Summer vacation means only one thing for children: Freedom from school! For young ones, this time of the year means a blissful few months without having to wake up early, do homework or see their teachers. It means fun, fun and more fun. 

For parents, however, summer vacation is a completely different story. Many parents tend to stress over just how much time their children can laze around on the couch and watch television or play computer games.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if your kids were involved in something educational and productive during their summer break? Here are a few creative ways to keep your kids entertained this summer: 

1) Open a lemonade stand.

The idea of a lemonade stand may seem old-fashioned—but customer service, marketing, sales and finance are just some of the lessons young ones can learn from running a lemonade stand for a day. You can even agree to open shop on your sidewalk every Saturday—and the profits can go towards buying an item of their choice at the end of the summer break or once they've saved up enough money.

 

2) Plant a garden.

Why not take advantage of the sunshine and plant a small flower or vegetable garden in your backyard? Feeding, watering and even weeding plants will give children a sense of responsibility. You can help your children track plant growth with charts and daily photos or drawings of their plants. Afterwards, celebrate with a huge feast—with their vegetables as the main ingredient, of course!

 

3) Open up a car wash.

Give the kids a hose, soap and a sponge, and ask them to spend the afternoon washing your car. Of course, you can give them a little something for their hard work. If your children want to earn more income, you can even ask neighbors, aunts, uncles and grandparents if their cars are in need of substandard cleaning.

 

4) Write a story.

Let your imaginations go wild and write a story with your kids. Writing chain stories is a great way to produce truly entertaining plots. One child can write the first paragraph of the story, then he or she will show the last one or two lines to the next person, who will then add another paragraph to the story. This will go on until the story is deemed complete. You can even opt to illustrate the story and bind it into a book. The kids can give copies of their book to their grandparents and other relatives for Christmas, and it will surely be a hit!

 

 

These are just a few great activities for your children to get involved in while they are off from school. These activities will hone their talents and sharpen their imaginations and you don't have to let on that they're learning anything!

 

 
Photo Credit: iClipart

Dealing with picky eaters at home can be terribly frustrating. The last thing you want to do after a long day at the office or anywhere else is to battle with your child over green peas or a piece of broccoli.

If you want to end the ongoing war at the dinner table, then here are some practical tips on dealing with picky eaters:

1) Make their plates colorful.

Create a menu composed of delicious, nutritious and brightly colored foods. Brown meatloaf may be boring, but not when paired with orange sweet potatoes and purple eggplant. Getting your children to “eat their colors” might just be a lot easier than getting them to “eat their vegetables.” Focusing on colors works especially well with kids of a younger age. It might also help to ask your kids what color they’d like to eat for tomorrow’s dinner—then do your best to accommodate their request.

2) Don’t overdo the snacking.

One reason your children may not be finishing their plates is because they aren’t hungry. Create a routine by serving meals and snacks at around the same time each day. Don’t serve snacks, milk or juice an hour before dinner or you might decrease their appetites. If your children know they’ll only be getting food at certain times of the day, then they’ll be more likely to eat what’s put in front of them.

3) Be creative with their favorites.

Is your child asking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Children find comfort in familiar foods, so one thing you can try is being creative and adding a twist to their favorite dishes. Serve peanut butter with celery and carrots. Peanut butter also goes beautifully with fruits like apples, bananas and pears!

4) Involve your children in meal preparation.

Take your children grocery shopping with you and ask them to help you select the vegetables, fruits and other items for that day’s dinner menu. You can also involve them in cooking—such as rinsing the vegetables or mixing the batters and sauces. When at dinner with the rest of the family, be sure to praise your kids for their choices and all of their help in the kitchen.

Getting your children to eat a nutritious meal doesn’t always have to be such an exhausting task. Try some of these tips and hopefully you’ll be saying goodbye to mealtime clashes with your children for good.

Photo Credit: iClipart

 
 

As all parents know, doing homework isn’t usually a child’s favorite activity. In fact, getting a child to do homework after a long day at school is one thing that most parents and children dread having to deal with on a daily basis.

Here are some great tricks to help get your children to do their homework: 

1. Make the time for homework non-negotiable.

Sit down with your children and together determine a time scheduled purely for studying and doing assignments. Your children are more likely to respect the time set if they helped make the decision. Whether homework time is set for right after afternoon snacks or right after dinner, a consistent routine will slowly help eliminate any signs of resistance.  

2. Use a timer.

Using a timer is a great tool for children who easily get distracted. By seeing how much time they have left, your kids will force themselves to focus. Be sure to check their homework when they’re done. You don’t want them guessing answers just to beat the clock! 

