Among the best in Family-Friendly Products!

The Mom’s Choice Awards has named Rockrhydin among the best in family-friendly media, products and services. 

The Mom’s choice Awards (MCA) is an international awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services.

Parents, educators, librarians and retailers look for the Mom’s Choice Awards Honoring Excellence seal of approval when selecting quality materials for children and families.

As esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times best-selling author, Priscilla Dunstan, creator of the Dunstan Baby Language; Patricia Rossi, host of NBC’s Manners Minute, Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C.h host of the Wright Place TV Show, and Catherine Witcher, M.Ed., special needs expert and founder of Precision Education, Inc.

MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics which ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. The evaluation process uses a propriety methodology in which entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost.

To be considered for an award, each entrant submits five identical samples of a product.  Entries are matched to judges in the MCA database. Judges perform a thorough analysis and submit a detailed assessment. Results are compiled and submitted to the MCA Executive Committee for final approval.

The end result is a list of the best in family-friendly media, products and services that parents and educators can feel confident in using.

For more information on the awards program and the honorees, visit MomsChoiceAwards.com

For more information on Fern’s Music/Fern Forest Enterprises visit: http://www.fernsmusicforkids.com  YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyNX60AgsM

Fern Michonski / Fern’s Music

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

April 22, 2013—Happy Earth Day!

I usually post my blog on Wednesdays but today I felt I should post it early in honor of Earth Day. We are all blessed to live on such a beautiful planet. Every portion of the Earth has something awe inspiring to offer. Where I live it is currently a beautiful, sunny day. It is cool outside but the spring flowers are brilliant in my back yard with bright, yellow forsythias showing off their flowers. My pink cherry tree is about to burst at any minute, covered with hundreds of buds. The daffodils are nodding their little heads and it even looks like a few violets are blossoming in the grass. The rhubarb is happily growing, enticing me to bake a lovely rhubarb pie. In addition to the gorgeous sights of spring, I can hear a robin singing outside my window, obviously happy with the day. Thank you Earth; you have outdone yourself.

However, the weather is not so pleasant in other parts of the country. Some areas are dealing with major flooding while others are still getting snowstorms. Tornadoes are popping up in various spots as well. It seems to me that violent storms and freakish weather are becoming more and more common these days. I believe it definitely is due to global warming and how we are treating our planet.

As human beings it is our responsibility to take care of the Earth, not just for ourselves, but for all the creatures who share this globe with us. They are depending on us and so are our children. All week long the Weather Channel is offering ways to “go green” and reduce our carbon footprint. Listen. I am.

The Earth offers so much to us. If the Earth gets sick we will too. We need to be kind, not just to our fellow inhabitants, but also to our environment. I recycle and always try to be conscious of ways I can be kind to the planet. This is our home. Give it a hug by treating it with tender care. Remember the Native American Proverb, “We don’t inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Happy Earth Day! Please enjoy my song in honor of this special day. Here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/fernsmusic321

Pre-School Music Education Expert:  The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

April 10, 2013—How do I write a song? 

I have been asked many times how I go about writing a song. I am asked what instrument I use, if I write the lyrics first or the music first, how long it takes and what inspires me. My answer to all of these questions is, “It depends.”

Writing a song comes from deep within my heart and soul. Sometimes my children inspire me or else the children I work with daily at my various preschools.  At other times my pets get me writing. However, the bottom line is that every song I write has a different beginning and comes to life in a variety of ways.

Sometimes I might be thinking about a particular theme, such as with my Easter CD, and suddenly a stream of lyrics comes into my head.  I write them down and then pick up the guitar and start figuring out what key and melody works best. It is about how I feel. Other times I suddenly feel a melody. That usually leads me to my piano where I sit down and play with the sounds I am hearing in my head. And on a few occasions, I have suddenly had an entire song simply burst into my brain, words and music, all at the same time. Why? I just don’t know. It just happens.

