Creating Screen Time Balance as a Family

In today’s world, you can’t stay away from screens. However, it’s important to be away from them for at least a few hours a day. Spending too much time with technology leads to higher stress levels, lower quality sleep, eye strain and a feeling of dependence. Our devices have the power to keep us informed and connected, but like everything in life, moderation is key. Here are a few ways you can create screen time balance with your family:

Enjoy Analog Activities 

When we’re constantly connected to our devices, it can be easy to forget about activities our families can enjoy together without the help of a screen. Break out your favorite board games from your childhood, and create new memories for the family. Encourage everyone to lace up their walking shoes to go out and explore the local park. If you can get the family away from screens for just a couple hours a day, you’ll notice that you all become less reliant on technology for entertainment. 

Have Dinner Without Devices 

Ever look around the dinner table and notice that everyone’s either on their phones or has them out just in case? Staying away from devices for an extended period of time can be difficult, but dinner is the perfect time for a technology break. Make dinner a dedicated time for communicating with one another and enjoying each other’s company. Dinner time creates a great opportunity for daily family bonding without the help of devices.

Set Time Limits for Everyone 

Keep in mind that not only children feel the impacts of too much screen time. Adults often find themselves mindlessly tuned into their devices just as much as children do. Consider setting limits that the whole family can abide by. This is also a great way to lead by example. If your child sees that you can rely less on technology, they will feel more empowered to do so themselves. 

Enforce an Electronic Curfew

One way to set time limits is by setting a curfew for use of electronic devices. Powering down devices after a certain hour has a positive effect on health for people of all ages. The most visible impact is on sleep. Children and teens need to get 8-10 hours of sleep to maintain their health, and adults need about 6-8 hours. It’s recommended to power down your devices an hour before bed so you can more easily fall asleep.

Charge Devices Outside of Bedrooms

How do you keep your child or teen from bringing their phones into the bedroom at night? Set up charging stations outside of the bedroom. This is a great way to hold everyone accountable and to remove the temptation of losing yourselves in late-night infinite scrolling. Consider a dedicated area where all devices are charged outside of bedrooms so everyone can rest a little easier at night. 
At North Tampa Christian Academy, we view technology as a powerful tool that brings us together, as long as we’re not too dependent on it. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

5 Ways Faith Can Help Children Thrive

What children learn when they’re young builds a foundation for the rest of their lives. Faith provides guiding principles that can steer them in the right direction. However, the benefits of faith for children go far beyond discipline. Spirituality has been shown to positively impact mental and physical health for people of all ages. Learn about a few of the ways faith can help children live more meaningful lives.

Connection to Community

As someone who practices a religion, you have a built in community at church, or perhaps at a faith-based school. In many cases, the connection goes deeper than that. When you find another person who practices the same faith, you know you have something in common with them. This can be especially impactful for children as they seek friends with common interests. Along with meeting other children through their faith, they have the opportunity to interact with spiritual leaders who can guide them and help them through hard times. 

Sense of Hopefulness

Spiritual faith often includes a belief that there’s something good waiting for you. This can give children a sense of hope when things aren’t going their way. Knowing that something good will happen eventually can ease thoughts that lead to depression or quiet feelings of anxiety. Belief in a higher power is shown to lead to better mental health overall and also better response to mental health treatments.

Feeling in Control

Being hopeful can help people of faith with external stressors, while feeling in control can help on an internal level. Most faiths have guidelines that believers follow, which provides a moral compass. This can make life easier for children, especially as they grow older and start facing peer pressure. It’s easier to say “no” to drugs and unsafe behaviors when you have a compelling reason to resist the temptation. Children of faith also may find it easier to bounce back when they do give in because they tend to surround themselves with people who can guide them through difficult times. 

Stronger Family Ties

Younger children generally feel attached to their parents and siblings, but that can change as they grow older. Teens often feel like they can’t relate to their parents or like they’re too cool to hang out with the other kids in their family. Through a common faith, however, children often feel more connected to their family members. This leads to stronger relationships that children carry with them throughout their lives. 

