HOW is the space cleaning and life renewing task going?  By being better organized you will reduce stress, save money and contribute to the needs of others.  There is nothing that brings more calm to my life than being free of clutter.  It saves time because I can quickly find what I need to complete any task.   Keep going…you will be glad you did.

Now let’s begin the next chapter of the 2013 SHARE! Challenge

Think about some lovely quiet evenings…You and your significant other…a nice glass of wine…the kids tucked into bed or watching a movie…long talks about ideas and dreams and long trips to foreign places when you retire…your hopes for your children and exploring their talents and weak spots…your hopes for their education and for their places in the big world!
All important, all need to be done, all about looking into the future and planning for the best that can be for your family!
Then, SHARE!  your plans and ideas with your children.  Not in one big event, but over weeks and months and years.  “Here is what we hope for our future and yours.”   SHARE! your tragedies and triumphs and your stories with your kids!   “This is how I decided what to do with my life.”  “Mom and I will go to Paris when we are 65!”  “This is the story of how lost I was when my boyfriend dumped me for my roommate.”  By sharing your history you help them understand how life works.  Why we can’t have everything we want.  Why we have to choose if we want to reach our goals, if you want to go to college, if Dad and I want to retire someday.

The other side of planning is preparing for the “what if’s” of life.

Before age 30 I was widowed with a young child, a few months later, when I met my future husband for the first time, he was also young and widowed.   We were thankful to have found each other and married the following year.  Because of our unusual experiences for our age, we know to take nothing for granted and to BE PREPARED.  Long range planning and preparedness is a very positive way to care for your family.  TO PREPARE IS TO SHARE!

It is time to write a will.

And it isn’t about the money.   Instead, it is telling your kids and relatives, that you have made plans that will keep your family SAFE if you are no longer alive.  Tell your children where they will live and who will take care of them.  Share what your hopes and dreams are for them if you are not alive, and that you have planned to help them reach those goals even if you are not there with them.   This is also about teaching your children about the one part of life that we will ALL face, and that is death.  It is preparing them for the “what ifs”.  It is telling your children that you have prepared for all the possibilities.  The good and the bad!

Don’t be afraid of the word death.  Do you have trouble even saying it? Or thinking about it?  Let’s begin by confronting that fear.  Here is one easy way to begin…
In nearly every community you will find cemeteries.  They often are meticulously maintained, quite beautiful, decorated for special holidays, and contain some of the most beautiful statuary you can find in town.  Visit them with your children…Not gruesome at all!  In fact interesting!  Military heroes may be buried there, as well as founders and leaders of your community, and you will find interesting and historical information written on tombstones.  Cemeteries are conversations starters for your family no matter what age your kids might be.  If family members are buried there, that presents an opportunity to start sharing family stories with your children.  How you remember grandma and where she came from, her home you used to visit, how a member of your family fought in WWII, or helped to build the library in town.  It is a way to begin thinking and talking about death and life!  My kids call it, “visiting the dead relatives”.  This is just one way to begin the dialog about death and dying with your children in a non-threatening way, in a beautiful place.  It opens the door to presenting new thoughts and words.   It is just one way to help your children see the full circle of life.

After all, your goal as parents is to raise responsible adults, right?

Begin your long range family planning today.  Start thinking, start talking about the future.   Ask your parents, siblings, and friends about the plans they have made for their families and their future.  Start the conversation, the struggling, the debate about these hefty decisions.   Begin to plan!  Find a lawyer and prepare a will.

You have eight months remaining in 2013 to write your will…start NOW…this will be the best gift you will ever give your family… WHAT A GREAT WAY TO BEGIN 2014!

How would you like to end the year 2013 with a feeling of accomplishment, renewal, goals met, and gratitude?  The 2013 SHARE! CHALLENGE can help you attain those goals.  Throughout the year, I invite you to follow the Recess Music blog, as I present possibilities and goals for doing just that.  February 14th is a great day to begin!

The goal is to bring order to your life both in the present, as well as in the future, with some long range planning.   Some goals will take manual labor other goals will need brain power and decision making.

We begin, in February, with the process of cleaning every closet, room, garage, basement and box that is contained within your home in the next few months of 2013.  There is real value in the things you might find there.  If you are not using it…someone else can.  If it is a “keepsake” or family heirloom, well then, let’s find a place for it!  Art work created by your children?  Preserve it or frame it.   How about making scrapbooks for each of your children?  Bring together pictures of Mom and Dad from grade school, old report cards, letters sent home from camp, pictures of grandparents, even long favored family recipes. Your kids will love them. The perfect gift to put under the tree for in December, with months for planning and creating!

