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-M&M Momma
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Limitless Imagination of a Child-Lets keep it that way!
Aidann & I painted with some water colors today while her sisters slept. We had been painting for quite some time when Aidann suddenly dipped her fingers into the red paint & started rubbing it all over her head! "What are you doing?!", I quickly asked as I grabbed her hands. "I want new hair. I want to paint it red", she replied so matter-of-factly like there was nothing odd about it.... Oh my!
After about an hour of painting, I decided we needed to change it up for some crayons to make a few Valentine's Day cards (Plus, its less messy). Aidy was getting really into her cards, so I slipped away to go & check up on her sisters. By the time I got back, I immediately noticed a new addition to my daughter's face. She had neatly scribbled a goatee on her upper lip & chin & then went right back to making her cards. "What's on your lip?", I asked (trying not to laugh). "Hair", she replied. I had no idea crayon could draw on skin, but apparently my lil' daughter has proven otherwise.
My middle angel, Asher, zoomed through being a baby (on her own accord of course, maybe she knew somehow she had a baby sister coming right behind her). Anyway, she got caught chilling in her lil' sister's swing with her cheese snacks & sippy cup just swinging away. Fast forward to an hour later, she crawled up into her lil sister's other swing, started it up, turned on the music, & went right to sleep. I swear she slept like a baby, at least a full hour. I guess she is making up for lost time. She looked so precious!
The imaginations that some kids have can be so amazing & entertaining! I think as a society we do some unintentional things that begin to hinder it. Kids are naturally inquisitive. They are constant chatter boxes asking the craziest questions about anything & everything. As time goes on "we" start to get tired of all the questions & start to kind of brush them off & shut them down. As a society we also start to make kids realize that some questions will be deemed as "stupid", so they start to get scared to ask. Instead we should encourage our children to ask & even reciprocate with open ended questions in hopes of stimulating that sense of wonder that is naturally in them even more!
Television can also help diminish their imaginations if viewed too often. Its constantly bombarding them with 1 primary sense (visual), not requiring them to really use any other senses to discover or learn further. It plays the story out for them completely, leaving very lil' questions unanswered & not giving them a chance to really create or discover on their own. The underlying violence that is present in some of the programming of today can also leave some negative & lasting affects that can be a detriment to your child. I am not knocking television completely, because it does have some positive aspects, but it should be something used sparingly & closely monitored in the lives of young kids.
Personally, I only let my kids watch "Baby Can Read" & "Sesame Street" every now & then (once they turn 1 1/2 years old). I have really only seen positive differences in them. Aid & Ash would way rather play outside or read a book than sit down & watch television. They can play in a room for hours on end with their toys, thinking of the most crazy & imaginitive things. They love to draw & do various activites & I never hear them say "This is boring". It takes so lil' to absolutely thrill them & stimulate them. I even hear a difference in the way they communicate, using more descriptive words that go beyond just what they see.
The imagination of a child can be such an absolutely beautiful thing, lets treat it with care!
-M&M Momma
After about an hour of painting, I decided we needed to change it up for some crayons to make a few Valentine's Day cards (Plus, its less messy). Aidy was getting really into her cards, so I slipped away to go & check up on her sisters. By the time I got back, I immediately noticed a new addition to my daughter's face. She had neatly scribbled a goatee on her upper lip & chin & then went right back to making her cards. "What's on your lip?", I asked (trying not to laugh). "Hair", she replied. I had no idea crayon could draw on skin, but apparently my lil' daughter has proven otherwise.
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| @ least she doesn't have 2 shave |
My middle angel, Asher, zoomed through being a baby (on her own accord of course, maybe she knew somehow she had a baby sister coming right behind her). Anyway, she got caught chilling in her lil' sister's swing with her cheese snacks & sippy cup just swinging away. Fast forward to an hour later, she crawled up into her lil sister's other swing, started it up, turned on the music, & went right to sleep. I swear she slept like a baby, at least a full hour. I guess she is making up for lost time. She looked so precious!
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| Chillin... |
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| Out like a light |
The imaginations that some kids have can be so amazing & entertaining! I think as a society we do some unintentional things that begin to hinder it. Kids are naturally inquisitive. They are constant chatter boxes asking the craziest questions about anything & everything. As time goes on "we" start to get tired of all the questions & start to kind of brush them off & shut them down. As a society we also start to make kids realize that some questions will be deemed as "stupid", so they start to get scared to ask. Instead we should encourage our children to ask & even reciprocate with open ended questions in hopes of stimulating that sense of wonder that is naturally in them even more!
