Posts Tagged: Christmas

Holidays — Comments Off
30
Mar 11

Family Christmas Activities That Create Sweet Memories

Christmas quickly approaches and vacation time for children as well. We therefore wonder how we are going to entertain our children during the end of year holidays. Holiday season is the best moment to share activities between adults and children.

The first of these activities is to get back into the mood for the magic and the festive spirit of this holiday by visiting shopping malls organizing beautifully decorated windows; which are an eternally renewed delight for the children and their parents.

Some shopping malls are also organizing areas consisting of a path to the lighting, decorations, displayed scenes from Christmas movies, train sets and toys simulating real situations; static or interactive decorations as a fire truck and fire fighters helping the victims of a fire or the express of the King’s Cross railway station platform 9-3/4 bringing Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts. A little further on, after seeing Rudolph surrounded by elves and goblins relaxing on a fairy forest, we enter in the fantastic house of Barbie; which contains 35 rooms decorated for the December 24th Eve. Do not disturb her, she is hosting a Christmas party.

Another three steps and we will enter in the victorian area of this Christmas dream: hundreds of beautiful teddy bears are playing in a green grass area. Ten meters after them, we are approaching a bedroom where luxurious old fashioned porcelain dolls are sleeping in their cradle. At the end of this path, we meet Santa Claus, sitting on a golden seat and waiting for our children to communicate their wish list to him.

A picture of Santa Claus holding our child on his laps closes this magical journey that reminds us the taste and the atmosphere of our own childhood. This fairy journey will also become our first Christmas memory of the year.

The second activity will be the decoration of our house and the Christmas tree. Is there a better holiday activity than this one; which our children will remember when they will grow up and become parents? It will certainly give them the desire to perpetuate these traditions.

I remember the first time I decorated the tree with my mother and she told me to not to touch the flocking which simulated the snow because she thought that it would cut my fingers. I did not believe her… When my son helped me to decorate the Christmas tree for the first time, I told him not to touch the flocking and within one second, the taste and the atmosphere of my own childhood end of year holidays came back to my memory.

When the tree and the house are decorated, we will install the crib that represents the Nativity scene. Children have not lost their primary instincts and the scene will usually be more secure than beautiful, as if they wanted to protect the baby Jesus twenty centuries after his birth. Let them install the Christmas crib while we supervise their work. The scene of the nativity is also the opportunity to educate children about the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas; and it is a fun way to learn history.

Another end of year holiday activity to share with our family is to walk on the streets to discover the gardens decorated with Santa Claus on his sleigh or climbing along the front of the houses, the lights on the municipal Christmas tree as well as participate in end of year Events organized by the municipality.

After a long and tiring day, we will enjoy a warm evening by watching a Christmas movie with our children, drink hot chocolate and eat waffles or cookies. These are some basic activities that will create, for us and our children, holiday season memories that will last for a lifetime.

Holidays — Comments Off
29
Mar 11

Family Photo Christmas Cards – 6 Smart Solutions to the Top Challenges

Taking a great photo for the family photo Christmas card looks like it should be easy. But as any parent who has attempted this holiday ritual can tell you, it’s not as simple as it looks. What you want is a unique, beautiful photo Christmas card. And what you usually get is fidgety, uncooperative kids that blink just as you’re taking the picture. But don’t give up and throw in the Santa hat just yet. Here are 6 easy, smart solutions to those top challenges.

Challenge 1: You want a festive holiday background for your family photo Christmas cards, but don’t want to decorate your house with strands of lights and tinsel in November.

Solution: Use the Mall. Department stores and shopping malls are decorating for the season earlier and earlier, many times right after Halloween. These holiday backdrops are perfect for family photo Christmas cards. Gather the kids in front of the twinkling lights and a few camera clicks later, you’ll have a great shot.

Challenge 2: Your toddlers won’t sit still long enough to take the photo.

Solution: Bring in the props. Get out the oversized teddy bear or other toy that fascinates them. Try posing them with the dog or cat. Give them something simple to do, like ring a Christmas bell or kiss their sister on the cheek. Use trial and error until you find the item or activity that interests them long enough for you to take a few pictures.

Challenge 3: Your teenage kids don’t feel like posing for a family photo.

