A monthly online magazine chock-full of insightful articles for busy mothers.

How To Keep The Kids Busy On Bad Winter Weather Days by Shelly Hill

During the Winter Season we are often hit with bad winter weather here on the North East Coast. That bad weather can consist of blizzards, snow storms, ice storms, sleet, freezing rain, you name it, we pretty much get it all here.

When the bad weather strikes, businesses, schools and daycare’s close down by the thousands, leaving many children stuck at home with not much to do. When our daughter was little, we decided to make “bad weather days” our family’s arts and crafts day. As I look back over the years, we made some pretty awesome things…many of which I still have today.

The first thing I recommend that you do is to make up an arts and crafts bin by purchasing a plastic bin at your local discount store. Then, you will head to the dollar store and your local craft store and pick up some supplies. You should really fill up that bin! Here is a list of general supplies that every craft bin should have.

Straight Edge Scissors, Designer Edge Scissors

All Purpose Liquid Craft Glue and Glue Sticks

Construction Paper, Watercolor Paper and 8″ x 11″ sized scrapbooking paper

Stickers, Rubber Stamps, Ink Pads, Magnet Backs, Wiggle Eyes

Scraps of Ribbon, Lace, String, Yarn, Feathers, Popsicle Sticks, Craft Sticks

Buttons, Charms, Beads, Faux Gems, Rhinestones, Small Silk Flowers,
Jewelry Findings

Markers, Colored Pencils, Crayons, Water Paints, Finger Paints, Acrylic Paints and Paint Brushes

Modeling Clay and Optional Clay Molds

Paper Mache ~ Trinket Boxes, Ornaments, Photo Frames, Etc.

Coloring Books, Water Paint Books, Activity Pads

Foam Craft Sheets and Sheets of Craft Felt

Once you purchase the basic supplies which are suited for both boys and girls, you will want to keep your bin in a handy place. Once all of those “bad winter weather” days hit, you will be prepared for some Arts and Crafts fun with your children! You can visit various online web sites to get some great craft project ideas to use up all of those supplies. Keeping children busy during bad weather days doesn’t have to be a stressful task so view it as a great way to have some family bonding time.

Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in central Pennsylvania who enjoys crafting with her daughter and grand daughter. Shelly has been crafting for over 30+ years and enjoys crocheting, beading, scrapbooking and cross stitching. You can visit Shelly’s online craft blog called Passionate About Crafting at http://passionateaboutcrafting.blogspot.com for free craft project ideas and patterns

Article Source: WAHM Articles

by Marilyn Bohn

Do you remember that commercial Staples had on a few years ago that was aired in July? It was the one where the music was the Christmas song “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”. Every time it came on I just cracked up laughing. Along with the music a father was zipping around the store loading his cart with school supplies with the happiest smile on his face. The children were standing there watching with sad expressions.

I had five daughters; four of them were under four so I always had a busy, busy summer. It was a lot of work planning and implementing worthwhile activities, trying to keep them sharp for school and having a balance with play activities and just play. I admire mothers who can home school their children. But frankly I am just not the mother that can have my kids around me all the time. I was happy when school started again in the fall.

So whether you send your kids off to public or private school or you home school or are on year around school this is a good time of year to get the little and big ones ready for the school year.

Before you head out to the stores and grab up the great buys they are offering this time of year take stock of what you have at home. Check to see how many pens, pencils, lined paper, notebook paper, note pads, erasers, and other supplies you have. If you haven’t designated a place in your home for paper/office supplies, do so now. This will save you a lot of time and money. Label the shelves, use containers to separate items. Containers can be check book boxes, plastic baby food containers, plastic Crisco containers—you do not need to rush out and buy containers, first look around your home to see what you have that you can use. Store the extras behind the items that will be used currently.

This is the ideal time to also set up a homework area. According to the magazine Psychology Today in the September 2007 issue,”Creating a functional, organized and comfortable area for your child to do their homework can increase their productivity and give them confidence to do well in school”. Notice it doesn’t say you have to have a desk and all that goes with it; it needs to be an organized, functional and comfortable area. If that area isn’t a desk have supplies they need for home work assignments convenient for them to access.

Create a filing system where they can put their art work or home work they want to keep ‘forever’. Right now is the time to set ground rules on how many pieces of paper they will be allowed to save. Three pieces of paper a week will add up to 864 pieces pre-school through sixth grade.

Set up a designated place to manage everyday paperwork. Make this accessible for them and for you. Have baskets or sorting bins (metal kind that sit on a desk or the kind that hang on the wall) labeled with each child’s name on them and one for the parents. When they come home from school teach them the expectation is they will unload their backpack by putting their papers in their designated spot. If there is something that has to be signed by you and returned to school this goes in your slot. But don’t just rely on them putting it in the right place, check their slots also.

You could separate your slot into more specific slots such as To Do, To Pay (picture day forms, field trip fees etc) and To File.