Better Health Outcomes

Mental health isn’t the only area that faith can directly benefit. In many ways, faith can lead to better physical health. The built-in community faith creates keeps people of faith more accountable to each other. With less likelihood of falling into unsafe and unhealthy behaviors, children are more likely to have better overall health as they grow older. When a person of faith does become ill, they often have more hope that they’ll recover, which can aid in the recovery process. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we believe faith can help people of all ages live abundant lives. At our Tampa Christian school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Spreading Love with Valentine’s Day Crafts

Valentine’s Day is coming soon! Children will pass out valentines to all their friends and classmates, and couples will exchange flowers and candy. It’s the perfect time to remember the importance of love in our lives. The holiday also presents an opportunity for making adorable heart-shaped crafts with your child. Here are a few Valentine’s Day crafts that we love.

Bird Feeder Hearts

Crafting projects often end up stashed away and eventually thrown away, despite your best intentions. What if you could make an adorable craft that could be put to use? These bird feeder hearts can do just that, making them more sustainable and fun than the average craft. They’re easy to make, especially with the help of older children. 

Recipe

• For the hearts

• ¾ cup of flour

• ½ cup of water

• 1 2.5 teaspoon envelope of unflavored gelatin

• 3 tablespoons of corn syrup

• 4 cups of birdseed

• Other items needed

• Heart-shaped cookie cutter

• Cooking spray

• Pieces of ribbon

• Gift tags 

Instructions

• Spray a spoon with cooking spray.

• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. 

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

• Spray the inside of a heart-shaped cookie cutter, place it on the parchment paper, then fill it with birdseed, packing it down as you go.

• Spray a second spoon with cooking spray to pat down the heart, making sure it’s really packed in. 

• Make a hole near the top center using a chopstick or similar object

• Remove the cookie cutter, fixing up the edges, then let them sit overnight

• The next day, put a ribbon through the center of each heart, and tie the ends together

• Tie a gift tie to each ribbon 

Perler Bead Valentines

Who says Valentine’s cards need to be made from cardstock? Playing with perler beads will bring you right back to the days when you were making cards for your classmates. It will also show your child a fun, easy form of crafting. For this project, you will need to use an iron, so you may need to help a younger child.

Items needed

• Perler beads

• Perler bead pegboard

• Parchment paper

• Iron

• Small 2.75-inch glassine envelopes

• Washi tape

Instructions

• Arrange beads on a pegboard into a heart shape, and build a square around the heart. Make the overall size 12 pegs across to fit into a 2.75-inch envelope. 

• When the design is complete, lay parchment paper over the beads

• Set the heated iron on the parchment paper, holding for 10-15 seconds

• Allow plastic to cool

• Once it has cooled, remove the square from the pegboard, and place into an envelope. Seal the envelope with washi tape. 

Yarn Heart Art

A staple of crafting, yarn can be used in many ways to create works of art with a homemade feel. You can dive into crocheting or knitting with your child, create a design using a board with nails, or do this simple project. These pieces of 3D art make wonderful decorative gifts despite how simple they are to make.

Items needed

• Red yarn, preferably in multiple shades

• Flat wooden hearts, various sizes

• Small canvases, around 6” x 6”

Instructions

• Wrap the wooden hearts with yarn, forming the round shape as you wrap. Be careful to make sure it holds the heart shape. 

• If you are using multiple colors, be sure to alternate between the two colors when you’re wrapping. 

• Tuck in the loose thread.

• Hot glue the hearts to the canvas.

If your child loves to paint, consider having them paint the canvas, making sure it fully dries before sticking anything on it. A bright solid color like yellow or blue can make the red hearts pop and add another dimension to this simple project. 

Crafting for Valentine’s Day gives you a chance to spend quality time with your child and allows your child to spread love through homemade gifts. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Meaningful New Year's Resolutions for Children and Teens

When children make New Year’s Resolutions, they tend to be imitations of what they hear from parents (“lose weight,” “watch less TV”) or big aspirations that would take more than a year to accomplish (“save the world,” “make the world a better place”). There’s a middle ground of New Year’s Resolutions that are more meaningful and easier to achieve. Here are a few goals your child or teen can aspire to in the New Year. 

