June is National Family Month and family is certainly worth celebrating!

As the school year winds down and we enjoy longer days, it is time to focus on the most important people in our lives, our families. June is the perfect month to get outside and play together while building relationships and creating memories. 

Family relationships are one of the core values of Cardinal Rule Press which is reflected in many of their books including Sunny Side Upbringing: A Month-by-Month Guide to Raising Kind and Caring Kids written by company founder, Maria Dismondy. This resource includes chapters on positive character traits such as honesty, gratitude, and empathy. Each chapter includes topical book lists and intentional activities to help children develop important life skills. Fittingly, the June chapter focuses on play. 

Children love to play. In fact, they NEED to play. Play helps children explore the world and learn important communication, problem-solving, cooperation, and sportsmanship skills. Physical play also helps children build strong, coordinated, and healthy bodies. But why should children have all the fun? Making time to play together as a family is the perfect way to strengthen relationships and create memories. 

Other Cardinal Rule Press books feature healthy family relationships. Both What the Bread Says and Spaghetti in A Hot Dog Bun celebrate intergenerational families. In Kindness is a Kite String, readers see how a family’s values can spread far beyond the home. Three Pockets Full explores the challenges of changing family dynamics and Hide and Shhh!  highlights siblings who learn to compromise and cooperate as they play.

Are you familiar with the Bucket Filler Books? Cardinal Rule Press’s Bucket Fillers Program is a social-emotional philosophy based on the idea that everyone has an invisible bucket. We all have the ability to fill our own buckets as well the buckets of others by using kind words and doing caring actions. But there are bucket dippers, too – those who are mean and unkind to others. No one feels good when they dip from another’s bucket. While the Bucket Filler Program is presented at schools, bucket filling can begin at home when kindness and encouragement are modeled, and love is shared. 

I have seen that family play is an excellent way to help fill each other’s buckets. When I speak to children and families, I find they are eager to share how much they enjoy doing fun activities together. Recently, I was invited to be the guest author at a school’s family Field Day. The event, based on Evie’s Field Day: More Than One Way to Win, gave children opportunities to team up and play outdoor games with their families and friends. Parents, grandparents, care givers, and children all expressed their joy of cooperating, sharing, and laughing together as they filled each other’s buckets. 

I hope that you and your family will commit to spending quality fun time together during National Family Month. 

Free Printable Family Month Bucket List Download