I have a new blog up on wordpress chronicling my adventures from becoming a city dweller to a country bumpkin! We’re moving to a new house, flipping the house, and finding a way to squeeze inside. The adventure will promise to be amusing!
Giant Carrot Cupcakes
Are you looking for something super yummy for breakfast or a snack? Try these giant carrot cupcakes. If you substitute out a 1/2 cup of white flour for a 1/2 cup of wheat flour, they’ll be all the healthier.
BPA–Are you Poisoning Your Baby?
Truth be told, I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate. I think this is just one more reason to breastfeed your baby. However, I know phenomenal moms that didn’t have the support necessary to keep breastfeeding (and yep, I do think that it is almost always a support issue) and even if you do breastfeed, BPA is in EVERYTHING!!!
Here are just a few of the articles I’ve written on the issue:
Of Things to Come. . .
I have been very delinquent in keeping up with this blog. Sad, but true. However, inspired by another online friend, and my own children who want to start their own websites, I’m coming back. You can look here for updates on what’s going on in my other blogs, as well as the grand opening of my charming children’s websites.
With that said, Go check out “The Dreaded Letter of Compliance” that I was threatened with from our local Board of Education.
“My Piece Is Bigger Than Her Piece”
Have you heard this at the dinner table? Don’t expect to hear it over the vegetables. Somehow siblings are all too willing to make sure that their sis or bro has more than their fair share of those. But if you have brownies, pies, cookies, or something else equally yummy–you can expect a fair amount of this type of whining. Here’s the solution:
Have Sibling A cut the portions of dessert. Let him know ahead of time that Sibling B will get to pick which piece he wants first. I guarantee this will solve the problem.
Serving up some delicious desserts,
The Sneaky Mama
How to Win Power Struggles
Does your toddler engage you in power struggles? If they don’t, I would venture to say that your child is not normal. Maybe people think I’m an expert because I have so many kids, or maybe it’s because I have two power struggle queens right now; as the twins just turned 2. In any case, I’m always asked about what I do about power struggles.
My answer is simple, I always win power struggles. Whenever I say this I am always met with puzzled looks of awe. “How is this possible?”
Well the obvious holds true that if your child is screaming in the store–you don’t give them what they want to make them quiet. I am a formidible fortress and I don’t get worn down by a few whines, screams or even other people staring at me.
But my simple secret is this: I don’t engage in a battle I cannot win.
Let’s say for example, that my child wants a toy in the store. She screams, she cries, she throws the loudest and most obnoxious of her temper tantrums but in the end she leaves empty handed every time (and you’ll actually find there isn’t an ‘every time’ because they quickly learn that’s a lot of effort for nothing).
Now let’s move to the dinner table. There are peas on my daughters plate. She doesn’t want them. Okay.
Yep–okay. I cannot physically make my daughter eat peas. I cannot (nor would I) shove them down her throat, and I certainly cannot force her to swallow them. Now I know some parents would say, “Gee if they sit there until forever, they’ll eat the peas.” Frankly, I’m not willing to have my child sit there until forever. Essentially, all I can do is make her life miserable until she decides on her own to eat the peas.
There are other alternatives to peas and so the rule is that if you don’t like what’s being served. . .after everyone has eaten you may make yourself (with my help usually) something else acceptable.
Do you find yourself constantly engaging in a battle of wills? If so, you need to understand that you have to win the battle. But you also have a choice to make it a battle. Some things frankly, are not worth battling over. If you choose your battles wisely, you’ll gain cooperation and respect.
Sneaking Some Math In This Summer
I have given this a lot of thought and I can’t figure out why math isn’t taught this way all the time. Kids love it–at least mine do and you get some results for all your effort. What am I talking about? Cooking of course! Don’t waste your money on workbooks. . .get in the kitchen and help your child keep his math skills sharp!
1. Measuring is an important aspect of math and science. It is one of those skills ‘they’ll actually use later on.’ Learning to do it precisely is a key skill.
2. Going beyond measuring you have fractions. My four year old understands basic fractions because she is in the kitchen with me constantly. If I’m there, she’s sure to be along shortly asking what she can do to help.
3. Try this: Rewrite a favorite but simple recipe using equivalent fractions. For example 1 cup of sugar would be 4 1/4 cups of sugar. Or have your child fill in the blanks and find the equivalents. . .then bake the recipe.