Solution: Don’t make them pose. Instead, make action the focal point of your photo Christmas cards, highlighting things that your teenagers love to do. Take photos of them showing off their abilities. Whether they are in the swimming pool, a canoe, sinking a basketball, riding a horse, baking holiday cookies, playing with the dog, or enjoying another activity, your holiday cards will offer a glimpse into your family’s interests and personality.

Challenge 4: You’d like to send photo Christmas cards that are witty and fun, just like your family.

Solution: Create your own holiday story picture, by setting up a scene. Here’s some ideas. The kids can discover Mommy kissing Santa Claus (Daddy in disguise). Put the young kids in a bubble bath with Santa hats and bubble beards. Capture a snapshot of each family member grabbing a slice of pizza with the message “pizza on earth”. Photograph an empty plate of cookies and finished glass of milk in front of “guilty” looking kids with the caption “sorry Santa!”

Those after Halloween costume sales can come in handy when trying to set up a whimsical photo. How about posing your little angels with angel wings you picked up at discount? Other possibilities could be your kids dressed as cats (Meowy Christmas), super heroes (have a super Christmas), a baby in a pea-pod costume (”peas on earth”) or a lion and a lamb costume for two children.

Challenge 5: You’d like a beautiful photo Christmas card that doesn’t look like the same, tired, group family photo you send out every year.

Solution: Change the location of your photo shoot. If you’re within driving distance to a beach, there are a lot of unique photo opportunities. Pose the kids on a sleigh on a sand dune. Write Merry Christmas on the sand, and have everyone sit behind the inscription. Build a sand snowman with a straw hat, sunglasses, and seashell nose.

Autumn provides a lot of great possibilities for photo Christmas cards. Try taking photos of the kids playing in a pile of leaves, in a pumpkin patch or on a hay ride. Make lovely scenery your backdrop and it can create atmosphere that elevates your photo Christmas card to a new level.

Challenge 6: When you struggle to take a family group photo, someone always blinks their eyes, turns their head or doesn’t smile. It seems nearly impossible to get one perfect shot where everyone looks good.

Solution: Choose a card company that offers photo Christmas card designs that contain multiple photos of your family. The latest trend in holiday photo cards is to include several of your photos on one card in a unique, holiday layout. This has become popular because it is much easier to take great, individual photos of your family members than one acceptable group picture.

Whatever particular challenge you face when composing your photo Christmas cards, there is an easy solution. Try these creative approaches and soon you’ll be hearing from your friends, relatives, coworkers and neighbors how much they loved this year’s family holiday photo card.

Holidays — Comments Off
24
Mar 11

Christmas Memories

When I thought about the Christmases of my childhood, I remembered Christmas Eve services at the church and then coming back to the house to celebrate Jesus’ birthday along with the neighbours. We had a cake and the children enacted the Christmas story as the adults read it and we all sang Christmas carols. What a fun time. And it didn’t cost a lot of money.

My children are now grown and away from home, but with 4 children, Christmas could be very expensive. We used to try to buy one big present for the family and a smaller present for each individual, plus, of course the Christmas stocking.

The Christmas stocking is the part that stands out most for me from my childhood. There were always oranges, hard candies, and small wrapped gifts. You knew that there would be certain things that only “Santa” could have brought because those things were never in the house all the time. The stockings were so special. My children had special “toe” stockings made by their grandmother. Each child had their own with their name on it.

There are two particular Christmas presents that stand out in my mind from my childhood. One was doll clothes that were hand made by my mother in secret and one was a tape recorder that my dad gave me and addressed to his “Pineapple Princess”. That was the year I was in Grade 8. It was my welcome to my teenage years.

I remember two particular presents that I gave to my two boys as well. One was a small model of the starship Enterprise which was the one thing that my oldest child played with the most. It cost less than $5.00, but it was important to him. The other one was a duvet cover that I made for my youngest son. It was a Canadian flag. His reaction was priceless…. “Mom, how did you do this without me knowing? How could you sew this without me seeing it or seeing any of the material? When did you do this?” He wrote an essay at school and said that his most favourite thing was his duvet cover.

I made sweaters recently for my two daughters, one of whom is living in Taiwan at the moment. They were the same sweater but in two different colours.

