FAMILY Magazine January 2015

January 2015 • Moms Just Know • Free

The

Truth

Hosting A

Sleepover

About Crying It Out

Survive

a Snow

Day

Party

Pregnancy Pampering

On A Budget

keep faith Alive In Your Child’s Eyes

Serving: Granger • Mishawaka • Elkhart • South Bend • Goshen • Niles Edwardsburg • Middlebury & Surrounding Communities

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“I was arrested more times than I can remember. I lost my freedom, my family… I almost lost my life. But mom never gave up on me. Not many stories like mine have happy endings. My future began when Goodwill helped me find a job. That’s how your donation to Goodwill changes lives.”

Janie

IN THE NEXT ISSUE:

Summer Camps/Child Care & Preschools If you would like your business and/or service to be included in the next issue, call The FAMILY Magazines at 574.387.5420 to reserve your space. Space is limited.

Contributors President & Publisher: Betsy Tavernier

Betsy@MichianaFamilyMagazine.com

Managing Editor: Jessica Haviland

Jessy@MichianaFamilyMagazine.com

AD COORDINATOR & INSIDE SALES MANAGER

Amanda Oiler Amanda@MichianaFamilyMagazine.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN Manager: Zuzanna Zmud

Zuzanna@MichianaFamilyMagazine.com

Medical Editor: S. Jesse Hsieh, M.D. Distribution Managers: Mike Trentacosti Kevin Reynolds Family Magazines of Michiana would love to hear from you! Please submit press releases, event information and inquiries to: Jessy@Michianafamilymagazine.com The FAMILY Magazines PO BOX 577 Granger, IN 46530 PH: 574.387.5420 • FX: 574.217.4700 www.MichianaMom.com

on the cover:

Louisa from Elkhart County Photo:

The FAMILY Magazines January 2015 Established in 2006.

All rights reserved.

Permission from the publisher is required for any reproduction or reprint of this publication.

Read The FAMILY Magazines online each month!

Go to www.MichianaMom.com and flip the pages, cover-to-cover the organic and green way!

SMC Photography

Volume 9: Number 1

Find the Hidden Acorn!

For your enjoyment and fun!

TheFamilyMagazineOfMichiana Stephanie is a portrait and event photographer from Elkhart, IN servicing the Michiana area since 2013. As a mother of twin boys, Stephanie adores capturing the love shared within couples and families and telling a story with her work. Stephanie offers custom packages and is willing to travel around the Michiana area. Contact her today at:

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@FamilyMagazines FamilyMagazine TheFamilyMag www.MichianaMom.com Please use the information compiled by Michiana Family Magazines for your research. Michiana Family Magazines recommends that parents and families interview each business or organization to make sure that it is safe and a good fit for your family. The information presented here and provided by Michiana Family Magazines is for informational purposes only and although every effort has been made to present accurate information, Michiana Family Magazines does not, in any way, accept responsibility for the accuracy of or consequences from the use of this information and/or for the businesses and organizations presented herein. We urge all parents and families to confirm any information given herein through additional research. The views and opinions expressed by the writers, event organizers and advertisers do not necessarily represent those of Michiana Family Magazines LLC, its officers, editors, staff or contributors.

THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

3

F R O M T H E P U B LI S H ER

8

Things

We Learned Making

The January Issue

Photography: Classic image photography Makeup: Camellia Maalouf, Camellia Cosmetics Granger

1. Make snow days enjoyable for you and the kids! Visit page 10 to try these fun ideas when school is cancelled.

Things We (at FAMILY)

Love

Right Now!

1. Snowflakes 2. Realistic Resolutions 3. Hot Cocoa 4. Howard Park Ice Skating 5. Frosty Lip Gloss

2. There is no cure for ADHD but it can be managed. Learn more about ADHD on page 16.

3. Sometimes, it’s OK to be a quitter. Read our Dear Mom column on page 28 and see why one mom is ok with saying “no.”

6. Andes Mints 7. Smart Wool Socks 8. Swiss Valley 9. Duck Boots (with fur) 10. Sledding 11. Hand Warmers 12. Rescue Pets

4. Watch Fantastic Mr. Fox with the family tonight to wash away those winter blues. Visit page 32 to see what other movies will help you get over the winter/holiday blues.

5. Have your kids play “spa day” and you be the client. Check out other cheap pregnancy pampering ideas on page 22.

6. Check the label on your sidewalk salt to make sure it will not ruin your concrete. Go to page 30 to see which sidewalk salts will give you the best and fastest results.

Photo Courtesy: flavorwire.com

13. Balance

Janua ry

Check it Out! Don

Schedule

Your

Downti

me

Fitne T e c hssY

’t forget to pick HealtHy up your copy of the NEW SASS Y Lon and Lean g Magazine! in 2015 Dinners

for the Perso

tips

n on the Go

7. Your kid’s next slumber party doesn’t have to break the bank.

Learn how you can throw your kids the best slumber party on a budget on page 12.

4

THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

8. Letting your child cry it out may not be the best method.

Visit page 14 to see why one Notre Dame professor says that sleep training can be dangerous.

N O31

5 Money Mis

tak

Avoides

to

2015

4Keeps

By: Casey Kiel

Like '4Keeps' on Facebook or visit CaseyKiel.com

VIP

January

ADVERTISERS

Special THANKS to the following VIP January advertisers that help us provide The Family Magazine to the Michiana community for FREE:

Testimonials From Our Readers “The December giveaways were amazing and helped with my Christmas list! Thanks FAMILY Magazine!”

– Lydia R.

32 Pearls Afdent Classic Image Photography Gymnastics Michiana Mathnasium Midwest Orthoics MutualBank Memorial Children's Hospital

“My New Year’s resolution this year is to take at least one article in FAMILY Magazine and apply it to my life today!”

– Halie E.

“I was fortunate to meet the FAMILY Magazine staff a few weeks ago. It’s obvious that this magazine is so wonderful because the people behind it are amazing!”

– Rebecca W.

Menno Travel Once Upon a Child Star Martial Arts

We'd LOVE to hear from you! contact: The FAMILY Magazines

jessy@MichianaFamilyMagazine.com

Swiss Valley Ski Resort THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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the FAMILY magazine table

Of

12

26

Family Kids

14 The Truth about Crying it Out By: Meagan Church

16 Caring for Kids By: Maged Ibrahim, M.D., Pediatrician

18 5 Tips to Keep Your Potty Training Resolutions

contents

By: Roni Noone

Family Pregnancy Live Your Best

4 8 Things We Learned Making This Issue

28

4 Things We Love Right Now

22 5 Ideas for Pregnancy Pampering on a Budget By: Chaunie Bruise

24 13 Simple Ways to Cope When Your Baby Comes Early By: Karyn Robinson-Renaud MSW, RSW

5 Reader Testimonials

SPECIAL SECTION: Keeping Faith Alive

5 4Keeps Comic 7 Contributors

26 Keeping Faith Alive in Your Child’s Eyes

8 The FAMILY Month Calendar 20 Centerfold Calendar

By: Jackie Folkert

35 Coloring Contest

Mommy and Daddy

Family Recipe

28 Dear Mom, Be a Quitter

Movie & Book Review

30 Product Review: Is Your Salt Doing the Trick?

By: Meagan Church

37 Oh So Cheesy Potato Casserole

38 Book Review: Your Family Tree Series by Jim Ollhoff

By: Lara West

Reviewed By: Betty Strantz

39 Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Reviewed By: Natalie Rarick

32 Films to get you through the Holiday Blues By: Cole Pollyea

Family Craft

34 Hot Cocoa Snowman By: Jill Lebbin

Family Fun

10 10 Ways to Survive a Snow Day By: Meagan Church

12 Save Time, Money & Even Your Sanity by Hosting a Sleepover Party By: Christina Katz

18

FAMILY contibutors

Meagan Church is married to

Jill Lebbin is a wife, mother,

Chaunie Brusie is a nurse,

Jackie Folkert is a freelance

her high-school sweetheart

craft fanatic and DIY blogger at

freelance writer and a young

writer and English teacher in

and is the mother of 3 kids.

www.EveryDayisan

mom of three (soon to be

South Bend. One of her three

She is a writer and children’s

Occasion.com. She and her

four!). She lives in SE Michigan

kids is allergic to tree nuts

book author. She is also the

husband Marcel have been

and is the author of Tiny Blue

and her husband is allergic to

brainpower of the online

married for five years and love

Lines: Reclaiming Your Life,

wheat. She’s glad she’s not allergic to chocolate.

resource Unexpectant,

living in Granger with their two

Preparing For Your Baby, and

exploring the realities of birth,

spunky kids, Marcel Jr. and Lilly.

