Here are 11 ideas parents can use to keep young minds active during the summer months:

1. Boredom Buster Jar: At the beginning of the summer, sit down with your family and brainstorm a list of activities that can be done alone or that you can enjoy doing together. Encourage your children to share their own ideas and help you decorate and label a simple jar as the family "Boredom Buster Jar." They'll feel more involved in the project and more likely to think this is a "neat" idea, if they participate in the creation and idea generation. Next, write everyone's ideas down on slips of paper and as a group decide which ones should go in the jar. Anyone in the family can pull any idea out of the jar to fight the summertime boredom blues.

2. Stories Alive: It sounds too simple, but reading is one of the most important waysto keep young minds engaged during the summer.Make reading even more fun by finding ways to bring the stories to life. For example, in the book Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran, children create a make-believe town in the desert out of rocks, boxes, and their imaginations. Read the book with your children and then challenge them to create their own town with materials they find in the backyard.

3. Art Start Box: You'll need to gather basic art supplies-child safe scissors, glue, markers, tape and construction paper. Put them in a special box along with empty oatmeal boxes and paper towel rolls, colorful magazines and bits of aluminum foil. Occasionally add a special surprise like chalk, stickers, or stamp pads so there's always something new for the children to find. Even if you normally have these supplies around the house, it's fun for children to know that the Art Start Box is just for them. They'll probably have some good ideas of other household items that can be recycled to fuel their creative energies.

4. Family Performances: Break out old clothes or costumes and encourage children to make up characters and create a play to act out. They are the directors, actors, and producers. They can also make musical instruments out of pots/pans, wooden spoons, empty canisters and have a parade; or everyone can play along to your family's favorite songs. Record or video the performances, and enjoy the replay. You'll also be capturing a bit of family history everyone will enjoy for years to come.

5. Family Dance Party: Crank up the music and encourage your entire family to boogie down. Dancing gives children a great outlet for self-expression through their own motion and helps build self-esteem. It also enhances motor and coordination development by incorporating skills like jumping, landing and leaping. Dancing is a great activity that can involve the whole family and doesn't take very much preparation.

6. Fort Building: Children love to build all kinds of structures--from small towns to large towers. Constructing forts or tents is an activity that can keep children focused and problem solving for hours. All the items you need can be found around the house- some chairs, cushions, blankets, and of course adult supervision.

7. Cookbook Fun: Have you ever shared your favorite cookbook with your children? Take it out and ask your children to choose a recipe to try. Measuring can be a fun and easy way to keep math skills fresh.

8. Summer Scrapbook: All you need for this project is a spiral notebook. Encourage everyone in the family to draw pictures of favorite activities and collect mementos from special events throughout the summer. Children love to go back through scrapbooks and albums and tell about what happened at each occasion. They will also be building their storytelling skills at the same time.

9. Listening Game: Lie down in the backyard, in the den or at the park and listen. What do you hear? Do you hear what I hear? Can you imitate the sound? This is similar to watching the clouds and naming the shapes, and it encourages everyone to slow down and focus on listening.

10. Camping Out: Pretend to campout in the backyard. Plan a meal, pack a backpack and set up a campsite. You might even decide to spend the night!

11. Scavenger Hunt: Make a list or picture cards of common household items and have your children find the items on the list. Invite friends or neighbors to join in the fun to make it a competition.

To find these and other great tips for parents, check out Dr. Zurn's blog at DrZandme.com. And don't forget to grab Dr. Z's Widget while you're there!

For more information on Primrose Schools, visit www.primroseschools.comYou can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter!
Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a gift card in exchange for this post. No monetary exchange took place

Guest Post from Author Stephanie Wincik - Making a Case for Life

Over the past several decades, a great deal of political rhetoric has been focused on the often heated debate between those who identify themselves as “pro-life” versus those who embrace a “pro-choice” philosophy. But what does it really mean to be pro-life? Can one choose life in some circumstances but not others? Despite what many believe is a simple black-or-white, for-or-against issue, I for one struggle to decide which side I am on, or if I even need to choose a side.

As a nurse in the field of developmental disabilities, over the years I have cared for countless children and adults who were born “imperfect” by society’s standards. Until relatively recently, the typical advice for parents who produced a disabled child was to simply institutionalize the baby and “try again,” since the child was unlikely to survive longer than a few weeks or months anyway. Contrary to these dire predictions, however, many such children grew to adulthood despite their overwhelming physical and cognitive impairments.

I have often wondered, as a medical professional caring for these children, if perhaps we have done them a disservice by prolonging their lives. Particularly for those who are non-verbal, how can we know for sure that if given the choice, they would choose life for themselves? Or, if faced with the prospect of life in an institution, constantly undergoing painful medical procedures and hospitalizations designed simply to keep them alive, would they rather their parents had instead chosen abortion and thus spared them from a life filled with indignities? On the other hand, is it possible that these individuals are happy with their lives despite the hardships? Certainly many non-disabled people suffer serious, often prolonged, illnesses during their lifetime and still consider life well worth the trouble.

The answer, of course, is that nobody knows the answer, and this uncertainty is precisely why I find it impossible to take a firm position on either side of the abortion issue. However, if forced to make a choice, I would tend to opt for life in nearly all situations, and the reason is simple—nature has been in the business of selective abortion since the beginning of time, an advantage that trumps our meager experience as humans any day of the week. Children who are not meant to be born, won’t be—the naturally occurring process of miscarriage makes that decision for us.

If a child makes it into the world, then lacking any valid means to make a judgment call ourselves, I believe we must assume that he or she arrived here for a reason, even if our limited vision does not allow us to see it from where we currently sit.
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