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It seems that everywhere I turn the past few weeks, everyone is feeling so BLAH. It is snowing and freezing here in the North East and warm weather cannot come soon enough. Spring is still a few weeks out, but I’ve got an easy solution to brighten your day TODAY. I promise, anyone can do it and everyone will benefit from it.

CREATING CARDS AND SPREADING KINDNESS TOGETHER

What you’ll need:
Markers
Pencils
Cardstock
Envelopes
Writing Prompts
Stickers, stamps and washi tapes (optional)

Writing Prompts:
Dear _________,
Thank you for ___________.
I love it when you____________.
You make me feel ________.
You are important to me because_________.
Love, ____________

Here is an example of an inviting set up:

How To Create Kindness Together:

Step 1) Make some tea or cocoa and a yummy snack and talk with your children about communicating kindness.

Here are some conversation starters:
What does it mean to be kind?
How does it feel when someone gives you an authentic compliment?
Who made you feel good recently? How did they do it?
When did you make someone smile? How did you do it?
What are some words that make people feel good?
What are some actions that make people feel good?
How can we cheer someone who is feeling down?
Who is important to you? Why?

Step 2) Bring the children to the place where you have set up your Kindness Prompt. Let them explore the materials. Explain what you intend for them to do. Understand that your intentions are NOT likely to be the outcome. Give the children the opportunity to interpret the prompt as they see it.
Give them creative license. You have planted the seed, let them grow it.

For young children, or any child who doesn’t want to do his or her own writing, take dictation and write it down for them. The intention is to spread kindness and have FUN doing it. It’s ok to write for them. Don’t feel pressure to make this into a literacy lesson.

Step 3) Make your deliveries!
Allow the children to decide how this goes. Will they deliver the card in person? Will they leave their Kindess Card as a surprise? My own children love to leave it on a doorstep, ring the bell, and hide like secret little kindness-elves.

Step 4) Document the fun by taking photos or video (especially of the deliveries). The children will love to look back on the experience later. You can use the photos as a talking point. For example, “Look at Mrs. M’s face when she received your card. Can you see how happy her eyes look? You made her feel good.”
Or, “Listen to your sister giggle when she gave her a card. It felt good to make her friend happy.”
That’s it! Four easy steps to spreading kindness with your children. It’s pretty simple, right? Try not to trip yourself up making it perfect. It’s the process that truly matters.

Leave a comment if you decide to spread kindness with your children. Or better yet, a photo!

A special thank you to Nickey for letting me guest post. Please feel free to join me over on my blog www.workspaceforchildren.com and say hello. You can also find me on FB and IG @theworkspaceforchildren .

Lastly, Nickey is right. Colors ARE magic.

xx, Lizzie

Everyday that I walk through the door of my nanny families home, I ask myself how I can be of most service to them that day and how to help foster the values that will allow them to lead the best lives possible. Over the years as showing up for families and children as a nanny, or as I view it, an extension of their parents, I’ve found that those values can shift given what it is that each family needs the most at the time. Although there are many values that I foster and that are organically integrated into the work that I do, one that has been woven through every relationship that I have built is my deep desire to show up in this world with kindness and to help others foster the same.

In both my personal and professional life, I’ve learned that showing up with kindness not only makes the world a better place, but it makes my life so much more beautiful. No matter what I may be feeling, if I can continue to be kind to others, then I find it’s much easier to be kind to myself. With the work that I do with children, it has become clear that even those who are not bullied by others, almost always bully themselves. Children learn from a very young age that words can be used as weapons and the person we tend to assault with them the most are ourselves. This shows up everyday with the children I work with. When my six-year-old nanny kid finishes a soccer game, it’s all too common that they focus on what they didn’t do, rather than what they did do. I hear things such as, “I missed that one goal and kept kicking it out of bounds,” rather than, “I made almost every goal I shot and I could kick it all the way across the field!” Or when my ten-year-old nanny kid gets a 95% on something rather than 100% and tells herself that she didn’t do well enough. It’s my job to step in and remind her that when we simply do our best, we are doing better than any grade or number could represent. As a nanny, I help my children learn that it is just as important to treat themselves with kindness, as it is to treat others the same. I do so by showing them how to focus on the positives, rather than the negatives. I show them this through looking at the things that they can do, rather than always focusing on the things they’re still learning to do. Or by showing them that if they believe they can, then they will.

