How to Make a Snow Ball Wreath

Make a statement on your front door this winter by creating a snow ball wreath.  These frosty snow balls will shimmer in the sun just like the real thing.  It won’t matter whether there’s snow on the ground or not, you will have the perfect winter accessory for your front door.  Get in the mood for winter and create this snowy wreath today.

Step 1

Gather up the supplies you will need for the project:

• 12” Styrofoam wreath
• 20 to 30 total- 2” and 1 ½” Styrofoam balls (other sizes will work)
• Epsom salt
• 3 yards of wide ribbon (for hanging)
• Mod Podge
• Toothpicks
• Paint brush
• Hot glue
• 2 bowls
• A fork or skewer
• Newspaper for covering work surface

Step 2

Cover your work surface with newspaper.  Pour some Mod Podge into a bowl.  Pour some Epsom salts into a bigger bowl.

Step 3

Stab a Styrofoam ball with a fork or skewer and while holding it over the Mod Podge bowl use the paint brush to paint a light coat of the glue over the entire ball.  Take the ball over to the bowl full of Epsom salts and roll it around to coat.  Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl to knock off any loose salt.  Set aside the coated ball to dry.  Continue coating the rest of the balls.  When finished, allow all of the balls to dry overnight.  If you would like the balls to look snowier you can add a second layer of Mod Podge and salt.

Step 4

Stick a toothpick in each finished ball about halfway in and start pressing them into the Styrofoam wreath.  Start on the inside of the wreath and work your way around.  You will want to put them very close together and try to alternate the 2 inch with the 1 ½ inch balls. Continue covering the wreath until most of the surface is covered.  You will want to make sure that the wreath will hang well so leave the back of it plain if you can or cover it evenly so that it will still hang well on the door.  Plug in your hot glue gun.

Step 5

Hot glue additional balls on top of those that are already stuck onto the wreath.  You will want to try to cover the entire wreath form.

Step 6

Loop the center of the ribbon around the wreath.  Leave some space and tie a bow.  The amount of space you need to leave will depend on where you want the wreath to hang on your door.  If you already have a hanger on your door you can adjust the ribbon and try it out on your door.  If you are using one of those removable self-adhesive hooks to hang this you can hang the hook wherever you need it to be.  Hang your wreath on your door or in your home.

Tips

To store your wreath you will want to fill the bottom half of a box with crumpled up white tissue paper and then lay the wreath on top.  Put another layer of crumpled tissue paper over the wreath and close the box.

To dress up the wreath you can add in some silver ornaments that would hang below the wreath or in the center.  Airy open ornaments like snowflakes or spirals will work best for this idea.

Your completed wreath will add a touch of sparkle to your front door and greet your guests all winter long.  To give this wreath a holiday look you can wire in an elf sitting in the center and change the ribbon to something appropriate for the holiday.  Then to extend the life of the wreath you can remove the elf and change the ribbon to a wintery blue.  Once you’ve gone to the time and expense of making this wreath you may want to leave it up for as long as possible.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Kathleen Crislip.  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

 http://www.nannycare.org/blog/how-to-make-a-snow-ball-wreath/

Tips For Teaching Kids About Compassion

Helping your child learn to feel compassion and empathy for others is one of the most important lessons you can instill in them as a parent. As bullying and cruelty become more prevalent, and children and teens are resorting to extremes to find relief from the torment of their peers, helping your child to understand how important it is to respect the feelings of others can make a very real difference in the world around her. While it’s not always easy to help a child grasp such an abstract concept, there are steps you can take, as a family, to make the concept of being compassionate more understandable.

