Did you know May 20 is Bee Day?! I didn’t! But what a great day to celebrate! As I’m sure everyone has heard, bees are critically important to so many things we eat but their populations are dwindling. I remember a day when I was terrified of bees and ran as fast as I could to get away from them. Truth be told, I’d prefer to garden when the bees are somewhere else but at least now I understand better their importance and am much more tolerant. In fact, I now grow flowers that bees love.

So what does this have to do with throwback Thursday? Try sharing a story from your past with your child about bees. Did you get stung once? Or twice? What did you do when that happened? Or, ask your child if they remember anything about bees. Have they learned about them in school? Did they get stung once . . . or twice? Talk with them about the importance of bees, even if they do sometimes feel like a nuisance. And maybe even talk about what to do IF they get stung.

If you are allergic to bee stings, I’m going to guess these ideas don’t sound like any fun. And certainly, even though today is Bee Day, you can think of a different topic to talk about on Throwback Thursday. Regardless, for all the work bees do, I think we can all Bee Thankful for them! 🙂

For this month’s wild & wacky Wednesday, use your words! In my book, one of my favorite sections to write about was happiness. In that section, I talked about the importance of having fun with your family and one of those ways was really simple – mix up your words! For example, rather than saying it’s time to “take a shower,” switch the “t” & “sh” to get “shake a tower.” Or, it might be “bake a tath” (for take a bath). Can you guess what “deed the fog” is?! I’ve found this takes a bit of thinking and a slight bit of preparation. For example, the phrase, “if the shoe fits” probably won’t make the best phrase to switch as it becomes “if the foo ****” – well, you get the idea. 🙂

Fun activities such as using silly words gets your child’s attention. Laughter helps them focus and learn but it also helps them de-stress and relax, creating a special bond between you and your child. Just make sure your wacky words are not seen as sarcasm or criticism of your child. Bottom line, you can make a game out of this for any age. But be careful – you may never take a shower again when it’s so much more fun to shake a tower!