more unity among everyone. Although empathy comes more naturally to certain people, it is something we should all strive for. Most people think of this as…

As parents, we want to protect our children from practically everything. And while this may seem impossible; we can protect them in certain areas. Mostly, that covers things like physical needs. But have you considered how to protect your child’s emotional well being? In our effort to balance very full and hectic lives with our families and our jobs, we may have been neglecting an all-important facet of our child’s life: their emotional well-being. The first three years of a child’s life is a critical time for a child. And the trauma of changing child care providers or having a ‘part-time’ parent float in and out of their life can be very traumatic and destabilizing for them. For some parents, that means making a decision for…

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EarnWithBoxTops #CollectiveBias I was never the best at math. I’ll be the first to admit to that. However, my preschooler is starting to show some interest in STEAM and STEM. One of the areas that she loves? Counting and making charts. No, these charts aren’t exactly perfect. But, she’s learning. Besides, she’s only 4 so I can’t expect anything grand. One way that I can help my preschooler learn basic graphing skills is by utilizing real life situations. For example, we like to collect Box Tops for Education for her older sister’s school. Graphing Skills with Real Life Examples Your local grocery store, or wherever you do your grocery shopping,…

Since we’re still a one-income family, with plans in place for all of that to change, we have to be quite mindful about the money that we have. That means making decisions for how we can prepare for the future while planning for the present. This includes multiple aspects of our lives- from retirement savings, to daily expenses, to future things. One of the main things that we’re trying to save for is our youngest daughter’s college expenses while on a budget. With thanks to NY529 Direct for sponsoring this conversation, let’s dive in. We want to make sure, first and foremost, that we have enough money to cover our present expenses. By present, I mean things like: Groceries Utilities phone bills Cable/Internet Homeowner’s insurance…

The holiday season is mostly an enjoyable, albeit, stressful time of the year. However, when your holiday plans involve traveling by air, sometimes that can bring an added level of stress. Trust me, I’ve been there. More so as a child and sometimes as an adult. I would fly back and forth across the country when I was younger and have made this journey recently as well. With thanks to Red Mango for sponsoring this conversation, I want to share with you a few tips on how to take the stress out of holiday travel this year. Traveling by air is usually stressful but when you have to travel during the holidays it usually means taking along family members and that can add extra stress….