Television can also help diminish their imaginations if viewed too often. Its constantly bombarding them with 1 primary sense (visual), not requiring them to really use any other senses to discover or learn further. It plays the story out for them completely, leaving very lil' questions unanswered & not giving them a chance to really create or discover on their own. The underlying violence that is present in some of the programming of today can also leave some negative & lasting affects that can be a detriment to your child. I am not knocking television completely, because it does have some positive aspects, but it should be something used sparingly & closely monitored in the lives of young kids.
Personally, I only let my kids watch "Baby Can Read" & "Sesame Street" every now & then (once they turn 1 1/2 years old). I have really only seen positive differences in them. Aid & Ash would way rather play outside or read a book than sit down & watch television. They can play in a room for hours on end with their toys, thinking of the most crazy & imaginitive things. They love to draw & do various activites & I never hear them say "This is boring". It takes so lil' to absolutely thrill them & stimulate them. I even hear a difference in the way they communicate, using more descriptive words that go beyond just what they see.
The imagination of a child can be such an absolutely beautiful thing, lets treat it with care!
-M&M Momma
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Bashing is NOT Okay
A definite pet peeve of mine is when 1 parent bashes the other parent to or in front of the children. That is just not right & extremely unproductive. You are actually going to make things harder on yourself because your children are going to start having a lack of respect for the parent you continue to bash & probably end up not wanting to obey them as a result. Your child will also do the same exact thing to you too (talk behind your back and bash you) because you have taught them it's okay. It says in the bible, "Honor thy father and they mother...", but how can we expect our kids to honor us if we (husband & wife) are not honoring each other. We need to be a team. Are you going to always get along or always agree with the other parent? Probably not. But those discussions & compromises need to be figured out in private. As I stated in an earlier post, we need to present a united front to our children as much as possible. Lil' disagreements are obviously going to happen, but when things start getting personal & disrespectful thats when they need to be saved for another time & place. Plus, you know you aren't talking in sweet low-key voices when you get all heated up..... That's just not a good enviornment for our kids. We want to raise up secure & stable kids that respect their parents. It takes work, but will be well worth it you will see!
-M&M Momma
-M&M Momma
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| Enjoying the bridge |
Everyone Makes Mistakes
This afternoon at lunch Asher picked up the plate of food I had just set in front of her & accidently spilled it all over the floor! I wanted be sooo upset & yell "Asher!?!", but I made myself stop & take a deep breath 1st. It was a total accident & what would that help for me to take my frustration out on her? I do not want my child to freak out when they make a mistake & get all down on themselves, the world will do that to them enough. I want my child to not be afraid to come to me when they make a mistake, but instead we can work through it together.
As parents we need to train our kids that they are going to make mistakes & thats okay, they are human. But we also must teach them that we pick ourselves back up, at times have to pay for the consequences of our mistakes, but we also learn from them.
-M&M Momma
As parents we need to train our kids that they are going to make mistakes & thats okay, they are human. But we also must teach them that we pick ourselves back up, at times have to pay for the consequences of our mistakes, but we also learn from them.
-M&M Momma
Friday, February 11, 2011
UPDATES!
Added a new activity to "Fun 4 Lil' Ones", new recipe to "Recipes" tab, new product to "Products You'll Love" tab.
Showers, Breast Pumps, & Elmo...?
So today definitely started off interesting, for my husband anyway. We were over at my parents house & Justin had to go & rinse off in the shower really quick (Finishing up painting the new house before we completely move in). I was occupied feeding the baby, when the girls decided to go down the hall. I knew everything was child proofed & all doors were closed so I wasn't too worried about it. Suddenly, my husband starts yelling & the girls start laughing so loud! Apparently he had locked the bathroom door, but not pulled it shut all the way by accident. There the girls were, yanking the shower curtain wide open from 1 side & then Justin would yank it back closed. Then they would quickly run to the other side of the curtain & yank it back open & then Justin would try to close that side. I could not help laughing so hard, how terrible & at my parents house too! The girls sooo thought they were playing the best game ever because daddy was so frantic. Lol!
Later on in the day Aidann comes in the living room, pulls herself up on the couch, yanks up her shirt, grabs my breast pump, & says "Mommy, I make milk too, K? My turn now, lets share". Ha ha!
