I was looking through my ABC activities to do them again and adapt them for my little ones this year, and decided to put them together with some other ABC themed fun projects shared with me from other bloggers. Y’all are going to love these! They are all oodles of fun on top of being educational, so how could you go wrong? 😉
Which games and projects are you looking forward to doing with your kiddos? For some creatively frugal fun things to do with your munchkins, check out my roundup 10 Preschool Activities Using Household Items!
This is an older post, but I was thinking about it the other day when I let my children have cake for breakfast. I was tired, the baby was fussy, and it smelled so good just sitting there. Don’t judge me!!! lol For more shameful confessions, keep reading…
Anyone who knows me well (or reads my blog 🙂 ) also knows that I genuinely enjoy cooking. I love baking goodies to share, decorating cupcakes with my daughter, whipping up delectable meals for my family to gobble up, and just all around fixing scrumptious vittles. What many of you don’t know is that there are times I just plain absolutely fall down on the job. I mean, I really go outside the realm of ordinary feeding of family and children. To call what I do during those times cooking would be…well….a disgrace to cooks everywhere.
Take tonight, for instance. The hubby is on duty at the fire station, and I was gone most of the day with the munchkins. To say that I didn’t want to be bothered with cooking tonight is an understatement. I could not, would not, did not even want to think about bothering with it. I wanted to exercise for a few minutes while noone big enough to know how goofy I look bouncing around like a loon was here to watch. (I’m very much sick of the extra pudge in the tummy and thighs that’s still lingering from having my little Pumpkin, after years of being on the active side of life.) Guess what we had? Microwave maruchen noodles with a handful each of shredded baby spinach and pre-julienned carrots thrown in to make me feel like it was still a healthy dinner. While it microwaved and cooled, I did some of my old exercises & stretches with Princess Peach for the 15 minutes I would’ve probably spent throwing a simple dinner together. Winner, winner, what a dinner! 😉
To delve even deeper into the dark secret slip-ups of a mommy who usually loves cooking and feeding her family heartily…brace yourself, people, ’cause this one is an even bigger doozie!
Sometimes- like, say, yesterday- when my daughter asks for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast… *whispering guiltily* I let her. I know! Mom of the year here! Don’t give me that look! I was in a hurry, okay??
As if I haven’t already revealed enough of my lovely days of throwing in the towel of attempting to be something resembling Mrs. Handy Homemaker, there are also times when I throw together a bunch of chopped fruit and yogurt, then act really excited about it, and the kids & I have a fruit salad lunch that my sweet daughter thinks is a fruit party for princesses. Hey, at least this one is a healthy cheat! You’ve gotta give a girl credit for that!
So, now that you know some of my less-than-stellar moments of cookery, what are some of the things you do (or don’t do) on those days you are just too busy, too lazy or just not in the mood to have to fix something for your family? Don’t leave me hanging here! I ‘fessed up. Now it’s your turn! 😉 Oh, and if you want to try the cake I fed my kids for breakfast the other day, here you go… Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Glaze Cake
“Take a picture with me, Mommy! “, my five year old daughter chirped this afternoon.
Excuses immediately ran through my mind of why I would really rather not. I have a headache, my hair is a mess, I am wearing no makeup and I have hardly slept in days, so I am not looking my best.
Then I had a flashback to being that girl begging for pictures with my mom, who hated having her picture taken. She usually said no, but those times she actually said yes live on as treasures for me. They are beautiful reminders of the loving, joyful childhood I had with a mom who put aside her own insecurity in how she looked for long enough to make a record of a moment with her daughter.
My mom passed away at age 44, long before I had my own little girl.
Each snapshot of my mom is an irreplacable memory, frozen in time.
I cherish them, and the ability to share them with the grandchildren she never met. Because of this, I don’t care if I look like a homeless crazy person, I will take that picture with my babies whenever they want. They don’t care about how I look now. Later they will look at that photo and remember that moment with Mom, regardless of what my hair looked like.