Okay, now you can dash to the store for all of those great buys. Go alone if you can, you will probably buy less and it won’t be a hassle without little voices saying, “Buy this, buy this, can I have this?” When you get the specific list of what your child needs then they can go with you to buy those specific items.

I hope this school year will be the best ever for you and your child/children.

Marilyn is a creative organizer who helps women, seniors and their families create space and end clutter in their homes and offices by setting up custom made systems.

Marilyn invites you to visit her website http://www.marilynbohn.com where you can find solutions to your organizing needs. She offers free tips in her blogs, articles and videos for your home and office organizing solutions.

Marilyn is a creative organizer who helps women, seniors & their families to create space and end clutter in homes and offices by setting up custom made systems.
Visit her website http://www.marilynbohn.com for free organizing tips.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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5 Important Back To School Subjects To Discuss with Your Children
by Shelly Hill

Summer is over and it’s time to get back to school. This time can be stressful for many families as they all try to adjust to new routines. You can lessen this stress and set up some guidelines by sitting down with your children for a family discussion.

Here are some important things you should be discussing with your children, before they head back to school this fall.

1. School Bus Safety – It is important to speak to your child about what kind of behavior you expect from him or her while they are at the bus stop or riding on the school bus.

2. Classroom Behavior – Let your child know what kind of behavior you expect them to exhibit while at school. All teachers expect different things from each child, remind your child to be respectful of others at all times. I think this is a good time to bring up the topic of bullying with your child. Let them know how to report this to their school officials and to you, should they know of any children who are being bullied or those who are doing the bullying.

3. Homework and Grades – If you expect your children to follow a homework routine, now is the time to outline that routine with them. I found it helpful to let our daughter know up front what the consequences would be if she did not complete homework assignments on time, or if she got unacceptable grades.

4. Stranger Danger – Your child will come into contact with many people while involved with school activities or while attending classes. It is important to go over with him or her all of the safety precautions that they need to know to protect themselves from stranger danger.

5. Family Emergency – When our daughter was young, we gave her a new family password every few months. If a family emergency would occur and we would need to send someone to the school to pick her up, they would have to provide the secret family password to her before she would even leave the school office with that particular person. Even if your child knows the person who is picking them up, it is important for that person to provide the secret family password to your child.

Heading back to school doesn’t have to be a stressful time for you and your family. Take the time out of your busy schedule and communicate with your children about what you expect from them this school year. It is important to be flexible and to have an open door policy in regards to communication.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly is a mother and grandmother living in South Central Pennsylvania and found that she could reduce back to school stress for her family by being prepared ahead of time. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free recipes.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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by Susanne Myers

A little preparation will make a big difference in how enjoyable traveling with your kids can be. Use some of our tips and ideas below, whether you and your children are traveling by car or plane. After all, this is the time of the year when we are ready to relax and rejuvenate, not stress about how to get to our favorite vacation spot while listening to “Are we there yet?” every 10 minutes. Outlined below are some ways for you to make sure both you and your kids are comfortable while traveling.

Dress everyone in comfortable loose clothing and pack a spare outfit for everyone where you can easily reach it during your trip. Pack a small pillow and a light blanket for each of the kids, as well as their favorite stuffed toy or doll to snuggle up with at night or during naptime. These not only work great on the plane or in the car, but will also make your kids more comfortable once you arrive at your destination.

Whether you travel by car or by plane, pack some drinks and snacks for the kids, so you don’t have to rely on rest stops, kiosks at the airport or the meals that are served on the plane. We usually give our daughter only water in the car. It’s not nearly as messy as some of the fruit juice or sports drinks if it gets spilled. To make plain water a little more interesting and to keep it cool, fix an insulated zippy cup or sports bottle with ice water. And believe me, they will spill it sooner or later, even if the cup claims to be spill proof. Some good choices for not-so-messy snacks are trail mix, pretzels, teddy grahams, dried fruit, fresh apple slices (drizzle them with a little lemon or lime juice to keep them from turning brown), mini marshmallows, and baby carrots. Come up with some snacks that your kids love and put them in individual zip-lock bags.

The zip-lock bags also come in handy to pack up some crafts supplies like crayons, stickers, blunt scissors and glue sticks, for the artists in your family.

To keep your little one’s entertained, you may also want to pack some coloring books, picture books, or pack a child friendly novel, like the Harry Potter books to read aloud in the car. Audio books and music CDs or tapes also come in handy.

For some great travel games you and your family can play, take a look at Car Travel Activities for Kids.

If you are traveling by car, plan in frequent stops and let the kids run around. You may want to pack a jump robe, ball or Frisbee to make moving around more fun. If you are driving through the night, plan a longer stop an hour or two before bedtime so the kids can wear themselves out and release all this build up energy before going to sleep.

Instead of eating lunch at a fast food place or restaurant off of the interstate, try bringing a picnic. You can cater to your family members tastes and it is bound to be cheaper, better and more healthy than what you would be able to find fast food place. Your kids will appreciate not having to sit still again and the sunshine and fresh air will do wonders for all of you.