• Model Compassionate Behavior – Just as your child learns to mimic your mannerisms and speech patterns, she’ll also take most of her cues about how to treat her peers, elders, animals and the environment from you as well. Making a conscious effort to model compassionate, altruistic behavior in everyday life is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that your child also learns to behave in such a manner. When your child sees you treat the world around you with compassion, she will instinctively follow the shining example you’ve set for her.
• Take Opportunities to Talk about Caring for Others – When your child is confronted with images of violence, cruelty or bullying through television, movies and even her everyday interactions with the world, it’s important to take the opportunity to talk about how she thinks the victims of those actions feel and how she might be able to help. With these examples to examine as points of reference, a largely abstract notion can become more concrete and easier to understand. Take the time to discuss empathy and compassion every day, especially when events or images bring the issue to the forefront.
• Volunteer as a Family – Spending time as a family performing volunteer work can give your child not only an up close and personal view of compassion and empathy in action, but also the satisfied feeling that comes with making a positive difference in the world. Making an effort to choose volunteer activities based upon your child’s existing interests, the age-appropriateness of the tasks involved, and her ability to immediately see a perceptible difference due to her actions can help your child understand that helping others is both important and rewarding. Working together as a family can also strengthen bonds, give you an opportunity to continuously model compassionate behavior, create talking points for later discussion, and allow you to monitor what she’s exposed to in the course of her volunteer work.
• Teach Kids to Stand Up to Bullying – While your child should understand that it’s never acceptable to approach a bully in a confrontational or violent manner, and that retaliation isn’t a solution to the problem of bullying, you should also encourage her to make an effort to stand up to school bullies in a compassionate and productive way. Reporting harassment of another child to school authorities, making an effort to befriend children that aren’t easily accepted by their peers, and never engaging in bullying activities are all effective ways of combating the problem without retaliation. It’s also important to explain that standing aside and doing nothing to assist a victim of bullying or laughing at cruel pranks is the same as condoning the treatment her classmate is receiving.
• Donate Outgrown Toys and Clothes – When your child outgrows her toys and clothing while they’re still in serviceable shape, it’s a good idea to get her involved in the sorting and packing process, and then let her accompany you when you go to make a donation. Seeing that the belongings she no longer needs are finding good use in a needy home can instill the importance of charitable giving, and ease any pangs of separation anxiety she feels.
• Practice Random Acts of Kindness – Keeping your eyes open for small acts of unexpected kindness that you and your child can perform together can not only help her understand the concept of altruism, but can also help to make it an everyday practice. Look for ways that you and your child can help whenever you’re out together; in no time, she’ll be spotting potential random acts of kindness herself.

While it’s not always a popular notion with harried parents, allowing your child to keep a pet can provide her with an everyday incentive to be compassionate and caring for a living being that needs her help to survive. Smaller pets, like fish or hamsters, can be just as effective as dogs or cats. Depending on your living situation and schedule constraints, adopting a pet for your child to take responsibility for can be another very effective way of passing along a lesson in compassion.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by  Martina Keyhell. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

 http://www.becomeananny.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-kids-about-compassion/

And then four crows will fly away - Fifth Part

He was coming to inform me that my father had died and I had been named his only heir. He also told me that if I did not want to go immediately back to the country, he had brought for me to be signed some letters of attorney to allow his fellows to look after the most urgent matters of administration. I signed those proxies without not even reading them. On the economic plan I would have been now stronger than ever. My studies would get a great advantage from this new decisive financial impulse. But why didn't I feel any pain? Yet I had loved him, in the cheerful days of the infancy; and he had loved me. Thinking about the years of my infancy and the coasts of beloved and distant Cornwall, I finished to consume my poor meal, then I returned downstairs. I immediately noticed that something strange had happened during my brief absence. In the test-tube the brain of the cat had dried, acquiring a grey and pale color. I extracted it with the pliers: it seemed a dry sponge without neither weight nor smell. What devil had it happened? It was a gust of wind which answered to me. In that underground where I secretly developed my experiments, I had not left but a small window, that I wanted surfaced to the level of the ground. It had slightly disclosed , quiet enough to allow the passage of a provident ray of sun which, intruding the optic circuit of the microscope, had poured in with all its mighty energy, dehydrating completely the object of my experiments. But my light, initial disappointment had soon to be transformed in high exultation, when I closer observed the test-tube that had served like furnace to that unforeseen experiment. On its fund rested some drops of a dense and glimmering liquid! I had a lightning, an intuition that afterwards had to be exactly revealed. Admirably exact, my friends! I had found the way to extract from the muscle that contains our life, from the brain that contains all the knowledge of a human being its own essence. An extract, a summary, that is the same, but free from the physical brain’s encumbrance, from the grey mash that contains it. Free from the flesh as a soul is free from his body as an idea from his thinker as a thought from his action! As you certainly know all our mental energy springs by a simple chemical reaction that is continuously produced in our brain. Such reaction, that the physicians define with the name of “synapse”, is originated by the reaction between the liquid secretion in the brain and the cells on it introduced. In practice this liquid, that has equal molecular structure in every man, works as a tracing detector of the cerebral fabric, whose composition is, instead, what countersigns a man from another. The intimate reasons for such different composition of the cerebral fabric, have seen for a long time divided the humanity. Manhood has however been until now incapable to intend the true reason for the difference of the beings of its species. A human being, from the scientific point of view, it is only a product of a casual connection of the basically chemical mixtures that are contained in the cells. And all its activity is coordinated by the cerebral cells. To succeed on getting a distillate of those cells, meant therefore to dispose of a substance of inestimable value. You can of course imagine, what such emotion I felt when I injected those drops that were deposed on the fund of the test-tube, to a guinea-pig. The result was amazing, great and more meaningful than I had been able to foresee myself. 

