Author: Eliza Ferree

With Christmas just behind us it may seem that your child has absolutely no space in their room for all those new toys in their room. Am I right?

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Well, what’s a mom/dad to do with a situation like this. Surely you don’t want to add another area in the already crowded living room for yet another toy box. Not to worry, I’ve got a few solutions for you.

Spring Cleaning! Yes, I know it is only just the beginning of the new year and no one wants to think of spring yet. Okay, well some do but not all. But by re-organizing just a bit you might free up some space.

Switch Box-  Take all those old toys that you haven’t seen them play hard with in the recent weeks leading up to Christmas and box them up. You can put the box at the top of the closet, in the closet in your room or even in the garage. After a few months the Christmas toys may get old and they need a refresher, box those up and replace them with the old toys. This makes all the toys like new. For those that don’t ever get played with anymore you can simply put in another box and if they go unnoticed donate them.

Yard Sale time! Kids love to earn money, if they have some old toys that are in good condition ask them if they’d like to participate in your next garage sale and anything they sell they keep the money. Mine always jump at this.

Hope this helps. Do you have any ideas for making room for the new toys?

Post from: Blisstree

Making Room For Christmas Toys

With all the kids on Winter break I’m sure a few are getting a bit restless and chances are the older ones are tired of being locked behind doors. Would they like to earn a bit of cash? If it has snowed in your area they may be able to earn a few bucks by shoveling snow.

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Items Needed:
-shovel
-warm clothes
-gloves
-salt rock

1.  Practice on your own driveway/sidewalk to make sure you aren’t going to quit midway through. Trust me, I recently saw this happen with a kid that asked and got paid by everyone on the street…he won’t be getting hired again.

2.  Dress warmly before going outside, toss out the salt rock in order to make sure you aren’t going to slip down any stairs. Now place your gloves on your hands and start shoveling. Don’t forget to push it off to the side and not into the middle of the road. The rest of the neighborhood hates when you do this, even if they don’t tell you.

3.  Once you’ve done your walk/driveway head on over and ask your neighbors if they’d like you to do it. You’ll have to have a price prepared for when they ask. The best way to do this is by knowing the competitors price.

-New York hires people to shovel their streets for $12 an hour.
-My son does it for $15
-Kid down the block charges $30 per drive

So counties are giving out tickets if sidewalks aren’t shoveled this can be a bonus for kids that want to earn money, some may be willing to hire someone to do their walk so they don’t have to do it.

Tips: Always do the job completely and be polite.

Post from: Blisstree

Earn Money Shoveling Snow

Winter brings a lot of worries, however that first big snowfall brings a ton of fun for kids. Here’s a quick list of some additional ideas that your kids may and may not think of.

IMG: The Life of a Home Mom

Snowball Wars–  The first thing your children will need to do is build their snow forts so they have some protection from their enemy. Once the forts are complete each team should make 10-15 snowballs and then begin the war, the team with a fort still standing wins. Or you could say those that haven’t lost a person have one.

Snow Art: This can be anything created out of snow, from the famous snowman, snow angels to even the igloos. Point the kids in the direction of the snow and tell them to make you something. You’ll be delighted in the creations and they’ll love just playing in it.

Catch a Snowman–  Build a snowman and just like Frosty take a hat and see who can toss it and land it on his head. The person that actually tosses it and gets the hat to stay on the head wins. We used a baseball cap for this and it worked great.

Snowball Freeze tag–  This was created by my kids, I’m unsure if this is a real game or not. Basically you play freeze ta but the person  that is it (the tagger) must lodge snowballs at a person. But the balls cannot hit above the chest or the tosser is out of the game. Those that get tagged with a snowball must freeze until someone unfreezes them by tagging them.

Sledding–  This can be done by a real sled, snow sled or even a cardboard box. If you use a box you will need to flatten it out and make sure it isn’t going to rip in half as you go down hill. Make sure to find some type of hill, even if it is just a small one, my kids use the driveway.   My Walmart is currently selling snow sleds for $5, now they aren’t the fancy ones but these will definitely help them get downhill.

If you have it somewhat slick there is always ice skating, we don’t have any ponds or rinks near us so we won’t be doing this. I’ve seen some kids wearing regular tennis shoes on the ice and skating around though.

Post from: Blisstree

Snow Games for Kids

I know many people have an opinion on this so I thought it would be a fun topic for this blog. I know many of you have felt the need to yell at or reprimand someone else’s child, I’ve heard and read comments before.

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So how would you feel if someone actually reprimanded or yelled at (with cursing) at your child?