When I see children treating themselves with kindness, that kindness then overflows into the lives of others. A common thread that I’ve seen is that as children gain practice in using their words as weapons against themselves, then it becomes much easer for them to use them against others. When I see or hear about a child bullying others, I ask myself about how that child has been treated both by others and how they have been treating themselves. Individuals that hurt others are hurting themselves, and in order to penetrate that deep pain, we have to instill kindness from within that will fuel self-love rather than self-hatred. Children who bully are not bad children. Children who bully are children who are carrying around pain and don’t know how to deal with that pain. As adults, if we can help children learn to be kind to themselves, then we are teaching them how to be kind to others.

Kindness is the light that this dark world needs and not only changes lives, but can also save them. When we show up with kindness, we are teaching others to do the same and when we exhibit self-love, we are showing children how to drop their weapons and how to use their words to instill hope, rather than hate.

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Danny Wakefield, also known as Danny the Manny, has been working in the field of childcare for twelve years. As a career nanny, Danny also has a degree in Early Elementary Education and Child Development with a focus on Autism. As a child, it was Danny’s dream to travel the world helping to shape the lens of which children view themselves and the world through. As a travel/adventure nanny, those dreams have come true and have made his life more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. Through working as a nanny, he’s had the ability to change the lives of many little beings, and in return, they have changed his. You can follow along with his manny adventures on Instagram or his Facebook page. 

Let’s be honest… a lot of Candy Corn makes it’s way into the trash can the day after Halloween. When kids have a choice between a king size Snickers Bar or a fist full of Candy Corn, it’s really not a contest most of the time. I personally love it. But if you are looking for some fun ways to use up these little holiday icons… this is the perfect project for you!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 Cup of Candy Corn

2 tbsp. of Water

4 tbsp. of Cornstarch

Let’s get started…

1.) Pour 1/2 a cup of Candy Corn into a glass dish and add 2 tbsp. of water.

2.) Microwave Candy Corn and water for about 1 minute (it may vary from microwave to microwave).

3.) add between 4-5 tbsp. of corn starch to melt Candy Corn and mix until you have the consistency of something resembling melted caramel. And your paint is finished!

4.) Have a blast painting with your orange Candy Corn Paint! I drew the outlines of pumpkins in sharpie and we filled them in with our Candy Corn Paint. After painting our pumpkins we used some of the leftover Candy Corn to make cute little jack-o-lantern faces on them. No need for glue! The paint will keep them in place as it dries. We loved how to turned out. When the paint dries it is like a shiny glaze and smells sweet. Win.

I hope everyone on is enjoying their Octobers so far! Sprinkles and I would love to see your Candy Corn Paint creations. Make sure to tag @_colorsaremagic_ on Instagram so we can find them.

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“Stop hitting your sister!”

“Don’t play with your food- EAT IT!”

“Why are you peeing on the floor instead of in the toilet?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that we aren’t supposed to jump off the coffee table onto the baby?!”

“STOP HITTING YOUR SISTER!”

I find my voice raised in countless admonitions like these throughout the day. I have three delicious children (yes, they are literally edible- I nibble my baby’s thighs constantly), all born within less than three years of each other, so I have had my hands and heart full for quite a while now. Before them, I never knew how fiercely you could love someone & how furious you could be with that same small person all at once. I’ve been a fairly even-keeled person all my life, and most people I know would probably echo that statement, but when One and Two get to bickering & pushing & blaming, all bets are off. And I HATE THAT. I HATE the harshness that can enter my tone, the volume level to which my voice can rise, and the tears from my babies that inevitably follow. In the moment, it can feel justified, like the only option. And then in the hours that follow, the mom-guilt starts to set in…. “why didn’t you handle that differently?” … “I’ve never seen [insert name here] yell at her kids before, yet they’re always so well-behaved!” “ … and, inevitably… “why aren’t you a better mom?”

This post is a funny one to write because I’m not speaking from a “hey everyone, let me tell you how it looks here on the other side!” perspective; this is is very much something that I’m still in the middle of learning and internalizing and walking out. That disclaimer aside, there are two things that God has been speaking to me about specifically in regard to my parenting journey (ok, fine, He’s hardcore challenging me about them!), and they both have to do with the power of my voice.

