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Sewing With Your Children

January 22, 2009 By 1 Comment

Sewing Kit
Creative Commons License photo credit: Andres Rueda

Sewing by hand is becoming a lost art. It is something that is often handed down from one generation to the next; it is learned. My daughters (and also my son) are taught by me, I was taught by my mom, who was taught by her mom (my grandmother) and so on… back as far as we can remember.

So, if you are able to sew, try to make time to teach your children, even if it is just enough so that they can sew on a button, mend a pair of socks, or hem a pair of pants. Sewing by hand is one of those things that cannot be learned by just watching; you MUST do it and practice it in order to learn.

If you do not know how to sew, it may be worthwhile to you to find someone that can teach you, even if it is the basics. Even boys can benefit from knowing how to repair their buttons and holes and hems.

The teacher in me is always on a search for the educational value of the things I teach my children. So, what can be learned by learning to sew? First and foremost is hand-eye coordination. Your hands and eyes must work together to thread the needle and complete the task or project. Next, math skills will be used as well. What amount of thread, cloth, buttons, etc. will be needed? You could even help your children to calculate the cost of their projects. Reading and comprehension will be utilized if your children are using a pattern book or project sheet. If a task or project is being done for someone else or as a gift to charity, your children can also learn to care for others and show kindness to bring a little joy to the life of another. All of this from a little needle and thread and some time? Yes!

So, the next time you have something to sew, try to get your children involved. There is much to be learned and you can have some memorable fun in the process.

 

alicia1About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

 

Filed Under: Crafts, Featured, frugal living, Parenting

Enjoying YOUR Quiet Time

January 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jess and Chloe
Creative Commons License photo credit: samglover

If your typical day is anything like mine, then you probably do not have much time to yourself either. Additionally, any time you do have is probably not very quiet. I know mine is not. However, when I do get those few quiet times, I try to make the most of them. It is very important for us as moms to have some time to relax and recharge. So, if your typical day does not provide you with time to do this, you must make the time.

I am fortunate this week to have some extra quiet time this week as two of my three children are on a trip with their grandparents. But for those that are not able to have quiet time in that way, they must make a little time for themselves in one of two ways. You can either stay up after the children go to bed or you can get up before the children do in the morning.

Most days, I opt to stay up late. The only problem with that is if the children stay up too late, then I get to bed really late and then I am tired in the morning. However, if your children go to bed earlier, then this might work for you. My goal is to get up early and have my quiet time then. My house is much quieter in the morning than in the evening.

No matter when you opt to have some quiet time, make sure that you take this time for YOU. Don’t try to get ahead on work or housework, do things that you like to do for enjoyment. Take a long bath… read a book… work on arts and crafts… give yourself a manicure or pedicure… anything that you like to do for fun or relaxation. Even if you only have a half an hour to yourself, make the most of it. You will find that you feel more relaxed and that the stresses of life can bounce off of you more easily, rather than bogging you down.
About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

Filed Under: Featured, General, Parenting, Stress Tagged With:

Baby’s First Year

December 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Liam Eric EdwardsCreative Commons License photo credit: johnkalad

The first year of your baby’s life can be the hardest, happiest, scariest and best year you get to experience with your child. You are going to experience so many emotions during the baby’s first year! Luckily there are baby books about every aspect of baby’s first year, and reading several books while pregnant, as well as during baby’s fist year will make you more comfortable around your little one.

Everyone is always concerned with the next milestone that their new baby is going to reach and if he or she is doing things at the same pace of their piers. In fact many new moms focus so much on what everyone says their child should be doing that they seem to lose focus on what the child is doing.

Then years later, you may look back and wonder what happened to that cute, cuddly baby you once had. While you were looking ahead, he or she was growing up and before you knew it that magical first year of their life was gone. It starts out kind of stressful, with the new parents not knowing what to expect next: from sleepless nights, colic, and spitting up to growth spurts, there is never a dull moment or a time to relax.