Apparently one person thought they had every right to scold some children that were “unruly” and running up and down the aisle in first class (of an airline). This person just happened to be Ivana Trump and she was aboard Delta Airlines and when some kids were running up and down the aisle (apparently during take off) she chewed them out but she also called them:  “Little F*****s” and told everyone else to “F” off when they tried calming her down. They even had to land the plane right after it had went into the air where she was escorted off the plane by police.

Was Ivana in the wrong or did she have a right?  I do understand the need to get everyone to sit down during a take off and if this was the situation and the parents weren’t getting their kids to listen I can understand in a stern voice telling them to sit down, however not using the choice words she did.  Of course a tip for parents, always listen to the stewardess they tell you the safety rules for a reason.

According to the DailyMail:

‘From the initial contact until Miss Trump left the property, she was saying “f*** you” to all the deputies and called the children “little f******”,’ said a police spokesman.

‘She was so belligerent towards other passengers and crew that the plane returned to the terminal.’

She had apparently started complaining as soon as she boarded the aircraft, demanding to be moved to another seat in first class.

At first she was said to have put on a set of headphones to block out the noise, but a crying baby sent her over the edge.

Well at least that’s a good idea, one of the best ways to ignore noises is to drown them out with headphones. Order a set of headphones and watch whatever is on or listen to some music. If you really can’t get to sleep make sure to ask your doctor for some sleeping pills so you can fall asleep on the plane. Either way, always be prepared for noises, smells, etc when going on any public transportation, this includes airplanes.

Passenger Vincent Cone said: ‘She was swearing at the baby.

‘The reason she got so upset was the children and she started screaming, “I want to go back home”.

‘The pilots asked her to leave and she sat back down and refused to leave. Then they went and got a security guy. She kept saying, “Let go of me!”.

I don’t know about you but to me this sounds like a case of being a spoiled brat and I”m not talking about the kids. The fact she was yelling at a baby drives me nuts. Can you picture being the baby’s mother or even one of the kids she cursed at?

Post from: Blisstree

Yelling At Other People’s Kids

I thought it would be a neat thing to post the unusual holiday traditions we might have just in case someone likes the idea and wants to start it for their own.

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I began our family tradition in a very unusual way and it has stuck with my family, I think the kids may continue the tradition but not all of them. This shows me that each person takes a little something they learned through childhood with them but alters it somehow.

For example: Growing up we never opened gifts until Christmas day, sometimes though we’d be allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. When my son was born we just couldn’t keep the presents from him and ended up opening them on December 21st that first year, we’ve continued it every year since. I know this is unusual but for us it is just a gift a night, even if it is a dollar store gift, Christmas Eve all presents are opened and then the only thing left is whatever Santa leaves under the tree on Christmas Day.

On Christmas Eve the kids and I do our baking (which I think many homes do), we also watch one Christmas movie and drink a hot chocolate with marshmallows as we all sit together and take it all in. Do you watch any specific movies? Tonight we will be watching, “It’s a Wonderful Life” the kids have never seen it (except the oldest) and I think they’ll enjoy it.

What are some of your holiday traditions? I have a friend that has a Magical Elf that runs around their house. Now I’m unfamiliar with the story exactly but I know I’ve read it once before. If I’m not mistaken the ELF appears in different parts of the house and its a way of showing the kids that Santa’s watching.

I’ve also heard kids leaving shoes outside for Santa, hanging stockings, wearing Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and playing board games all night, etc.

Post from: Blisstree

Unusual Holiday Traditions

Every year people are lost because others did not know how to help, don’t let this be you. Teach your children today how to respond if there is an emergency near them.

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It is important to teach your kids when and when not to call 9-1-1. Share with them reasons they may call and make sure they know that this number is not something to joke around about. No calling just because they get grounded, etc. My son did that when he was 5 or 6 years old, his preschool teacher only told them to call 9-1-1 when they got in trouble.

Why call 9-1-1:
– a fire
– someone has got hurt badly
– someone is passed out
– someone is unresponsive
– stranger trying to come in the house
– kidnapping, etc

Make sure they know what falls under an emergency, but more important if there is someone in the family with some type of medical issue then they too should know how to help that family member just in case they need to help one day.

Imagine someone dropping to the ground from a heart attack. Would you kid know to drop a Bayer aspirin (low dose) under their tongue and to call 9-1-1? I discussed this with mine today after their dad started complaining about heart pain and shortness of breath. I now have a bottle of it in my purse.

