parenting – Empowered Flower Girl

Teach Your Child Money Lessons With These Invaluable Tips

Posted on January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by empoweredflowergirl

By Laura Pearson

Teaching children how to be financially responsible is a big job, but if you start early, you can give them the tools they need to make good decisions for the rest of their lives. These days, there are many resources available that will help you and your child tackle financial literacy – from board games to phone software to online learning tools. Not only that, you can work in lessons on your own while you’re grocery shopping or setting up an allowance.

Keeping the conversation about money open with your kids is a great way to show them real-life examples, especially when you’re about to make a big purchase, such as a home. Talk to your kids about the process of home-buying and why it’s so beneficial for a long-term financial plan.

Include Your Children in the Process

When it comes to buying a house, including the entire family in the process will open up the conversation about what goes into financing, how to build up good credit and create some security for the future, and how to handle buying and selling according to what the market is like.

Talk to older kids about how the market either favors buyers or sellers and how the local economy affects a seller’s ability to attract potential buyers. Other factors include the season, how many homes are currently for sale in a given area, and current interest rates. Because there are so many details that go into buying or selling a home, involving your kids in the process now will help them understand it a bit better when they’re ready to do so on their own.

Let Them Shop with You

Handling big financial decisions as a family—such as buying a home—is a great way to teach young people about how it all works, but you can do it on a smaller scale as well. Going grocery shopping for the week is an excellent opportunity to teach your kids about the importance of a budget and how to stick to it, so write out a list and allow them to help you figure out how to plan for meals within the amount you want to spend. This real-life experience is invaluable for kids of many different ages.

Look for Fun, Money-Related Games

Another way to get in real-life experience with finances is to find cash-related games your kids will enjoy, such as Monopoly, Pay Day, or The Game Of Life, and play them as a family. You can also use real money and play your own games at home, allowing your child to become a banker or business owner who must give you change after a “purchase.” Talk to your kids about sales tax and how to plan for purchases, especially if they’re old enough to receive an allowance.

Let Them Take Responsibility with Credit

It can be daunting to hand over financial responsibility to your children, but setting up an allowance offers a great learning opportunity where saving and spending are concerned. You might even consider looking for a kid-friendly credit or debit card that allows you to load a certain amount, or setting up a checking or savings account in your child’s name. Additionally, you can use this opportunity to teach your children about credit scores and reports, how they work, and the importance of maintaining a good score — which can help you when it’s time to purchase that new home. This type of financial literacy is crucial to learn as kids get older, but starting early will help them see the value of money now.

Guide Them Through Long-Term Planning

As your kids age, it’s important to guide them through the process of making long-term plans and executing them. Having a sound financial plan is important for any path in life, but if your child has college aspirations, they need a sound plan for that as well. Begin the process of developing those plans with your children as they enter high school, and help them adjust as necessary through graduation and beyond.

Teach Them About Starting a Business

When teaching your kids about starting a new company, there are a few key steps that you should focus on. The first is to help them write a solid business plan. This should include information on their target audience, their marketing strategies, and their budgetary needs for things like supplies and startup fees. It’s also important to discuss the importance of networking and connecting with other entrepreneurs, as this can be a valuable way to gain support and advice as they start out in the world of business. Finally, you should work with your child to identify any potential roadblocks or challenges that they might encounter along the way.

Teaching young people how to handle money and credit is a process that will help everyone in your family learn about the importance of being responsible. Utilize online resources when possible, help them develop long-term plans, teach them about starting a business, and keep the conversation about money open so you can answer any questions your children have.

Empowered Flower Girl strives to help positively strengthen the relationships between young people and those who care about them. Be sure to spend some time exploring the site to learn more about what we do.

Laura Pearson, of Edutude, is passionate about teaching the younger generation. Edutude was built to share resources on how to keep children engaged and in love with learning.