The first is this: my children need MY voice. Not my SuperMommy friend’s voice. Mine. Creator God, who knit them together in my womb, who knows them & their every quirk & bent intimately and knows mine the same, decided that we should be together, that I should be the one speaking into their lives every day. If you are a nanny, one: you’re my hero & two: this also applies to you, because for at least this season in your precious little kiddo’s life, God has specifically designed you to step out of the choir & sing into the mic during this beautiful concert He’s conducting called their life. I don’t know about you, but knowing that He has qualified me as mom before my feet ever even hit the floor in the morning is incredibly comforting. It can’t stop there, however.

Because my voice does carry such weight in my children’s lives, I must take the greatest of care to care for my heart, so that when the testing moments come, the words that rise to the surface are edifying and helpful, words that build, and not destroy. The second part of Luke 6.45 in the NIV says, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”, and I know that, unless I am caring for my heart, any efforts to speak life to my kids will come to nothing in the heat of the moment (nothing like a toddler-flung Dinotrux toy to the head to bring out what’s actually living inside of your heart!).

One practical way that I care for my heart is attempting to get an adequate amount of sleep (I realize this is not always possible, especially in the midst of growth spurts & teething, etc. but sometimes you just need to say no to Netflix, and HIT. THE. HAY. Preaching to myself here, y’all!). I am VASTLY more short-fused with my babes when I’m running on empty in the sleep department, and while I do believe that God’s grace fills in the cracks, I am not helping my cause when I stay up until 2 a.m. watching documentaries about serious environmental issues (ok, fine, it was Parenthood!). Another way is making sure that I am filling up on God’s Word, and supplementing that with great books, not the other way around. There is a tangible difference between the days when I intentionally set time aside to read & hear from His heart, and the days I allow the grind to suck me in immediately. Because He knows me and my children better than anyone else, because He’s, like, GOD, He has infinite wisdom and revelation on what they need to hear, at just the moment they need to hear it.

Your voice becomes your child’s inner narrative, and the words you speak, and the way in which you speak them, shape them in ways that will last long after you are no longer changing their diapers and wiping up their messes. There is a weight to this that you could allow to break you unless you remember the fact that they need YOU and no one else, as we spoke about earlier. After you remember this, and rest in that reality for a moment, then it’s time to start making intentional decisions, and potentially, changes, about and in the way you are living your life on a daily basis, so that your heart is happy, your body is healthy, and your mind strong. Then, as you face the new day with your tiny (or maybe not so tiny!) humans, your voice will speak love, encouragement, trust, and hope into them, and they will, in turn, be released to bring that to the world around them.

Do you ever doubt your role as a parent or caregiver, and if so, what kinds of things make you feel that way? With regard to not flying off the handle with our kids, we talked about sleep & ensuring that you are focusing on the right thing from the beginning of the day. What other practical tips or insights do you have that help you keep your cool in frustrating situations?

Emily is a mom of three incredible babies, all four & under, in Brooklyn, New York, and wife to amazing hubby Chad. She has traveled the world, lived on three continents, and plans to make her next big adventure moving with her family to San Francisco, CA to plant & pastor a church there under their church in NYC, Liberty Church. Emily grew up writing (and illustrating!) short stories, writing music & singing, and she hopes to inspire her own kiddos to pursue their dreams, via whatever avenue that may take them. A few of her favorite writers are Ann Voskamp, Shauna Niequist, C.S. Lewis & Richard Foster, and one of her bad habits is needing to finish any book she starts before she goes to sleep that night.

Photo Credit: Jenny Catlow Photography 

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Citrus Fruit (We used an orange)

1 Head of Romain

1 Bell Pepper

1 Apple

Tempura Paint

Paper Plates

Construction or Watercolor Paper

Let’s get started!

1.) The first thing to do is prepare those fun Snack Stamps! Here is what we did for each snack:

Romaine: Cut about 3-4 inches away from the bottom of the lettuce and use the small end as your stamp! The Romaine was Sprinkles’ favorite stamp because it looks like a rose pattern once you apply paint and press it against the paper.

Orange: You can use any of the citrus fruits for this project. We chose to use an orange because it is bigger in size than a lemon or lime. You can just cut the orange in half and use it as a stamp- but we found that carving out the juice sacs from each or the orange’s sections with a pairing knife made adorable stamps. Once you remove the juice sacs all that remains are the cites membranes. It takes a little extra effort, but it is so much cuter! This was my favorite stamp!

Apple: Just cut it in half. Ha! Easiest process ever. They are super cute if you dip them in orange paint! They look like little pumpkins. The perfect stamp for fall.