4. To teach your child how to divide things evenly have him cut the pieces but let his sibling choose which one to take first. This solves the ‘his piece is bigger than mine’ debate. . .but you can almost guarantee that the child with the cutting knife will do his best to make sure those pieces are equivalent.
Check back soon for more sneaky activities for learning fun!
The Sneaky Mama
Parenting in an Emergency: What Example Are You Setting
I was being so good contributing to my blog a little every day. And then it happened. A pipe burst in our bathroom yielding no less than a few gallons of water a minute. And I have to tell you when it comes to home repair–we’re not the smartest of folks in the world. We really know very little.
So after calling everyone in the world that we knew who could possibly help us, our poor darling pastor came down and showed us where to turn off the water. So we now have no cold water. And no running toilet. And 7 people. I think you can see how I could possibly take off a day from the sneaky mama.
Of course, the kids stood still during the 45 minutes that our toilet pipes were spewing gallons of water. They completely understood that this was an emergency and that they should a) not ask any questions about how big the turtles were going to get b) not need any snacks c) not get into any arguments with each other that required parental stepping in and d) not get in the way or in any way come in and get themselves wet.
NOT! A few of my kids are old enough to understand that something was awry and that we had not turned our bathroom into a water park. The twins however, thought that we had installed fun sprinklers in the bathroom and were a little too thrilled to engage themselves. Of course we didn’t let them but wrangling toddlers was just another thing to add to the picture along with trying to hold the water in and making phone calls.
So when things go awry in life, what do your kids learn from you? They are watching what you do and learn about how to handle stress all from watching you. So today, when you get cut off in traffic, or if your pipes burst. . .handle it in the way that you would want your kids to handle so that they see and learn. (They see and learn anyways–you might as well take advantage of that time!)
Sneaking in moments,
The Sneaky Mama
Another Great Website
I seem to be running into a slew of fantastic websites for kids this week. So if you’ll pardon the onslaught of posts about great websites, here is another one: The Old Famer’s Almanac for Kids.
My favorite feature about this website is the description of the night sky. I can never find anything I’m supposed to and so to have something written out for me very clearly is definitely helpful. Now if only we lived in the country where we could actually see the stars. . .
The site also has a calendar in which kids can learn what happened on this day in history, and about special (and um, strange) holidays that may not necessarily be commonly celebrated.
I could tell you all the other cool things about this site but then I’d spoil it. You just need to go check it out for yourself. Definitely put this on your list of activities to keep your kids entertained this summer!
Sneaking in fun and learning together,
The Sneaky Mama
The Coolest Website Ever for Art
My kids are the ones that refuse to color inside the lines. It’s actually a point with pride for me. Yep–that’s right. I’m proud of them for not coloring in the lines. They have the ability to see the world in any color that they want: trees are purple, animals can be green with pink polka dots. . .the possibilities are really endless. Needless to say, we like doing art in our house.
Art is a very good rainy day activity. I see many parents neglect art becuase it’s not one of those ‘academic’ disciplines. (Or they don’t want to deal with the mess!) If you fall into that category let me challenge you to think a little differently.
Art encourages spatial reasoning skills. It also encourages self expression. It also improves hand eye coordination. It can be paired nicely with just about any other subject. Doing history? Look up the art of that period to see what it tells you about the culture. Doing science? Draw what you’re observing. Or, just give your kids some clay, chalk, pencils, or even crayons and let them have at it!
So now that I’ve convinced you to ‘sneak’ in some art. . .what are you going to do with the finished masterpieces? Why not store them at Artsonia? You can take pictures of your child’s artwork and store them for free. Then you can invite family and friends to view your child’s art gallery and the world can comment on their stuff.
Comments are completely controlled by the parent and the site reviews all work for appropriateness before publishing to ensure that the art work put up is family friendly.
The site gives ideas of art activities based on your child’s work (although I haven’t had time to check this feature out yet.) AND they offer a variety of products that you can put your child’s artwork on. (Can we say Christmas gifts?)
So what are you waiting for? Go check it out and start uploading photos of your child’s work?
Sneaking in published art,
The Sneaky Mama
By the way. . .are you looking for another ‘sneaky’ tip to get in some extra reading? Why not tie in your summer reading with some art projects?
The Sneaky Mama 