They Say Organization is the Key – Who’s They?

See, I already missed a day of blogging! When you’re a WAHM of three it’s so easy to get sidetracked, especially when the children have the flu and are not in school.  I decided to just pick four ideas that can help me today to keep myself organized and above the sea of chaos.

1.       Do To List:  Yes, tried and true this is a very important one.  I choose to keep a notebook nearby to keep my list handy. I add to it constantly during the day. Whether it’s a business task or a personal/home task, I keep it all on one list. Always on the top of my list is laundry. So after getting the kids breakfasts and lunches ready, I throw in a load of laundry. My goal is at least two loads a day to keep the mountains at bay!

2.       Check E-mail: Every morning I check my e-mail and add any tasks to my To Do List. I go through these as quickly as possible, kind of like snail mail; opening and discarding anything I don’t need daily or it can load up like the laundry!

3.       Check Facebook:  This is where I really need to cut down my time. Besides reading personal posts, I look for relevant posts from other sources to see if I need to repost on Facebook or Twitter.  I need to treat this a little like my e-mail too, go through quickly and don’t read those that aren’t relevant. I’ll keep working on this one.

4.       Write Blog Posts:  With the above three, anything can pop into my head to distract me, but this is a very important one that I need to keep my focus on.  Setting a timer has helped to keep me on track.  I’ll set the timer for 15 minutes and totally focus on writing, take 10 minutes to check e-mails or other information that may have come up, then go back for 15 more minutes on blog posts. 

Of course all this gets thrown out the window when a child calls home from school because their sick!  The only thing you can do then is pick up the pieces and continue where you left off. 

What helps to keep you organized? Please share!

The Rules of Kids and Body Safety

Last Friday I posted a link to momeomagazine from The Positive Self’s Facebook page. The article entitled Parenting 101: How To Teach Your Kids About Body Safety really made me think about how I expect my children to show affection to friends and relatives.  I observed myself breaking rule #4 "Let your children decide for themselves how they want to express affection."  I would say give “Aunt Barb” or “Uncle Bob a hug and kiss goodbye.” When I should just state that they need to say goodbye and let them decide how to express their affection.  The other rule I my ears perked up on was when an Aunt said “Hey Luke can I tell you a secret?”  I remembered rule #1, No secrets. Period. Since I was telling the Aunt earlier about this article, we continued our discussion that there should be no secrets in the family, that lines of communication should always be left open.

Raising children can make you hyperaware of what’s going on around them. What their hearing, seeing, doing. I’m glad I continue to find ideas and tips that can help me along the way!

A Post a Day! Can I Do It?

I have set a goal of one post per day (weekdays that is). I realized that my posts are far and few between, mostly finding something that irritates me and posting my outrage which you would think would be a daily occurrence.  So I’m pondering what to write about… racking my brain until something clicks…thinking, thinking…anyone, anyone…Bueller….(crickets)…

From Porn Star-Esque to The Sound of Music

From a suggestively porn star-esque spread in GQ to a commercial for Dove Hair Care, no wonder our young girls are confused about their sexuality, I’m confused.  Glee star Lea Michele stars in a new commercial for Dove in which she sings and dances to the tune These Are a Few of My Favorite Things from the movie The Sound of Music.  This is on the heels of her GQ spread sucking on a lollipop in underwear by a school locker and her “spread” in another shot. 



The principle behind Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is to celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves.  The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty teaches girls how to look objectively at fashion models, pop culture, and the media.  Teaching them not to fall into this fairytale and beauty myth, so as to keep their self-esteem and body image intact.

So, I’m confused. On one hand Lea Michele is portraying a porn star look and on the other hand she (and Dove) are telling us to “keep on doing our favorite things”.   Our young girls now have another distorted image of what a girl should look like and feel. Dove led me to believe that they were above the sexualization of our young girls; I’m beginning to wonder why I support them.  But let’s take the pressure off of Lea Michele for a moment and ask Dove, what the hell were you thinking?

Empowering Our Girls: A Plea to the Media and the Superstars that Shape Them

How can we empower our young girls to create a healthy foundation? To grow up with confidence and self esteem in a world where the media constantly bombards them with super skinny models, dolls that look like a name I don’t want to print here, and actresses and singers that are basically prostituting themselves.  Obviously sex sells.  But STOP trying to sell it to my 7 year old! Do these actresses and singers ever step back and look at what they’re doing to themselves and their fans? Don’t they realize they are demeaning women all over the world by “prostituting” themselves in the name of popularity and money? Come on ladies, you are more than that! You need to stop listening to the idiots around you that are telling you this is working out great. For whom, them?  How about empowering young girls to use the gifts that they were given to make a positive impact on the world. 

To be sexy is to be confident in who you are without having to walk around half-naked. To use your intelligence, humor and love to lift others up instead of tearing them down by making them feel self-confident and un-sexy. You have the ability to empower other young girls and women. You have tremendous influence. This is a huge responsibility. Use this power wisely to help raise these girls into the self-confident, intelligent and beautiful women that they were born to be.  Go back in the closet and put some clothes on! Please! Being a parent is hard enough, help us out!!

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”)

 

Love Thyself First

I am currently reading Louise Hay’s book “You Can Heal Your Life”. The one thing that she focuses on is that you need to love yourself before you can love anyone else. She says that no matter what your problems seem to be, loving yourself can work miracles in your life. One of her suggestions is a mirror exercise that I decided to work on with my children. I posted a 3 x 5 card on the mirror and we are to look into our eyes in the mirror and say: “(name) I love you and accept you exactly as you are” (I changed it up a bit from what Hay had in her book). I was met with calm uncertainty as I explained this to my two boys, Joseph (12) and Luke (9). I left them alone as they took their turn in the bathroom, behind closed doors of course. Joseph told me he quietly looked into his eyes and repeated the words on the card, whereas the first time Luke did this exercise, he had to repeat it in his mind because of his self-consciousness. Although the second time he asked me to stand next to him and he was able to say it out loud (progress already!). McKenzie (7) on the other hand was only too excited to try it several times. Trying to remember all the words and glowingly looking into her eyes she repeated the phrase. After which she ran around the house joyfully singing “McKenzie, I love you! McKenzie, I love you!”

It’s easy to go through life living on the outside, afraid and ignoring what’s going on inside. But I believe that once we truly begin to love and respect ourselves and our bodies, we will have a better sense of who we are meant to be and feel free to be that wonderful person.

I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of this exercise. I feel pretty certain it will have a big impact on their confidence. My hope is that they will treat themselves a little more kindly when they get upset with themselves, and in turn have a little more patience and respect for each other.