And You Will Have Kids

Celebrating on New Year’s Eve becomes more complex when you are a parent.  Firstly, it’s difficult to find a babysitter on that night.  Secondly, it’s difficult to be out until the wee hours of the morning and get up early in the morning with the kids the next day.

No need to worry, there are some great family friendly ways to ring in the New Year. More →

Having a child is an exhausting event.  Due to insurance regulations, many women have extremely short hospital stays and are back home in an incredibly short amount of time. 

When I had my first child, I was out of the hospital 12 hours after delivering her.  I remember being very overwhelmed as I was so tired, and our family lived far away.  I was tired, overwhelmed, and had a newborn who needed care as well. I’m happy to report that we all survived, but I learned a lot from that time period.  If you have a friend or family member who just had a child, here are some practical ways to help them during the first few weeks.

Help With The Housework

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For some children, it seems that a switch is flipped when they become a teen.  Overnite, that sweet youngster has turned into a sullen, argumentative teen.  What happened? What do you do now?

The teen years are a turbulent time in life.  Teens are struggling to adjust to their changing bodies and struggling to figure out “who they are”.  Some children breeze through this transition easily, and others have a difficult time of it.  This can create problems at home and at school. More →

Dear “And You Will Have Kids”:

My ex and I had a horrible divorce.  Now, he’s trying to “buy” our kids affections.  Whatever I do with the kids or buy for them is constantly upstaged. 

For example, I got them MP3 players for Christmas.  They came home from his house with iPods.  I made arrangements last summer to take them to a local amusement park.  He took them to Disney during his vacation.

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The day after Christmas is….a great day to go shopping!

In our area of the world, most folks are all shopped out by Christmas.  Many people don’t know about or don’t care about the after Christmas sales.  Still others make it a habit to go out and start shopping for the next year’s Christmas celebration.

Shopping during the after-Christmas sales is a great way to increase the value of your gift cards.  For example, if you have a $25 gift card to a store, and that store has a 50% off sale, you’ve increased the value of that card because you $25 will go farther and purchase more items.  Typically, stores slash many holiday items 50% after Christmas.  The week after the holiday, those savings could be increased to 75%.  In January, whatever is left over from the Christmas aisle could be discounted up to 90%.  The only catch is that the longer you wait, the less of a choice you will have.  The “best” items usually go first, so if you see something that interests you, it’s best to buy it then!

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The title of this post will baffle some folks who wonder how anyone could not have things to do on Christmas Day.  There are many others who may be spending the holidays alone and need to find things to do to keep busy.  Perhaps you are a single parent and this year, your ex gets the kids.  What do you do now? How do you “survive” Christmas?

I remember my first Christmas alone without the children.  Luckily, I had many friends and some relatives who lived close by.  I spent most of my day visiting them that first year.  It was hard though to be positive and happy, especially when I began to realize that every other year of my life would be this way.   Here are some things that got me through those rough first few years alone during the holidays. More →

Because I have children with various learning challenges, I’ve sought out and considered various educational options. My children have attended public school, been homeschooled, and they have attended a virtual (or online) charter school.

There has been much discussion and debate amongst parents who homeschool about the trend towards online charter schools.  Some homeschooling parents have enrolled their children in online charter schools mostly due to financial and time constraints.  Statistically, most homeschooling families who try to use online charter schools end up opting out of these programs and returning to homeschooling. More →

Nowadays, it’s common for students to take standardized tests during their school career.  In our state, students must take standardized tests and also benchmark tests several times a year to determine if they have learned the required amount of information.  If they haven’t learned the information, they are required to take after school tutoring, or attend summer school.  Another round of testing is scheduled after winter break too!

Testing can be stressful for students, their parents, and their teachers. There are some things that parents can do to make sure that their children are well prepared for the standardized testing sessions. Being well prepared can help to lower children’s stress levels, which is a great thing! More →

Dear “And You Will Have Kids”,

My children are starting their winter break.  They’ll be off of school for 2 weeks! I’ve no idea how to keep them busy and out of trouble.  HELP!

Frazzled Mom

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My older children have worn glasses since they were 2 years of age due to a degenerative eye disease.  I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is to spend hundreds of dollars on a pair of glasses only to have them destroyed a few weeks later when your child is playing on the playground at school.

Over a decade ago, it was somewhat common to be able to purchase a warranty on children’s glasses. I assume that the eyeglass warranty people were losing lots of money on the deal, because eventually, it became impossible to purchase warranties on children’s eyeglasses.  I wish that I’d known about Zenni eyeglasses back then.

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