Here’s a few stories of children thinking quickly:

– 5 year old saves her daddy’s life. This little girl called 9-1-1 when her dad went into a diabetic shock. When help came this little girl even looked out a window to make sure it was help and not just some random stranger, so as you can see she knew exactly what to do.

– 10 year old finds mom unconscious on floor, unsure what happened he quickly dials 9-1-1 and saves her life. He was given an award this past week. Congratulations not only to this boy but his mom.

– Two 10 year old girls save toddler from icy water – two little girls just saved a toddler that fell through the ice. One ran to call 911 and one got an adult to help her fish him out. It is important that children know that ice is very tricky and should be very careful on it or around it.

Hopefully your child doesn’t need to use any of these, but just in case wouldn’t it be nice to know they knew what to do?

Post from: Blisstree

Teach Your Kids to Respond to Emergencies

I’ve been hit with a question for my readers. I’m just about all done shopping for Christmas, a few last minute things but that’s it. I was so proud that I’d got items on Christmas lists and a few extras and had them all

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wrapped under the tree, that is until last night.

We began opening our gifts on Decemeber 21st, which is our tradition. He now knows what his gifts are by the shape. Last night he was watching the three younger (he’s 12) play with their toys and replied, “I wish I was younger.”

I looked up and responded, “Why?” He said, “So I could play with toys again too.”

I freaked out inside because there wasn’t a single toy I’d bought him, he’d requested games, dvds and music…not toys. Later he saw me on amazon and told me wanted army men, I thought he was joking but wonder now if he was serious. He loves to line things up and shoot his darts (NERF) at them, so he could. Should I make a rush out to grab at least one toy? What would you do? I understand the need/want to feel like a kid and he still is.

What age do you stop buying toys?

Post from: Blisstree

When Do You Stop Buying Toys?

I don’t normally forward things that come in my inbox, especially jokes and such but earlier this week I got one that really pulled at my heart and wanted to discuss it here.

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I won’t write the whole thing but I’ll share the basics with ya’ll and up front I’ll ask you: What would you have done? Or what would your child have done? This could be a great discussion you could have with your own children, or something for you to think on as we know our children copy our own actions most of the time.

The story opens with a father speaking at a fundraiser and begins telling a story about his own child that was born handicapped both physically and mentally and how one day they were walking and his son saw a group of kids he knew from school playing ball. He really wanted to play and asked his dad if it would be okay to ask. His father, knowing how cruel kids could be didn’t want him to do it, but at the same time knew his son needed this and if they would say yes it would make him feel a little connected to his peers.

I will admit that my kids don’t have disabilities but I do know how if feels to be left out or watch your child be left out because of one thing or another with them. I can only imagine what this must feel like. I thought, please let them say yes.

The child went up and asked the team, they actually said yes since they were losing anyways and were almost done it wouldn’t matter. They let the boy go outfield and then when it came his turn to bat the team had caught back up, they were one run away. The father worried they would decide to sit the boy out and let someone else bat and win the game, many probably would’ve done that. But to his surprise his son went up to bat and instead of the pitcher trying to strike him out, he tried to help the boy out by pitching softly. Now the pitcher knew if he struck the ball they could lose, but he also knew the other team was taking a risk. Long story short the child hit the ball the second time, it went right for the pitcher. Most would’ve grabbed it and threw him out, but he made sure it went over the baseman and each team player did the same thing as he approached their base, in the end the teams were rooting for him to make it home, even though this would mean the one team won.

The story was sweet, it showed that in nature, even in our world today that kids could show a lot of care. I have seen many try to act tough, some which are tough and mean but it is those that we teach to care for things that really give me hope. Now I ask you, what would you have done? Would you have allowed him to play, to bat? What would your own child have done?

Post from: Blisstree

What Would You or Your Kid Do?

Did you get your children the H1N1 vaccine earlier or even later this year? Chances are if you did they may need to go back and get a second dose, otherwise they may still be able to come down with that troublemaking Swine Flu.

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WebMD:

Australian researchers report that a 15-microgram dose of H1N1 vaccine — double the dose approved for U.S. kids under age 3 but the same dose given to older kids — raised anti-H1N1 antibodies to protective levels in more than 90% of children ages 6 months to 9 years.

But the CDC warns parents not to act on this information, noting that that in other studies, kids needed two doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine for protection.

Currently Australia and the CDC are in disagreement on this and are trying to prove one another wrong. Who do you agree with?

