To Catch a Leprechaun Step 1 - Hat Trap

Leprechauns have big egos, so a giant version of their own hat is irresistible to them. Once they step on the false top, you'll have caught a 10-gallon prize.
So that the top doesn't give way too soon, use a lightweight bait, such as a crumpled piece of gold foil.

Leprechauns love to break rules. Warning signs are sure to lure them in. Natural materials make these woodland creatures feel at home. Set the trap out on the kitchen counter with some bait and go to bed. 

In the morning you might find that those sneaky leprechauns have danced across your counter tops with their little green shoes and gotten past the trap and taken your bait! Sometimes they leave gold dust everywhere and turn your milk green with their magic, Be sure to check the inside of your trap, sometimes they leave “gold” goodies inside. If you’d like to try and catch one… here’s what you do.

Leprechaun Trap Materials:
Empty oatmeal container
green, gold, black felt
poster board
several twigs
gold chocolate coin candy or whatever you like
white glue
scissors
glue gun

1. measure a piece of green felt large enough to wrap around the oatmeal container
2. cut a strip of black felt 1-2″ wide and as long as the green felt
3. cut a gold felt square with a hollow center
4. glue the black strip to the green felt
5. glue the gold square to the center of the gold strip.
6. cut out shamrock shapes (or use shamrock stickers) and glue onto the belt side of the felt.
7.  cut the center out of the lid to the oatmeal container.
8.  cut a circle of green felt the size of the oatmeal lid.
9.  starting at center of green circle, make cuts outwards, working your way around the circle in sort of a star pattern
10.  glue green circle to frame of oatmeal lid.
11.  Place onto the oatmeal container.

12. spread glue onto the back of the green felt and wrap it around the oatmeal container.
13.  cut another circle of green felt 1-2″ wider than the container.
14. glue circle to poster board.
15.  glue bottom of oatmeal container (or what we can now call a ‘leprechaun hat’) to the center of circle on the poster board.
16.  using twigs and a got glue gun, make a small ladder to reach from the poster board to the top of the ‘leprechaun hat’
15. place some ‘bait’ or crinkled up gold foil on the top of the hat, finishing off the trap.

*The ‘gold’ dust was gold and green glitter sprinkled on the counter. Barbie's shoes and green crayola washable paint to made the foot prints.
 


***Green Milk - place a few drops of green food coloring - Leprechaun Magic Happy St Patrick's Day!

Real Mean Girls - Bully

By LA Ferguson

In the past, bullying was considered a problem among boys and was viewed as physical intimidation and violence. Experts are finding that bullying and cyberbullying among girls is on the rise. Although this type of bullying is not physical, the psychological nature of it is more insidious. The effects can be more serious and harmful to the individual and leave irrevocable damages to them for years.

A new study has found that girls at same-sex schools feel greater pressure to adhere to gender norms and were bullied if they didn’t more than those at mixed-gender schools. Perhaps even more surprising, the same researchers say that girls at same-sex schools evaluated their self-worth based more on social confidence than cognitive confidence. The study found that girls at mixed-gender schools weighed academics more heavily than social prowess.

 

Some feminists would argue that in the middle-school years, boys pressure girls to fulfill certain gender norms. But William M. Bukowski, one of the researchers in the girls-school study and the director for the Center of Research in Human Development at Concordia University in Montreal, argues that boys aren’t imposing stereotypes on girls. 

In fact, girls are imposing stereotypes on each other. “It’s called the social-dosage hypothesis,” Bukowski says. “When girls are together without the presence of boys, they’re going to get an extra-strong dose of what it is to be female.” Hence, girls at the same-sex school feel more pressure to be “girly.”

Parents should not assume that just because their child is female that they won't have a tendency to become a bully. Be on the lookout if your child is behaving rude and malicious in manner. Watch how they interact with other children. If they show signs of resentment or engage in a power struggle, they might have issues with bullying. Also as a parent, be sure to talk to your child about bullying to ensure they know what bullying is and how wrong it is to abuse others in any form. 

Talking to your children is the best way to find out if they are having issues with. Keeping this line of communication open is important because it helps your child know they can always come to you for help.

Thanksgiving - Fun Craft ideas for Kids

 Thanksgiving Napkin Holder

Thanksgiving Napkin Holder - fun and easy for the little one to make.

Supplies: 

1. Washable children's paint and brush
2. Small piece of red construction paper
3. 9" lightweight paper plates with the ruffle edges
4. Safety scissors
5. Marker 
6. Tape.

Paint the plate's edges with fall colors. Let dry. Cut a 2 1/2 inch long piece from the red

construction paper. 

Round one end for the head. Make eyes with a marker and carefully

cut a beak below the eyes in a "V" shape.

When the plate is dry bend the plate at 3 1/2 inches from the front edge and the back edge.  