...to be continued...

Eight Ways a Nanny Can Help Her Charges Say Good-Bye

Leaving a nanny job is never easy because it always mean leaving a child you love and care for. Even when it’s a natural and healthy transition, it’s hard for the nanny to say goodbye, and usually for the child too. Here are some ways a nanny can help her charge deal with the change.

1. Let her know the job is ending but the love is forever. It’s sometimes hard for a child to understand the difference between the job and the relationship. As children get older, they are better able to grasp the subtleties of the situation. However even from a young age, a child can understand that even though she won’t see her nanny as often, her nanny will continue to love and care about her.
2. Be honest. It’s often easier to put off difficult conversations or act like a tough situation isn’t really that bad. However having a beloved nanny leave can be very difficult for a child, and although it’s important to be reassuring, it’s equally important to be honest about what’s really happening. If you’re leaving your job because you’re moving out of state, don’t promise to come see the child every week. If you’re taking a new job down the street, don’t promise to never take care of another child. Being honest, no matter how hard it is, will help the child know she can rely on you and trust what you say and do.
3. Let her have whatever feelings she’s going to have. Some children get sad when their nanny leaves. Others get angry or withdrawn. How your charge reacts to the news of you leaving depends on your relationship with her, her temperament, and how the adults around her react. There’s no right or wrong reaction. Let her know that whatever she’s feeling, it’s OK. Help her recognize that her feelings are a natural part of the good-bye process and that she will feel better in time. Also be OK with your charge not being sad or upset. Some children naturally take things in stride and don’t have the negative reactions we often expect them to have. A nonchalant attitude doesn’t mean you’re not an important person in her life. It simply means she’s handling the transition well.
4. Let her know you’re sad too. Leaving isn’t just a big transition for your charge, it’s a big change for you too. Let your charge know how much you’re going to miss her and miss spending time together.
5. Make a memory craft together. Use pictures of some of the favorite things you did and favorite places you visited along with other memorabilia to create a scrapbook or other keepsake collection. It will be a visual reminder to the child of the special times she shared with you. These reminders are important transitional items and can help children create a bridge between the past and the future.
6. Welcome the new nanny. If your employers are hiring a new nanny, make sure you fully support her as she steps into your job. This is the new person who will be taking care of your charge, and your support will help the child know it’s OK to connect and bond with the new nanny. If the child believes that you disapprove of the new nanny, it may make their new relationship difficult.
7. Make plans to see each other. Just because you’re leaving your job doesn’t mean you won’t get to see your charge anymore. Before your last day, make definite plans to spend time together. It could be an afternoon at the park, a dinner out together, or anything else you enjoy doing together. If the parents agree, consider becoming a regular babysitter. This is often a great opportunity for the parents to spend time out together and for you get to spend some quality time with your former charge. Many caregivers often go from being the nanny to being the babysitter.
8. Find other ways to stay in touch. With all the technology available today, it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with the people you love. Sit down with your charge and come up with fun ways to connect. Some of those ways may become your new rituals. Try postcards, funny notes through snail mail, email, Facebook, or video chat. How often you connect with each other will depend on the child’s age, your schedules, and the parents’ willingness to support your relationship. Even if you don’t connect often, make sure to touch base on a regular basis.

Leaving a nanny job can be sad for everyone. However nannies can help children say good-bye in healthy ways and make the transition to the new relationship easier.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Isabella Harris. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.nannyjobs.net/blog/eight-ways-a-nanny-can-help-her-charges-say-good-bye/ 

10 Tips for Parents of Kids Who Resist Having Their Teeth Brushed

Chasing a defiant toddler around with a toothbrush is more likely to end in smears of toothpaste on the furniture and a tiny mouth that refuses to open than an effective lesson in oral hygiene. For parents that have attempted to plead, bargain, and even threaten their way into their child’s mouth with a toothbrush, here are ten hints and tips that might make the experience a more productive one. 

