Family Fun for the Weekend!

Friday, December 4^th 

Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in St. Paul. See the animals and enjoy a little tropical getaway at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. Admission is FREE. A voluntary donation of $3 for adults and $2 for children is appreciated.

Preschool Storytime with the St. Paul Public Library. 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at the Saint Anthony Park Library. Preschool storytimes incorporate stories, song, puppets and other activities to help teach social skills, listening comprehensive, letter and number recognition, and vocabulary. Preschool storytime is a FREE event.

Wells Fargo WinterSkate. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. at Rice Park in Downtown St. Paul. Bring your family ice skating at Rice Park this winter. This event is FREE and open to the public. If you don’t have your own skates, you can rent them at the outdoor rink for $4 each.

Discipline and Limit-Setting: 24 to 36 Months

From Zero to Three

In order to follow rules and understand limits, children need to have self-control. Self-control is the ability to cope with strong feelings and stop ourselves from doing something we want to do, but that is not allowed. Developing self-control begins at birth and continues across our lives. Young children learn self-control through interactions with peers and guidance from parents and other loving adults.

How cultures around the world think about parenting

Amy S. Choi

What can American parents learn from how other cultures look at parenting? A look at child-rearing ideas in Japan, Norway, Spain — and beyond.

The crisis of American parenting, as anyone who has looked at the parenting section of a bookstore can attest, is that nobody knows what the hell they’re doing. Yet despite this lack of confidence and apparent absence of knowledge, many American parents zealously believe that their choices carve out their children’s futures. Indeed, they seek the advice of expert after expert in the field in order to succeed at one goal: to raise the happiest, the most successful, and the most well-adjusted leaders of the future.

Let the Kids Learn Through Play

Bjorn Lie

By DAVID KOHN

TWENTY years ago, kids in preschool, kindergarten and even first and second grade spent much of their time playing: building with blocks, drawing or creating imaginary worlds, in their own heads or with classmates. But increasingly, these activities are being abandoned for the teacher-led, didactic instruction typically used in higher grades. In many schools, formal education now starts at age 4 or 5. Without this early start, the thinking goes, kids risk falling behind in crucial subjects such as reading and math, and may never catch up.

The games Screen time v play time: what tech leaders won't let their own kids do

Amy Fleming

Saturday 23 May 2015 02.30 EDT

Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive designed some of the world’s most desirable tech – but imposed strict limits on their own children using it. What rules do others set?

When a technology journalist suggested to Steve Jobs, in 2010, that his children must have loved the just-released iPad, he replied flatly: “They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” His former righthand man, Jonathan Ive, whose design for the iPad is so simple that toddlers can operate it, recently revealed that he sets strict limits for his 10-year-old twin boys.

Summer Activities

One of our topics this week is Summer Activities, so I am adding the following links:

101 Fun Things To Do in the Summer:
http://www.parenting.com/article/fun-things-to-do-summer

Explore Minnesota: http://www.exploreminnesota.com/things-to-do/all-things-to-do/?keywords=&pageIndex=0&radius=25&mapTab=false&sortOrder=asc&sort=randomdaily&locationid=&region_id=&attrFieldsAtLeast=&attrFieldsAtMost=&startDate=false&class_id=67,71,95,135,70,138&lat=&lon=&city=&pageSize=20&type=reitlistings&attrFieldsOr=&attrFields=region_id

Best in Minnesota 2015: http://www.startribune.com/best-of-minnesota-2015-revealing-what-rocks/302782981/

 

Family Fun Twin Cities:  http://www.familyfuntwincities.com/family-fun-events-calendar/

 

Twin Cities Moms Blog: http://twincities.citymomsblog.com/calendar/

 

 

 

The Devloping Brain, Stress and Trauma

This is a great video on the effects of trauma on the young mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4zP50tEad0