Dabbling Mum.com Book Reviews

Stop Bullying Bobby!
Helping Children Cope with Teasing and Bullying
ISBN: 0-88282-253-5
New Horizon Press
PO Box 669
Far Hills, NJ 07931
wstiefan@infionline.net
http://home.infionline.net/~stopbullyingbobby/

While I felt the story was "too grown up" to have been told by the
seven-year-old narrator, I do believe the story was very well thought
out and offers a valuable lesson for both children and adults, alike.

Stop Bullying Bobby shows how verbal and physical abuse can stifle
victims while instructing children in healthy, safe ways to protect
other children from bullies. It also reminds children that it's okay
to be different and that in our differences, we're special and worthy
of love and acceptance.

Finally, the book ends with great, short, but concise tips to help
parents and teachers stop bullying in their community as well as tips
on helping bullied children find protection and safety.

Courtesy of Alyice Edrich, editor of The Dabbling Mum.com; where BUSY
parents find advice, balance, inspiration, and how-to e-books.


A Child's Missal
ISBN: 0-9741748-1-5
The Patmos Group
967 Bee Hollow Rd.
Shohola, PA 1858
570-685-5168
http://www.patmos.us
$17.95

Not being a Catholic myself, I have often arrived at the church, with
my in-laws, to find myself in awe of the beauty of the Catholic
ceremonies. The rituals always seemed to have deep meaning and the
stained glass windows always stood out with such vibrancy. Yet, the
symbolism and rich culture left me a bit bewildered. That is, until I
read A Child's Missal. It is a beautifully illustrated book
showcasing the various stages of a Catholic Mass. It explains the
different stages of the mass through photographs, paintings,
drawings, and short blurbs. In my humble opinion, this visual prayer
book would make a great gift for anyone entering the Catholic church,
graduating from Catechism, or getting baptized. Finally, it would
make a nice conversational piece and/or coffee table book for devout
Catholics.


Alyice Edrich is the editor of The Dabbling Mum.com–where BUSY
parents find balance (http://thedabblingmum.com). She is also the
author of several work-from-home e-books, including one that allows
parents to earn $50 in two hours without joining an MLM or home party
business.

How To Make a "Lights Out" Box

This is a great box of easy and fun activities to have on
hand when your electricity goes out.
This will help the children from being scared and being
bored.

You can use anything you have on hand for the container. It
might be a shoe box, plastic container, coffee can, etc.
You can decorate it or let the kids decorate it.
Find things to put in it that will be easy but also keep the
kids occupied.

Here are some ideas:
Crayons
Markers
Books
Coloring Books
Have them make a list of things they can't do without
electricity.
Make up a story - each person makes up a sentence and then
the next person adds to it and on down the line.
Have each child a flashlight or mini lantern.
Some snacks that will last awhile.
Small battery powered radio (Don't forget the batteries)
Travel type Mini Games ( Bingo, checkers,etc)

You might want to keep this close to where you keep the
power outage supplies such as candles, flashlights,etc.
Only use the "Lights Out" box when you are having a power
outage. It makes it more fun.When the lights are back on you
can put at least one different item in for the next power
outage.
Add items that your own family will enjoy and have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angela Billings is a stay at home wife and mother who
publishes an online newsletter Home and Family Ezine.
http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com

Valentines Day Fun For Kids!

Share some family fun and get started on the projects listed
below and have them ready in time for Valentines Day.

Help kids make their own Valentines using construction
paper, lace, ribbons, sequins, buttons, glitter, glue and
anything else they or you can think of to add on!

Cut a heart shape from a household sponge and sprinkle with
wheat grass seeds and keep the sponge wet so the children
will have a growing heart. They can even give the hearts
"hair cuts!"

Make a decorate cookies or cupcakes. Use your favorite cake
mix and icing and decorate with candy hearts, red hots,
sprinkles and anything else you can think of.

Make a Valentine Box by decorating a shoe box with
construction paper or wrapping paper and adding on lace,
ribbons, paper cutouts, heart doilies and anything else in
your craft pile.Kids can then put their Valentine cards in
the box!

Use paints or food coloring to make Thumbprint Valentines by
making two thumbprints into a heart shape and then add
facial features . The child then can add the following -
"Thumb Body Loves You!"

Play Cupid Chase by putting blindfolds on all but one (He
will be Cupid) Tye a small bell to the childs shoe strings
or on a string for a necklace.Then Cupid runs around the
room anywhere while the blindfolded kids try to to catch him
by listening for the bell.When Cupid is caught the catcher
then becomes Cupid!

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angela Billings is a stay at home wife and mother who
publishes an online newsletter Home and Family Ezine.
http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com

Subscribe to Home and Family Ezine for recipes and household tips for better living.
http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com

Tips to Make Reading Fun

This list is for both young and old. I love reading and want
everyone to love it as well. So I hope you will find at
least one thing helpful in this list and that it will
inspire you to come up with some of your own.