Always Be Honest

Being honest 100% of the time is easier said than done. Children can be especially prone to getting caught up in a lie. They start with one white lie that snowballs and becomes overwhelming. Help your child understand that it’s better to be honest, even if the truth is that they made a mistake. This doesn’t mean your child has to use “tough love” or be brutally honest to others. Weighing honesty and kindness may take some practice, but ultimately, your child will learn that it’s best to be honest with themselves and others. 

Become a Better Friend

Talk to your child about the importance of being present with their friends and family. This could mean taking out their headphones at dinner time or listening thoughtfully during conversations. It also means being there for friends who need help and telling a trusted adult if it seems like a serious situation. Nothing is quite as valuable when you’re feeling alone as having a friend who will listen. Forming deeper friendships and relationships with family members will also bring more meaning to your child’s life.

Eat, Drink and Sleep Well

People of all ages struggle to take care of themselves, though it’s typically for different reasons. A child or teen may stay up late talking to friends online or playing video games. They may skimp on water or food because they were too distracted by other activities. However, getting adequate sleep, drinking enough water and eating fruits and vegetables can do wonders for a child or teen’s wellbeing. When helping your child make healthier choices, make sure it doesn’t feel like a punishment. Make it clear that you’re doing this for them. 

Show More Gratitude

Part of living a fulfilling life is appreciating what you have and those around you. It’s easy for children, teens and even adults to forget the importance of showing gratitude. A simple way for a child or teen to start showing more gratitude is by saying “thank you,” even if someone does something small. Then, once they’ve gotten used to saying thank you, they can move on to small acts of kindness. Doing something nice for another person shows gratitude just as much as thanking someone for doing a nice thing for you. 

Bring Peace to Others

In a world where one of the most pervasive problems for students is bullying, your child can aspire to be a peacemaker. This can mean not getting involved in petty drama or not allowing themselves to be pressured into bullying others. They can also be an active participant in resolving conflicts, rather than fueling the fire. Another great way to be a peacemaker is by ignoring rumors and reserving judgment of other people. The peace they bring to others will come back around to them. 

As the New Year draws closer, it’s a great time to consider how you and your child can make meaningful resolutions. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Preparing for the Holidays as a Family

You want the holidays to be perfect for the whole family. It may feel like the best way to make them that way is to do everything yourself. That way, you know it will get done the right way. However, this can quickly become overwhelming. Those who don’t participate in the planning and execution of holiday plans may not understand how much work goes into them. This leads to one family member being overworked and could lead to frustration among other family members. The more, the merrier still applies when it comes to preparing for the holidays. Here’s how you can get the whole family involved. 

Involve Children from the Start

You may feel like bringing children into planning for holiday preparations would slow down the process. However, you may be surprised by the fresh ideas they have. Teach them about what goes into planning holiday activities, and bring them along for shopping trips. This will give them an appreciation for all the work you do, and they’ll be more compelled to help when the time comes. It could even be a way to introduce them to a new hobby or two.

Decide on What to Delegate

Make a list of everything you have to do, and see what you can delegate to others. Your teen with a driver’s license can help pick up items from the store, but they may need guidance on what exactly to buy. A younger child can help with decorating cookies, but they might not be ready to chop vegetables quite yet. Everyone in the family can help out, and while it may not yield the “perfect” result, it will take a lot of stress off of you and make everyone else feel included.

Divide Writing and Wrapping Duties

Gift wrapping and writing cards doesn’t feel like it takes a long time until you sit down to do it. While writing cards, you often remember people you forgot to add to your list, and the list ends up getting longer. Wrapping gifts can be quick if you’re a pro, but it will definitely be quicker with more people doing it. See if you can assembly-line sorting, wrapping and labeling presents. Have those who have the nicest handwriting write the cards. With a few hands at work, these tasks will be done in no time.

Find New and Old Recipes

Holiday celebrations often focus on food, and there’s no better place for the family to get involved than in the kitchen. You know your family better than anyone, so you’ll know who should be rolling dough, who can decorate and who can focus on tasks like preheating the oven and setting kitchen timers. One way to make the holidays truly special is by finding the recipes grandma used to make or trying something new that everyone in the family can enjoy. No matter how it comes out, your family will appreciate the time spent together.

At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa Christian school, we believe the most important learning starts in the home. Students at our school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.