Parent Tip, Follow a NO with a YES!

Do your kids drive you crazy?

Are they constantly finding new ways to do the same thing you just said NO to?

Try this, Follow a NO with a YES!

This is one of the parenting rules I live by. I strive to model the behavior I want in my children. We often tell our kids to, " not be the problem but be the solution". So with the, follow a NO with a YES, we try to look at the situation and find a way for the kids to get what they need but in a way that is safe. Like with the sweets, we don't want the kids to have a lot of artificial colors and other things, that become free radicals, in their body and so we found the Yummy Earth Lollipops!

This past month our youngest child and only daughter Eowyn, has developed this need to get higher. First she found the joy of stools, she was getting into everything and getting dangerous! We took the stools away, but she began looking for anything to give her what she needed. Cups, drums, recycling, boxes anything could be turned upside down and become a stool. She would listen for someone to open the bathroom door and as quick as lightning she would have the bathroom stool and be running for what ever she wanted that was out of reach.

Our house was starting to become this crazy free form art sculpture with tables and furniture being piled high with objects she turned into stools. We needed to find a YES something she could climb on but still be safe. I remembered the joy she had with the chair tunnel her brothers made for her and how that day I said less “NO’s!”

I then had an idea!My Solution.....drum roll please.....

An outdoor toddler climbing cube.

We had one packed away after the boys grew out of it a few years ago and had upgraded to bigger ones for them. We worked together doing Family Work and cleaned it up and got it ready for her. Now it sits in the middle of the family room and she can climb until her heart’s content! Happy girl, happy mommy, and happy house!

Family Work

This past weekend we enjoyed some official Family Work. It is a time when we work together, even the little ones to clean up or help improve our family in some way. This weekend we worked on our garden and planted strawberries.

Everbearing strawberries to be exact; they will produce from spring to fall and come back stronger each year! In the past we have always spent Mother's Day or what ever weekend they were ready, at a local pick-your-own farm. Last year they started charging a picking fee per person no mater what size the person. Well for a family of six those ended up being some very pricey berries. Now we will have our own strawberries all season long.

Next week we will put in our other seeds and look into container blueberry bushes. Each week we will add more stones and more items to the garden. I love the idea of Edible Landscaping!

Want to know more? Check out these links.

Websites:

http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/

http://www.garden.org/ediblelandscaping/

http://www.plantea.com/edibleland.htm

Books:

Landscaping with Fruits and Vegetables by Fred Hagy

Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn by Fritz Haeg, Diana Balmori, Rosalind Creasy, and Michael Pollan

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community by Heather Coburn

Simple Fruit Salad

This is a family favorite! I like to use a mix of canned and fresh fruits.

1 can of diced pineapple
1 can of pears in juice (dice if needed)
1 can of peaches in juice (dice if needed)
1 can of mandarin oranges
1 package of blueberries (washed)
1 package of strawberries (washed and diced or sliced)

Mix all together in a large bowl making sure to add juice. Enjoy!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

No, I don't mean Christmas, it's seed catalogue season. Any homesteading family worth it's weight in Zucchini knows that gardening takes planning! All my kids love to dig in the dirt, but my second son, Max, is going to be a farmer when he grows up. If you saw him reading the seed catalog you would think he was reading the latest Toys’R’Us flyer! Ooh’s and Ah’s can be heard throughout the house!We start out by earmarking the pages of the new seeds we want to try like, dragon carrots ( they are purple inside) and Easter Egg Radishes ( grow in a pretty mix of colors). We dream and talk of the growing season. We set a budget and then scale back to stay in it. We start out our seeds in clear egg cartons in a window sill and let nature do it's bidding. We eagerly wait for the weather to get warm so we can plant our seeds. We then plant, water, weed and trim all while waiting for our bounty! It is wonderful to get to cook fresh items but best of all it is something wonderful to share with the whole family. When our bounty gets too big we share with the neighbors. This year we hope to add strawberries to our home grown produce. Watch for updates on our garden!

What the CPSIA means for me

I completely believe in attachment parenting and so that leaves very little of my life for me with 4 kids. My art/craft is my outlet. I have always painted but making toys has given me great joy. I am often giggling in my art room over the little faces and what new thing I created by gluing two wood pieces together. I don't get that much sleep these days with our little one teething, so I find that a little joy in my day is a BIG DEAL. The day I found out about the law felt like the walls were coming in on me. I didn't even realize how sad I was until I started feeling better because of the good news that has been coming lately in the news. I was joyful again, I even wanted to redo Christmas! As a parent this scares me. I want to be able to get creative things for my kids from other crafters. This year in our house 50 percent of the items under the tree were from etsy sellers. Santa even felt my kids were good enough that they got toys made by the ETSY Elves this year. Last week I shopped for my daughter's first birthday, everything was homemade from Etsy shops. It was exhilarating, no crazy packaging, no plastic, and toys she will treasure forever. I think there are some simple steps they can take. Like in the NEVER ENDING STORY, the princess only needed a name for the nothing to go away. If they give us a specific, descriptive name instead of calling us MANUFACTURES they could easily fix this for us. In recent reports, they have been referring to each of us as an "independent craftsperson". Also, American-made products that already are tested and certified non-toxic should be exempt. There is a great many things that do not contain lead, and I am working on compiling a list. I want to make sure I list things I use and plan to use in the future. Simple steps can be made to change this law, they just need to "walk" that way to change them.