Bell Pepper: You could just cut this guy in half too, but we cut ours about 3 inches away from the bottom and used the smaller end as the stamp.

2.) Pour some paint onto your paper plates. They will serve as “ink pads” for your Snack Stamps. Stamp away!

We would love to see what you and your littles come up with! If you would like Sprinkles and I to enjoy your Snack Stamp artwork, make sure to hashtag #colorsaremagic when posting to social media! x

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When my husband and I first found out we were pregnant after being married for about a year and a half, we were over the moon excited! Both of us had lived hard and fast lives in our younger years and we secretly held some fears in our hearts that maybe we wouldn’t be able to have kids as a result. So when we first heard the baby’s heartbeat and were given a due date, we just stared at each other, grinning from ear to ear. Three days later, I miscarried in the early morning hours and lost the baby. The physical pain was excruciating but even more so, was the emotional, mental and spiritual pain. Our hearts were truly broken yet my sweet husband was so tender and loving. He was trying to be strong and encouraging even as he was dealing with the pain of loss.

I remember sobbing uncontrollably and crying out to God, making a swift decision that I wasn’t going to blame Him for this loss, but still choose to believe His promise from 18 years earlier that I would one day have a family of my own. Thankfully, our doctor was incredibly encouraging too. He told us that since we were able to get pregnant with no intervention that we had beat the statistics already. He was also very confident that after three months, we could try again and that my second pregnancy had a 95% chance of being successful. What we didn’t know was that exactly three months after the miscarriage, we were pregnant again. And of all dates, we had conceived on Valentine’s Day.

The first trimester was miserable, the second was as if I wasn’t pregnant at all. I even traveled with some friends to a conference in California and had the most amazing time. Then, as we were about to head out of town for a long Labor Day weekend, I discovered some blood and called the doctor who asked us to go to the hospital immediately. It was a good thing that we did because we found out I was having contractions and that our baby was going to make his entrance at 30 weeks instead. A preemie doctor came in and explained all that would happen once he was born. However, none of it would come to pass because my contractions stopped suddenly and the cervix grew back, a phenomena that the doctors couldn’t explain. But my husband and I both knew that God had done a miracle to keep our baby in the oven for longer. The only downside was that I was on bed rest for those last 10 weeks.

One day earlier than his expected due date, our son finally came into the world after 13 hours of labor and an emergency c-section. He has been and will always continue to be the light of our lives. He is a joy and wonder to know and people including complete strangers in our neighborhood will call him the mayor because he’s always smiling, waving at, saying “Hi!”, or blowing kisses. We really can’t imagine our lives without him and don’t recall what life was like beforehand. Recently, my husband made a comment that sent waves of electricity throughout my body. He said that if we hadn’t had the miscarriage, our son wouldn’t exist. He’s so right! It’s truly profound to think of it that way. But that’s how God works. He always brings forth His promises in His perfect timing because He knows what is to come.

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Enid loves to help activate women to believe for the impossible, to believe in a very Good God to do the unimaginable. She does this through storytelling of ordinary women doing extraordinary things all around the world. These inspirational stories can be found at ImperishableBeauty.Org, a non-profit organization she founded in March 2016. She is mom to an almost 2-year-old boy who releases joy and wonder wherever he goes. She and the love of her life, Vladimir, whom she calls her hunky Serbian husband live in New York City. Aside from being mom, wife, writing, and working full-time, she likes to watch the sunrise every morning and pray. She is addicted to Barre classes to work on her core and loves reading a really good book while drinking her Rooibos tea. She graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder with bachelor degrees in international affairs and journalism, and later, attained her masters degree in teaching from Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.

So, here are 15 super fun and “COOL” things to do things your teenagers! Enjoy.

DIY Nebular Jar by Mom Dot

DIY Glitter Magnets by Deloop Deloop

DIY Adventure Notebook by Mod Podge Rocks

DIY Death Star Bath Bomb by A Little Craft In Your Day

Paint Chip Calendar by DIY Ready

Heart String Art by Sugar Bee Crafts

Element Jar Necklaces by Mom Dot 

Donut Garland by Online Labels Blog

Origami Paper Star Jar by Agus Yornet Blog 

DIY Music Lyric Plate by Eclectically Vintage 

DIY Rock Candy by Studio DIY

Snow Cone Sugar Scrub by The Gunny Sack

Succulent Clay Planter by O Mundo de Jess

DIY Phone Stands with Toilet Paper Rolls by Blistsy

No-Sew T-Shirt Tote Bag by Craftaholics Anonymous 

On my first visit to the Cotton Candy Kingdom one of the first things I noticed where the castles, houses, and buildings…. they were all either made of candy or completely out of stained glass. Not just a few windows… the whole structure. They are so beautiful! And at night when the stars shine through, the different colors bring different dreams. For example: if a star shines through the red glass, your dreams will be about something sweet and delicious. If they shine through the blue glass, you will dream about flying. Most the time the stars shine through more than one color in a night…that is how your dreams get so mixed up and fun!

