Family stories (the building blocks of a family history) are beneficial to kids for many reasons. In addition to helping their self-esteem, providing a sense of belonging, and keeping entitlement in check, family stories help kids cope. The world around us is a wonderful place that can be difficult at the same time. Kids have to cope with stresses that just didn’t exist 20 years ago. Researchers have found that one of the best sources of strength and resilience for kids is knowing their family history.
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Spooky’s
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When you have a child who doesn’t like chocolate, you start to get creative with chocolate chip cookie recipes to accommodate their tastes while still making something that everyone else will enjoy too.
Recording Your Kids’ Stories
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Everyone has a story. Old or young, everyone’s life story is worth preserving and sharing. We learn from our own stories. Story is a common theme here on #familyhistoryfriday — the benefits of family stories, what your family’s history has to do with your everyday life, using keepsakes to tell family stories, healing from grief through family stories, building self-esteem through family stories, and more. But have you ever thought about recording your kids’ stories? Their stories as kids are the foundation of their life stories.
Easy Cherry Pie Filling
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Homemade cherry pie filling has not always been one of my strong suits. In fact, the first time I tried to make cherry pie, I used fresh cherries and didn’t have any cherry juice so I substituted grape juice… not my finest culinary moment.
Servant-Leader, An Oxymoron or the Key to Transformational Leadership?
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When you think of the leaders that you have encountered over the course of your life there are good and bad ones, hopefully some great ones, and almost always some really bad ones. Sometimes the ones that truly stand out in our minds are the bad ones, you know the ones that demand the spotlight, take all the credit, and have no problem throwing everyone under the bus.
I’m sure we can all think of qualities from past leaders that we don’t want to emulate: being self-absorbed, arrogant, and condescending to name a few. These are exactly the things we want to avoid as a leader.
“Know Thyself” Through Your Own Story
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A life story or memoir seems to be something commonly written during retirement years. The power in life stories, however, doesn’t have time restrictions. It may surprise you, but the best time to write your life story is now. Sure, you may update it later, but learning to know yourself through your own story has tremendous potential to increase your own happiness, sense of belonging, self-esteem, and sense of purpose. Here’s why this is true.
Favorite Pie Crust
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When I was just starting to learn how to cook for my family, I wondered who ever came up with the expression easy as pie?? Had they ever actually tried to make pie? I was really good at making a crumbly mess, or something that looked ok but tasted awful. Why was this so hard?
I tried a myriad of different recipes and since I wasn’t a huge fan of pie crust anyway… I probably wasn’t the best judge to begin with. Miss Suzette served her recipe for pie crust with me about 15 years ago, and it was the first time I actually ate the crust instead of leaving it untouched on the side of my plate. Thankfully she shared her recipe.
The Danger of Distraction
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Have you ever noticed how sometimes our days get filled with things that are unimportant? Sometimes the busyness of life can cause us to focus on all the little things that fill our day instead of the important things we should be doing. Sometimes, it is easy for distractions to divert our attention.
How Family Stories Combat Teenage Entitlement
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At #familyhistoryfriday here on Evolve, we talk a lot about family stories and what they do for us. We’ve talked about how knowing family stories gives us appreciation and perspective and how kids who know family stories are more resilient, deal better with adversity, and have higher self-esteem. Both kids and adults need these things today more than ever before. But did you know there’s another reason family stories make a difference to kids? Family stories combat teenage entitlement.
Strawberry Freezer Jam
A Childhood Favorite
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One of my very favorite childhood memories is watching my Grandmother make jam. Every year at the end of summer, my Grandma would make several batches of homemade raspberry and strawberry freezer jam. She would collect mountains of fresh berries, wash them, and lovingly fill container after container of full of sweet scrumptiousness for us to enjoy throughout the year.
