It’s a  wonderful back-to-school idea to start the new academic year off on a positive note while also reminding kids to be kind, generous, and thoughtful, especially towards those who invest time and energy into their wellbeing and futures! 

Grab your choice of cleaning supplies, print out and attach this gift tag I have for you below and there you have it! Feel free to print as many tags as you like depending on how many teachers are lucky enough to get a cleaning supply gift! 

More Back To School Inspiration

• 20 Pretty Back To School Supplies
• My Favorite Back to School Lunch Supplies
• 30 Non Sandwich Lunchbox Ideas

Back to School Cleaning Supply Teacher Gift with Free Printable

1. Print out the gift tag on cardstock. You can download the free printable with this link.
2. Cut out the tag around the outer border.
3. Punch a hole in the corner of the tag.
4. Attach the tag to the top of the cleaning supplies with the ribbon.

TIPS FOR MAKING CLEANING SUPPLY TEACHER GIFT

• Decorative ribbon, string or even an elastic band can be used to secure the gift tag on your cleaning supplies.
• If you don’t have ribbon or string on hand, you could also make use of double-sided tape to secure the tag on the cleaning supplies.
• While store-bought cleaning supplies are a convenient option, if you already make your own cleaning solutions at home or have a recipe you want to try, go right ahead and gift your homemade cleaning solution instead! It’ll add a personal touch while also appealing to those who are environmentally minded. 

Print

Back to School Cleaning Supply Teacher Gift with Free Printable

Grab your choice of cleaning supplies, print out and attach this gift tag I have for you below and there you have it! A great teacher gift!

Ingredients

• Printable gift tag
• Ribbon or twine
• Cleaning supplies

Instructions

• Print out the gift tag on cardstock.
• Cut out the tag around the outer border.
• Punch a hole in the corner of the tag.
• Attach the tag to the top of the cleaning supplies with the ribbon.

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HOW TO ENJOY A SOCIAL DISTANCING HALLOWEEN

Instead of doing away with traditions, I’ve got an exciting list of social distancing ideas you can adopt this Halloween which are guaranteed to keep the kids happy and entertained. I know I love a good Halloween too and we could all benefit from looking forward to special occasions. Keep the spirit of Halloween alive this year with these super fun and creative social distancing
ideas!

FUN SOCIAL DISTANCING IDEAS FOR HALLOWEEN

HALLOWEEN ZOOM PARTIES

Zoom is not just for online work meetings, it’s also a great platform to host virtual parties for your kids with their besties during Halloween. Here’s some fun zoom parties to get you inspired:

• HALLOWEEN COSTUME ZOOM PARTY
  This Halloween costume zoom party is a safe alternative to hosting a traditional costume party. Purchase a creepy virtual zoom background online to add to the spirit of Halloween costume zoom party! Each person on the Zoom call gets a chance to show off his or her costume. Add gifts like gift cards to motivate people to dress up. What’s great about this zoom party is that it can easily be modified for a kids party or an adults party.
• PUMPKIN CARVING ZOOM PARTY
  Host a pumpkin carving zoom party where everyone connects online while in their kitchens or outside to carve pumpkins together! These 200+ Free Pumpkin Carving Stencils should easily get you started. Prepare a spooky playlist for background noise where everyone gets busy with their carving.
• HALLOWEEN ZOOM CRAFT PARTY
  Halloween zoom craft parties are a good excuse to get creative. Send a list of supplies to attendees beforehand or people can show up with their own craft. Here are some fun crafts to get you inspired:
  • Scarecrow Halloween Goodie Bags
  • Creepy Halloween Goodie Bags
  • Spooky Halloween Spider Sucker Craft
• HALLOWEEN ZOOM BAKING PARTY
  If baking is more of your passion then what better way to show off your skills than by baking some spooky Halloween cookies or treats with friends over zoom? Get everyone to plan their recipes ahead of time with ingredients. You can bake the same treat or everyone makes their own. Afterwards, wrap up your baked goods and give them to your loved ones.

HALLOWEEN TREASURE HUNT AROUND YOUR HOUSE

• Planning on spending this year’s Halloween at home? Then treat your family to a Halloween treasure or scavenger hunt around the house and garden.
• You can divide your family into teams with a list of clues or riddles and hide candy in hard to find places in the house and garden! Hand out a Halloween treat bag to each person to fill up.

