Well, we’re in the holiday home stretch now! With one week until Christmas, we have finished our shopping and wrapped all the presents. I know! I feel so on top of things this year.
My toddler would like to announce that he is also finished with his presents for the holidays. Spoiler: he went the “home made” route this year. He can’t exactly go to the store, after all. These gifts may be a tad unusual, but he thinks you will love them.
If there is one thing Canadians know how to do, it’s to dress for the winter conditions. Oh yes, come November we’ve got our cosy winter wardrobe ready to go. While it does hide our holiday pounds, it is a pain in the butt to put it all on. Seriously, we have to add at least 5 minutes of time to our morning routine just to put on our outdoor clothing.
And if there is one thing we dread more than getting ourselves bundled in 4 layers of clothing to go outside, it’s getting our toddlers ready to go outside.
This week’s post is a guest post from Zara Lewis. She is a freelance writer and a mom, who is stopping by to write about the art of bedtime stories. You can read more from her here.
One of my favourite things as a parent is reading my son stories. He is a big bookworm already and I love it! We all know that reading has benefits for our kids, but we rarely consider the full extent of these benefits.
Long before they were ever written down, stories existed in the oral form and were passed on from generation to generation, beautifully altering along the way, but with a never-changing moral of the story. The famous French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss underlined the importance of myths and ancient stories by explaining how societies expressed their moral and ethical values through these wonderful art forms and preserved them for future generations. This incredible heritage of the entire human race is still kept alive on a daily basis through the simple act of telling (or reading) bedtime stories to children. Here are the main benefits of continuing to do so. Some may even surprise you. Continue reading
There are many great things about my job as a teacher. There are also many great things about being a parent – as you doubtless have read in my superb blog. However, there are also quite a few challenges of doing both at the same time.
Disclaimer: Even if you are not a teacher, I’m sure that other working parents can relate to many of these things. (Especially if your co-workers are not very mature.)
During my undergraduate degree, I spent a few summers working in a living history museum. It was one of those places where the interpreters dress in the clothing of the day and do activities typical to the time period. As a result, I have many useless skills for modern living.
Anyway, one of those activities was laundry. We would spend the morning showing visitors the joy of doing laundry without mechanical assistance, as it would have been done 100 years ago. Let me tell you, it was difficult. I have no idea how women did this and still managed to feed anyone. (Or do anything else, for that matter.)
By comparison, doing laundry with the help of modern technology seems like such a simple task:
1. Put laundry in washing machine.
2. Put laundry in dryer.
3. Fold laundry and put it away.
Easy, right? Sure. However, as most of us know, it is never quite that easy. For example, my husband and I have developed some very unique variations on this task. Let me show you what I mean.
I officially have a mom purse. No, not one of those big giant ones. You know, those ones that would be too big to be considered carry-on at the airport? No, t is a regular size purse, but it is a mom purse none the less.
What exactly constitutes a mom purse? Well, let me tell you. A mom purse is basically a diaper bag except that it also has your wallet. Unlike a diaper bag, however, a mom purse does goes with you even when your baby does not. I have been guilty of taking the mom purse on nights out, to work and even for coffee alone.
If you have 10 or more of these items in your purse, you may also have a mom purse: Continue reading
The Walking Dead is one of my favourite shows. Actually, my entire family are avid fans. We were so excited to see the season premiere this past Sunday. (And then horribly traumatized, but that’s another post.) Anyway, as we watched, I began to realize that the Walking Dead is exactly like parenting. Well, maybe a little more bloody, but otherwise pretty much the same.
I am happy to say I have another article running on Her View from Home this week.
Have you ever had one of those moments where you wish you had responded differently? Well, this is about one of those times. This one has been brewing for a while, and I finally found the brain power to articulate my feelings.
Here is an excerpt:
It all started with a pink pool toy. It was just an ordinary toy, but this one pool toy made me question my values and my deeply held beliefs. It took me down a peg.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a little bit.
During the summer, my husband, one-year-old son and I took a short vacation in a nearby town. We were staying in a hotel with a nice pool and I had bought the perfect pool toy for our son. It was a small boat, with holes so he could stick his legs through and float around the pool. There was just one problem. I had left that toy at home.
Determined to enjoy the pool, I sent my husband across the street to Walmart to buy another one. He came back shortly and tossed the bag on the sofa. I opened the box and my heart sunk.
To the Mom with the rambunctious toddler at music class:
I see you chase your toddler around the room. Other children sit in the circle, clapping their hands, but your little curly-haired boy insists on running around the room instead. I see other parents watching him. Some are smiling but some are quietly judging.
I see your patience running thin. You are quietly trying to re-direct him into the activities, but he stubbornly refuses to do anything besides run. Some parents are openly judging now. They watch your son, shake their heads and continue singing, surely wondering why you are here if your son can not sit for the class.
Not me. No, I’m not a saint. I do my fair share of judging, like most of us. In this scenario, I just see something else. Continue reading
Disclaimer: Kids and dogs are very different. I know this. I have gotten in trouble comparing kids with dogs before. There are some key differences. Like, one can be left in a kennel. Which one is that again? Hmm, better Google that.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right – kids and dogs. I now have one of each and I can tell you that they are quite similar in a lot of ways. Or maybe that is just mine?
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