According to family tradition, my kids woke to a small Valentine’s surprise from Mom and Dad.  This year, much to our surprise, my husband and I woke up to a few gifts as well.  My oldest daughter (age 10) gave us a “You Are Jar”.  She found a canning jar in the kitchen and filled it with little slips of paper to remind us of all the things we are to her…handsome, fun, giving, supercalifragilisticexpealadocious…you get the idea.  My younger daughter (age 7) delivered a hand-crafted aluminum foil bowl carefully wrapped in toilet paper and countless yards of scotch tape.  My 8 year-old son created his own version of a loving Valentine card by thoughtfully warning us of an impending alien invasion – complete with detailed illustrations and a request to ‘send help!’.

They didn’t create these little tokens at school or church.  No teacher lectured them on showing love to your parents and handed them supplies.  They just spontaneously (and independently of each other) wanted to show us how much they cared.  Yesterday I just laughed at the little gifts but as I sat at my desk today and looked at the presents it hit me…maybe all those lessons on showing love to our family are actually sinking in.  Maybe they really have been listening.  What better Valentine’s gifts can a Mom ask for?

I know this is a bit of a departure from my regular type of post, but I want to record these mothering lightbulb moments too; mostly so I can refer back to them on rough days when my house is filled with something other than Lotsa Love.  I hope your Valentine’s Day was filled with a few little lightbulb moments too.  Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Managing the Morning Mayhem

For most families, morning is the most chaotic time of the day.  In a very limited amount of time, we struggle to get everyone clean, dressed, fed, and ready for the day.  Add in permission slips to sign, checks to write, and lunches to make – you’re lucky to get out the door at all, much less on time.  Save yourself tons of stress this year by trying our a few of these helpful hints.

Clothes Control

Help your kids help themselves each morning by making them an under-bed clothes organizer.  Look for a large shallow container equipped with wheels at your local super-store.  Trim a large sheet of foam core poster board to create the dividers.  Secure the dividers with clear packing tape and label each section with a day of the week.  On laundry day, have your kids select their outfits from the week (complete with socks and underwear), store them in their organizer and slide the box under the bed.

Send Them Packing

Most mornings we’re in such a rush that we tend to take over our kids’ responsibilities.  We search for library books, track down tennis shoes, and pack lunches.  However, all these chores can be done by our kids if they’re given a reasonable amount of time.  The solution?  Start your a.m. in the p.m.  Designate a certain time each night as “family prep time.”  Help your family remember by setting the alarm on an inexpensive wristwatch and tucking it in a central location in the house (like on top of the TV or in a kitchen drawer).  When the alarm sounds, everyone is required to drop what he or she is doing and prepare for the next day by packing lunches, preparing backpacks, and setting out jackets and shoes.

Snack Central

A simple rolling cart with drawers can be key to keeping your sack lunch supplies and after-school snacks under control.  In the top drawer, stash your sandwich-making supplies such as bread, peanut butter, plastic utensils, and a box of zip-top bags.  Small zip-top bags filled with lunch snacks store neatly in the second drawer.  Reserve the bottom drawer for juice boxes and water bottles.  When it’s time to pack a lunch, simply wheel the cart out of your pantry or laundry room.  A cart with a solid top creates a conveniently low work surface that’s perfect for school age kids.

Picture-Perfect To Do Lists

“Did you remember to brush your teeth?”  This is just one of the many reminders parents shout out to their children each morning.  Motivate even young kids to establish their own morning routine by making an easy to-do list.  First, sit down with your child and determine his or her daily morning duties – i.e. making the bed, brushing teeth, fixing hair, etc.  Next, grab your camera and snap a photo of your child performing each task.  Print the photos and arrange them, in order, on the bedroom door or bathroom mirror.  Remind all your children to double-check their lists before they head down for breakfast.

*This post is an excerpt from an article published by Organize Magazine, Sept/Oct 2007, Volume 02, pg 42-49, authored by Maria Eckersley, photos by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

• An Eye for An Eye: Often the most successful discipline takes the least amount of effort.  When my 9 year-old daughter left the lids off the markers and ditched them on the carpet (for the third time), I grabbed one of the washable markers and wrote “I love my MOM!” in big letters on her arms and forehead – then sent her out to play with her friends.  She was mortified, of course, but I’m pretty sure the message sunk in.
• Stairs to Nowhere: When I was little, my Dad would make us run laps around the house (one lap for each year of age).  I adapted this technique for my own house by making my kids run up and down our 15-step flight of stairs.  I love this one because it can be used for almost anything.  If they take 45 minutes to finish a 10 minute chore, 5 sets of stairs.  If they completely ignore me when I ask them to turn off the wii, 10 sets of stairs.  If they get out of a math test by telling their teacher I’m in the hospital having a baby, …well you get the idea.
• A Different Kind of Pillow Fight: There are few things I hate more than shouting – especially whiny shouting.  When they were little, I used to force the offenders to sit across from each other and sing the BYU fight song until they could be friendly again.  Now that they’re older I don’t have as much time to be the mediator so I’ve instituted a new rule – the kids are welcome to shout at each other as loud as they can as long as they cover their faces with a pillow and shout through it.  Generally I’ve found that the muffled result causes a lot of laughter and cools down any heated tempers.

Ok, you know the drill, I shared a few of mine now it’s time for you to share yours.  Good news!  This month I have a great little commenting incentive for you.  Mariah from the Etsy shop ‘look what Mariah Made with love‘ has generously offered to give away one of her incredibly popular Onsie Cuddle Sacs to a very lucky commenter.  These adorable little newborn garments are a perfect example of form meeting function – they’re made of gorgeous materials (don’t you just love that chunky grosgrain ribbon at the bottom?) and the clever design makes those frequent newborn diaper changes a cinch.  Whether you’ve got a little of your own or just want to have a fabulous baby shower gift on hand – you’ll definitely want to give this giveaway a try.

The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday (June 21) at midnight CST.  The winner will be chosen at random, contacted by email and announced here.  There’s no catch…you can choose any fabric you like from her collection and the shipping is included.

As always, to those of you who participate, thanks in advance for passing it on.

*This giveaway is now closed.

And the winner (chosen by the iPhone app iChoose) is #16 Rachal.  Congratulations on your big win, Rachal.  I’ll be contacting you via email tonight.  Thanks to all of you for sharing your parenting wisdom.

Until that happy day arrives, I’m afraid I’m stuck with the status quo…sticky tubes of crusty toothpaste and scary kid toothbrushes that look as if they’ve never encountered running water.  In the past, I’ve used plastic baskets inside the drawer in a feeble attempt to protect the wood.  Of course the big problem with this solution is that it assumes your kids will actually put their dental supplies in the baskets and not just shove them in the back of the drawer, like mine seem to do.  Plus, every now and again you’re actually obligated to clean those sticky baskets – gross.  I needed a better plan.

Last week, as I was lining my cookie sheet with aluminum foil to avoid having to wash it later, it dawned on me.  Why not get rid of the baskets all together and opt for an easier, disposable solution.  I grabbed the foil and headed to the kids’ bathroom.  Ten minutes later (nine of which were spent trying to clean the old toothpaste off the bottom of the drawer) I had a sparkly-clean drawer that was toothpaste-proof.  Now, when the goopy mess starts to build, I just toss out the foil and add a new sheet.  It’s cheap, easy, and totally kid-friendly.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

First, I bought an inexpensive drawstring mesh laundry sack for each of my kids.  I found them in the laundry aisle of WalMart for around $2.  Next, I used a sharpie to label the loop at the top with the size and season (ie Girl sz 5/6 Spg/Sum).  At our house the bags are stashed in their closets right next to their drawers so they’re easily accessible.  If your kid’s closet is short on space, you could hide them under the bed or hang them on the back of the closet door.

When laundry day rolls around I divide the kids clothes into their baskets and then pull out any clothes that are out of season and put them in a separate pile.  The kids put their regular clothes in their drawers and then add the out of season pile to their mesh bag.    Once the weather has permanently changed (and the chances for short sleeve weather are slim to none) I take the entire bag down to the basement and store it in a labeled Rubbermaid container.

The really nice part about this solution is that it’s totally kid friendly.  If we have really warm day, it’s easy for the kids to pull open the drawstring and dig around in their bags for a pair of shorts.  Likewise, it’s even easier for them to put the shorts back in the sack the following week.  It also makes finding clothes for younger siblings tons easier.  Since the bags are labeled with size and season, when my younger daughter grows into my older daughter’s size all I have to do is find the right size bin, choose the right season, and bring the entire bag of clothes upstairs.

Granted, it’s not the prettiest solution.  If you’re the kind of person that hates looking at a sack of unfolded clothes this may not work for you.  If you’re like me, however, and you don’t care how your kids closet looks as long as it’s functional – this solution might be just the right fit.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

During the morning rush to get the kids off to school, I found myself checking multiple papers to find out what was happening that day. Did we need to pack library books or p.e. shoes? Is it a hot lunch day or do I need to pack a lunch? Does she need to bring her girl scout vest or ballet shoes? Some things were on the calendar and some were tacked up on the fridge. I felt like I was wasting time that I couldn’t spare, so I created this weekly planner to help my first grader manage her own schedule.

It’s a very simple velcro system. On it I list the days of the week Monday through Saturday. I created icons in MS Word (you should be able to adapt them easily) for each of my daughter’s usual activities and color coded the titles for easy sorting. Under each day on the chart, I’ve added a strip of velcro that can hold three icons. The first icon shows what’s happening at school that day (art, library, pe, music, computer). The second icon shows what type of lunch she’s having (cold or hot). The third icon shows reminders and afterschool activities (test, homework, gymnastics, etc.).

Usually, on Sunday night at family council we’ll gather all the various calendars and reminders and my daughter will arrange the icons on her chart. She’ll also use this chart to help her know what clothes to put in her under-bed clothes organizer. For example, if she sees that she’s got PE on Tuesday, she knows that she needs to pack an outfit that will work tennis shoes.

We post this “planner” on the fridge so she can see it each morning when she’s getting dressed and packing her backpack. It has made a huge difference in our morning routine. I’ll also use it throughout the week when her teacher sends home reminders and other info. I think this one will stick with us for several years. Just thought I’d pass it on.

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