Last Day of School Rituals for Kids

Last Day of School Rituals for Kids.

• Take a photo outside the school say the front entrance or by a tree or door at your house. One particular spot you can return to each year.
• Take all school stuff, backpacks, papers, books, and symbolically put them away for the summer saying goodbye and have a great summer break!
•  Come home, put on bathing suits and turn on the sprinkler or slip and slide on the lawn and have the kids, and (perhaps you as well), run through a sprinkler or slide yelling out each time they go some fun things they dream of doing over the summer.    Fun things they can yell out might be, "Eat peach ice cream, go to the pool, visit grandma, paint pictures, play in the dirt, skip rope, learn to hula hoop, build a fort, ride my bike, play with _____.,  Have a sleep over, make my own pizza, play with the dog, go to the park, roast marshmallows, catch fire flies."
•  Create a start of the summer song and or dance that you do with your kids and do that same song or dance each year. You can pick an old classic sixties song, or some current hot song. Just make you’re your first day of summer vacation song is fun and upbeat and you will love singing to it each year.
•  Have one fun new summer set of clothes for your child and have those clothes laid out on their bed and have them run to their room take off school clothes and put on summer fun clothes. 
•  Have a special fun dinner at home or go to a fun restaurant you eat at rarely. Perhaps you can choose a theme restaurant like Japanese hibachi or Five Guys Hamburgers so there is specific memory, when you go there take a picture. At dinner go around and say fun things you dream of doing over the summer.
•  Ask your child or children the Monday of last week of school what fun dessert treat like ice-cream they want that they don’t usually get and have that after last day of school. Or bake a summer cake and have them decorate it.
•  Have a blown up beach ball, new beach towels and new bathing suits and flip flops, pail and shovel on the kids’ beds when they get home from school.
•  Fill a jar with slips of paper, each slip of paper has on it one summer fun play dream like those listed in the run through the sprinkler option above.  You put some in yourself and have the kids put some in. During the summer they get to pick something from the jar to do.
•  Go to the store before the last day of school and buy plants, or flowers or vegetables or herbs and fun pots and have the kids plant them the last day of school when they get home to show that new things begin when school ends and they can nurture and grow something over the summer.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

20 Body Language Signs That Mean He's Into You

I was interviewed by Cosmopolitan on body language signs that mean someone is into you.  Click the link below to read the 20 signs. If you go the link they have photos to illustrate each image.

Like women, men don't always say exactly what they're feeling precisely when they feel it. But guys don't have to say much to show you what they're thinking. 

That's because unconscious body language signals can be extremely telling, says Patti Wood, a body language expert with more than 30 years of experience and author of Success Signals, A Guide to Reading Body Language.  

So, in the early stages of a new relationship (like when you first meet an online date), look out for the following signs to get a sense of what he's thinking.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

1. His pupils are huge. Either you're in a super-dark place, or this subtle signal means he's into you. "Dilation is a brain response that occurs when you like and are attracted to something," Wood says. 

 

2. His eyebrows are raised. People tend to use this subconscious expression to help open their eyes when they like what they see. If he raises his brows ever so slightly while you're talking, it means he's interested in whatever you're saying.

 

3. He shows you his front teeth. "Guys stop smiling like this around the age of 5 — unless they're really happy," Wood says. He might not show off a toothy grin while casually flirting, but on a really awesome date when he's having loads of fun? Look for teeth: "When he feels really happy, he's not covering that up," Wood says.

 

4. He smiles above the mouth. Real smiles extend well beyond the mouth: They lift the forehead and give you slightly squinty eyes. If his smile involves his whole face, it means you're genuinely affecting him in a good way.

 

5. He licks his lips in a cute (not creepy) way. When you're attracted to someone, your mouth produces extra saliva, Wood says. In response, he might quickly lick his lips or press them together. (Slower = creepster.)

 

6. He locks eyes with your face — not just your eyes. You might think that a guy who is totally enamored by you will find it hard to peel his eyes away and that is great. But now that everyone is used to being glued to their phones, nonstop eye contact can make people feel uncomfortable. We don't feel the same about someone starring at us. Just starring can now feel like an unwanted invasion. You can distinguish wither or not someone cares for you from a stalker stare by noticing if if he spends about 80 percent of your interaction looking from your eyes to your nose and lips, he's into you, Wood says.

