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This New Year, rather than making a resolution to change something, why not make a commitment to find a deeper appreciation for small moments and shared time with friends and family? Here are 3 ideas to get you started…
Hilltown Families and Mass Appeal (a weekday, hour-long lifestyle program on NBC) have teamed up to offer a live monthly segment on WWLP 22News! Each month, community-based education specialist and Hilltown Families’ Founder, Sienna Wildfield, joins Mass Appeal hosts to talk about ways to engage in your community while supporting the interests and education of your children (and yourselves!).
This monthly segment continued on Monday, May 28, 2018, with Sienna and Lauren talking about how the Memorial Day is the perfect time to show appreciation towards those who have served our country through self-initiated activities while learning via community-based resources.
For some, Memorial Day is a deeply personal holiday, a day for remembering those who have served the people of our country. Participating in Memorial Day celebrations and ceremonies can also be a form of placemaking, strengthening ties to community spaces and encouraging social interaction between generations. Memorial Day is also an opportunity to express gratitude and kindness through acts of appreciation and volunteer opportunities. Here are a few ideas to support your learning and acts of generosity through the lens of the seasons this Memorial Day.
Hilltown Families and Mass Appeal (a weekday, hour-long lifestyle program on NBC) have teamed up to offer a live monthly segment on WWLP 22News! Each month, community-based education specialist and Hilltown Families’ Founder, Sienna Wildfield, joins Mass Appeal hosts to talk about ways to engage in your community while supporting the interests and education of your children (and yourselves!).
This monthly segment continued on Monday, April 30, 2018 with Sienna and Lauren talking about how the spring holidays are the perfect time to show kindness and appreciation towards others through self-initiated activities while learning via community-based resources.
Our next visit to the Mass Appeal studios will be Monday, May 28th, 2018!
“Acknowledging how good I have it in this life, it’s ok to also acknowledge that being human – raising humans – loving humans – is still hard.”
In this month’s Off the Mat: Reflections on the Practice of Parenting, Pain Specialist & Yoga Instructor Ginny Hamilton works the gratitude muscle.
Being thankful isn’t something with which we are born. We all have to learn how to be considerate, appreciative, and kind. Helping your toddler and preschooler learn these skills isn’t easy, but it can be fun! This month in “Let Them Grow: Fresh Ways to Engage Toddlers in Creative Free Play,” Hilltown Families Contributing Writer, Candice Chouinard, shares three projects you can do with the youngest in your clan that foster connection and gratitude.
Mindfulness practice can help us learn to understand and be at peace with impermanence, and self-regulate our emotions when dealing with our own desires to cling to the apparition of permanence.
For children, the holiday season can be quickly swallowed up by the emphasis on getting gifts, but reframing the season with exercises in giving can change the emphasis back to what really matters.
For many, this last month ushered in strong feelings of uncertainty for the future. Mindfulness meditation is a useful tool for embracing uncertainty and learning to live fully and compassionately within it.
The fall season offers unique opportunities to give thanks with our families and to expand our circles of gratitude throughout our communities. In this month’s column, In Appreciation: Refletions on Teaching Gratitude & Empathy,” Amy shares three ways we can warm the winter days during the holiday season through the lens of kindness and gratitude.
Gratitude discussions are one way to reflect on an event and see the often invisible work that went into making that event special for you and your child.
Sometimes the greatest mindfulness lesson you can give your children is the one you teach yourself. That’s what happened for me when I finally chose to pay attention to my clumsy struggle to adapt to plans that go awry.
The traditional thank you card can easily feel more like a teeth-grinding practice in proper etiquette rather than a chance to offer true gratitude. How can we reclaim the ritual of a written thank you to make it truly resonate?
Finding time to reflect and give thanks for our daily joys is no easy task in the midst of the hectic churn of day-to-day reality. In our newest monthly column, “In Appreciation: Reflections on Teaching Gratitude & Empathy,” Hilltown Families Contributing Writer Amy Diehl finds that as she and her family discovered, taking a break at the “gratitude table’ is a simple, fun way to slow down and not just smell the flowers, but thank them too.
Boxing Day: A Yuletide Tip. While we don’t collectively celebrate Boxing Day in the United States, it is celebrated across Europe and in other parts of the world. And even though you may not have someone nearby celebrating Boxing Day, families can use this celebration in other countries to inspire some new post-Christmas traditions. Read on how you can extend festive generosity into the day after Christmas.
This New Year, rather than making a resolution to change something, why not make a commitment to find deeper appreciation for wonderful moments and shared time with friends and family? Throughout the year, write little notes of appreciation and deposit them into a memory bank to open up next year on New Year’s Day…
Boxing Day – Drawing inspiration from the holiday’s roots, use the day after Christmas to show appreciation & gratitude to those in service positions who your family see regularly…
This month in “Open Sesame: Kid Lit Musings & Reviews,” Cheli shares a new title on gratitude and thanks that serves up universal principles from across cultural and religious traditions… a Vietnamese farmers’ prayer, an ancient haiku, a Shaker song, a Pueblo blessing, poems from Emily Dickinson, the words of Hildegard of Bingen… read Cheli’s review and discover a new book with which to share with the whole family, not just during the Thanksgiving, but any day of the year…
This special Thanksgiving episode of the Hilltown Family Variety Show by Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband explores, through music and story, some of the many, many things we have to be grateful for in our lives — like the sun, rain, friends and family – – culminating in a vision for world peace where everyone finally has enough food, shelter, community and love…
“When I need to rid myself of the bitter curmudgeon, when Eeyore sidles up to me wanting to bring me down,” writes Logan this month in Hindsight Parenting, “I take a moment to practice gratitude…” Read her story on how her daughter’s capability to be thankful helps her in her own practice gratitude…
“As this pre-Thanksgiving column was percolating in my head over the last couple of weeks, I had decided to revisit the idea of counting my blessings instead of my burdens,” writes Rebecca this month in “Just My Type: Raising a Child with Type One Diabetes.” Three years ago her daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and most recently, Addison’s disease… yet she is able to see how her life is blessed even while dealing with life challenges. Here are the top five things she is grateful for in her life….
“Expressions of gratitude often happen as a result of some small gesture of kindness,” writes Sarah this month in “The Good Life.” Read her thoughts on the differences between thankfulness and gratitude and her plans to propagate gratitude during this season of giving thanks…
Listen to Podcast: Thanksgiving Episode with Guest DJ, Charity Kahn This special Thanksgiving episode by Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband explores, through music and story, some of the many, many things we have to be grateful for in our lives — like the sun, rain, friends and family – – culminating in a vision for world peace where everyone finally has enough food, shelter, community and love. Incorporating songs by… Read More
QUESTION AND ANSWERS Does anyone have any age appropriate recommendations on how to get children to write thank-you notes for gifts received this holiday season? Pauline Delton suggests, “I had my (5yo) son just say something to me about his gifts for his birthday (I gave him ideas of what thank you cards might say), and I wrote his words down in a card without changing them much, and then he signed… Read More
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