I make it a regular practice to carry around a small tape recorder so that when this happens, I can literally stop what I’m doing and sing the song into the recorder so I don’t forget it later.  This happened to me in the creation of my song, “The Galactic Hop Bop.” I had written a CD for preschool children all about outer space.  My sound engineer said to me, “You know Fern; you don’t have any songs on your CD about aliens. I think you should do something about that.” Ok. I mulled this over in my mind for a couple of days. About 4 days after he suggested that to me, I was driving down the highway when the entire song suddenly burst into my head. I was amazed! There it was words, music and all, playing in my mind. I grabbed my little recorder that was sitting on the seat beside me and pushed the record button. The song was born, right there on the highway while driving 65 mph. Go figure.

Sometimes I have to work at it while other times a song simply appears. It can happen anywhere and at any time. Frequently songs appear from my childhood memories while other times I wake up at night with a song in my head. Once I wrote an entire song, both lyrics and music, while waiting for my daughter to finish up her dance class.

Some people call it the “Song Gods.” I call it my gift from God. I figure that is why I am on this planet—to write music for children that inspires them to love one another and all the creatures we share this earth with.

Here is my song, “The Galactic Hop Bop.” Enjoy!  Galactic Hop Bop Fern Fern, the Stars and the Planets 03

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

March 20^th, 2013—How to make every day new & exciting for your preschooler!  

As preschoolers grow and learn about the world around them, it would seem that every day is full of excitement and new things.  That is true to a point, but in the everyday routine of their lives, some things can become rather hum-drum.

When the kids pick up their toys each night and throw them into the toy box, it is easy to totally lose and forget about the items that sink to the bottom of the chest. As a result, the toys on the top of the chest are the ones they usually grab and play with. When my kids were preschoolers, I decided I wanted to guide them in certain directions. I wanted to be sure they experienced all of the toys and books we had in the house, not just the same ones, day after day. As I thought about this situation, I came up with an idea that worked great at providing new experiences in our own home every single day. This is what I did.

It was a rule in my house that all the toys had to be picked up and put into the toy box before everyone headed to bed.  We would all pitch in and carry out this task together. After my kids were in bed, I would go into the play room and choose certain toys to place outside of the toy box. I would go to the book shelf and pick books that I wanted them to check out.  I would stand the books up in the room, partly open. Frequently I would choose several different books. I also placed different toys around the room. Basically, I treated the playroom in my home like it was a preschool.

In the morning when my children woke up and came downstairs for breakfast, they would find different things placed around the playroom to peak their interest.  I chose different items every day.  As a result, they were rarely bored. They were excited to finish eating their breakfast and head into the playroom because they wondered what would be out for them to see and discover.

Try it. If your child has too many toys, set some aside and take different ones out each day. It is great for the children and is more likely to keep them occupied while you are trying to get things accomplished around the house.

Happy Spring!

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

March 6, 2013—Meteorological Spring! 

I know–the weathermen are predicting yet another winter storm to pile snow on us both Thursday and Friday. This is very annoying because all of us are ready for spring. Well cheer up.  According to these very same weathermen, it already IS meteorological spring.  The official first day of spring is March 20^th, however, in meteorological terms; spring goes from March 1^st through May 31^st.  Just thinking about that makes me feel “spring like.”

I noticed this morning that the birds were chirping a bit more loudly. Some of my friends have noticed their crocuses poking up from the earth and I personally think it smells like spring outside.

I was lamenting the fact we are expecting to receive more snow to my Dad and his comment was, “Oh, don’t worry about that.  Snow in March is considered to be fertilizer for the soil.”  I like that.  I feel much better now.  March snows tend to melt quickly and the spring equinox is only two weeks and 1 day away! On top of that, daylight savings time begins this coming Sunday, March 10^th.  All of this points to spring.

Today in my preschool music classes we were dancing the Irish Jig and hopping around like bunnies.  Yes indeed—spring is here. So go ahead and snow all you like Old Man Winter. You will not get me down. I know the robins’ song is right around the corner, along with the peepers, pussy willows and sprouting leaves.  Here’s a link to my song “The Irish Jig.” Listen to this song and put a little skip in your step with spring in the air. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  The Irish Jig Fern Kids! Dance With Fern! 05

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

February 20, 2013—Taking care of You!      