GO BIG ON OUTDOOR HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS

• Since it’s not a good idea to have indoor parties this year, why not go big on your outdoor Halloween decorations this year and get the family involved.
• It’ll provide a fun family activity while also spreading holiday cheer to your neighbors.

HALLOWEEN MOVIE NIGHT

• Halloween is definitely not the same without a few classic Halloween movies! Easily watch a scary movie with friends virtually using NetflixParty or Amazon Watch Party. Outdoor movie nights are also a great idea! Here is a fun idea from Family Fresh Meals 
• Here are some kid-friendly Halloween movie ideas:
  • Casper
  • It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
  • Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
  • Double, Double, Toil & Trouble
  • Harry Potter
  • Ghostbusters
  • Monsters Inc.
  • The Adams Family

ROCK HALLOWEEN SOCIAL-DISTANCING STYLE!

• Knowing that there are many fun social distancing ideas for Halloween lifts my Halloween enthusiasm quite a bit this year. Try out one of the ideas or all of them and let me know how it goes!
• Let me know of any other fun ideas you have!

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The teenage years will find you wondering if your child has gone backward. Teenagers are very similar to toddlers in that the world seems to revolve around their wants, needs, and desires. It’s very difficult for parents who find themselves in their first teenager. The communication seems to break down during this stage in parenthood.

Your teenager wants to be on their own, yet they’re not quite ready to be an adult. If you’re wondering how in the world you can master talking with your teen, without getting angry, then you’re in luck. I have some tips to help guide you towards a positive relationship with your teen during these trying times.

Tips for Communicating Better with your Teen

Always Try To Understand

Even if you don’t understand or agree with your teen and what’s going on in their world, the best way to have better communication with your teen is to always try to understand. Whenever you’re engaging your teen in a conversation or they’ve started a conversation with you, always reply from a place of understanding so that they’ll continue to open up and communicate with you no matter what.

Remove Emotions

The last thing a teen wants to deal with is their parents’ emotional reactions to something they’re trying to pen up about. The biggest key to communicating better with your teen is to try to remove all parental and human feelings from the equation. Whenever you feel a strong emotional response to what your teen is saying, walk away or take a few deep breaths as you continue to hear what they have to say.

Make Time

Some teenagers simply won’t talk to you. They will hold it in and talk to their peers rather than coming to a parent to open up their thoughts, feelings and current experiences. The best way to encourage better communication with your teen is to make time for them. Whether it’s a 20-minute session during a meal or playing their favorite game with them, making time will help them open up more regularly.

Ask Honest Questions

Teenagers tend to be indecisive and avoidant if there’s an opening for that. They can also be very defensive due to their wonderful hormonal changes. It’s important that you ask honest questions that will encourage a solution driven response. As an example, if your teen is struggling to get up for school on time, as to why they think they may be sleeping in. This will open up the chance for a positive conversation.

Communicating better with your teen may feel like a project and a half, but it doesn’t have to be stressful. Following these simple tips for communicating better with your teen will ensure you’re able to know what’s going on in your teen’s life as well as be able to discuss important events as they come up in your teenagers’ life. Better communication with your teen is simply a positive stepping stone to being more included in their teenage world.

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Fearlessness originates from a feeling of skill. A shy youngster needs a positive and sensible impression of his or her capacities. This emerges out of accomplishments, both extraordinary and little. Your empowering words can help build up this confidence, particularly when you encourage your youngster’s particular endeavors or capacities. Here are the things, which you can do for the development of confidence in your kids.

How to build confidence in your shy child:

Love, it may seem obvious but it is the most important thing one can give to a child. A child needs to feel accepted and adored, start with the family and stretching out to different gatherings. Warm, lively and loving associations with your child will fill them with a feeling of being esteemed and acknowledged. This is a must for building up the internal identity and confidence required for collaborating with others.

Praising your child when it is due will fill them with a sense of achievement. This in turn will build enough confidence in them to try new things. There should always be realism in the praise. If your child is doing wrong then the effort should be praised but not the results. Teach them to accept imperfections. Telling your child that everything requires practice and effort would let them see the bigger picture but remember to not only tell but get involved as well. This might be all that is needed to help your shy child break free.

Setting Realistic Goals is important in the long-run. You should help your child set up goals that are doable and within the working boundaries of his capabilities. Help your child and encourage them to set reachable shorter goals. This will help a lot in boosting the confidence of your child after each successful completion of a shorter goal.    