1. Vist the public library if you can't get to the library
you can also find some of the great authors works online.
Just do a search online for "public domain books"

2. Keep a basket of books in an accessible place for
everyone in the family. Put a variety of books in that the
various members in your family will enjoy.

3. Make your own library. Keep your eye out at yard sales,
thrift stores, online auctions ,etc for books then bring
them home clean them up and put on your bookshelf. You can
even encourage your children to "check out" the books.
Simply seal a business size envelope and then cut the
envelope in half and tape or glue one half in the back of a
book and place an index card inside. Then the child places
their name and the date they got the book on the card and
the card is put into an index card box. Children love
playing library. They can even let their friends check out
books.

4.Read aloud to your family, if you live alone read aloud to
yourself.

5.Start a book club among your friends.

6.Do a project that goes along with the book. This could be
a craft or a recipe.

7.Make or buy pretty bookmarks as a special gift to your
children or yourself.

8. Simply enjoy reading and all the places you can go
through books and all the things you can learn.
---------------------------
Angela Billings is a stay at home wife and mother who
publishes an online newsletter Home and Family Ezine.
http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com

Fun and intesting games to enjoy with the family.

Looking for fun holiday activities with the family, here are two
interesting card games.

Game Number 1: CONCENTRATION

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Any number at all—the more the merrier. THE
DEAL: Just spread the cards face down on a table. Don't bother
to put them down neatly, but just jumble them up, making sure
that no 2 cards overlap.

OBJECT: TO capture pairs of cards. The player who cap-tures the
most pairs wins the game. THE PLAY: Before play begins, each
player should be told what his turn is. Thus each player knows
whether he is first, second, third, etc.

The 1st player turns up any card and then turns up any other
card. If the two cards match each other (for example, if they
are two Aces, or two Kings, etc.) the 1st player captures them
as his pair. He then has another turn and proceeds to turn up
two more cards in the hope of finding a pair. As soon as he
turns up two cards that are not a pair, he must turn them face
down again in the same place, and it now becomes the turn of the
next player. Each player proceeds in the same way, until all the
cards have been captured. At that time, the player who has
cap-tured the largest number of cards wins the game.

SKILLFUL PLAY: The trick is to remember the cards that have been
turned up and exactly whereabouts on the table those cards are.
For example, suppose the 1st player turns up a King and a 10. He
must turn those cards face down, and you do your very best to
remember exactly where that King is and where that 10 is. If it
is now your turn, you try to turn up a card in an entirely
different part of the table, hoping to find another King or
another 10.

If you find another King, you can go right to the first King
like a homing pigeon and then you will have a pair of Kings. If
you find another 10, you can go right to the first 10 and thus
have a pair of 10's. If you try to remember too many cards,
you will forget them all. It is much better to begin by trying
to remember only two or three cards. When you find that you can
do that easily, try remembering four cards. In this way you can
gradually increase your skill until you can accurately re-member
the whereabouts of seven or eight cards at a time. This should
be enough to win almost any game.

Game Number 2: TREASURE HUNT

For this game you need two decks of cards, some prepara-tion,
two or three rooms with nothing breakable in them, and almost
any number of young children.

You begin by hiding some of the cards from one deck in the rooms
that you devote to the game. This must be done before the
children arrive for the game.

Be sure to hide as many red cards as black, and be sure also to
take out from the second deck cards that match the ones you have
hidden. A hidden card should be discoverable without damage. For
example, if you hide a card in a book-case, it should be
sticking out in some way and not hidden inside of a book.

Every hidden card should be well within the reach of even the
youngest child. It is perfectly fair to put a card under the
pedals of a piano, but not on top of the piano, where a small
child would be unable to see it.

When the children arrive, appoint two captains and let them
choose up sides. One team will find red cards (hearts and
diamonds), and the other team will find black cards (spades and
clubs).

Give each child a card from the second deck and explain that he
is to find a duplicate of it, hidden somewhere in a particular
room or in two or three rooms, depending on how much space you
have for the game. As soon as a child finds the card he is
looking for, he is to bring it back to you and get another card
to look for. The team that finds all of its hidden cards first
wins the game.

Be sure to explain that it isn't necessary to move anything in
order to find the cards. Mention also, that anybody who finds a
card that he isn't looking for should replace that card in
exactly the same spot and tell no one about it. Somebody else
will be looking for it, or he himself may be looking for it
later on. This is a good game to play in somebody else's house.

Karen Butterworth is a successful freelance author that writes
regularly for http://www.kids-games-n-crafts.com/, a site that
focuses primarily on helping you choose the fun and interactive
games to help your children grow. Her articles have also been
featured on related family sites such as
http://www.baby-shower-ideas-n-games.com and
http://www.wedding-reception-ideas-n-invitations.com