Play Dough Play Time Cleanup

The next time that your kids play with play dough you don't have to worry about the hassle of cleaning up.

If you follow this simple tip, your kids can play and have fun, and when they are done they can even clean up themselves!

Just go to the thrift store and pick up an old cutting board, or cut out a piece of cardboard and cover with contact paper.

Now you can just stow away between uses.

Just before using again scrape off any dried on clay.

Decision Making 101

Don't forget that your kids are people too. They like to have a say in things and that is ok.

Most day to day decisions are not life threatening. When you have a chance, let them have a choice.

Most of the time in the end you will be happier and your child will be happier.

Whatever the decision is, don't tell them what you don't want to do, give them a choice of 2 things that are ok to do.

It will be a win win situation for both of you.

Battle of the Wits

OK, your child comes in and says “Mom, can I…..”

Sometimes we can be so caught up in our daily lives that your instant response is an emphatic “No”.

Remember, kids are people too, and everything that they ask seems reasonable in their mind.

Instead of the knee jerk reaction, think about their question.

Then ask them to explain to you why they should be able to do the things that they ask.

Sometimes an amiable agreement can be made.

Maybe a quid pro quo of sorts: You can go to the park with your friends if you room is clean and your homework is done.

Don’t forget to listen to your kids. If you treat them as an adult, they will often act like one in return.

Family News

It is always hard to get communication started in the family. You can try this to get everyone talking.

Give each child a spiral notepad and pencil or pen. Now tell them to watch what is going on in the family during the week.

Have them write notes or pictures to describe what is going on.

For a bit of fun, the can even interview family members. This can be parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, anyone!

Now pick a day of the week over dinner and have your reporters let you know what they observed. You can ask questions or just chat about what they have reported.

Not only will you be communicating, but you might also be learning bits of information that you did not know before!

Budgeting for Birthday Parties

Your kids want anything and everything under the sun for their birthday party. They just don't seem to understand that you are not made of money.

The next time that you are planning a party, sit down with your child and give them a budget. However big or small, this is what you have to work with for the party.

For the planning, decide where they want to have the party, what types of favors they want to use, and any games or prizes that they may want to pick out.

Shop around with the birthday child and let them see how much everything costs. Pick out some resources and check for discounts or sales.

Make a list with the prices and let your child know what they can afford and what they cannot afford.

With all the information put together, they can now have a party that they can proudly say that they planned and that you can afford.

Finding the Perfect Changing Table

When you are expecting it is always hard to know exactly what you will need and how long you will use it.

Here are some handy hints to help you find the perfect one when you are shopping.

When buying a changing table one of the key items to know is what the manufacturer says the weight limits are. One that has a 30lb capacity will be better built than one with only a 20lb capacity.

Check to see if it has barriers around the outer edges. Ideally you would want them at least 4 inches tall. This will help prevent your child from rolling off. Also make sure that it comes with safety straps, and USE them. It only takes a second of inattention for a baby to roll off.

Take a look at the height of the table. You are going to be spending a lot of time bending over it, is your back going to hurt? Check to see how accessible drawers or shelves are. Pretend to hold a baby while you reach for something, can you do it easily with one hand?

My daughter was quite large so she didn't fit on the standard sized changing table for long, but we found a way to work around it. I bought a credenza that was tall enough for me to use with out bending over too much and attached a contoured changing pad to it. I also mounted a strap so that I could secure her while I was changing her with out having to worry about her rolling off.

Now that she is older, I have taken off the pad and she uses the credenza for storing her clothes and playthings in.

Learning From Teachers

Ah, yes, it is that time of the year again. The kids are in school, and parent teacher conferences will be coming up soon.

You usually go, but don't seem to get very much more information from the teacher about your child.

Before the next conference creeps up on you, take a look here for some suggestions on getting more information to help your child succeed.

The most important thing to know is how your school operates and what the goals are for each teacher.

If you don't know this up front, you can get these questions answered before the conference, or ideally at the beginning of the school year.

How does the teacher grade the students? Is it mostly based on class work, home work or class participation. If you child is not doing well, ask which area needs improvement.

When talking to the teacher find out what role you are expected to be. Are you supposed to review home work before turning in? Is there anthing that you need to help with?

When speaking with the teacher, if something is said that you do not understand, ask the teacher to clarify. It is better to know than to not understand and have your child miss out.

If your childs teacher says that your child needs more help with a subject, ask for suggestions about where to get the help. You can try to help your child yourself, but most of the time you will not be as effective as a stranger.

When at all possible, take your child with you to the conference. The teacher will know exactly who they are speaking about and prevent any confusion.

You don't have to wait for a conference to speak with any teacher. If you feel the need, contact the school directly and set up an appointment to meet with the teacher. Also give enough inforamation so that the teacher can be prepared.

Quick Reminders

You find that you need to leave notes frequently, but you are running out of places to leave them where your family can see them and they don't fall down.