Post from: Blisstree

Australia and CDC Disagree on H1N1 Shot

Last year my son (age 11) got to take part in an Elks program where they took select students out to spend a certain amount of money on themselves for

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Christmas. My son bought one item for everyone in the family, two gifts (small) for himself and even a gift for Toys For Tots. Now before you say anything he did this all on his own, I will admit he may have felt it was no big deal since every year we normally do this. The teachers and the Elk were all shocked by his behaviour and the fact he didn’t buy everything for himself like the majorityof the students did.

I began thinking about this earlier this week when I started reading stories about “Secret Santas” around the country, most of the stories I read dealt with the ones in Kansas City. By now I’m sure many of you have heard of Larry Stewart, one of the Secret Santas that had passed out $1.3M before passing away from cancer. Before leaving this world he did pass this on to another “secret santa” who just recently enlisted a group of teens to help out. His response to the news media was we should start off young to begin the seed. I agree.

How many of you think that allowing a child do a good deed for someone and knowing it really matters may change the way they feel? Have you ever given someone a $10 bill and saw that they really appreciated it? These teens that were enlisted were taken to thrift stores where they really got to help people out, I’ve heard of others passing out $20 bills on buses before leaving and some even shopping in toy stores and dropping off bags of presents while the kids are at school to help out the families. I think this would definitely put some type of seed in a child.

I for one will continue to donate to Toys for Tots, allowing my children to pick out the toy and drop it in. Last year we also did the tree, where you take one item (name) and buy what the wish is. The girls felt great about picking out a jacket, shirt and scarf out for a little girl that we knew needed it.

If you’d like to get your teens involved there are many programs that they can do:

–  The Wish Tree (inside stores such as Walmart)
–  Volunteering at a homeless shelter
–  Volunteering at a retirement home
–  Donate to Toys for Tots
–  Ask parents in the neighborhood if they’d allow them to take them through the store and purchase christmas items for mom and dad.

If you can think of any please list them below.

Post from: Blisstree

Get the Kids to be Secret Santas

A second grade little boy was suspended and asked to get a psychological evaluation before coming back to school. The problem is he didn’t shoot a

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bunch of children or even draw a picture like it, instead the teacher asked to draw a picture of what they thought Christmas was. He drew a picture of Jesus on the cross, sure he got the holidays mixed up but to him Christmas is all about Jesus.

Due to the graphic drawing, it was a stick figure that had blood coming down and “X” where his eyes should be. It was probably a picture he has in his mind growing up seeing this. To him this is Jesus, this is Christmas. From here on out though he may second guess this thought since drawing it meant he got suspended and won’t be able to return without an eval. I must ask, if you think this child needs an evaluation for something like this?

I would totally understand if he drew a picture of a bunch of kids dead, parents dead or anything to that nature. But this is his religion, his belief…it wasn’t a crime. Or is drawing a picture of Jesus a crime in school?

Now the Taunton school officials are coming out and stating the following:

The report is totally inaccurate,” Julie Hackett, superintendent of the Taunton public schools, said in an interview in her office yesterday. “The inaccuracies in the original media story have resulted in a great deal of criticism and scrutiny of the system that is unwarranted.”

So what were the inaccuracies? It does seem they are trying to state now that the teacher never asked for the kids to draw anything dealing with Christmas or a religious holiday. So what was it the teacher asked the kids to do and why keep it so quiet? If they don’t want fingers pointing, why don’t they state what they believe happened.  Now the Superintendent is stating the child has not been suspended from Maxham Elementary School.

Here’s a report from Boston.com:

Post from: Blisstree

Boy Suspended for Drawing Jesus

Recently I came across a letter my daughter wrote to a boy, now at the time I did not know what this was.  She had asked me if I’d read her story, so once the kids were gone I went in and found it on her bed.  Once I began reading it I wondered what she was trying to do and then it dawned on me that this was not her story and instead it was a letter to a boy that had broke her heart.

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Without going into too many details, this letter showed me that she has a low self-esteem of herself and the way she looks. It broke my heart to read these words and to remember back then and think of how she was feeling. I remembered how those first crushes could be and how much feelings hurt when things didn’t turn out. Now this happened this past Thursday, I’ve yet to tell her. I mean what do you say? Sure, I didn’t mean to read it, I’d tried reading her story. But it is like reading a diary, just not something you do.

I did inform her dad on Friday afternoon, before she came home. We decided he’d do a father daughter day with her and show her how much he cares. The two went shopping, walking the mall, shopping, got her ears pierced and finally her nails polished. When she got home I had ice cream waiting for everyone, just because it was Friday.

