Orange Parents

Christmas.

Birthdays.

Vacation.

What is your family waiting for?

Instead of twiddling your thumbs and watching the clock slowly tick the seconds away, make the most of the time you have now by talking as a family about the importance of patience.

At Studio252, we are spending the month of May giving you some great tools to use as a parent to talk with your family and learn all about patience: waiting until later for what you want now. Want to get started right away? Try these few ideas to get your started!

• Have a family movie night and watch the Studio252 team learn an important lesson in this month’s Studio252 episode.
• Plant a few flowers and wait together as you watch them grow.
• Bake your favorite recipe and show some patience as it bakes to perfection.
• Have a family game night and practice patiently waiting your turn.

Whether you are waiting on a promotion at work, Fun Friday at school or a delicious batch of your Mawmaw’s Gooey Pecan Bars, patience is a virtue we all should master! So stop by Studio252.tv during the month of May and discover all these tips and so much more!

Friendship – spending time with someone you trust and enjoy.

A shoulder to cry on.
A partner in crime.
A helping hand.

We all need friends. We need friends to share inside jokes with. We need friends to help us carry the burdens of life. We need friends to eat the rest of the ice cream so we don’t finish an entire gallon on our own. Friendship is something we need as adults as well as something we obsess over for our children.

Will my child have any friends?
Will my child have the wrong friends?
Will my child be a good friend?

And it’s exactly what we will be talking about this month at studio252.tv! We are dedicating the whole month of April to the life app, Friendship. For your child, we have simply defined friendship as: spending time with someone you trust and enjoy. All month long we will share ideas and activities to get your family talking about friendship. In fact, here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Grab some popcorn and watch the monthly Cue Box episode as a family
• Throw a pizza party
• Encourage encouragements
• Invite a friend to church with your family

There’s all this plus so much more coming this month! So take a look around studio252.tv and get some great tips on ways to talk to your child about the difference between the kid on the bus who steals his pencils and the kid next door who helps with his chores. And hopefully you will both learn a lot about how to choose a good friend and how to be a good friend!

As parents, we are constantly advised to “pick our battles”. Maybe we let the B in Gym slide so we can focus on the C in English. We know better than to make them cut back on sugary drinks and eat more leafy greens in the same week. We decide not to argue about where we are going to dinner because enjoyable time together is more important than eating something other than fast food for a change. In other words, we have learned the value of Peace.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your kids saw the importance of Peace as well?

What if they realized game night was more about quality time than about the game you play? What if they didn’t argue about picking up their toys because they care more about having a happy mom? What if they ate all their veggies without having to be asked because they valued a peaceful family dinner? Well, we can’t promise miracles but we can promise to give you a great foundation to talk to your kids about the importance of having peace.

This month, at Studio252, we are talking about the life app, Peace. We have defined it as simply, proving you care more about each other than winning an argument. And all month long we will be giving you—the parent—fun tools to talk to your child about peace. For example:

• Watch the Studio252 team learn an important lesson about peace in the monthly 252 episode
• Have each member of the family share the top 5 reasons they are glad to have the others in their family
• Work together to create some artwork
• Make a delicious “peace pie” and talk about the importance of being the first to make things right after an argument

You can find all of these ideas and more during the month of February at studio252.tv and while you may not wipe out the familial rivalry altogether, maybe you can all agree it’s better to not only pick your battles but sometimes pick each other over your battles.

Check out the preview video for peace!

Check out this new video where we take a look at the story of God and challenge each kid to show a little DETERMINATION, and be the one who keeps trusting God—no matter what!

252 Preview: The Amazing Race (January 2013) from Orange on Vimeo.

There are bell ringers in front of every shop, boxes for toys for the needy at work, and food drives at the grocery store. It seems like every time we step out of our homes, we are bombarded with requests for a donation. So we smile sheepishly at the bell ringer, think about remembering to bring a toy to work, and hit up the self-checkout line. It’s not that we don’t care about other’s needs because we do—really. We pray for them all the time! But when we find an hour to do a little shopping, we simply don’t have the time to stop at every bell ringer. . .right?

Well, ‘tis the season to stop the excuses and really think about the word compassion. All month long Studio252 is devoted to helping you talk with your child about what compassion really means. We have simplified the definition to something everyone can understand: compassion is caring enough to do something about someone else’s need.

In other words, it’s not enough to simply care about others in need. We are called to do something about those needs. It doesn’t have to be the purchase of a toy or tacking an extra $5 to the grocery bill. There are hundreds of ways you and your child can practice showing compassion this holiday season. Here are just a few we have come up with to get you in the spirit of compassion:

• Sit down as a family and watch Cassie and the gang at Studio252 learn a valuable lesson about what it means to show compassion.
• Come up with a few fun conversation starters and use them to talk with someone at school or work who looks lonely.
• Make room for new gifts by sifting through your old clothes, books, toys, etc. and donating them to a local shelter for women and children.

You can find all these ideas and more when you download this month’s materials at Studio252.tv! Each week is full of questions to get discussions going at meal times, a Bible story to read at bed time, blog entries from your favorite Studio252 characters, even interactive devotions to get you and your child thinking about what God says about compassion. Just go to Studio252.tv and sign up to gain access to endless exploration on our interactive website!

