Sidewalk Chalk

My children love sidewalk chalk. They can play with it for hours and I know that the next time it rains it will be washed away.

Of course, drawing is always fun but there are many more things you can do with sidewalk chalk. It can be used to trace around our bodies as we lie on the ground, thus creating a picture to color in. Also, we can use it to make a hopscotch or four square game. We can draw a road to drive toy cars around or an obstacle course for riding bicycles.

If you find yourself without anything to do some sunny afternoon, grab a tub of sidewalk chalk and sit with your children in your driveway. Start drawing and talking about what you can draw and before you know it everyone will join in.

Arts and Crafts at Home

Whether you are running a daycare or just hanging out with your toddler, arts and crafts are a favorite pastime.

The toilet paper roll animals in this photo were made by the children in my daycare. They are free printable activities from DLTK Kids

Another activity from the same site is making paper bag puppets.

If you would like some good ideas, there are many websites which offer free ideas, along with complete instructions.
















Check out some of the sites below:

• Preschool Education
• Love to Know Crafts
• Making Friends
• Craftown

Once you have gotten through all of these crafts, you will be an old hand and can probably come up with some of your own!

Of course, the old standbys like finger painting, Play Doh and Spirograph are all great too.

Staying (getting) in shape

Since mothers of young children are usually on-call all day, it's sometimes difficult to find time for exercise. I never could figure out how to get to the gym or go walking without getting up at 4 a.m. or staying up until midnight. That's what I do, of course. I have finally joined a gym and I go at 9 p.m. every night. I tried doing it the morning but it was just too much. If you don't want to go to the gym though, there are a few creative alternatives you could consider.

• Watch your children and do what they do - children are in constant movement; wiggling, bouncing, climbing, rolling, lifting their legs, bending, swaying.
• Do an exercise video or DVD with your child. If he/she is cooperative, you can do something like yoga or Taibo together. Your child might get a kick out of it.
• Chase after a ball or play on the playground with your child.
• Play games like tag or follow the leader, or dance to a CD in the living room

The only rule about losing weight and staying in shape is; if you use more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. You might as well have fun while you're at it!

Love those Band-Aids!

Have you ever noticed how much children love bandages? I can't keep them in the house. God forbid I get the kind with pictures of princesses or Dora. The kids will play with them, putting them on imaginary wounds and patching up their dolls.

If I put them up and say, "Quit using all the Bandages. We won't have any when we actually need them." My kids will invent reasons why I need to take the bandages out again.

"Ow-y mommy. Look. Right here."
"Where? I don't see anything.?"

Next I am being shown a faint scratch or a scab from 3 days ago.

"Right here mommy. It really hurts. Ple-e-e-ease."
"Oh for heaven's sake," I say. "That isn't even bleeding. Band-Aids are for things that are bleeding."
"I really need it," they'll say. "Ple-e-e-ease"

And, well, it really depends on how strong I'm feeling that day, but they'll often end up sporting one more bandage - or two.

Racing into the future

Today my older daughter ran laps for the arts. She had a handful of sponsors and for 30 minutes she ran. She looked like a marathon runner, her long, thin legs stretched out as she put her heart and soul into her task. I was so proud watching her.

Afterward, I went to find her. There she stood all alone, looking as if she were contemplating the meaning of life.


"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"You did great out there."
"Thanks."
"Are you sure you're okay? You're being awfully quiet."
"I'm fine."

She's so young. 7 years old. She's always seemed older than her years and I expect so much of her, but she's still my baby. Every once in a while she'll crawl up in my lap and just want me to hold her and I get a little teary. Childhood passes so quickly and soon she'll be racing off toward the rest of her life without me. It's at these times that I just want to stop time and let her know how very special she is.

Giving equal attention to your children

Someone recently asked me how he could give equal attention to all three of his children. "There don't seem to be enough hours in the day," he said. I though about that, then talked to some people and searched the internet. The best answer I could find is: You can't.

Each child has his or her own needs at any given time and there aren't enough hours in the day to give each child the exact same attention. The best you can do is to make sure that all of your children feel loved and cared for. If you are coaching your eldest son's basketball team this season, perhaps you can volunteer to lead your daughter's bluebird group next summer.

Make sure to spend time with all of your children; reading, singing and playing. You can go on outings as a group. Perhaps a trip to the zoo or a picnic would be fun.

Schedule one day a month per child to do something special, one-on-one. Your spouse should do this as well. This could be anything from going to a sporting event to getting a manicure. It doesn't matter what the activity, only that you are spending quality time together and making each individual child feel special.