Anyone who is a parent knows what a difficult job it is. Yes, it is full of joy and happiness, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a 24/7 job that can be exhausting and frustrating at times. Every parent in the world occasionally needs a break to refresh and regroup. Taking time out for yourself will help you be a better parent, so don’t ever feel guilty about saving time for rest and relaxation.  Find an hour to be alone, either while the kids are in school or if you need to hire a babysitter. Then try some of these suggestions for pampering yourself and refueling your soul.

1. Pull down the shades, light a candle, pour yourself a nice, hot bath, turn on some peaceful music and soak in the tub. This is my favorite peaceful, rejuvenating time. Close your eyes and let the music, warm water and beautiful candle scent take you away from all your cares.
2. Go to the library and take out a good book. Make yourself a hot cup of tea and settle down for a good, uninterrupted read. (It’s hard to find time to sit quietly and read with the kids around. My son once found me reading in a quiet spot and said, “Mom!  You read?”  That shows how infrequently I found time to do this.) Make the time. Books can carry you to the ends of the earth, far from your current cares and demands.
3. Talk a walk. Going outside for a peaceful walk in nature is totally soothing. Leave your cell phone behind, or at least put it on vibrate so you can enjoy the silence and listen for the sounds of nature. A brisk walk can change a mood and a beautiful sunrise or sunset will remain in your memory forever.
4. If you have the cash, book yourself a massage. It always amazes me how much better I feel after taking one hour to relax my muscles. Feelings of peace and calm take over and remain with me for the rest of the day.
5. Call a friend and chat. If something is bothering you and you are just not sure what to do next, a good chat with a friend can help resolve the issue. Just sharing thoughts and feelings, knowing someone is really listening to you helps to put things into the proper prospective. Ideas start to flow and by the end of the conversation you will feel better, just knowing somebody cared to listen.
6. Find a hobby. Think about what you like to do or make. Start a project and work on it a little bit each day.  It will take your mind off of other things and once you complete your project you will have a great sense of accomplishment.

All of these things are simple, but they are critically important to good health and a happy heart. A relaxed parent is a good parent. We all need to take care of ourselves. Make the time. You will be glad you did and so will your kids.

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

February 6, 2013—Safety Tips for Children Crossing the Street  

Teaching your children how to safely cross the street is a situation that makes every parent extremely nervous.  Very young children don’t understand how dangerous the street really is. In addition to this, we need to teach our children how to board the school bus safely, which involves walking into the street. As a child, my parents always taught me not to play near the street and that I had to stop, look and listen before crossing. I also knew I could not cross the street without an adult accompanying me. However, in spite of all these directions, the day came when I was out waiting for the school bus with my older brother at my side. Along came the bus. It stopped, the flashing lights came on and I started to walk out into the street to cross in front of the bus. I was so excited that the bus had arrived that I totally forgot about the rules of crossing the street.  As I stepped off the curb my brother screamed and grabbed me by the back of my jacket, pulling me backwards as a car went screeching past the bus, totally ignoring the flashing lights.  I was shocked. The bus driver was horrified and my brother yelled into my ears, “Why didn’t you LOOK? Even though the flashing lights were on, you STILL have to Stop, Look and Listen!”  My brother saved my life that day.  I have no doubt that car would have hit me if my brother had not pulled me to safety.  I never forgot how to cross the street safely again. However, that is not the best way to learn about street safety. So what can we do as parents to really bring the point home so our children are safe? Here are a few ideas I used with my own children and it definitely helped.