Bend the lower edge of the head piece 1/2 inch and tape it to the bottom of the center front. 

Now add some pretty napkins and you are done!

Thanksgiving Table Favors/Place Card

Supplies:

1. Fall colored construction paper
2. Large tongue depressors
3. 9 oz. paper cups
4. Marker
5. Safety scissors
6. Ruler
7. Glue

Cut cups to be about 2" tall. (I use a gold colored cup). Cut a tongue depressor in half making 2 heads. 

Cut 5 pieces of various colored construction paper that are 5 inches by 1 inch for feathers. Make one end rounded.

On half of a tongue depressor make eyes with a marker. Cut a yellow beak and glue it under eyes. Glue the tongue depressor to the cup.

Cut two wings that are 1 inch by 1 inch (make one end round) and glue them on each side of the tongue depressor (rounded end facing back)

Glue the tongue depressor to the back making them fan out. If you want, you can place a name on each one as place card and perch one in front of each table setting.

Fill cups with candy maybe candy corn, you should find it on sale now.

Make Halloween Full of Treats and No Tricks

Halloween night is one night of the year where it almost feels like all rules go out the window. Children count down the days towards Halloween night when it is okay to scare people, okay to play tricks on others, and okay to ask strangers for treats! Parents spend so much time and energy protecting their children from common dangers in and out of the home for the every day, but when it comes to special nights like Halloween; it can be very easy to forget some of the most basic rules.

Research indicates that Halloween night is most dangerous for children between the ages of five and eleven, and that lack of parental supervision is a leading cause in many injuries that may occur with children on Halloween night. To ensure child Halloween safety, even more precautions than your every day safety concerns need to be taken, as the bulk of the activities happen in the dark, with strangers, and on crowded streets. It is very easy to ensure your child’s safety on Halloween night without compromising their fun as well.


The number ONE rule of Halloween safety is to ensure your child is supervised. If your child falls in the age ranges between five and eleven, then you must ensure your child is accompanied by you, or by a trustworthy adult. Do not trust young children with older children, as the night is too distracting and too much fun even for older children. Take the initiative and the responsibility and attend this event with your child. When years pass and you look back, you will be happy that you did.
Here are some basic child Halloween safety tips for the remainder of the evening.

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Before You and Your Children Go Out

• Ensure that your child is provided with all of the reflective materials that they need when they are walking in the dark. Put reflective tape and markings on their costumes as discreetly as you can. The younger your children are, the easier this will be considering older children do not appreciate the sanctity of the costume that they have worked so hard on ‘destroyed’.
• If you do have older children that refuse the tape or markings, fret not. Gone are the days of lugging huge flashlights around. Parents can purchase glow in the dark bracelets, glow sticks, or night wands that children can take with them. You may still experience some resistance, but remind your children who is the parent. They don’t take these with them, they don’t go out.
• Ensure your child’s costumes are flame retardant and are not billowy and risk catching flames. Homeowners are getting more and more imaginative with their outdoor decorations and becoming less aware of child Halloween safety. Jack-O-Lanterns are still popular and these are a fire hazard regardless of how safe they may appear.
• Your child’s costume should not touch the ground in a manner that may trip them.
• Ensure your children go trick-or-treating on a full stomach so that they are not tempted to eat any treats, questionable or otherwise, while they are out.

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When Trick or Treating

• Do not pass stopped cars if you are driving, as they may be unloading groups or small children. If you are driving, it is best to choose a neighborhood, and park your vehicle.
• Only visit homes that are well lit, regardless of how interesting the spooky decorations may be. You also want to accompany young children to the door. People that are scary on days other than Halloween would like to take advantage of this evening in preying on unsuspecting children, and it is your responsibility to ensure this rule is followed for maximum child Halloween safety.
• Do not allow your children to enter a stranger’s home, no matter how nice the people may seem.
• Keep your cell phone on you at all times, and if you are allowing older children to go out with their friends, ensure they have a cell phone with a full battery.
• Do not allow your older children to trick or treat alone.
• Stay on the sidewalks and do not cross lawns. You never know who may be lurking in a bush. Even if someone is hiding for a fun scare, it may terrify young children and ruin the entire evening.
• Older children should have a curfew, and if they do not follow it, their goodies should be confiscated. 

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When the Night is Over

After everyone is home and safe and sound, the only concern you have now is what is in their bags. Inspect all goodies for both young and older children and toss out anything you just don’t feel right about or is questionable. Do not allow your children to eat anything that has been unwrapped, or does not come in a sealed wrapper. These are the basics of child Halloween safety. As always, use your best judgment, your parental instinct, and you can ensure a safe night for everyone without instilling a feeling of paranoia.