Before you know it those first few months are gone and your baby is sitting up, crawling and finally walking. He or she is talking or trying to and eating real food. The best advice I got when I brought my babies home was to slow down, to stop looking ahead of what comes next and to enjoy what the baby was going through at this time. You can never go back and get these moments again. So, instead of looking to what your child should be doing, could be doing or what is next, live in what is now and keep a record of it, for you and for your child. And enjoy motherhood!

Filed Under: Baby, Featured, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Baby Room Furniture for Multiples

December 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Merry Go RoundCreative Commons License photo credit: aprilandrandy

Determining what baby room furniture is needed for a baby’s room is one of the fun parts of being pregnant. Now imagine if you will multiply that by two, three or sometimes even six. When you have multiples, the particle furniture will often win out over the cute, decorative furniture.

Keep in mind when you are selecting your furniture for your multiples room, what the basic necessities are. For example, cribs, changing table, dresser and rocker. Let’s just assume that you are planning and buying for triplets. You are not going to need three of everything; however there are some items that you can not live without three of.

The first and most expensive item on your list will be the cribs themselves. When selecting your cribs make sure you take into consideration the size as well as shape of your room. You will want to have a plan ahead of time of where you are going to place your furniture.

While you will need three cribs, it is only necessary that you purchase one changing table. If room and/or funds are tight you can go without the dresser altogether for a while, unless you are lucky enough to find a changing table that has a dresser built in. If so then you have turned two baby furniture pieces into one, saving space and money in the long run.

It is better to think with your head when shopping for baby room furniture rather than with your heart. Always keep in mind what the ultimate need is, what is not needed and have a plan before going into the store. As with buying furniture for any other room in the house have a budget in mind and do not go over it, regardless of how cute the furniture is.

Filed Under: Baby, Featured, Parenting Tagged With: , , , ,

Checking out Baby Cribs

December 10, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Jimmy Buffet's baby's roomCreative Commons License photo credit: allspice1

Being pregnant and preparing for your baby’s arrival is an exciting time. It can also be an overwhelming time. You will feel as though there are just too many things to do and an overwhelming amount of decisions to make. Relax, the baby won’t care, I promise. Know that whatever you choose to do will be right. That being said, you are probably planning a nursery.

A lot of people will start with a color scheme or bedding first. This isn’t the best way. You should start with the baby furniture, most importantly the baby crib. When you head to your local baby store in search of furniture start with the crib and choose the rest of the furniture around it.

A few things to think about while checking the cribs out:

• is it the right size for the room?

• is it convertible (changes to a toddler bed, or a day bed)?

• do the sides go down for easy access?

You don’t want a crib that overwhelms your nursery no matter how cute it is. A convertible crib will last a lot longer making it worth more in the end.

Last, but not least, a movable side can save your back and latter your sanity. If you are of average height for a woman, or shorter, being able to lower the side of a crib will make your back happy when you get the baby out of the crib for the millionth time. It will also make it easier to get to a wiggly older baby when it comes to that. Keep these thoughts in mind as you start on your baby furniture journey. It will help to alleviate some of the stress and keep you on point as you search.

Filed Under: Featured, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , ,

As A Parents Do You Plan?

November 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Sleeping with a toyCreative Commons License photo credit: Leonid Mamchenkov

Do you believe in the old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. As a parent of a child with a deformity I have found that I need to plan a little more then normal.  I need to think ahead and really do some serious planning.

If we are going somewhere I have to think ok what do we need.  Is there going to be there things there that Haylee is not going be be able to handle.  Is there something there that requires two hands, instead of one.

I am a list maker and a planner.  Everything I do or plan takes several lists to be made and plans to be followed through with.  I do believe that old saying, ” If you fail to plan then you plan to fail”.  I think you need to have a plan.  You need to have a plan of attach for everything and anything.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chores You Can Assign Durning The Winter

November 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

ChoresCreative Commons License photo credit: billaday

We all do our share around the house to help mom keep the house in tip top shape.  But in the winter there are some chorus the younger children just can not handle like shoveling the snow.  Here are some great chores for those long winter months.

