Mara Spiropoulos, LifeWays student and mother of three children ages 3 and under, shares her family’s experience in deciding to go television-free. As a stay at home mama to three children under the age of 3 and a half, I have very full hands to say the least. I am on my path to […]

My 3 older daughters asked me if they could make some lemonade. I gave them a thumbs-up and they enthusiastically went about setting up their work area and gathering what they needed.  They spent a happy time taking turns squeezing lemons and limes, adding water and sugar and tasting their lemonade. Finally, it was ready. They had used

    Bianca Lara, LifeWays graduate and director of A Child’s Garden of Thyme in San Diego county, has been selected to participate in Michelle Obama’s upcoming “Let’s Move America” campaign webinar.  The campaign is focused on reducing childhood obesity, and the webinars will serve as resources to childcare centers across America to help reduce screen-time, get

Taming the Wild Beasts           What I want to talk about here is the art of re-direction. That’s a large part of what positive discipline is: instead of saying what NOT to do, say what you DO want your child to do. This can be very straightforward (“Please talk in a

  In the midst of this crazy time that the Holiday Season seems to have become, it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself, to slow down, to take time, to include yourself in your plans to take care of everyone in your family.  Are you not part of the family?  This

  Cynthia Aldinger answers an inquiry from an experienced preschool teacher concerning a five year old girl who bullies other children in the class of 10 three-to five-year-olds; the parents say she isn’t that way at home, so they think it must be the teacher’s problem. Five Year Old Difficulties In Preschool As a former

This sweet article, written by a LifeWays caregiver, looks at ways to respond when young children ask, “why?”  What a lovely reminder to all of us who spend time with young children!       ~Faith The Whys’ to the Wise, by Tamara Treviranus As parents and caregivers, we have all experienced our little ones

  When I was in my LifeWays training, Cynthia Aldinger talked about why we feel so good when we clean mindfully, or make a meal from scratch.  We did an exercise where we cleaned mindfully, and I could tell that many of us went into it skeptically.  But when we came back together at the