Happy Chinese New Year to all of our students, parents and of course centre directors and facilitators! From Vital Years HQ, we wish you long life, prosperity and happiness!

Turning Off and Tuning In

In these challenging economic times, it is a blessing to remember that there is one thing you can spend on yourself, your family and your friends that will cost you absolutely nothing . That one thing is time.

I hear people say that they can't find the time to do the things that they really want to do. We want to do things that are meaningful, yet we feel there are no spare minutes between housework, paperwork, work and homework. And when   we do sit down with our families after an exhausting day, it is often in front of a television set

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Sandra-Magsamen-on-Turning-Off-Your-TV-and-Tuning-In-to-Your-Family/1#ixzz1jacJg1Ci

KidsHealth> Parents> Positive Parenting> Family Life> 7 Ways to Raise a Global Kid

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Today's kids are growing up in a globalized world. But how do you teach them to embrace and thrive among the planet's many cultures — from Boston to Bangkok?

Travel is an obvious answer, but far-flung trips may not figure into your vacation budget. Raising global kids doesn't have to break the bank or feel like another task for your to-do list. Instead, make it a fun exploration and a unique opportunity to learn, enjoy, explore, and grow.

Here are seven ways to get started:

1. "See" the World — At Home

Hang a world map in a high-traffic spot so kids get familiar with (and curious about) country and city names, locations, cultures, and languages. Place a globe where they can reach it and they're sure to spin it and imagine far-off places.

Consider other decorative items that have a global connection. Some items will come with a story, like a rug woven by women working to improve their lives. Look for picture books that feature houses, gardens, recipes, or sports in far-off places. Do you have examples of foreign currency? Frame them and hang them on the wall as conversation pieces.

2. Talk It Up

International news reports are full of difficult subjects, but you can find gentler ways to start a conversation. Perhaps a friend has an ethnic celebration coming up or kids from another country have just enrolled at your child's school.

Check your clothing labels. Was your T-shirt made in Peru, Bangladesh, or China? Find those places on your map and talk about what life might be like there.

You don't have to be an expert. Just your sincere interest serves as a powerful example that you care about the larger world.

3. Let Music Send a Message

You don't need to stop what you're doing to declare "Now we're going to listen to world music!" Just slip it into your music rotation. Dance to it while making dinner, listen while driving, or turn on a soothing selection at bedtime. You and your kids will hear lyrics in foreign languages and you'll also hear English sung with varied accents.

4. Spice Up Family Movie Night

Try a family-friendly foreign film, especially those told from a child's point of view. Where would you like to go tonight — Mongolia, Ireland, or India?

Make it a global snacking experience, too. Find an ethnic grocery store near you and ask the storekeeper to recommend best-selling snacks to pair with your movie.

5. Give Gifts of the World

Handmade art and crafts make terrific gifts. It's even better when you know the artisan benefited directly from the sale. Consider buying teacher, holiday, and birthday presents from a fair-trade store in your town or online. Kids can find meaning and pride in a purchase that connects them to the bigger world.

6. Dip Into a Foreign Language

Find out if your child's school teaches any foreign languages. Can you support the effort or help get a program started? At home, try online learning programs and language software. Play games with your kids to practice their skills or help with an after-school foreign language club.

Do you know a friend or neighbor who speaks a foreign language you and your kids would like to learn? Maybe you can arrange for informal tutoring.

7. Set Out to Serve

Offer your time and resources to make a difference. It cultivates empowerment, motivation, and a sense of global connection. Serving helps make it real for both you and your kids.

Where to start? Talk to local people already engaged in service. You also can take a look at U.S. and global programs making a difference on websites like GlobalLiving.com.

A global perspective can begin a family adventure that connects us with diverse communities and helps us see beyond our immediate circumstances. It also prepares kids to succeed in an interconnected economy and society. Locally and globally, it's a win-win-win.

Reviewed by: Homa Sabet Tavangar, MPA
Date reviewed: October 2011

KidsHealth> Parents> Positive Parenting> Family Life> Raising Earth-Friendly Kids

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Whether you're a diehard recycler who shops with canvas bags and keeps a compost bin in the corner of your backyard, or a busy parent looking for some quick tips on sorting glass from plastic, it's easy to get your family on the path to greener living.

But the best earth-friendly practices require the cooperation of everyone in the household. So, how do parents get kids to reduce, reuse, and recycle and embrace the other basics of environmental responsibility?

As with most good habits, the best way to teach them is to be a good role model yourself. By showing that you care about and respect the environment, your kids will do the same.

It's a Family Affair

Here are some suggestions you can try as a family:

• Teach respect for the outdoors. This can start in your own backyard. Help kids plant a garden or tree. Set up bird feeders, a birdbath, and birdhouses. Kids can clean out and refill the bath daily, and clean up seed debris around feeders and restock them.
  