There are many rewards for providing your kids with chores to do.  You are teaching your children to responsibilities, you are teaching them time management, and you are helping them contribute to the running of the house.  Normally younger children are much more eager to jump right in and help.  But as they start getting older that is when they will start to complain and getting slower and slower at doing their chores and finishing them.

Young children around the age of 2 or 3 love to help Mom and Dad. So this is the perfect tiem to get them to start helping you around the house, and begin to teach them how to do chores.  You want to let them help all they want because this will not last forever. You will want to help them while they are learning how to do their chores the proper way.

Toddler winter chores:

-Place hat and gloves inside the sleeve of their coat or their pocket so they don’t loose them.
-They can dry off the pets when they come indoors from outside.

Now your preschool children are going to still be pretty eager to help. And at this age they are going to start wanting to do things for themselves.  But now that they are a little older they will not need quiet as much of your help doing chores.

Preschool winter chores:

-They can sweep the front or rear entry way
-They will be able to help carry in grocery bags from the car to the house

Grade school children are starting to get to the age where they may be as willing to help.  Also at this age there is hardly any supervision that is needed.

Grade School Winter Chores:

- Feed, water and take care of the pets
- They will be able to take the trash out and put a new trash bag into the trash can
- Sweep the sidewalk leading to the door

Pre-teens are when the kids really start testing boundaries, they are going to argue and probley do a poor job of the chore so that you will not ask them to do the chore again.

Pre-Teen Chores:

- Shovel the snow from the drive or walkway
- Take the trashcans out to the road on trash day
- Scrap the ice from the vehicle windows

Now Teens will be able to do their chores without supervision but they are going to probley all but refuse to do them

Teen Chores:

- Teens can do the shoveling around the house
- They can also help out with gather up wood as you are chopping it
- Teens can also begin to help mop and clean the floors

With cold weather right around the corner it is important to get the whole family to pitch in and help you out with chores.  It is just as important to teach your children these chores so that they will be able to run a household when they get older. And then once it is time for the spring cleaning your children will know what is expected of them.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Putting your Child at Ease

November 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Nachito and NemoCreative Commons License photo credit: Mari & Nacho

We all know that our kids enjoy and have to have routines. And when your child has a disability it is even more important to have our children under routines.  So when something is new in their life, like a new babysitter, our children become frightened, scared or anxious.

There are different ways you can help ease your child’s fears. If you make sure your child is at ease with the new baby sitter then you have created a win situation on both ends.

On depending the what age your child is, you may be able to get them to help you choose a provider.  If your child feels like they are part of the process they begin to feel better about the whole situation.

Before you even begin your daycare search ask your children what questions they may have for the new daycare. Your child may even want to ask their own questions. All our children have concerns and they need to voice there questions and concerns.

When you first visit the facility make sure your child goes with you if possible. That way your child can see things first hand.  Once you leave ask your child what they like or did not like?  Ask them if there was anything there that made them scared or nervous.

If you are going to have your daycare provider come into your home make sure you schedule a few imitation sessions. The first visit should be about an hour long play date, where you, the provider and your child all get together talk, maybe play a little and get to know each other.

On the second visit start out just like you did the first one but then make a quite little exit after about half an hour.  You may stay near just in case your child become scared.  One the the third visit meet the provider at the door, tell your child they are in charge and you have other things to do in another part of the house.  Keep your distance and let your child get used to this new routine.

After about half hour let your child know that you have an errand to run and that you will be right back.  They might fuss but you still need to go and do it.  Maybe you just drive around the neighborhood for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Your child will see that you have come back and that the world did not come to an end.  All their fears will be pushed to the side and they will be at ease.

If you decide to do outside daycare you can do this same thing but you will do these things at the facility instead of in your home.  One of your child’s biggest fears may be the other children and they fear they wont make friends because they are different. But normally it does not take your child long at all to make friends and put those fears aside.