Moving Forward in Faith in an

babies and beyond

Unplanned Pregnancy.

A Kids4Kids journey through “Pure imagination” with the world’s greatest candy man!

5 February 6-1

• 2015

Based on the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Adapted for the Stage by Leslie Bricusse and Timothy A. McDonald - Words and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newly THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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The FAMILY Month Calendar 10

13

Cross Country Ski Lessons, St. Patrick’s County Park, 10:00 A.M.

1

21 19

Breastfeeding Class for Moms and Dads, Frederick S. Upton Education Center, St. Joseph, MI, 6:00 P.M.

Happy New Year!

8

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday

22

17

15

Bubble Bath Day

South Bend/Mishawaka Relay for Life 2015 Kickoff Event, Knights of Columbus Hall, Mishawaka, 6:00 P.M.

28

Space Shuttle Swan Lake-The State Ballet Challenger Accident, Theatre of Russia, 6:30 P.M., PHM Digital Video Morris Performing Theater/Planetarium Arts Center, 7:30 P.M.

Winter Holiday Concert, Saint Hedwig Memorial Center, South Bend, 5:00 P.M.

Passport to Play: Innertubing, St. Patrick’s County Park, 5:30 P.M.

25

Opposite Day

2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 12 14 16 18 20 23 24 26 27 29 30 31 Th

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Sa

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Tu

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Sa

Su

M

Tu

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Sa

Su

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Tu

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Easy Homemade Hot Cocoa Ingredients • 2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder • 2 Tablespoons Sugar • Pinch of Salt • 1 Cup Milk • ¼ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract Directions Whisk together the cocoa, sugar, salt and two tablespoons of milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until cocoa and sugar is dissolved.

Then, whisk in the rest of the milk and heat it over medium heat until it is hot. Stir in the vanilla and serve!

(Recipe Found: www.epicurious.com)

What We Are Pinning:

A New You!

Each year we set New Year’s resolutions that we can’t ever seem to keep! We are busy moms who are trying to keep up with our kids! So this year, let’s make our New Year’s resolutions easier to keep and will positively affect the whole family!

1. Recycle: Teach your kids the importance of recycling and how you can all incorporate it into their lives.

2. Reading: Read a book to your kids each night before you tuck them into bed. Then, take a moment for yourself and read a book before you fall asleep!

Baby’s First Cake

3. Make Monthly Dates: These dates can be individual dates with each child or have a group date where they can choose what they want to do! And, don’t forget to have your monthly date nights with your hubby!

4. Designated Chores: Take a few minutes and delegate chores to everyone in the house! Give the kids incentives to want to keep helping each and every week!

Boy Cake

www.lilsugar.com

8

A New Year…

THE

Girly Cake

www.sweetgrace.net

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Number 1

www.cakefool.co.uk

5. Eat Healthy: Try new recipes that you think everyone would love! Then, after dinner each one of you can put your input on what you think of the meal.

The FAMILY Magazine Presents…

The Virtual Camp Fair starts February 28th and will continue to be online throughout 2015!

Join Us!

Camps  Summer School  Summer Workshops  Classes & s  Daycare amps  Athletic C s  Art Camp Camps  Specialty ed Camps  Faith Bas ps  Day Cam re!  Many Mo

There will be contests and giveaways during the month of March on www.michianamom.com and FAMILY Magazine’s Facebook page!

Want a reminder?

Sign up to receive the FAMILY Magazine’s eblast reminders on the homepage of their website!

Come visit all of your local and regional summer camps for kids in the comfort of your own home!

FAMILY fun

10 Ways to Survive a Snow Day By: Michelle L. Shirk, J.D.

By: Meagan Church

School is cancelled. It’s the announcement that can cause kids to celebrate and parents to moan with dread. While the kids may think it’s a totally awesome thing to have an impromptu day off school, what they fail to realize is that in a few short hours (or less), they will soon be whining those two words that make parents’ ears bleed: I’m bored!

So what can parents do to thwart those words and survive the snow day? Of course you could opt for a movie marathon or endless gaming. But, instead of engaging a screen all day, try these 10 ideas that have the potential to intersect fun and subtle learning:

Make Snow Cream

When life hands you a snow day, make snow cream. Turn the white, fluffy stuff into a tasty treat by gathering eight cups of fresh, clean snow (avoid the yellow variety, please). Mix it with a can of sweetened condensed milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Enjoy it immediately and repeat as desired.

Practice Letters

Build a Fort

I know a living room floor covered with pillows, couch cushions, and every sheet and blanket you own doesn’t exactly invoke order, but let the kids’ imaginations run wild by destroying the living room for just a few hours. Give them access to fort building materials and see what they create.

This also leads to an important life lesson: blanket folding. At the end of the day, have them pitch in and clean up after themselves. Who knows; one of your kids might just hold the key to the how-to-fold-the-fitted-sheet mystery.

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FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Kids these days are born with an innate ability to operate a smart phone or tablet. Anymore, they seem to know how to text before they can craft a hand-written letter.

So, use a snow day to bring back the hidden art of writing letters.

Teach them how to properly craft a letter, such as a thank-you note, a get well soon card or a note for a friend. The recipient and subject don't matter as much as the overall lesson on how to write a letter, not to mention it is great handwriting practice and an opportunity to teach them about a technological advancement known as a pen.

Just Dance

When cabin fever starts to set in, encourage kids to dance off some of their excess energy. Crank up the tunes and throw caution to the wind. This is also a great opportunity to impress the kids with your own moonwalk and running man.

Experiment

Scrub-a-Dub

Let the kids create their own science experiments with things found around the house. Mix baking soda and vinegar, and watch it bubble. Add food coloring to water, snow, shaving cream, baking soda or just about anything. Find safe ways for them to learn about cause and effect.

It may be too cold to swim outside, so instead, fill up the bathtub. Draw a warm bubble bath and fill it with toys.

Even older kids might be surprised by how relaxing a bubble bath can be. If they have outgrown the rubber ducky, suggest reading a book, while surrounded by bubbles.

Bake

Snow days are a great opportunity to turn on the oven and whip up something yummy. Let them take ownership of a baking project. They may think they are getting a special treat, but what they don’t realize is they are receiving valuable lessons in math, reading and cooking at the same time.

Get Your Game On Embrace The Snow

If the temperatures and wind chill permit, send the kids outside. Yes, it may take an hour to bundle them properly, but encourage them to get out, build a snowman, toss some snowballs or sled down a slope. Have them work with neighbor kids to build forts, tunnels and slides. Just get them out the door and burning off some energy.

Raid the hall closet for board games, cards, puzzles and other interactive activities.

Invite neighbor kids over for a Pictionary tournament, after all, their parents are probably dreading the “I’m bored” whine, as well, so send them a life preserver. They might even return the favor and give you a few minutes of solitude, while the kids play elsewhere.

