Parenting Under the Stars

If I hear someone say that “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” one more time I will snap. I think a couple of us had mild cases of heat stroke. I know I did anyway and the heat definitely gets to your head if you’re not used to it.

We did purchase a new hose since it appears someone ran off with ours. There were a couple kids creeping around our back patio a couple days ago looking at our bikes as well. My son spotted them and the next day I heard another kid had his bike stolen.

We filled a couple kiddie pools up with the hose and jumped in once in awhile and that seemed to help. The water doesn’t last long in there though because half the neighborhood showed up to fill up their water guns.

It’s important to remind kids to drink a lot on hot days. Sometimes I forget to drink enough myself and end up with a headache, although that could also be caffeine withdrawal. We keep stocked up on freezies because that’s a good way to make doubly sure they’re getting enough fluids.

Does anyone make their own freezies? We do sometimes because it’s healthier and of course cheaper. Those plastic handled things are a pain in the butt in my opinion but I like putting real juice in them.

Freezie Recipes

• Good Thymes has a great summertime smoothy fruit freezie recipe with bananas, strawberries, orange juice and pineapple juice. Yum. I don’t have half this stuff in the house but sure I can improvise. It appears that they simply used a cup with a popsicle stick in it. Good thinking.

• This mango smoothie/freezie also sounds yummy from Barbara Northwood. I like the simple ingredients such as mangos, orange juice, milk and ice cubes.

If you’re a visual learner or just want to see a video on how to make a smoothie, see this Mom’s Mango Smoothie by dietition Janice Newell from MealMakeOverMoms.com

Parenting twin tweens can bring it’s own set of difficult challenges and rewards. Individual friends, belongings and talents are important to reduce competition in twins.

When your children are both striving for their independence and heading towards puberty it can become more challenging. It’s important for twins to have their own individuality and separate interests and talents should be praised and encouraged.

• Often one twin will excel in one thing while the other has a weakness in that same area. This is particularly true of fraternal twins, which are from two separate eggs. I have fraternal twins and their personalities are like night and day.

If one seems to be struggling to try to catch up or compete with the other, attempt a diversion into another strength that they do have. Of course this is a sensible approach for any child and not just a twin.

For example, one child might enjoy and excel in something like soccer and baseball, while the other may be more musically inclined and creative. Even if the musically inclined twin doesn’t like sports, they may pressure themselves to try to be as good as the other. If their own talents in art or music are pointed out, praised and encouraged they’re not as likely to feel competitive or left out.

Other twin challenges:

It can be difficult with twin tweens to maintain the same rules for each child. One is sometimes more responsible, so the tendency could be to allow one more privileges or responsibilities. In some instances, this can’t be avoided and separate rules have to be given in fairness to the more responsible child.

Friendships are another challenge, especially if the twins are the same sex. If it gets too vicious then you must intervene, but generally children tend to sort friendships out themselves.

Even if they seem like enemies one day they may all be best friends the next. Parents often forget this when they get too involved with children’s squabbles. Sometimes parents are still feuding long after the children have resolved their issues.

I have witnessed this countless times with parents in our neighborhood. Holding grudges long after children have made up doesn’t make a lot of sense and it’s not showing them a good example about how to resolve conflicts.

This was adapted from an article I wrote for Suite101.

Everyone needs some time away from computers and we have been having fun playing in the sunshine.

Yesterday was Canada day so there were fireworks everywhere. July 1st is a national holiday here and it is the 141st year since Confederation.

The day before that we went on a hike and a picnic in the park. First, we got a little lost in the woods and took the long way to reach our destination. It was fun dodging tree trunks, mud puddles and rocks anyway.

My sister brought strawberry shortcake and it was sooo good with angel cake, whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

I am a sucker for sweets so I also brought a tray of butter tart squares. We worked it off with all our running around.

Kids Crafts

If your kids want to make their own fireworks, consider this fun Noodle Fireworks Craft from Sherri Osborn on Family Crafts. It’s a great idea although requires some patience since you have to dye the noodles first with food coloring and then wait for the design to dry.

Another fun craft I found there was the Canada Day Noise Maker Craft. These are fun to any time of year and very easy to make. All you need is paper plates, crayons, beans and glue. Streamers are also a fun touch.

Summer barbecues

Yesterday we purchased a new barbecue. I swear it took a couple hours to put it together. All the wingnuts, bolts and screws were making me dizzy but I did help direct and prevented something from going on upside down.

We had delicious shish kabobs for two nights in a row and the whole family helped make them. We put cherry tomatoes, chicken, onions and peppers on the skewers.

