Parenting Aids

the most daunting and important job in today's world is raising children. Think about it when you get into parenthood you are ultimately responsible for the life of another. It can be an intimidating situation especially if you are not prepared. In today's world you need to be able to access information from a variety of sources. Now available is parent alert videos this site is an online rental location that supplies educational video's on various topics that touch so many children. You are your children's first and best teachers. so why not take advantage of all the help you can find. Great educational video's for kids grade K-13, for as little as $19 a month you have access to a wide array of help video's . Worried about how to deal with the hard issues of alcohol, smoking or drugs, there are video's for all of these topics. Concerned on how to help you kids deal with dating or sex there is help for these issues too. You can get started in three easy steps, first register and create you parent alert account and choose the subscription plan that;s best for you. Next browse the video list and select the ones that meet your needs to create your video queue. Then simply wait for your video to arrive, keep it as long as you need then return it in the postage paid envelop. When it arrives back they'll send you your next selection. You really can't miss as this membership will teach your children so many life lessons. I know when we moved this summer my son had a lot of problems with bullying at school, the video's on social health and life skills would have been a great asset in working through those issues with him.

***TODDLER TROUBLE....

*UP TO NO GOOD*

EEEKS----GRRRR-----AAAAH----OMG--(pulling my hair by this time) BLAAAAAKE....

Yup that is pretty much how my day went LOL ( I guess I can laugh now, the day is over and the kids are in bed) As you can see my dear sweet little Blake kept us busy all day. We couldn't get anything done fast enough for him....We still needed to put the molding up on Blake wall so that he would stop picking at the wall paper, but we kept putting it off, well today we had no choice but to get it done. There was Blake sitting in his room with a package of pop tarts and some bad looking wall paper...EEEKS! Off to his brothers room for quiet time while I fixed up his room...He is lucky I had just enough border to go around the room...

PUGGY LOVE!..

Then while Blake was in Kohl's room supposedly having quiet time I peeked in and found him eating a can of Pringles...he somehow snuck into my room and found our Christmas goodie stash...GRRRR! I should have been faster with snack time but I was a bit distracted with his wall. Do you think that I could get supper prepared fast enough for the little bugger...nope...there he was eating the corn right our of the can. AAAAH! He still managed to find room to eat his supper after eating more than half a can of corn. Supper is finished and now time to start thinking about giving the kids a bath...Once again not fast enough, there he was in the tub (thank G*d that this time he didn't turn on the hot water)...OMG, BLAAAAKE! Oh what a day! Now you see why my camera is never to far away and always ready to go...

***A FLAT STANLEY ADVENTURE....

Our daughter Trinity is in the second grade and had to do send Flat Stanley on an adventure. Well her dad wanted to do something special for her so he took Flat Stanley to work with him for the day. I tell you those two can sure get themselves into trouble....LOL Matt took Stanley to work yesterday and typed up their adventure and emailed it to me to look at...from Matt's story I had a great idea to turn it into a story book adventure. Trinity was pretty impressed with this and couldn't wait to get to school and show her teacher.

I thought I would share this Flat Stanley adventure with you....we had fun putting it all together:0) It's a little rough, we were up late getting it done :0)

FLAT STANLEY AND THE MYSTERIOUS SPOOK ADVENTURE

Trinity's Flat Stanley arrived at 556 Main Street one cool fall morning. Always searching for adventure Stanley decided to go to work at the local store with Trinity's dad for a day to see what mischief he could get into.

Upon arriving at work we got an eerie feeling that it would be a mysterious day for sure. We began by putting the key in the door, but for some strange reason it wouldn't open, sometimes the lock can be a bit stubborn but today it wouldn't budge, not one bit. This was strange I thought, it was sure lucky that Stanley was here today because without a blink of an eye, he quickly jumped out of my jacket pocket and slid under the crack in the door. He jumped up onto the candy machine at the front door so he could reach the lock-switch on the inside of the door and quickly got us in.

Around the door we saw a trail of crumbs leading down to my office, this was peculiar because the floor is always swept at night. We walked back to the office so we could get a start to the day but when I went to get my name badge out of my desk drawer I realized that is was locked and I couldn't find my key anywhere, I wonder where it went? Stanley wanting to help again was able to slide through into my drawer and get it open it was great to have him here. Looking through my drawer I couldn't find my badge anywhere, weird I left it there I was sure last night, all that was there was a fluff of fur.

Stanley was feeling there was more to this mystery than meet the eye he was trying to put the pieces together and find out what was causing this mischief. Stanley and I decided to continue on our day, we were working on Halloween displays today, this make Stanley nervous as it was spooky seeing all the Halloween decorations and scary music playing. Stanley was walking down the aisle filled with Halloween treats and suddenly he heard a rustling sound coming from the end of the aisle, he rushed down to see what was going on.