I got thinking about how Christmas was much simpler back in the early 19th and 20th century and I decided that I would take some time to create a gift for my family members and my extended family members. I found some old Christmas Carols and other booklets as well as some public domain materials, some short stories, some craft ideas, some recipes and some resources, and put them together as a gift for my family. I had so much fun that it was hard to know when to stop. There was so much more I could have added…more stories, more recipes, more memories. I have a feeling that I will be building on this over the next few years.

I truly think that the best memories and gifts are homemade.

Holidays — Comments Off
15
Mar 11

Overcoming The Holiday Blahs

You probably think it’s funny that a Jewish woman is writing about struggling through the holiday blues since I don’t celebrate Christmas, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to cope. Maybe even harder because we don’t share in this beautiful tradition and I tend to feel left out and alone more than ever.

Having grown up in Israel, I am very founded in my Jewish identity, yet living in America for umpteen years, I still feel overcome with sadness when the holidays roll around. We start with Thanksgiving and I begin to count my blessings, but sometimes it seems that the negative can outweigh the positive. I still haven’t found my knight in shining armor, I never started a family, my immediate family live abroad, and I’m tired of being the orphan at other people’s dinner tables.

Okay, I get through Thanksgiving. On to Christmas. Now I will give thanks that I don’t have the pressure to give gifts to friends and family. It usually just boils down to some co-workers and close friends that I give something to. I don’t know how I could afford to have a sumptuous Christmas with a tree bursting with presents. I’ve pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck my entire life, so I have no idea how people pull this off financially. On the other hand, I’m home alone with my cats (how could I not have cats?) and thinking about all the families surrounding me, celebrating the most important day of their year with food, love and laughter.

And let’s not forget about New Years! Because, once again, I’m alone (except for the cats) and I’m about to spend New Years eve by myself, again. I don’t even get my fill of Dick Clark anymore since his stroke. I have to put up with obnoxious Ryan Seacrest. I usually have no problem going to clubs, restaurants or movies by myself, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to a New Years Eve party alone. No, no, no.

Let’s get to the inspirational part of this article since I didn’t know what other heading to put it under. With all that negativity I just imparted, I do want to say that I handle the holidays like the soldier that I am. I take deep breaths, I take long walks outside and ENJOY my solitude. I try not to overeat because that would just make me more miserable. I do count my blessings, over and over again, and I do try to phrase my hopes and dreams through use of positive Law of Attraction. Otherwise I feel that I may fall into an emotional morass that will be too hard to get out of. The beauty of the New Year is that you get to re-examine and start fresh. You can learn from mistakes made over the past year and you can take that deep breath and leap into the newness with faith and conviction that this will be the year of change. This New Year will be the best ever!

Here’s wishing you and yours a stellar New Year too.

Sara Abrams

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11
Mar 11

Fun In A Santa Claus Suit

As we pack away the Christmas ornaments for another year let me suggest something for next year – a Santa Claus suit complete with beard.

It’s a fun thing.

I discovered the magic qualities of impersonating the jolly gentleman of childhood fantasy through the insight of that wonderful lady who shares my bed and board.

It all started when I volunteered to tend a Salvation Army kettle. Good Wife then volunteered to sew me a Santa costume, the better to loosen the purse strings of potential contributors.

Before the season was over I not only had filled a red kettle for worthy charity but also had intrigued half the county, and myself in the bargain.

Consider these incidents:

AT KETTLE ONE – Crippled lady, face etched with pain, braces herself on arm – crutches to look me over carefully. I say, “Merry Christmas.”

Lady nods, hobbles into nearby doctor’s office.

Five minutes later, a nurse comes out of office and drops $10 into kettle. “One of our patients asked me to give you this and wish you a Merry Christmas.”

AT KETTLE TWO – Elderly gentleman drops a dollar into the kettle and declares he used to collect for the Salvation Army. So we had a long talk.

Turns out that Elderly Gentleman is a retired construction worker from New Jersey who deplores the shoddy building practices of today. “We had pride in our work back then,” he says.

I notice a Masonic ring on his finger so give him the secret sign as we shake hands goodbye. Big smile. “Fifty-five years, senior warden, New Jersey 603.” He throws another dollar into the kettle.

AT KETTLE THREE – Tug at my coat. I look around to see two five-year-old girls with beautiful red hair. Maybe twins, certainly close sisters.

“Hi Santa.”

I squat down, “Hello, sweethearts.”