Take those pictures with your kids.
How you look right now doesn’t matter. You don’t have to look like a fashion model to be a fabulous mommy. How they feel and the memories preserved in time do. You won’t regret those messy moments captured in a picture. Those messy moments make up the beautiful, crazy life filled with the love you have for your children….and that’s what those photos will represent to them when they look at them.
Here is a letter I wrote to my mom on her birthday during my pregnancy with our little Sweet Pea, if you would like to read it…
Anyone else find the weirdest things coming out of your mouth when speaking to the crazy cute beings known as your children? I often pause after saying something to one of my children and think “Wow, that would sound completely crazy if someone wasn’t in this scenario to understand!”. I thought I’d share a few random quotes and the adult side of conversations from the mouth of this weird mommy, free of the context they were responding to. 😉
“Did you really just fill your teacup from the toilet?!? Don’t drink that! Give it to me!! Wash your hands! Because people poop where that water came from! Yes, yuck!”
“Peanut butter is not paint! I don’t care if it makes your room smell good!”
“You would scratch someone, too, if she picked you up by the tail and spun you in circles! No, I am not putting the cat in timeout! I’d put you there if he hadn’t scratched you already, though! I’m mean? Ummm…thanks!”
“Get your foot out of my hair!”
“You can’t fly. No, you can’t! Not even if you’re wearing a cape. Don’t climb up there. Stop! GET DOWN NOWWWW!!!”
Say What??
“Don’t put your toes in your mouth. Because they are dirty, that’s why!”
“No, you can’t drive my van to the park! You’re five years old! I’m glad you watched Daddy drive lots of times, but that doesn’t mean you can drive yourself! I know you drive your power wheel, but that’s different.”
“The closet is not a toilet!!!”
“Daddy doesn’t make milk. Yes, I know he has nipples, but only mommies make milk. Yeah, it probably would taste funny with all that hair on them, anyway.”
“That’s sweet of you, but I really don’t want the biggest booger ever.”
This is just a small sample of the odd things I’ve heard come out of my own mouth in response to my children, if this gives you any hint into the tee-total lunacy of my household. Anyone else have some doozies you’ve caught yourself saying?
Does it bother anyone else for their little girls to aspire to be a princess in the classic “I’m so helpless! Please rescue me and cater to my unrealistic whims, oh, obscurely perfect man of my insanely romanticized fairytale dreams!”?
I love letting my daughter play dress up, be girly, and pretend to be a princess, but the helpless and hopeless romantic version grates on my nerves more than a wee bit. That’s why I’m an enthusiastic fan of the spunky and sassy princess types! They make the point that you can be a pretty princess simultaneously with being strong, intelligent and perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, and that’s a message I can get behind. 🙂
Want some princesses for your little girls to learn about who are far from wilting weaklings? These are powerful women our girls can look up to! Check these rockin’ royals out, y’all! 😉
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This little princess wasn’t born in a palace. Her mother was a poor village woman who married the king, making her a newly minted princess with all the quirks of an ordinary sweet & spunky little girl, along with the newfound trappings of royalty. She is a kind, but very resourceful, little person. Sophia is a totally relatable little princess, in her own magical way. Get Sofia the First gifts here:http://amzn.to/2hpK4We
Mulan / Mulan II:
Mulan’s father was in poor health, and was called up to war. She courageously took his place, and became a renowned and rewarded soldier, with some interesting twists along the way. Find Mulan gifts here:http://amzn.to/2gEuk2S
Esther was actually a real queen, way back in the days of the Old Testament. In a day when women- even queens- ordinarily had very little power or influence, she managed to save the entire Israelite people in her kingdom using her intelligence, wisdom, grace and every ounce of power she had. She accomplished amazing things, especially considering the time she was living in. She was definitely a royal of worth! Get Queen Esther gifts here:http://amzn.to/2gsMhOo
Merida is certainly nowhere close to the helpless maiden type! She had to learn how to calm her wild spirit through a whole series of crazy adventures where the princess is the girl who is both causing trouble and fixing it herself . When they say brave, it royally fits! Find Merida from Brave gifts here: http://amzn.to/2hwdAMM
Who can forget this super duper popular pair of sisters-their struggles and strength through their fantastical adventures? Wimpy little ladies they are not! They are full of determination, character and spunk. Let it go! 😉
Shop for Frozen gifts here: http://amzn.to/2gRLBmN
Now, I think of the classic Rapunzel as the aforementioned annoyingly helpless and pathetic princess type. The version who appears in the movie Tangled, however, is anything but that! She grew up sheltered in a tower, but she broke free and corralled a young man into helping her along in her urgent quest. Find Rapunzel from Tangled gifts here:http://amzn.to/2hm7w6p
Princess Leia from Star Wars:
Intergalactic strong woman and princess, anyone?? Doesn’t get any cooler than that! Find Princess Leia gifts here:http://amzn.to/2hg6ATi
Do you know of any other atypical brave princesses or other strong royal ladies whom your little girls adore? Are they fans of any of the amazing girls I mentioned?
