ML Interest Tag: shy

Chrissy Teigen Is Being Honored with the Baby2Baby Giving Tree Award

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Mom of two Chrissy Teigen is not shy about using her celebrity status to voice her opinions, so it should come as no surprise that she is being honored with the Baby2Baby Giving Tree Award.

The award, which will be presented to Teigen at the Baby2Baby Gala in November, is in honor of the outspoken celeb mom using her platform to advocate for children, according to PEOPLE.

“We are so proud to announce Chrissy Teigen as our 2019 honoree for her commitment to children in need,” Baby2Baby co-presidents Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein said in a statement. “Not only does she use her platform to shine a light on children living in poverty, but she walks the walk and has given back to Baby2Baby in every conceivable way, from providing financial support to donating her own children’s items to the kids in our program. We’re honored to present her with the Giving Tree Award this November.”

Past recipients of the award have included several other celeb moms including Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Kerry Washington, Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson.

“I’m incredibly honored to receive the Baby2Baby Giving Tree Award, particularly because the organization is so close to my heart,” Teigen said in a statement. “Baby2Baby has given me an opportunity to teach my children the importance of giving back to families struggling with providing their children with the most basic necessities.”

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Chrissy Teigen via Instagram

 

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Ricky Martin Posts First Adorable Pic of Daughter Lucia

by Erica Loop

Celeb dad Ricky Martin recently shared the first full pic of his now-seven-month-old daughter. And yes, she’s absolutely aww-dorable!

While the musician isn’t exactly shy about posting on Instagram, this is the first full photo that features his daughter’s face. In the past, Martin’s posts of his little girl were only partial pics or don’t show her face from the front.

The proud dad of Lucia Martin-Yosef wasn’t the only one in the fam who shared this perfect pic. Martin’s artist hubby, Jwan Yosef, also posted the sweet shot.

Martin caption his post, “La luz de mis ojos,” or in English, “the light of my eyes.” His husband continued with the same theme, captioning his matching post, “Baby Lucia Martin-Yosef being the LIGHT she is.”

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Ricky Martin via Instagram

 

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Want to Promote Your Kid’s Social Skills? Try This

By GoBambino Kids Activities

Social skills are skills that involve everything social—which encompasses a lot more than you might think! In order to make friends kids need to be able to initiate appropriate interactions and conversation, and then maintain those interactions and conversation. They also need to be able to maintain relationships, which means they must be able to empathize with others, problem solve, and react appropriately to negative situations. Social skills are really important because kids need friends. Children who have difficulty with social skills may feel lonely and isolated at school, and these are not fun feelings for anyone to have. If you feel your child has a true social skills deficit, you should seek professional help. In most cases, group activities are a great way to promote social skills development.

And while any group activity will involve some degree of social skills, there are activities that will provide more opportunities for social interaction than others. And because practicing any skill is important, the more opportunities your child has to practice social skills within a class the better.

Team Sports

This category is broad and includes classes that are not organized sports but involve teams of children working towards a common goal. When a team is working towards a common goal they must interact in order to do so successfully. Even if your child is on the quieter side, she must be observant of her teammates and interact with others in order to participate in the activity. Observing other children interact is a good way for children who have difficulty with social skills learn more about what appropriate social interactions look like among their peers, which can help improve their skills even when they were not a direct part of the interaction.

Creative Classes

When choosing a creative class for your child, you may want to take your child’s personality into consideration. Depending on how your child reacts in certain situations you may want to choose a creative activity she has a lot of experience in or one that is completely new. For example, if your child tends to be shy and easily embarrassed, you probably don’t want to sign her up for an activity she’s never done before, because it is likely to make her feel incompetent which will not put her in the mood to interact with others. However, if your child is the kind who tends to dominate social situations and enjoys showing off, giving her the opportunity to try a new activity that she is not likely to be the “best” at may set her up for more success socially during the class. Regardless of which creative activity you pick and why, creative activities provide good opportunities to practice social skills, especially when children are working in close proximity to each other. Creative activities tend to be very relaxing for children and can help children come out of their shells, which opens the door for a  lot of opportunities for practicing social skills. Additionally, creative activities tend to have quieter environments than team sports which will allow your child to focus more on interaction in a less stressful way.

Because children who have difficulty with social skills will benefit from not only initiating but also maintaining relationships, you should consider signing your child up for a series of classes, rather than a drop in class, where she will get the opportunity to spend time with the same group of kids every week. Luckily for your child, and you, you can do so quickly and easily through GoBambino!