If you are traveling by plane, bring some small toys, picture books, coloring books etc, to entertain your child in the seat. Depending on your child’s age, bring some gum, hard candy, zippy cup, bottle or pacifier to have them suck or chew on something during take-off and landing to equalize the pressure in their ears. You may also want to pack a sweater for your child, since the air temperature in the plane can be quite chilly.

To keep your kids excited on longer trips, make up some small goodie bags for them. Collect some Kids Meal Toys for a few weeks, or purchase some inexpensive toys at the Dollar Store and put them individually in some small brown paper bags, or even wrap them. Tell your kids that as long as they are being good, they will get a new goodie bag every 2 hours or so. You’ll be amazed how well behaved they will be, and you will keep them from being too bored on a long trip by giving them something new to play with.

Article by:

Susanne Myers is the founder of www.kinderinfo.com , the one-stop online children’s resource center. Sign up for our newsletter at www.kinderinfo.com/newsletter for even more great tips and ideas to have fun with your kids this summer

Barbara Tripp
barbarann@cfl.rr.com

Frustrated, my ten year old daughter, Rebekah, announced, “This time
I’m going to put a dime in the grumble box instead of a penny.”
For several days, her contributions to the grumble box had been more
than anyone else’s in the family.

“Maybe this will last me the rest of the week,” she said.
I was looking for ways to teach my children not to be whiners and
complainers when I came across the grumble box idea from a book
called “Little visits with God” by Allen Hart Jahsmann and Martin P.
Simon.

I also wanted to see a permanent change in their behavior. If my
children weren’t enjoying their lives now, I worried, what was going
to happen when they hit the teenage years? Would they become
apathetic or depressed? Would they be able to handle the temptations
of drugs and alcohol? I believed if their attitude changed now, we
could avoid these problems later on.

Consequently, I bought a piggy bank, labeled it “Grumble Box” and
set it in a prominent area of the house. Whenever anyone
complained, they had to put a penny in the Box. To avoid any
resentment, my husband and I joined in the fun.

Right away, the grumble box began to work like an enormous spotlight.
The weather was too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet. We didn’t
like school work, yard work, or housecleaning. We didn’t have enough
but we had too much clutter.

Apparently we were focusing on unhappiness instead of being content.
Was it any wonder that when stress and a busy lifestyle were added to
this mix my husband, Bill and I, didn’t feel the joy we use to feel?
Or that the big grins that use to be so spontaneous and plentiful on
our children’s faces had dwindled?

By the end of the first week, the changes the grumble box made in our
behavior were astonishing. We became aware of our attitude, our
speech, and how we treated one another. By the end of six months we
had completely changed the atmosphere in our house. We stopped
complaining about trivialities. We thought about what we were going
to say before we said it. We were more considerate of each other in
every respect. We appreciated simple things like sunrises, sunsets
and starry nights. We enjoyed keeping company with each other. We
lightened up and found we could laugh at the things we once
complained about.

I realized the grumble box had done its job, far surpassing my
expectations. I put the grumble box away and never used it again.

The grumble box earned an incredible $20.00. That’s 2000 complaints
that my family of four made during a six month time period. Most of
the complaints occurred during the first three months. Grace, my
youngest daughter, learned the fastest. She saw her older sister
paying in most of her allowance, sometimes having to borrow from her
allowance for the following week. Grace decided early on to use her
money to buy toys for her hamster rather than pay the grumble box.

What surprised me most was how much I complained. The grumble box
helped me realize my daughters complained, in part, because they
learned it from me.

At first we planned to take the money from the grumble box and go out
to eat. But when we heard that a local charity, which cared for
disabled children, needed money, we decided to give the money to
them. This had an unforeseen outcome. We were so moved by the
children we met, that we started volunteering an afternoon a week.

It’s been 15 years since we used the grumble box but the changes it
made in our lives were permanent. Our daughters are now in their
20′s and thankfully their teen age years were free from drugs,
alcohol or depression. Rebekah has been cited by her bosses as being
an inspiration to others for her upbeat, get-the-job-done attitude.
Grace has a special knack for making people feel comfortable and at
ease, both at home and at work.

If you see a need in your family for a grumble box here are a few tips:
1. Don’t charge for legitimate complaints such as someone getting hurt.
2. Parents should participate in the project with their children.
3. Sit down with your family before you set it up to explain what you are
doing and why.
4. Set the grumble box out in the open where it is easily accessed.
5. Set the amount that the complaint costs so the child will notice they
are losing money. We only gave our daughters a quarter per week allowance
so a penny a complaint was felt.
6. Be consistent. There are times when it isn’t convenient but do it
anyway. If you’re away from the house, take note and pay the box when you
return home.

Bio:
Barbara Tripp became inspired to write for children after the birth
of her first grandchild.
Before she entered the world of writing, she was a pre-K thru 12th
grade homeschool teacher, editor of a Christian Education Newsletter
and attended a Christian Education seminar.