Source: Put Your Fruit to Work With Fruit Print Crafts

Fresh fruit is wonderful this time of year but doesn't have to be just for eating. Gather the kids, along with their favorite fruits, and enjoy a fun and easy art activity: fruit prints. This craft is perfect for kids of all ages. Tots can explore tapping and pressing the fruits in various colors of paint, while older kids can create patterns and match colors to fruits. And the finished creation looks great framed and displayed in the kitchen!



What You'll Need:

• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• 1 apple
• 1 lime
• Red, yellow, green, and orange tempera paint
• Paper plates
• Knife

What You Do:
1. Get things started by slicing the fruits in half revealing the centers, which should be done by an adult. If you cut the apple around the round middle, it reveals a star!
2. Invite your child to help by placing two to three paper plates next to the sheet of white drawing paper. These will be his paint palettes.
3. Now you can Read More »from Put Your Fruit to Work with Fruit Print Crafts

Source: Craftastic: Hand-Rolled Paper Beads

Get crafty with your kids by making simple rolled paper beads. Along with creating something really sweet, you'll use all those random bits of paper hanging around your house. Your child will love cutting the paper and seeing what happens once it's rolled. Try using newspaper, pages from magazines, old artwork, or even junk mail. Using scissors hones fine motor skills, and everything is always more fun with glue! Your child can string unique necklaces for loved ones or lace on a colorful ribbon to decorate plain windows.

What You'll Need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Paintbrush

Directions:

• Enlist your child to gather scraps of colorful paper to use for making rolled paper beads. Any kind of paper will work - newspaper, pages from magazines, pieces of construction paper, or even old artworks!
• Have your child cut long triangles from the paper starting from an edge and cutting up to the other. Now he can cut the

Read More »from Craftastic: Hand-Rolled Paper Beads

Conventional parenting has some stiff competition. Find out which method is best for your kids!After the Time Magazine cover story, "Are You Mom Enough?," the age-old parenting debate gained new momentum. The topic of child rearing awakens powerful feelings and memories, and how we raise our kids touches ground within our collective conscience. Also Read: Sex After Giving Birth: Women Like It More Than You Think!

On his website, Anderson Cooper poses the question, "Are you an unconventional parent?" Initially, the question confused me. What is unconventional? Is it the millions-of-years-old, affectionate, closeness-seeking child rearing? Or is it the less-than-hundred-years-old stimuli-response based non-affectionate style? And, more importantly, whose advice should we follow? To choose between these two methods, we must understand their differences and their theoretical backgrounds.

When researchers made cross-cultural comparisons with the Ainsworth "Strange Situation Test," which was the first measurement of the attachment type, they were not able to conduct the test with

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Are you an alcoholic? Learn how your addiction will affect your kids' future.Sometimes the truth hurts, but it also sets you free to choose to act differently. The truth also gives you the freedom to get help when you know help is available. Addiction is not a pretty disease and it affects the entire family.

Children are the victims of the alcoholic or addicted parent. Imagine being a child whose parent is more interested in a substance than caring for and raising you. Imagine the inappropriate behaviors and responses in daily life of the person who is under the influence of a mind-altering chemical. The child doesn't know what is real or right. Also Read: When Should I Tell The Guy I'm Dating I'm In AA?

The child knows what anger and sadness are. She also knows what neglect and abandonment are through physical and/or emotional absence. They witness lying, violence, aggression, desperation and worse. They know what hurt and pain feel like and what it's like to be alone is like. Children are the true victims of living in the chaotic dysfunction brought on by

Read More »from 20 Ways Excessive Drinking Affects Your Children

5 Reasons I Can't Wait to Become a MotherMotherhood has always been a fairly intimidating realm for me, as it seems today's society focuses on the Stress! Sacrifice! Crumbs! of parenting a wee one. Yet amidst all of the hard work (and I'm quite sure it's going to be very, very hard work), I've been spending the last few weeks of my pregnancy journey daydreaming about all of the magical aspects of motherhood: the hugs, giggles, and pure joy. And although I have a feeling I might need to re-visit this post when I'm six months into the gig with a fussy baby in aisle nine, here are 5 inspiring reasons I can't wait to embark on this thrill ride.


Related: 5 things I wish I knew before becoming a mom

1. Chubby knees
If you say that chubby knees and elbows don't phase you in the slightest, I'd ask if your blood pressure is within the range of "normal human being." They're so perfectly squeezable! I can't wait to welcome two knees, two elbows and one plump little babe into our household.

2. The smell of baby

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5 Ways to Make Music with BabyWe spend a lot of time listening to music around our house, but babies also get a great deal of joy out of creating their own sounds. Of course there are lots of great instruments for kids, but here are some simple. fun ways to turn your baby into a little rock star with stuff around the house.









Related: 11 brain-boosting activities for babies


1. Hit the Kitchen
Metal pots and pans are a great go-to household item for making music. Give Baby a wooden spoon, a rubber spatula and a plastic ladle to see what different sounds she can create hitting the pots. Add in a plastic storage container or two for variety. If you're looking for the more mellow version, give Baby a bunch of spoons - plastic, metal, baby - and let her go for it.

2. Check the Trash
OK, maybe think before you throw things in the trash. Turn an empty toilet paper or paper towel roll - even an empty plastic cup - into a microphone (just don't let Baby suck on the paper items). An empty (cleaned out) plastic milk

Read More »from Tiny Tunes: 5 Ways to Make Music with Baby

I'm very much a "back in my day" type of mom in that I always tell my kids what things were like during that time, so very long ago, before they were born. I tell them about life without the Internet, cell phones, and how I walked to school up a hill in a snowstorm backwards without shoes (well, that last one might be a slight exaggeration). They take it in stride, sometimes with a touch of disbelief, and at times I wonder if they'll ever truly understand pre-techie civilization, or B.I. (Before Internet) culture. If you're anything like me and think it's important for your kids to have an understanding of your prehistoric (ahem, I mean pre-Internet) upbringing, here are 7 things to teach them about the good old days.

- By Marinka

Follow Marinka on Babble

For more things I've explained to my kids about the good ol' days, visit Babble!

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What's Intense Parenting and Why Are Unhappy? If you're a mom, a new study published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies may explain why: Intense parenting makes mothers miserable.

According to Science Daily, researchers found that mothers who have an intense parenting philosophy are more likely to be unhappy than those who don't. What is intense parenting? If you're a mom who thinks nothing is more important - not your time or your health or your needs - than your child, you may be in for some serious problems.

More specifically, the study's authors defined intense parenting as those who believe:

• mothers, not fathers, are the most necessary and capable parent

• parents' happiness is derived primarily from their children

• parents should always provide their children with stimulating activities that aid in their development

• parenting is more difficult than working

• a parent should always sacrifice their needs for the needs of the child

Related: 10 things you should NEVER say to a mom

Read More »from Parenting to the Limit: Why Are Some Mothers Happier Than Others?