The best way to ease your child’s fears is don’t rush things.  Take your time and let your child get used to the new routine.

Filed Under: Featured, Parenting Tagged With: , ,

Are you Loosing Your Super Mom Powers?

November 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment

We all try and want to be the best mom we can possibly be. Then we have all the responsibilities of being mom and then we have life in general on top of it. It all can be a LOT to handle. You know we watch other moms and they seem to be perfect and have it all together… So then we push ourselves even harder.

But then in all of efforts to be that super mom we often forget to take care of ourselves. We start eating poorly and get less and less sleep. We stop exercising as much as we used to and we get get stressed out.

Then it gets worse. All those bad habits that we are starting to form will get passed on to our kids. Thus we have just defeated our attempt to be that super mom.

You need to forget that Super Mom Trap and grab a great report by Aurelia Williams’ “Real Life Guidance to Getting Out of The Super Mom Trap“. Aurelia is a certified Life Coach, and mom of three kids. Aurelia Specializes in helping moms just like you and me.

I just want to let you know some of the things in this guide..(just so you know what you are getting)…

- How various media portrays the Super Mom, making you feel guilt for our perfectly natural imperfections.
- Easily saying no and without the guilt.
- Stories of real moms who are breaking free from the Super Mom Trap and how you can too.
- Learning to delegate (no, YOU don’t have to do it ALL) and getting more done.

If you are sick and tired of trying to be and do everything for everyone, but still want to make sure that you and your family are still happy then grab this copy of the guide now. You will get an instant download and you will also get a bonus of “Stress Less”, a 25 minute audio that makes it even easier to unload everything that is weighing you down and stressing you out.

To get your guide and get yourself out of the Super Mom Trap Click Here.

Filed Under: Featured, Parenting, Stress Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Good Child Care Signs

October 31, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Hutchinson Day CareCreative Commons License photo credit: Mari & Nacho

I know that feeling.  You are starting to feel a little stressed about leaving your kids with someone besides yourself. I wanted you to know it is normal for you to feel that way. We all feel that way and even after years of your children going to daycare there are times when you still feel that way.

Since last week we talked about starting to look for child care I thought this week we would go into some signs of a good child care. But being able to spot signs of good child care will help you calm your nerves.  Here are just a few to look for:

Other Recommendations
Once you start interviewing providers or daycare facilities, it is very important to make sure and check their references and qualifications.  Someone may tell you they have past experience but you need to make sure that they truly do.

They Follow procedures and policies
Make sure the provider follows the states procedure and policies.  Many states require a certain number of adults for a certain number of children.  You can call your states licensing department to learn about the procedures and policies regarding daycare.  You also may want visit they daycare at different times of the day unannounced to make sure they are abiding by the policies and procedures.

Positive Interaction with your Child
Does the provider seem open, understanding and caring?  Do they truly seem to enjoy spending time with your child?  Are they patient with the questions you ask them?  But most important do they interact positively with your children?

Cleanliness
If the provider is providing the service in your home does your home look clean and well maintained when you arrive home or is it totally destroyed and nothing picked up?  If your child is going to a facility or the providers home make sure that it is a clean environment and they are also promoting cleanliness.

Safety, Safety, Safety
Do the child make sure that your child is safe?  If your child is going outside the home for daycare make sure the facility or home is childproofed and that they have safety precautions.  Also make sure that the provider knows infant and child CPR and first aid.  Also find out how they handle an emergencies.

Planned Activities
Anyone can turn on the TV and let the TV babysit your child.  You need to make sure that they have planned various activities, such as learning games, crafts, and projects.  Also make sure they provide quality time outside.

Your Child Likes the Provider
Make sure your child truly enjoys spending time with the provider, if they are happy with the provider you know they are in good hands.

These are just a few signs of good daycare.  You might want to write a list of what you would consider good daycare.  Also make sure your current provider matches these signs. And don’t ever be afraid to trust your instincts.  Your the parent, and you know what is best for your children.

Filed Under: Friday Faves, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , ,
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