Just a friendly reminder...

Just a friendly reminder, you cannot escape your children's illnesses. One week ago I watched in fascination as my daughter suddenly spouted snot out of her nose, wiped it all over her face, and finally rub her face from one side of the couch to the other. Of course a prompt clean up was in order, but I could not help but wonder at what else has served as an impromptu face wipe for my daughter. Sure enough the illness has already passed to everyone in the family. This may not be a problem if you have older children that actually listen, so the well known rules of keeping the family healthy are:

1. Wash infected individual's laundry seperately. This includes sheets, blankets, stuffed animals even. Bleach is the universal germ killer.

2. Keep handles, door knobs, faucets, and toilets clean. Lysol, or more simply, 70% isopropyl alcohol, which is cheaper and works just as well, will keep these hot spots from spreading germs to everyone very quickly.

3. Make sure children follow good hygiene. Sneeze into crook of elbow instead of hands, or better use tissue. Keeping hands away from faces is one of the most important tips to keep healthy. Also, closing the toilet seat before flushing is just plain nice, but is especially important if a stomach illness is going around.

Printable Chart of First-Aid Procedures [PDF]

Lifehacker : "The guide comes in PDF format and provides emergency care instructions for a bloody nose, eye irritation, burns, sprains, blows to the head, choking, poisoning and open wounds. Since most people haven't thought much about this stuff since high school health class, a brush-up isn't a bad idea."

Handy little thing here! Go to http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/web/pdf/0307/injury.pdf
to download.

Kid Trick - Mean what you say!

I came across an interesting article today basically reinstating some common sense knowledge that we should all should know, but may not always practice.

Idle threats, hypothetical situations, ideas that are still in their formulation and incubation period, thinking out loud-all of these can be a parent's downfall. I know that we're not perfect and I have done my share of saying all sorts of things in the heat of the moment (or the heat of the battle) that I didn't mean-but I did learn from those old parenting television programs that our kids are smarter and more clever than we give them credit for. They know very early if we mean what we say or not, and if they get the message that we only say what we mean, we have more authority and credibility-and our children feel more secure and less likely to act out.(parenting.families.com)

Sound advice all around, dealing with kids or not. It is something so easy to forget, even if you have it in mind all the time. Empty warnings are a big no no in our house. We have a system where we ask our daughter three times, and if she does not listen on the third time, it's time out no questions asked, and it works very well. What I did not count on though is idle conversation. Such as talking to my DH about taking our daughter somewhere after we eat. She hears "pool" or "park" etc.. and she goes nuts until we go! If something comes up where we can't go, then it's a huge disappointment. She's still to young to grasp the concept of a hypothetical situation. Just remember, everything we say is absorbed by our children.

Kid Trick of The Day - Know When to Trust the Guides

I've been worried lately that my daughter is not learning colors, numbers, etc..at the rate that she is supposed to. I can tell her a color of an object, she repeats it, then I ask her the color again right away...and says a completely different one! Argh! I was getting so frustrated about this that I forgot to look up the "normal" ages or milestones this occurs at. The point is, I would have saved myself a lot of frustration, and my daughter excessive color learning sessions if I would have just gotten a general guideline! As you may tell, I am not a huge fan of those books that tell you what is normal or not, without even telling you the standard deviation for these findings. The point is, it is good to have approximate values on hand in case you go on a developmental rampage (also applies to stool appearance, sleep positions, and strange behaviours) :)

Quirky Discipline Rules That Work

A handy, and very useful, list of rules. From CNN.com surprisingly: Quirky discipline rules that work. Give it a read!

Story Highlights

• Clarity, enforceability make quirky parenting rules work
  
• Successful rules usually give kids some measure of control
  
• Parents have to be consistent for any rule to work

My favorites are:

"I don't work past 8 p.m.

Goal: Regular bedtimes and time off for you

You can't just announce a rule to your husband and kids that says, "Bedtime has to go really smoothly so I can get a break at the end of the day." It won't happen. But if you flip the problem and make a rule about you instead of telling everyone what they have to do, it all falls neatly -- and miraculously -- into place...."

"I can't understand you when you speak like that

Goal: Stopping whining, screaming, general rudeness

This one requires almost religious consistency of application to work effectively. But, essentially, you simply proclaim incomprehension when your child orders (rather than asks) you to do something, whines, or otherwise speaks to you in a way you don't like. Whispering this helps..."

Kid Trick of the Day

This may be old news to some, but a sticker chart can be a great learning tool. Neither my husband or myself had one growing up, so we were skeptical at first, but once our daughter (2 years, for reference) saw the basic concept, she is eager to do the tasks required for a sticker. Here's how it works:

1. Set guidelines for your child

For example, at the moment our daughter gets a sticker whenever she cleans up after she is finished playing or when she willingly goes to the potty when she needs to use the bathroom. She doesn't pull down her pants yet, but she would not even be on the potty if it were not for the sticker chart!

2. Agree on what constitutes a sticker

Our daughter only gets stickers when she cleans up completely. She tried to put a few things away at first and would follow us around saying "mommy, sticker, daddy, sticker, mommy, sticker, daddy, sticker..." and so on ad infinitum. We were consistent however and now she proudly shows us that she has cleaned up.

3. Give a reward after a set number of stickers

We just use a piece of construction paper, and when it is filled from left to right she gets a reward. This can be as simple as a baking project with mommy or daddy, or sometimes she gets to pick out something from the Salvation Army, or sometimes she can pick out a movie to rent/buy, or sometimes...well you get the picture!

Thats the basic outline!

Amazon Grocery?

So Amazon sells grocery store items now. I was skeptical at first, but this looks to be both a time saver and money saver, if you know how to shop. I think the free shipping on the Subscribe and Save program is what really changed my mind:

"When you order through our Subscribe & Save program,
you'll:
• automatically receive a new shipment of the item in intervals you select--every one, two, three, or six months
• get a discount on our everyday price
• get free shipping on every Subscribe & Save shipment
• pay for each order only when the item is shipped
• have the option to cancel at any time "

This is straight from Amazon. It seems that if you look around for good deals, and know the relative price of similar products at your local grocery store (ahem, walmart), that you may end up saving quite a bit. Also it gives you more time to review your purchases, and you can set up automatic delivery each month. I may just give it a try and let everyone know how it goes.