Read

Before you breeze over this one and fear the kids would be too bored, hear me out. Books are magical and the more we give our kids the space to discover that for themselves, the more we bring them one step closer to being life-longer readers and learners. So, light a fire in the fireplace, grab some cozy blankets, whip up some hot chocolate, and set the timer for 10, 30, 60 minutes or more, and read. Read aloud together or have everyone choose their own selections. If everyone survives the allotted time without whining or boredom, perhaps a reward of an extra scoop of snow cream is in order.

THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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FAMILY fun

By: Christina Katz

Save Time, Money & Even Your Sanity

By Hosting A Sleepover Party Birthday parties can be expensive, if you don't watch your bottom line. And parties at home can quickly add up to the same amount you'd pay to throw a party elsewhere. But, surprise! You can throw a 24 hour slumber party for your child's birthday that won't break the bank or cause mom and dad to have a nervous breakdown. Here's how: Use Evite. Save on follow-up calls, postage

Ask your sleepover guests to bring:  Sleeping bag  Pillow  Stuffed animal  Slippers  Bathrobe  Toothbrush  Hairbrush  Indoor clothes/shoes that can get dirty  Outdoor clothes/shoes that can get dirty  Pajamas 12

THE

and invitations by using Evite.com for your party invitations. The site offers a wide variety of digital designs and costs nothing to use. All you need to do to round up e-mail addresses for your party guests.

After everyone has RSVP'd, you can easily follow up about party details such as what to bring, allergy or medication needs, and pick-up times.

Don't decorate. Think home protection rather than party decorations and invest instead in plastic tablecloths, eco-friendly plates, napkins, straws and silverware. If you want to make the sleeping room a bit more magical, why not pull out a couple strings of Christmas lights and twinkle up the windows? If you want a birthday banner for your guest of honor, make the creation of one with whatever craft items you have on hand, the first order of business. Just spread the craft supplies out on the table and have the kids jump in.

Give goods, not goodies.

Gather small gifts for your guests that go with your sleepover theme and avoid the usual sugar-overload and tiny trinkets that go home in a traditional goodie-bag. Check out local dollar store or dollar aisle at your local department store for ideas.

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Manicure or pedicure kits might be perfect for a nail art party. A pair of mini-binoculars would work for a spy-themed party. An eye mask makes a good choice for a spa party. And rock star sunglasses are a fun touch for a karaoke party. Give the gifts to guests as they arrive to put a smile on their face and get them engaged in the fun.

Pizza is perfect. It's not really a slumber party without pizza, and this is good news for mom and dad. Pizza in bulk is cheap and satisfying but if you prefer to cook yourself, make everything the morning of the party and simply reheat at dinnertime.

Make the cake (or go with fondue).

Bakery cakes can be costly and superstore cakes are often inexpensive but low quality. So why not bake your child's favorite cake at home instead? Since you won't have to transport the cake you can make it as little (cupcakes), wide (sheet cake) or tall (layer cake) as you like. And you can also make it as heavy (pound or Bundt cake) or light (sponge or angel food) as your guest of honor prefers. Or skip the cake and go with chocolate fondue instead! Dunk pieces of pound cake, strawberries and bananas into eight ounces of chocolate chips melted with third cup of half and half.

Give progressive gifts.

Instead of spending on the party separately from your child's gifts, combine the two.

Make some of you party purchases tie-in with the party theme. This way your party is not a one-shot expense with nothing left to show for it afterwards. For example, your nail art, spy, spa, or karaoke items can be opened as gifts. Group games, like Twister, also work well. Or wrap a new DVD to watch around 9 p.m. to help everyone decompress before bed. An assortment of Mad-Libs can offer something silly to do once everyone is in their sleeping bags.

you work on cranking out pancakes with a choice of bananas, blueberries or strawberries cooked in.

Kick 'em out of the house.

You need a chance to tidy up before parent pick-ups begin. So have everyone get ready to go and then send everyone out for a game of tag or dodge ball while you clean up.

And there you have it. A perfectly fun, budgetfriendly and only slightly exhausting slumber party that everyone will fondly remember for years to come.

Slumber party themes:  Nail art

 Fashion show

 Spy kit

 Kite-making

 Spa night

 Magic tricks

 Karaoke

Fill tummies for better sleep.

Offer a midnight snack with a glass of milk.

Ice cream sandwiches make a nice midnight snack when contrasted with homemade hot chocolate. Or get a roll of slice-and-bake cookies or scoop-able cookie dough, and fill the house with fresh-from-the-oven beforebed bliss. For the uber-ambitious, make the dough the morning of the party and refrigerate until bedtime.

Breakfast on the cheap.

Pancakes from scratch are inexpensive. Cook up some bacon or sausage for protein and put everything in the oven to stay warm while

Another smart choice to love.

McDonald’s® Happy Meals are loaded with smart choices including our latest addition, Cuties®, which will be available through March 2015.

Whether it’s apple slices, low-fat Go-GURT®, apple juice or low-fat milk, McDonald’s wants you to love the Happy Meal® choices your child has.

Available at participating McDonald’s ®. For a limited time only. © 2015 McDonald’s. Cuties ® is a registered trademark of Sun Pacific. Yoplait and Go-GURT ® are registered trademarks of YOPLAIT MARQUES (France) used under license.

14_MCD_00396.indd 1

@McD_ NorthernIND THE

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FAMILY kids

the truth About Crying It Out By: Meagan Church

Why one Notre Dame professor says sleep training can be dangerous.

“Is your baby sleeping through the night yet?”

It seems like a simple enough question, especially when you take in to consideration the fact that parenting a newborn is hard and exhausting. If the baby is sleeping well, that hopefully means the parent is also. But, that simple question sometimes leads parents to believe that a young infant should be sleeping through the night immediately. It can make parents wonder why their baby isn’t, what they are doing wrong and how they can remedy the situation.

Sometimes it leads desperate and exhausted parents to attempt the cry-it-out (CIO) sleep training method. But according to one professor of psychology at Notre Dame, the consequences of CIO can be down right dangerous.

“Cry-it-out seems contrary to our evolution to raising a happy and smart child,” said Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D. “In traditional societies, babies aren’t allowed to cry.” Narvaez has studied how early life experiences can influence moral function and character in adults and children. What she has come to realize through her studies is that the CIO sleep training method is dangerous to babies.

Narvaez explained that infants have a lot of developing to do after birth. “We emerge from the womb so immature that our social support creates our brains. We are born with these survival systems and stress responses. We must nurture the empathy and pro-social network of the brain.”

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FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

An infant’s development can be nurtured through practices, such as nearly constant touch, on-demand breastfeeding, responsiveness to need, supportive caregivers and more. Narvaez explained that 99 percent of human history has included these parenting practices.

Methods such as CIO show that our current society is operating outside of that history. Narvaez warned, “If you are going to violate one of these practices, you need to have huge research that shows otherwise.”

This brings us back to the “is your baby sleeping through the night” question. Many parents see sleeping through the night as a desirable outcome and one that should be achieved as quickly as possible. Some even view consistently and quickly answering an infant’s cries as spoiling the baby and not teaching them independence. “Spoiling to them means your child will want to be with them,” Narvaez said.

“You can train the baby to not want to be with you and find pleasure in other things, but then we are not fostering our human essence where we connect with one another.

Instead, you are making them people who can sit before a screen; you are making more robotic people.”

According to Narvaez, how a parent responds to an infant and meets that child’s needs can have longlasting positive or negative effects. She believes that the CIO method has negative consequences on an infants’ neurological and moral development.

“Any extensive distress to the baby is a bad idea. You don’t know what systems are being undermined when you let the baby cry.”

In an article titled “Dangers of ‘Crying It Out’” that Narvaez wrote for “Psychology Today,” she explained the specific dangers of allowing an infant to cry it out, including:  Neuronal interconnections are damaged.  Disordered stress reactivity can be established as a pattern for life.  Self-regulation is undermined.  Trust is undermined.  Caregiver sensitivity may be harmed.

