Look What We Have Accomplished Together!

A Giant Thank YOU for believing that ECHOage is A Better Way to Celebrate.

It’s International Cheetah Day! Proud to Partner With Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada!

It turns out that there are a lot of young Canadians who absolutely adore cheetahs. Not only that, they know a lot about cheetahs – why they can run so fast, why they are endangered and why the facial markings on the cheetah exist for very practical reasons. The cheetah, one of the world’s most iconic species, has its own day to celebrate. It’s December 4^th and you can find out much more about the cheetah at www.internationalcheetahday.com

ECHOage has made it possible for kids across Canada to celebrate their birthdays and donate to Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada. Most of the world’s cheetahs live in southern Africa, in Namibia. When the founder of Cheetah Conservation Fund and the world’s leading expert on cheetahs, Dr. Laurie Marker, recently came to Toronto, it provided a wonderful opportunity for more than a dozen young people (along with their parents) to get together and talk to the “Cheetah Lady”. Dr. Laurie has lived and worked in Namibia for more than 30 years and has worked with cheetahs in the wild as well as those who have been orphaned and are in the care of Cheetah Conservation Fund.

Dr. Laurie showed everybody how cheetahs are built for speed, and had lots of help from the kids in attendance. She also talked about the ways that we can protect cheetahs in the wild, and help the people who are living in the local communities.

There were lots of very good questions and Dr. Laurie learned that young Canadians care about these amazing cats and our planet.

Halloween Hangover: What To Do With All the Loot?

According to my calculations, six kids equal a ridiculous amount of Halloween candy. Parents always wonder: do we let them gorge and be done with it? Or do we portion it out over an extended period of time?

I checked in with nutritionist pal, Theresa Albert, who basically said it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Her advice? Get rid of it altogether – you really don’t want your kids consuming that much sugar.

Looking for fun and creative ways to dispose of it? See if you can convince your little sugar monsters to try one of these:

The “Switch Witch.” This special character visits your home and replaces bags of candy with a toy or a few little presents.

Pinterest. A mom pal took to Pinterest when looking for ideas and found plenty. Now she has used some of the candy to make up advent calendars for the kids! You could also try melting down that extra chocolate to make this yummy bark and gift it to friends, neighbours and family.

Ditch or donate it. Check in with your dentist! Sometimes they have trade-in programs to keep the sugar bugs off those little pearly whites. Some have even set up a program where they send the treats over to Canadian Troops.

Eat it yourself. Speaking from experience, this never ends well. If you end up going this route, just be sure to take cover.

Girls’ Trip to Disney: Classic Moments & Memories

I had the opportunity to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration recently. Packing up my whole crew to do Disney is way outta my league, so I picked my three favourite children to bring along with me (Ok, they’re not really my favourites, but it worked with their schedules).

On top of the event being just out-of-this-world amazing, hanging with my three girls was pretty special. I’ll tell ya what – those Disney folks sure know a thing or two about hospitality. I got a lot of laughs and kicks over many things, but here are a few worth mentioning:

• My Independent Girls:

My three girls are 10, 12 and barely 14-years-old. While I attended the conference, the three of them went off with their maps and bus schedules and explored the Disney Parks completely on their own. They didn’t even have cell phones. They worked together, problem solved and made memories. I’d say that is the sign of a good holiday!

• Magic Bands:

My kids are fascinated by the magic that is the Disney Magic Bands. A wrist band that gets them into hotel rooms, on rides and buys them food? Unthinkable! So impressed by this technology, they had to dissect and autopsy my Magic Band upon our return home. Results not yet in.

• The Other Conference Attendees:

In addition to hanging out with so many amazing bloggers and their families, there was a special moment for my 10-year-old daughter while we were riding on the Magical Express to our hotel.  She spotted the genius family of “Cute Girl Hairstyles” YouTube fame. I did a quick google search as my kid was freaking out, and yeah, they’re a pretty big deal. And not only do they do cool hairdos, the family is amazingly sweet and friendly.

• The Negative Nelly:

Every family has one, right? My “Negative Nelly” had a wonderful time, but I picked this as her all-time classic Disney Downer Quote:

“It’s so sad that all these people have to FAKE being happy because they work here”. I suggested that maybe they weren’t faking and she claimed it’s impossible to be happy all the time. She says she sniffed out a few fakes, and claims, “You have to look into their eyes and not at their smiles”. OK then.

• Crashed Out Kids:

Nothing makes this mama happier than knowing her kids played hard. Here is the photographic evidence. The flight home looked like this:

Has your family done the trip to Disney yet? I was delighted to have gone to be a part of something as exciting as the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  I only hope to get invited again so I can bring my other favourite children!

Tags: Julie Cole, big families, blogging, Disney, mabels labels, traveling with kids, working mothers

Creating Ways To Give Together

When Michelle, Montreal’s fabulous ‘Bead Lady’ from
somethingfunky.ca, agreed to deliver the fun at Audra’s recent ECHOage birthday party, she became so inspired by the generosity of this energetic little 6 year old that she just had to get involved!

