Celebrate July 4th today with Camp Weary Parent! I have a variety of ideas to make the day fun with kids of all ages!

Put on a parade!

Gather up all the kids in the neighborhood and decorate the bikes, scooters, and strollers with Red, White and Blue PBicycle Streamers, flags, and other patriotic decorations. Line everyone up and take a tour of the neighborhood - guaranteed to make everyone get in the patriotic spirit.

Play Games!

Use red, white and blue water balloons and have a water balloon fight or races! Want more water fun? Check out our favorite water games for kids from our splash party post.

Star-Spangled Snacks!

Have fun with a container of red, white and blue sprinkles (jimmies) and create some yummy treats.

• Take pretzel rods and dip them in melted white chocolate chips then roll them in the patriotic jimmies for the ultimate safe sparkler.
• Dip one side of your graham crackers in the white chocolate and then in the sprinkles before making star spangled s’mores this evening.
• Bake a batch of refrigerator cookies with the red, white and blue chips (Pillsbury makes them) then place a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two of the cookies for a rocking ice cream sandwich.
• Make a fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped topping, white chocolate mousse, white chocolate pudding or angel food cake.
• Make fruit sparklers by threading strawberries and blue berries on skewers with squares of angel food cake.

Be safe!

Don’t forget to check out Christine’s fire works safety tips, pack (and use) the sunscreen, and have fun today!

Stop in Monday as we start a new week with a new Camp Weary Parent theme! Did you miss some of our activities so far? No worries, we’ve put them all on one page for you to refer to.

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While the writers of the b5media Lifestyles Channel may be scattered about globally, one thing we all have in common is a celebration of fireworks. Whether its the U.S. and our Fourth of July - or a very different kind of holiday in Perth - we all know the unique smell that penetrates the air and the sense of freedom the mere sound of them instill. There is truly something so divine about a celebration of fireworks - they do create some of the most treasured memories.

Chloe of Tangled Thread shares a few festive fireworks and needlework patterns.

Kerri and Cory at Marriage Actually talk about why having a shared past is one of the best parts about being married.

Heather at A Creative Journal shares her first memory of firecrackers with a view from Australia.

Christine at Mad Cropper remembers Guy Fawkes Day, a day celebrated in New Zealand with lots of fireworks. Find out why Guy Fawkes is celebrated by the English and most commonwealth countries. It is indeed a blast from the past!

Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork, provides a quiz for her readers. See how many of the quilt designs you can connect with historical Americana - events, objects or people.

Marye at Baking Delights reflects on just how much menus have changed over the years while at Kettle and Cup she shares a modern twist that many are sure to love with her Non-Alcoholic Long Island Iced Tea

Kelly Saunders at Thrifty Mommy shares her favorite 4th of July memory - I just cant spoil the surprise - check it out.

Christine & I continue Camp Weary Parent with this weeks Patriotic activities (Camp Weary Parent has a ton of great ideas for your children this summer if you havent visited you should): Star Spangled Rocket and a week full of other fun projects

Marcie and Mary Emma are blasting through books with Fourth of July and summer recommendations at One Book Two Book. Make sure to check out Fourth of July Books for Teens and The 10 Best Fourth of July Picture Books

At Robust Cooking, I share 10 Healthy 4th of July Dessert Ideas. At Mother Earths Garden I call out the old saying about corn - Knee high by the fourth of July.

At She Knows Parties, Linette shares fond memories of summers and holidays as a child.

Karen at Thrifty Mommy probably has the most reason to celebrate the fourth as anyone Ive heard - join Karen as she shares family photos of one of the most memorable nights in her families lives.

Over at All Holiday Cafe, Sandy talks about how various countries celebrate their independence.

Christina at SoloMother shares her own experiences of celebrating the 4th of July in the nations capital.

Susan at PlayLibrary shares her memories of playing the classic game of Zimm Zamm during her familys annual July 4th barbecue celebration.

Eliza at Babylune reflects back on early holiday celebrations with baby on board and looks to this years celebration - their first out of the military.

And finally, theres Gayla at MomGadget - Without fail, each year her memories race back to an earlier time when life was much simpler and shed celebrate her summer holiday with relatives down in the holler in the hills of Kentucky - this year - she shares a Bluegrass Kinda Fourth of July.

Have a fabulous day today!!

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The Fourth of July is tomorrow and for many teenagers that means a night of setting off fireworks. I remember one year when I was a teenager, a group of my friends and I set off a bunch of fireworks near my apartment. In our state fireworks are illegal so as soon as we saw the apartment security heading our way we took off running. Of course we knew setting off fireworks was illegal, but when you’re a teenager it’s all about testing limits.

Fireworks are pretty appealing to teenagers. Maybe it’s the possibility of danger that appeals to them. Unfortunately teenagers are sometimes reckless with them. It’s best to leave the fireworks show to the professionals and encourage your teens to watch the city display instead of setting them off themselves. However, convincing teens of that may not always work so if they decide to have their own show make sure they are safe.