In the end, Narvaez said parents “should follow their compassionate instincts. Their compassionate instincts say the baby should be picked up and not cry. We have encouraged adults to ignore their cries. I suggest, follow the baby. The baby will tell you what it needs. Keep it calm and happy for the first month especially. Be immediately responsive.

You’ll foster a personality that is much more pleasant.”

So, next time someone asks you that dreaded question, don’t sweat the response even if you were up five times last night. Rest assured that if you are responding to your baby’s needs and cries no matter what time of the day it is, then you are giving him exactly what he needs—a safe, comfortable environment to thrive in. At some point sleep will come… and typically before college.

Warm up your winter with a magical Disney Cruise.

Want to add some sunshine to your winter vacation?

How about a tropical sailing aboard Disney Cruise Line?

On board, you’ll discover something enchanting for every member of your crew. Including relaxing adult areas, magical kids’ clubs and quality time for the whole family.

©Disney Ships’ Registry: The Bahamas

DCL-15-39224

Set sail this winter out of Port Canaveral and Miami, Florida.

574-534-1521 • 1-800-635-0963 www.mennotrav.com

“Any extensive distress to the baby is a bad idea. You don’t know what systems are being undermined when you let the baby cry.”

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FAMILY kids

Caring for Kids

What do you do when your child is diagnosed with ADHD? By: Maged Ibrahim, M.D., Pediatrician

Y

our son or daughter has always been “active,” but now the teacher believes he or she may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While you’ve heard of it, you may not be sure how the condition will affect your child and the rest of your family. You’re not alone.

About 8 to 10 percent of school age children are diagnosed with ADHD, and three times as many boys than girls have it. ADHD is marked by hyperactivity, inattention and impulsive behavior. All children, particularly young ones, demonstrate these actions, but they are more pronounced and universal in kids with ADHD. To be diagnosed, the symptoms need to be present for at least six months and be more severe than they are in other children. Most kids are diagnosed before age 7 after experiencing problems at school and home.

Follow a Plan

There is no cure for ADHD, but it can be managed. The key is individualized treatment. Your doctor will work with you to determine a combination of drug and behavior therapies best suited to your child.

Virtually every treatment program for a child with ADHD includes some amount of medication to boost the ability to focus and dampen the urge to act on impulse. There are two groups of medications: stimulants and non-stimulants. The former, which last about four hours and have some recognized side effects, have been successfully used for 50 years and are still favored. The latter, introduced in 2003, last for up to 24 hours, with fewer side effects.

Behavioral strategies teach children how to control their reactions.

Structured schedules and routines, organizational plans, avoiding distractions and using methods to rein in inappropriate anger are reinforced at home and school. As a parent, you’ll learn how to use positive reinforcement to reward good behaviors and how to redirect negative behaviors. Frequent follow-ups with your doctor will make sure your child is responding to his or her specific therapy.

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FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

“As a parent, you’ll learn how to use positive reinforcement to reward good behaviors and how to redirect negative behaviors.”

School Success Tips If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, here are some tips you can try at home to help him or her succeed in the focused, structured school environment.

Communicate

Maintain Structure

Stay Organized

- Consider a hand on the arm or other gentle physical contact to help your child focus.

- Schedule predictable activities to keep your child busy but not overwhelmed.

- Keep your house organized so your child knows everything is where it should be.

- Give instructions one at a time, not in a long list.

- Make sure your child goes to bed at a regular time nightly and gets enough sleep.

- With your child, lay out clothes and pack school gear for the next day before bed.

- Ask your child to repeat the instruction to you.

- Keep snacks on hand during outings, and avoid allowing your child to get too tired.

- Keep kid-visible clocks throughout the house, with a large one in your child’s room.

- Create a chore chart or other visual reminder of instructions you give often.

- Share routines and behavioral expectations with other caregivers so they can support your efforts.

- Plan and observe regular breaks during homework time.

- Make direct eye contact with your child when you give instructions.

- Follow set routines each morning and evening.

- Create a specific place where your child always does homework.

Check out www. Michiana Mom.com!

See Michiana's most trusted resource for family related articles, recipes, local events, contests & giveaways and more!

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for connecting you in Michiana!

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FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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FAMILY kids

5 Tips

to Keep Your Potty Training Resolutions With every New Year comes New Year’s resolutions! From losing weight to quitting smoking, lots of folks like to kick off the season with a personal goals. But, what about those of us with toddlers?

Specifically, potty-training ready toddlers!

For months I surrounded my toddler and myself with pull-ups, potty seats and “big kid underwear.” Yet I struggled to take the potty training leap. I had to resolve to do it and resolve I did.

By: Roni Noone

Once my boys were ready (dry overnight, not scared of the potty, etc.)

I went with a cold method of toilet training. One day they were in diapers, the next they weren’t and we never looked back.

If you are resolving to tackle the potty this year, these tips may help:

1.Choose a Day

Look ahead at the calendar for a slow weekend or a couple of days you can truly focus on the potty training.

Then pick the day and mark it on the calendar. In my house we call it Funderwear Day. Talk about it with your child. Get them excited about it like a holiday. Make sure to announce no more diapers will be allowed in the house after Funderwear Day. This helps not only prepare your child mentally but you as well! Sometimes a deadline is exactly the type of motivation you need.

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2.Involve the Family

Are there older siblings? Cousins? Family friends?

Tell everyone about “Funderwear Day” in front of your child.

Make it exciting! Shout it from the rooftops! By making it something to celebrate with friends and family they will start to look forward to it because everyone else is showing so much enthusiasm and interest.

3.

Keep a Timer

On the big day keep a timer handy. Set a time interval to get your child to sit on the potty. Sometimes they will go, sometimes they won’t but let me tell you from experience, you can flat out ask a three year old if they have to pee and they will stare directly into your eyes and say no while urine is running down their leg.

That experience alone taught me to trust the timer over the toddler.

4.Accidents Happen

No child in the history of the world was potty trained without having at least one accident. Prepare yourself for it. Have lots of extra clothes and sheets. Once Funderwear Day arrives there is no going back to diapers. So stay strong and keep those changes of close handy you will need them.

5.Try to Stay Calm.

This is so much easier said than done. Truth be told, I lost it every Funderwewar Day. Take a deep breath, remind yourself no one goes to kindergarten in diapers and keep taking those trips to the potty. The first few hours are the hardest. Then it gets easier and easier and easier. By day two both my boys were nearly potty experts!

Taking the potty leap is never easy but as with most parenting adventures, one day you’ll look back and smile at the memories.

Win a copy of Little Bean’s Funderwear Day on FAMILY Magazine’s Facebook Page!

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– Oprah Winfrey

“Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.”

Sunday

5

National Bird Day

Monday

Cuddle Up Day

6

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Breastfeeding Support Group,

Center for Outpatient Services, St. Joseph MI, 11:00 A.M.

7

8

1

Bubble Bath Day

New Year!

Happy

9

2

Bristol Opera House, 7:30 P.M.

The Odd Couple,

St. Paul’s Memorial United Methodist Church, South Bend, 7:30 P.M.

Friday Night Folk Dancing,

– Dave Beard

Festival of Sleep Day

Bristol Opera House, 7:30 P.M.

The Odd Couple,

St. Patrick’s County Park, 10:00 A.M.

Cross Country Ski Lessons,

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3

“Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Tuesday

JANUARY

Scan this QR Code to get connected to our online calendar at MichianaMom.com!

Want to check out even more things to do in Michiana?

National Freedom Day

FEB 1

Opposite Day

25

Bristol Opera House, 7:30 P.M.

The Odd Couple,

Century Center, South Bend, 10:00 A.M.

Valley RV & Camping Show,

18

Bristol Opera House, 7:30 P.M.

The Odd Couple,

11

2

Ground Hog Day

Day

Spouses

26

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday

19

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

12

3

Chocolate Cake Day

– Tom Peters

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.”

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LaGrange County Public Library, 5:30 P.M.