This post originally appeared on Bambinoculars.
GoBambino Kids Activities
Tinybeans Voices Contributor

GoBambino helps parents discover and book kids' activities, lessons, classes, camps and workshops. Stress-free and commitment-free. We built GoBambino to simplify (ever-so-slightly) the chaotic lives of today’s moms and dads.  

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Amy Schumer Is Never Taking Her Hospital Underwear Off & We’re Totally with Her

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Those mesh underwear they give you in the hospital after birth are a long way from sexy, but you have to admit they are pretty comfortable. So it’s not too much of a stretch, to want to wear them forever. Which is exactly what Amy Schumer declared in a hilarious Instagram post.

New mom and comedian, Schumer hasn’t been shy about sharing her pregnancy and postpartum experiences with fans on social media. Her most recent post is one all moms can relate to, the love of this completely hideous, but oh so lovely mesh hospital underwear.

Schumer wrote “5 weeks. Hospital underwear for life!” Pulling on a pair of regular underwear after these is never fun so it’s easy to understand why the post garnered over one million likes and thousands of comments applauding Schumer’s honesty and pure bravery to post those mesh underwear pics.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Amy Schumer via Instagram

 

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This Teen Baked Thousands of Cupcakes to Take His Family to Disney World

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Forget lemonade. When you really want to make some money bake cupcakes. One teen started a cupcake business in order to pay for his family of seven to go to Disney World.

Fourteen year old Isaiah Tuckett had a life-long dream of visiting Disney World, but as the youngest of a family of seven a family vacation to the Magic Kingdom came with a hefty price tag. Rather than give up on his dream, however, Isaiah decided to earn the money himself by selling cupcakes.

“I always liked being in the kitchen when I was growing up, and then I made them for my grandma’s 85th birthday party and also made them for one of my friend’s graduation parties and people liked them and started ordering them,” he told CNN.

Two years after he set out on his cupcake mission Isaiah’s business is booming and the vacation of his dreams became a reality. A year ago the entire family including his mom, dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law and his nephew finally made it to Disney World for six nights.

Not only did his new business give him the trip he’d been dreaming of, but it also has given Isaiah many other benefits. “In a lot of ways, it’s been good for Isaiah,” his mom said. “He can be a little bit maybe reserved or shy, and it’s caused him to have to have conversations with adults who are asking him about his business, which is good, taught him about time management and saving.”

“I mean, there’s just so many life lessons that he’s learning through all of it. It’s not just the baking skills,” said Cheri Tuckett.

Those entrepreneurial skills are paying off for other financial goals as well. In two years Isaiah will have his drivers license and he’s now saving up for a blue Ford pickup truck, and just maybe a visit to Disneyland.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Courtesy of Disney Parks

 

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Buddy Benches Are Taking Over Schools & Our Hearts Are Melting

by Erin Lem

While some kids thrive at free play during recess, others may find playing—or even interacting with their classmates during recess—overwhelming. Enter the Buddy Bench, a bench that some schools are installing to help students feel less alone and isolated. Read on to find out what the Buddy Bench is all about and how you can install one at your school.

So, What Is the Buddy Bench?
The concept is simple: any child sitting on a Buddy Bench indicates to his peers that he would like company. Whether kiddo is feeling overwhelmed, shy or just having an off day, sitting on the bench means he would like someone to talk to or play with.

Raising Money for a Buddy Bench
Girl Scouts recently posted on their Instagram page, a photo of Ariana who used the money she raised selling cookies to buy a Buddy Bench and donate it to her school. A portion of the caption reads, “It’s a piece of playground furniture that has the power to promote inclusion and empathy.”

Ariana joins Christian—and likely countless others—who in 2013 had a buddy bench installed at his Elementary School after hearing about this concept from a school overseas (read more of Christian’s story here).

Interested in installing a buddy bench at your school? Click here for some strategies to make it happen.

Buddy Bench Requires Supervision
Carole Lieberman, MD, psychiatrist and author of Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror opened up to Parents.com. She tells them that “sometimes bullies can take advantage of the vulnerability of the kid who sits down hoping to make a friend. It could be tempting for bullies to make fun of them.” So, if you or your family are passionate about bringing a Buddy Bench to your own school, we suggest speaking with teachers and administration about how best to supervise it.

— Erin Lem

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This “Arthur” Character Just Came Out & Fans Are So Excited

by Shahrzad Warkentin

The new season of Arthur started this week with a groundbreaking episode featuring the same-sex marriage of Mr. Ratburn, one of the show’s beloved characters.

Season 22 of the series about the titular aardvark next door and his gang of friends just launched with the episode titled “Mr. Ratburn & the Someone Special.” With special guest star Jane Lynch in the role of Mr. Ratburn’s sister, Arthur and his friends initially mistake her for the bossy bride-to-be. But there’s a twist!