Positive self-talk and self-love is an important factor in boosting one’s confidence. This behavior can be modeled into children by a few simple techniques such as playing positive affirmations in the background or simply getting into a routine of saying three positive things about themselves before they go to bed. Another way is by celebrating your success with your children talk about the hard work, skills, and endeavors that were required to accomplish those achievements. In a similar discussion, you can help your youngster to remember the skills the person has and how they can be created and utilized.

Sports and physical activities are a great self-esteem boost and a perfect way to make friends. They discover that they can rehearse, improve and accomplish objectives. They figure out how to perceive their qualities, acknowledge or fortify their shortcomings, handle rout, extend their friend network and learn cooperation. Another certainty boosting reward is that they remain fit and figure out how to regard their bodies.

The pursuit of one’s passion is must if a person wants to succeed by doing something which he loves. Everybody exceeds expectations at something, and it’s extraordinary when a child finds that special something. As a parent, regard and support your kid’s advantages, regardless of whether they intrigue you or not. When your child achieves something they are passionate about, be there number one fan.

That said, it is important to distinguish between an introvert child and a shy one as they are often confused. Remember that different children come with different personalities and all we can do as parents are to love and accept them.

We love to hear from you: Let us know a pro-tip you have for dealing with a shy child!

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As parents, we have a natural tendency to make sure our kids are choosing the “right crowd” to hang out with. Sometimes, this tendency means we end up stepping over the line and choosing friends for them! Setting up playdates with specific kids might be a good strategy now, but it hinders your kid’s ability to make their own judgement when it comes to new friendships.

Teaching your kids about healthy friendships will teach your kids to choose their friends wisely, even if it means they will have to make a few mistakes along the way. I know it can be hard to let them do this on their own, but it will do wonders in the long run. Here is how you can teach your kids to choose their friends wisely, to help them develop healthy friendships.

Teach them values

Everyone has their own set of values and personal beliefs, some of which are developed as children. Your kids will likely learn many of these values from you, the parent, and from the people they interact with. Talk with your children about family values, and things you value, to help them understand and be able to see that same value in others. This will help them when choosing friends as it will allow them to know whether or not a potential friend has the same beliefs and values.

Share experiences with your children

Children lead by example, which means opening up to your children about experiences with your friends can help teach them valuable lessons. This can avoid some of the headaches of choosing bad friends down the road, and also help them learn without making the same mistake.

Allow your children to interact with a variety of children

Allowing your child to interact with a variety of potential friends will help them learn who they enjoy hanging out with. This will help them learn the meaning of being a good or bad friend, and be able to identify characteristics of both. It will also teach them that they can be friends with someone who is different from them, and the opposite as well.

Encourage healthy friendships

When your child develops healthy friendships, it’s important to express your approval. This means encouraging play dates or even driving them to the friend’s house from time to time. Your child will look to you often to try and figure out what you think of their friends, so it’s important to let them know when they’ve found a positive friendship.

It’s never too early to start teaching your kids how to choose friends wisely. As your child grows up, they’ll know the difference between a toxic and a healthy friendship with other children. Not only will this teach your children how to pick positive friendships, but it will also teach them what it means to be a good friend as well.

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Doesn’t it feel like just yesterday you were holding your little ones in your arms for the first time? One thing we all know is that our kids grow up faster than we can keep up with. As a mom, it’s really hard to let go of our children’s mementos.

Even if when we run out space, we still try to cram every memento in our homes. Here are 15 Ways to Preserve your Childrens Memories Forever!

15 Ways to Preserve your Childrens Memories Forever

1. Child Memory Ornament
2. Create an Annual Photo Album
3. Frame their Artwork
4. Document your Pregnancy
5. Salt Dough Keepsakes
6. Make a Baby Onesie Quilt
7. First Day of School Tshirt
8. Frame their Favorite Toys
9. DIY Memory Jar
10. Turn your Kid’s Art into Custom Jewelry
11. Use a Giant Growth Chart
12. Handwriting Samples
13. Organize School Papers
14. Birthday Interviews
15. Sand Clay Keepsakes

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Back to school season is here! Which means it’s also time to take our kids shopping for back to school. I love going shopping with my girls and picking out adorable folders and binders. Get your girls ready for back to school with these 20 pretty back to school supplies that every girl needs for a successful school year.