 

7. He takes a deep breath when he sees you. Yes, men do require oxygen. But when he subconsciously takes a deep breath — he'll pull in his stomach and puff out his chest — it's a subconscious way to make his upper body look broader and his waist look smaller, two qualities that make him look more fit and (from an evolutionary perspective) more desirable, Wood says. In other words, he's into you and he's trying to attract you. More at

 

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a36457/things-his-body-language-signs-hes-into-you/

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Deciphering Denial: Kim Richards ‘Withholding The Truth’ In Dr. Phil Interview, Says Body Language Expert

I was asked to read the body language of Kim Richards as she was interviewed on the Dr. Phil show by RadarOnline.com.  See my insights below highlighted in yellow.

It is not only Kim Richards’ ex-boyfriend Ken Blumenfeld who believes that the 50-year-old troubled Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is lying about her drinking. After watching clips of the actress on Dr. Phil earlier this week, a body language expert tells RadarOnline.com exclusively that the reality star appears to be “withholding the truth!”

Body language expert Patti Wood MA, CSP told Radar, “Kim Richards appeared to be withholding the truth from Dr. Phil during the interview.”

“Following Dr. Phil asking Richards about her drinking in the past two and a half years, she looks to her right, which … is where she would look to create a statement rather than to her left where she would scan to remember things,” said Wood. “This indicated to me that Kim is trying to think up and create an answer rather than relay what is actually the truth.”

 “Right after that, Kim freezes in place, which is a high stress cue,” Wood said after examining the footage several times.

“This indicates that she fears being caught. Her head is down and forward slightly to protect herself. Her face is frozen in a moment of fear and sadness, but her forehead and brows are furrowed and her nose is clenched at the top. Her cheeks are lowered down.”

“Look particularly at the mouth and jaw at this moment,” said Wood, who is also a former substance abuse counselor and the author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma.

“The jaw is clenched down to keep the tears and truth from coming out and the lips are out flat and only slightly open, showing symbolically that she would rather withhold the truth and keep the truth locked inside.”

According to Wood, after Richards answered Dr. Phil by saying “That is not exactly true,” “One side of her face goes up while the other stays down. This lack of symmetry of the face shows a disconnect between how she wants to answer and the truth.”

“The science behind that is a disconnect in the neocortex of the limbic brain,” Wood said. “Basically, you reveal your true feelings on the one side of the brain before the neocortex can stop it.”

 “After Kim answers Dr. Phil, we see her lip tremble in fear and sadness,” Wood told Radar.

“The next shot that we see of Kim, she has changed body language positions. She is sitting with her hands folded closed on her lap. It is obvious that she has collected herself a bit and she answers with a teary and stressed voice about the times she had a drink.”

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Social Anxiety Tips

agreements occur between your children, try to listen

Dear Patti

Find the article below or by going to the magazine website www.motherhood.com.pk

Social Anxiety

7 tips for reducing your

social anxiety and

improving your first

impression at parties

and networking events

none of them feels neglected

When attending or taking part in school events, try to do so

By: Patti Wood MA, CSP

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Street Journal, Forbes and 

Some of you may think of parties and mingling

opportunities and jump for joy whereas some

of you may think of punch and cookies and

meeting strangers and feel your palms begin to

sweat and your throat start to close. Here are fun and

helpful tips for feeling more comfortable at your next

party so you can change from a wallflower to a

“social butterfly.”

1. Go early rather than late. If you arrive before

other guests, it is easier to get acclimated. You can

stand with the host if you need courage or introductions.

You can even ask for an anxiety-distracting

task like taking everybody’s coats or asking if they

would like a drink. Nervousness comes out of your

body in many ways. One way is through your hands.

When your hands are confidently occupied with

useful tasks, that confidence message goes to your

brain and affects your entire body. It also gives you

an easily repeatable script, “Would you like me to

take your coat?” as a conversation opener.