Back to School Safety Tips

As parents prepare for the start of a new school year, teaching children how to be safer needs to be at the top of their list of things to do. An analysis by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children of attempted abductions during the past five years found that children are at most risk when going to and from school or school related activities.

Parents and other adults can help keep children safe by following these ten tips

1. Teach your children to always TAKE A FRIEND with them when walking or biking, and stay with a group while standing at the bus stop. Make sure they know which bus to ride.

2. Walk the route to and from school with your children pointing out landmarks and safe places to go if they're being followed or need help. Teach your children they should NEVER TAKE SHORTCUTS and always stay in well-lit areas.

3. It is not safe for young children to walk to and from school, even in a group. Parents should always provide supervision for young children to help ensure their safe arrival to and from school. If your children wait for a bus, wait with them or make arrangements for supervision at the bus stop.

4. Teach your children that if anyone bothers them, makes them feel scared or uncomfortable to trust their feelings and immediately get away from that person. Teach them it is ok not to be polite and IT IS OK TO SAY NO.

5. Teach your children if anyone tries to take them somewhere they should RESIST by kicking and screaming, try to run away and DRAW ATTENTION by kicking and screaming "This person is trying to take me away" or "This person is not my father/mother."


6. Teach your children NOT TO ACCEPT A RIDE from anyone unless you have said it is ok in that instance. If anyone follows them in a vehicle they should turn around, go in the other direction, and run to a trusted adult who may help them.

7. Teach your children that grownups should NOT ASK CHILDREN FOR DIRECTIONS, they should ask other adults.

8. Teach your children to NEVER ACCEPT MONEY OR GIFTS from anyone unless you have told them it is ok to accept in each instance.

9. Make sure the school has current and accurate emergency contact information on file for your children and confirm names of those authorized.

10. Always know where your children will be. Teach your children to always CHECK FIRST before changing their plans before or after school. Teach your children to never leave school, with anyone unless they CHECK FIRST with you or another trusted adult, even if someone tells them it is an emergency.

Children should be taught to trust their feelings. They need to know that if someone makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused, they should tell a parent, guardian, or trusted adult.

Cell Phones - a simple tool that can lead to problems

58% of 12-year-olds have a cell phone. Does this mean that your child should have one? Instead of worrying about the “appropriate age,” focus on the needs of your child and your family. Does your child need an easy way to contact you? Do you trust him or her to be responsible with a cell phone? Have you set clear guidelines for the use of mobile devices? Considering these factors, rather than your child’s age, will help you choose what is right for your family.

When you think about your children’s online activities, do you consider their cell phones? They have evolved from simple communication devices to mobile, miniature computers. For example, smartphones have operating systems similar to that of computers which allow users to download programs or “apps.” These apps help users do things like access e-mail and play games. Also, most cell phones allow users to download and upload content from the Internet just as they would on a computer. However, cell phones can be more difficult to monitor than a computer, and children often use them without adult supervision. Make sure to review your family’s Internet safety rules with your children and become aware of the following risks before allowing them to own cell phones

more

 Making Cyberbullying More Painful

Cell phones make it easy for children to communicate with their friends, but they also make them vulnerable to cyberbullying. Cell phones can be used at anytime and anywhere, giving cyberbullies unlimited access to their victims. Children may send and receive mean-spirited phone calls, texts, and pictures at any hour.

Playing a Role in Grooming
Predators also know and take advantage of the fact that cell phones let them talk with their victims at any time. They are also aware that parents and guardians often forget to monitor children’s cell phones. Predators may send children cell phones and ask them to keep the phones a secret. They can then talk to and exchange text messages and pictures with children without close monitoring by parents and guardians. Others may ask children for their cell phone numbers after meeting them online or try to connect with willing children by sending texts to random numbers.

Sexting Made Easy
“Sexting” is a term used to describe the sending of sexually explicit text messages or pictures of minors by minors. What most young people do not realize is that the production, possession, and distribution of explicit photos of minors, even if they are self-produced, may be illegal. Furthermore, if these explicit photos end up on the Internet, children may be taunted by their peers and jeopardize scholastic, athletic, and employment opportunities.

Unintentional Sharing of Geolocation Data
Most smartphones have GPS technology which allows the user’s precise location to be pinpointed by apps and on websites. Social networking sites such as Twitter, FourSquare, GoWalla, and Facebook take advantage of this technology by encouraging their users to “check-in” or share their locations. A “check-in” can be shared with a list of friends, so make sure you know who is on your child’s friends list before allowing them to use this type of technology. Children also may share their locations unintentionally through pictures taken with their smartphones; these photos often have geolocation data embedded in them. Consider disabling the location services on smartphones before allowing children to post photos online. Stay involved to maintain your child's safety.

What is Cyberbullying?

Definition of Cyberbullying

"Cyberbullying" is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor.