He found little bits of paper all ripped up on the floor, strange he thought, what could be leaving crumbs by the door, fur in the desk and bits of paper on the floor? Looking up on the shelf he saw where the paper had come from, there is a hole in the box of cheesy chips. Stanley was starting to figure things out, he looked behind the chips and what did he find?

...........SNUCK..........BOOM.............BANG! Out fell a furry little creature, he stood up on his hind legs and spoke to Stanley. "Stanley, funny to see you here, how are you doing? It's Sam Mousetache, your old friend." Stanley said, "I had a feeling it was you, it all makes sense now, the trail of clues led us straight to you."

Sam began to tell his story, "I smelled the most delicious smell and I just couldn't resist it, so I snuck in last night as they were closing the doors." "When things got quiet I snuck a few crackers from the restaurant, I was cold so the heart from the kitchen warmed me up, I didn't want anyone to disturb me so I snuck some gum into the lock up front so it would be hard to get in, you probably saw my crumbs." After I was done I snuck down to the office and got the bosses badge pass so I could open up the locks, I saw this shiny key on his desk and thought I might need it for something. When I was crawling out of the drawer, I caught my back and pulled out some of my fur." "Then I followed my nose down here to the delicious cheesy smell and you found me."

"Well Sam I guess that solves the mystery, let's go snack on these cheesies, clean up your mess and then I'll head back to Trinity's house to get ready for my next adventure...where will it bring me....we will have to see?

***PLEASED WITH THE NEW SCHOOL

With moving one of the hardest decisions I had to make was finding the best school for my children. Well with already having a couple of months in at the new school I am happy to report that it's definitely one of the best schools my children have attended. The school spirit and the close relationship between parents and the teaching staff is great, they really make you feel part of the school. Now with this school only being five years old it has many great features and the safety of the children is a top priority.

Today when Kohl my 5 year old son came out of school at the end of the day he was wearing a hat and had a few treats and students were wishing him Happy Birthday....the first thing I was thinking was oh no he's up to his story telling again....but this was not the case, the school celebrated the birthdays from the summer break so that no student in the school would be left out of the birthday celebrations. I thought this was so nice and Kohl was all smiles because of it! So now you kind of get an idea why I am so impressed with this school.

Now on the other hand it's still not perfect and bullying is still an issue and will be at any school you come across. Today with the rain I picked the kids up at school and waited around for Jay who is 11 years, to be dismissed. He didn't see me waiting for him so he headed home. By the time I got through the traffic and got on the main road I had noticed that he ran out onto the street and almost got hit by a car...he's alright but I tell you we headed right back to the school. The reason for him doing this was because of some bullies who chased him out onto the road...I hadn't realized that the bullying from these kids was that bad. But apparently he felt safer running onto the street instead of dealing with them. The school has a zero tolerance for bullying and the principle informed me that just this afternoon they had an assembly with all the students on bullying and because of this there will be disciplinary action taken. The school theme song for the week has been "DON'T LAUGH AT ME" by Brad Paisley , if you get a chance listen to this song, I love it.... Jay was asked to take a stand on bullying and to not let it go any further. Hopefully after Monday things will get better and Jay won't have to deal with these bullies...

***GETTING READY FOR THANKSGIVING

I have been struggling enough the past couple of weeks with trying to find costumes for all four of my children for Halloween, it's getting expensive and I don't have the time to make them myself and now to add to my trouble I have to find or make a costume for my son who is in his first year of school because they are celebrating thanksgiving by dressing up as Native American or a Pilgrim. I have no clue what to do and I only a few days to figure it out. The only thing I keep coming up with is to just send him to school dressed up as a Turkey....my friend said she would dress her daughter up as a pumpkin. That would make for some laughs. "Turkey Dinner"!

I'm sure with some time and research on the Internet I will figure it out. If anyone has any ideas for me let me know....I could really use some help!

***OFF TO SCHOOL

This morning my oldest son wanted to walk him and the other 2 kids off to school by himself. So since it is just up the road I let him go , he was so proud and the big grin across his face said it all. I watched as they walked up the road hand in hand. It was so cute...I am looking forward to seeing them after school. I am missing them already and maybe it's because I didn't walk them to school. They grow up so fast don't they?!

***SETTLING IN

It has been a busy couple of months since we moved but we are now just getting settled in nicely. The kids are happy at their new school and they are making lots of new friends. Dance has begun and basketball camp starts this weekend.

We new that this move would be harder on the kids where they are older and had more friends to leave behind but they have adjusted so well. We were most worried about Jay our 11 year old son. Him and my husband Matt spent most of their time butting heads. Nothing I said or did would make things easier for the two of them, so I am happy to say that with this move our lives have definitely changed for the better, Matt and Jay have become friends and they are really enjoying their time together and Jay is becoming a responsible young man. It is so nice to see how happy he is. Although it is hard moving even further from our family, living here in Cape Breton is really starting to feel like home. So with this I would like to invite you to check out the touching post my husband recently put on his blog at 1 Males Perspective.

