Cooking with Children

Cooking with children can be a fun experience that creates natural learning opportunities and sweet memories. Or it can be a stressful, unpleasant experience that ends in tears. Here are some tips to help make it fun for everybody.

1. Before you start, take a moment to make sure your heart is right. If you have been dreading the thought of teaching your children how to cook,or you are worried about the mess or lack of time, you will find it much harder to keep your patience and sense of humour. Think of it as a chance to have fun with your kids and maybe even produce something yummy at the end.

2. Choose a morning or afternoon when you have lots of time. Cooking with kids will take a lot longer than cooking by yourself.

3. Put on some fun music and maybe even a pretty apron. Make sure your kitchen is clean so that you're not trying to work around last night's dirty dinner plates.

4. Gather up all the ingredients and utensils before you start. Nothing causes frustration faster than getting half-way through a recipe only to discover that you have to race up to the shop because you've run out of sugar.

5. Choose a meal that is fun to make and one that your child will enjoy eating at the end.

6. Read through the recipe with your child and explain that there are ingredients and a method. Let them try to find the ingredients in the cupboard or fridge if they are old enough.

7. Let them participate in each part of the process by giving them age-appropriate tasks. For example, give them a mini bowl with part of the mixture in it and let them stir it, then add it back into the big bowl with the remaining mixture. When cooking with little kids, it may be better if you measure out the ingredients then let them pour each one into the bowl.


8. Don't worry if the food doesn't turn out so nice, it's the time spent together that matters.

9. Remember to make it fun for them - laugh and praise your child often.

Fun Food for Kids E-book

I am so excited to announce the release of my e-cookbook "Fun Food For Kids". It has 44 recipes, each with a beautiful colour photo and step-by-step instructions.

This cookbook full of foods that are fun for kids to make and eat. Each recipe has been made in the shape of an animal, an object or a face. Some of the recipes include :

* a rocket

* a spider

* a monster

* a butterfly

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* a sailboat

* a car race

* a clock

....and many more.

There is also a whole section dedicated to vegetables. So if you have trouble getting your kids to eat broccoli, potato, carrot etc, then try making some of these recipes and see the difference.

I know your kids will enjoy the recipes in this book so grab a copy now for only $3.95 (USD). Just click on the BUY NOW button below and you can download it instantly!

If you think you will go to heaven because you're a good person...

... then you really need to watch this video.

This video would also be good to watch if you want to know what to say to a non-Christian who thinks they are going to heaven because of their good works.

The Duggar Family

If you're a fan of the Duggar family then you might like some of these websites below:

Fan Blog - This mother and daughter blogging team keep us up-to-date on what the Duggars are doing.

Michelle Duggar's Blog - Michelle writes about a variety of topics relating to family and faith.

The Duggar Family Website

Josh and Anna's Website

Watch episodes of "19 Kids and Counting".

Listen to an interview Michelle and Jim Bob did with Focus on the Family.

What is a Christian?

In this article, Shaun Groves explains simply and clearly what it means to be a Christian.

"Jesus is not in need of my acceptance – I am in desperate need of His. And in response to His acceptance of me I call Him “Lord.” I repent, or shift my allegiance, from my comfort and happiness, from my will and my way, to Him. Jesus is Lord – Master – King!"

Definitely worth reading.

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Photo by graur razvan ionut

Book Review: "Birth Skills"

When I first became pregnant my younger sister, who had given birth to a baby 8 months before, told me to buy the book "Birth Skills" by Juju Sundin. I was very skeptical that it could do anything to help but she kept insisting that I read it just in case I found anything that helped during labour. I read the whole book a couple of weeks before I went into labour and I am so glad that I did.

At the beginning of the book the author says these things:

"Labour pain is healthy pain. As labour progresses and the pain really established its presence, there will be no time to make decisions about how you will handle each contraction..." "... it is essential that you understand that labour pain is healthy pain. It is caused by the uterine muscle actually working." pg. 7

All the skills that she teaches in the book are based around this principle:

"If you bombard your nervous system with non-painful thoughts and physical and emotional actions, you can dull your pain further through distraction and redirected focus of attention".

Basically what that means is that if, when you are in pain, you can take your mind off the pain or distract yourself in some way, you won't focus on the pain as much and it won't feel so bad. Also, if you are focusing on the pain, you tend to panic and freeze up. If you have something else to focus on then you feel more in control.

When we are in labour adrenalin is pumping through our body like crazy.

So... what can you do to take your mind off the pain? When labour first begins it is important to try and rest - you don't want to wear yourself out too early. Once the pain is more intense, try any or all of these strategies.

1. Focus on your legs not your pain.
* Use the movement of your legs to burn off adrenalin and take your mind off the pain.

2. Breathing and vocalisation
"Simple: pain makes you hold your breath! If you hold your breath in the first stage of labour you make the pain worse". pg. 49

3. Visualisation.
* Visualise images or events in your mind.

4. Stress balls.
* Squeeze or bang the balls together to help get your mind off the pain.

5. Keywords
* Repeat words or phrases over and over.

My Final Tips

1. Pray. Pray before you go into labour and during labour. Ask God to give you strength and peace.

2. Take some comforting verses from the Bible in with you to read or memorise a couple of verses to say over and over in your head.

3. When you get to the hospital inform the doctor or midwives of your desire for a natural birth. Ask them not to offer pain medication unless you ask for it or unless it is medically necessary.

