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5 Tips to Help Teens in a Challenging Job Market
The job market has always been a competitive place. In today’s society, that’s even more true. Going to college, or university, is a start, but companies look for other things besides a college degree. These days they are searching for someone with an extra edge or skill. It’s almost become essential to have a second language too. So what can you do to give your teen a toehold in a challenging and rapidly evolving economy? Short of finding the job for them, or Here are a few things that can give a teen an edge for college, and later, in a competitive job market. Standing Out in a Competitive Job…
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Tony Hawk Circuit Boards For Tweens by Hexbug – #TMMGG2015 #giveaways
Of all the people on your list this year, the tweens and teenagers can be some of the hardest to buy for. Oh sure there’s always gift cards. Kids like to spend those after they hit double digits. But if you are like me you still love to have something under the tree for them to open also. Gadgets? Sure, why not. But there are only so many electronics you can give. Kids, of all ages, still like something to unwrap and play with on occasion. So happy to share that HexBug has you covered this year for all the tweens and teens on your list. These Tony Hawk Circuit…
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Our Teenage Girl Room Transformation – #ColourMeHappy
I have always been afraid of colour. I like my clothing black and tan and white. Neutrals are easy to grab, dress up and go. Occasionally I love a hit of red or coral or pink. But I rarely stray far. Same can be said of my home decor choices. I LOVE it when the colour choices are made for me. So when we moved to our new house 18 months ago I was extremely relieved to see that everything had been painted in pleasing greens, and browns with a palette of vanilla accents and a lot of clay shades. Easy and earthy. That’s my kind of colour pallette. Plus the…
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Decision Time – Our High School #BTS Update and What We Decided
Remember back in August when I wrote about how torn we were in deciding which high school my daughter would attend. We had always planned for her to attend the local French immersion public high school that everyone from her elementary school goes to. Well, almost everyone. We did all the preparation and she did the weekend sleepover event there too. She registered and we were waiting on her schedule to arrive when I realized that a smaller Catholic high school that is closer to our house also offered French immersion. So late last June we raced over there and met my good friend Margarita Ibbott in the parking lot…
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What Does Ten-Years-Old Look Like?
This past month my youngest girl turned 11 and we celebrated with a Minecraft cake and a sleepover and a family dinner at Lone Star Texas Grill. We all learned to ski together as a family in Tremblant the weekend before her birthday party. In many ways, that was the perfect start to sporty spice’s birthday week. This is the daughter I still joke never met a sport she didn’t like. The one who wandered off at Disney when she was four and nearly gave me a heart attack on the spot. The one who sported my eye shadow the day we went to visit a local martial arts studio…
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The Art of Hope and Parenting Teens
At some point this past year I realized my children aren’t really children anymore, not in the strictest sense of the word. One is a teenager and the other a tween and that means that in the context of child development they are in fact closer to being adults than they are to being toddlers or preschoolers or children. My heart simultaneously leaps, shouts, cries, expands and contracts as I write that. As they bloom so do I, and yet it also tugs heavily when I think that they will soon be adults. Oh my god how I hope we still have a lifetime together. How I hope I will…
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Five Things I Know About Childhood Anxiety – Part 1 of a New Series
In 2014 we spent a huge amount of time investing in educating our family about childhood anxiety. We took part in a weekly youth group therapy session to help parents and children understand and manage anxiety. It was gruelling and exhausting and, I hope, worth it. Every single Tuesday for several months my daughter and I drove to the children’s hospital in town and we learned how to successfully manage her childhood anxiety. We split into two groups every session. There was a parents group and a youth group. Eventually we all came together to discuss things together but the first part of each session was divided into parents and…
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Download Gummy Drop Free App Now Available for Android! Win a Samsung Galaxy or a Kindle Fire #Giveaways
Several months ago I reviewed Gummy Drop app here because it had just launched on iPad and iPhone. I remember this one well. It was a Match 3 free app that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that it included a trip around the world, and a geography theme that I found engaging and educational. Today Big Fish’s fastest growing mobile app is now available for Android. Gummy Drop scored high on the gaming charts across all territories. Now this crowd-pleasing free app is available in the Amazon and GooglePlay app stores. All mobile players can access the free app now. Read on to find out how you can win…
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We Day Waterloo 2014 Highlights: Inspiring Change
Last week we attended our first ever We Day. We were two of the 7000 people attending We Day Waterloo 2014. There were 315 schools in attendance also, one of which came all the way from Nova Scotia. I took my oldest daughter Payton with me because I knew she really wanted to go. She is my helper girl and we often say that she is destined to be a teacher or a therapist. She has a big heart. The route to WE Day isn’t easy. You have to be a class, or a child, that gives back to your community and thinks about global citizenry as well. So you get to…
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Voloom Hair Volumizing Iron #TMMGG2014
This is a house favourite for hair. I received a Voloom Hair Volumizing Iron this past month for consideration. I tested it out this past week with my daughters and I love it. Please note my kids are 10 and 13. I supervise their use of hair gadgets, especially those that could catch fire or damage something if not used with caution. I think the Voloom makes a brilliant Christmas gift for the teenage girl on your list, or for any women you have to buy presents for this year. The Voloom hair volumizing iron is something that worked on my one daughter’s super thick long hair. That alone says something because…