Making the Drive Go Well

When we go on long road trips, we try to line up a few books on CD for the boys to listen to as we drive. They usually have a backpack full of books to read, notebooks to draw in, and things to play with. But we don't do video games (except for an occasional game on the iphone) or movies (except for really long cross-country trips).

Of course it's important to find stories that all of us can enjoy. What the 9-year old likes, the 6-year old doesn't necessarily. And not all children's stories are appealing to the parents.

The classics are generally good ones--especially if read by a good voice actor. Last year we heard Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (one was on our way to visit the Tom Sawyer Cave in Hannibal, Missouri.

Last year we also listened to Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean. We enjoyed the follow-up story to the original. I've also heard that Dave Barry's stories of Never Neverland are also good.

We recently listened to The Amazing, Astonishing, Incredible and True Adventures of Me!: Charlie Small in Gorilla City. It was a fun, imaginative adventure as read from a 9-year old's journal.

We also just finished Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements. We were all pulled into the story of a boy in a small town in Nebraska who stumbles across a mystery. The story is about the importance of keeping promises, being kind to strangers, and being person of character. But it's all tied up in a great story that kept us wanting to drive some more so we could hear the next part.


Those are our current recommendations. We'll keep you posted on what we listen to next.

Summer Parenting Struggles

Here's a link to an article I wrote on my other blog about summer parenting and the struggles sometimes.

Solution to a Bed-time Battle (for now at least)

Some nights our kids can dawdle on forever in getting ready for bed. Which would frustrate us to no end when it would take 20 or 30 minutes to brush teeth, get out clothes for the next day, and get pajamas on--stopping to play with Legos or do a dance only added to it. We knew they could easily do 3-5 minutes.

They always wanted time reading before lights out (gone are most days when they request us to read to them), but sometimes that time was getting way past what we liked.

So my wife came up with this strategy that seems to be working a little better: before they get ready for bed, we say they're allowed to read until a certain time (say 8:20). If they get ready quickly, then they have a lot of time to read. Of course there will be those nights where they just want to dawdle and don't care about ready, but it seems to be working fairly well.

Good job, dear.

Five Days of Freebies from TheBump.com

TheBump.com just launched a contest today called Five Days of Freebies. Each day this week, they’ll be giving away bottles, a nursing pillow, glider, diaper bag, stroller and crib set to one lucky winner.  Visit their site to sign up for the contest. Plus, if you comment on this Five Days of Freebies post in addition to entering through their site, you’ll receive an extra entry.
 
Here are the giveaways this week:
3/25 – Dr. Brown, gift set of bottles and nursing pillow (value, around $100) 
3/26 – Monte, Luca Glider (value, $995).
3/27 – Diaper Dude, Olive Convertible bag (value, $110)
3/28 – Bumbleride, 2013 Indie stroller ($529.99)
3/29 – Halo Innovations, Sleep Sack (value, $80 – 115)

Those are some big prizes, so be sure to comment on this post and visit TheBump.com's  Five Days of Freebies.

Kids Workshops at Home Depot

The first Saturday of the month Home Depot hosts their Kids Workshop. There are always several people there, but I'm always surprised at how many people aren't there. Our Home Depot is about 4 miles away. It's next to one of the closest Target stores. And it's still close to the inner-city. But the parents with children seem nearly suburban. Aside from a few Hispanic families and and occasional Hispanic family, almost everyone is European. I don't see African-American families there. Maybe other stores are different. I encourage more families--especially from my neighborhood--to take advantage of this opportunity.

Children receive an apron which they can wear and bring back each time (especially important with projects that require painting). They also get a little pin to put on their apron to show which projects they've completed (my boys have a jumble of nearly a dozen). They also get a certificate of completion at the end.

But the best part is letting them get to build things. When we started going, the boys usually needed us to help--especially hammering the nails into the wood. And almost always there is hammering to do (as well as securing it in place with wood glue first). Often painting. Sometimes stickers. They've made napkin holders, bird feeders, planters, picture frames, and today's project: race cars.  And it's free.

Today the boys hardly required any help from me (they each had one nail hole where the nail kept slipping sideways)--they pretty much did it all on their own. It's time together and I get to teach them how to use tools with projects they're interested in helping in.

My Book

One of the things I did while being a stay-at-home parent was a bit of writing. It's one of those things I enjoy. After several years of working to put something together, I am now a published author.