Stitches & Scones,

20

Frederick S. Upton Education Center, St. Joseph, MI, 6:00 P.M.

Breastfeeding Class for Moms and Dads,

13

Center for Outpatient Services, St. Joseph, MI, 11:00 A.M.

Breastfeeding Support Group,

4

Center for Outpatient Services, St. Joseph MI, 11:00 A.M.

Breastfeeding Support Group,

PHM Digital Video Theater/ Planetarium, 6:30 P.M.

Space Shuttle Challenger Accident,

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Morris Performing Arts Center, 7:30 P.M.

John Mellencamp,

Knights of Columbus Hall, Mishawaka, 6:00 P.M.

South Bend/Mishawaka Relay for Life 2015 Kickoff Event,

21

Dress Up Your Pet Day

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5

Peace Lutheran School, Granger, 10:30 A.M.

God’s Time for Little Ones Bible Story Hour,

Peace Lutheran School, Granger, 10:30 A.M.

God’s Time for Little Ones Bible Story Hour,

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Downtown St. Joseph, MI, 5:30 P.M.

11th Annual Magical Ice Fest,

5:00 P.M.

Goshen First Friday,

5:00 P.M.

Downtown South Bend First Friday,

6

Marian High School, 6:00 P.M.

Marian High School 50th Anniversary Celebration,

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Morris Performing Arts Center, 8:00 P.M.

Sister Act,

God’s Time for Little Ones Bible Story Hour, Peace Lutheran School, Granger, 10:30 A.M.

Niles District Library, 10:30 A.M.

The Morning Club: Movie Day,

23

Bristol Opera House, 7:30 P.M.

The Odd Couple,

Century Center, South Bend, 10:00 A.M.

Valley RV & Camping Show,

16

Morris Performing Arts Center, 7:30 P.M.

Swan Lake-The State Ballet Theatre of Russia,

22

Peace Lutheran School, Granger, 10:30 A.M.

God’s Time for Little Ones Bible Story Hour,

St. Patrick’s County Park, 5:30 P.M.

Passport to Play: Innertubing,

15

Peace Lutheran School, Granger, 10:30 A.M.

God’s Time for Little Ones Bible Story Hour,

7 Downtown St. Joseph, MI, 8:00 A.M.-4:00P.M.

11th Annual Magical Ice Fest,

Backwards Day

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Morris Performing Arts Center, 8:00 P.M.

Sister Act,

24

Century Center, South Bend, 10:00 A.M.

Valley RV & Camping Show,

Saint Hedwig Memorial Center, South Bend, 5:00 P.M.

Winter Holiday Concert,

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FAMILY pregnancy

Ideas For

Pregnancy Pampering On A Budget By: Chaunie Brusie

W

hile pregnancy is a beautiful time in a woman’s life when she is

participating in a virtual miracle, it doesn’t always feel so beautiful.

Take a nap. Is there anything more indulgent than an afternoon nap? Enlist your spouse to take over so you can get some shut-eye or set the kids up with a movie and cuddle up next to them. (No feeling guilty allowed—you and your baby need that rest!) And the best part about this pregnancy pampering time? It’s totally free!

Try a gel manicure. Gel manicures are all the rage right now and having tried my first one recently, I have to say—they’re all the rage. Given that your fingers might not feel the prettiest right now (hello, swollen everything!), give yourself permission to indulge in a manicure. Going the gel route is totally an economical choice too, as a $30 manicure will easily last up to two weeks. You can also purchase an at-home gel manicure kit with an UV lamp for around the same price so you can enjoy the same manicure at home throughout your pregnancy and beyond.

The aches, the pain, the sleepless nights—let’s face it, every pregnant woman could use a little bit of pampering to get her through to her due date. But, if you’re anything like me, it’s hard to spend those hard-earned dollars on anything but adorable baby clothes and hoards of diapers. So instead of shelling out the big bucks for a day at the spa, try your hand at some discounted pampering during your pregnancy instead!

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Get the kids in on the fun. What I’m about to say may horrify you, but I’m just going to say it anyways.

When I was pregnant, I would regularly encourage my kids to play “spa” day. And their guest of honor? Me, of course! My daughters loved playing “spa” and I loved relaxing as they did my hair and gave me a pedicure. As long as you don’t look too closely at your toes—and it’s not like you can see them anyways—you will love the results of your free pedi.

Call your local massage school. Massages are a wonderful tool to stay healthy and relaxed during pregnancy.

Not only will they help ease your aching muscles, but regular prenatal massages have health benefits for both mom and baby. To reap the benefits of a massage during your pregnancy without wreaking havoc on your wallet, call up your local massage school to see if they offer free or discounted massages from students in training. You may also be able to score free massages through your insurance provider—ask if chiropractic services are covered and switch to a chiropractor that offers massage services.

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Get set. Get ahead.

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Swap a friend for childcare.

Even if you can’t afford to pay a babysitter, treat yourself to a day “off ” by swapping childcare with a friend. Offer to watch her kids for a day and then enjoy a whole day all to yourself before your little one arrives on the scene.

There’s only one rule: you have to do absolutely nothing productive that day and focus only on pampering yourself.

After all, you are growing a human being.

CHECK OUT www.adecinc.com/jobs TODAY TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN FIND EMPLOYMENT AND CHANGE LIVES. THE

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

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FAMILY pregnancy

13 Simple Ways

to Cope

When Your Baby Comes Early By: Karyn Robinson-Renaud MSW, RSW

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hen most of us get pregnant, we prepare the room and think about names. We fret about whether we will have a natural birth or forgo being a hero and befriend the anesthesiologist. Few of us plan ahead for a premature delivery and the chaos it can bring.

According to the March of Dimes foundation, one in nine babies are born premature each year in the United States. The foundation defines preterm birth as a baby born before 37 weeks gestation. As a social worker in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), I am very aware of the impact a premature delivery can have on the whole family. However, when my own baby was born at 26 weeks, l learned firsthand how important self-care was during this difficult time.

Below are tips that I used to cope and recommend to others: Rejuvenate in small bits. Depending on

how complex your baby’s issues are, you may be in for a long haul in the NICU. You need to find simple ways to re-energize so that you can continue to attend to your baby and your other responsibilities. Some quick ideas to get your started are deep breathing breaks, using a short guided meditation app, 10-20 minute walk around the block or a walk around the main floor of the hospital listening to your favorite music or nothing at all.

Accept Support. When your child is in

the NICU it is not time to try and do it all.

Your baby needs a sane parent. If loved ones are offering support, accept it. Make a list of things that would ease the pressure for you and share it with your family. Typical things are food preparation, transportation to and from the hospital, childcare, grocery shopping and housekeeping.

Acknowledge your losses. With this

pregnancy, you have lost carrying your child to term, holding your baby right after delivery and going home with your baby soon after delivery. Depending on the

severity of yours or your child’s situation, you may have experienced other losses as well. Taking the time to acknowledge your emotional pain around this experience does not negate what you are grateful for. You have to give yourself the space to feel both the good and the bad of this unexpected experience.

Admin Time. Paperwork may be the last thing you want to deal with. However, there are usually forms that have to be completed whether related to your maternity leave, hospital costs, or childcare for your other children. It will be a weight off your shoulders to tackle a bit of it each day.

Help others. If you have been in the NICU for a few weeks, you may feel ready to reach out to other parents in the unit. Help them and yourself by checking in and sharing the little milestones reached and the frustrating setbacks.

Couple Time. If you are in a relationship, squeeze in simple things you can do together. You could take a break between feeds and go for a walk or a meal. You can text supportive messages to one another.

Also, accept that each of you may cope with this situation differently. Don’t hold it against your partner for not being in the same emotional place as you.

Squeeze in Play. This may sound ridiculous and, to be fair, it may not always fit with your baby’s status. But when your baby is stable and nursing staff give the thumbs up, consider reading or singing to your child. When you are away from the hospital, consider using play as a way to connect with your partner or other children.

