Reviving the Blog for a Book Review!

Hello, Dear Neglected Blog! While another outlet has been slowly eating away at my blog (hello, my name is Tara and I'm a Facebook junkie!) I was given the opportunity to write a book review on my blog.

A couple of weeks ago I received a copy of Vicki Tiede's book "Parenting On Your Knees: Prayers and Practical Guidance for the Preschool Years". I wish I had received this book several years ago when my house was full of preschoolers!

Vicki weaves personal stories from parents of preschoolers together with wonderful and practical parenting tips. At the end of each chapter readers can join in with the author in prayer for their own children. There are also plenty of blank spaces for readers to write prayers and responses to prayers. As a bonus to each chapter, Vicki also includes read along book suggestions for children and for their parents!

Each chapter is only a few pages long. Long enough to sneak in during nap time, but engaging enough to feed your soul for the day. These short chapters are packed with fun stories, scriptural insights, parenting tips as well as a call to remember to bring our children before the Throne of God on a daily, if not moment by moment basis! I strongly suggest this book as a companion to any new mother. It would make a wonderful baby shower gift, a giveaway at your moms group or a great gift for yourself as you travel the road of bringing up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord!

WFMW: Break the Dawdling

I have an idea that has worked wonders for my dawdler and thought I'd share.

Toby (6, 1st grade) is a dawdler. He would literally take 8-12 minutes or more just to get his pajamas off in the mornings. DH asked me to come up with something to encourage him to get a move on! Truth be told, our first inclination was to punish for dawdling. I never really fleshed that out, but who wants to wake up to potential discipline every morning before school? So instead we're rewarding for being fast.

I created the "Toby's 10 and Under Time Sheet" and hung it on the wall. Toby has 10 minutes for each of three tasks (get dressed, eat breakfast, wash and brush) and then (because there were 4 slots on the premade sheet) he gets a bonus point if he does all three things under time. For the last two days Toby has been able to get his stuff done in far under the time allotted!! Added bonus? Aidan (8, 2nd grade) took it upon himself to run the timer and draw the stars on the chart. Aidan and Toby are my two who have the most friction. Aidan has been Toby's timekeeper AND chief cheerleader! Double bonus points for that! :) Most surprising thing? I didn't even specify an incentive. It's enough for Toby to get the points and stars on the chart.

So that's what works for me this week! See if you can find something that works for you at We Are That Family!

WFMW: Laundry update

Back in the spring I started a laundry system to tame the monster that was my laundry room. I wrote about it *here*. I have since made a few tweaks to the system and have found that it works even better for us!

Here's what I do now. I still use the triple laundry sorter. I have made a few adjustments to the "laundry buddies".

Monday: Dad and Aidan
Tuesday: Mom and Toby
Wednesday: Evan and Avery

Basically I've split the uniform wearers up a little better and made a much more noticeable distinction between sizes. I have also given up on doing towels and such on Thursday and just throw them all in when needed; often I can do the entire towel stock on Tuesday or Wednesday thus being totally done with laundry from Thursday through Sunday! How many other families of six can say they don't do laundry four days out of seven?

And how many loads do I have to do Monday through Wednesday? Usually two or three. That's it. A couple loads a few days a week and then I'm free!!!

And THAT, my friend, works for me!

Lengthening the Leash

I have a parenting theory; I never do for a child what that child can do for himself. For the past few months I've given my three-year-old daughter my library card and stood a few feet behind her while she checks out her books at the desk in the children's section of the library. This morning I decided to take it a step further. I was out of sight of the desk, yet my daughter was ready to check out her books. I gave her my card and told her to go check out her books (I did tell her to make sure she got her "ticket" receipt so I would know she completed her mission.) She took the card and confidently strode off in the direction of the check out desk.

My little daughter was positively beaming from ear to ear when she returned from her little errand! She then trotted off happily to an area of the library where older kids (elementary aged usually) sit and read. I guess she thought if she was old enough to check out her own library books without mommy right behind her she was old enough to sit where the big kids sit! :)

My Free Range Mom Moment

Lately I've been enjoying the blog, Free Range Kids. The basic premise of her blog is that we hover (helicopter parent) over our children and they don't get to experience life as we did. Kids need to be free to experience a few bumps and scrapes. They need to get dirty and entertain themselves.

So, last night I had a "Free Range Kid Moment". Jim was planning on taking the boys to a family friend's house for a camp fire. Evan asked if he could ride his bike. The friend lives about a mile away. 90% of that mile is a medium busy street (though partway down it does have a sidewalk). For a brief second I was about to say no. Then my Free Range Parenting skills kicked in and I said he could do it. He is ten. When I was ten I rode all over town on my bike with no helmet and the only expectation was that I'd be home when the street lights came on! So, with his helmet on, I sent him on his way. I also told him that he had to call me when he got there, to which Jim asked, "should we send the cell with him?" I told Jim that Evan wouldn't need the cell. He could use the house phone at the friend's house just like we did! :)

I encourage you to read the blog Free Range Kids and think about how you can loosen the apron strings a little and let your kids have some freedom today!

Computer time for kids

All summer I've been chasing my kids off the TV and off the computer. It drives me nuts. I devised a simple way to keep track of how much time each child spends online and which kid has had his online time!

I gave each child a post-it note with his name on it. I also wrote how much time each child has on this post-it. Evan (9) gets 30 mins/day. Aidan (6) gets 25, Toby (5) has 20 and Avery (3) has 15. These post-its are stuck to one side of the monitor. I also have a timer sitting on the computer desk. When the child has his time he moves his tag to the other side of the monitor and sets the timer.

No, there are no roll-over minutes. This ain't AT&T!

Also, if the child forgets to start the timer he gets booted off as soon as Mom figures it out. And if they go over their time? They lose it all the next day.

Yup. I'm so mean.

So far it's worked great!

VBS

Just a couple quick bullet points.

1. I am so thankful for Vacation Bible School! The boys are all old enough to go this year, so for several weeks this summer they will be, in no particular order, Evangelical Free, Baptist and Presbyterian. I think Avery will also be old enough to be Presbyterian, but don't quote me on that. I just love the break in the routine, the lessons and songs the kids learn and the Truth that they are being taught.

2. I just got back from my pre-screening appointment at Mayo to determine if I'm a good candidate for a research study in the endocrine department. Turns out I am, so I'm now up for four overnight visits over the next four months. It's a paying gig, so we're not complaning.

3. Evan and I are taking a little vacation starting on Saturday! We're traveling to Florida to visit my sister/brother-in-law and Mickey Mouse. :) So exciting!