• Never use fireworks indoor.
• Do not light fireworks right next to your apartment complex either. A little distance between your personal property, friends, trees, etc. is best.
• Obey your local laws. For example, they are illegal in the state of Iowa (and several other states) so don’t set off fireworks if your state doesn’t allow it. Stick with sparklers instead. Your state may have laws about where fireworks can be set off as well. Make sure you know the laws and follow them.
• Keep a bucket of water and/or a water hose nearby. And use it.
• Don’t wear loose fitting clothing that could get in the way of the fire when lighting.
• Keep long hair back in a ponytail.
• Wear goggles.
• Use common sense when lighting fireworks. Don’t stand right in front of the person lighting the fireworks. Don’t put lit fireworks (or non-lit fireworks for that matter) in your mouth or in your butt. Trust me. It’s been done before and it’s never good. We don’t need to see another stupid video on YouTube. Instead just be safe.
• Nominate a “designated shooter.” This person should be sober.
• Do not use homemade fireworks. Spend the money to buy ones made by professionals.
• Always follow the directions on the packaging.
• Only light one firework at a time.
• Don’t relight duds.

If your take all precautions hopefully everybody involved will be safe, but accidents may happen. Fireworks can cause eye injuries or burns. If you get an eye injury immediately go to the hospital. Do NOT rub your eye. Do NOT try to flush it out. You could cause more damage then good. If you get a minor burned remove any burned clothing and apply cool (not cold) water to the burn. Apply a thin layer of antibiotic ointment and cover with a bandage. If it’s a serious burn go to the emergency room.

Fireworks can be a beautiful and fun event. Just make sure you stay safe. Trips to the ER can turn a fun night in to a nightmare pretty quickly.

Happy 4th of July!

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Girls like to talk - especially tween girls - especially with their friends. Add an element of movement and surprise and you have a hit game like the very cool Kubit2Me line. Kubit2Me is a fun, fuzzy, really unique game of self-expression that launched last year. Two of the games in the Kubit2Me product line Kubit2me Truth or Dare Edition and Kubit2me Now You’re Talkin’ Edition were specifically created to address a void in the teen and tween toy and game market, and were designed to get parents to reconnect with their kids and kids to connect with each other. (The 3rd one, Kubit2me Lil’ Scholars Abc’s & 123’s Edition, is geared more towards younger kids.)

We had the opportunity to review the game and my 9 year old and her friends give Kubit2Me two thumbs up. As a matter of fact when one of my daughter’s friends called last week to invite Miss M over for a sleepover, she specifically asked her to bring the Kubit2Me Truth or Dare game. They love tossing each other a surprise and wearing the bracelets that are the points.

Basically you start with the fuzzy cube and place the game cards in its pockets. Toss the cube from player to player, pull a card and do as it says. Depending on which game you select the rewards vary.

We are giving away a Kubit2Me game to a lucky WearyParent reader. Simply leave a comment with your answer to one of these Kubit2Me questions by Friday, July 11 and you can win one!

1. What makes you feel confident about yourself?
2. How do you choose your friends?
3. If you had an hour of free time how would you spend it?
4. What is the greatest song ever written?
5. Define hip. Are you hip?

Kubit2Me is a fun way to break the ice at a birthday party, group outing, or family evening. So, what are you waiting for - catch the cube and answer one of the questions!

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When we were kids we gossiped the old fashioned way. We passed notes or whispered in the hallway between class. We huddled in the girl’s bathroom or talked to our friends on the phone for hours every night.

Today gossip has gone high tech. There’s no need to pass notes when teens can just text each other. Instead of phone calls teens spend their nights on the computer talking to friends on IM or on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. There are even websites specifically for the purpose of gossiping about classmates, teachers or other enemies.

We thought gossip was hurtful in our day, but it’s even worse today. Today it’s more permanent. Anything on the web is out there for everybody to see…forever. Even if you remove the offending comment it still lives in infinity. There’s no way to scratch it off the bathroom stall or paint over graffiti on the wall. And it’s more anonymous. A teen can write post something from the local library with a fake name and nobody will ever know who did it.

So what should you do if your teen is the victim of online gossip?

• Don’t respond to gossip. A teen’s first instinct might be to defend herself, but it usually ends up just making it worse. Ignore it.
• Stay off the site. If mean girls are gossiping about your teen on MySpace then have her log off and stay away from MySpace for a while. When she isn’t there to take the abuse the mean girls usually move on to somebody else.
• If the gossip continues you may need to step in and talk to the offender’s parents. I don’t recommend this being your first course of action though because it could be embarrassing for your teen and it may not do any good. Some parents just aren’t as diligent in their parenting as you may be.
• Depending on what is said, you may need to get the school involved. Just because it’s online instead of on school grounds doesn’t mean it’s not a school issue.
• If the gossip is threatening take it seriously. You may need to call the authorities.

How can you make sure you teen isn’t the one spreading the gossip?

• Talk to you kids about the dangers of internet gossip. Many kids don’t realize things they write on the internet are there forever for colleges and future employers to see. And often they regret what they wrote three days later when they patch up their friendship.
• Make sure you know what your child is doing on the internet. You should be doing this anyway to prevent predators from reaching your child. Check out his/her MySpace and Facebook page. Ask him who he’s talking to on World of Warcraft. Stay informed.
• Set consequences for harassment. If the gossip is threatening, teens could get in trouble at school or even with the law. But even less severe cases of gossip should have consequences. Make sure your teen knows what those consequences are and that you will enforce them if you discover your teen is being mean on the internet.

The internet is a great tool when used properly. But many people abuse it. It’s easy to forget your manners when you can be anonymous. Make sure your teens know the rules and understand the consequences of being a mean girl or boy on the interent.

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