  On a larger scale, you can plan family vacations that focus on the great outdoors. Maybe a summer trip to the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone Park appeals to your adventurous clan. Shorter trips might include a day at a state or national park. Even a couple days at the beach can offer plenty of opportunities for you to point out and discuss the plants and animals you see and why it's important to protect their habitats.
• Recycle. Recycling is easy, and in some communities, mandatory. Check with your local recycling office and be sure you know all the rules. Some communities allow co-mingling ― all recyclables can be placed in one container ― while others require sorting into separate containers. You may need bins for each type of recyclable: One for plastic, one for glass, one for paper, and one for cans. Kids can sort (and rinse, if necessary) items, place them in the correct bins, and take the containers out to the curb for collection. After the bins have been emptied, ask your kids to rinse them out (if they're dirty) and bring them back into the house or garage.
• Drink your own water. Bottled water is expensive and, experts say, not any cleaner or safer than tap water. In fact, much bottled water is actually tap water that has been filtered. The water that comes out of home spigots in the United States is extremely safe. Municipal water supplies are monitored constantly and the test results made public. And unless they're recycled, the plastic bottles ― most commonly made from polyethylene terepthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil ― can end up in landfills. So have your kids tote water from the tap (you can add a filter to improve its taste) in reusable bottles.
• Clean green. Many natural products can replace commercial — and possibly hazardous — cleaning preparations. Just a few examples: to deodorize carpets, sprinkle them with baking soda, wait 15 minutes and then vacuum; use vinegar and baking soda for everything from oven cleaning and drain clearing to stain removal and metal polishing. Lots of websites offer green cleaning tips, and many stores carry pre-made nontoxic cleaners for those who don't want to make their own.
• Lend a hand. Many communities sponsor green activities, like pitching in to help clean up a local park or playground. Maybe the area around your child's school could use sprucing up.

Getting Kids to "Go Green"

In their own day-to-day activities, encourage kids to find ways to limit waste, cut down on electricity, avoid unnecessary purchases, and reuse items that they already have. Here's how:

• Conserve energy. Remind kids to turn off lights when they're not in use, power down computers, turn off the TV when nobody's watching, and resist lingering in front of the refrigerator with the door open.
• Hoof it. If kids can safely ride a bike or walk to school or to visit friends rather than catch a ride from parents, encourage it! Or if safety is a concern, consider organizing a "walking school bus" ― this activity allows kids to walk or bike to and from school under the supervision of an adult.
• Let there be (more) light. Older kids can help replace regular light bulbs with energy-efficient ones. Compact fluorescent light bulbs provide about the same light output as incandescent bulbs, but last much longer and use a fraction of the energy.
• Reuse and recharge. Buy rechargeable batteries for your kids' electronics and toys and teach them how to care for and recharge them. This reduces garbage and keeps toxic metals, like mercury, out of landfills.
• Pass it on. Ask kids to gather toys, books, clothes, and other goods that they no longer use or want for donation to local charities. Have them ride along for the drop-off so they can see how groups such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army use donations to help others.

These tips are just some ways to get your family to become more earth-friendly. Once you get everyone on board with conservation, challenge your kids to come up with new and interesting ways of going green.

Can your grade-schoolers cut back on the amount of paper they print from the Internet? How about your teens: Can they agree to take shorter showers?

Engaging your kids in this way will get them to start thinking about how their individual efforts affect the world they live in, and how little changes can ― and will ― make a difference.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: January 2012

5 Things to Ask Your Toddler (When You Need a Good Laugh)

Posted by Jacqueline Burt 

on January 10, 2012 at 6:07 PM

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Kids of pretty much any age make great conversationalists, but toddlers have the most entertaining things to say, hands-down. Forced to choose between chatting it up with a roomful of well-informed, wine-drinking grown-ups and the milk-drinking, crayon-wielding 3-year-old sitting at a table in the corner, I'll pick the kid with the coloring book every time.

Out of the mouths of babes, as the expression goes.

I miss the funny, meandering talks I used to have with my kids when they were toddlers. Of course I love talking to them now, too, but thoselittle kid quotables are beyond priceless. Completely hilarious. And believe it or not, you can actually learn a thing or two from a 2 or 3-year-old.

You just have to know the right questions to ask ...

1.What If? The point here is to kickstart the imagination, but you don't want to stray too far into fantasy land -- responses rooted in reality require more thought. (And it's cute to watch toddlers think.)

Examples: What would you do if you had a penguin/lion/alligator for a pet? or What would it be like if all we had to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner was grilled cheese sandwiches?

2. That's Silly! This is a good one to pull out when you're stuck in a tantrum-inducing situation, like waiting in a long line at the store or sitting in an airplane that's stuck on the runway.

Examples: How about if I take off my shoes and put yours on instead? or What did we put in our grocery cart -- did we put puppy dogs in there? Did we put tractor trailers in there? Did we put Cookie Monster in there?

Be sure to remain unconvinced for a good long time. ("I don't know, those look like puppy dogs to me." "No, they're bananas!")

3. Really?? Only to be attempted around good friends and family who won't be offended, this one puts another adult on the spot (the kid won't be any the wiser, don't worry).

Example: Do you like Grandma's new "friend" Barry? Yeah? What do you think they do together, do they go to the park? Do they ... watch Dora the Explorer? Do they play with Play-Dough?

4. Seriously, what do you think? Sometimes you need a little perspective on a bigger issue, maybe which car to buy or job offer to accept. And kids make surprisingly good points (probably because they've got their priorities straight).

Example: Hmm, should Daddy work for the nice man who gives him a little bit of money but a lot of time to play with you or the kind of nice man who gives him a lot of money to buy you toys but only a little bit of time to play with you?

5. Can I get away with this outfit? You'll never find a more honest opinion on what you're wearing than that of a toddler (beware, you might end up wearing sparkles or pictures of turtles).

Example: Do Mommy's red shoes make you think of pretty dancing slippers or funny circus clown feet?

What questions do you love asking your toddler? What were some of your favorite answers