Can you believe the end of first term is already here?  Wow! August, September and October just flew by.  We are having a great year so far.  The fall colors are here and beautiful and our first snow has fallen.  Winter is certainly on its way.  As we head into the holidays I am thinking of family and what a special time we as parents can make the best use of our family time.  Some days it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit in all the things we want to do with our family.  Unfortunately, the “HAVE To” activities like work, grocery shopping… can eat up our much needed family time if we let them.  Here are some things to think about for your family.  Answer each question honestly and self evaluate. 

1.        Do you make time to do things as a family?  Try to eat some meals together each week and plan family fun.

2.       Do you limit the number of after-school activities?  Kids need some quiet and unscheduled time each week.

3.       Do you have a regular time for studying?

4.       Do you set limits on screen time?  Kids shouldn’t be on the computer or watching TV all the time.

5.       Do you make time to go to important school event like teacher conferences?

How well are you doing? Where do you need to put some extra effort? I am a mom too and this helps me to think about what I can do better for my 14 year old boys.  It is amazing sometimes when the TV is off how no homework suddenly turns into, “Oh, yea… I guess I could get this done for my English report” or “Hey mom, want to play a game of chess.”

Mrs. Sangiorgio