We were at the Lowe's picking out paint & the man comes over to offer his help to the 3 girls and I (Daddy was in another aisle getting something else). "You must like pink, lil' girl?", he said to Aidann as he looked at the colors I had already picked out. Aidann then replies, "No, my Daddy's going poo poo". As if that lil' event wasn't enough to make our trip exciting, from the moment we had entered the store Asher noticed some young teen wearing an Elmo shirt. "Elmo, Elmo!", she starts shouting & pointing at the kid. Time number 2, we run into the same guy again &Asher starts shouting & Aidann decides to join in, now 2 lil' girls are yelling down the aisle "ELMO! ELMO! Mere ("come here") Mere ("come here")!" enthusiastically. By now the kid is starting to look at us a lil' crazy & probably getting somewhat annoyed. But trust me, I was trying to avoid him probably as much as he was trying to avoid us. 3rd time, of course he had to be in front of us at the check out, it just wouldn't be right if he wasn't. The girls are now singing the "Elmo's World" song to the guy & Asher is trying to crawl down my arms to go see Elmo. How do you tell your kid its just a shirt & its not the real thing?! I would say "poor kid", but he kind of brought it on himself. He's a lil' old to be sporting Elmo anyway.
-M&M Momma
Later on in the day Aidann comes in the living room, pulls herself up on the couch, yanks up her shirt, grabs my breast pump, & says "Mommy, I make milk too, K? My turn now, lets share". Ha ha!
We were at the Lowe's picking out paint & the man comes over to offer his help to the 3 girls and I (Daddy was in another aisle getting something else). "You must like pink, lil' girl?", he said to Aidann as he looked at the colors I had already picked out. Aidann then replies, "No, my Daddy's going poo poo". As if that lil' event wasn't enough to make our trip exciting, from the moment we had entered the store Asher noticed some young teen wearing an Elmo shirt. "Elmo, Elmo!", she starts shouting & pointing at the kid. Time number 2, we run into the same guy again &Asher starts shouting & Aidann decides to join in, now 2 lil' girls are yelling down the aisle "ELMO! ELMO! Mere ("come here") Mere ("come here")!" enthusiastically. By now the kid is starting to look at us a lil' crazy & probably getting somewhat annoyed. But trust me, I was trying to avoid him probably as much as he was trying to avoid us. 3rd time, of course he had to be in front of us at the check out, it just wouldn't be right if he wasn't. The girls are now singing the "Elmo's World" song to the guy & Asher is trying to crawl down my arms to go see Elmo. How do you tell your kid its just a shirt & its not the real thing?! I would say "poor kid", but he kind of brought it on himself. He's a lil' old to be sporting Elmo anyway.
-M&M Momma
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| WARNING: This shirt may cause lil' girls to scream & chase you down enthusiastically in stores! |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Following Through With Promises
I am not just talking about the good promises like, "We will go to the park later today" or "After you are done eating all of your dinner, you may have a treat". I am also talking about the promises we make when disciplining. For example, if your child starts whining & throwing a tantrum, then at 1st you would probably give them a warning like, "We do not throw tantrums, if you choose to keep whining then I will send you to your bed ". If that child chooses to do it again, then you owe it to them & yourself to immediately stop what you are doing & fulfill that promise of sending them to their bedroom (no matter how busy you may be). We must be true to our word! They need to know we mean business & when we say something they need to obey right away! You aren't the bad guy, you are tell them things because you care for them & love them. If you stay consistent with following through immediately, then over time you will find you have to discipline your child less & less. I can't tell you how many times I have had to stop right in the middle of pumping to discipline 1 of my older 2 children. It can be a hassle at times, but it's so worth it & I have seen tremendous benefits!
While we are here, let me quickly touch on an area of discipline I have observed countless times between parents & their children, the counting method! The main setting I seem to run into this action taking place is in toy stores or grocery stores. A child is acting up & the parent says, " I am going to count to 3 & if you don't stop I am going to.....". To me this method of disciplining seems very fruitless. Those parents are going to find themselves constantly having to count out warnings because their child is going to keep testing the boundaries of how far they can push them. The parent is sending their child a message that when they say to do or stop doing something, they don't have to do it immediately because your giving them a counting leeway every time. You are the parent, you should not have to count! Like I stated earlier, our children need to know we mean business & everything we do is for a purpose.
Parenting is the hardest job in the world & is much more difficult than it looks, but it is also the MOST rewarding thing you will ever experience & worth every bit of the work & some!
M&M Momma
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| @ church |
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