What Are Your Shoulds?

As I walked past the pile of laundry on my couch, I said to myself “I should fold that laundry”. Then I started thinking about all the shoulds in my life and which ones are important.

I should…

1.       File all those papers stacked under my desk

2.       Take the kids for a bike ride

3.       Wash the dishes

4.       Clean the kids room

5.       Play legos with the kids

6.       Bring out the Halloween decorations

7.       Lose weight

8.       Get a haircut

9.       Exercise

10.   Brush the dog

11.   Sit down and be present with the kids when they need help with their homework

12.   Read with the kids

13.   Garden

14.   Find a new job

15.   Pay bills

And of all the shoulds, guess which ones will be remembered the most? Even though the other shoulds can stress me out but need to be done, like paying the bills, pushing everything else aside and being present for my children SHOULD be the most important. What are your shoulds? Which ones are really important and will be remembered the most?

Top Ten Reasons Why I Don’t Like the Kids Back In School

A while back I posted on the top ten reasons I couldn’t wait for school to start.  Now here are my top ten reasons why I don’t like the kids back in school.

1.       Getting up early

2.       Getting the kids up early

3.       Making lunches

4.       Pleading for them to hurry

5.       Busses packed with too many kids

6.       Forgotten homework at school

7.       No peanuts or tree nuts

8.       Homework

9.       Early to Bed

10.   Getting up early

Getting myself up early is one thing, but getting the kids up can sometimes be a little frustrating.  Luke loves to sleep in, on weekdays only of course, and at times we have literally dragged him and his bedding out of his bedroom into the living room to wake him up.  He is the ultimate lounger. Lying on the floor with the dog, curling back up with his bedding and then eventually crawling his way on the floor to the bathroom to get ready. That’s all after I’ve begged him to tell me what he wants for breakfast.

At the beginning of school, I put the kids in charge of making most of their lunch.  They needed to put the dry stuff in their lunch boxes, I would make the sandwich and we would put the sandwich and the cold stuff in their lunch box in the morning.  Well, we’ve gotten out of the habit already so I have found myself once again adding this chore to my morning rush to get them out the door.  I need to re-implement that one.  The other frustrating thing about lunches is that my two elementary school kids can’t have any peanuts, tree nuts or any product produced in a plant that also produces peanuts or tree nuts.  So guess what they have eaten for lunch the last couple of years? You got it, PB&J! Now what am I going to do.  I bought them three different choices of deli meats and luckily they have pretty much eaten whatever sandwich I pack. Although I keep forgetting about items like sub buns or non-nutty snacks that may have been made in a plant that processes peanuts.  One morning  the kids had Nutella for breakfast and although they brushed their teeth before they left for school, I didn’t think they washed their hands. So I had to call school to ask their teachers to sterilize them before they contaminated anyone! I’ll post more on this one another time. There’s going to be a meeting at school soon to discuss this new rule, so I want to get all my facts first.

So on to the bus.  Because of budget constraints, they combined some bus routes.  So the kids were packed onto the bus sitting four on a seat.  Just packing them in! I didn’t think this was very safe and started driving them until they eventually split the route back up at which time they went back on the bus. 

I’m going to end now because I will just end up getting myself all worked up about not too much.  Luckily we have a fantastic school district with many wonderful teachers and I am thankful everyday for the work that they do!  There are so many children who are not given the opportunity to really soar in life so I am truly grateful for what is available to us, and what we can make of it.

To Buy or Not to Buy?

With the kids going back to school, that meant we went shopping last week for supplies. I decided to have the kids spend their own money for supplies in hopes that they wouldn’t need to purchase everything new if mom wasn’t dolling out the money. Although there is nothing like the smell of new crayons as you start the new school year, we have a box filled with about 500 used crayons that are aching to be used. So they had three weeks of allowance plus a little more money that I threw in just to be fair since Luke and McKenzie needed new backpacks. When I told them they could keep any leftover money, well that’s when their eyes lit up!

Luke and McKenzie received their supply lists from their teachers in the mail the day we went shopping and Joseph pulled his up on-line. They eagerly went through the lists and all our recycled supplies to find what they needed. Besides crayons they found pens, pencils, notebooks that had a few pages colored on, binders, two pocket folders and composition books. So off we went to the store to purchase what they really needed and they were as thrifty as could be. Joseph even went so far as to return a new composition book he just purchased because it was $2.00 cheaper at another store.

Here are a few strategies for parents to teach their kids about money management. You can read the full article discussing all these strategies from Family Magazine Group.

Strategy No. 1: Hold family financial meetings and introduce the basics of household budgets: the inflow outflow equation.

Strategy No. 2: Use a "hands-on" approach and consider your children's maturity and developmental levels of understanding when teaching the income outgo budget equation.

Strategy No. 3: Develop a positive attitude toward money management by practicing what you preach.

Strategy No. 4: Give your children an allowance, and structure it so they must manage it themselves.

Children can be pretty thrifty and inventive when it comes to saving money for a prized possession like a new game or toy they’ve been eyeing. I did draw the line when Joseph said he would use duct tape on an old binder he wanted to re-use. I figured the new binder that cost a dollar would be cheaper than covering a binder with half a roll of duct tape!

Top 10 Reasons I Can’t Wait for School to Start!

1. The house will be quiet.
2. For approximately 6 hours there will be no toys, books, iPods…I’m sorry, iPod touches, strewn about the house.
3. No begging to do chores.
4. No breaking up fights.
5. No breaking up fights.
6. No trying to explain why a friend didn’t call back (even though the call was placed 5 minutes ago).
7. No throwing them outside and locking the door (you think they would enjoy playing outside).
8. No cleaning the pool.
9. No interruptions while I work.
10. Read #1 again!

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my children dearly, but they really need to get back to some structure. As a WAHM it’s difficult to keep them occupied and out of my hair while I work, as well as not get into each other’s hair…literally like gum and food. 

 

We did a lot of travelling at the beginning of summer vacation: visited an amusement park, went camping several times, a weeklong trip to DC and the oldest went to horse camp for a week. So we did our best to keep them busy.  But now as we wrap up our last couple of weeks, its been hair raising (I’m noticing a hair trend here)! Emotions are running a little high in our house. Excitement over seeing old friends again and getting new school supplies, anxiety about the first day of class, will they like their teachers, will the classes be hard, why do I have to get up SO early (me, not the kids)!

So I’m ready, they’re not. I’m sure households around the country are going through the same drama. Soon enough thousands of mothers in this wonderful nation will be pouring themselves a cup of coffee and exhaling a collective sigh as we listen to the quiet drone of the refrigerator. Enjoy!

(Stay tuned for a post on “Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate It When School Starts”)