Does anyone else ever feel like cleaning in a house of small children is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a teaspoon? You may make a little progress eventually, but they will quickly fill any space you empty and mess any place you wipe and dump out anything you put away and…well, you get the point! I know that you can teach them to clean up and put away- and I do that- but it’s still a never ending task, and it takes alot of my energy to make sure my little ones actually follow through with their jobs. I have to get creative for them to care about keeping up with anything, and that’s pretty important because Mommy can’t do it all well alone. One trick that works pretty well with my children is that if you don’t pick it up, you lose it. If I ask my kids to clean up and they don’t, I give them warning that next time I say something will be while taking a toy. If it still doesn’t get done, I grab a toy they actually like (I’ve learned to not grab comfort objects or things they aren’t too fond of) and put it away from them. If they still don’t clean up, I take two…and it goes on from there. To earn back ONE toy, they have to clean up immediately the following clean-up session without argument or complaint. This is probably the most effective method for my independent minded oldest. She frequently doesn’t mind alot of punishments I can dole out, loves to argue, and lives to win. Since I won’t fuss with her, just say “You chose to lose a toy/two toys/three toys by not cleaning up when I asked” and refuse to engage, it’s not fun for her, and she hates losing things she loves. I’ve rarely had to go beyond two toys, even with her. 🙂 I also try to make it more fun for them to help clean up. They love it when we sing the cleanup song while we work. They really enjoy it when I make cleaning up a race! I’ll say “Can you pick up all of your toys before I can finish dishes? I’m pretty fast!” or “How many books can you put up before this song stops playing?” or “Do you think you can finish washing your fingerprints off the window before I can finish cleaning the bathroom?”. Sometimes I’ll offer a reward if they get it all done or if they finish in a certain time frame. These rewards are usually something like a snack or an extra book to be read during story time or playing with playdough or something. Almost anything can be fun for kids if you make it into a game. What are some tricks you have for cleaning up with kiddos?
Want a relatively cheap way to spend a weekend with the family? How about trying camping?
With the weather warming up, this is the perfect time to plan a fishing and camping trip! With a little planning, you can have oodles of fun without breaking the bank!
First, where are you going to sleep? Do you have an RV or tent already?
Okay, then are you going to stay on private land, at a campsite or what? Make sure you have any necessary permission or reservations to avoid a last minute scramble to find somewhere to park your sleeping bags! If you don’t have an RV or tent and don’t plan to acquire one, see if you know anyone who will let you borrow one or if there is an inexpensive campsite with cabins for rent (like a National Forest). Wherever you choose to stay, don’t forget to make sure you have comfortable sleeping gear, like sleeping bags or blow up mattresses.
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Next, what are you going to eat? Think about EVERY meal and snacks!