Both give me a generous hug. “What would you like for Christmas?”

“Play dough,” says the first little beauty.

“Hammer and saw,” says the second.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS -

Surprise at the frequency of contributions by poorly dressed folks who appear to need a little charity for themselves.

Delight at the number of little children who want to talk to Santa Claus.

Gratitude for those who slip in $20 bills.

Amusement at the double-takes of motorists who pass me on the road while I’m driving to my location. Most recover in time to wave and holler, “Ho, ho, ho.”

Youngest son, now 20 years old, is so entranced with the possibilities of Santa costume and beard he wears it to a friend’s Christmas party. More effective than a lamp shade on the head. Won a six-pack of beer for being best-dressed reveler.

Success of Youngest Son inspires the mother of my children to other capers – always, of course, involving me as the point man.

Such as:

  • Sitting on the prow of our boat in the U.S. Power Squadron parade.
  • Delivering Christmas cookies to our neighbors and singing funny ditties she composed for the occasion.
  • Surprising Oldest Daughter who flew into Southwest Florida Regional Airport the day before Christmas.

Now, there’s a tale.

As I clomped into the airport terminal the public address system announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Santa Claus has just arrived on the lower concourse.”

Before you could say, “On Donner, on Blitzen,” grandparents with little children came rushing up wanting personal interviews for moppets of all sizes, shapes and ages.

I promised cabbage patch dolls, talking bears and bicycles with gay abandon. I did have the decency, however, to turn down a request for a Jaguar.

I was an equal sensation on the upper concourse. The crowd waiting along with me for the arrival of relatives and friends bribed me to greet their parties.

When Eldest Daughter arrived I rushed up, threw my arms around her, pinched her behind and boomed, “And what do you want for Christmas little girl?”

I got an angry shove, then an embarrassed shriek, “Father!”

The crowd laughed and applauded.

I took several bows.

I can hardly wait until next year.

Click here to see this article on Lindsey Williams’s website

Babies-Toddler — Comments Off
11
Mar 11

A Child is Born – The Best Christmas Themed Baby Shower Ideas

Now that the Christmas season is almost upon us, it is always an amazing idea to celebrate the coming of the child Jesus into this world with amazing Christmas party themes. But for many mothers around the world, Jesus Christ isn’t the only baby whose arrival they wish to commemorate. A lot of expecting mothers will find themselves carrying their babies well into December. And with this happens, it is often a good idea to hold a baby shower party simultaneous with all the Holiday celebrations.

So what would be the best way to prepare for a Christmas themed baby shower? One of the best ways would be to decorate accordingly. Red, green and gold should be the dominant colors of your decorating projects. Using poinsettia centerpieces for the tables can really work well to add beauty to the occasion. Silver and gold extras such as streamers, confetti and glitter complete the effect.

For the food, it is always cool to have rolls, bars, cakes and cookies on Christmas, isn’t it? Food like Strawberry Christmas Cake, Christmas Pumpkin Roll-Up Cake, Toffee-Pecan Bars and Coconut Oatmeal Cookies work well this time of the year. Eggnog and hot chocolate can be the perfect beverages.

And for party favors, the best party favors for a baby shower held this time of month would be baby angels, in celebration of the baby angel that everyone is expecting. If you can bake Christmas cookies in the shape of baby items, that would work well too.

Parenting — Comments Off
3
Mar 11

The Parents Guide to Playing the Ultimate Santa

During the Christmas season, one of the greatest challenges parents face is how to create a memorable experience for their children that brings out the excitement and enthusiasm of the historical tradition of Santa Claus. Some parents turn to Santa suits and costumes, or other Christmas costumes to make the Christmas celebration a greater joy for their families.

One of the challenges for many parents is how to find high quality Santa costumes or Santa’s helper costumes that bring to life a realistic depiction of the great Saint Nick. Many low quality costumes are available in mass quantities, but discerning parents must take into account the quality of the materials, the cleverness of the accessories, the color appeal, and the fit of the Christmas costumes they choose to buy.

So, whether parents are looking to portray Santa for a special family event or a Christmas Eve storytelling tradition, or perhaps as the great gift giver of Christmas morning, they must take great care and give great planning to the creation of a realistic Santa experience. There are many fine points to developing an effective Santa.