Read on if you and your little one would like to make some “stained glass” of your own. This craft involves an iron, so make sure to assist/supervise your children throughout this project!

Here is what you will need:

– Crayons

– Waxed paper

– Handheld pencil sharpener

– Stickers

– Iron

– Construction paper

– Pencil

– Scissors

– Fun Tape

Lets get started…

1.) Peel the wrappers off of your crayons and using your hand held sharpener make colorful crayon shavings. Make sure you make a separate piles of shavings for each color- it will make it easier to blend/scatter them to your taste in a minute. I used different shades of pinks and purples.

2.) Next cut off a piece of your wax paper. I started with a sheet about 12-by-18-inches. Fold it in half along its length and then unfold again.

3.) Stick your fairytale stickers onto the wax paper in whatever design or pattern you’d like. I used unicorns, rainbows, hearts, and flowers with no real design.

4.) Deposit your crayon shavings in a pattern of your choosing. evenly but not thickly across one half of the paper. Fold the clean half of the wax paper over the shavings. Crimp the three open edges with a fold to hold in the crayon shavings.

5.) Protect your ironing surface with construction paper. Place the waxed paper on the construction paper, and cover it with another sheet of construction paper. Iron on medium heat, checking after every few swipes. Stop when all the shavings have melted and let your stained glass cool off.

6.) Once my stained glass was cooled off, I used sparkly duct tape to frame the edges. It pulled the whole thing together and make gave it a fun finished look. Now hang it in a window and enjoy!

One afternoon while trying to come up with a craft idea for the week and making chicken soup for my sick unicorn, it hit me! Rainbow Breathing Unicorns! If your little one loves them some unicorns, this craft is perfect. Read on.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Paper Roll

Construction Paper

2 Medium Pom-Poms

2 Small Pom-Poms

2 Googly Eyes

1 Pipe Cleaner

Yarn

Tissue Paper (each color of the rainbow)

Hot Glue Gun

Glue Stick

Scissors

Let’s get started…

1.) Using your glue stick, cover your paper roll with construction paper. Sprinkles and I used white for our unicorn. Use whatever color strikes your fancy- unicorns come in all sorts of fabulous colors! She wanted our unicorn to resemble her. Also, while you have your construction paper out, cut out some ears for your unicorn friend. I cut ours into “raindrop” shapes.

2.) Using a hot glue gun, attach a googly eye to each of your medium sized pom-pons. Then attach them to your unicorn. Attach the small pom-poms on the opposite end of your paper roll for the nostrils. I matched my pom-pons with the construction paper we chose, but you don’t have to. Then using your glue stick, attach the ears to behind the eyes. I bent a small amount of the ear so the they would stand up.

3.) Using your piper cleaner, make a tiny “spring”. This will be your unicorn’s horn. Attach using your hot glue gun. We attached out horn right in between the eyes.

4.) Using your scissors, cut about 8-10 pieces of yarn about 5 inches long. Make a knot to hold them together at one end. This will be your unicorn’s tail! Using your hot glue gun, attach your unicorns tail inside the paper tube on the side behind it’s eyes.

5.) It’s time to make your rainbow! Cut about 3 strips of each color of the rainbow about 4-5 inches in length. Using you glue stick, apply a small amount of glue to one side of each color and press inside your unicorns “mouth”.

That’s it! Now make that unicorn breath some beautiful rainbows! Let your little one hold the unicorn to their mouths and blow.

Normally I would do a step by step tutorial, but this is so simple I feel a tutorial is almost insulting. Ha! So here are a few pictures and a small blurb on how to do this…

You simply get a small mason jar and color it all pretty with Sharpies. You can do pattern or pictures if you’d like- I personally love the way colors look when they blend into each other so I went for a more “free” approach. Then stick a battery operated teal light candle into the lid and screw on the jar upside down. Viola! You are already for bed. (If you have already brushed your teeth and read a story that is.)