(If you have small children and don’t pack snacks, I promise that you will regret it.) We often pack hot dogs and marshmallows to roast over the campfire, which covers one meal and a fun dessert of s’mores for an easy prep. Lunch can be something simple like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, premade for zero prep other than taking them out of the cooler to gobble up. Also, make sure you have whatever it takes to prepare the meal when you get there, whether it be a portable grill like this fairly inexpensive one my husband uses constantly, even at home Backyard Grill 278-sq in Portable Charcoal Grill, Black, matches or a butter knife. It’s not going to magically appear in the wilderness! 😉
Don’t forget to grab the gear for whatever activities you have planned
Fishing poles and all the accessories, if that’s your chosen pastime (and could provide a meal, but have a back-up plan in case the fish don’t wanna come to dinner! 😉 ). Comfy shoes and water bottles for hiking. Binoculars & camera for bird watching. Buckets and containers to store berries in for berry picking. Reusable bags if you decide to scavenge for hidden treasures like arrowheads and interesting rocks. There are sooooo many fun things you can do outdoors that cost very little! Whatever you are doing, don’t forget the sunscreen, sunglasses and bug spray! Trust me, I’m talking from my own painful & itchy experiences here, y’all!! 🙂
If you are camping with small children, make sure to bring their “comfort objects”.
Add them into the headcount while packing up to go home, whether it’s the teddy bear who rides with them in their car seat or the rocket ship they must have tucked in next to them to be able to rest at night or any special blankets. I love to bring these cute flashlight pals Flashlight Friends – The Huggable Loveable Child’s Flash Light and/or dream lights Pillow Pets Dream Lites – Pink Butterfly 11″ with us, because it helps make up for the absence of a regular night light with my scared-of-the-dark little ones. Both of my kids have their own, and they love them for home and especially for travel. My son has the blue camo dog in the dream lites and the dinosaur flash light pal, while my daughter has the butterfly dream lite and the unicorn flash light friend. They are AWESOME!!
What is your best tip for camping with kids?
Camping can be fun, just make sure you are well prepared with everything possible that your little ones may need or be accustomed to. It will make a huge difference in the outcome of your trip if you go prepared instead of flying by the seat of your pants. Need tips for traveling with little ones? Head on over to Traveling With Little Riders! Looking for gift ideas for your outdoorsman? You need THIS LIST!!!
A couple of years ago with one of my little riders.
Planning to travel this summer? Have small children? One of your big concerns is probably how to keep the little rascals entertained and happy on the trip to where you’re headed, right? Here are some of my tried and true tips for ways to keep toddlers and preschoolers happy while traveling!
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Snacks!!!Any parents know to bring something for the kids to munch on, but here are my tips to make this a success. Pack familiar favorites, as well as occasional treats and things they will like, but don’t really get at home. A treat they enjoy plain made in a cool shape can be exciting at this age! Make sure they are safe to consume while strapped in a car seat, and not overly messy. For children who are past the major choking stage, some good options are homemade cookies (like my super yummy healthy cookies or these less healthy easy cake mix cookies), raisins and other dried fruits, real fruit dye free gummies, goldfish crackers, cereals or mixes made with cereals, sandwich crackers, pretzels, grapes, bananas, apple slices, string cheese, etc. Some of these are assuming you are hauling a cooler, but that’s almost a given on a long trip with munchkins, isn’t it? 😉
Coloring books. If your children are a little older, make sure to get them some that also have appealing games in them, like mazes, color-by-number, dot-to-dot and things like that to keep them more mentally stimulated for longer.
Stickers. Encourage them to get creative. You could let them decorate their own activity boxes, notebooks, memory books from the trip or bookmarks & cards for family members using their stickers, like this set of 1,000 animal stickers for cheap or other varieties. You can also give them a little notepad and have them put a sticker in it every time they find a particular object you agree on them finding and counting, whether it be a school bus, fire truck, the same color of car that you are riding in, churches, fields of cows, seagulls….whatever would catch their interest and be something they would find plenty of without it being too terribly easy.
