FAMILY TIME CURES SUMMERTIME BLUES

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Family Time Cures Summertime Blues

20 Cool and Exciting Activities

By Deborah A. Beasley

        Happy Anti-Boredom  Month!  That is right, folks.  The month of July is Anti-Boredom Month, here in the good old U.S. of A.!  Do not ask why…Let us just move on.

        If your kids are complaining of boredom during their time off from school, here is your opportunity to fight off the family doldrums this summer by getting out, having fun, and spicing up the heat!  Here are 20 ways to beat the heat, promote fitness, connect with your children, enjoy America, and leave electronics behind.

1. Make a day trip to the beach or lake for swimming, fishing, or relaxing.
2. Get out the rackets and play a family game of tennis or badminton.
3. Plan a picnic (backyard, nearby park, wherever), and let the kids help with the menu. A dollar store Frisbee, watermelon seed spitting contest, and a few kites are all you need to complete the day. A favorite place to spend the summer days when I was growing up was Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site, in Chadds Ford, PA.
4. Riding bicycles. Look up the nearest Rails to Trails Program in your area. The quaint town of Jim Thorpe in the Pocono Mountains, PA, has such an opportunity. Easy downhill riding and fabulous vistas for all ages. Bike rentals are reasonable, and child carriers and trailers are available.
5. Overnight camping in a tent or trailer is great fun for the whole family, even if it is in your own backyard!
6. Explore one of the many beautiful state parks near you for hiking, picnicking, and swimming. You might catch a glimpse of some local wild life. Stop by the Ranger Station for fun activities they offer like identifying animal tracks.
7. Visit local historic sights. We live 20 minutes from historic Philadelphia, PA, home of Carpenters Hall, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell.  We sometimes forget there is much to do so near to us. What historic sights are near you?
8. Visit a children’s museum, or other museum in a city nearest you. Have the kids take part is the many activities provided at the museum like scavenger and other discovery hunts. The Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, NJ offers kiddies hands on activities they’ll love.
9. Visit a petting zoo, or your city or state zoo. The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk offers over 350 animals on 53 acres. You can take a safari through Africa and see their African elephants.

10. See the world from down under (under water, that is), and spend time with sharks, penguins, octopi and fishes at the aquarium. The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina is one of our favorites!

1. 11.  Plan a trip to a living history farm and give the family a taste of early American life.

12. Visit an Amish Community for great food, fun, and help expand your child’s cultural understanding. In Pennsylvania, the Amish Community to visit is located in Lancaster.

13. Pick fruit at a local farm. Then return home for a special treat of the fresh taste of strawberries, blueberries, or peaches.  The promise of adding a little vanilla ice cream will give the kiddies an extra incentive to fill their baskets!

14. A backyard bonfire with friends. Don’t forget the s’mores and hokey campfire songs.  Here are a few examples:

• She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain When She comes
• He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands
• This is the Song That Never Ends

           Alright. I know at least one of you is thinking – “Kumbiyah”, but I was not going to say it!

1. 15.  Trip to a Water Park!
2. 16.  Boardwalk amusements fun! In Southern New Jersey, the Wildwoods offer spectacular fireworks on the boardwalk every Friday night!
3. 17.  Family and friends mini-golf tournament.

18. Invite another family for Cosmic Bowling. Have everyone where articles of clothing with colors that glow in the dark.

19. Horseback riding on woodsy trails is fun for teens and adults alike.

20. Take advantage of the many traveling circuses and carnivals passing through your area every summer. You will often be supporting a local Fire company, sports team, or other community endeavor in the process of having great family fun.

        Well, there you have it.  Twenty cool and exciting activities you can do to fill summer down time with your kids.  Send them back to school refreshed, reenergized, and reconnected with you. There IS a cure for the summertime blues, and you create the family memories that never fade away! Have fun!

©2012 Deborah A. Beasley All rights reserved.

Together At Last Family Support Parenting With Connection in Mind

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TOGETHER AT LAST FAMILY SUPPORT
PARENTING WITH CONNECTION IN MIND

Parents often muse over why their child doesn’t come with ‘an instruction manual’. Parents need not be burdened with trying to figure it out alone. Now Certified Parenting Coach and Parent Educator Deborah Beasley ACPI CCPF, can help you find the answers to fit your family’s needs.