1. Read books to your children often about crossing the street. You can find several in your local library or on Google. One I would recommend is “Kristofur Kitty-Crossing the Street” by Jennifer D. Hartmann.
2. I always sang this little rhyme when I was crossing the street with my children: When you cross the street each day, you must cross the safety way, STOP—LOOK AND LISTEN. It is a fact that when you put a thought to music, it sticks in the memory better.  Sing this to your children every single time you cross the road with them.  They will remember it.
3. We would go outside frequently and practice crossing the street.  I would ask them, “Okay, what do we do first? Did you look right, left and then right again?  Did you listen? Did you look? Do YOU think it is okay to cross now?” By asking them the questions, it really made them think about the situation, rather than just being TOLD what to do.  I would ask my children if they thought it was safe for ME to cross. That really got their attention and made them feel smart.
4. Read books about school bus safety as well as books about crossing the street. Given what happened to me as a child, I was especially concerned about getting on and off the school bus. I told my kids not to simply trust the flashing red school bus lights.  First wait for the flashing lights to go on, and then go through all of the rules for crossing the street. Books about school bus safety are also in your local library.  Here are a few you could look for: “Hello, School Bus” by Marjorie Blain Parker, “Safety on the School Bus” by Lucia Raatma and “My School Bus: A Book About School Bus Safety” by Heather Feldman.
5. Go outside with your children during their early school bus rides and wait with them.  When the bus arrives, ask them what the rules are. Ask them if the lights are flashing. Make them stop, look and listen before they hop onto the bus.

Following these suggestions will help children make safe decisions when they cross the street and get on the bus. As an adult, I watch carefully when a bus is slowing down and putting on their flashing lights. Be cautious. If you see a bus that does not have its’ flashing lights on while children are getting on and off, call the phone number on the bus and notice the number on the bus. All of these actions will make our children’s lives safer.

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

January 23, 2013—How to keep the lines of communication open with your kids.  

My children have always talked to me. From the time they were preschoolers right through high school and college, they always talked with me about things going on in their lives. I’ve had many people ask me how this happened. What did I do?  I had to stop and reflect about what I did that kept the lines of communication open between me and my children. Here are my suggestions:

• Be interested and involved in their lives from day one. Raising children isn’t just about providing their physical needs such as food and clothes. The most important thing is letting them know you really care about how they are feeling and what they are doing. Every day when my children came home from preschool, I would ask them what they did that day. Hint: Ask the teacher before you ask your child. Then when your child says, “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” or “nothing”, you can jog their memories and get them talking.
• Eat supper together every day. During the evening meal all sorts of topics come up. Chat together. Ask your spouse how his or her day was. Children will observe that you are interested and that you listen. Take turns around the table chatting with everyone. Hint: Cell phones are absolutely NOT allowed at the dinner table. That is family time. If this has always been the rule, it becomes acceptable and simply a given.
• Make a chart with all of your kid’s names on it. If you have more than one child, (I have 3), it can get a bit crazy when everyone gets home from school at the same time and they all want to talk at once.  To solve that problem, I made a pretty chart with all my children’s names on it. I made one moveable item. (My moveable item was a paper flower with tape on it.) Each day I would move the flower beside a different child’s name. Everybody knew if the flower was beside their name, they got to talk about their day first. We took turns and rotated who went first every 3 days. This excited my kids because they loved to know it was their day to talk first and they all knew everyone was going to have a turn talking with me about their day. Hint: Change what your moveable item is. I created different things based on the month or holiday.
• Don’t judge your child. This is very important. If you really want to keep your children talking to you about their day, don’t flip out and get angry the minute they tell you about something you don’t like. Listen. If my kids told me they had failed a test at school or had done poorly, I never yelled at them. I would ask them if they knew why they had failed.  Usually they did.  However, if they didn’t, I would ask them if they had any ideas as to how they could do better next time, or how to fix it. Then, together we would act on the situation.
• Don’t interrupt. This is not easy to do.  While your child is telling you about his day, you might suddenly want to burst in and offer your ideas about the situation.  Try not to do that. I would wait until my child was finished with the whole story before I started up with my ideas. By waiting my turn, this demonstrated to my child I had really listened to him.

If you do these things every day, beginning with their preschool years, your children will want to talk to you as they get older. They will trust your opinion and know that you have their best interest in your heart.  Of course there will be days with their ups and downs, but the point is to create a solid base of security in your children. Be there for them to listen, offer support and provide advice.  You will become their confidant and they will not be afraid to ask for help.