Electronic games. I rarely allow my children to play with their electronic games at home, so when they get them during a waiting time (like a road trip, when I need to make important phone calls quietly at home or while waiting at doctor’s office), it will hold their attention for a very long time.
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I Spy. This game can carry on quite awhile, just adjust it to your child’s capabilities. You can use this to hone their skills in different areas. Some examples? I spy something big/little/green/orange/soft/wet/tall/round/square/sharp/etc. It doesn’t just have
to be colors! 🙂 DVD player. In a modern age, I’m sure most parents think to bring a way for their kids to watch movies on trips, but it bears mentioning. This portable DVD player is a #1 best seller!
Children’s Songs. This one could drive a parent absolutely batty, but there are times when listening to 100 children’s songs and pantomiming along is the preferred torture. When your other options are whining, crying or bickering…who can judge you belting out “Twinkle Twinkle” complete with theatric gestures? 😉
Books. This may seem like a no brainer, but it has to be included. What I do to make books even more engaging for them to look through is to give them a “mission” to accomplish. “See if you can find the purple pony hiding in this book!” or for those who can count “Count how many fish are swimming through this book!” or any other searches you can send them through the pages for. This really appeals to my goal oriented munchkins, and can make half a dozen books last as long as 20 books might without the extra missions. This traveling book is chock full of travel activities!
What are some of your favorite tricks for entertaining little ones on the road? Need some money saving tips? Try my Cheap Travel Tips!
My kids give a whole new definition to the term “homewrecker”. There are times when the little varmints seem intent upon destroying our home and everything in it, nailed down or not. Take the first couple of days of last week, for instance. We had just returned from a short vacation, and our kiddos were excited to be home again. Their response to their joy at being back in their home sweet home? My little darlings turned into a two tot demolition derby!
The first full day at home was the beginning of the madness. My sweet little Peanut, who just turned a year old, pulled the leg off of our coffee table and then did his new-walker “monster run” around the living room trying to whack anything that couldn’t skedaddle. Princess Peach strewed every book she could find all over her bedroom floor while I thought she was nicely reading on her bed, and her baby brother thought the books were perfect for one of his favorite games, Shred The Paper. (I should’ve known better than to think the fact she was on her bed quietly looking at a book and baby was on the living room floor with a toy meant it was safe to go to the bathroom alone, for once.) While trying to fix a quick supper, with them right behind me, Peanut dumped out the trash can and was frantically trying to dig through it before I could grab him out of the mess. After supper, I thought I could do dishes with them in the kitchen with me. Nope! Baby Peanut was pulling them out and throwing them as quickly as I could set them in, and my daredevil Princess was stacking empty boxes to try to climb on the counters to get at things she wasn’t supposed to have. AVALANCHE!!! They both fought sleep until the bitter end that night, and since I didn’t even begin to detail everything the little boogers got into that day, it took me about an hour of clean-up once they finally lost their battle with the snooze monster for me to be able to go to bed that night. This is even after making my daughter pick up every single book and all the toys she had scattered hither and thither across our humble abode.
She colored her face with blue crayon
I figured by the second day that the gruesome twosome would’ve settled down a bit. They were pretty good while I took them to church and a fundraiser spaghetti dinner afterwards. Apparently, that was merely to lull their dear ol’ mom into a false sense of security.
The madness began again as soon as they got home. They found an open bag of potato chips, which they both proceeded to try to cram into their jowls as quickly as possible before I could deprive them of their prize. The result? Well, chips & crumbs from head to toe to floor….everywhere! They pulled out just about every toy they owned, and a few I didn’t even know existed anymore. When I attempted another ill-fated attempt at relieving my bladder, this time taking Peanut in there with me while I thought Princess was watching a cartoon, she climbed the counter and got into some chocolate. She had it half eaten and smeared all over by the time I got out. I even heard her opening the wrapper and hollered from the potty. Did that deter my determined diva? Nosirreebob!! It just made her gobble faster. This went on and on all day long, one thing after another.
