Need a Hawaiin vacation? One that will excite and entertain your children while you have an opportunity to relax? Well although we can’t all be lucky enough to win a trip from Ellen(congrats again Tanyetta!) there is a way to take your family to explore the beauty and enchantment of the beautiful islands of Hawaii right from the comfort of your home thanks to Lil Aloha Babies.

Waves and Wonders is the first DVD presented by Local Girl Productions to allow your family to learn about the sights, culture, and language of Hawaii. Each segment features crisp vibrant video of the ocean, sand and aquatic life from Hawaii integrated with toys and still photos to stimulate your little one’s cognitive learning. Brightly colored flashcards highlighting specific words both written and spoken in English and Hawaiian are well integrated into all of the scenes, supporting the visual and audio learning styles. My only wish is that the Hawaiin word had been repeated more often through each segment but because this is such an interactive DVD the parent can easily repeat the word for their child to learn the vocabulary even more extensively.

My favorite part of Waves and Wonders is a toss up between the incredible deep sea footage featuring all matter of fish and sea creature and the soothingly wonderful Hawaiian music. My husband, EDad, spent many years growing up in Hawaii and was surprised at just how authentic and true the music presented is to Hawaiian culture. I’ve never especially liked or disliked the music of Hawaii but I truly enjoyed every song featured on this DVD. If we ever do a luau themed party I’ll definitely have this music playing in the background to set a calm enjoyable tropical atmosphere.

The opportunity to expose children to other languages is extremely beneficial in their ability to later learn not just new languages but also furthers their comprehension of English. This DVD is a great educational tool which allows you to expose your children to a culture they may not be familiar with while also learning about sea life and wonders.

Lil Aloha Babies is an introduction to some peaceful music from a lovely place for infants while also capturing the minds and imaginations of preschoolers who are interested in learning about all of the world which surrounds us. Lil Aloha Babies Waves and Wonders is a serene way to develop a tranquil oasis for learning, language, and fun.  They also have a clip on their website if you’d like to preview before buying.

One of our current favorite shows is Everybody Hates Chris. Watching the trials and triumphs of Chris Rock as he grows up in the 80s real world exposes not just the hard life of a junior highschooler but the involved parenting style of his mother Rose Rock. Mama Rock’s Rules is a chronicling of Mama Rocks parenting style- evident in the tv show but more well explained in her personal guidebook.

Many of us will remember hearing some of the same values magnified in this book including the importance of family time together, setting limits, and encouraging education. However she doesn’t just introduce the points as points she gives real life examples from her own experience in raising 10 children and 17 foster children.

One of the key lines of the book was:

“Establishing a routine and rules - like I said before- is critical because of the security and self-confidence it creates in children. That is the greatest thing in raising kids to instill in them a sense of self-reliance: the ability to do well when they are not with you- so they can make the right choices.”

The key to successful parenting is not focusing on being your child’s friend but truly parenting and nurturing them along ever step of the way. She gives her experience not just in the formative years, from reading advice from the womb to teaching toddlers the art of cleaning up but ventures all the way through school, even into some of the more complicated teenage lessons. Her frankness, openness, and honesty was refreshing to say the least and her tips are ones not just to take and follow to the tee but guidelines you can use to formulate your own parenting ideals and concepts.

Mama Rocks Rules are old school values which still hold true even in a day and age when many parents are more focused on trying to give their children material things and activities more so than the solid family foundation that will allow them to structure fully stable lives. Finally, I’ve been able to lay aside some of my own guilt about not shuttling my boys around to daily activities and lessons and truly enjoy the time we have together. We’ve reestablished a family dinner table- incorporating discussion, reading, and connecting in ways that no soccer or football game could ever provide them.

I highly recommend this book for reading of all parents regardless of culture but she does do an excellent job of addressing some of the needs and concerns particular to African-American families including the importance of everyone learning the details of their cultural history and past. Dealing with teachers and homework is also well explained and I’ve already seen positive results from adopting her ideas in our current school situation.

The art of parenting has rarely been handed down by actual parents in this day and age of scattered families and evolving technology. While I’ve studied several of the psychologist and sociologist recommended parenting tenants Mama Rock’s Rules connected me to another parenting force to be reckoned with- rock solid tradition and values straight from the heart.

Review courtesy of the Parent Bloggers Network

The digital age has bridged the gap between families in many ways. Cell phones, email, and the internet have expanded our connections to new levels. Kinzin is a new online service which is making it even easier to share special moments with loved ones no matter how near or far they may live.

We take a lot of pictures in the Ebony household but unfortunately much like the shoemaker’s children have no shoes, this photographer’s children rarely have actual printed out photographs. And contrary to my digital imaging, slide photo show, blog having self, several members of my family actually still like to get regular photos to put in frames or albums. With kinzin I was able to upload pictures to a private and secured website, add stories or comments to go with each image and email family to view my online book. This was nice in itself but for an additional $2.99 kinzin will take 10 images each month and print them to mail directly to a family member you specify.

The website was very easy to utilize and the pictures uploaded very quickly using their file system. Adding the addresses for picture delivery was very efficient and easy to update for future picture sharing. The only thing I would have liked is to be able to determine differnet pictures for different recipients., but not one family member complained they were just happy to receive actual pictures.

I chose a surprise tactic in the actual sending of my pictures just to get my family’s first reaction to receiving the images. Each grandmother was thrilled to get pics of their grandsons- one was so excited she called me immediately gleeful in the surprise of these recent pictures. She stated that while she enjoys getting pictures online having the real tangible photographs is something she really treasures. Getting through the protective layers of wrapping to get the special pictures of her boys made the moment even more exciting. Her strong hint that this is the perfect gift idea for families who live apart from grandchildren and loved ones definitely let’s me know we’ll be using Kinzin again in the future.

If you are looking for a fun and easy way to share your precious moments with those near and far try out Kinzin. The 4×6 pictures were sharp, crisp and clear and packaged to safely arrive even in the most extreme weather. Currently there is a send 10 pictures to two people for $2.99 each and get them sent to a third person for free special.

Review courtesy of the Parent Bloggers Network

We love books here in the Ebony household and both of the Ebony boys have definitely blossomed thanks to some new book findings.  Gymboree Play and Learn is a fun guide that has interesting for your child from infant all the way up to 5 years old.  EBoy simply couldn’t contain his excitement about all of the different activities outlined from nature adventures, science experiments, simple food recipes, and imaginative play.  My favorite part about this book is that instead of wasting space with long lists of accompanying ingredients or big pages full of pictures each idea is presented in a compact paragraph with everything included succinct and to the point.  This  summer we are looking forward to incorporating play and learn ideas into our daily routine.

ETot’s favorites of the books are the two board books- Gymboree Shapes and Gymboree Colors.  ETot has always loved to be read to but his instant attachment to these two bright and colorful little books was very surprising.  What was even more surprising is that after a few days of reading them with us he could name every shape and color in the pages of the book as well as in person.  Being able to point out a crescent in the book as well as relate it to real life items is a skill I didn’t expect him to develop quite so quickly.  Each page presents the idea(shape or color) in a memorable way with the last 2 pages featuring a full index of all of the shapes (or colors) along with their name in English and a myriad of other languages.

As a parent who is always looking for new and fun ways to incorporate education into our daily lives these 3 books are great tools which will be very well utilized in our childhood library.   Check out all of the books on the publisher’s website.