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Youth Programs – The Cruising Experience for the Kids
Youth programs are an important consideration when planning a cruise if you have tweens and teens. Around this age, kids start to want a little more freedom, and a good tween and teen program can allow the kids to have a great time while experiencing a little freedom and independence in a safe, controlled way. My daughters are at an age where youth programs are a huge factor in our cruise planning, and I thought I’d share my top three picks for great programs for tweens and teens. Youth Programs Give Kids AND Parents What They Want The thing that makes these programs so great is that they allow the…
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The Victory Lap in Ontario – Why Take the Extra Year?
The victory lap is what we call an extra year of high school in Ontario. It’s also known as grade 13. Today, high school is only four years long, but when I was a kid, it was a five year process. That means that kids today will be entering university at 18 rather than 19. I know how challenging university was for me as a 19 year old, so I can only imagine how hard it must be for an individual just on the cusp of adulthood. In many cases, it’s better for the child to attend that fifth year of high school, which is allowed in Ontario, as a way…
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Teen Travel – When Are They Ready To Go Solo?
Solo Teen travel is something that most parents will have to deal with at some point. In this day and age of spread out families, international job opportunities, and easy long distance travel, solo teen travel is becoming more common. The question becomes this: How do you know when they’re ready to travel on their own? Maybe your teen has taken the bus around town or the train to an Aunt or Uncle’s Home a few cities away. They have most definitely done a bit of family travel with you their parents. But as for flying on their own, well that’s a whole other ballgame. I mean airports alone are terrifying…
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Empower Kids with These Two Great Books
It’s important to empower kids. As parents and adults in general, it’s our job to help today’s youth grow up to be confident, well-adjusted members of society. One of the ways we do that is to empower kids by nurturing creativity and self esteem. I’m a big believer in this, and recently a couple of books that do just that caught my eye. Empower Kids with Learning and Creativity Although these books are quite different, their outcome is the same. They empower kids to use their minds and teach them that any goal that they set for themselves is achievable. While one book does this in a fairly straightforward fashion…
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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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Peace Keepers – Youth in Colombia #TMMWVC
I travelled with World Vision Canada as a guest so I could tell these stories. This week I am sharing my posts from my trip with World Vision Canada. These are two youths, Peace Keepers, we met in an area called Taminango, near Santander De Quilichao. They were incredibly inspiring. You can read about them tomorrow. You can read all of my stories if you follow my hashtag #TMMWVC or follow my blog and read about some of the incredible work being done in Colombia. Peace Keepers is a unique program here in Colombia that builds strong youth through activities and supervision. After school these amazing young men…
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Child, Youth, Infant, Toddler? At What Point is a Child a Youth?
Is a child a youth or is my youth no longer a child? Sometimes, I think it’s a bit like the chicken and egg question. At what point is a child a youth? I received in the mail the other day confirmation of my daughter Payton’s enrollment in a workshop we’re doing in the United States this coming month. It had details of her conference itinerary and some other basic stuff outlining all the fun things she’ll be doing while Mommy speaks and does a writing workshop at a conference. How Did This Happen? But the thing that jumped out at me was this: for the first time ever my child,…