1. Model Good Oral Hygiene Habits – It’s no secret that children love to mimic the adults that they love and trust, so letting your child watch you brush your own teeth can be an effective way of encouraging them to form good oral hygiene habits as well.
2. Encourage Independence – While a toddler might not do the best job of brushing their teeth, they are generally quite talented when it comes to asserting their independence. Letting your child attempt to brush her own teeth will help her form the habit. Depending on your child’s individual temperament, it may also be easier to finish the job properly if you’ve allowed her to begin the task herself.
3. Make the Process Fun – Singing a silly song, making a point of brushing teeth to attack fictional “sugar bugs”, and maintaining a playful, upbeat attitude can make a world of difference when it comes to convincing your child to let you brush her teeth. Rather than fighting for dominance with a child that’s just learning to assert her independence, make it a point to keep the entire hygienic process as fun and exciting as possible.
4. Establish a Routine – When your child knows that brushing her teeth is part of her routine at certain points of each and every day, it will become progressively less difficult to handle. Keep in mind that introducing a change to the schedule you’ve previously established is almost always difficult in the beginning, and try to be patient until your little one adjusts.
5. Enlist Your Dentist’s Help – Whether she’s offering a plaque-disclosing rinse that turns your child’s teeth a different color until they’re brushed properly or simply advising you on the best methods of establishing an oral hygiene routine, your dentist is a great resource for all things related to your child’s oral health. Don’t be afraid to approach the subject of dealing with resistance to brushing teeth at your next visit, if you feel that the situation is not improving.
6. Let Kids Choose Their Own Toothbrush – While many parents shy away from commercially licensed products, a toothbrush with your child’s favorite princess, hero, heroine, or cartoon character may be just what she needs to get excited about brushing her teeth. Allowing her to choose her own toothbrush also gives your child a measure of control over the process, which can also make brushing her teeth less of a battle.
7. Consider a Xylitol Toothpaste – The naturally-occurring sugar alcohol xylitol is not only appealing to kids due to its sweetness, but is also recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry for cavity prevention in children due to its efficacy in preventing tooth decay. Using flavored toothpaste that features this helpful and appealing compound may make your little one more receptive to having her teeth brushed, especially if you let her choose a flavored brand.
8. Offer an Explanation – For some stubborn children, simply explaining why brushing their teeth is essential may be enough to convince them to relent. Harried parents often have a tendency to focus solely on accomplishing an unpleasant task, rather than providing the explanation for why it’s necessary to baffled kids. Talking about cavities and tooth decay in a way that your child will understand may help to end the struggle.
9. Use a Musical Timer – Making a game of brushing your child’s teeth by using a musical timer provides the fun aspect that kids are looking for, while also ensuring that little teeth get the attention they require for the prescribed amount of time.
10. Stay in Control of Your Temper – It’s easy to lose your temper when you’re forced to fight the same battle on a daily basis, but shouting at your child because she won’t comply is likely to make her dread having her teeth brushed even more. Try to be patient with your little one, and work through the initial rough patch.

Many parents opt to forgo the struggle of brushing kids’ baby teeth, reasoning that they’ll be falling out soon anyway. While this is essentially true, having dental work on baby teeth can be a traumatic experience and often requires the use of general anesthesia. Furthermore, the habits that you help them establish during toddlerhood and the preschool years will also determine how well they care for their permanent teeth when they get older and oral hygiene becomes more of their own responsibility.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Renee Gardner . I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.nannyneeded.org/blog/10-tips-for-parents-of-kids-who-resist-having-their-teeth-brushed/ 

And the four crows will fly away - 4th Part

Fourth part

The burst of the second world war caught me surprised on this walk of studies and searches. Bitterly I was forced to consider that human beings pursued their premature end, rather than search for the truth. But at that time I hadn't understand yet that every human action, even the most iniquitous and bestial, has however its own reason to be done and for me, that war, would have been another fundamental step on the way of comprehension. When Germany, violating the accords formerly taken, moved war to England, attaching London, I realized that the right moment had come for me to show that the Parnells loved to fight for freedom, under any flag and against whoever oppressed its exercise. I threw to England and enlisted in the Royal Air Force, despite I have to confess you that, after the betrayal of my father, I felt more Irish than English, also considering that in those days, as it is today, Ireland was divided in two parts, with a part still under the British dominion. After a brief but intense training I was assigned, as I had required myself, having the pre-requisite for it, to pilot’s hunting squads. Between-whiles of my missions I had the opportunity to deeply analyze the causes of those disastrous events. I had been, it is true, in the years immediately preceding the war completely devoted to my studies, in a way that I could call, purely scientific of the phenomenon which stand at the base of the human life, but it was not certainly in the fore coming years of war that we had to seek the reasons and the causes of it. The roots of hate and evil sank their extreme appendixes in the most tangled and lavish meanders of human mind. These deleterious feelings, so inherent to human mind, were to be conceived like the principal causes of that huge bath of blood. From this premise I puzzled out that the basic beliefs of the national socialist philosophy were correct: the humanity, in order to be saved, needed a superior race to be raised over the others for leading them to salvation. But German race could not certainly be the chosen one. Not even any other among the existing could be it, because it had to be a race who didn't know, in their hearts but goodness and love. With a greater fury than before, I addressed all my energies against the hateful enemy: I challenged death ten, hundred, thousands of times, always defeating the adversary. Plainly, the truth was clear to me: the contours of my destiny assumed more and more its clean and precise outline. It appeared more and more evident the role that was reserved to me in the history of the world.” I resolutely threw myself heart and soul into brain’s study. I felt that I had to create a super brain in order to be reproduced and form a race of super-men able to drive on the right direction this dregs of humanity that inhabits the world. After some rough attempts of surgical engineering, that occupied me for different years, whose initial success and following disappointed bitterness, almost led me to abandon the whole project, it was the fate to intervene and to point out the right way to me. Which kind of test would I have still waited for? The same celestial stars directly showed me the way! A beautiful day, in fact, while I was observing under the microscope a cat’s brain, ulterior, fortunate guinea-pig, subtracted to the deprivations of its life for the glory of the Science, an amazing account happened to me. I had set the small feline’s organ in a cylindrical open neck test-tube and I was continuously thinking about it, looking as usual for a sprout of understanding on its complex and mysterious composition. At a certain point, needing something to eat, I went upstairs. I left unwillingly open the microscope’s focus. I was going to have a cup of tea, with my daily survival meal, when I heard some beats on the door. The circumstance was quite unusual. Nobody ever came to find me and Soledad, the Mexican housemaid who was in charge for homework, as an invisible angel, entered in the house using her own key. As I opened the door a young man introduced himself as an emissary of an English legal study “Heirs and Heirs” . 

