Home Is My Happy Spot

Image courtesy of sattva at FreeDigitalPhotos.net What do your kids want for Christmas? The latest smartphone, iPad, tablet, or video game? Kids love technology, but excessive screen time is damaging their ability to socially engage, deal with delayed gratification, and use their imaginations to create limitless fun. High tech has its benefits and is here to stay, but that doesn't mean parents have to allow their kids to be consumed by it.  Forget keeping up with the Jones's--stand up to the societal pressure to conform.  Just because other parents are indulging their kids in electronics and devices doesn't mean you should too. It's your job to look out for your kids' best interests, so invest in gifts they will not only love, but that will boost their creativity and harness their natural curiosity, interests, and strengths. S.T.E.M. Gifts Science, technology, engineering, and math are the career paths of the future.  You can help your kids prepare

Image courtesy of Bill Longshaw at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Stores are brimming with irresistibly hot buys.  Toys are flying off the shelf, and you're frantically trying to find time to finish snagging what you've selected from a pile of wish lists. Maybe you've avoided the crowds and shopped online this year. What have you been eyeing?  A sparkly sweater?  A new kitchen gadget?  Do you even have room for one more thing? Do your kids want toys that take up too much space? Mary and Joseph were turned away from an inn because there was no room for them--maybe if the innkeeper just cleared out a backlogged room, he could have changed the whole story!  If you have family staying with you this Christmas, make room.  It can take a few hours or an entire weekend (though extra time is scarce this time of year) to perform a much needed pre-holiday purge, but you can enlist the whole family to help. Select Targets For Your Pre-Holiday Purge Depending on your clutte