Let’s begin today, make a plan, for each week/month, for which spaces to tackle, and get the family involved.  How about the neighborhood? A block garage sale, with a goal for donating to an agreed upon charity in your community, is a great idea.  Set the date now for your block sale, it will get everyone motivated!

This is the perfect way to share.  The things you find in your closet can be the warm coats and mittens for another family, or an opportunity to donate to the recycle center or the Goodwill, instead of the landfill.  And you can be kind to Mother Earth by recycling, reusing, repairing, donating, and sharing.

So, are you in?  Up for the challenge?  You know you need to do this!  No time like the present!  What a great feeling you will have on December 31, 2013!

In the coming months I will invite you to organize other areas of your life.  This is where the brain power will be needed. Some of the challenges may be more difficult, some will be more fun, but in the end, I hope the process will be beneficial.
So, if you will excuse me, I’m starting with all the medicine cabinets and linen closets this week.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Nancy

Available NOW!

Recess Music is excited to add this third album to the critically acclaimed Best Foot Forward Music Series. Talented musicians help us celebrate the differences that make us especially unique and excitedly human. Featuring music of contrasting styles, children can learn about empathy, caring and understanding. As with all the albums in the BFF series, we once again educate, entertain and encourage children and families to think about their own feelings and those of others. The variety of musical styles, feature engaging, dynamic tunes, invites kids to discover and appreciate their own positive qualities as well as the uniqueness of those around them! We believe SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES will be welcomed into the classroom and enjoyed by kids and parents alike!

Click HERE to order Someone Else’s Shoes from the Recess Music Store.

When we think of bullying, generally, we think of our children being hurt, harassed, or threatened.  Today, on the NBC and ABC morning news programs, we learned that anyone, regardless of age or situation, can be bullied!  Sadly, a woman in her 60’s, working as a volunteer for the local school bus company as a bus monitor, was videotaped, while the teenagers around her verbally and physically abused her. To watch the video is painful, sad and frightening!

Just a few days ago it was a story about a kindergartner, whose teacher ordered every member of the child’s class to line up and hit him because he had misbehaved.  The teacher has now been fired.

It seems that the current antisocial behavior, permeating our society, can be perpetrated on anyone, anywhere, regardless of the situation, location, or the age of the victim!  While the bully, it seems, can be your sweet faced 13 year old child, or the teacher to whom you entrust your child each day.

Parents, Administrators, Teachers, Clergy, Leaders: BE PROACTIVE, GET INVOLVED.  Hold your children and community to a higher social standard.  Demand training on Bullying prevention in your schools.  Training should be available for both teachers AND students!  Push for the passage of legislation that protects citizens, regardless of age.

Invite your children to sit with you and watch the video of the woman who was abused on the bus by teenagers.  Let your children know that this behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by your family.  Help them to understand that respect for others, regardless of how weak, different, or unique they might appear is a gift that people, in a polite society, grant to one another.

Then, lead by example…try doing one small socially acceptable thing for others while you are out in your neighborhood.  One idea:  Try holding the door for someone else.  It used to be something gentlemen were expected to do for ladies…not anymore…I started doing this a few years ago and I am surprised by the reaction.  People smile and say thank you, it is a small thing that is really appreciated.  It is called a social grace.  It’s a beginning.

Unfortunately, bullying, self esteem issues and the need for mutual care and understanding, don’t only occur in the school classroom.  Summer community sports teams, summer camp, neighborhood playgrounds…wherever kids gather… bullying and exclusion can happen.  Some children easily adapt to new situations and some children need extra help.  Children come in all different packages, sizes, and skills, as do all people.  Understanding about differences brings acceptance.  The Best Foot Forward Music Series is dedicated to using uplifting, fun music to create an appreciation for the adventure of being human.  We believe our positive, educational, entertaining music can bring human harmony and understanding.

As we approach the end of the school year, or if you are already thinking of your children in a new classroom and with a new teacher come fall, perhaps you would consider gifting your teacher, principle, school counselor, or administrator with the Best Foot Forward Music Series for use in your child’s classroom or school.  Also think about gifting the summer sports coach, your child’s camp counselor, or summer birthday parties, with music that can help and heal.