The Fourth of July is our theme for this week, in our summer series of activities for my posts under the Blisstree Parenting section. 
What are you doing for this holiday weekend, which in our tourist area of New Hampshire, constitutes the beginning of the summer season?
What family memories are you creating?
How are you recording these memories for your family history? 

Scrapbooking,
Making photo CDs
Journaling,
Taking videos
Developing special traditions
Incorporating family members of all ages into these activities

Share with us your Fourth of July traditions!

I have found that a lot of Americans dislike “Hallmark” holidays like Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day because they see them as money-making schemes created to give consumers a reason to make purchases that they otherwise might not.  In contrast, my family has always made a big deal out of these holidays.  We always send cards and gifts and make phonecalls and plan weekends surrounding these holidays so that we can celebrate them properly.  It may seem silly, but I really think this is a great tradition.
These holidays always remind me to give thanks.  It’s not everyday that …read more

Have you ever found yourself wishing you were one of those families? You know…the ones who all go outside after a big holiday dinner to have their big annual football game? If so, you don’t have to wait until a more commercialized holiday comes around. Father’s Day is the perfect time to create a new annual family tradition.
Sport related traditions are a great fit. If your family isn’t into football, you can hold a tennis, volleyball, swimming, baseball, or golf tournament instead.
Not into sports? What about a board game tournament. Chess, checkers and Monopoly work well for this type of …read more

Do you and your youngsters have bedtime story rituals? Is reading a story to young children or allowing them to read at bedtime a fun occasion in your family?
Some of my fondest childhood memories center around bedtime stories.  When we four children were very young, Mother read to us.  We piled on one another’s beds, alternating each evening, while she read chapters from Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Little Women, and Tom Sawyer.
Then, often during the day, we might act out these stories.  I particularly recall our pretend jaunts around the Swiss Mountains as we visited Heidi, Peter, Clara and Grandfather.
When we were …read more

Are there St. Patrick’s Day festivities in your household?  Special foods, decorations, stories, or card exchanges?
We always made St. Patrick’s Day a special occasion when I was a youngster because the hired man, Dan Sullivan, was Irish.  He wore a tiny green bow on his work cap.  It was a game which one of us children spied the bow first when Dan and my dad came from the barn for breakfast.
(Dan worked for my dad on the farm and was a surrogate grandfather for us children.  He took his meals with us and rented a room from a neighbor.)
Mother cooked corned …read more

(TOP)

(MIDDLE)

(BOTTOM)

Which Should Be The Official 2009 Family Portrait? ( surveys)

Photos Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

I read an article in a parenting magazine saying parents should allow their boys to keep their lovie’s or bankies even up until 8 or 9. I’m going to send his article to my younger brother who’s in his 30s and his 3-year-old daughter is teasing him about his still-present attachment to his blankie.

He is in good company. Every one of my grandmother’s 42 grandchildren and 40-somthing great-grandchildren possess one of these almost-holy fabric hugs. Some, like my brother, wore them out with love and my Grandmother stitched them replacements.

A feminine skill passed from one generation to the next …read more