WHAT TO DO?

My 11 year old son Jay has been spending quite a bit of time hanging out with his new friends from the neighborhood, and he is looking forward to playing baseball and street hockey with them this weekend. Well he has been calling his friend Matt and is not able to get a hold of him or something to that nature so Jay has been hanging out in the house waiting for the boys....Now is where I'm stuck, while sitting here at the computer yesterday and today I have noticed the boys walking by the house going to the ball field. So are they giving Jay the blow off and don't want him hanging around or what? Do I tell Jay that they are over at the ball field or just let it be for now. I don't want to sent him over there all excited to play ball if they don't want him there. Maybe I'm just being me and I'm reading more into it but at the same time I don't want him to feel left out.

Parenting

Parenting is a very important yet demanding job and it can get a little overwhelming especially being a new parent or expecting parent. We as parents want the very best for our children and looking to others for help and advise is something we all do and there is nothing wrong with doing so. Whether your looking for advise on baby items, breast feeding to maternity clothes and more, it's always nice to have a place or person to turn to. For me I enjoy the "lila guide", it's the word of mouth survival guide for new parents. Lilaguide.com begins its relationships with parents before your baby is born by addressing the needs of mothers to be.

When you become a member you are encouraged to join in on the reviews through the site and help each other in your day to day baby related decisions, whatever it may be, from feedings to baby products, maternity leave and more. You are connected to other parents online through chat rooms and message boards. your not alone so let's share our ideas and help each other through these wonderful years of parenting.

THANKS FOR LISTENING

First of all I would like to thank Petula from It's a woman's world and Tammy from Mom Knows Everything for their concerning comments and helpful tips towards my 2 1/2 year old son who just won't eat! It's been a very hard time dealing with him when it comes to eating but guess what everyone? Ever since I took the time to do blog post complaining about it, he has been eating. Yes eating and I mean eating his meals, snacks and more. I am so excited, what a feeling! Today we took him out to McDonald's for lunch, he just loves the play park there and we ordered lunch. Hesitating on buying him anything I thought I would take the chance and try him with a grilled cheese Happy Meal. Well it definitely paid off, he ate the whole meal without me coaching him along and he kept telling us how good it was. It didn't stop there, when we got in the van he was asking for his package of fruit snacks, sure why not....well there is more, once we got home and went to pick the kids up at school, maybe 1 hour later, we went to get them a donut for a special treat for having such a great week and he ate his donut. I was shocked!!!!!!!!!!I'm not usually a complainer but I guess the moral to my story is that sometimes complaining does pay off, I wish I had done it sooner!

HELP! HE WON'T EAT

IS HE GETTING ENOUGH NOURISHMENT?

My 2 1/2 year old son since day one has never been a very big eater. It is starting to worry me because he seems to be getting worse as the time goes on. My other children never had this problem and they had a little meat on their bones but not Blake he is so skinny he got himself the nickname "ribblet". I have tried everything that I can think of to get him to eat but he just has no interest. To eat a meal, forget it. To eat meat of any kind, forget it. He will however pick and pick all day long with snacky foods, yogurt!, apple sauce!, and fruit, I know don't complain about that. But is it enough. He does drink a lot of milk, he is always saying "mom I'm thirsty...hook me up to the cow!" Maybe he does get enough to eat but without him eating his meals at the table with us makes it seem like I'm not feeding him. I'm sure he will eat when he's hungry, I would just like to see him eat with everyone else so that I'm not getting him something to munch on all day long. It seems like I spend most of my time at the kitchen cupboards looking to get him something. Even cutting out the daytime snacks and only giving him his meals doesn't work, he won't eat and he will go all day like that and it's really hard to see. I hope this is something he will grow out of!
Well this is all my ramblings for now...I am being paged for a snack! LOL

***A VISIT FROM THE TOOTH FAIRY

Well we had another visit from the tooth fairy last night. Trinity lost another tooth, it's her second in just a couple of weeks. She bit into her chicken taco last night at supper time and really loosened it up. Afterward she couldn't eat anything because of how loose it was and she was getting pretty upset so I gave it a few jiggles and out it came. She was so excited, but I think it was because it didn't take much work to get it out, not the fact that it actually came out...she is so scared when it comes to her teeth falling out (she takes after her mother). Well that's another loose tooth behind her.

A PROUD MOM

When I dropped the kids off at school this morning I took Kohl in to his class where it is his first year I wanted to make sure he knew where to go. Well of course he did and he wasn't impressed with me for walking him in but it was a great help for the teacher because she had quite a few upset kids again this morning that needed her attention. Afterwards we talked and she was saying how mature Kohl is for his age and that he was so easy to get along with. She was very pleased to have him in her class. So I guess with having his teacher on his side he is bound to have a great year! I was so proud to hear such wonderful things about my little bundle of energy and oh yes he has lots of it!