Raising Healthy Children: How to Set Your Kids Up for Success

Posted on November 4, 2022 by empoweredflowergirl

By Joyce Wilson

Parents fill various roles in their children’s lives. In particular, they serve as caretakers, role models, and protectors. According to the experts, one of the most important jobs parents have is to help their children make healthy choices in order to prepare them for adulthood. Here are some ideas from Empowered Flower Girl that can help you begin making those important lifestyle decisions.

Learn the Importance of Healthy Habits

If you want your kids to grow healthy and happy, teach them how to maintain their health. When you focus on healthy habits, you reduce their risk of future conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

For children to maintain ideal body weight, they need to be able to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy food choices. In addition, teach them about hygiene and expiration dates. After all, spoiled food can wreak havoc on the body. When you understand the importance of health, whether the health comes from diet or exercise – including the many benefits of martial arts – you can instill those habits in your children.

Instill Healthy Habits Early

To make healthy eating a priority, stock up on fresh, unprocessed at-home snacks. If you only have nutritious snacks available, children cannot choose to drink sugary soda or eat snack cakes. Instead, keep pretzels, fresh fruit, bagels, and sparkling water at home. Children begin to develop their sense of taste in the first two years of their life. Providing reduced-sodium snacks to toddlers may help them develop preferences for foods with less salt.

Children model themselves after you. They observe your habits and your ability to handle stress and coping mechanisms. For instance, if children see an adult becoming aggressive, they too may react aggressively. When paving the way for better decisions, do not be overbearing and restrictive, because you could encourage eating disorders. Instead, be the example for your kids.

It’s important for your children to see you engage in healthy friendships, too, so invite friends over to the house sometimes and be transparent about minor conflicts in a kid-appropriate way. You can also show them the importance of reconnecting with friends by finding old high school friends online. It’s a simple process of entering your location and searching through databases for familiar names. Reconnecting with friends from your past can be a lot of fun and show your kids how to find people they enjoy being with.

Make Success Attainable

Be open to talking to your kids about good and bad habits. Talk to them if you worry about gaming, drugs, alcohol, or poor education habits. Hold family dinners where you can discuss your day and model good behavior while discussing the risks associated with unhealthy choices. Starting these practices while your kids are young will help them feel more comfortable talking to you about bigger issues, like bullies or conflicts with friends. Empowered Flower Girl offers tools and resources to help both you and your child learn how to deal with these difficult situations in healthy ways.

Set good examples for your kids with your choices as well as your behavior.

In addition, talk to them about how they can achieve their dreams. It is never too early to discuss future aspirations. Teach your children to practice a skill every day and, when they experience failure, to get up and keep trying.

Do not forget to chase dreams of your own. This could involve starting a business centered around a hobby that you enjoy; be sure to do plenty of research to ensure that you’re putting together everything you need to get this venture started on solid ground. Or, join the countless parents and older adults who return to school to finish or start a degree. With all of the obligations of parenthood, you may enjoy the flexibility of online schools. Online degrees can match your passions and interests. The following ideas can narrow down your options:

To learn more about data analytics, cyber security, and information technology, choose a degree in IT.
To find occupations in management positions or start a business of your own, look into business management degrees.
A degree in education may not only launch your career but help you become an effective teacher to your children.

When your children learn to make healthy choices, they maintain those decisions throughout their lives. Developing new habits as an adult can be challenging, but not only can you make a positive change in your life, you can establish a healthy foundation for your children.

Remember to chase after things you love, too, and to make use of helpful resources like Empowered Flower Girl to help you and your child learn ways to work through difficult situations in life.

Joyce Wilson is a retired teacher and enjoys sharing lesson plans, resources, and teaching tips on Teacher Spark. Her website is a compilation of practical resources that will inspire student engagement and instill a love for learning. By tapping into a student’s natural creativity and curiosity, Joyce believes that they can take their education to a new level.