Joining in on the giving with Audra’s kindergarten girlfriends, Michelle, decided to donate her party fee bringing the total raised to $500!

Audra chose to contribute her ECHOage funds to her best friend Zoe Saskin’s fund at the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and she is also going to get a desk just in time for grade one!

Kids are inspiring the adults in their lives to help change the world!

Join the movement, ECHOage!

How to motivate an unmotivated kid.

I’ve always been fascinated by what makes some people super motivated, and others, not so much. I found this particularly interesting when I saw differences in motivation between my children.

Why do I have two kids who are equally clever, yet one is disappointed with a certain mark or grade in school, while the other thinks it is more than acceptable?

A few weeks ago I spent an evening holding a gun to one kid’s head forcing him to prepare for a math test taking place the next day. No gun to head, no study. Across the room was the other child busily typing on her laptop. When I asked what she was working on, the response was “I have a science test in two weeks so I’m just putting together my study notes to get a jump on things.”

Two kids – born only fifteen months apart with the same parents, same home environment, same encouragement, same role modeling, and yet so different. Why?

With no answer to that question, frustration was mounting. When you have a smart kid not working to potential, it’s enough to make any parent get twitchy. I usually rely on natural consequences – don’t study, then you fail. Better luck next time. Problem is – with this kid, doing badly doesn’t bother him too much. Not exactly what I’m looking for in a consequence.

I happen to be lucky enough to be pals with psychologist and parenting author, Alyson Schafer. She gave me a few quick tips that I’ve put into practice – and my kid and I are not as frustrated with each other.

Tip #1: Teach him the EFFORT IS NOT STUPIDITY. This is big. Whenever he actually had to TRY at something, he liked to default to “Oh well, I guess I just suck at this”. That’s a pretty easy out, so we’ve had lots of conversations trying to turn this way of thinking around.

Tip #2: Don’t dictate when he’s going to study, but task him to. Every Sunday he creates his own study plan for the week. No longer is it me nagging him to study, it’s him having to be accountable to his OWN plan.

Tip #3: Don’t argue when he thinks what he’s studying is useless. He’s likely right. Have the open conversation that there are bits of the curriculum that are outdated or won’t be relevant to him. Get on his side, but remember to teach that getting through this is all just a step to be able to have choices when it comes to post-secondary education and a career.

Do your kids have different motivation levels? How do you manage your expectations around the effort they do or don’t put into school or activities?

By Julie Cole, Founder of Mabels Labels.

Sleepaway camp: The best way to decide if your kids are ready.

I’m no stranger to sending kids to sleep away camp. My “biggie” kids have been going for several years and the benefits are countless.

This year, I have a new crop of kids who are great ages for sleep away camp, so for the first time in a few years, I found myself revisiting the age old question of “ARE THEY READY?” Of course, I’m not sure I’m ready, but as a wise Camp Director once told me, “Sorry Julie, this isn’t about YOU!”  Fine thing.

After setting my personal anxieties aside, I looked at my two little darlings and asked myself the following:

Do they want to go to camp?  If they want to go, it’s a pretty good indication that they’re ready. Of course, kids can be indecisive – one minute they want to go and another minute they don’t. When they say they don’t want to go, it’s likely that they’re worried about homesickness. So, I remind my kids that it’s completely normal and they likely will be homesick at some point. But it usually passes and doesn’t interfere with the overall camp experience. Besides, camp staff are trained to deal with this issue. A homesick kid is the biggest and most common issue they deal with.

As the parent, our job is to consider how severe the homesickness will be. So when trying to determine whether they’re ready or not, you can ask yourself these questions:

• When at home, does your kid stay in their own bed every night? If you wake up every morning having discovered a little visitor migrated into your bed during the night, the kiddo might not quite be ready
• Does your child feel comfortable having a sleepover with extended family or close friends? If they’d rather be glued to you than have a fun sleepover at Grandma’s house, this could be a sign that the kiddo is not ready for camp
• Can you get a little friend to go too?  My kids like going to camp with siblings, but kids are put in cabins according to age so siblings don’t usually get to stay together. A familiar friend from home or school can sometimes help a kiddo feel more comfortable.
• Have your kiddos had the chance to see camp for themselves?  My two kids that are up for camp consideration this summer have been able to visit their siblings at camp, which has familiarized them with the camp setting. This can be helpful.

After putting kids #4 and #5 through this little test, these were the results:

YES, this kid is ready camp! She’s signed up and ready to go!

Sorry buddy, maybe next year!

How do you decide if your little ones are ready for this experience? Do you have anyone heading off to sleep-away camp this season? By Julie Cole, Founder of Mabels Labels.

ECHOage is booming in Montreal. Party with us and support our growing list of wonderful Charity Partners.

It’s finally springtime (sigh). Make your next event even more meaningful by supporting our

Montreal charity partners.

It’s a great way to celebrate the season.

Happy spring!