How are you keeping your kids busy this Summer?

Our children are out of school, and here comes the dilemma: What to do?
Sure you cannot go on vacation for the whole time, and probably you are not going to the next door pool everyday. Are your children going to spend most of their time on video games? Watching TV? Sleeping?
How about giving them a more creative outlet, something much more productive and that will also boost their self esteem?
You can have all this by giving your children the tools to create their own storybooks, flipbooks, posters, playing cards and more!
Here is your Summer Survival kit:

Contact me today to know how to get your kids started! Your children will thank you for it!

My child is a VIP!

Since board books have come to be, I have been wanting to create one for my child, and the "I am a VIP" template was just perfect for my Jacob.
He is my middle child, he is 3 years old and sometimes I see that he feels like he is not as important as his big brother who goes to school or his little brother, whom I am still nursing and consequently gets lots more mommy and me time than Jacob does.

So, I started creating this board book starting from the template, and made the appropriate changes to fit it to our family.
This morning Jacob saw what I was working on, and he was so excited because there was a  book that was all about him.
He asked me to see it over and over, and I couldn't say no, seeing his smile and joy when turning every page through the project viewer. He kept saying" It's all about me, it's all about me!!!".
We went through each page, he told me who everybody was, and I helped him remember the cousins who live in England. I hope this will help him think about them more often, maybe even getting closer to them.

I told him he would then be able to really read it all by himself soon, and he asked if the book was in the garage. He just wanted to have it at once!
I had to explain him that mommy needed to add a few more things and then she would publish it and we would have had the book here in just 2 weeks.
I am so happy I decided to create this board book, if Jacob is so excited by just seeing it on the computer, can you imagine how happy he will be when he will have the book in his hands and will be able to bring it with him everywhere and show it off with his friends? I can see him going to his Nana and saying:"Look Nana, it's all about me!"

He will also be able to remember about his nonno Oreste, my dad, whom he never saw in this life, but we firmly believe he was with him before he was born and inspired us to "do what we had to do" to have Jacob come into our family. That's why Jacob's middle name is Oreste.

I don't know who is more excited about this book, if it is me or Jacob!;)

Discover the Hero in your child

A child is always a hero to his parents, but sometimes it might be a little difficult to remember it!

Too often our children don't realize the huge potential  in them, and we look for ways to help them recognize their value, but it is not a easy task.

When this morning I found the template for the History heroes book which  complements the history heroes DVD  that are now offered by Heritage Makers in partnership with Nest entertainment, I couldn't help but start one for my own child!

 

What a great gift for any child, a book where he can see that he has the same characteristic as Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Alexander Graham Bell and many others.

He/she will be able to see that he is indeed a hero in your eyes, and will be able to walk confidently through every challenge in his/her life!
I prefer my children to watch DVDs about History Heroes and learn something from them instead of  watching useless or violent cartoons all the time! With a storybook about them and how they relate to each History hero whose story they are watching in TV, I cannot go wrong!

Click on the image above to know more about the whole DVD- storybook offer.
This Christmas you can give your child a gift that he/she will cherish forever and that will give him a boost in life!
Now this is a way to improve your future family history!^_^
Want to create one for your child?
Just contact me and I'll get you started in a jiff!

UPDATE: History heroes DVD are not offered by Heritage Makers anymore, but the template for the books are still available in the template gallery, so if you own or plan to buy the DVDs online, the book is still a wonderful way to help your child discover what makes him a hero.

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You can get a free Publishing account by signing up at http://www.preservemyheritage.com and start creating unlimited projects at once!
Love my Creative Genealogy templates and ideas? 

My HM club members can have their favorite template transferred to their account for personal use, or  can have it completely personalized by me for them  for a reasonable fee.

Want more for less? Check out our incredible host rewards and My Club HM!

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Boosting a child self esteem

Nowadays seems like we are asking more and more to our children, and we are involving them in more and more activities, and while this allows them to discover their full potential, it could  also end up being a little counterproductive.
Ever heard your child uttering these words:
I CAN'T DO IT!!!
My child does it a little too much, and just saying that I know he can do it, wasn't convincing him so much, so I decided that he needed something that would make him realize him that he can do many things.
How about a book about him and what he CAN do?
I got inspired by a fellow HM consultant, Kelly Barquin and created a 5x5 book similar to the 8x8 book she had created for her child, recording as many things my 5 year old can do as possible.

When the book arrived on my door step, I couldn't wait for my child to come home from school and see it!
He loved it, and also was able to read some words, and could see that the phrase I CAN was everywhere.

We read the book together and he was so proud to have a book about him and the great things he can do!
Now I can show him the book every time he is discouraged, and tell him he CAN do it, supported by a whole book about him!

I think this is now his favorite, among all the books I have created for him, and our family!
You can see a preview of the whole book here.
You can improve your child self esteem too creating a book about him/her, like the one I created, or one with all of his/her artwork, a magazine cover featuring your child, family games with his pictures, creating his own genealogy tree...

Using  the HM Studio 3.0 super easy online software, you can really create any kind of project to not only preserve your heritage but also "change" the story for someone!