This time I soaked the bamboo skewers long enough so they didn’t catch on fire and we seasoned them with lemon pepper & barbecue sauce. Yum.

Next time I will grab some mushrooms and baby corn so they can really shake it up. If you haven’t tried making them, give it a go. The kids seem to enjoy the food so much more when they help make it.

Summer holidays have begun. It was so funny watching the kids fly out of school like a shotgun. They look forward to this every year only to tell me they’re bored a couple weeks into it.

So far, we haven’t had any complaints and the basketball police haven’t bothered us. I wonder how long that will last. Speaking of complaints, I was reading about a six-year-old girl who was busted for drawing in chalk on her front stoop. (Brooklyn Paper: New face of vandalism?)

What next, bubble blowing, yo-yos, gum chewing and hockey bans perhaps? I suppose hopscotch is no longer an approved game if you have to draw it with chalk. It seems too nit picky to me and insane to criminalize children for something they have been doing for years. There are more serious issues people could be stressed out over.

Check out this gorgeous sidewalk chalk art. It is from Justin Rudd’s fourth annual sidewalk chalk art contest held on Long Beach. Here’s a slide show of some wild sidewalkchalk art . Amazing what those kids grow up to create.

In case you haven’t noticed, we have been having server troubles here on the network. We have been assured that they will be fixed soon. Sometimes I can get on and sometimes I can’t. Within a week or two, we’ll be back in business.

In the meantime, I’m feeling rebellious so going to draw hopscotch for the kids. Maybe I’ll even rig up a net so the kids can throw a ball into it.

Scientists want to rename the hygiene hypothesis because they’re concerned we’ll all simply stop scrubbing our homes, let our children roll around in the mud and handle raw chicken or something. (Dirty homes bug hygiene scientists)

The hygiene hypothesis is that exposure to germs can actually strengthen our immune systems, while being overly sanitized can contribute towards more allergies and health problems.

The gist of it is that when children are exposed to things such as strange foods and germs, their immune system overreacts because it doesn’t have enough previous practice.

It’s sensible to wash before handling food or eating but there does seem to be more hand sanitizing going on than there was in the past. It is coincidental that allergies have increased. Could less dirt mean more allergies?

We now have immunizations for major diseases but the trade off has been an increase of allergies like hay fever, food allergies, asthma and eczema.

Pets boost immune system

Simply having a pet can make your immune system stronger according to a study at Warwick University in Coventry. They tested 138 children and the ones with pets had higher levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A, giving them a stronger immune system.

Other factors that contribute towards a stronger immune system are the size of your family and/or exposure to other children. It makes sense because when they’re exposed to other children and germs, it can help them build up antibodies for bigger things.

Pets will definitely expose you to more germs around the house but maybe that’s a good thing. See BBC News, Pets boost children’s health for more information.

Today I made Sheppard’s pie and my family made me feel like a movie star because of it. It was quite plain really because I didn’t have that many ingredients. Those seem to be the ones they go nuts over.

I mixed the cooked ground beef with some onion soup mix, about a cup and a half of water, a spoon of cornstarch and a can of tomato paste.

The next layer was cream of corn, which nobody likes on its own. The final layer, mashed potatoes of course. I put a lot of milk in them because otherwise they’re too stiff to spread over the top.

A few days ago I blended some onion soup mix with orzo pasta and mixed vegetables and they acted like it was some great gourmet meal. Maybe I’m just catching them when they’re really hungry or they’re just relieved that I’m making something different.

We had a fun filled Father’s Day weekend and the kids gave their dad a ton of fishing paraphernalia. I even found a pair of flip-flops with fish all over them.

I hope all the other fathers out there had a good one. We couldn’t actually go fishing because it was raining but we will be prepared anyway.

I have been slightly snarky because my husband is snoring up a storm but some of the neighbors seem even crankier. There are a lot of kids living here and sometimes it gets loud but for the most part, they get along. It’s the parents that seem to have more issues and there have been complaints about the sound of basketballs bouncing.

Initially I thought they were concerned about their safety because of course they’re often bouncing balls in the parking lot. No, they don’t like the noise in the daytime. So apparently, basketballs are banned in our complex. Soccer balls and beach balls are alright I guess. It just seems slightly insane to me and I don’t know how they plan to enforce this. Perhaps someone will come to the door confiscating all basketballs.

I do understand being disturbed by noise because I’m a light sleeper and have a snorer here. On the other hand, people were quite aware there was a ton of kids living here and they’re not required to be muzzled in the daytime. So, does anyone else have a rule about not bouncing basketballs? If this is their biggest beef with all the children living here, I think they’re lucky to have such well behaved children.

