An Inside Look at our Secret Bedtime Routine
How would your evenings change if it only took you 20 minutes to put your kids to bed? What if there were no arguments, no fits, and no fighting when you told the kids it was time for sleeping? Impossible, you say? It’s not! And I can prove it. When it’s time for bed, it takes us 30 minutes to get our kids to sleep. It takes about 20 minutes to get through the nightly routine, and then our children are typically asleep about 10 minutes after we turn the lights off. Every. Single. Night! It’s not magic I promise! Here’s what we do. This post may contain affiliate links,…
A Controversial Discussion on How Much Sleep Kids Really Need
I LOVE NAPS. And I’m a huge advocate for sleep. In fact, besides my morning coffee, my most favorite thing in the world is snuggling into my pillow, pulling my fluffy cold covers up over my body and drifting off to sleep, whether it’s at bedtime or in the middle of the day for a nap. I’m one of those weird adults who needs 9-10 hours of sleep to function at my best too. Do you know who else needs 10 hours of sleep to be at their best? 7-12 year olds. Yep! Elementary school kids need a solid 10-11 hours of sleep EVERY NIGHT! Surprised? Many parents have no…
The Unpopular Secret to Eliminating Chaos in the Home
We’ve got 10 minutes before we have to leave for school. One kid can’t find a shoe. Another kid refuses to put on a coat even though it’s 40 degrees outside. Another child can’t find the notebook I’m supposed to sign that’s due back to class today. My husband is ticked because he got dressed for work before the youngest finished his waffles and now he’s got syrup on his work shirt. Everyone’s mad. Everyone’s yelling. It’s complete chaos filling the entire household. Sound familiar? I’m sure you have these days too. You might have them every day like we did for a very, very long time. I dreaded the…
6 Reliable Ways to Reduce Anxiety in Children
My second daughter has anxiety. Not the clinically diagnosed, anxiety-disorder type of anxiety, but the kind of anxiety that makes her have meltdowns when plans change unexpectedly, or an upset stomach when she is going into a new situation, or the kind of anxiety that makes her avoid trying new things. This type of anxiety stems from fear of the unknown, and that’s what I’m talking about today. This type of anxiety can cause physical symptoms from emotional turmoil, and she deals with headaches and upset stomachs on a regular basis (1). We’ve been working for 8 years to help alleviate her anxiety, and these are some of the things…
Thought-Provoking Reasons for Parents to Teach Emotional Intelligence
I told him he was grounded from the computer and he yelled, “You’re the meanest mom in the whole world!” We’ve all heard it, the mean words and the angry stomps and the complete and total breakdown that follows implementing discipline or making decisions our kids don’t like. Our kids don’t always know how to express what they’re feeling in a way that is helpful or constructive. Shoot! Half the time, I don’t know how to express my own emotions in a way that is helpful or constructive! That’s why it’s important that we –as parents – learn emotional intelligence and then we teach it to our kids. This post…