2. Stand near the best smelling food. That is

where the people are. If the food is good, they will

think good things about you. Research says that

pleasant smells give rise to pleasant mood states and

persuasion research shows that when we feel good

we associate those pleasant feelings with the people

we were with when we felt them. Want to get a call

from someone you met at a party? Our sense of smell

is our strongest link to memory so someone you

meet near the good smelling food will be more likely

to remember you if they associate you with a good

smell. Food also gives you an easy conversation

opener. “Have you tried the crab dip?” “It’s great.” In

addition to this, holding and eating food, like taking

coats, gives you something to do with your hands.

3. Look for an Open Person. Having an open

body language makes you more approachable. Use

this information to look for people who you can

easily approach. Search for people who are intently

speaking to someone already. Spy the people who

have their feet slightly apart a few inches rather than

crossed, pressed together, or cowboy show of defensive

stance 14 inches apart. It is easier to approach

someone who is showing his or her palms as they

gesture and is smiling. If you are super shy, you can

Feeling anxious at the prospect of mingling with people is

quite common just go up and stand next to someone who

looks open and slowly mirror his posture. Research says

he is likely to start a conversation with you.

4. Go first….you can also introduce yourself. I

know I know, you’re thinking, "Patti, you are insane.

I hate to talk to people and you want me to initiate a

conversation!” “I’d rather stick a fork in my eye.” Put

down the fork. Research shows that when you

initiate you appear more confident to other people

and they immediately feel more at ease. In addition,

when they feel at ease, the comfort transfers to you.

Remember, two awkward people equal three times

the anxiety. In the classic movie, “Come Saturday

Morning” Liza Minnelli introduces herself with

charming tenderness to a shy boy on a bus.

5. Introduce people to each other. Again, you

have something to do, and goodness it takes the

pressure off you. You now say the younger person’s

name first to introduce them to the older person, say

the lower status person’s name first to introduce

them to the higher status person. Think bigwig’s

name is said last.

6. Ask a question and then relax and listen.

When I was in grad school and teaching at Florida

State I tried out for and got a part in a community

program. I almost lost my voice and I learned a lot

about listening. So much anxiety comes from not

knowing what to do or how to do it well. I can tell you

that the smartest thing you can do at a party is ask a

gentle question. It completely takes the talking pressure

off you. You don’t have to be witty and urbane

to be good listeners. And if “The Seven Habits of

highly successful people” is right, everybody loves a

good listener.

7. Nod your head. Nod your head. Women love

it. Men typically only nod their heads when they

agree, woman nod to show they are listening. Guys,

if you nod your head a lot, she will love you. Beware

of nodding your head at your female boss at the

office. Power people love it when you nod your head

too, but your boss might think you love them so

much you are willing for them to nominate you for

the office, “recycling waste committee for 2009.” 

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

What is Michelle Obama's Hugging Style? Michelle Obama’s Hugs

What is Michelle Obama's Hugging Style?

What do Michelle Obama’s Hugs Mean?

Here are my rough notes describing the meaning and style of Michele Obama’s Hugs followed by a piece I did for Daily Beast about Michele's hugging body language.

Michelle Obama is an amazing hugging powerhouse. She initiates hugs and she likes to be "on top" when she is hugging. Michelle's preferred way of hugging is to have her arms up and around and have the other person's, (if they choose to hug back), arms below hers. Going first and hugging on top are power moves and a maternal/matriarchs style of hugging.  Amazingly, she even does this with some political figures! Presidential wives have always been "bottom huggers" But, there are many photos of her hugging dominant world leaders with her arms on top.  You rarely, if ever, see women as "on top" huggers except for big female stars of Hollywood.

Michelle also likes to wrap her arms fully around the head or waist of her hugee to fully encompass them. This shows affection as well has her power. 

Typically she does not cup her hands, rather than arching the palm in soft hold she keeps the palm flat and the finger extended out and flat. That is a much more formal way of holding the hands and it gives her more property dominance. That is she takes up more space across the back. That can also send the signal, “I am strong.” And “I have your back.”