I think we have a Coleman stove, a cooler and one sleeping bag so we will need to purchase plenty of camping gear. It would probably be cheaper to go to a hotel but I really want to go camping as a family. Once we have enough for everyone, we can do it more often.

There are some cute sleeping bags to choose from online like this personalized fire engine from Fantasy Toyland.

Something like this cool camo-forest green sleeping bag would probably be a better choice for an older child. I found it at Fuss Budget in the big kids section.

You can help protect the environment and get a heavy duty sleeping bag at the same time with this kids EcoPro +30. It’s made with 100% recycled fabrics and 80% recycled insulation.

For smaller children or bedwetters there are water proof bag liners that fit any sleeping bag. This is a great idea especially if you’re planning to spend more than one night out camping.

Tents

One year someone leaned into our tent wall and we woke up soaked from the rain. That wasn’t fun but it wasn’t cold and the sun came out later.

We just hung up our sleeping bags on trees and they were fine after a few hours. Our family has grown since then so we’ll need a new tent.

It seems like the easier a tent is to set up, the more it will cost. If you know where to get an easy to set up tent at a reasonable price, let me know. We will need at least a six person tent.

If they’re divided that also seems to jack up the price but I like the ones that have two rooms. I did find an article called Best Family Camping Tents that was helpful. The Coleman Weathermast Elite is my favorite so far. It has three rooms and sleeps 6 to 8 people.

We don’t have a definite date yet but I’m looking forward to it. Planning is half the fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge of deciding what else to bring.

Derek from The Man Page had some wonderful ideas on his post 10 Things to Do With Your Kids This Summer and he got me thinking about more.

Hit the beach. Kids of all ages love hanging out in the water. Bring along balls, beach toys and shovels to make sandcastles.

Don’t forget to pack a yummy picnic with lots to drink. Foods that are popular for our picnics include grapes, strawberries, cucumbers, cheese, buns, sliced meats and tomatoes. We like making our own sandwich buns when we get there so that the tomatoes don’t make everything all mushy.

If you can’t get to the beach, make a picnic anyway and set up a little swimming pool if you don’t have a big one. We usually end up having water fights with those super soaker guns too.

Organize a neighborhood barbecue. Make it a potluck and get the kids to help design and hand out the fliers.

Make sure they let everyone know the date, location and whether to bring a salad, desert or barbecue item. It’s a great way to meet the neighbors and try new foods.

Have a giant garage sale and get rid of some of the stuff you don’t want at the same time. Include neighbors on your street and get the kids to sell lemonade.

Make sure you check everything before it goes out the door though. Our children have fun with this one but they tend to get overexcited and want to give all their stuff away.

Another offshoot of this is to have a book swap.

Go to the drive in if you have one. We have one left in a nearby town and it’s always a blast. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and play at the playground before the movie starts.

Go rollerskating. I think I love this one more than my children. The flashing lights, the catchy tunes and the fancy moves. I hadn’t been in so long I thought I would forget but it’s like riding a bike.

Plant a garden together. Even the smallest child enjoys helping by digging in the soil and watering the plants. Later when the fruits and vegetables are ready, everyone can take pride in the fact that they helped plant them.

Other things we have fun doing while we’re out there are collecting pretty rocks, picking wildflowers, drawing pictures with chalk, blowing bubbles and collecting leaves to press. If you have some more ideas, let us know.

If you’re looking for ideas for crafts that your kids can make on Father’s day, check out some of these projects.

Crafts for fishermen

• Here are a few for fishing freaks. We happen to have one here and I think he would love this fish craft card. Get the pattern and full instructions on Kaboose. This project is for ages 4 and up.

Decorate a mini tackle box for dad at Makingfriends.com. You just need glue, foam letters, shapes and some tacky glue. It’s a great way of dressing up those boring little boxes.

Father’s Day Photo Frames

• How about a printable Father’s Day frame with a wale, fish, beach and sun from FamilyFun.com.

• DLTK have several printable photo frames with themes. There’s basketball, fish, golf, soccer or simply say “I love you.” That’s my favorite and I think it would make a cute card as well.

• I like this simple handpainted finger frame craft from Amazing Moms. All you need is construction paper, tempera paint and a photo.

• Don’t forget the classic popsicle stick frame from Kaboose. It’s very easy so would be fun for all ages. Multicolored popsicle sticks would be even better.

• Here’s a fun foam picture frame from Enchanted Learning. You could personalize it further by decorating with sparkles, buttons, nuts, bolts or stickers. It would also make a great magnet.

