Tag: family

Are you ready for some Family Fun this 4th of July?

The Morning Thing is here to help!

Check out these FUN Ideas for some Family Fun this Independence Day!

🎆 Outdoor Activities

  1. Watch a Fireworks Show – Find a local display or do a small, safe one at home.
  2. Backyard BBQ or Picnic – Grill out classic American favorites.
  3. Decorate Bikes for a Parade – Host a mini neighborhood bike parade.
  4. Play Lawn Games – Cornhole, horseshoes, sack races, or a water balloon toss.
  5. Go to a Local Festival – Many towns host 4th of July events with food and games.
  6. Camp Out in the Backyard – Stargaze, tell stories, and enjoy s’mores.
  7. Host a Water Day – Sprinklers, slip n’ slide, kiddie pools, or a water balloon fight.

🎨 Creative Fun

  1. DIY T-Shirts or Tie-Dye – Use red, white, and blue to make festive shirts.
  2. Patriotic Face Painting – Stars, stripes, and sparkles!
  3. Make 4th of July Crafts – Flags, pinwheels, or paper fireworks.
  4. Decorate the Yard or House – Let the kids help with flags and streamers.

🍓 Food-Focused Fun

  1. Bake Patriotic Treats – Star-shaped cookies, flag fruit pizza, or red/white/blue Jello cups.
  2. Create a Hot Dog or Ice Cream Bar – Let everyone build their own.
  3. Make Homemade Lemonade or Snow Cones – Perfect for hot weather.

🧠 Quiet or Indoor Options

  1. Watch an Independence Day-Themed Movie – Ideas: National Treasure, The Sandlot, or Liberty’s Kids for younger viewers.
  2. Read Books About America – Great for young kids to learn about history.
  3. Play Patriotic Music and Sing Along – Teach classic American songs.

🏃‍♂️ Get Moving

  1. Do a Family Walk or Bike Ride – Explore a park or trail.
  2. Join a Fun Run or Parade – Many towns host family-friendly events.
  3. Scavenger Hunt with a Red, White & Blue Theme – Use household or nature items.

Want to know WHERE and WHEN to see fireworks this year?
Thanks to Knox Pages for this very informative list of Fireworks Displays and events happening around the Knox County Area! Click HERE to see their list of events for the 4th of July Weekend.

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Parental Stress has been declared a significant public health issue. How will you fight it?

The US Surgeon General has declared Parental stress as a significant public health issue. Dr. Vivek Murthy recently released a 36 page advisory on this important issue.
Click HERE to read more.

Dr. Murthy says that we need a culture shift. The advisory says: “It’s time to value and respect time spent parenting on par with time spent working at a paying job, recognizing the critical importance to society of raising children.” Parents and caregivers need societal support and to be able to talk openly about the stress of parenting. Like an earlier surgeon general’s advisory, it says more connection is needed to combat loneliness and isolation among parents.

“The bottom line is that we’ve got to start seeing mental health as health. It is no less important than our physical health,” Murthy said Wednesday. “If we can attend to both our mental and physical health, then we have a good chance, you know, of being happy, healthy and fulfilled, and that’s what we all want for ourselves and especially for our kids.”

The Morning Thing shared some ways for Moms and Dads to fight stress.

For Moms, we shared 5 shifts in focus that can help alleviate Mom Stress.
Click HERE to read the full article from imom.com
1. Focus on your breathing.

2. Focus on your inner critic.

3. Focus on what brings you comfort.

4. Focus on forgiving yourself.

5. Focus on what you can control.

For Dads, we shared 5 ways to address fatherhood stress.
Click HERE to read the full article from allprodad.com
1. Start the day early.

2. Write daily goals and journal.

3. Get active.

4. Find moments to read.

5. Connect with other dads.

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The Morning Thing celebrates Daughters!

Today is National Daughter Day. In honor of this special day and these special ladies, The Morning Thing shared some ways to celebrate.
Click HERE to see the history behind this special day from daysoftheyear.com and some great celebration ideas.

Some of our favorite ideas:
– Send a Card
– Call Your Daughter
– Arrange a Mother-Daughter Date or Father-Daughter Date
– Take a Getaway Trip with your daughter

We also shared 5 ways to tweak y our language to empower your daughter. Our words are very powerful. Today, as we celebrate the blessing of daughters, take a quick look at this great advice from imom.com
Click HERE to read the full article from Mary Jo Wyse.

Highlights from the article:
1. Unless you’re talking about a puppy, drop the word “cute.”

Find other words to describe her: cool, creative, innovative, thoughtful.

Find a word that more accurately describes what she’s done: dynamic, ingenious, perceptive, focused.