 From the original ignazio s. basile's  italian novel.  English version by the same author
...to be continued...

9 Positive Nanny News Stories of 2012

For every bad nanny story that is written, there are many great ones waiting to be told. While nannies come from diverse backgrounds and have various experiences, good nannies tend to have one thing in common: they are caretakers by nature. Whether it’s jetting around the world to accompany mom on a work trip, dedicating 40 years of their life to the same family, or saving their charge’s – or a stranger’s -  life, most nannies are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in any situation.

While the media tends to focus most often on covering negative nanny stories, positive nanny stories do abound. Here are 9 positive nanny stories that have made the news so far in 2012:

Nanny Credited with Saving a Life – Chicago based nanny Emily Rogers put the CPR training, which she learned years before for a nanny job, to use as she is credited with helping to save Jorge Pedroso’s life.

Nanny Saves Charge from Carjacking – Nanny Kaitlyn McGrath safely escaped her work vehicle that was being carjacked with her one-year-old charge, Cash, in her arms. Cash is the son of ABC Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition trainer Chris Powell and his wife Heidi.  Both credited her with saving their child’s life.

A Nanny’s Role is Reversed  - Susane Lavinia Bowden served as a live-in nanny and housekeeper to the Hoare family for 40 years. Nanny Susane celebrates her 100^th birthday living with her former employer as a member of their family. In her aging years her employer, turned friend, now cares for her.

The Norland Manny – Michael Kenny is the first male admitted to the world famous nanny training college, Norland College, to obtain an education degree. When he graduates he will be only the second male in history to graduate as a Norland Nanny from the 120-year-old college.

U.S. Soccer Fully Finances Nanny Services for Players and Coaches  – Members of the U.S. Woman’s Soccer Team bring their children on the road, thanks to U.S. Soccer and its commitment to establishing family-friendly policies. U.S. Soccer pays the salaries of the nannies so that players and coaches can focus on their families and their sport.

Childhood Nanny Given Ultimate Honor – Wonder where actress Tori Spelling got her daughter Hattie Margaret’s middle name from? She named her daughter after her own childhood nanny, perhaps one of the greatest honors a nanny could receive.

Nanny of the Year- Maryland based nanny Nikki Gribble was honored at the 2012 International Nanny Association Annual Conference as the association’s Nanny of the Year. This honor is awarded to nannies who exemplify who and what a nanny truly is.

Nanny Saves Boy from Jeep – Quick-acting nanny Cindy Gatson saved her four-year-old charge from being struck by an out of control Jeep that was barreling towards him. The boy’s mom credits his nanny with saving his life. The Jeep came within inches of where the boy was.

Book Dedicated to Nanny – While Chicago nanny Vivian Maier may not have made the news during her lifetime, she’s certainly making it in her death. A new book, Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows chronicles her life through the pictures she took of herself and others.

While not every positive nanny story will make the news, the ones that do are likely an indication of the everyday heroes who provide loving and nurturing childcare to the children in their care.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Olivia Lewis .  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

 

 http://www.nannynewsnetwork.com/blog/9-positive-nanny-news-stories-of-2012/