Got Fall/Winter Travel Plans? Here are Tips for a Fun and Safe Family Vacation

Posted on October 6, 2021October 5, 2021 by empoweredflowergirl

By Joyce Wilson

School breaks give your family a chance to spend time together and bond. Like many families, you may choose to plan a vacation; however, with the ongoing pandemic, many of the family vacation plans you love may no longer be available. This situation may leave you wondering how best to spend your vacation as a family.

Empowered Flower Girl suggests some indoor and outdoor family vacation activities, some COVID-safe travel options, and how to stay safe during your family vacation.

Indoor and Outdoor Family Vacation Activities

Regardless of your family size, there are many fun activities you can do as a family during your vacation. Here are a few suggestions:

Do some gardening together as a family
Play hide and seek
Build a homemade treehouse or swing set
Play mini-golf with the older children
Consider attending dance classes together
Go hiking or biking together

Family vacation indoor activities include:

Playing board games
Going to the gym
Arranging indoor gardening activities

Family Vacation COVID-19 Safety Tips

Keeping your family safe during your vacation is a challenge this year due to the ongoing pandemic. According to federal experts, you can travel if you’re fully vaccinated, but you still need to take some precautions. They don’t recommend non-essential travel for unvaccinated people.

If you choose to travel for your family vacation, the following steps may lower travel-related risks.

Ensure anyone you plan to visit has received the COVID-19 vaccine if they’re eligible.
Check the COVID-19 community spread rates of the places you plan to visit.
Make sure everyone you travel with wears a mask when you use public transportation.
If you must fly, try to take direct flights.
Pack extra sanitizers and masks.

Likewise, consider the following pandemic-friendly family vacation travel options.

Limit interactions by staying at a private vacation home rental.
Go for a socially distant family road trip in an RV.
Go camping at a remote location.
If possible, travel by car.

As you plan your family vacation, keep in mind that the pandemic is not over. Even if you take the proper precautions, traveling involves significant risk during this period.

Install a Fence Around Your Property

One of the most important safety measures during a family staycation is fencing around your property, and it’s best done by a contractor. Search for a fencing company nearby before selecting one and read customer reviews online.

Cost is among the important factors to consider when comparing contractors. The cost of installing a new fence can vary depending on materials used, fence size, and the location of the installation. As with all projects that require digging, safety is a priority. You should make sure that the contractor is aware of any underground utility lines on your property.

Have Fun and Stay Safe

The ongoing pandemic has limited the number of options available for family vacations, especially those that involve coming into contact with the public. Thankfully, there are still many activities that you can still do both indoors and outdoors, and the insights in this article will help you have a fun and safe family vacation.

EmPOWERing 21st Century Teens series addresses challenges and opportunities for youth and youth advocates

Posted on May 4, 2021 by empoweredflowergirl

Empowered Flower Girl wants to support families and those who work with teens with a space to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities their young relatives/students face in the 21st century.

In observance of May’s Mental Health Awareness Month, Empowered Flower Girl is hosting a FREE 3-week conversation series. If you’d like to participate as a guest panelist or if your organization provides resources to families of teens and preteens, email rkamaria@empoweredflowergirl.

The series will be streamed via Zoom and Facebook. Follow Empowered Flower Girl at www.facebook.com/empoweredflowergirl.

Schedule:
May 11, 18, 25 – 6 to 6:45 p.m. EDT
Zoom link: http://bit.ly/21stcenturyteens

Topics:
5.11 – Mentoring teens to live above bullying
5.18 – Intergenerational empathy
5.25 – Collaborating to support youth

Helping Kids Manage Their Unique Pressures Starts by Being a Healthy Role Model

Posted on April 9, 2021April 12, 2021 by empoweredflowergirl

By Amanda Henderson

Being a child isn’t always easy. While it’s true that there are few decisions to make in the early years, children learn to make decisions later on by watching their parents. If you are a positive role model, you will empower your kids to be healthy and independent adults.