Further Father’s Day Craft Ideas

• Danielle’s Place has a large listing of Father’s Day crafts for ideas and instructions.

• Family Crafts at About.com has quite a few in their collection.

• All Free Crafts is another good resource.

• There are many other free Father’s Day crafts listed at 4CraftyKids.com. I like the decorated can found under the “tool caddy” link. My dad used to have rows and rows of those cans full of nuts and bolts in his workshop. Decorating a couple cans will be fun and we can find pictures in magazines.

Making your own baby food really isn’t that hard and it’s much healthier for your baby. Most jarred foods are very watered down, have added sugar, chemicals, additives and cost more.

Some baby foods that are easy to prepare and good for first foods include sweet potatoes, avocados, pears, apples, butternut squash and rice.

• Sweet potatoes are yummy baked; the insides scoop out easily and usually don’t require much extra blending. Bananas mash up easily when they’re ripe as well but it’s best to use a blender to puree them. You can add either a little baby formula or water to help it blend because otherwise it might be too thick.

• Cook peeled cored apples and pears with a little water on low over the stove for a yummy fruit blend. Once your child has tried a few foods you can experiment by blending a couple other ones together.

It’s better to make up a big batch and freeze it so that you can stock up ahead of time. I used ice cube trays and once they were frozen, just put them in zip lock bags.

Once your baby is around eight months you can start adding a little texture so don’t need to blend the food quite as much. Many babies can tolerate a little herbs and spices for flavor but that’s a personal preference.

• There’s an excellent blog called Simply Baby Food Recipes dedicated to homemade baby food with recipes, instructions and videos for babies from four months to toddlers.

I just completed reading the book The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable by Robert H. Thompson. Robert coaches, speaks and leads workshops on improving leadership skills. You can find out more about him on the website Leader Inside Out.

The Offsite wasn’t written specifically for parents but his five practices of exemplary leadership could be applied to improve family life as well.

Everyone has the capacity to become a successful leader and if parents apply Robert’s lessons, their children are more likely to lead effectively in the future.

The fable is fictitious but the lessons are real. Most of the characters presented would be recognizable from work or home in one way or another to people. The story was entertaining and educational at the same time and would be useful to anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills.

The five practices and how to apply them to parenting:

1. Model the way: As we all know children are more likely to copy your actions and not your words so it’s important to align the two together. If you’re telling them to eat healthy but you’re munching on potato chips or telling them to clean up their room if your own is a mess, your words do not match your actions. Nobody is consistent all the time but the more that we are, the better example our children will see and imitate.

2. Inspire a shared vision: If you can help inspire your family to want similar things for the future, they’re more likely to act as a team and make it happen. It doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking either. For example if you keep things tidy and organized, you’re less likely to lose things so save time tearing the house apart looking for the remote control for the television.

3. Challenge the process: It’s ok to do things differently sometimes and experiment by breaking tradition. Making mistakes and taking risks are all part of learning.  Most discoveries and inventions were made by people who were not content to blindly follow the pack. Being curious and questioning the status quo should not always be seen as defiance from children and parents can also still learn, grow and change.

4. Enable others to act: It might seem easier to do things yourself, especially if you think you’re better at it and it’s faster. Encouraging independence by allowing your children to practice their skills help make them feel more competent and be effective leaders in the future.

5. Encourage the heart: Praising others and encouraging their efforts is very important in both families and business. When people feel appreciated, it’s more likely that they will contribute and co-operate with a positive attitude. Yelling and criticizing might scare or intimidate children into doing what you want them to do but they’re more likely to rebel when you’re not around.

Are you all prepared for summer holidays? I’m not but we’re working on it. Our children are so excited about having school off but I know that they will be complaining after a few weeks.

I decided to start a list of summer supplies to see what I’m missing and to fight off those summer boredom blues. They will go to a couple day camps here or there but we don’t want to ship them off for the whole summer.

List of summer supplies:

Bubbles: If you’re into making your own, Ecobites.com have instructions on this make your own bubbles post. It’s no fun running out of bubbles or running back and forth to the store to purchase more.

Chalk: Some people get upset about kids drawing on the sidewalk but I love looking at all their colorful art and it’s a great creative way to pass the time. There are certainly worse things they could be doing and I still like hopscotch.

Balls: Basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, check. We have them all. The basketballs seem to drive the neighbors crazy but they can’t just sit around reading all the time.

Rollerblades: They will have to get new ones this year but they’re a lot of fun. I might even spring for a pair for myself.

Bicycles: Got that covered as long as they aren’t stolen. One year someone smashed up our daughter’s bike and threw it in the bin. That was strange and slightly disturbing.

