How to Effectively Talk About The Birds and Bees With Your Kids

Most children ask questions about body parts and where babies come from as early as two years old. It’s your job as parent to answer those questions and then spend the next eighteen years educating and sharing more information with your kids about their body and sexuality. When to Talk About the Birds and the Bees – A 5 Step Approach Follow these five steps to prepare yourself to communicate about sex with your children effectively. Talking about the birds and the bees should start before y

Real Vaccine Risk: Why I'm Neither For/Against Vaccines

So, you’re watching reruns on TV when a commercial pops on. You know, one of those annoying commercials about a new medicine where the pro list is much shorter than the con list. The medicine cures heartburn but on the flip-side, causes ulcers, high blood pressure, stomachaches, nausea, eye pain, hemorrhoids, headaches, and in extreme cases death. Obviously, I made these particular symptoms up, but I am not exaggerating. They warn us not to take the medicine if we are allergic and to talk to t

Why I am a Mom, Not a Friend to My Kids

I love my children but we are not friends. We have a great relationship although I must admit I don’t play a whole lot with my children. Often we’ll sit and play a board game, or read a book together, watch a movie, amongst other activities. Rarely do I get down on the floor and build Legos or play dolls. Why? One, I’m not a fan of Legos or dolls. Two, I’m not a child. I’m an adult. Fun activities for me include drinking coffee, crocheting an infinity scarf, or taking the nap my kids don’t want

12 Items You Need On Your Hospital Bag Checklist

The hospital provides almost everything you need for your baby while you’re in the hospital, but not a whole lot for mom. Birthing a baby is an uncomfortable experience, but staying in the hospital can be a little more comfortable with a few essential items just for mom in a maternity bag. If you are pregnant with your first baby, you may not know what to pack! I have had three babies and know just what you need to pack in your hospital bag. Your Hospital Bag Checklist: What to Pack The first

Chores for Kids: Lists by Age Range

All mothers want a little help around the house and why not start with your children? Yes, your child can help do more than clean their room. I will walk you through what chores each age can do but first, let’s talk about what to expect. If you are one of those rare lucky moms whose baby was born a neat freak who couldn’t stand a mess and cleaned up after themselves since they were a toddler…no just kidding. A unicorn would be more believable. My children are 14, 12, and 8 and I still have to t

12 Reasons Why I Quit Diapering My Baby

I used diapers with my two oldest children but experienced quite a few issues. Most of the issues were normal problems all parents deal with, blowouts, leaks, and diaper rashes. However, the diaper rashed did not get better even when switching to different brands of diapers multiple times. Diaper Issues With My First Two At the time, we were military stationed in Germany with limited American options for diapering on base. The German diapers were much nicer to my babies’ bottoms but when my se

Sleep Regression Ages: Everything You Need to Know

Parents dread the 4-month mark. Why? That’s when your once-sleeping baby turns into a hungry, grumpy, sleep-avoiding monster! Experts call it sleep regression, also known as sleep-deprived-mom torture. While this is torturous for parents, it’s the result of a growing and changing child skill set. Knowing when sleep regression strikes can help you fight it. Here is the full scoop on sleep regression and sleep regression ages. We cover how to spot sleep regression at different ages, how to handle

Breakfast and Lunch For Busy Mom

Sunday nights are busy at my house because we do meal prep for the week so weekday mornings are easy and fast. Setting up breakfast and lunch on Sunday means you can worry about other things on Monday morning, like finding your kids left shoe, or their Chromebook charger. With food taken care of, I can get to working earlier. A lot depends on your kids personal tastes but here is what our family does for breakfast and lunch for school weeks. I always have an assortment of cereals in the house –

Guest Post: How To Hunt For Mom Friends

Lonely-Mom-Syndrome is real when you are surrounded by little minions (that’s what I call my kids) locked in the house for hours and hours. The best conversation you might get all day is an in-depth discussion about why hot dogs taste better than spinach. I get it. As a mom putting the needs of our family first comes naturally.  We wake up, play, read, sing, dance, cook, clean, bandage up owies. By the time the kids go to bed we are way past being exhausted and our energy level already hit zero

Summer Tips for Mom Who Work From Home

Summer is here. My three kids have been out of school for a full week and we are getting into a routine. I would love to sleep in now that I do not have to wake up and get the kids off to school but my cat is adamantly against me changing her eating schedule to an hour later. Is it legal or effective to duck tape a cats mouth shut? Sometimes she is lenient and lets me sleep until eight. Only if I am a good girl which apparently is not often. Moving on. What I want to talk about is the sun. I do