Cards or a board game are low energy ways to squeeze it in.

make mistakes. The staff will guide you and keep your baby safe. You will probably feel clumsy the first time you change your baby’s diaper or try to put her to the breast.

Cut yourself some slack and keep learning and trying new skills to care for your baby.

Talk to a professional. Most NICU’s have a social worker who can provide emotional and practical support. Another option is to find out if you or your partners’ company has an Employee Assistance Program. You can get free professional counselling by phone, online or in person through this service. Your family doctor may also be a good resource for connecting you to a therapist.

Journal it out. Sometimes you just don’t

Become part of the team. For most

Ban perfectionism. Accept that you will

feel like talking, but you still need to sort through your feelings. Journaling is a great way to process what you are feeling and to capture your family’s journey in the NICU.

Listen to your body. It is so easy to push

through fatigue and fear and drive yourself into the ground. If your body is quietly telling you to slow down, don’t wait until it is screaming at you and you have no choice.

Take a break from hospital. I know this is easier said than done. However, if your baby is stable, take a day off so that you don’t burn out.

parents the NICU is an intimidating place.

However, you are your child’s consistent caregiver. Make notes about things that you observe about your baby. Write down your questions and concerns and discuss them with the staff involved with your baby. As you gain more knowledge about your baby’s condition, you will become a more confident part of your child’s team.

Sleep when you can. Between expressing breast milk, meeting with hospital staff, getting the baby’s room ready and other responsibilities, sleep can feel like faraway place you never get to travel to. However, sleep impacts your milk supply and is a buffer for postpartum depression. So nap at home, or in your parked car or in the parent lounge.

Try incorporating the ones that you feel will make the biggest difference. Set reminders for yourself so you remember to follow through with your self-care plan throughout the week. Despite this being a difficult time, using the above tips can make a difference with your ability to cope.

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Special Section

Keeping Faith Alive

Keep Faith Alive In Your Child’s Eyes

L

ast week my four-year-old asked where our golden retriever was living now that she was dead. I would have rather he asked where babies come from, because at least I would have a concrete answer I could spout that would pacify him—for now.

“Molly is in heaven playing with Grandpa.”

“But Mom, what if she gets hungry?

Does she miss us?”

“They serve bones at the unlimited doggie buffet, sweetie.

Now time for bed!”

By: Jackie Folkert

keeping the language child-friendly.

She does devotions with her boys before they begin class each day.

But she admits that it doesn’t always go well. “Sometimes my kids poke each other and whine through them. Sometimes my kids kick each other under the table during prayer. It is real life,” she said.

Seize the opportunity to teach about faith when the whole family is together. Nate Bull, a street minister in Benton Harbor, reads a Bible story with his family when they eat together. They read together so the kids get the basics, which is easy to do when they are engaged in a narrative. “Everybody says what they got out of it. We apply it to life. It challenges the younger kids to think more deeply into the scriptures and the older kids to apply it to daily life,” he said.

Nurturing your child’s faith in god is a fuzzy parenting assignment that is tough to assess. Parents can feel unqualified to teach it or puzzled about how to do it. But, you don’t need a theology degree to teach your child about your family’s system of belief. You can establish a family identify that is rooted in faith.

Model Your Faith

Point Out Faith in the Everyday

Your sincerity is especially important when answering the big questions. “I am OK saying, ‘I don’t know, let’s find out’ to my kids.

I want my kids to know it is good to be honest about our questions,” Joyner said. Sometimes admitting your own doubts and struggles with faith can be the key to passing on your beliefs to your child.

“Don’t underestimate your child’s interest in deep and sometimes difficult topics about life, suffering, grace and the dignity of each and every human life,” Carozza said.

Moms can spark spontaneous conversation about the presence of god in everyday life, such as the beauty in nature or the spurring of the heart to music, said Susan Carozza, a mother to five children and a religion teacher at St. Pius Catholic School in Granger. “Connect these to their origin, god,” she said. Talking about faith can happen any day of the week.

Robyn Joyner is a photographer and Sunday school teacher who homeschools her 7-year-old twins in Mishawaka. She and her husband find practical ways of ‘talking faith’ into their daily lives.

Her family takes turns sharing highs/lows at the dinner table every night. For the kids, the high can be a new toy and a low can be that mom said no to ice cream. She and her husband share, too. The highs can be simple or go deeper; perhaps they got a phone call that a family member was sick. The kicker is that they pray about the lows, 26

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Learn more about your faith and seek to practice it more fully.

“Your example will be your child’s reference point as to what it means to live faithfully,” Carozza said. Don’t just do the charity, be the charity.

Provide a Faith-Filled Community

Sunday school teachers and church leaders know how to reach the hearts of kids. Don’t assume that you must be the only adult who models faith to your child. The best way to find a community is by attending faith gatherings on a regular basis. “Make attending church the family’s priority every weekend—even when a soccer tournament has overturned regular routines,” Carozza said. Join a

prayer group and hold a meeting at your house. Invite families from your church to have dinner with yours. Involve godparents in important moments in faith such as baptism. Read biographies and articles about real-world people who demonstrate their faith.

Tara Schmidt is also a religion teacher at St. Pius Catholic School in Granger. She and her four kids plan ahead for the weekend by talking over their schedules and prioritizing Mass. They set the day aside and make it special such as with a breakfast routine.

“Everybody has a story of faith and it’s a responsibility of the parents to start that journey with them,” said Schmidt.

Teaching the kids about faith can appear so intimidating that some parents avoid it completely. Carozza said that leaving children to figure out religion on their own does a disservice to their essential nature as human beings because we are created to commune with god. “If the concern is the child’s freedom to choose his or her religion, only through knowing the faith and experiencing life with it can the child actually know what his or her choice is about,” she said. Without guidance, the children will grow up restless in their vague search for god, she said.

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FAMILY mommy & daddy

By: Meagan Church

Dear Mom, Is it just me or do Saturday mornings look different after having kids, as opposed to before having kids?

I remember how I used to be able to ease into the weekend on a Saturday morning. Well, if I’m going to be honest, sometimes it was more like Saturday midday thanks to the night owl version of myself that kept me up late the night before.

Back in my pre-kid Saturdays, I could start the day when I wanted. I could choose to clean the house, go for a run, get some grocery shopping done or spend the day with friends. I could take part in an impromptu binge watching of Tom Hanks movies or clean out the garage. The day and its activities were mine for the choosing.

Then babies happened. Empty bellies demanded milk and full diapers required changing even before the Saturday sun had risen. Eventually those days faded, but then kids happened and sports and activities and weekend schedules.

Before I knew it, those lackadaisical Saturdays were a thing of the past.

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Those lazy entries into the weekend were replaced with frantic wake-ups, shin guard searches, rushed breakfasts and constant countdowns. We rushed, we repeated, yes, we even yelled and barked and pleaded for everyone to. Get. In. The. Van. Now. All the while, I longed for those lost Saturdays. More so, I desired something better for myself and my family.

Then I met a guy named Bob Goff. Okay, I didn’t actually meet him, meet him (though I recently found myself standing about five feet away from him and somehow refrained from Instagramming the moment). I read his book “Love Does” and I heard him talk at a few conferences, and I realized that this guy is about living authentically and deeply and joyously and with much love.

Then I heard the ping. It was my email notifying me that it was time to sign-up for basketball or soccer or underwater basket weaving. The specific activity didn’t matter. What mattered was that saying “yes” would mean inviting in a frantic start to the weekend. So, as I contemplated registration, I remembered the habit that Bob Goff has done for the past few years: he quits something every Thursday.

And I decided to become a quitter.

Bob is a guy who says “yes” often. And, to continue saying “yes,” he realized that he must also say “no” to some things. He refuses to get bogged down by obligations and patterns of life. On various Thursdays in the past, he has quit jobs, furniture, volunteering, and a plethora of other things big and small.

