Mission Possible – Dining Out With Your Toddler

If the thought of dining out with your little one brings to mind images of ketchup – covered tantrums or macaroni meltdowns, know that while those things can and do happen it is also possible to have a fun dinner out with your entire family. While it is not possible to guarantee a successful restaurant outing with your toddler, there are things that you can do to increase your chances of having a good time. First, choose your venue carefully. Look for a place with gracious staff, an inviting atmosphere, and food that you know your toddler likes. Also, plan … Continue reading

Photo Add Ons

The title might seem deceiving… this post does not discuss embellishments that you can add on to your photos; rather I wanted to provide additional information on topics I blogged about in previous articles. Here’s more info on: PHOTO SORTING When I mentioned that I sort photos chronologically and separate them per event or occasion I failed to mention that I flag some with Post It notes. Doing so reminds me that a certain picture is frame worthy or scrapbook worthy. However, I should note that you should never adhere Post It notes to the front of your pictures. Always … Continue reading

Creating a Photo Mosaic

I’ve been intrigued by photo mosaics ever since I saw a poster-sized picture of Snoopy hanging in a St. Paul bookstore and realized it was actually an arrangement of thousands of tiny tile photos. Ever since then I have wanted to create a photo mosaic of my own. That was more than five years ago and only now have I gotten around to making my dream a reality. At first I tried to make a photo mosaic on my own. There are hundreds of applications that allow you to do so on your own for free on Macs or PCs. … Continue reading

Photography Week in Review for April 1-7, 2008

Do you know who owns the world’s largest photo album or where you can get boxer shorts emblazoned with a picture of your four-legged pet boxer? This week’s Photography Week in Review provides the answers to those questions and gives tips on how you can keep your kids entertained for hours with leftover photos. Take a look: April 1st—–World’s Largest Photo Album. Unfortunately, it is not for sale nor is it packed with thousands of photos in unique configurations. Still, this massive book made its way into the record books. See why in this blog. April 2nd—–Can You Take Your … Continue reading

Make Your Own Photo Puppets

Ever since my 3-year-old daughter saw “Curious George Goes to the Hospital” on video she has been on a puppet kick. (In one scene George puts on a puppet show for the sick children at the hospital and my daughter falls down laughing each time she sees George with puppets on his hands and feet.) The first time she watched the tape I made her a set of sock puppets so she could put on a show “just like George.” But, recently I found an even better way to create hand puppets that feature your favorite photos. They are more … Continue reading

How to Use Bibliotherapy to Help your Child Solve a Problem

HELP. My child has a problem around an important issue and I cannot afford to go to a child therapist to get professional advice. Does this cry for help sound familiar? Here’s a free tip: use books as an immediate and at home solution to help your child sort through and problem solve around the issue. In the previous article on using junior fiction as a virtual therapist, we looked at what Bibliotherapy is. Today we’re going to look at how to use a specifically chosen story to assist your child to problem solve, release their emotion and develop insight … Continue reading

Music and Movement: Entertainment at the Animal Kingdom

My earliest Disney memory that doesn’t have to do with the movies is of the Disney World Christmas Day Parade. That’s what I knew about Disney parks before I processed the whole theme park thing: I thought of parades featuring Disney characters. Of course now that I know more about Disney World I realize that my early assumptions about what the park meant weren’t so far off base; there are daily parades with various characters all over Disney World, and they’re not limited to the Magic Kingdom. The Animal Kingdom has in fact two of its own parades: Mickey’s Jammin’ … Continue reading

Spring Break Sanity Savers

This weekend marks the beginning of spring break for tens of thousands of students across the country. It also marks the beginning of “Save our Sanity Week” for the tens of thousands of parents who are now tasked with the job of entertaining their children for an entire week while teachers enjoy a break from the duty. If your child is off this week and you are looking for fun activities that will keep him occupied and help preserve your sanity, consider the following: Paper Bag Puppets: This activity is cheap, easy and fun. Have all of your kids create … Continue reading

Parents and Christmas Firsts

Like it or not the holidays make people very nostalgic. It’s hard for some parents not to think of their son or daughter’s first Christmas when hanging stockings or trimming the tree. Then, there’s the tidal wave of memory triggers that come to us via the media. For example, if I see that TV commercial about the mom being “forced” to buy her daughter a new cellphone plan because “it’s the first Christmas that she won’t be home,” I’m going to hurl. Do you remember the first Christmas your child didn’t spend with you? I can’t imagine it’s a very … Continue reading