3. Occasionally reward your children.

Did your child get the highest score on an exam he or she studied really hard for? Reward your children when you think they truly deserve it. Be sure to use incentives sparingly, however. They will come to expect rewards if you give them out too often. Reward your kids with praise instead of gifts whenever possible. 

4. Do your homework at the same time.

One way to inspire your children to do their homework is to show solidarity and do your own homework at the same time. No television for them during this hour means there should be no television for you. If your child is reading a novel for class, then review a report you’ve written. If your child is doing math problems, then spend time balancing your checkbook. It’s easier for your children to be responsible when those surrounding them are acting responsibly, too.

 

Try out these four trusty tips and hopefully, homework time will become a more pleasant experience for both parents and the children. Good luck!

 

We have a huge oak tree beside our driveway that we park under and recently a banana spider has made himself a home there.  Every morning when we load up the kids to take them to school they have to stop and look and see what spidey is doing, but we're all careful not to get too close because he's at least three inches long (not including his legs) and pretty darn scary looking!  Hubby has been extracting honey nearby and spidey has been feasting on the poor unsuspecting bees who apparently can't see the five foot web that he's built there.  We can't reach the web because its pretty high up in the tree, and I'm not sure that we'd want to reach it if we could, but we're really hoping that he'll move along to a new location soon now that the extracting is finished!

We're nearing the end of our quadruplets' first school year and to celebrate each of the pre-k "kindermice" gets a day of their own where they're the "Big Cheese" for a day - they get to wear this snazzy hat, lead activities and give a presentation to the class about their favorite things.

Their teacher this year has been absolutely wonderful about making them all feel special on an individual basis, and in asking for our input on things like this so she gave me plenty of advance notice and asked if I wanted to do all the kids on one day or if they should each have their own day.  I'm grateful that she gave me the option because unfortunately work commitments wouldn't allow me four mornings off, and I'm SO glad that the kids all had a blast and enjoyed being the "Big Cheese" for a day!

The kids had a blast last night preparing these appreciation gifts for their teachers!  Their favorite part was using a big spoon to fill them with M&Ms and my favorite part was eating all the ones that hit the table.  Thanks to Sara at Our Best Bites for the great idea   We changed up the label a little bit so I could print them out on actual labels, then we made these gift tags and attached decorative paper clips to them.  This morning the kids hand delivered them along with jars of honey from our bees.  Thanks so much to all of you teachers out there for all that you do throughout the year!

Although the high for today will end up in the mid 80s, I wanted to share these signs of spring from our backyard.

One of the benefits of living out in the middle of the woods is that we get to see all sorts of wildlife, of course that can be a double edged sword when that wildlife prefers to eat your apple, pear and pomegranate trees!  We looked out the office window the other day to see this family of seven deer having a snack in the front yard.  The kids begged me to print the pictures so they carried them to school yesterday and they were so proud that they showed them to EVERYONE they came across in the parking lot, the office and the hallway!

When our quadruplets were three months old the boys both developed pyloric stenosis and had to have surgery to correct the problem.  We spent the week of Christmas at the hospital with one son, then the week of New Year’s at the hospital with the other and even though they were way too young to remember, the hospital is just no place for a kid to be at Christmas.  Ever since then I’ve been planning on taking the kids back up to the hospital on Christmas Eve to deliver toys to the children there as soon as they were old enough to understand.  This year we’ve been hearing way too much about “want” – my silly kids “want” everything they see on television, even when they don’t know what it is or does.  So we decided that this was the perfect time for a lesson on “need” and to get started on what will be an annual trip to the hospital, and I’m so glad that we did.  The kids were very happy to give out gifts of stuffed animals, Zhu Zhu pets, bendable elves, and holiday tattoos to about 30 kids at the hospital last night.  Several of the kids were about their age and I think that really brought the message home for them. 

Thanks very much to Sacred Heart Hospital and to Miss Angie, the sweet volunteer who gave up part of her own Christmas Eve to escort us around the children’s ward!  We’ll see you again next year!

Hershey's has some really neat packaging out for Halloween this year, but I must say that my favorite is the Reese's Pumpkins!  Since the quads turn five this month, I plan to use some of these Hershey's candies to make goody bags for the kids in their class.  I'm sure they're going to love them, and I'm happy to help out with any leftovers

Disclosure:  This post was written in hopes of winning a Hershey's gift pack from the Mom Bloggers Club!