2. Use words that describe her abilities and contributions.

You are so imaginative, inventive, detailed.

Tell your daughter she’s powerful, clever, determined.

3. Encourage a mindset of growth and effort.

Strong daughters aren’t born strong. Rather, they grow into that strength. We can help by tweaking our words and our focus. Praising their effort (not the outcome) can empower girls.

Be realistic but encouraging: You’re tackling this challenge like a champ. By welcoming feedback from your teacher, you’re taking steps to learn. I like how your friend Sasha inspired your drawing.

4. Eliminate “perfect” and “perfection” in everyday conversations.

I don’t want my daughter growing up expecting perfection from herself, so making an effort to pick my words carefully now will help change her thinking and the demands she places on herself years from now.

Instead, use these words to encourage girls to keep at it, to work hard, and to rise above her setbacks: epic, fierce, brave, charismatic, conscientious.

5. Find new words to describe your daughter that might traditionally be used for boys.

If you want to empower your daughter, try to think outside the box.

As moms of daughters, let’s try to think about what words will build them up. Strong daughters are unafraid to go after their dreams, whatever they are. Tell yours she’s capable, goal-oriented, insightful, adventurous.

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Need Streaming Options?

Today on The Morning Thing we celebrated National Streaming Day by discussing the history of the day and streaming as a medium, as well as seven new family movies and TV series available in May. If you’re looking for family friendly options for content and entertainment, Crosswalk.com has you covered!

Click HERE to read the full article.

Some of your streaming options for this month include:

  1. The William Carey Story (Redeem TV)
  2. Love’s Second Act (Great American Pure Flix)
  3. Mr. Manhattan(Great American Family Pure Flix)

And so many more!

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Making the most of mealtime with your family

Did you know that families who eat a meal together are happier and healthier? Perdue University’s Extension Nutrition Education Program encourages families to make mealtime family time as you cook, eat, and talk together! This can build your family’s relationship, promote healthy eating, foster your children’s sense of family stability, save money, develop everyone’s cooking skills, help your children develop important social skills, and even let everyone try new foods.

Click HERE to learn more from Perdue University Extention Nutrition Program.

Need some cheap and easy dinner ideas for your family? We shared some recipes from Country Living. They include pictures of every recipe so you can see what amazing food you can make You may even have some of these ingredients in your pantry now so you could even try one tonight!

Click HERE for 68 cheap dinner ideas for families from Country Living.

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Bonding as a Family This Thanksgiving

Almost every holiday involves spending time with family in some capacity, but for Thanksgiving it is all the more in focus. The holiday revolves around everyone coming together to share a meal and, well, give thanks. However, despite Thanksgiving gatherings often being large affairs, it is surprisingly easy to unintentionally avoid spending any real time with most of the people in attendance. It is habitual for many of us to split along generational lines and hang out only with the people that are closest to us in age and interest. Even then the conversation may stay surface level and no real bonding occur.

This Thanksgiving, we want to encourage you to connect with as many family members and friends as you can. Enjoy the time with them, it is a blessing from God! To help you, we are sharing suggestions from Crosswalk to help you engage in bonding regularly with your family to make it easier to do so on the Big Day, as well as ideas for those out of the ordinary gatherings like Thanksgiving. You can check out the entire list HERE.

However you are celebrating Thanksgiving, the hosts of the Morning Thing hope it is a blessed time for you and your family!

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Spring Break: How Are You Going To Relax?

The Morning Thing got to share some awesome ways to spend time with family. Just in time for spring break!

Hunter & Lexie love the ideas from their source, http://www.allprodad.com. check out the article they read from HERE.

They also mentioned camping! Both Hunter & Lexie are both enthusiastic about camping and think it would be a great bonding experience for spring break coming up!

 

Photo from allprodad.com

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Its LOVE WEEK on The Morning Thing! We Bring Back The Five Love Languages!

The morning is celebrating Love Week by talking about The Five Love Languages! Marcy & Lexie share about the five love languages, what they are, and what they mean for your romantic and platonic love. wanna take the quiz? find it HERE

Focus on The Family also has a great article on The Five Love Languages that The Morning Thing was able to use as a resource. If you want to check it out, click HERE

The Morning Thing also used imom.com as a resource to talk about how using The Five Love Languages with your children! check out the article HERE

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Its Fruit of The Spirit Week on The Morning Thing, We Choose Joy!

This week, The Morning Thing is exploring Galatians, along with other scriptures and verses that portray and mention the Fruit of the Spirit. Today’s fruit? Joy!

Dig in deeper with us! We will be sharing the fruit of the spirit all week, so make sure to join us every morning!

Check out these articles about JOY!

https://www.openbible.info/topics/peace

https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-peace.html

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