Cut to the grand finale of that lovely day…
The Princess’ Potty
At one point I thought I could keep an eye on them and check my messages online, since I hadn’t been on a computer for a few days. Princess Peach took off for the potty as I was logging on. I gave her a minute to do her business before I followed. BIG MISTAKE!! By the time I got in there, she had crammed a ton of toilet paper into the toilet and repeatedly tried flushing it. Can we say FLOOD??? Yep, it was an overflowing mess! Did I mention that my husband was on duty at the fire department? But of course he was! 😉 As yours truly was hurriedly turning off the water and ordering the incorrigibly cute culprit to timeout, Peanut was trying to swim in the mess. Once I got the floodwaters to shop rushing, I had to strip him down to a diaper and toss him into the playpen. Picture this: Screaming Peanut, ringing phone, whining Princess and mumbling Mommy rushing back and forth with a bucket tossing water outside, plunging, hauling buckets of water, plunging again, yadayadayada. It took about a dozen cycles of plunging and water hauling to get the toilet fixed up. After that I had to remove everything from the bathroom, clean everything, put back what I could and explain to Princess Peach exactly why Mommy was so far beyond irritated with her at the moment and why she should never do that again. Of course, next it was baths all around and off to beddy bye. Also, of course, they fought sleep yet another night to the bitter, nerve wrecking end!
Now, I don’t think any of these things are all that unusual in a day of life with munchkins. They just went on an absolute homewrecking spree there for a few days! This wasn’t even the end, since the next week included another flooding of the toilet, painting the bathroom with pink toothpaste, many more raids of forbidden snack stashes, destroying of items they shouldn’t touch, etc. My nerves have yet to settle down, since both of my kiddos are in some high maintenance stages right about now. Why am I sharing this? Maybe ’cause I’m a mess of a mom sometimes, and am too tired to care that everyone knows. Maybe to let other mommies who want to go outside and howl at the moon in frustration know that they aren’t alone in loving life with their precious children at the same time as wanting to crawl into a hole and cry. Maybe ’cause life is crazy, but it’s meant to be shared. Maybe so these little lunatics I am raising can look at this later when their own progeny are driving them up the walls and see that it’s just the way things are sometimes.
I’m convinced that God made children adorable and innocent so that at times like this, when they make their parents want to scream, howl and have a toddler sized meltdown from frustration….we look at the source of our frustration and think “You’re lucky you’re so stinkin’ cute, kid!”. LOL
My messmakers
Off to make sure Princess Peach isn’t wrecking havoc in the temporary silence of a napping Peanut. If your kids are at home and quiet….CHECK ON THEM!!!! 😉 I have to add that the little booger was yet again brushing the walls with pink toothpaste, as well as dumping water all over the floor and squirting pink toothpaste into the sink to use for her painting. I shouldn’t have left her alone, because she’s rarely behaving if she’s quiet lately. What’s a mommy to do??? Gotta laugh or cry! *laughing now that I’ve cleaned the bathroom and let her out of timeout* LOL! AHHHHHH!!!!
Anyone else had fun times like this?? Tell me I’m not alone, y’all, pleeeeeeease!!! 🙂
My five year old is very strong willed and thrives on winning arguments at all costs, while I’m more laidback and cannot stand to fuss with people.
She is a potential future trial lawyer, while I’m more the diplomat type. If you think this causes issues in my ability to parent her without getting stressed out, then you are tee-totally correct!! I hate to be confrontational or aggressive, but there are many times that I must. She loves to win, but she has to lose on a regular basis for the good of all mankind. 🙂 She’s a future leader, but she has to learn to challenge those leadership skills in a healthy manner.
Because of the difference in personalities, I’ve learned that a big key to retaining my sanity is in choosing which battles to start with my strong willed child.
If I start a battle, I have to win it. With a child who likes to win, this means that starting a battle can potentially be a huge commitment of my energy and time. I have to think before I start “Is this a battle worth waging? Does it really matter? Will it make a difference in the kind of adult she will become? Could someone be hurt- either physically or emotionally- if I choose to let it go?”
