It's A Mom Life

I'm thinking of doing a regular post about Mom things. Ya know, tips, tricks, ways to keep our sanity! So I'd love to hear of anything you would like to see in upcoming posts. How can I make your life easier?

In the smart phone age, there are so many apps that can make our lives easier. Here are my top choices:

1. Bible.is- This app has the whole Bible dramatized. This is great to play on car trips, while I'm doing dishes, whenever!

2. Kindle- This and other book apps allow whole libraries at your fingertips. This means you don't have to shelve so many books or worry about them getting ruined.

3. Artkive- Instead of keeping all of your children's pictures and artwork, use this app to take a photo and organize the photos. Then you can keep only the latest artwork and save clutter!

4. Around Me- Allow this app to use your location and you can find anything you need nearest you: restaurants, gas stations, pharmacy's, etc.

5. Baby Tracker (from What To Expect)- This app keeps track of your nursing schedule, amount of wet and dirty diapers, medications, sleep, anything you need during those first sleepless months with baby.

Every parent has tips or thoughts about how to raise their kids. Here are some of my most valuable tips that I have gleaned from other parents, or discovered in the trenches of parenting.

1. Have 7-10 outfits per child- less clothing means less laundry
2. Have 1-2 sheets per bed- if you need to launder, strip beds when you wake your kids then wash and dry before nap time.
3. Have less toys- we have one storage tub of toys, anytime the tub is to full to close we give away toys our kids don't play with.
4. Only keep toys that allow for multiple purpose playing (like blocks, dolls, cars, etc.)
5. Teach them age appropriate chores- my 2 1/2 year old puts his own dishes in the dish washer, throws away his and baby sister's diapers, puts clothes in the hamper, and picks up his own toys. Some of these he does without being prompted!
6. Find the balance between letting them help you with chores, and entertaining themselves while you do chores- For example, my kitchen is too small to cook with children under foot, so this is a chore I choose to do alone; I find other toys/activities to keep the kids busy. But I do let the toddler help me sweep, unload the dishwasher, dust, clean up, do laundry, and others.
7. Use baby gates!- I have two gates, one blocks the stairs going upstairs, the other blocks the kitchen. This way, I know where my kids are at all times and I am not finding messes I did not expect.
8. Teach your kids to entertain themselves- This is a good skill for your child to learn, and to teach them from infancy. Find opportunities to surround your baby with toys and leave them alone for a while (supervised of course!), or tell your toddler to play in the play room while you sit nearby doing something else.
9. Rather than buy, rent books and movies from the library- this does two things, 1) you have fewer things to store around the house, and 2) you don't have to watch the same movie or read the same book over and over and over- you have to take them back and expose your kids to new ones.
10. Don't buy bath toys- they never stay in those little baskets, they always mold, and your child will want to take their favorite car in the tub anyways.
11. Just let Dad wrestle, throw them in the air, and rough-house with your kids- they'll be OK.
12. Don't save anything that comes off their bodies- this is only my opinion, but we don't save the first hair-cut clippings, or anything like that (they are hard to store). In fact, just yesterday, when getting Evan's stitches out, the nurse asked if we wanted to keep them. Apparently, this is a normal occurrence, I was grossed out.
13. Don't ask your toddler open ended questions like "What do you want for snack", instead, ask like this, "Would you like raisins or crackers?"- or they will always come from left field with an answer you never thought they'd have.
14. Always use "please", "thank-you", "I'm sorry" and "you're welcome" in conversation with your child- My 2 year old has these so ingrained now that he corrects us when we fail to respond with the appropriate phrase!
15. Kids repeat the words they hear the most, so don't be stressed if they say "no" all the time- you should be able to tell if they are openly defying you or if they simply are answering with the only response they hear from us. Politely correct the response by repeating the statement or question and telling them to say "yes".
16. Make sure to get their attention before speaking to them- so many times I catch myself about to get Evan in trouble for not doing what I said, when really I never had his attention to begin with.
17. Have your kids respond by saying "yes mom" or "yes dad"- this may seem old-fashioned or militant, but affirms that they heard you. So they know, that you know, that they know (get it?).
18. Give lots and lots of kisses- we have kiss attacks!
19. Teach your kids to hug back- it will melt your heart when they figure it out.
20. Teach your kids to pray- it's so darling!
21. When running errands with your kids, enjoy it!- don't see it as hard work (which it can be), but ask them about the colors they see, or identify each item as you place it in your shopping basket. Include them, and enjoy getting out of the house.
22. Have a flexible schedule- know what your kids need (3 meals a day, a nap in the afternoon, etc) but don't worry if lunch is twenty minutes late.
23. Have several "reset" options planned for those days where nothing seems to go right and mommy needs to regain control of herself and the situation- our two favorites are, 1) books in bed with everyone to their own bed for an half hour, and 2) kids into the bath while mom has a book on the floor in the bathroom.
24. Don't take meltdowns personally! Identify the issue, and execute an appropriate solution/
25. Read aloud from an [adult] Bible, often.
26. Include them in what you are doing, they love to copy us- i.e. have a paper and pen for them if you are making your grocery list, or allow them to "fold" clothes with your while you do laundry.
27. Do the goofy things with them like dancing, making animal noises, or pretending their toast is a phone.
28. NEVER compare your parenting/kids/family with another family! This only leads to discouragement.
29. Find ways to be a woman throughout the day- we did not trade in our womanhood when we became mothers. Put on makeup, curl your hair, wear heals to the grocery store, call a girl-friend, etc.
30. Have an afternoon cup of coffee (or tea, or cocoa) and don't share with your kids.

These are all things that have been invaluable in our parenting. I know that each family has their own style so please feel free to try what seems helpful and leave the rest.

I would love to hear your best tips/tricks! Please leave them in the comment section or link me to your blog.