Sneaking in the veggies

Vegetables are a very important part of our diet. Low in carbohydrates and high in fibre, they contain many vitamins and minerals such as Calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Iron, etc. The list goes on and on.

MyPyramid.gov has a plethora of vegetable-related information.

Both of my children, at one time or another, have refused to eat vegetables. Our evening meal usually contains the balance of their daily vegetables, so I work hard to get in as many as possible. Sometimes they will eat a little salad, and they are required to eat the miso soup (in which I put just about everything-from bean sprouts and onions to asparagus and green beans). Even if they just drink the soup and leave the vegetables, I figure some of the vitamins must have cooked into the broth.

Sometimes I make steamed vegetables but they largely remain uneaten, so I try to sneak in as many as I can. Grated carrots can be put in anything from meatloaf to spaghetti. Asparagus can be cut up very small and put in stir-frys, soup or pasta salad and I just figured out a new one: When making stir-frys, I add in chopped up spinach at the end. It gets smaller and soft and blends in so well with the food that it's not very noticeable and difficult to pick out.

I know one mom who keeps jars of baby vegetables handy to secretly mix into food.

I looked around on the web to see what some other moms are doing and most of them seem to be doing more or less what I am. I did come up with this partial list of alternative ideas:

• In a US News article last December, biopsychologist Julie Mennella is quoted as saying, "You can't mask the flavor if the goal is to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables." "Plus, by not being shown the pleasures of eating produce," the article continues, "children miss out on one of life's delights. Who wouldn't want to swoon over artichoke hearts or savor a sun-ripened fig?"

• Safer Child, Inc. introduces "The No Thank You Bite." Make it a rule for your child to eat at least one bite of everything on the plate and gradually he will discover that some of them aren't so bad. They wrote that it might take some hysterics and timeouts, but if you stick to it, your child will stop fighting it and it will become a rule. They also suggest introducing new foods every few days so your child gets used to trying new things.

• Barbara Clark at Associated Content suggests homemade soup with lots of vegetables before the evening meal.

A neat website for parents and kids is The Kid Zone by the Arizona Food Network. There is information for parents and activities and games for children.

Sleep? What's that?

When our children are infants, we don't sleep. We know it's this way, we expect it. What we didn't know was that in order to have some alone time, read, go to the gym, study or play computer games, we have to give something else up.

We can't give up housework...or can we? No. We can't stop changing diapers or making meals. We still have to help with homework and give baths. The only thing we can give up without anyone complaining is sleep.

Sleep. I go for days, or sometimes weeks, with only 5 or 6 hours a day. Then I crash. My husband comes home from work one day and I say, "I have to go lay down. You can take care of dinner, right?" Off I go. I lie down and sleep for 12 hours straight. What an absolutely marvelous feeling!

I've tried to go to bed on time every night, but then I can't get any of MY stuff done. I start feeling antsy. The computer calls to me... Oh, who needs sleep anyway?

The initial quandry: to work or not to work?

Most women who have a career, whether it be as a secretary or a lawyer, think that they'll go right back to work after they have their first child. I did. But once she was born, I couldn't bear to leave her. My husband and I needed the extra income, but couldn't justify having her raised by someone else. If you have a high-powered, well-paid career as a doctor, lawyer, or executive, you won't want to give up your position. In this case perhaps you hire a nanny or have your partner stay home with the baby. The decision is pretty clear. For the majority of working moms, however, that $10-15 an hour job just doesn't seem worth it. After we are finished paying for childcare, dry cleaning and gas, there's not really much left over. We are working 40 hours a week in order to pay someone else to raise our newborn child. I decided to stay home but needed an income so, over the course of the next 7 years, I tried all kinds of alternatives.

• Freelance proofreading
• Selling health products
• Running a Kindermusik program
• Working part-time as a tutor

When I finally decided I had to go back to work I was in for a very big shock. My experience was dated. Most employers seemed to think that I had either become senile or forgotten everything I ever knew about personnel and accounting. My options consisted of low-paid, menial jobs that neither challenged nor motivated me. I was paying more for daycare than I was making. What did I do?

• Openned a small daycare
• Started writing; articles, short stories, novels

Some of the children I watch have single mothers who work and go to school. The level of determination and hard work I see in these young women is inspiring. They are striving toward a better life for themselves and their children. These moms have to be away from their children for a certain amount of time each week, but with the rising popularity of online education, they juggle their hours to spend the maximum amount of time with their kids.

I am lucky and have been very blessed to have been able to stay home with my children. They drive me a little crazy sometimes, but I love them and wouldn't have it any other way.