Please check out my book at Amazon or through my publisher.

Thank you!

Adjusting to Activeness

We joined the YMCA last week. We've been meaning to do something like this for a few years--at least in the winter months--but weren't sure if anything was affordable. But I need to get some exercise in the winter and my main forms are through bicycling and swimming. Both of which aren't very convenient in Minnesota in the winter.

So after school most days I take the kids and we go to the Y for 30 minutes or an hour. We usually just swim. I haven't been able to do laps much, but I take the boys to the deep end and I end up treading water for at least 20 minutes, which is still really good exercise. Occasionally they go to the kids' drop off area and I can ride a stationary bike for 20 minutes or swim a few laps alone.

The hard part is finding the balance in life. We still desire to eat supper together as a family, so that ends up being a little later than usual since we're getting home later, which also means that the kids end up going to bed shortly thereafter and we have less time for getting chores done or having time together at home (and with their mom who doesn't get to go to the Y with us during the week).

It's good for us (me) to be getting more active. Especially in these winter months when seasonal affect disorder can raise its ugly head. It just means some adjustment for us.

Talks

I heard an adolescent girl at church last night saying that her parents hadn't had "the puberty talk" with her yet. She continued to say that she didn't need it--she had heard it all at school. Now I don't doubt that her parents have had some version of "the talk" with her--maybe not just as she expects it should be.

It was a reminder for me, though, that as a parent I need to be the source of information for my children. Not the only source, and maybe not even the main source, but I definitely need to be talking with them. If my wife and I aren't talking with them, then our kids are getting all their information elsewhere: "the puberty talk," drugs, alcohol, racism, etc.

So talk with them. Tell them the things they need to know. Tell them your expectations.  Tell them why. Tell them why not. Tell them your stories. But talk.

The Birthday Party

Confession: I let my youngest son (who just turned six today) do all the work for this birthday party.

Not all the work. But he really had it planned out well. Last year I had made an obstacle course for his super-hero themed party. Apparently that was a big hit. He had spent weeks drawing out one for this year. Then he made a 3-D model of it. Seriously. He did. It involved string, cut-out paper folded dimensionally, and a few other things. Unfortunately, it rained a bit last night and the morning was quite dreary (we initially were told we'd have a big winter storm today), so we didn't set up the course. But then 15 minutes before the party started, we decided to do a short version of it. The sun came out and it ended up being 65.

He had also planned a game of "Pin the Head on the Lego Guy" (a version of the donkey game). He had drawn a Lego guy and made cut-out heads for the kids to put on it.

He had brought home some of his recent works from school, so he decorated by taping some of those on the walls.

He had also requested a Lego cake. You might have guessed there was a Lego theme going on. The boys learned at some point that if the presents their friends bring often go with the theme. So they come up with themes based on the presents they want. Shameless, I know. We didn't even announce the theme ahead of time; apparently he had told all his friends that it was a Lego theme. Which I guess works--the other parents don't have to guess what kind of present he might like.

We had also picked up some crafts at Michaels for them to do. Which, we should have thought before hand about having to have six Kindertarten-and-under kids trying to put together a wooden model...they required a bit of help with that. But over all it turned out pretty well.

And I never like coming up with activities, so it worked out well him having put it together. I heartily recommend getting the birthday kid involved in planning their party.

Happy birthday to my 6-year old!

Of Babysitters, Grandparents, and Blessings

Confession: I get jealous of the parents who live close to their families. I am envious of having "built-in-babysitters."

If you have your own parents living nearby, be thankful. We live 4-5 hours from either of our families (with the exception of my sister who is a half hour away--she used to watch our kids a bit, but she has three of her own now; she is still very willing to watch them, though). When our eldest child was born we lived less than an hour from my parents. We didn't see them too often, but they were always willing to come babysit when we needed it.

We've got great friends who help watch our kids, and we're very thankful for them. But there are plenty of times when we need someone to watch the kids when both my wife and I have to be at work or at a church event (when most of our babysitters are also at church).

If jobs were more abundant in the areas where either of our families lived, we'd consider moving closer. They're both in small town areas (which I would prefer to live and raise kids in). And not just for the baby-sitting but for our kids being able to be around their grandparents more frequently.

Now I write all this not to try and sound whiny, but to bring awareness to the blessing of having family living close to you. Not only is it great for you, but it's great for the kids (which all of this is obvious, I know).