20 Pretty Back to School Supplies

1. Get it Together Backpack
2. 17 Month Classic Agenda
3. Kate Spade Gold Pen Set
4. Flamingo Pencil Case
5. Doodlebox
6. Lilly Pulitzer Sticky Note Set
7. Wire Tape Dispenser
8. Patterned Wirebound Notebooks
9. Glass Bottle Office Supply Set
10. Thermal Lunch Box
11. To Do List Notepad
12. Women’s Compliment Pencil Set
13. Palm Leaf Coffee Mug
14. Sharpie Writing Set
15. Gold Foil Adhesive Tabs
16. Panda Stapler
17. Lilly Pulitzer Agenda Bonus Pack
18. Pink Scientific Calculator
19. Fashion Three Ring Binders
20. Butterfly Back to School Set

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5 ways to connect with your daughter

Connecting with your daughter can be difficult, especially if she’s already hit the teenage years. I have 2 girls and am full blown in the tween years. Even though at times it feels like you don’t have many things in common with your daughter, it is still extremely important to develop a strong relationship with her. Here are 5 ways you can connect with your daughter, so you can develop a lasting relationship with her.

Read together

Reading together is a great way to develop a relationship with your little girl. Whether she is starting kindergarten or middle school, reading can be a great bonding activity. You can choose a book to read out loud together, this is great if your child is just learning to read, or you can turn it into a book club style activity and discuss what you’ve read together.

Volunteer

There are so many ways you can volunteer both your time and resources these days, which makes this a perfect way to connect with your daughter. If you’re having trouble getting her on-board, consider letting her choose the activity. If you have an older daughter who likes sports, consider assisting her in teaching younger kids to play a sport. If she loves animals, volunteer at an animal shelter or local Humane Society together. This will be a great way to make memories together, and spend time with one another.

Paint her room together

Whether she’s outgrown her childhood room, or looking to change the color, this can be a great way to spend time with your older daughter. This will give her a chance to learn a useful household skill, as well as give you the chance to talk about her life together.

Play a game together

Whether it’s a board game, video game, or a game you make up together, playing games together is a great bonding activity. The best part is that this is something you can do with your daughter no matter what age she is! This one is Potion Explosion! (affiliate link)

Spend the day together

The best way you can connect to your daughter is by spending uninterrupted quality time together. Go shopping, have lunch together, go for a long walk, or maybe all three. Regardless of how you spend your day, do something fun that you’ll both enjoy!

Spending time with your daughter can feel like pulling teeth sometimes. As they get older, it gets even harder to spend time together. Make the most of the time you do have together, and make sure to take their interests into account.

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Tablets are a thing of now, not the future. Kids are using them in pre-school and kindergarten. We may not like this change, but in reality it is a good thing. All jobs and learning is going the technology route. The skills they learn at a young age can help them succeed later on and not have such a large learning curve.

One thing you do have to know about tablets is that not all of them are created equal. Some have different settings, different memory sizes, and much more. Some are even made just for certain brand of games and apps. Here are 5 kid tablets that we recommend.

5 Tablets for Kids

Amazon Fire Kids Edition

This tablet has a 7inch screen, kid proof case and 16 GB of memory. The parental controls are perfect to keep the kids safe and even have limited screen time. You can set the time of day it can be on and even how many hours total they can be on it. It uses the kindle store and android apps. To add anything to it you have to be on the parent side and have a password.

Ematic PBS Kids Playtime Tablet

This table like most these days also has a 7 inch screen, case and 16 GB of memory. This one comes with 23 preloaded games and is PBS oriented. It does have parental controls to help keep the kids safe and from adding anything.

Leap Frog Learning Tablet

Also 7 inch screen, 16 GB of memory and protective covering. It has 20 apps preloaded, grows with the child in set able stages and works with android apps. It does have parental controls to add content.

Contixo

20+ FREE Top Educational and Game apps, age appropriate for each kid. With KIDS PLACE Parental Control, No.1 Kids OS, there’s no need to worry about unfriendly content on the Internet, kids can get access to fun and educational games, videos and websites which you choose for them.

NPOLE Kids Tablet 

Designed with kids in mind: pre-installed IWAWA software – best-in-class parental controls allow you to manage usage limits, content access, and educational goals. Pre-installed more than 60 educational apps, and games. As parents, you can select all of the content your kids can see, and you can limit your kids’ screen time.

When looking for a tablet for kids, be mindful of what they have access to. I vote to always get an actual kid tablet with parental controls for safety and time constraints. This will help keep your information safe, your children safe as well as them not able to access or buy anything. If they are a teenager, we understand getting them a real tablet or laptop. Research your options and find the best fit.

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