How To Spot a Scam Job Offering on Craigslist

As a stay-at-home-mom, I seek opportunities to work from home. I need to be there if one of my midgets is home sick, or for holidays, and for school breaks. Boy was I happy the other day when I found an opportunity on Craigslist that looked promising. This venue has offered little success in the past but you never know. I went in with wide-open eyes ready to find any issue that would tell me this job was a scam. Here’s the breakdown of red flags: Salary – The first clue a work-at-home-job is to

Curiosity Killed the Cat

My daughter Bri is in fifth grade and reads at a high school senior level, which is fantastic except that books at her reading level do not match her age level. She is obsessed with books about fairytales and reads books that spin off from Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. The young adult section is full of books along this happy, engaging genre. But that same section is also filled with stories about vampires, killing, witches, and every other level of creepy you can think of. I also like to read

Take Away the Panic

Two autumns ago, my family vacationed in Disney World. Day two we spent in Epcot visiting various countries including the Mexican Pyramid. Our clan of five plus my dad, stepmother, and two young sisters lined up for the boat ride. Mexico teamed with people visiting booths, activities, and the same line we endured. One, two, three, four, five little heads I counted several times while waiting for thirty minutes for a two-minute ride. Two pink shirts, one blue, a purple, and an orange. I must have

5 Ways to Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

I always have my trusty standby punishments for my children tucked away in my tool belt, but sometimes, no most times, I think the punishment should fit the crime. Here are a few examples to help you learn to discipline your children in a way meant to apply natural consequences to the situations they find themselves in. 1. Repetition — I have learned when my kids do not clean something correctly it usually means they need more practice. So I have them repeat the chore a dozen or more times. For

The Refrigerator of My Dreams

When I was six and in first grade, my teacher told us to write down our future career aspirations. She meant for our goals to be career-oriented. Other kids wrote down their desire to be firemen, doctors, and even a princess. My list was short, concise, just three goals that reached beyond a job. My block-print read in order: mom, wife, writer. Other kids grew up and their goals changed. Suddenly being a fireman sounded more dangerous than thrilling. Being a doctor required more years of school

I love you and Thank you

A t my mom’s house with my aunt, I asked for a little help as I struggled with writer’s block. Here’s the conversation: “Either of you have any ideas of what I should write about for my next stay-at-home-mom blog?” “You could write about how husbands don’t appreciate stay-at-home mom’s and don’t appreciate everything they do.” My mom offers. “No way, I can’t write that! It’s not true in my house. Dennis appreciates everything I do. Just the other day I was complaining that I have not contribu

Why Middle School is Still Annoying as a Mom

My son Rick started sixth grade this year. His beginnings in middle school have given me nightmares for a couple of reasons. First, my baby is no longer a baby! Second, middle school was not a fun time for me as the adjustment from elementary school was a difficult transition in my life and now I feel as if I will be reliving the nightmare again through my son. Third, I will have to endure two other children as well as Rick going through these harrowing adolescent years in the awkward transition

Reasons Why Children Do What They Do – Part 2

Question: I ask my son to go tell my daughter to come down for dinner, and he stays where he is and yells for her, why? Answer: Your children require constant strenuous use of their vocal cords for proper maintenance and growth. Or kids are just lazy and do not want to do anything they do not need to do. Yes, you are quite capable of yelling up the stairs for your daughter, but your son does not think of this, he thinks, ‘what is the quickest way from point A to point B?’ For this situation, y

Reasons Why Children Do What They Do – Part 1

Question: Why does my child ask the same question multiple times in a row? Answer: Children repeat their questions because they want to drive you to the brink of insanity and then giggle as you fall over the edge. Or maybe, because they are so young they are impatient and expect an immediate answer. If you fail to answer in the 2.2 seconds allotted they will repeat the question for your benefit, we are old after all and could use constant reminders. Solution: Tell your child(ren) from now on y

Training Children

“ Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 is my favorite Bible verse about raising children. First, let’s recognize this scripture for what it is, sage advice not a command from God. What many people fail to recognize is this verse is a double edged sword. Now, let’s move on to the fun part. How are you training your children? Is what you are teaching your children what you want them to take into adulthood? The best time to decide
Load More Articles