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

January 16, 2013—Four Smart Ways to spend a Snow Day with Kids! 

This morning it is a winter wonderland outside the window. An overnight snow has blanketed everything from the bushes and trees to the streets. Schools are closed throughout the state and the children in every household are delighted. Once breakfast is served and the excitement wears down, every parent is faced with their children’s stare and the comment, “We’re bored. What can we do now?” Here are a few fun ideas you can pull out of your hat to keep the kids busy and happy on a long, cold snow day.

• Bring the snow inside. Dig out a few of your cake pans, go outside and fill the pans with snow. Bring the pans into the kitchen, put them on the table and let the kids make snow sculptures from the warmth of the kitchen. They can make mini snowmen, design roads and bridges, or simply make an art sculpture in their pan. If they choose to make a snowman, use raisins for eyes, a baby carrot for the nose and some nuts for buttons.
• Make Snowflakes. Bring out the white paper and scissors and start folding the paper into little squares and cutting small indentations into the folds. When you open up the folded square, you will have a beautiful snowflake. Once your children have made several, encourage them to decorate their rooms with the snowflakes. They could tape them on the windows or hang them from the ceiling. They could even create a scrapbook of all the different designs of snowflakes they have made.
• Make a tent. It is pretty unlikely you will be having company over when the streets are too slippery to drive on.  So, on this special snow day, move a few chairs, take off the chair covers, arrange them around the room and then cover them with blankets.  An instant tent has been created with crawl spaces and lots of fun for kids to play in. Hand them some flashlights and books and they will be busy for hours.
• Bake. Nothing is more pleasant than the smell of delicious food cooking in the kitchen on a cold winter’s day. Make your favorite sugar cookie recipe, roll out the dough and bring out the snowman and snowflake cookie cutters. If you don’t want to bake cookies, try making pudding. It’s quick and easy. Follow the recipe on the box. Once you have the pudding ready and it has cooled, divide the pudding into one cup portions and put each cup of pudding into large, Ziploc storage bags.  Zip it closed and lay it flat on the table.  Your children can then use their fingers and hands to draw designs in the pudding. When they are finished drawing in the pudding, open up the bags and eat it. If you have made vanilla pudding, you can add food coloring and turn your pudding into different colors to make this even more fun.

Enjoy your day together. Kids grow up all too fast and before you know it, snow days and little children will soon just be memories of happy times in the past.

Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.

January 9, 2013—Feeding the Birds.  

In the past I have written about the importance of pets in the lives of children. I do believe that having a pet offers many benefits for children, but the reality is not everyone is able to have a pet.  The alternative is caring for the birds that live outside your window.

My parents always had a bird feeder in the back yard and fed the wild birds. It delighted all of us.  Mom kept a book about birds in a drawer right beside the kitchen window and it was great fun to suddenly discover a “new” bird at the feeder that none of us had seen before.  Together we would flip through the pages of the bird book until we found a picture of the bird we were watching out our window.  This experience has remained with me to this day.  I love to feed the birds and marvel at their beauty, up close. Together with my parents I learned about cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, the tufted titmouse, downy woodpeckers and the list goes on, including hummingbirds in the spring-summer months.  These little creatures bring much joy to all us and the added benefit is their beautiful songs.

I suggest you get yourself a bird feeder and make all of our winged friends from nature part of your family.  Together with your children, learn about the birds we share this world with.  You can also read through the bird book and learn about birds that do not live in our area and discover why they don’t. You can encourage your children to draw pictures of the birds they learn about.

If you don’t have a bird feed, another option if you have any snow in your back yard, is to make a snowman.  Make his eyes out of nuts, his nose from a carrot, and put a glove full of bird seed on the end of his stick arm.  That happy snowman will feed the squirrels, birds and other creatures from the woodlands while you watch from the warmth of your home.

Maybe you don’t have a pet inside your home, but there are plenty of them outside of your home, just waiting to be loved!