4. If you are induced and the pain starts quickly, start using the strategies straight away if you need to. If you find one or more birth skill isn't working for you try something else. (I told my husband about the skills and he reminded me of different things to try when he could see that something wasn't helping).

5. If you have tried everything to help with the pain, do not feel like a failure if you need medication. Every labour and birth is different, no one should judge your way of doing things.

6. Nothing comes before the safety of the baby and the mother so listen to the advice of the midwives and doctors. The end goal is to have your beautiful baby healthy and safe in your arms. It doesn't matter so much how they get there.

7. If you still have a few days left before you go into labour, try and sit forward with your legs apart as much as possible on a lounge or on a fit ball (as opposed to lying down or putting your feet up). This will encourage the baby to be facing the right way when it comes out which makes labour easier.

180 Movie: Everyone needs to watch it!

Wow!! I just watched "180", the movie by Ray Comfort and Living Waters ministries. It was incredible. Before I became a Christian a few years ago I admit that I would have answered the questions about abortion like a lot of the people in this film. I could have come up with scenarios when abortion would have been justified. But killing a baby in the womb for whatever reason is murder. I really hope you will watch this movie as well.

http://180movie.com/

Family-Friendly DVD Series

I stumbled across the Love Comes Softly DVD series a few years ago and loved it. In case you haven't heard of it, there are 8 movies based on the series of books written by Janette Oke. The movies are written and directed by Michael Landon Jr, and are set in the 19th Century.

The main character Marty travels west with her husband to try and find some land where they can build up a farm and begin a family. Tragically though, Marty's husband is killed and she must make the difficult decision about whether to stay out west or return to her family. The other movies in the series then tell the story of Marty's family as it grows and changes through the years.

This series is family-friendly and I can't wait until my children get a bit older and we can all snuggle up on the couch and watch the series together.

I'm so excited because I heard the other day from my Sugar Pie Sista DeNiece that they have made two more movies in the series, Love Begins and Love's Everlasting Courage (which will come out later in the year). Hooray!

The Way of the Master

The Way of the Master website has a lot of great resources that teach Christians how to share the Gospel with non-Christians. There are free videos that show you how to answer difficult questions and how to point people to their need for a Saviour. You can also buy tracts and books and even get personal training at the Evangelism Training Academy.

Cedarmont Kids DVDs

If you're looking for a fun, Christian sing-along DVD for kids then I recommend the Cedarmont Kids Collection. We have Bible Songs, Sunday School Songs and Action Bible Songs and our two year old daughter loves them. She has quickly learnt the words to some of her favourite songs such as "Jesus Loves Me", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Down in My Heart". Each DVD is approximately 30 minutes long and shows children singing the songs in different settings.

The Book Depository

If you love ordering books online but hate paying huge shipping costs then have a look at The Book Depository. They have FREE shipping on all books to anywhere in the world and most of the books that I have looked up have also been cheaper to buy than other websites. Enjoy!

A Little Boy and His Ball

When I first became a Christian I was working as a kindergarten teacher. Each day I would go to school and hear and see things that broke my heart. Children came to school without breakfast, with very little food in their schoolbag, without a jumper in cold weather, telling me stories of policemen coming to their house in the night, and more.

One little boy in my class was very quiet and shy and cried easily. I had met his father only once when he came up to school and lost his temper with me over a minor incident regarding homework.

One day this little boy had brought in a small ball from home to play with at lunch. After lunch he came back to the classroom crying. When I asked him what was wrong he told me that someone had thrown his ball onto the covering over the play area and he couldn't get it down. He was worried that he would get into trouble when he got home for losing his ball.

I looked out the classroom window and could see the blue ball sitting high up on the metal shade cover. I told him not to worry about it, that I would ask the groundsman to get the ball down for him after school. All afternoon I kept a close eye on that ball through the classroom window. When the bell rang and the children went home I went searching for the groundsman. Someone told me that he had already gone home for the day. My heart sank.

I walked back up to the classroom and climbed onto a brick wall about 1 metre high to see if I could reach the ball. It was way out of my reach. I couldn't help but think about that little boy and pray that he wasn't getting into trouble from his dad at home. I stood there looking at the ball and I asked God to please help me find a way to get it down.

At that very moment (I am not making this up!) a wind blew the ball right across the metal covering and into my hands.

I don't believe in coincidences. I believe that God answered my prayer because he wanted to let me know that he was walking alongside me during those difficult days.

The next day I gave the boy back his ball and he gave me a very rare and special smile.

The Sound of No Hope

This post was written a while ago by a woman named Jaynee Lockwood whose blog I have enjoyed reading for the last couple of years. She is married to a missionary and is a mummy of 12 children. The family live in Mexico where they preach the word of God to people in the local towns.

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When a local boy was killed in a car accident the Lockwood family went to visit the boy's family and tried to offer some comfort.

Here is the post.

Homeschool Freebies

Homeschool Freebies is a great website that lets you download a teaching resource each day for free. They have lots of ebooks, unit studies, games, lesson plans, audio programs and classic books.

A new freeby is posted each weekday and is only available for that one day, so check often to see what's available.

Excellent Paper Craft Website

A few weeks ago I found The ToyMaker website which has lots of free paper toy patterns that you can simply print off, cut out and put together. Click on Free Toys at the top and it will take you to a huge list of animals, dolls, cars, boxes, puzzles and more. We made the finger puppets and they turned out great.