There is a memo board that is right in front of everyone's face first thing in the morning. The Bathroom Mirror.

Grab a dry erase marker and make your notes on the mirror. When they are no longer needed you can simply wipe it away.

A word of caution when using dry erase markers, TEST the surface first in an out of way location to make sure that you can erase it. Someone told me once that I could use the refrigerator, and I wrote my notes only to find out that they did NOT erase.

Playpen Art

If you have small tots that love to color or do crafts, but you are tired of having to monitor them every minute to make sure that they are not coloring on the walls or furnature, there is an easy fix!

Grab your old playpen. Set the kids inside with their favorite weapons of destruction (pens, pencils, crayons) and paper.

Now they are contained to the playpen until they are done.

Video Memory

If you have a loved one that is not local, but you want your child to remember who they are and what they sound like, have them read your child's favorite book while being video taped.

Now you can pop in a video tape and they can see mom/dad/grandma whenever they have to be away.

Summertime Blues?

Summertime is here and the kids are starting to drive you crazy! Don't forget that your kids are people too!

We all remember being a kid and all the fun that we had.

It is fine to set up a daily schedule of chores to be done, but don't forget to schedule some fun time too.

It may not be anything that you want to do, but all kids need a bit of time explore on their own schedule.

It can be as easy as setting up a sprinkler in the yard on a hot day to letting them go to the zoo for the day.

Co-Ordination with Cutting

If you really want to help your toddler learn new skills, let them cut up paper.

Don't have any paper that you want cut up?

Dig out the newspaper and let them cut out coupons and pictures that intrigue them.

This will stimulate their mind as well as giving you a hand if you keep coupons.

Thumb Sucking

Ok, you get all the nasty looks from other parents or even just strangers in the store when your toddler is sucking his/her thumb.

This is not the end of the world, everyone has their own opinion about when a child should stop sucking their thumb.

It has not been proven that thumb sucking will cause any permanent dental damage, but if you are worried about it just get a check up with your dentist.

On an average kids will give up on thumb sucking by the age of 6 or so.

If you constantly call attention to it, you can actually backfire your efforts to get your child to stop.

Fish? Really?

You want to teach your kids responsibility, but you have no idea how to begin.

Are they old enough? Mature enough?

A good way to start to teach your kids responsibility is to get a fish.

There are a lot of different things that a fish can teach.

Your child will have to feed it every day, make sure that the water is changed regularly and make sure that it is kept safe.

And if the fish for some reason does not make it, they are cheap enough to hop on out to buy a new one.

You don't think that they are old enough to give them enough (and not too much) food each day?

Find a weekly dispensing pill container with the days of the week printed on each day. Place just enough food for each day in to the coordinating date of the container. Now when it comes time for your tot to feed the fish there is the exact amount of food for it, and you don't have to worry about "How many times was the fish fed today?"

Tooth Fairy Magic

The tooth fairy has always been such a fun tradition. Every child knows that when you loose a tooth, the tooth fairy leaves money for the child.

Start a new tradition. At the drug store, grab a tub of bright pink lipstick and some lip gloss that has glitter in it.

After your child falls asleep put the 2 on your lips and kiss your child. When they wake up they will talk all day about their kiss from the tooth fairy.

Night Time Monsters

You dread bed time each night. You child has suddenly developed the fear that there is a monster in their room!

You have tried everything that you can think of to get rid of the monster, but your child still believes that there is something there.

You can try this little trick to see of it will get rid of those pesky monsters once and for all!

Get a spray bottle and decorate it up, add a label that says "Monster Remover".

Fill up with water and add just a drop of perfume or scent.

Now when your child says that there is a monster in their room, set the sprayer up for mist and spray the areas of the room that frighten your child.

It will also help if you both pick up the room a bit at night and make sure that there are not any shapes that might resemble monsters in the dark.

Family Dinner

Having meals together is very important for communication with your family.

It is so easy to get in the rut of grabbing food to go or letting everyone else just grab something that sounds good.

When you sit at the table together you can communicate and talk about each others day.

This communication will help you keep up to date with the happenings in your kids life.

If you haven't seen your family at the table for a long time, start slowly.

Set aside one night a week for the first month and have your kids help you with a menu.

Let your kids help with the shopping for the groceries and preparing the meal.

The next month try for 2 nights, and continue building until it is a regular habit.

Remember to always be flexible as sometimes schedules will not allow for a sit down dinner on the night that you had planned.

Long Distance Readers

If you have family that lives a long way away you may only get together a few times a year.

You have the occasional phone calls, but it is hard to get everyone together to talk.

You can use this hint to help your child remember the voice of each special person.

Make a list of your child's favorite books, or have a relative find a new unique took from their area and read the book on a recorder onto a tape or cd.

Have them send the tape/cd and book back along with a picture. Now when it is story time, pop in the tape/cd and have your child read along in the book with the tape/cd.

Before and after reading the book, show the picture of who is reading the book to remind your toddler of their long distance relative.