You can also watch the life app preview video below for more on the idea of compassion:

252 Preview: The Big Give (December 2012) from Orange on Vimeo.

It’s November already, which means a brand new virtue for Studio252. This month we are focusing on Cooperation. What does it mean to cooperate? Why is it beneficial? What does God say about it? Our Studio252 team has worked hard to answer all these questions for you and your kids as well as throw in some cool family activities to help you teach your child the value of Cooperation.

As always, we have broken down the different aspects of this virtue and come up with a simple definition that we believe encompasses the true meaning of Cooperation.

Cooperation is working together to do more than you can do alone.

And when you open your CueBox this month, you’ll find all kinds of different cues to talk with your child about working together. Here are just a few ides to get you started!

• Watch the Studio252 team learn about the importance of Cooperation in this month’s CueBox episode
• Organize a canned food drive with neighbors and friends
• Put your talents together to create a family band
• Put your creativity caps on to tell a story together as a family

Each week is full of questions to get discussions going at meal times, a Bible story to read at bedtime, blog entries from your favorite Studio252 characters, even interactive devotions to get you and your child thinking about what God says about the virtue of Cooperation. So if you are looking for a way to get your kids to show a little more Cooperation at school or around the house (and who isn’t?) go to studio252.tv and sign up to download this month’s cue box and gain access to endless exploration on our interactive website!

Happy October! You know what that means – pumpkin carving, corn mazes, hay rides, but most importantly, a brand new virtue for Studio252. So while you sharpen your apple-bobbing skills, we hope you also set aside some time to talk to your kids about this month’s virtue – Individuality.

Individuality is discovering who you are meant to be so you can make a difference.

At Studio252, we believe that when you take the time to get to know yourself – really understand who you are made to be – you actually open the door to make a big difference in the world! And as a child begins to discover his own talents, he starts down a path of discovering his own niche or significance in the world. Here are just a few ways you can help your child learn more about himself and discover just where and how he can make a big difference!

• Watch as the Studio252 team learns an important lesson about Individuality in this month’s CueBox Episode.
• Make a one-of-a-kind Peanut Butter & Cheese sandwich for lunch.
• Help your child construct a list and pictures of one-of-a-kind inventions.
• Go on a scavenger hunt to find even more one-of-a-kind things God made.

For these activities and more visit studio252.tv. Register to gain access to this month’s CueBox, weekly bedtime stories on what God says about Individuality, interactive devotionals for your children, questions to start meaningful conversations about Individuality, even blogs and videos from your favorite Studio252 characters!

Studio252.tv and CueBox are designed to help you as the parent connect with your child in a fun way to discuss virtues, like individuality, that will ultimately play a significant part in your child growing into the person God made him to be. So go check out all the fun we have planned for your family this month!

This month, Studio252 will be diving into what it really means to be respectful. Studio252 is connected to our K-5 curriculum and chooses one virtue each month to fully unpack. This month, that virtue is Respect. And for simplicity’s sake, we have come up with our own definition of Respect – a definition that we believe really gets at the core of what Respect is all about.

Respect is showing others they are important by what you say and do.

We understand the emphasis that you, as a parent, put on raising your children with certain virtues. At the same time, we understand how difficult and fruitless it can be to set aside time each day to quickly go over every virtue flashcard-style before bedtime. Which is why we choose to focus on one virtue a month and hand you all the tools you will need to teach your child everything you believe about that virtue. This month we encourage you to get together with your kids and…

• Watch the Studio252 team learn an important lesson about Respect in this month’s CueBox Episode
• Plant a seed to talk about the importance of nurturing respect in relationships
• Make a homemade card to give to someone you respect

Each week is packed with questions about Respect to get discussions going at meal times, a scripture-based story capturing what God says about Respect, a quick tool for your child to use during his or her own time with God, and endless exploration on the Studio252.tv website. So if your family is getting tired of the daily virtue spiel, check out Studio252.tv and sign up to get this month’s CueBox – a box full of cues to talk to your kids about Respect.

Contentment is choosing to be happy with what you’ve got.

The calendar page has turned. We’re in a new month. August. It’s a month that smells like sharpened pencils and fresh notebooks with a lingering scent of suntan lotion. The summer season is coming to an end as you and your children plan and prepare for the coming school year.

Each day it seems like you are out buying a different school supply, new clothes, or registering for yet another fall activity. But as you try to get all the right pencils, all the trendiest notebooks, and shoes with the green (not blue!) piping, the comparing and complaining is inevitable.

“But Shane got a brand new back pack!”

“Lacy’s mom let her get pastel pens!”

“Josh never has to eat the school lunch!”

Well, we have great news: we are going to focus this entire month talking about the importance of contentment. And when we say contentment, we are simply talking about choosing to be happy with what you’ve got. And at studio252.tv, we are providing dozens of ways for you, as a parent, to connect with your children this month while discussing the idea of contentment. For example:

• Watch this month’s CueBox episode as a family and see the Studio252 team learn a valuable lesson about contentment.
• Have a family game night with board games you thought you’d never use again!
• Volunteer with a local charity as a family.
• Go on a nature scavenger hunt to see what you’ve got in your own backyard.

What parent wouldn’t love for their child to be completely content walking through those big double doors in a couple weeks? (Even if three girls are wearing that new dress you deemed “too fancy for school”) So let us help you talk to your child about contentment by visiting studio252.tv and downloading this month’s CueBox!