August 5, 2013 by Allison Hendrix

DIY Personalized Bag Tags and Printables for Lunch Box and Backpack

It’s Back to School time and that means fresh lunchboxes and backpacks. I made some Bag Tags you can personalize and download. The floral backgrounds I chose were from The Lilly blog.

How to Make a Bag Tag:

Supplies:

Cardstock
Printer
Hole puncher
ribbon, rope, or shoelace
laminator (optional)

First download the desired pfd from the end of this post. Personalize with your child’s name.
Print on Cardstock.
Cut out tags from cardstock
Laminate – My current obsession is a $24 Thermal Laminator. I use it to laminate photos, kids’ artwork, soccer certificates, recipe cards, place-mats, bag tags and more. It’s highly addictive and so simple that my daughter uses it.
Trim away excess laminate with scissors or cutter.
Punch a hole and insert ribbon
My boys are not ribbon people, so I used some rope and a shoelace

You are done. Printable templates at end of post.

You can use them on:

lunch boxes
backpacks
diaper bags
suitcases
sporting bags (tennis racket bag)
gifts

Here are the Printable Templates – PDF download

Red & Blue Chevron

Lilly Floral

Green & Pink Chevron

I had several questions about where I got the lunchboxes.

Green. Turquoise and Pink Lilly Lunchbox (old pattern called: later gator)
Navy, Red, Green Quilted Lunchbox
Pink Floral Quilted Lunchbox – This is an older pattern called Raspberry Fizz, so here is a current style.

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August 2, 2013 by Allison Hendrix

Stepping Stones of life

Some days I listen to myself and wonder if my husband misses that innocent, fresh-faced girl he married. You know the one, the girl who had a locked gaze on her man, laughing at even his slightest of jokes. She greeted him after work with a giant smile and warm embrace, and followed it up with a foot rub and lousy home-cooked meal. She was determined to love him well. How life prepares us for the good stuff.

Flash forward 13 years, he still gets my lousy home-cooked meal and is secure in my love, but the rest has changed. I’ve changed. My gaze is now divided amongst 3 children, 2 rabbits, unfinished projects and piles of laundry. When he comes home from work, he gets a “Hey Babe. (smooch) I screwed up diner again, should we order a pizza?”

I no longer slink into bed in a silk negligee ready for “theme night”. I fall into bed exhausted. Does he miss that girl from before?

I think we both do! We miss her because she represents a time in our lives when things were simpler. She had time for herself; time to be intentional in both relationships and matters of the home. There were fresh-cut flowers and love notes. There were surprise dates and thoughtful gifts. She was well rested and her mind clear. We both miss her.

I’ve learned though, she was a stepping-stone…a training ground for what was to come. All of that time she took for herself, she was figuring out who she was. Those warm embraces she greeted her man with, they are still there. They just look different. They greet the early risers of the morning and little faces after school. And when she falls into bed exhausted, it’s because she lives a full life, serves her family well, and is doing the best she can.

So although we miss her, we like the new version better. Her love has matured. Her visions of a picture perfect home now replaced by real relationships, often messy, and a love so deep it hurts. And that gaze into the eyes of her man, has roots that have dug deep, persevered, and are grounded in faith. Her gaze now tells a story, her story.

And she’s learned life’s harder, richer, and way better than her doe-eyed dreams.

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August 2, 2013 by Allison Hendrix

Teaching Empathy through Role Play

I have the privilege today of concluding a 5 part series entitled “How to Cultivate Empathy in your Child’s Heart”. Four inspiring bloggers have written posts each day this week on the topic. Each shares their unique perspective and method to exploring empathy with children. Links to their articles are at the end of this post.

At the moment, my children could use a little help on matters pertaining to empathy. So I took 3 circumstances that our family has recently encountered, and we decided to switch places through role play.

We’re going to walk in their shoes.
We’re going to record the difficulties, frustrations, and emotions associated with each situation.
Most importantly we want to learn how to respond to our empathy. How are we going to act differently in the future because of it?

role play #1 – A Broken Arm

We took some Pre-Wrap that my daughter uses to make headbands and made some casts securing their arms against their waist. The day continued as usual.

Difficulties and Frustrations with a Broken Arm: (in their words…)

Tough getting dressed
Even tougher brushing my hair & putting it in a ponytail
Only having one hand to play video games
Carrying heavy things like the laundry basket
Not being able to swim with the other kids.
Impossible to tie my shoes
It wasn’t comfortable

What I’ll do next time a friend has a broken arm: I’ll…(kid’s words)

Help them carry their books and backpack at school
If we are at the pool, play a game with them that isn’t in the water.
Open their door or tie their shoes
Braid their hair for them.
Say sorry their arm is itchy and you hope they feel better

role play #2 – Being Blind (or physically impaired)

They took turns covering each others eyes with a scarf. We headed to Target to get school supplies.

Difficulties of a physical impairment like being blind:

People stared at us.
You have to ask for a lot of help
I didn’t know what my brothers were laughing at, and I thought it was me.
I felt like nobody wanted to play with me.
It was hard to find the school supplies I needed.

Even with limited vision, she was still able to swat her brothers.

What I’ll do next time I’m with a friend that is physically impaired

I won’t stare even if they don’t see me. I’ll smile instead.
I will ask them if they want to play with me because they are a lot of games they can still play.
I’ll ask them if they need help finding something or getting somewhere.
If something is funny, I’ll explain what it is, so they don’t think they are being laughed at.

role play #3 No food for Dinner

My youngest swapped out our 3rd role play activity to ‘Having nothing to eat for dinner’. I thought it was an interesting suggestion since so many children in our country experience hunger on a daily basis. That said, only my youngest participated in this one.

Difficulties with having No Dinner:

I’m starving all the time
I’m staring at other people’s food, wishing it was mine
My tummy is making noises

Next time I see somebody who is hungry, I’ll…

Definitely give them some of my food.
Say a prayer that God will provide food and make their tummy not hurt.
Be nice to them because they are probably grouchy.

I participated in this series on empathy because dear friends have walked alongside me through trials, not their own. Their ability to empathize with my various circumstances was seen through overflowing compassion upon me. My soul was ministered to. I want my children to have that type of heart…one that not only finds a way to relate to another, but then responds to it with encouragement, hope or a simple hug.

Check our the other articles in this 5 part series “How to Cultivate Empathy in your Child’s Heart”: