Modern Parents Messy Kids

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Parenting Styles: The “Spring Break (Is Over) Blues”

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Is it just me, or is spring break awesome? And not the college kind of spring break, which, if memory serves me here, was fun in an alcohol-specific way. But I’m talking about spring break in my mid-thirties, four kids deep, when two weeks off of school doesn’t even mean a vacation. Instead, it means three things that I’ve come to deeply appreciate: No alarm clocks (except for my husband, and we all feel terrible for him). No making school lunches, and for some reason, this feels … [Read more...]

7 Ideas From a Teacher On What to Do with The Kids Over Spring Break

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The kids are about ready to break free from the monotony of school for a week.  This means two things...no packing lunches and we need to keep them busy for the week. It's a blessing and a curse. While I love having my kids home without the schedules we are normally bound to, I also can feel a little stressed out when I start to think of how we will spend the hours. This year, I'm channeling my inner 1st grade teacher and using those years of experience to remember what kids need during … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: The One about Choking and the Internet

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One of the things that really, truly scares me as a parent is a choking child. Give me bloody knees and elbows and hematomas sprouting from foreheads, even sprains, and fractures. None of that is a party, sure, but it’s all manageable stuff. A kid who’s actually choking is a race against the clock, and it makes me kind of panicky just writing that. I’ve never had been put to this particular test, probably because the powers that be know it’s beyond my abilities. But a few weeks ago, my … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: When You Have 3 Siblings, You Share Your Parents

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  This morning, our two-year-old woke up crying. She’s a sunny kid most of the time, padding downstairs to beam and greet us all, “Good merning!” However, we’ve been dealing with runny noses and terrible coughs and croup and double ear infections in our house over the last two weeks – horror – and E was the last of the kids to go down. I scooped her up and climbed into my bed with her. She snuggled up and closed her eyes until her big sister slid in to join us. E took immediate, … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: I’m NOT Teaching My Kid to Have Grit… And It’s Totally Fine

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Our five-year-old locked himself in the bathroom at the neighborhood coffee shop a few months ago, and now we're dealing with the fallout. At the start of the school year, I fell into the habit of a latte and a chat with a few other moms before the 3:30 pm chaos, so we hit this place up regularly. It’s not every single school day, but we’re there enough that the baristas all know me by name and drink order – and my husband has pointed out more than once that an espresso machine would be a lot … [Read more...]

Mom Rant: Stop Calling Your Husband Your Biggest Kid

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I'm so interested to know how you guys feel about Jessica's post today- she certainly has some strong opinions! Do you agree? Not agree? Does the whole thing just make you smirk? Stop by our facebook or instagram pages and let me know... I saw something on Pinterest the other day, one of those e-cards or memes or whatever that had a picture of a goofy guy in his 30s giving a thumbs up and the caption, “Your husband will always be your biggest and oldest child that requires the most … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: My Kid Wakes Up Too Damn Early

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  It’s 4:30 am.  You’re in a peaceful slumber… until your mind slowly registers the cries of “Mom! MOM! Mooooooom! Waaaaaaaaah!” You go into your child’s room and try to get her to fall back asleep. Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t. But one thing’s for sure: by that point, there’s no way you’ll be able to. Sound familiar? Almost every parent I know has experienced a bout of early waking. For the lucky few, it’s a short period caused by a sleep regression or illness. But for many, … [Read more...]

How to Set Up a Successful Homework Routine with Your Kids

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Image Credit: © John Bolland | homework | CC by 2.0 With a brand new year, many of us are looking for a fresh start so today I've got a professional organizer with us to help! She's going to teach us all about how to help our kids become more independent in their homework routines. I love her suggestions and practical tips and have been using them at home with great success. Here's Lea with everything else you need... Eventually, most parents want to stop doing homework. At least, I know I … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: We Took Our Two-Year-Old to the Movies

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Happy New Year guys!  And what better way to start off the year than with a parenting story we can all relate to? I really enjoyed Jessica's tale of trying her hardest to accomplish a family night out at the movies with a 2-year-old... and I could feel her pain. We tried this ourselves recently with the movie Moana and had success for what, I think, might be five critical differences: We didn't pick a movie that lasted for two and a half hours. We picked a very kid-friendly … [Read more...]