While many kids think of Santa as the jolly old man with a red suit and hat, and big bag of gifts, discerning parents must realize that accessorizing a great Santa suit is the key to creating an excellent Santa costume. Santa suits must be glorified with great deal. Key accessory pieces include: Nice white gloves, big black belt, full white beard and matching white eyebrows, detailed gift bag, sharp black boots, and perhaps the finest detail, thick Santa eye glasses. By taking great care in the detail and finer points of the Santa costume, parents can ensure that Santa really comes to life.

Another often overlooked piece of the polished Santa costume is the big belly that is full like a “bowl full of jelly.” While a big belly may be a built in touch for some aspiring Santa Claus’, others must buy their bellies. Parents can create a Santa belly with belly stuffing, or some other type of molded or rubberized belly. This great touch makes the Santa presentation much more realistic. Anxious children will have a hard time taking a scrawny Santa seriously.

Obviously, playing the role of the one and only Santa Claus requires a lot of planning and effort for parents. Throwing on a simple red suit and hat will not serve the purpose of giving kids a glorious Christmas experience. Parents need to be prepared to seek the finer details of the Santa costume. There are plenty of options available for low price shoppers, but Christmas is a one time a year event. It is a special time for families, traditions, and memories. While children may not consciously remember the smaller points of Santa’s suit, subconsciously, they’ll enjoy the feeling of seeing a lifelike jolly old man in a fully accessorized red suit.

Holidays — Comments Off
26
Feb 11

LED Christmas Lights – 10 Ways to Decorate With LED Lights For the Holidays

The Holidays are just around the corner and people are already thinking about decorating for Halloween and Christmas. LED Christmas light sets come in several different shapes, sizes, and colors, which means there is a light set for every occasion.

Here are a few ideas on how to use your LED Christmas light sets during and after the holidays.

1. Walkways look wonderfully inviting when lined with LED Christmas light sets. Consider using light stakes to suspend the lights, stringing them along the curves of your sidewalk and along your garden paths.

2. Fireplaces are the ideal backdrops for LED Christmas lights. Frame your fireplace with mini lights. Continue the effect by draping them in front of the mantel and then placing your stockings in between for a festive look.

3. Do you have a gardening shed, woodworking shed, or other outbuildings around your home? Outline them with LED Christmas lights and they’ll take on a festive and inviting look while contributing to your overall holiday decor.

4. During the holidays, the dining room probably sees more use than other times of the year. Use white, red, or green mini lights to decorate your sideboard, hutch or buffet. Even when you’re not entertaining in that room, it will appear inviting to you and to impromptu guests who come to visit.

5. White lights and weddings just naturally seem to go hand-in-hand. Decorate the church and reception hall with mini white lights and battery operated mini lights for a romantic and enchanting evening.

6. LED Christmas light sets are the perfect choice when it comes to outdoor decorating. Create a waterfall effect on all of your trees by draping light strands from the crown of the tree down on each side. Don’t forget to wrap the tree trunk to give the tree a truly festive appearance.

7. It used to be that homes would decorate one Christmas tree in the main part of the house for everyone to enjoy. Now, many people place Christmas trees strategically throughout the home for added holiday cheer. LED Christmas lights are ideal for indoor decorating as well since they tend to run cool to the touch and are energy efficient. Perhaps this year, decorate each tree with a different light color and theme for something fun and different.

8. Christmas lights are the perfect addition to parties throughout the year too. Use orange lights for Halloween or fall parties. Dress up your 4th of July party by using red, white, and blue lights around the patio, porch, or pool area.

9. Baby showers are all about small, little items for mom and baby. However, blue and pink mini lights will make a big impression when you use them to decorate your next baby shower. Gift the light sets to the mommy-to-be when she goes home and she can use them to decorate the nursery.

10. Gardens, flowerbeds, stone sculptures, and water features are beautiful when illuminated with light. Outline flowerbeds and walkways through your gardens. Use lights to highlight stone sculptures. LED Christmas light sets in any color will beautifully illuminate your water features.

As you can see, LED Christmas light sets can be used in several different ways to make your home, inside and out, more inviting and beautiful. Use your imagination and you’ll likely come up with several more ideas on how to use lights to decorate your home or next special event.

Holidays — Comments Off
18
Feb 11

Christmas Candy Canes

Have you ever wondered why the candy cane is red and white and how it became a Christmas favorite?