“It has never been easy raising kids and that fact is more relevant today than ever before,” says Deborah Beasley of Pitman. “The types of social and life pressures faced by modern children and their parents have not been seen in societies before and it catches parents off guard,” says Deborah.

ABOUT PARENT COACHING
Parents seek the services of a parenting coach for many reasons. “It’s not a question of being a bad parent,” says the owner of Together At Last Family Support. “It is about becoming a better parent.” “It is about expanding and updating our knowledge base in a rapidly changing world. The best parenting style includes meeting a child’s whole needs: emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual. That is not always easy to do.”

Coaching is about supporting, educating, resourcing, and mentoring parents in challenging and often sensitive situations. It is also about ordinary problems parents deal with every day. Kids need caregivers who can agree on a healthy parenting approach through structure, guidance, modeling, and positive communication. It complements the family’s goals and values. Coaching is about creating an atmosphere where parents can develop a broader prospective on obstacles they face and discover new possibilities for growth.

ORIGINS
The coaching profession first emerged in the late 80’s and early 90’s with the establishment of Executive coaching. With the resulting increase in business productivity the idea quickly caught on. The industry has continued with a healthy expansion throughout the United States and around the world.

In the last 30 years coaches, like medical professionals, have recognized the value in specializing in certain areas of expertise. With additional training and certification in their specialty niches a coach can focus their education to meet the particular need of their target client. Specialty niche coaching can include:
Business or Executive
Life or Personal
Parenting
Marriage or Relationship
Career
Holistic or Health
Retirement or Life Transition
Home Organization or Time Management
Spiritual or Religious
Attention Deficit Disorder
Grief or Bereavement

Coaches are trained in multi disciplinary approaches for the highest benefit of their clients and multiple categories are addressed by each coach. Prior to certification coaches at The Academy for Coaching Parents International, where Deborah received her training, receive over 85 hours and 12 months of instruction in all areas of child development.
Early childhood and adolescence
Child guidance
Supportive structure in the home
Problem solving

Depending upon areas of expertise coaches attend demanding courses on:
Understanding trauma
Brain development in children
Coaching parents of children with a variety of special needs
Single and co-parenting

Coaching Certification Programs vary in length and intensity, and are equated with a general (3-6 month), masters (12+ month), or graduate level (18+ month) education.

FOCUSED NICHES AND EXPERTISE
Deborah’s specialty and primary dedication is helping families who struggle to raise a child with emotional or behavioral concerns. Deborah knows firsthand the challenges parents face daily caring for a child with multiple difficulties and the far reaching impact it has on family and social life. Deborah combines life experience; an education targeted to her specialty niche, and practiced expertise in the coach parent relationship. Also a Reiki Practitioner, she teaches effective stress management to her clients. Deborah acts as a guide, collaborator, mentor, relationship facilitator, and educator to parents wanting to explore sensitive issues and develop sustainable plans toward family success.

LOCAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Deborah offers a growing variety of confidential, affordable, and private in home or phone coaching sessions and educational services supporting the diversity of caregivers she serves throughout Southern New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Deborah’s clients are a mix of adoptive, foster, special needs, and biological families. She has worked with families throughout the Delaware Valley since 2009. Clients contact her directly, and she receives referrals from case workers and therapists. Deborah is pleased to be currently presenting two trauma focused trainings for families and clinicians at the Child Guidance Resource Centers in Havertown, Pennsylvania, and she is proud to have recently joined the many independent service providers associated with Robin’s Nest, Inc.

Contact Deborah at: 609-970-1100
Email: DeborahBeasley20@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.TogetherAtLastFamily.com

Women of Gloucester County online magazine and author/parenting coach Deborah Beasley

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http://womenofgloucestercounty.com/Press-Releases/Archive/Closing-the-Gap-between-Parents-and-Teens_291.asp

Visit The Women of Gloucester County Magazine at the link above and read Closing the Gap Between Parents and Teens! 

SEE WHAT GREAT THINGS THE MAGAZINE HAS TO OFFER!

Women of Gloucester County Magazine featuring articles by author/parenting coach Deborah Beasley/Transforming Toddler Tantrums

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womenofgloucestercounty.com/Press-Releases/Archive/Transforming-Toddler-Tantrums-_290.asp

View my recent article Transforming Toddler Tantrums in The Women of Gloucester Online Magazine!