Don’t forget helmets. A little boy just fell off his bike here and went to the hospital with a broken arm but he’s lucky it wasn’t his head.

Arts & Crafts Supplies: Paint, crayons, beads, glue, play dough, construction paper, scissors, string, buttons, egg cartons, milk cartons, sticks, Popsicle sticks. Some children will need supervision with some of this stuff but crafts can keep kids busy for a long time.

Skipping ropes: Invest in a sturdy one if your kids are anything like mine. They tear those cheap ones apart within a day or two.

Tent: Even when we’re not camping, our kids have fun pitching a tent in the backyard. There are a lot of kids here though so that can get overcrowded quickly once they all spot it. We need a new one this year.

Swimming Pool: We don’t have one so we keep buying them every year because they are wrecked quickly. I’m sick of the inflatable pools because they spring leaks right away and the harder ones are mostly for tiny kids. Any ideas for alternatives?

Activity Books: Word games, mazes and crossword puzzles are fun and educational. You can also find great workbooks for your child’s grade level to help them prepare for starting their new school year. Kimberly L. Keith has an impressive list of free print and learn activities for children from kindergarten to grade 6.

Freezies, sunscreen and sunglasses are a few more things I need to stock up on. Does anyone have anything to add to the list?

I use vinegar to clean and disinfect things all over the house. It makes things shinier than bleach and is safer and less harsh. If a child puts a toy in their mouth that was just cleaned with vinegar it’s not a big deal.

It doesn’t smell the greatest so lately I have been adding a spoon or two of essential oil to my spray bottle mixture.

About a third of the bottle is vinegar and the rest is water. Last time I used lavender essential oil, it smelled great and I think it worked even better.

For windows try the same mixture minus the lavender and use lemon juice instead.

We have very hard water here so there’s a lot of lime build up and vinegar helps break that down. I run a mixture of half vinegar and half water through the coffee percolator and it cleans it out and speeds it up.

Vinegar also helps cut worse smells such as urine and you don’t smell the vinegar much once the washing machine goes through the whole cycle.

If you put half of a cup through the wash with your laundry detergent, the acid helps neutralize the urine. It also works great for sweaty work clothes and stinky socks. It’s better for sensitive skin since it helps rinse out more of the soap residue. You can always add some essential oil to freshen up the scent of your laundry as well.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I haven’t tried making my own laundry detergent yet but I have been researching it and finding recipes all over the internet. It appears that most have washing soda, borax and bars of soap.

Tip Nut has an article up called 10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes. If you have a recipe that works well for you, let us know. I would prefer something that doesn’t have too many ingredients because I’m trying to save money and not spend more.

My Grandma is an amazing woman and still spry for someone in her late eighties. She still runs around, attends weddings, tells jokes, gets up and dances.

When Meatloaf’s Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad comes on, she sings to it and goes nuts. With twelve kids, close to thirty grandkids and many more great grandkids, she somehow manages to remember everyone’s birthday with a card.

I love listening to all her stories and some of them are so funny I laugh so hard there are tears in my eyes. One of her stories includes how they had to hide the moonshine before the priest got there.

She says to me, “Sandy, why are we so tough?” and it always makes me smile. I just say, “I don’t know Grandma.”

Sometimes she watches the Sopranos and plays dumb so she asks me, “Sandy, is Tony a bad man?” knowing very well he is. She does that when trying to get more information about people too. Sometimes I wonder if she does it just to get us going. She will ask about someone everyone knows is usually unemployed, “Is he a hard worker?”

If someone in the family does something wrong, she will reassure us that “he didn’t mean no harm.” It wouldn’t matter the crime.

Once I asked her for her bread recipe and she couldn’t give it to me even though she used to make it every day. She just keeps adding stuff until it feels right.

She loves my husband and her perception of him is that he is a kind, gentle well-mannered man who speaks softly. This is amusing because although he is kind, he can be quite loud but at least he behaves around her.

When my Grandpa was alive sometimes he would get going, exaggerate things after a few beer, and say, “am I right or wrong?” to my Grandma. She just said, “Well, it could have happened that way.”

My dad was a lot like her and so was very tactful. When I was little he used to practice with his band in my grandparent’s basement and I have fond memories of us dancing there. I have been thinking about him quite a bit lately and I think it’s the weather because he would always be out scouting for stuff at garage sales about now. He didn’t always get himself something but he usually found everyone else a treasure.

My Grandma truly never has a bad word to say about anyone and I wish I saw her more because you can’t help but feel good when you’re around her. I tried to call her but she must be out on the town with one of her many friends.