When they plan to break-up the wedding, they discover that she is, in fact, Mr. Ratburn’s sister and that he is actually marrying a man. The entire class attends the wedding and celebrates the special moment with their teacher.

Fans of the show took to Twitter to express their glee over the nuptials and applaud Arthur for its progressive stance on gay marriage.

https://twitter.com/extraspicee/status/1128034354121379840

The storyline was not surprising for the inclusive show that has never been shy about tackling challenging subjects. The only thing fans were pleasantly surprised to discover is that PBS Kids is still producing new episodes of the long-running show.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Arthur via YouTube

 

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10 Things You Can Do to Help an Introverted Child Thrive

by Leah R. Singer

If you’re an introvert, you know first-hand that there are certain things you crave, solitude being one of them. But as parents, we want to help our kids get the most out of life and not be limited by their personality. If you have an introvert kid who struggles with speaking up in social situations or has a constant need for solitude, here are 10 things you can do to help him succeed.

Raw Pixel

1. Help her know how to leave a social setting when it gets to be too much. Come up with a simple hand signal that you and your kid can use when you're at a playdate or party. This mom and her introvert son use a "v" or peace sign to indicate when he needed to escape the over stimulation.

2. Avoid over-scheduling your young introvert. These days, it's easy to look at your calendar and realize that between Scout meetings, dance lessons, soccer practice, piano rehearsal and school, there's no downtime left in the schedule. While an outgoing extrovert kid may think this is the perfect week, this schedule will cause a lot of discomfort for an introvert child.

Pan Xiaozhen via Unsplash

3. Advocate for your kid in the classroom. According to experts, it's important for parents to embrace what it means to be an introvert and to devise systems that work for these personality types. For example, telling him "just raise your hand and talk" is not an effective motivator for an introvert, encouraging him to write out his questions or what he wants to say ahead of time on an index card might be. 

4. Don't force an introvert to do extroverted things like hug people. Grandma may think there's nothing wrong with hugging her granddaughter every time she greets her. But if that little girl is an introvert who is not comfortable with physical affection, that innocent gesture may cause her quite a bit of anxiety. Instead, let your introvert how they want to show affection and let grandma know ahead of time.

James Kim via Flickr

5. Gradually expose your kid to new situations and people if they are hesitant. Your introvert may shy away from going to new places or meeting new kids because those social situations cause anxiety. The key to helping your introvert child thrive is not thrusting them into a brand new venue, but gradually bringing them into it. You don't want your kid to opt out completely, but let her navigate at her own pace.

6. Don't treat your introvert's preference for alone time as if she's emotionally distressed. Many parents worry about their child's need for solitude or his desire to spend time behind the bedroom door means they are sad or signs of depression. But for an introvert, that alone time is recharging and bring them comfort.

Public Domain Pictures via Pixaby

7. Let her recharge inside, and don't force her outside to play. "Go outside and play" is a statement you've probably uttered more than once. While it's great advice for some kids, it may not be the right instructions for an introvert child. Introverts get energy internally and may have no desire to go outside and play tag with the neighborhood kids. So, when it comes to playtime, make sure your young introvert has an indoor option.

8. Teach him how to express his feelings. If you have an introvert who has trouble expressing sadness or anger, give her the tools to share her feelings without forcing her to talk everything through. For example, encourage your kid to write in a journal or pen a letter to you. If he or she is too young to write, have your child draw his or her feelings. Another idea—reenact tough situations with stuffed animals.

iStock

9. Get to birthday parties early. For an introvert, stepping into a crowded room of loud people can be very overwhelming. To avoid the feeling of wanting to exit the party immediately, arrive at the festivities early so your kiddo can get comfortable in her environment and perhaps find one friend she can begin talking to before more people arrive.

10. Don't shy away from sports activities; find the right match for your introvert. Just because your child is an introvert does not mean he wants to spend all his time indoors and reading. He may very well like sports or activities, but is not inclined toward team or group recreation. If that's your child, look for activities that are more suited toward individual participation. Sports such as track/running or golf may be where your kiddo thrives.

— Leah R. Singer

Featured image: Laura Fuhrman via Unsplash

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“The Big Bang Theory” Actress Released a Kids Cookbook & It’s Free!

by Karly Wood

When it comes to picky eaters, parents will try almost anything to get some sustenance into their little ones. Whether it’s getting sneaky with veggies or all out-bribery, mom of one and actress Melissa Rauch has been there.