Cyberbullying is a growing trend. Current estimates are that as many as 20 to 35% of children and adolescents report experiencing cyberbullying as a bully, a victim, or both.  
There is no standard definition of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has been defined as “an individual or a group willfully using information and communication involving electronic technologies to facilitate deliberate and repeated harassment or threat to another individual or group by sending or posting cruel, vulgar, or threatening text and/or graphics using technological means". 

The methods used are limited only by the child's imagination and access to technology. And the cyberbully one moment may become the victim the next. The kids often change roles, going from victim to bully and back again.

Cyberbullying can involve varying forms of technology: 

• Mobile phone calls
• Text messages
• Picture/video clips
• E-mail
• Instant messaging
• Chat rooms
• Websites
• Gaming

In a recent study, cyberbullying most commonly involved phone calls, texts and instant messages. The nature of the electronic bullying or cyberbullying often includes:

• Sending mean, vulgar, or threatening messages or images online or via text

• Posting sensitive, private information or pictures about another person
• Intentionally excluding someone from an online group
• Pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad²
• Spreading lies and rumors about victims
• Tricking someone into revealing personal information

The nature of gaming as a place where cyberbullying occurs, can happen through gaming websites or PC and console games with online components (e.g. Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3).

• Cyberbullying in gaming is usually referred to as "griefing" and is fairly common among young gamers who use IM, chat, and voice chat features to tease and taunt other players.

How is Cyberbullying Different from Traditional Bullying?

Despite the subtle differences, definitions share the following components which make cyberbullying distinct from traditional bullying:

• Access: It is virtually impossible for victims to get away from cyberbullies. Because most students have access to computers and cell phones at home, cyberbullies have access to and can reach their victims almost all the time. Victims do not have a safe haven as they do in cases of traditional bullying.
• Reach: Unlike traditional bullying, due to technology, the cyberbullying audience has few to no barriers and the audience easily grows almost exponentially.
• Anonymity: Cyberbullying is not a face-to-face interaction and cyberbullies hide behind technology. Anonymity which is inherent in electronic communication fosters lack of inhibition.  As a result, normal behavior restraints can disappear, allowing adolescents to act harsher than they would in real life.

Initial research has demonstrated that being a victim of cyberbullying may negatively impact students’ physical, social, emotional, and cognitive functioning

Ignore the message. Don’t ignore the problem.

One vital lesson children should learn is to ignore the message, not the problem. As parents, you have an ideal opportunity to step in and encourage children suffering from cyberbullying to speak out and fight this kind of victimization. They are best suited to tell their own stories, and their stories can make a difference.

Educate. Engage. Empower.

Educate your children about cyberbullying.

• Start a dialogue at home. Make sure your children understand what is considered cyberbullying and what isn’t.
• Talk about the possible effects and consequences of cyberbullying.
• Focus on prevention methods they may not have considered, such as not posting personal information or provocative photos that someone could use against them, and not sharing passwords with friends.

Engage them in the fight against cyberbullying.

• Take it seriously! Sometimes sticks and stones matter, so discuss feelings of guilt or depression resulting from the incident.
• Explore various ways to handle the situation, including counseling if necessary.
• Consider enacting a mediation plan utilizing school counselors; the issue may be resolved with a bit of intervention.

Empower them to lead the fight against cyberbullying.

• Encourage your children to start an awareness group at school or online to educate their peers about cyberbullying.
• Get the school involved. Just because it happens at home does not mean the school can’t help. Encourage your children to learn about their school’s cyberbullying policy and urge administrators to take a stand against all forms of bullying.
• Let your children tell you about their experiences online.

Cyberbullying may arise to the level of a misdemeanor cyberharassment charge, or if the child is young enough may result in the charge of juvenile delinquency. Most of the time the cyberbullying does not go that far, although parents often try and pursue criminal charges. It typically can result in a child losing their ISP or IM accounts as a terms of service violation. And in some cases, if hacking or password and identity theft is involved, can be a serious criminal matter under state and federal law.

When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for cyberbullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours, they are often sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student's free speech right. They also, often lose. Schools can be very effective brokers in working with the parents to stop and remedy cyberbullying situations. They can also educate the students on cyberethics and the law. If schools are creative, they can sometimes avoid the claim that their actions exceeded their legal authority for off-campus cyberbullying actions. We recommend that a provision is added to the school's acceptable use policy reserving the right to discipline the student for actions taken off-campus if they are intended to have an effect on a student or they adversely affect the safety and well-being of student while in school. This makes it a contractual, not a constitutional, issue.

Some people say that bullying will always happen no matter what you do. That kind of defeatist attitude does not effect change. Cyberbullying has become a serious problem, one that requires parents, educators and children to take action. Parental instinct tells you to protect your children, but why not empwoer them to protect themselves and their peers? Let your children lead the fight against cyber bullying; they're more prepared than you might think.