The Pressures of Today

Kids today are under more pressure than ever. Our youth — especially teenage girls — deal with issues that we never did. Social media is an especially difficult hurdle for young girls to handle, and it unfairly puts ridiculous expectations on how they should look, act, and befriend.

Be EmPOWERed is a great book to read as a parent and to share with your daughter. It will walk you through Rasheda’s heart-wrenching journey through her victory of how she learned how to embrace all of the beautiful things that made her different.

It is not just girls that have to live up to an unrealistic standard either. Once young people enter college — and even before — they may experience what the Child Mind Institute calls “duck syndrome.” This is essentially a way to describe the turmoils that people are dealing with individually without letting the world see. It references how waterfowl seemed to glide without obstacles on the water while, under the surface, they must kick violently to stay afloat.

How You Can Encourage a Healthy Reality

As a parent, teacher, camp counselor, or other type of caretaker, you can model behaviors that will serve as a life-long example for the children in your life. Doing things, such as refusing to live up to social media standards and embracing your own reality will go a long way toward encouraging kids to do the same.

The online world is not the only place that you can model a healthy adult life. In the real world, talk to your children early about the future. Let them know that there is nothing stopping them from pursuing the life they desire. To do this, however, you need to live your own reality and take your own advice. If you are stuck in a go-nowhere job, look inside for the courage to go back to school.

Let’s say that you wanted to be a software systems architect in high school but chose an easier path. You can take an online computer science course now and earn a degree so that you can master your professional earning capacity. Plus, you’ll be following your dreams, and your children will see that you face your fears and overcome them.

Other ways to encourage healthy habits in children include:

● Get plenty of sleep. Teenagers are especially prone to forgoing bedtime so that they can finish homework or stay up late to chat with their friends. While both academics and socializing are crucial to their development, teach them that their health is also important by creating an environment that encourages everyone to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

● Don’t bow to peer pressure. We tend to think peer pressure is something that only affects those under 18. This is absolutely not true, and adults are often faced with decisions to make based on behaviors by their friends and acquaintances. Remember, you don’t have to go out every weekend even if your divorced friends are. By prioritizing what’s important to you and not bowing to everyone else’s whims, you show your child that it’s okay to be independent and follow their heart instead of the crowd.

Obviously, this is not a full guide on how to be a role model for your children. But living your own reality and encouraging healthy habits are a great start. Remember, everything you do now will be embedded in your children’s brains and will become the map for their own adult life. Children will do as you do, not as you say, so make the most of your behaviors. All eyes are on you.

About the author

Amanda enjoys writing in her freetime, and recently decided to create safechildren.info

How to combat cyberbullying while #athometogether

Posted on March 23, 2020 by empoweredflowergirl

We’re all coping with the life changes that COVID-19 has sparked. Many adults are working remotely and children are home learning via virtual classrooms.

While students are not engaging in-person, they’ll be engaging online – via social media apps and texting.

Empowered Flower Girl, a social enterprise on a mission to transform the way young people relate to one another and themselves, encourages youth and parents alike to monitor online interactions and behavior. Cyberbullying is still a concern for many children.

Here are tips to prevent online drama and encourage quality family time:

TECH-FREE FAMILY NIGHT: Ditch the cell phones, laptops and tablets for dinner and conversation. For some teens, talking face-to-face may seem old-fashioned but it’s a great way for families to connect. It also reduces the temptation to go online.

ASK QUESTIONS: Take an active role by inquiring about your child’s relationships with peers on and off line. Most children won’t volunteer the information. Parents should ask specific, preferably open-ended questions to get their children to open up.

Empowered Flower Girl is celebrating 10 years of service in 2020. Founded in 2010, EFG works with schools, community organizations and families to combat bullying, cyberbullying, relational aggression and other social challenges facing youth. Learn more at www.empoweredflowergirl.com. Follow via Facebook/Instagram at @empoweredflowergirl.

