We’ve all felt rushed at times, and this can lead to accidental omissions. How can we slow down, and make sure we keep track of what matters? This is the challenge that Thomas the Tank Engine™ faces in the book Thomas’ Train. It is the fourth in Caribu’s series of Thomas & Friends™ 75th Anniversary Video Read Alouds featuring Kevin Jonas.
Being cooped up inside is hard. So in our living rooms, bedrooms and basements, kids are turning to fort-building to create safe havens as the Covid-19 world feels out of their control.
As parents settle in to becoming homeschool teachers overnight, the challenges they’re facing can certainly feel daunting, especially at a time when most are worried about their health and financial well-being.
Saturday, May 16th is National Love A Tree Day, and it’s a great time to think about how to protect our leafy friends. Most of the world’s paper comes from trees, and the more paper we consume, the more we deplete the world’s forests. Deforestation is a major concern on planet Earth, since it can result in habitat loss, wildlife extinction, and climate changes. Since trees help filter pollutants in our atmosphere, fewer trees means more air pollution.
Today is International Day of Families, and it’s an excellent opportunity to celebrate your family and others across the globe. In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly created this annual day “to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.”
This is grandparenting amid the COVID-19 crisis. For my wife and me, becoming grandparents meant a hurried drive across middle America — 1,500 miles in two days. It meant being barred from a hospital visit, then maintaining two weeks of self-isolation in a rented house before we’d eventually be allowed to hold our grandchild or hug his parents.
There are lots of reasons why sleep has become more difficult for your children, but three main ones come to mind: schedule changes, lack of physical activity, and higher levels of anxiety. Our schedules are no longer as consistent as they were. Bedtimes and rise times are often a moving target when there’s no school bus coming. And, homeschooling while juggling work and other responsibilities can make it hard to find the time to help your kids get the kind of physical activity that can help them sleep well at night. Finally, your children may be picking up on your own anxiety and may be asking for a bit more help than is typical to get to sleep at night. What can we do about these issues?
Some say that real growth begins when you leave your comfort zone. So what does it look like when you take on a new challenge? Join Thomas the Tank Engine™ to explore the ups and downs of chasing a new goal in the book Thomas and the Freight Cars. It’s the third in Caribu’s series of Thomas and Friends™ 75th Anniversary Video Read Alouds featuring Kevin Jonas.
Sheltering in place with your family means more opportunities to share meals, play games, and possibly drive each other a little batty. The extra hours of togetherness are also a good opportunity to collect oral histories. Whether you want to dive into family lore or record a snapshot of life in the era of COVID-19, there are several ways to set yourself up for sympathetic listening and enthusiastic sharing on all sides.
Overnight, I had been handed the one thing I so fiercely desired—time—and yet I was miserable. Social media and unrelenting Ikea commercials featuring happy families thriving in isolation suggested that my feelings were abnormal. I was beginning to agree with them. I needed help.