BRAIDS BEADS and BALLIES The Glory of Black Hair

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Cross-Cultural Adoption

BRAIDS BEADS and BALLIES

The Glory of Black Hair

 

© 2011 by Deborah A. Beasley ACPI CCPF

If you are Caucasian parents raising African American children, like I am, learning proper care of your child’s hair can become a slippery process.  The daily confrontation with thick curly hair, tangles, tears, and intricate styling methods can leave even the most adventurous parent feeling like she’s all thumbs!   Well, grab the detangler and a towel ‘cause things are about to get messy!

Black hair is lathered with products that sound as though they belong in the kitchen.  Products like carrot and olive oil, coconut and soy oil, and, yes, even castor oil.  It is dressed with pomade, pudding, and something called Hair Food!  These gel-like, oil-based products come in strange colors of black, dark green, and blue.   They typically carry warnings that say: “Highly flammable!  Keep hair away from open flame!”

All of this is enough to make a white woman tremble with the prospect of having to do their child’s hair!   Relax!  Before you are through you will be able to section straight parts and bead braids with the best of them!

 Invest, Organize and Get Comfortable

Every woman knows there are certain things a well coifed doo can’t do without.   All that hair a top those little brown heads will need special care to stay looking and behaving well.  There is always a cost to looking beautiful and keeping up with your child’s curly locks is no exception.

Here are some ideas to help you begin:

• Consider finding a well stocked beauty supply shop.   Better yet find one that serves the African American community.  You will save money on the many items you need at a beauty supplier and benefit from built in advice and mentoring available from employees or shop owners.   (Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. They already know we don’t know what we’re doing!)
• Gather a few cute baskets or other containers for storing essential hair accoutrements.  I have girls, so ‘pretty’, ‘cute’ and colorful is what they like.  Boys will need the basics.  How many containers you use will depend on your child’s hair styles and how fancy you wish to get.   
•  Give thought to where you will store your ‘mini mobile hair salon’.   You will likely want to have items easily accessible and tote able. Where will you be fixing your child’s hair most often? 

Investment, organization and a comfortable working space are logistically important considerations.  It takes some time to twist and plait hair, and it will go more smoothly when you have everything you need at your well oiled fingertips.  

 Well Dressed Hair

Many adoptive parents struggle when it comes to the actual execution of caring for their child’s hair.  Below is a list of essential items you need for your child to have well dressed hair at any age.

• Combs – The following adaptation from a famous medieval playwright does NOT apply in this case.    ‘A comb by any other name is still a comb’.  

Ethnic hair textures vary greatly from fine and soft to very thick and course with varying combinations in between.  Using the right comb (and brush) for the particular hair texture your child has is important.   

Generally, you need a fine tooth comb, a detangler comb, and an extra large wide tooth comb.  For brushes, I highly recommend the wooden style with medium to stiff bristles.   Boys will like the wooden oval palm brushes.

• Shampoo and Conditioner – Babies hair is usually very soft whether thick or fine.  The ‘no tears’ baby shampoos will be everything you need for a while.  After that, ramp up the moisture building products.  Look for products with key words like:  rich, conditioning shampoo, oil, moisturizing, cream shampoo, or cream conditioner.
• Detangler Spray – Conditioning Detangler spray is you and your child’s best friend in the whole picture of hair care.  You may notice that curly hair coils around itself creating painful tangles and mats in the hair.  Detangler sprays and cream leave-in conditioners help relax the coiled hair and mats so they can be combed out. 
• Beads, Ballies, Bows, Elastic Bands and Clips – These accessories you can acquire over time as needed and depending upon the type of styling preferred.  Be aware that elastic bands are a consumable item and these things need frequent replacing.

The Glory of Black Hair       

In the black community hair is an important part of ethnic identity!  It is braided and coifed, twisted and knotted, shaved and carved.  The glory that is black hair is made into dreads, adorned with extensions, and corn rowed into elaborate designs. 

 Learning how to care for your child’s hair is an essential piece in blending the multicultural elements of your family.  Now that you have a head start, stop trembling!  You are a white women in the know!  Now, wash the hair gel off your hands and go play with your beautiful kids!

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Look for my next  article on this topic: TACKLING TROUBLESOME TANGLES!

If you would like to explore your questions about issues related to cross-cultural adoption, contact me as DeborahBeasley20@yahoo.com, or 609-970-1100. 

WEB: www.TogetherAtLastFamily.com