Chickadee Cheer is a monthly, interactive blog for parents and kids. Click to “read more” to get all the good stuff, including this month’s winner of a giveaway as well as great content about parenting, teaching, writing, art, and more. Unsubscribe anytime.

JOIN ME IN MAKING “ROCKS” A PRIORITY. MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME ~ AND TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO DO THE SAME.

Family, friends, health (spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical)

These are things that are most important. None of these requires MONEY, but they all require TIME. To be sure, work, school, and our hobbies (passions) are very important, but pale in comparison. When we spend most of our time on the least important things like television, video games, social media, cleaning, shopping, and so on, we are never satisfied, or really happy. (click the arrow to “read more” for all the good stuff)

I’m sure you have heard of the jar filled with rocks, then pebbles, then sand, and sometimes water. The jar symbolizes our life. The rocks represent the most important things in our lives. The pebbles are the less important, and the sand and water, the least important. If filled with the sand first, then pebbles, then rocks, the rocks will never fit in the jar. But when rocks are put first, then pebbles, then sand, everything fits! (Though you will need to shake the jar a little.) This is a great lesson to give any child and I would encourage you to demonstrate it with them if they’re not familiar with it already.

I’ve been busy, busy, busy and I’ve noticed many people around me are too. Some significant things in my life have been ignored. No longer! I’m making these “rocks” my priority. It is a fact that each of us has 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks each year, and none of us knows how many years we have left. Let’s not make busy-ness our life’s business. If we do, we’ll wonder where the time went as we notice, too late, that we’ve missed opportunities to make a difference in the most important areas of our lives. (Look how quickly July went!)

QUALITY TIME - FIVE TIPS

1) Listen & Talk (sincerely listen & respond) It’s challenging to spend quality time with each member of your family - separately - when you have a large family. But if you make it a priority and put off some of the sand and pebble stuff, it is possible.

2) Fix & Improve Things (Note: building things together also establishes trust between parent & child.)

3) Cook Together

4) Play

5) Plan Vacations

BACK TO SCHOOL TIME

August is the time to buy all those back to school clothes and supplies, right? I hope everyone is ready to get to (or back to) school this year. Here’s a fun little coloring page you can click on and print. Send me your coloring page to include in September. I’d love to see it and share it with our group.

GIVEAWAYS

In July, I gave away a nice journal, a set of pencils, and some fun erasers. Liz’s son, Josiah, won the gift and he even sent me a handwritten thank you card! He kept the pencils and erasers, but the journal was given to a deserving, unnamed young lady. (photos below)

In August, I will be gifting a hardback copy of the Bandana Acres series book of choice. The lucky subscriber is Beth. Congratulations! I will be in contact with you for your selection. Thanks, in advance, for sending a photo with the book and your little one(s) for next month!

GALLERY

Here I am with Liz Lee who invited me to their last day of VBS where they studied 4 character qualities through animals: Pelican, Beaver, Bear, and Eagle. (Generosity, Diligence, Courage, Responsibility respectively). CharacterFirstEducation.com We enjoyed a great evening with a cookout, stations with crafts & games, family races, and my book table!

One of the best things was that they asked me to read to the kids. They were so attentive that after reading one chapter, they wanted MORE. So I read another. Later, a young boy came by my table and asked where we left off in the book - AND READ THE REST OF THE BOOK HIMSELF - while everyone was busy doing other things. He really wanted to know what happened! Warmed my heart… :)

I wish I had some submissions from other subscribers to post this month. Maybe next time??

Have a great August!