Is It Teasing, Bullying or Something Else? Experts Across the Country Make the Distinction

Posted on May 26, 2016 by empoweredflowergirl

In an effort to help parents and caregivers identify and address bullying, WedMD recently published the feature “What Does Bullying Look Like?”

Patricia Agatston, Ph.D., International Bullying Prevention Association president, and others across the country, offered their expertise in defining what is and what isn’t bullying and what can be done to identify and support children who’ve been impacted by it. Read the full feature here.

Agatston, a national cyberbullying, will be among the speakers at the Michigan Bullying Prevention Conference, scheduled October 1, 2016, in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Registration for the full-day event is $25 and includes breakfast and lunch. The conference will be preceded by a FREE social media workshop for parents. Karuna Nain, Facebook global safety manager, will present “Navigating the Social World with Your Teens — Insights from Facebook,” on Thursday, September 29. Visit the Michigan conference website for details.

Empowered Flower Girl encourages a shade-free summer

Posted on May 27, 2015 by empoweredflowergirl

New campaign aimed at eliminating cyberbullying and relational aggression

Whether you call it “drama,” “beef,” or “throwing shade,” online conflict via social media is impacting the way young people communicate and relate to one another. Tension in and out of the classroom is being fueled by Facebook fallouts and Yik Yak attacks.

Empowered Flower Girl (EFG) advises youth and parents alike to monitor online interactions and behavior.

Results from a recent Wayne State University study found that 54 percent of youth were involved in online abuse.

This summer, Empowered Flower Girl is encouraging kindness and working to thwart meanness with its “No Shade. Just Smiles.” campaign.

“Parents and teens play a vital role in eliminating cyberbullying,” said Rasheda Kamaria, EFG chief empowering officer and founder. “If you’re experiencing conflict with someone, avoid sending mean text messages and posting shade-filled status updates. Have a conversation with that person if possible or if the situation is serious, seek help from a mediator.”

When there is a threat of violence or if a crime has been committed, call 9-1-1.

Seeking solutions to cyberbullying, drama, relational aggression or other social/communication challenges among teens in your school or community? Empowered Flower Girl offers engaging workshops, programs and content that tackle these issues.

For more information, visit http://www.empoweredflowergirl.com. Join the conversation with #NoShadeJustSmiles. “We want teens to break the internet with positivity,” Kamaria said.

Beyond Bullying Prevention: The end of bullying begins with empathy and compassion

Posted on October 2, 2014 by empoweredflowergirl

By Rasheda Kamaria

Empowered Flower Girl aims to inspire, entertain and empower youth, communities and families with our programs and online content. This month, National Bullying Prevention Month, I want to go a little further. I want to challenge everyone who reads this post to reach out to a young person and have an authentic conversation about . . . whatever. But what I challenge you to do more than anything, is listen.

Perhaps you’ve read recent headlines about the 14-year-old Florida boy, who after being “bullied his whole life,” committed suicide. Media outlets across the nation reported that the Greenwood Lakes Middle School student’s lifeless body was found in the school’s bathroom. He and his family had reportedly moved from New York to Florida because of bullying.

My heart aches and breaks. Not only for this young man but also for the countless others that we may know or have read about this year who have taken their lives to escape the agony of being harassed and taunted daily. Perhaps us as community leaders, educators, parents and everyday citizens can listen more to our children (and by our children I mean all children).

I believe it’s time we shift from bullying prevention to encouraging and instilling empathy, compassion and acceptance in schools, communities and families.

Rasheda Kamaria is the chief empowering officer and founder of Empowered Flower Girl LLC, a social enterprise that works with schools, communities and families seeking solutions to cyberbullying, drama, relational aggression and other social/communication challenges facing youth. A survivor of bullying, Kamaria was featured in the article “Being Bullied Changed My Life” in the May 2011 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine and has spoken and written numerous articles on the subject.