Would you believe that the candy cane was actually invented as a tool to keep children quiet? It’s true. Just like children today, kids in the 1670’s in Germany had trouble sitting reverently through church. Then a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral, came up with a plan to keep the children quiet and happy. He took a well known candy, a “sugar stick” and bent one end to resemble that of a Shepherd’s staff. He gave it to the children during the long church Christmas ceremonies. That was the quietest church service they had had in a long time!

Candy canes quickly became a tradition – at first mostly reserved for Christmas themed religious ceremonies, but they eventually found their way amongst the other sweets on the family Christmas tree.

For many years, candy canes were all white. In the 1920’s, a man by the name of Bob McCormack began making the his candy with a red stripe to symbolize the blood Jesus shed for us. At first, Bob painted his candy canes for family and friends every year by hand. That all changed when his brother-in-law, a Catholic priest by the name of Gregory Keller, invented a machine that automated the candy cane creation process in about 1950.

Today when we eat a candy cane at Christmastime, we can think of the symbols of Christ that it holds-The shape represents the shepherds’ staff and reminds us that angels came to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. It also reminds us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd! The white color reminds us that Jesus lived a pure, clean life. The red stripe represents the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

You can make these fun cookies with your kids as you teach them about the symbols in the candy cane.

Candy Cane Cookies
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
OR 3/4 teaspoon peppermint flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy
1/2 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix butter sugar, egg, and flavorings thoroughly. Add flour and salt, Mix well. Shape dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap; chill for at least 2 hours or until easy to handle.

Roll into 4 inch strips; place on baking sheet. Curve top down to form handle or cane. Bake 9 minutes. While still warm, remove from pan and sprinkle with candy and sugar mixture. Dough may be divided in half and colored with 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring if desired. Roll each color into strips, place side by side, press together lightly and twist like a rope.

Holidays — Comments Off
12
Feb 11

Christmas Self Esteem – Giving the Gift of Self Worth, Self Confidence and Self Respect!

Self-esteem is the collection of feelings or beliefs that we have about ourselves. How we define ourselves influences our motivations, attitudes, and behaviors and affects our emotional well being. Self-confidence, great relationships, and a good shot at success in whatever you attempt is the prize for self esteem. Now is the time to think about your overall self appraisal of your own self worth, self-confidence and self respect and how this influences your children and others around you and what you can do about it this Christmas season.

Having healthy self esteem will produce:

- Armor against life抯 challenges

- Feeling good about yourself

- Find it easier to handle conflicts and negative pressures

- More realistic approach to life

?Will look for solutions and have the ability to move forward rather than get stuck.

- Generally optimistic and will enjoy life more

Low self esteem produces:

- Challenges becoming sources of major anxiety and frustration

- Harder to find solutions to problems

- Produce critical thoughts such as 慖抦 not good enough? 慖抦 not loveable? 慖 always do things wrong? 憂obody cares about me?/p>

- Will belittle oneself for weaknesses rather than accept them eg. will say 慖抦 an idiot?rather than say 慖 don抰 understand?/p>

- Produce a passive, withdrawn or depressed state

- distorted perceptions of life

- can see temporary setbacks as intolerable and permanent

- a sense of pessimism predominates

Give the gift of fostering healthy self esteem in your child!

Know that low self-esteem begins in childhood and is the result of the actions and attitudes of significant older people around us. Don抰 program your children to feel less than wonderful about themselves. Here are a few great tips of how you can give and make a big difference:

  • Praise your child: especially for jobs well done and for their effort put in. Be mindful of your words, what you say and be truthful. Reward effort and completion rather than outcome. For example your child lost at basketball and didn抰 make the finals, say 憏ou didn抰 make the finals but I抦 proud of the effort you put in?rather than 憂ext time you抣l work harder and make it?
  • Be a positive role model & do not criticize even in jest. Ensure you develop and display healthy self esteem with your role modeling. You don抰 want your child to grow up mirroring adults with pessimistic or unrealistic expressions about abilities and limitations. For example, don抰 criticize find positive ways to address an issue. If you criticize chances are your child will grow up with a mate or boss who is constantly telling them what they do wrong because they have grown up believing it is ok for people to treat them that way and thus they allow it and attract it. Do not use demeaning nicknames in jest they are criticism and they damage self esteem.
  • Address irrational beliefs. It抯 important to not only identify unhealthy or inaccurate irrational beliefs but to redirect them. These beliefs may include issues around attractiveness, perfection and abilities. An example might be that your child is doing well at school generally yet is struggling with English. Your child might say things like 慖抦 not a good student?or 慖 can抰 do English? This is a generalization that is setting up the outcome for failure. You would redirect the child with something like 慪ou are doing well at school and you are a good student you just need to spend more time on the English subject and we can work on developing that?
  • Give spontaneous affection. Tell your child you are proud of him or her. Hug your child. Leave a note on their pillow 慖 think you抮e terrific?or 憏ou make a difference? A parent抯 love can support and boost a child抯 self esteem. Be mindful not to overdo it ?kids are good knowing when it抯 not honest.
  • Don抰 argue in front of your children. Exposing your child to repeated arguing and fighting may cause withdrawal and depression. Low self esteem will result from a child feeling unsafe or being abused at home. Respect your child by creating a safe, nurturing home environment.

Self esteem is not about bragging that you are the greatest or that you are perfect. Nobody is perfect but having healthy self esteem will result in you or your child knowing that you or he or she is worthy of being loved and accepted. Self esteem creates a belief in one抯 self and courage to try new things and the ability to make better choices about your mind and body rather than go along with crowd doing dumb or dangerous activities.

You抣l respect yourself even when you make mistakes because you will have a healthy and realistic view of your abilities and a situation. Because you respect yourself, others usually will too. Tips for gifting to yourself self esteem! You can help develop your self esteem, love and acceptance of yourself by focusing on the good things you do and all your great qualities. Here are a few suggestions that you can try to increase your self-esteem:

  • Choose your friends well. Choose to spend more time with people who help you feel good about yourself. Be in relationships that bring you up not drag you down.
  • Make a list of things you’re good at. It can be anything from cooking, sports, drawing, writing, singing or telling a good joke. Now add a few things to your list that you would like to be good at. Now make a plan as to how you could work on developing skills you will need to be good at what抯 on your list.
  • Give yourself a compliment a day. Find something you did during the day that was good. For example 慖 was a good listener today?or 慖 was a good friend to Johnny today?or 慖 made a good effort to complete my work today?strong>
  • Keep a journal of good things said about you. Studies have shown that people with low self esteem tend to forget or filter out information that counters ingrained negative beliefs. Having a journal your write down praise given to you will enable you to remember and acknowledge your real value.
  • Express gratitude daily. Before you go to bed every night think of at least one thing in your day that you are grateful for. It could simply your toothbrush because it gives you clean teeth and fresh breath! Start with small things and build on it each day.
  • Accept your body. Remind yourself that there are some things that are uniquely yours ? embrace them such as shoe size, skin color and height. Don抰 compare yourself with others just learn from them. If you are wanting a healthier body learn skills to improve your health and take up a physical activity. Acknowledge your body抯 strengths eg. I have strong legs, I can ride a bike really well.
  • Next negative thoughts and self critical remarks. Make a conscious effort to be aware of when a negative thought enters your mind. Stop it immediately and redirect yourself to healthier thoughts. Negative thoughts discourage and drag your self esteem down as does every time you make a self critical negative remark such as 慖抦 an idiot?you are reinforcing negative patterns in your brain that do not serve you.

Have a Self Esteem Christmas! Giving and Christmas always go hand in hand. So how about this Christmas you give self esteem as your gift this season! Here are a few suggestions:

- Send a self esteem Christmas card. Show your appreciation and thoughts by sending words of thanks, gratitude and acknowledgement of the person you are sending a Christmas card to in your greetings message. For example, thank friends for their friendship and smiling time spent together or if an employee, for their efforts and loyalty. The extra effort to acknowledge something personal and good about another goes a long way towards boosting anothers self esteem.

- Purchase self esteem presents. Think about your message and what kind of gift would go with it that would convey your words. Here are some examples – motivational books (to uplift and encourage) or a board games (great for sharing fun, smiles and memorable quality time together).

So now you know why you want to foster healthy self esteem in yourself and in your children and some tips to get you started. There is no better time to start than at Christmas, the time for giving and the time to give the life enhancing gift of self esteem!

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