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Inspirational TED Talks for Teens
Inspirational TED Talks can be great for anyone, but teenagers, in particular can really benefit from these 18-minute or less talks that can cover almost any topic. Teen years are hard slogging and watching them struggle sometimes as parents is so challenging. If you can remember your teen years, you’ll probably easily recall the angst and fear and general uncertainty. Right now, that angst and anxiety is running even higher for most because of the pandemic. That’s where inspirational TED Talks come in. Inspirational TED Talks to Ease the Teen Years From zits and breakups to proms and makeups, the teen years are arguably some of the hardest anyone will…
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So How Are We Doing Easter During a Pandemic?
But are we even doing Easter this year? We’ve gone back and forth on this actually, a few times this year. I mean honestly no judgement at all if you are taking it easy and simply getting through. But this week, I did a fair bit of reading and a whole lot of thinking. What would Easter look like in the middle of a pandemic? Would we be doing Easter? Our original plan was to drive to my brother’s home in Toronto. But that was back in February before we’d even heard the term Covid-19. Before spring vacations were cancelled and people started dying of a virus that was travelling…
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How to Do an Easy Scavenger Hunt for Kids
This Scavenger Hunt post contains affiliate links as a service to my readers. I make a small commission via qualifying links. When my kids were both small we often did fun things like go outside to do a random scavenger hunt. I would write out a list of things, sometimes numbers or letters that I wanted them to find and we would go for a walk through our neighbourhood. Tricks and Simple Activities to Keep Kids Busy That’s just one of the things that we used to do when they were young. We also built igloos in the backyard, raced down our slide and climber in our snowsuits or snow…
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Capture Time Now – Easy to Use Nixplay Smart Photo Frame
This post was sponsored by Nixplay. I received product for consideration here. My opinion is my own. Years ago I bought my Mom a digital photo frame. I still remember the novelty of the product and how fun it was having our family photos on display digitally in her condominium. That was at least a decade ago now when digital photo frames were really not what I’d call smart photo frames. Smart Photo Frames are the Smart Way to Display Your Photos But times change and electronics are getting smarter every day. When I had the chance to check out the new Nixplay Seed smart photo frame this week I…
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Practicing Gratitude – 85 Things I am Grateful for Today
Lately I’ve been having a hard time with a few things. It’s been a challenging year so far and there are a lot of moments when it’s easy to slide into a funk. A BIG ONE. The kind you can’t slip out of easily. When everything black and white that was pink, or red or blue yesterday is now grey and grossly misshapen. Parenting teenagers is NO fun some days. Sometimes they suck the air out of a room with borrowed drama, angst and mood swings. Occasionally you look at them and wonder where the cute kid went. There are days when you struggle to see the baby that slept…
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Where in Canada Can You Stay in a Hotel Made of Ice?
I wake on a bed of ice, intricate carvings of a basilisk surrounding me, light subtly creeping through a snow ceiling and polished bricks of ice. Outside this crystal ice palace, the world is still and silent. The kids, in the bed beside ours, just a few feet away are still snugly bundled, not yet stirring. Beside me, wrapped in a burrito sleeping bag, is my husband. I hear the familiar rise and fall of his breath. What Can I Expect Overnight at Hôtel de Glace Quebec? I squeeze my eyes shut a moment longer, listening with my whole body to the sounds of morning in an ice castle. A…
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How To Treat Aggressive Behaviour in an OCD Child
Aggressive behaviour is hard to deal with for anyone. But, if you have an OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) Child, or a child diagnosed with a challenging mental heath disorder, the frustration and sadness they feel often spills over into hostility and aggression. As hard as that is to watch and to manage as a parent, it’s important to try to remember behavioural outbursts are typically even harder for a child. An OCD child, or a child with any childhood mental health disorder doesn’t have tools to handle all of the big emotions that go hand in hand with complex mental health issues. So, it’s your job to help them identify…
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What Information Do You Need to Leave with Your Babysitter
So you are new to the babysitter game and you have no idea what to expect. How much do you pay? Can you trust them with your baby or babies? What will they do when the kids are asleep and what other information do you need to leave with your babysitter? How Much Information Does Your Babysitter Need? Leaving your child with a babysitter, whether they’re a family member, close friend or someone you found through networking, can be nerve-wracking. Nevertheless, this is something most parents are faced with at one time or another. Many parents know to leave the basic information – like where they’ll be, when they’ll be…
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Celebrate All Your Loves This Valentine’s Day
“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn has a lot of great quotes, but this one is my favourite. What could be more worthy of celebrating than love? Lately I’ve been thinking about love. There’s love for your husband or wife, significant other; love of your children, your family, parents, and friends. Love of yourself matters too. There are so many different kinds of love, but ultimately love is the thing that motivates us every day. We search for it, and sometimes we let it slip through our fingers, but on Valentine’s Day the best thing to do is celebrate it. This year I have…
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Everything You Need To Know About Feng Shui Now
In February people are still in the groove of the new year making changes and adjustments to their life, their relationships, and even their indoor spaces, which makes it the perfect month to talk about Feng Shui. You only have to look at the runaway success of the KonMari Method right now to see that getting organized and making a change has sparked the interests of millions of people worldwide. These long, grey, February days, with spring hovering on the horizon, and the Chinese New Year upon us, makes right now the ideal time for a Feng Shui reboot of your space. People have more energy around the time of Chinese…