One of the most interesting and what I find is the sweetest aspect of her hugging style is that she likes to place her head right next of the head of her huggee. Sometimes, even brushing her cheek against theirs as she goes in. That is a very giving and intimate way to hug. Many huggers are only halfway huggers and don't give their full upper torso. You see them actually have conflict about being too close. You can see them hold their head slightly back and I can see tension in their necks as they make a real effort to not be too close or too intimate.  Mrs. Obama wants to have that head connection.

I would call Mrs. Obama a Big Bear hugger which is defined by the arms being wrapped fully around the person and being pulled in tight with a quick but tight secure squeeze. This shows enthusiasm for seeing someone and can also show someone’s need to show power over or protection of the huggee. 

Here is the link to the Daily Beast article I did on this topic.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/28/how-michelle-obama-became-hugger-in-chief.html

Hold Tight

04.28.155:20 AM ET

How Michelle Obama Became Hugger In Chief

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, forget the jokes and schmoozing. The real power lay in FLOTUS’s embrace.

Even though Ezra Kaplan was awarded $5,000 towards his journalism studies before a room full of the nation’s most acclaimed reporters and glittering celebrities, the true highlight of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was the hug he received from Michelle Obama.

“Seriously, I’ve been telling everyone this, she is the best hugger ever,” Kaplan tells me, his enthusiasm bubbling over the phone from halfway across the country in Evanston, Illinois. “I’ve been trying to describe it to many of my friends. It’s a solid hug, not a dumb politician hug with a pat on the back. It’s a real hug that makes you feel like she legitimately cares.”

Sure, the Commander-in-Chief got in some good yucks at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, especially with Keegan-Michael Key playing his “Luther, the anger translator.”

But more intriguing to analyze was the onward hugging march of Michelle Obama, who embraced nearly 20 journalism scholarship recipients, a gesture of physical intimacy that is now a trademark for the current FLOTUS.

After speaking to multiple body language experts, the consensus is clear: Michelle Obama is an exceptionally pro-hug first lady, and what she communicates via her willingness to embrace others says much about her personally.

“I do think she hugs more. She stands out,” says Patti Woods, the author of Snap—Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma and a teacher on body language for over 30 years.

It’s not just the frequency of Obama’s hugs, but the types of hugs she gives, which is unique for first ladies, says Woods. “Typically, it’s been fairly formal. There’s more restraint, holding the pelvis back and the head back. You see a lot more body tension around former first ladies, a lot more upper body going forward but the rest of the body going straight down. It’s less giving. There’s less intimacy,” she says.

That stiff, restrained embrace—the kind that have all the artificial, unfulfilling sweetness of a pack of Sweet’N Low—is not Obama’s style. Noor Wazwaz, another scholarship recipient who received a coveted FLOTUS hug on Saturday night, can certainly attest to that.

“She was holding onto me. People were like ‘Wow, that’s a tight grip.’ I think that genuine love and compassion comes out.”

“She definitely gives the best hugs, that’s for sure,” she says, noting friends even remarked on the embrace from a photo she took. “I have a picture of me and her at the VIP party. She was holding onto me. People were like ‘Wow, that’s a tight grip.’ I think that genuine love and compassion comes out.”

Michelle Obama separates herself from her 45 FLOTUS predecessors because she’s an “initiator hugger,” says Woods. “She’s the one who does it all the way. There’s no hesitation. It’s not ‘Now, I must hug.’ Instead of it being a formal ritual, she wants to do it.”

However, it’s not as if Obama exactly had stiff competition to become the most huggable first lady. Historically, the White House spouses are not known as the most physically affectionate creatures.

There’s Barbara Bush, who, according to a Vanity Fair profile in 1992, terrified the White House staff—“when she frowned it had the capacity to send shudders through a lot of people,” one Bush associate told the magazine.

“Barbara Bush had her shoulders back and was more regal, stately,” says Susan Constantine, another body language expert. “Michelle Obama is inviting the hug, and she’s giving you the green light.”

No first lady was more regal than Nancy Reagan. Her Dynasty-era glamour was strictly look-don’t-touch. She was more famous for lecturing the youth of America on the perils of drugs, not holding them close. Any physical intimacy was strictly for her husband.

