One(sie) of a Kind

Customized onesies are always a fun gift, but they're especially sweet for a 1st Mother's Day. Kids made the heart cutouts for this little T for baby girls or boys, and half the design proceeds help kids through Save the Children.

Not Mom's first rodeo? Try a "peace, love & mom" theme for Mother's Day with this cool T for older kids, also featuring children's artwork and benefitting Save the Children. Happy Mother's Day to all!

Pedal Power

 

photo: gabriel.jorby 

My most memorable childhood Christmas gift was probably an emerald-green 10-speed bike my parents had to special-order. It wasn't ready in time for Christmas, but the picture they pasted onto red construction paper was enough to set off fits of anticipation. I couldn't wait for the freedom and fun those wheels would provide.

But some kids have to wait a long time for their first bike -- or never get one at all. For those kids, Wilmette (Ill.) teen Nicole Basil started a bike-drive organization at the tender age of 8 called Pedal Power, now in its 6th year. Each fall she collects more than 100 outgrown bikes to give to Chicago Public Schools honor students in grades K through 8. A local bike shop donates tuneup services before the bikes find their new homes, and any seriously challenged two-wheelers are passed on to a school where special needs kids can learn bike repair skills. Let the good times roll!

Kindness Pays

(photo credit: T1m0thy77 via photopin cc)

In the fraught world of playground politics, think nice guys finish last? Guess again. A 4-week study found kind kids are happier and better liked by peers. Working with 400 9- to 11-year-olds, the universities conducting the study assigned half the group three simple positive acts per week. At the end of the study period, not only did the kids who performed those acts score higher on happiness measures (which, researchers say, aligns with research on the effect of positive behavior on adult states-of-mind), but they were also chosen by more peers for collaborative classroom activities. Sounds like following the golden rule may be a golden ticket to happier school years.

Heartbreak Hotel

(photo: Sontra via photopin cc)

While this Valentine's Day will be heart-filled & happy for many teens, it's a sad fact of life that for some, the timing will be awful. February is indeed the cruelest month for a romantic breakup. But just like being a good friend is the top way kids can help kids in day to day life, being a caring, respectful boyfriend or girlfriend can turn any teen into an everyday hero -- especially when it's time to end a relationship. Here's some good advice for breakups, culled from kidshealth.org:

Do:

• Be honest about why you're breaking up with your guy or girl, but not brutally so. Use tact.
• Think through all the ways the person might react, and try to prepare yourself. 
• Break up in person! Would you want someone to break up with you via Facebook or text?

Don't:

• Rush the conversation. Take some time to consider your reasons and how you'll handle this.
• Tell others beforehand that you're planning to break up with your GF or BF. They might blab.
• Badmouth or gossip about your ex after you've broken up. Golden Rule, karma, whatever you call it -- it's just not smart.

Teens who find themselves guiding a friend through splitsville may want to show him or her this online "mending a broken heart" quiz from WebMD. Answering it together is a fun distraction, and you'll both learn something in the process.

Free the Children

As a 12-year-old in Canada, Craig Kielburger read about a child slave in Pakistan who escaped but was murdered after speaking out against child servitude. Moved to act, Kielburger rounded up 11 friends in his living room, with no money or well-heeled benefactors, to try and fight child labor.

Two decades later, Free the Children is the "world's largest network of kids helping kids," says Kielburger. Engaging 2 million volunteers a year -- almost all under 18 -- it's evolved into a diverse relief and development organization, as leaders have followed logical pathways of problem solving, Watch Kielburger's brother Marc, for instance, talk about why building schools isn't enough to get girls to school in Africa.

Kid volunteers are recruited through schools -- organizing bakes sales, car washes & other fundraisers -- and at celeb-studded "We Days" that gather stadiums full of young students. Some 2,400 a year end up getting so involved that they travel abroad on service projects.

But even something as simple as donating birthday money, a piggy bank's contents, or mere pocket change has an impact.  "That adds up to millions and millions of dollars ...for our projects," Kielburger told "60 Minutes" in November. It's a reminder that kids need not start a charity -- or even a fundraising project -- to help other kids.

"A penny is almost like a kid," he added. "People walk past pennies all the time and ignore them ... Can they really make a difference? But when you bring enough young people, enough kids together, then suddenly those kids can change the world."

Miss Merry MAC

photo: beautyzine.com

How can a blog called Kids Helping Kids be complete without an annual plug for the MAC Kids Helping Kids holiday card line? Made with artwork by HIV-affected kids to support their peers, these are always a wonderful charity Christmas card option. Only problem? They disappear fast! So dash over to your MAC counter if you're interested.

Meowy Christmas

Just in time for holiday card mailings -- this Christmas cat stamp from our family store's winter holiday collection.

The brother & sister kittens we adopted over the summer -- bringing the grand total to 3, including an ever-sleepy senior cat  -- inspired our 15-year-old artist in residence.

As always, half the design proceeds go to Save the Children.