What do you do with a child’s broken heart?

Post from: Blisstree

What Do You Do for a Child’s Broken Heart?

I’m sure ya’ll remember the spit and wipe the face from your own childhood, or maybe the “brush your teeth before you leave” phrase. The question is do you do that?

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I’m almost one of those parents, I do ask them if they’ve brushed their teeth, combed their hair or zipped up their jackets. From time to time I’ll even ask them if they have clean socks on, this is normally always done. But the teeth and hair tend to be last minute things so I have to make sure they do it correctly. I don’t know if this stems from my parents always making sure it was done before I left for school or because I’m afraid of my kids going to school and someone thinking they look dirty or something.

In the morning my girls now know that if I ask if their teeth are brushed they better get me the toothbrush just in case. Most of the time they quickly do their teeth before bringing me the toothbrush, even if they “say they” already did it. Slowly they will learn to do all this stuff before leaving and I’ve already began to learn NOT to wipe their face with their spit or mine. Normally I have wipes on hand so that isn’t much of an issue, plus I remember it being done on me.

How many of you do the last minute grooming to your kids before going into a store, restaurant, event, school? How many of you had it happen to yourself as a child?

Post from: Blisstree

Do You Last-Minute Groom Your Kids?

Last month we talked about staying healthy while thinking of “SNOWBOARDS” and now Dr. Margaret Lewin of Cinergy Health wants to give you a few more tips. This time instead of thinking of boarding down a snowy hill you’ll think about the BEACH, now doesn’t that sound like fun.

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Continue reading to learn more about how to stay healthy while thinking of “Beachtime.”  Keep those kids warm and healthy this holiday seasons with the tips below:

Post from: Blisstree

Stay Healthy with B.E.A.C.H.T.I.M.E.!

A friend and I were talking the other day and the subject of music came up when I expressed that a Teen Panel had voted healthy and unhealthy songs for teens. I thought it was interesting that teens were doing this, she was concerned about censorship.

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This got us talking about different things dealing with both of these and I thought I’d come to you and hear your opinions.

–  How do you feel towards censorship? (especially with music and shows) As far as I’m concerned as a parent we must watch what we teach our children, this includes the things that could influence them.

Now that you’ve answered (or thought about) the above how many of you pick what your kids are allowed to watch and listen to? I will not lie, when we had cable certain shows were not allowed on television. I can’t stand shows that teach kids about things I don’t even want to talk with them about and the same thing goes for the language used. When Miley Cyrus started doing all her “bad girl” moments I banned her from my tv. We even ban certain music in our house, so yes I do censorship, but I also call it a “parent’s right.”

–  Do any of you ban certain shows or music in your house?
–  Should teens/preteens/younger be able to listen to whatever they want?
–  If you do, isn’t this considered censorship in a way?  What do you think?

Post from: Blisstree

How do You Feel Towards Censorship?

Many parents barely see their own children during the school week, then when they do they have to have their nose stuck in the book until bedtime or way past it. So, what should be done about this? Some may say get a routine, others may state you need to get it done as soon as you get home, but there are some that no none of these could possibly happen.

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Here’s an example:
4:05-4:10pm child arrives home
5:00-6:00pm sporting event (sometimes it takes 30 minutes to get them to the location, especially since they need to change over)
7:00pm dinner
8:00pm dinner

Course during all this time you notice I don’t have homework, bath, spending time with parents. Normally, at least in many families the spending time part is done at the dinner table or driving through a fast food place and chatting on the way home about the day. It is sad but this is how the sporting life goes.  Today, the school raising the children and instead of a few hours after school with them we are running them around to do activities or sports, later homework from teachers. So does it surprise you that some parents in Calgary want their children to have a NO HOMEWORK Contract?
I’m not at all surprised, in fact there have been times I felt like banning homework or just ignoring. Shelly and Tom Milley thought there kids were spending way too much time on unnecessary subjects and not enough of the real ones they need to worry about. Hmm, sounds familiar, I’ve had the same argument when I complained mine weren’t learning history. I got to hear there isn’t enough time.  Tom admits that his kids would have hours worth of homework and after much struggling with explaining and doing homework with his two kids he’d begin shouting out the answers, this would be around 10pm.

Tom took this to the school and asked them not to have homework, however the school agreed and in the meantime the kids are doing home studying and work at home with dad. Now if other students/parents want to do this they have to go in and negotiate a contract. In the meantime his kids can now focus harder on the areas they are weak in.

What do you think of this?

Post from: Blisstree

No Homework Contracts for Schools