Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Mothering Tips?

This question came from Joyfully Domestic. Head on over to her blog and leave her some blog love. She's a sweet friend of mine from Utah. (Now in Cali)


Question:
Best mothering tips : )
I love hearing your perspective on life and would love to hear more about the mom that you are and ways you are growing as a mom.

Best mothering tips. Hmmm.
Hide scissors.
Pay your babysitters well.
Don't eat all the same snacks that you feed them.
Find "adoptive Grandmas" if you don't live by your mom or mother in law.

Ok some of those are good tips but not sure if that's what you were looking for. HA!

I tried to think of all the mothering tips I've been given or observed in other moms and here were four of my favorite practical tips that came to mind. . .

Tip:  When your kids are little and you get out of the vehicle in a parking lot, teach them to get out and put there hand (flat) on the vehicle while they wait for you.  This worked like a gem when Ian was  little and I'd have to get the twins in the stroller etc.  It kept him from running around.  When we'd walk up to the car and I'd be looking for my keys etc. he would stand with his hand flat on the car. It gave him an action instead of just concentrating on not wanting to mess around. Sliding van doors started to make this tricky; I was worried he'd pinch his finger so then I altered it to have him stay on the yellow line (the line that is on each side of the parking space).  This works when they are a little older too. I still do this one with Tatum sometimes.  It allows them to move but it keeps them out of the road for the few seconds that I'm busy.  I saw this tip one day when we were in a McDonald's with a bunch of youth group kids. I looked out the window and this mother pulled up in her mini van full of young kids. They all got out and put there hands on the van and hung out waiting while she got the littlest ones.  It made her job, that could have been a nightmare, very easy. I was impressed and I tucked that one away.


Tip:  Sassy Spray -- came from my friend Deanna. Water bottle with half water and half vinegar. Spray it in there mouths when they are talking back or being ugly with their words etc. We used it forever - probably should bring it back out for the girl at times. We used to laugh though that when the kids are older and smell or taste vinegar (like salt and vinegar chips) they'll have flashbacks to being in trouble. HA!


Tip:  Every couple months (every other month if you can manage it) dump toys and sort them.  Involve the kids in this if you can. It obviously falls mainly on momma but some of my kids actually enjoy it. We don't do it as often now that they are older but when they were toddlers I'd do it every other month almost. They played so much better afterwards. They loved having all there pieces together again.  Hot wheel cars all in the same place etc.  Even though you pick up toys and put them away , over time pieces get in buckets all over the house.  This is a great way to keep clutter down and throw away broken toys and put toys aside to give away.  Here's an extra tip: don't do this right before a play date at your house. Toys always get put all over when a house full of kids are picking them up and they seem to get out every toy you ever owned when a bunch of friends are over. That just makes you feel defeated when you've just sorted them all.  Here's some pics of a recent sort we did.


Tip: When teaching your child when they can get up in the morning use a timer on a dim lamp. The timers are cheapo (like a couple bucks) at Walmart. It's the same kind you use for Xmas lights on your house.  When we were using this we used a blue light bulb. It worked well when the twins were 2 or 3.  You can read about it in this old post.

That's what came to my mind for some practical mothering tips. I love getting tips from moms. It seems like with every new stage it's good to get tips from moms who are in it or have survived it.

Leave a comment with one practical mothering tip that you've used or heard of that worked well.

Come back tomorrow and I'll answer the second part of this question.
Ways I'm growing as a mom and the kind of mom that I am.

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1 comment:

Sweet Pea said...

Great tips! I'm going to remember some of them to use in the Wimer household. Hunter has a fascination with alarm clocks so we recently started having him stay in his room in the morning until his favorite alarm goes off (he has 6 now). It works and it gives me some quiet time each morning.

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