Category Archives: Family
Preparing Meals During School Year With Less Stress
Fall is just around the corner. Fall brings beautiful colors, cooler weather, football games, and kids returning to school. I used to say fall was my favorite season. As I get older I have decided I have no favorite season. I enjoy each season, each day, each week, and each year. I am just glad to be blessed with each of them and blessed with life and breath. The average kid would let you know fall was not their favorite time of year at all. Most of them would like for it to remain summer vacation all year. They do not realize school days are some of their best days. Some day they will wish they could do it again and know it was something to appreciate.
It is the responsibility of parents to see that they have everything they need to succeed in school. You make sure they have pencils, paper, books, book bags, and clothes. A nutritional breakfast, lunch, and dinner need to me added to that list. We have all heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It has been discovered kids that have a good breakfast are more alert and do better with their school work. They also need a good lunch to keep them strong and maintain their energy to continue their day. Then a nice peaceful time around the family table enjoying a healthy and warm dinner meal.
Memories of Homemade Ice Cream
No three words can bring back good memories of home like HOMEMADE ICE CREAM. I remember as a child making homemade ice cream almost every weekend. We made ice cream in a crank freezer. Mom would make up the ice cream in a big bowl, pour the liquid into the metal canister, place it into the cedar bucket, and turn the lock to hold the canister in place. Next we would use an “ice pick” to break up the block of ice we got from the ice house. We then took the pieces of ice, placed it into the cedar bucket, and poured rock salt all over the ice. This salt made the ice melt. The melting ice is actually what makes the ice cream freeze. There were 7 children in my family. We all took turns turning the crank. We would turn until our arms and hands got tired. Then we would pass it off to another kid. We knew when it was almost ready because it would get harder to turn the crank. When we could barely turn the crank we stopped turning, placed a towel on top of freezer, and let it rest for 20 minutes. As a child I always wondered who was resting, the ice cream or the crank turners. After the rest period was up we all lined up and mom would dip the ice cream into our bowls. We all sat around outside on the ground eating our delicious ice cream, laughing, and talking. Good times and good memories.
The reward of respect is respect
One of the greatest blessings on this earth is to be a parent. What a privilege to be given such a precious being to mold and love. We all need to be sure we continue to mold this being into an even more precious soul. With each day we spend with our children we are molding his future and the world’s future. What the future holds is up to us as parents. We can make it a very dark future or a beautiful one.
I was blessed with two wonderful little boys. Raising my two sons was the greatest joy and highlight of my life. As all little boys are at times they would be a challenge. I always tried to treat them with the same love and respect that I wanted them to treat me with. I know there were times I lost my temper and yelled. Best I remember I did not yell on a regular basis. I hope they remember it the same way. I remember very few times them yelling at me. I tried to teach them high self esteem and confidence. I wanted them to achieve all that they could in life. I personally believe that the Golden Rule should be the Golden Rule for parents: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is so true in the relationship between parent and child.
I recently found a wonderful article that sums up what I believe about teaching children respect.