I realized that I wanted to be a quitter, too. I wanted to quit the Saturday morning chaos. I wanted to quit yelling at my kids to hurry up and eat breakfast. I wanted to quit feeling obligated to have my young kids involved in organized sports. I wanted to quit feeling weighed down by our weekend schedule and commitments that, in the end, were ours to choose to participate in.

“I’m proud to be a quitter. I’m proud to cut ties with things that drain me more than they add value to my life.”

So, I want to ask, do you want to be a quitter, too? If so, take a minute to consider what you can quit. Maybe it’s something you dread or even something you love, but you just don’t have time for right now. Maybe it’s an extracurricular activity. Maybe it’s the house that keeps you working two jobs to maintain. Maybe it’s Facebook or the PTO or late-night HGTV viewing.

It could be the car that comes with a monthly payment or a board that you never really wanted to be a member of anyway. Perhaps it means silencing those pings and notifications, so they don’t demand your attention constantly throughout the day.

Like me, I’m sure there is something that you can quit, something you can let go of, something that you can kick to the curb, so that you are living less out of obligation and more within the freedom to pursue quiet and space and peace.

Thanks to Bob, I’m proud to be a quitter. I’m proud to cut ties with things that drain me more than they add value to my life. I’m proud of saying good-bye to something that added stress to the entire family. Because in the end, I also want to do another thing that Bob said, “Live in grace. Walk in love.” Now, that’s something I won’t be quitting.

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FAMILY mommy & daddy

Product Testing:

Is Your Salt Doing The Trick?

By: Lara West

I

’m the person that happily bundles up in my warm layers to do the back breaking shoveling. I enjoy scooping the snow and building a huge hill next to the driveway to slide down. What I don’t enjoy is falling on my bottom every morning from the icy slick that freezes over the sidewalk and driveway every night.

Ice Melt has become my best friend to avoid that slippery mess. It can get a bit pricey depending on how much area you need to cover. If I had my way we’d be buying the biggest, cheapest bag available, but my husband always buys a mid-range priced deicer. He says we don’t have to use as much of it and it continues working at a lower temperature, so therefore it balances out the price. He might be right, but I wanted to find out for sure.

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What I did this winter is research the kind of ice melt we’re buying to determine if the price is too high or too low for what we need. Here’s what I found:

• Low-Price: I found a 40-lb bag of rock salt for less than $10. It is only effective to temperatures of 20°F and above.

There are warnings that this product is harmful to pets if ingested, and it is damaging to most surface types – including concrete, asphalt, wood and grass.

• Mid-Price: The product I found in the middle of the price pack was a 20-lb bag of ice melt for $2 more than the 40-lb cheapest bag of rock salt. It is a magnesium chloride, and is effective for temperatures down to -15 degrees. This product is said to be safer for pets and plants, and should cause less damage to various surface types than the cheapest rock salt.

• High-Price:

This product was actually $1 less than the cheapest rock salt in the store, but it was only 9.5-lbs. This is a calcium chloride, and is effective for temperatures as low as -25°F. There is no information on the label about pet safety, but the MSDS does say, “In animals, [repeated exposure] effects have been reported on the following organs after ingestion: gastrointestinal tract, heart and kidney.” It can also cause moderate damage to concrete and grass and plants.

“We don’t really know what the crazy weather will be like, but it’s best to be prepared.”

We all love saving a dollar, but when you go to buy your salt/deicer you’ll want to consider the surface you’re putting it on.

Although none of the products guaranteed your hardscape surfaces won’t be damaged, rock salt appears to be the harshest on a variety of surfaces. If you are an animal loving house you should consider your pet’s health. Even though the mid-range says it is safer for animals, I can’t imagine ingesting too much of any deicer is without complications. The two more expensive products were smaller in size and treated with agents to assist in the deicing process, and this should help keep little paws safer also. The last factor to consider here is that two of these products work in below freezing temperatures. We don’t really know what the crazy weather will be like, but it’s best to be prepared.

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FAMILY movie review

The Post Holiday By: Cole Pollyea It’s only in that rare yet consistent couple of weeks after the glorious day of December 25th that we can’t find a movie to watch without feeling melancholy about the season which has passed us, yet again, right before our eyes. Any attempt to subject ourselves to another viewing of “A Christmas Story” is upsetting, tasteless and uncalled for (or so it seems). Below is a compiled list of a few films that you can fall back on after the holidays pass us by. It’ll help transition from the bustling season to, well, the rest of the year.

License To Drive

That’s right; the goofball, offbeat, unpredictable, illogical, ridiculous and hilarious Corey Feldman flick from ’88. Yeah, it may skip over a few important plot devices, and it may have 18% on Rotten Tomatoes (yikes!) but it’s one of those that you can really lay back and turn your brain off to. It also proves itself as a great family movie, appropriate for all ages.

Photo Courtesy: androidpicture.com

About Time (R)

One of the few R-rated films I recommend to a family audience (it’s R only for language) is a genuine, touching film that happens to be one of the best of the strong year, 2013. It follows the young adult life of a very family-oriented young man who tries to find love—and can time travel! androidpicture.com Photo Courtesy: graduatesinwonderland.com

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a fantastic film. The work that Wes Anderson does here is absolutely incredible and I would go so far as to say inspiring.

This is a film that is quoted (nearly) daily in my household, and after one unforgettable viewing in yours, it wouldn’t surprise me if it became a part of your lingo too.

Photo Courtesy: flavorwire.com

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Birthday Party Resource Guide Everything you need to plan the party of the decade for your kiddo!

BIRTHDAY FUN with

Basic Martial Arts Birthday Party: • 1 and 1/2 Hour Facility Usage • Set up & Clean up • Entertainment • Birthday supplies & paper products

THE BIRTHDAY KID GETS TO: • Be a Black belt for the Day • Break a Board • Cut their Cake with a Sword!

Themed Martial Arts Parties:

TMNT, Star Wars, Nerf Wars, Kung Fu Panda & Ninjago

www.StarTKD.com 574-522-5425

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The Ultimate

Birthday Party Checklist By: Jessica Haviland It always happens every year after your kid’s birthday party you find the “goody bags” you were supposed to give to each kid before they went home. It’s those exact moments where you just want to face palm your forehead! Let’s make this year’s birthday party be mistake free (or at least ALMOST mistake free) by following this ultimate birthday party checklist!

Day Before:

Party Day:

 Finalize List of Guests  Wrap Presents for Your Child  Combine all Gift Bag Goodies & Wrap  Reorganize Furniture (If Needed)  Touch-Up Cleaning Around the House  Decorate  Finish Cooking all Treats/Snack Foods  Contact all Vendors (Birthday Cake Decorator, Ballons, Etc) for Tomorrow’s Pick-Up Time

 Pick up Birthday Cake and other Essential Items  Display the Food and Snacks  Do any Last Minute Decorating  Games and all Game Pieces are Ready  Hand out all Goodie Bags  Make a List of Gifts and Who Gave Them  Sit Back, Relax and Let The Kiddos Have Fun!

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FAMILY craft

Hot Cocoa

Snowman By: Jill Lebbin

Materials: • 3 Half Pint Mason Jars • 2 Buttons • Orange Paper Cut Into A Triangle • Scrap Fabric • Felt Hat (Can be found at craft stores.)

• Crushed Candy Canes • Hot Cocoa Mix • Mini Marshmallows • Twigs • Hot Glue Gun And Glue

Steps: 1. Wash & dry mason jars.

2. Put crushed candy canes, hot cocoa and mini marshmallows each into their own mason jar.

3. Put hot glue on the Mason jar rims and stack Mason jars on top of each other.

4. Place hot glue on the top Mason jar and place felt hat on top.

5. Using hot glue, decorate your snowman- button eyes, cut a triangle for nose and scrap fabric for scarf, and twigs for his arms.