That’s why she’s partnered with House Foods on her very first book, “The Tales of Tofu.” The e-book is a combination of soy-based and kid-friendly recipes combined with a sweet story about a shy tube of tofu, and your kids are going to love it!

Told with beautiful colors and amazing artistry, main character Tofu and his fruit buddies are on a mission to gain confidence after being cast in the school play. Tasty and healthy recipes are interspersed through the story and reinforce the tale at every turn.

source: House Foods

Rauch tells Romper that she loves to introduce her own daughter to new things by storytelling and books, and wanted to share the magic with other families as well. It’s her hope that The Tales of Tofu will help reinforce the importance of family mealtime while encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

You can download the e-book for free by visiting House Foods.

––Karly Wood

 

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Join the Wolf Pack at Shadowland Foundation

by Shannon Guyton

You’re about to have a close encounter of the wolf kind! In the pine-dotted hills of the high desert 90 minutes from LA, lies Shadowland Foundation, a facility dedicated to the preservation and re-population of the wolf species.  This is a one-of-a-kind educational experience for kids, families, and everyone who loves the wolves. You’ll be ready to join the pack of ten Alaskan timber wolves and have a whole new understanding of animal conservation after a visit to the foundation.

Skip Saturday Morning Cartoons
Tours are currently held at 10 a.m. on Sat. only. This is due to protecting the eerily beautiful nocturnal eyes of the wolf. Founders and “wolf parents” Paul and Collette Pondella are using donations to complete work on their barn—once that opens they can host meet-and-greets year round.

Sit Tight, Learning First
Your session begins with a seated presentation inside a warm, in construction yet still gorgeous, sprawling, red barn. Collette presents a thorough and interesting round-up of everything you never knew about how important wolves are to our ecosystem and how they have been systematically targeted for eradication. You’ll see a short documentary called Freedom of the Pack created by Thomas Durant (famous for “The Deadliest Catch”) who was inspired by a visit to Shadowland. The presentation takes about an hour and a half and questions are welcomed. While Collette speaks you can hear the wolf pack piping in like impatient children saying “Come on! Come meet us! We’re waaaiitttttinnnng!”

Meet the Pups
Once the presentation concludes, purses and bags are stashed, and there’s time for a bathroom break. If there’s a large group, it’s split up into two where one group goes with half the pack and vice versa. Everyone is instructed on safety and how to meet the wolves (fingers tucked in, offering the back of your hand to smell). Then you’ll be led into a staging area (a.k.a. Paul and Collette’s side porch of their ranch house) where you’ll sit down and let the pack meet them/sniff and get to know you.

Inside the wolf enclosure, the pack (Shadow, Wahkahn, Takoda, Freedom, Alaska, Tehya, Cochise, Chenoa, Keme, Kachina, Ogin) all know what to do. They hop up on a viewing platform and wait for the awe-filled attention. Like children, they all have different personalities. Some are shy, some are affectionate, and some—like Wahkahn, who even as a puppy towers over some of the full-grown adult wolves—is feisty and playful.

Swap Spit!
You’ll have plenty of time to get to know each wolf, with Collete and Paul constantly teaching as you do. Perhaps the most fun part of the meet and greet is the opportunity to feed them. You’ll hold little bits of kielbasa sausage and be shown exactly how to offer it up for a nibble. Wolf spit is shockingly thicker than a dog’s. Wipes are ready for you after the saliva-fest.

If you aren’t eating your packed lunch there on the pretty grounds, stop by the Heart and Soul Café for howlin’ good (couldn’t resist that joke!) burgers, macaroni & cheese and a homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwich on your way back down the hill.

What to Know Before You Go (And we’re not “crying wolf!” Sorry, last pun.)

  • Wear closed-toe shoes and jeans or pants that you don’t mind getting hair and wolf slobber on.
  • Be prepared for 20 degrees chillier (and windier) weather than in LA.
  • Park to the left of the red barn and head inside to be checked in.
  • Empty your pockets before meeting the wolves; anything sticking out is fair game for a nibble!
  • Bring lunch to enjoy with your group afterward on Shadowland’s lovely grounds.
  • While there are no age restrictions and the wolves have met everyone from newborns to 100-year-olds, it’s recommended for 8 & up.
  • Tours of groups over 10 must donate ahead of time to secure their tour date. Recommended donations are $50 per adult and $35 per child. Tours book up well in advance, so call a month or so before you’d like to go.

18832 Pine Canyon Rd.
Lake Hughes
818-766-1825
Online: shadowlandfoundation.org

To see what Red Tricycle Editors are up to this month, follow us on Instagram!

—Shannon Guyton

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