Even Jackie Kennedy, one of the most adored first ladies in U.S. history, was not a woman to be hugged—publically at least. The young and stunning Mrs. Kennedy was an alluring asset to JFK’s 1960 presidential campaign. However, her hair was so perfectly coiffed, her Oleg Cassini ensembles so pristine, her accent so utterly patrician, one could not imagine embracing her, lest we blemish her with our plebeian impurities.

“When we look at Jackie Kennedy, she had that untouchable look, even though she was lovable,” says Constantine. In contrast, Obama “has the look of an everyday, approachable woman. The difference between the two is that Michelle Obama does not come across as stuffy. She’s opened up her arms. Naturally, her guard is down, rather than seeming very prissy.”

Jason Reed/Reuters

Obama’s move to be less formal and more intimate is not without precedent among iconic women on the world stage.

Princess Diana was one of the first female heads of states to relinquish the stately distance for a physical closeness. For Princess Diana to hug a 7-year-old AIDS patient in 1989 was actually a landmark physical gesture, a hug that had social and cultural significance. “She would lean down and look at children at eye level. She was always warm,” recalls Constantine.

Far from exhibiting the usual royal parental reserve—Prince Charles famously said he could not remember being hugged by his mother, the Queen—Diana relished hugging her own boys.

Indeed, both Diana and Michelle Obama have shown personas crafted around warmth and accessibility. As such, their hugs may be the ultimate power move, a subversive way of showing strength and authority.

Most surprising of Michelle Obama’s hugs was her infamous embrace of Queen Elizabeth in 2009. British pearl-clutchers recoiled with surprise when FLOTUS put her arm around Her Majesty, even though it was the famously formal Queen who initiated the move.

Compared to the first lady’s usual style, this was barely a hug, but a warm, firm hand on the back to match the Queen’s own move. Yet even that level of physical intimacy was unprecedented for official White House interactions with royalty.

“At some level she [Michelle Obama] made a decision to do what she wanted,” says Wood, “and to show her warmth and personality, but also her power. It was her saying, ‘We will take care of you. We will protect you.’ To me that’s very strong.”

For Wood, “In that moment, it totally took away her [Queen Elizabeth’s] power, and that’s why the country was horrified. We will always just have that image of the Queen looking diminutive and uncomfortable, and Mrs. Obama looking incredibly comfortable and incredibly confident.”

Many would disagree with that: The Queen looks very comfortable, and it more seems a wonderful, impromptu, expressive moment for both women to have shared.

For Wood, Obama has hugging moves that convey unusual strength for a woman. “She likes to be on top—to have her arms up and around—when she hugs. She even sometimes does that with powerful males. I’m amazed by that. Usually, women go under [reach down to a waist] when they’re hugging powerful men.”

Of course, there are those who doubt how genuine the hugs are in the first place.

“Are the hugs truly because she wants to connect on an emotional level, or are they robotic? That’s still a question to be answered,” says Constantine.

She sees Obama’s hugging as a way to combat the more negative press she received when her husband was first campaigning for president in 2008.

That summer, a Pew Research Center poll noted that Michelle Obama was in the press more often than her Republican counterpart, Cindy McCain. But, a higher percentage reported hearing negative stories about Mrs. Obama than Mrs. McCain.

“The way she [Obama] wants to be portrayed is countering the bad publicity of seeming mean, angry, bitchy that was out there.” Her excellent, personable hugging has been good PR for her. “The pendulum is swinging the other way over to being sociable, arms around the waist, the girlfriend thing,” says Constantine.

Her hugging has also distinguished the image the Obamas want to portray of a more accessible, “normal” White House.

“I think with their whole strategy was about connecting with people. The president and FLOTUS [traditionally] stay in the White House, they don’t intermingle too much. I think they [Michelle and Barack Obama] have broken the rules,” says Constantine.

“I think they’re setting trends with a new connectivity with the American people. I think people want to feel like they can talk to people in leadership. I tend to like it, and I’m not even a Democrat,” she adds with a laugh.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.