Photo: Jill Lebbin

6. Give as a gift or enjoy!

Coloring COntest

14_MCD_00396 coloring.indd Ask1 a parent to download

Color this page and win a

McDonald's®

the Happy Meal® app!

family prize pack!

FIRST NAME

12/18/14 3:32 PM

AGE

NAME: _________________________________________ AGE: ______ ADDRESS: __________________________________________________ CITY: ___________________________ STATE: ______ ZIP: _________ DAY TIME PHONE: __________________________________________ PARENT’S NAME: ___________________________________________ E-MAIL: ____________________________________________________ © 2014 McDonald’s. Printed in the United States of America.

Color this page and you could win! The coloring contest winners will receive a McDonald's family prize pack and be featured in our March 2015 issue of FAMILY Magazine! One winner will be selected from each of three age categories: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12 years of age.

For your chance to win, color your best picture and mail entries to: Villing & Company, Attn: Coloring Contest, 5909 Nimtz Parkway, South Bend, IN 46628. Coloring contest is open to children 12 years of age and under. Entries must be mailed by February 7, 2015. Winners will be featured in the March 2015 issue of Family Magazine and will be notified by phone or email by Villing & Company on behalf of McDonald's. Winners artwork will be featured along with their first name and age. For additional coloring contest entries, this page may be duplicated.

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Word Search E E E B I N E R G G A Q S S W M X C A A M I N H P H E A M K Z C I I O L I E P L L M U A L N S D N U V A L T C Q S S R I H J H O O J E N S O E Z V T M F B Q M N S E U C I R G L C T A R T O L A M L T E X P G H A S E E I P G L U P X D G V O F G A C S N Q C D L P H D S I W S E D O H C D B S J A S I C O S M R S P U O R G D O O F E L M T H E A L T H Y B O N E S T S H A P P Y M E A L V Y X S F D N I M A T I V P I D C E E R N T J L R B I J T V G F R N U P T Q R K X U A R I P N C T I H L R E X U M F G W U U I I T Y X M O J I I H E T B E S F X F W N B N Q F O U C A V E K I L S K C G O G U R T K I U D R

Find the words below in the McDonalds word search puzzle.

Words can be forwards, backwards, diagonal, vertical or horizontal.

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THE

Protein Smart Choices Happy Meal Cuties Apple Juice Go-GURT Exercise

FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Low Fat Milk Apple Slices Vitamin C Vitamin D McDonald's Fitness

a lanc b t i e p

d!

Healthy Bones Strong Muscles Food Groups Fresh Get Moving Balanced Diet Fruit

Ke e

Have Fun!

Eat right. Play hard.

Finding smart choices can be easy. How many other words can you spot?

FAMILY recipe

Oh So Cheesy

Potato Casserole Ingredients:

Directions:

• 2 Ibs Frozen Hash Browns • ½ Cup Butter

1. Defrost the potatoes, melt the butter and mix together all of the ingredients.

• 1 (10 1/2 Ounce) Can of Cream of Chicken Soup

2. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour in a 9x13 baking dish.

• 1 Cup Sour Cream • 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

3. Let the casserole cool for 10 minutes before serving!

• ¼ Cup Diced Onions • Salt and Pepper to Taste

Did You Know?:

Potatoes may have a bad rep for weight gain because of the starch but according to www.medicalnewstoday.com, potatoes have a dietary fiber for weight management and loss by functioning as a "bulking agent" in the digestive system.

These compounds will help reduce your appetite and make you feel fuller longer!

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FAMILY book reviews

Your Family Tree series

By Jim Ollhoff

Reviewed By: Betty Strantz, Children’s Services Associate at Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library

What do you do when your child says he is bored with nothing to do? My suggestion is to get him interested in tracing his family tree. Your Family Tree series by Jim Ollhoff has six titles: Beginning Genealogy, Collecting Primary Records, DNA: Window to the Past, Exploring Immigration, Filling the Family Tree and Using Your Research. This series would be especially useful to middle school aged students who are interested in getting started in genealogy or have a class assignment to create a family tree.

The first book, Beginning Genealogy, talks about how building a family tree can be a giant puzzle.

In order to be a successful genealogist, you need to be a good detective in finding information and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. This book explains, in an easy-to-understand way, that even your last name could have special importance in your genealogy search. When you start working on your family tree there are some rules, which this book calls “golden rules”, to follow to save time and energy.

The first golden rule is to record all your sources, another is to write everything down. One chapter stresses that every detail, even the smallest, is important. Another chapter shows you how to create a family tree chart. There is an illustration showing where to put your name and your parents’ and grandparents’ names along with an explanation of why they are placed where they are on the chart.

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FAMILY MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2015

Collecting Primary Records is a guide to collecting records like birth, marriage and death certificates.

It is important to acquire these sources because they give you the most reliable information about your ancestors. It is also mentions that if your family came from another country, you may be able to search for passenger list, immigration records and naturalization papers. Other good sources of information include newspaper clippings, obituaries, census records and cemetery records.

Filling the Family Tree book is intended to help children discover facts about their family by asking their grandparents and other relatives a list of questions provided as conversation starters. How you are related to so many people can be figured out using the relationship chart. There is also a nice family tree chart and information sheet that can be copied for you to use so you don’t get confused when you start adding on third or fourth generations.

Your Family Tree series by Jim Ollhoff is great for young people interested in genealogy because it shows them how to organize their family records, research their history and find sources to learn about their family’s past. Each book is broken up into short, easy to understand chapters with illustrations and a glossary of words used in genealogy.

Images Provided By: Amazon.com

FAMILY children book review

The Book Thief Written By Markus Zusak

Reviewed By: Natalie Rarick, 8th Grade Student at Edwardsburg Middle School

EDITOR Book Picks

Snowmen at Night

By: Caralyn Buehner, Mark Buehner (Illustrator)

www.barnesandnoble.com

Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever (Dork Diaries Series #8) By: Rachel Renee Russell, Rachel Renee Russell (Illustrator)

www.barnesandnoble.com

The Giving Tree

By: Shel Silverstein, Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is hands down the best book I have ever read. Not only is the story itself intriguing, but the way in which it's told is even more so. The book Image Provided By: Amazon. com begins just prior to World War 2 and ends at the conclusion of the war. It's the story of a German girl named Leisel. While traveling by train to live with her new foster parents, she experiences the sudden death of her younger brother, Werner. He is buried, unceremoniously, alongside the tracks. Stricken by grief, she notices a book that drops out of a young gravedigger's pocket. She pockets it as a reminder of the last time she saw her brother and her birth mother, and carries it with her to her new home, even though she cannot read the words on the pages.

The beginning of her new life is difficult, to say the least, and her sleep is plagued by nightmares that only abate when her quiet and caring father, Hans, wakes her. One day, after her usual nightmare, a certain book falls to the ground from its hiding place under her mattress. Hans does not ask where it came from, only if she wants to read it. And so it begins, not only the midnight reading session with her father, but the beginning of a long love affair with words and books. But her world is turned upside down when her family hides a young Jewish man named Max in their basement from the growing Nazi party. As their friendship develops through their shared love of books, Leisel is forced to learn the difference between life and love -- relief and sorrow -- and right and wrong.

This book is absolutely brilliant, and I have never read a story with such an interesting narrator. In this book, the narrator is Death. He is not evil or malicious, but is really a very relatable, sad character who tries to forget his horrible job by observing the colors around him and reading his favorite book, Liesel's very own autobiography, titled The Book Thief. And he is ready to tell you that tale. So sit down (with your tissues ready) and read this story about friendship, love and true happiness. I highly recommend this story to anyone who knows and values the full power of words.

www.barnesandnoble.com THE

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SIGN UP TODAY Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 University Park Mall Share your love this Valentine’s Day and help raise money and hope for the kids at Memorial Children’s Hospital.

Enjoy face painting, games, live music and refreshments.

To learn more, sign up or make a donation, visit heartsofgoldwalk.org.