If my daughter wants to wear a big pink straw hat, black striped shirt, red lady bug wings, purple pants, red lobster beads around her neck, and pink & purple butterfly boots with sparkly sunglasses to the grocery store….why say a word? It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about her clothing. She is clean, well cared for, ultra confident and happy, and doesn’t care about public opinion any more than her mommy does. If I were embarrassed by it, I still think it’s something better to just let go, but I’m not.
On the other hand, if my little monkey thinks it’s okay to use her bunk bed as a launching pad or monkey bars, we are waging war. She could seriously injure herself, and not following her safety rules is a non-negotiable point. She was informed we could take it away, and have no problem leaving her with just a mattress on the floor to sleep on. Since she loves sleeping in the “princess tower” she has made of her top bunk and knows that I don’t make vain threats, she decided this was not a battle worth trying to “win”. However, if she had tried… the princess would be brought down to earth with just a mattress for awhile.
When my creative soul was determined to “cook” using baby foods my son no longer ate that were still in date and other interesting ingredients and make a big sloppy mess, I let her have at it. She mixed up apple, strawberry banana, peach and pear baby foods with banana chunks, cheerios and saltine crackers, served it up for her brother and herself for an afternoon snack, made a HUGE mess….and they were so pleased with the disgusting slop that they gobbled it up and got it all over themselves, requiring a bath after their childish attempts to clean up the wreck they made and my finishing the process. Did I eat any? Nuh-uh! Was she happy? Yep! This made them so joyful & wasn’t worth fussing over, even though it was annoying to me.
Alternately, when she chose to channel that creativity into using my walls, doors and furniture as the pallette for her artistic
One of MANY unauthorized wall art projects! Saying NO!!!
ventures, she lost the freedom to take her art supplies away from the designated art areas in the house that Mommy can supervise fairly well. I allow her to freely decorate boxes and and different items, as well as draw and color to her heart’s content, but I can’t have a rogue artist redecorating my whole daggum house to the taste of a sneaky stinker of a five year old!
When my daughter created an alter ego for herself named Peppermint Candy who was apparently a caretaker of all flowers and rocks everywhere she went, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. When I thought about it, though, she was just using her imagination and not trying to be defiant or cause trouble. I decided to just play along. She soon got tired of it, although she still creates alter egos occasionally, and it didn’t hurt anyone in the long run.
However, during that same phase she decided her little brother was the arch enemy of aforementioned alter ego, and would scream, yell at him and call him names for coming near or trying to play, I quickly put a stop to it. Her imaginary identity wasn’t going to be allowed to be mean to her real little brother and hurt his real life feelings. She waged war on this one, since she insisted he wasn’t really her brother, but an evil genius inhabiting his body. Mommy won, though. Life is not pleasant when you lose toys and movies every time you are mean to someone you are around 24/7. 😉
I have to make a side note about the importance of never, ever, evvvvverrrrr making threats you don’t intend to follow through with if you were blessed with a strong willed child.
A strong willed, intelligent child is NOT the person to tell you will stuff her in the trunk if she doesn’t stop screaming in the car. She is going to see if you will do it….and you won’t, if you’re like 99.99% of parents who make this kind of threats. It will be filed under “Threats mean nothing” and “If I push hard enough, consequences will go away”, and weaken any authority you may have had to begin with. You are better off to allow the screaming to go unchecked than to make threats you won’t follow through with, although it may not be ideal.
If you have a strong willed child- or any child- whom you find yourself arguing with all too often, maybe you should step back and think about what battles you are choosing and whether they are worth losing peace over.
Sometimes your child really is just being a child and an individual, and not trying to drive you crazy. Other times it’s an issue of respect, safety or long term effects. If you feel like you live in a war zone, try to think about what battles you are starting and which ones you could easily just let go without harm.
If all else fails, when it’s not important, just start singing “Let It Go” to yourself! 😉
Penny Pinching Peach 