Weather Related School Delays and Cancellations

Living in Iowa, we deal with weather that changes from minute to minute. When the kids start school each fall, it is only a guessing game as to how many snow days they will have. I have been the working parent on those unexpected snowy mornings and it can be complete chaos if you are not prepared ahead of time. Even as a homemaker, having the change in schedule can be hard on everyone.

With bad weather passing through comes the possibility of those delays or cancellations.  While a two hour delay may sound like the better option, those days can actually be more confusing than a complete cancellation. Since we are having such lovely, snowy weather, I decided to throw together a few tips for any family to avoid complete chaos when snow days roll in.

If your family needs both parents working or if you are a single parent, snow days can turn your world upside down. If school is cancelled, usually so are the preschools and most public daycare facilities. If your job doesn't offer the flexibility to stay home when school is cancelled (most jobs don't), then it is of utmost importance that you have a back up plan. 

When I was working, I always arranged for at least two back up day care providers who would be available (open) on a snow day. It is best to do this at the beginning of the year because you could have difficulty finding availability if you wait until the last moment. Also, finding that daycare provider early allows you to introduce your kids so they have some time to adjust. Just having this in place will reduce stress on you and your kids. Everyone knows where they go when school is cancelled, delayed, or dismissed early. 

Being a homemaker with a snow day doesn't have the same issues as a working parent, but if the kids are stuck at home it could be trouble. Bored siblings equals fighting siblings and no one wants to deal with that. I call cancelled mornings our second Saturday of the week. We lounge all morning and then I try to have a structured time in the afternoon just to keep some schedule. We might do a science experiment or make a craft in the afternoon. Just something other than video games and computer all day long. 

What is the truth about replacing car seats after an Accident?

Ever since I started having children, the one constant thing I had always heard was that you always replace a car seat after an accident. I never heard any guidelines about possibly keeping your seat after an accident.

Monday my two year old and I were involved in a car accident going down the highway. Another truck slammed right into my drivers door and then we bounced away from each other. I drove the car to a stop. I was also able to drive the car home from the scene.

I asked the officers what I should do with my son to get him home since I have to get rid of the car seat he was in. The officer told me that he didn't think I would need to replace this car seat because the air bags didn't deploy and there was no damage to the truck anywhere around his seat.

I was skeptical, but I thought at least he will be in a car seat for the ride home. Once things calmed down, I was able to do some research on the subject of replacing safety seats after an auto accident. I wasn't surprised to see tons of information regarding safety seats and replacement of them. I was however, surprised to find a government site that has regulations for reusing a car seat after minor car accidents.

According to nhtsa.gov, there are 5 criteria that must be met in order to keep your current car seat after a crash. First of all, the vehicle has to be drivable after the accident. Secondly, the door nearest the car seat has no damage. Next, the accident didn't cause any injuries. Fourth, the air bags did not deploy. And finally, there must be no visible damage to the car seat.

Hopefully you learned something new today too. I was able to save a lot of money by keeping the car seats that were in the car at the time of the accident. So, remember if you are in a minor collision, you may not have to replace your current child safety seat.

Valentine's Day

My definition of Valentine's day is a day of showing people how much we care about them. We buy gifts to show our love for our family members. Plus, at school children get to hand out Valentine cards and have a little party in the classroom.

Last year, I bought all the kids Disney character Valentine cards to hand out to their friends at school. Then I had to buy candy separately to attach to the cards. Not only does it take a long time for little ones to fill out the cards, it takes them even longer to tape the candy to the cards. Plus, the cost gets to be rather excessive. Each package of Disney themed Valentine cards cost $5, then each bad of candy is $4. That doesn't sound too bad until you multiple that by 5 kids that need the cards. We spent almost $50 just on cards and candy for the kids classmates at school last year.

This year we have to cut back anywhere we can. So, I did some searching around and it was not hard to find cheaper alternatives. Candy manufacturers now produce individually wrapped candies with to and from hearts conveniently located right on the package. I was able to buy one bag at $4 for each child and that was the extent of Valentine shopping for classmates. We saved $20 just on classmate valentines. 

For the younger children, we filled out the candy wrappers and called it good. Some of our older children got creative and made homemade valentine cards to go with the piece of candy. I have been brainstorming ideas on how to lower our cost for the school Valentines even further. I think that next year we will make homemade chocolate kisses for the candy. Then all of the children can make homemade Valentine cards for their classmates. That would only cost us $2 for the chocolate almond bark to make the chocolate kisses. 

All the children had so much fun making out valentine's for their classmates this year. It was actually quiet in my house for almost an hour while they all worked side by side on their Valentine's.

School Mornings!

Do you ever just want to quit and crawl back into bed? Yea, I have those days too. Usually when one or more of my beautiful children decides to be difficult. Right now, I never have problems with the 13 year old, he likes school. My 10 year old is awesome in the mornings before school! Ahh, but my 9,6, and 4 years old are a completely different story. Some days they could not care less if they make it on the bus. This is getting old very quickly and I have a lot of years of sending kiddos to school yet.

Starting with Nicholas (4), the least argumentative of the three difficult children. It is not that he doesn't get ready, it is that he has an attention span of a two year old. This means that most mornings I have to devote 10-15 minutes just on getting him ready to go out the door. He also has a hint of hyperactivity which can be distracting for the other children trying to get ready for school in the morning. I have found that if I can get to Nick before he actually gets out of bed in the morning and focus only on him, I can have him heading down for breakfast in 5 minutes. Once he is having breakfast, I can turn my attentions to the other kids.

Then we have sweet Brookelyn (6), the most physical of the difficult children. She is like a roller coaster ride through a dark tunnel, you never know what kind of mood to expect when she opens her eyes in the morning. There are mornings when she is up, dressed, and on her way to get breakfast before I can even get upstairs. We treasure those days because most of the time she is not a happy person in the morning. She literally scares her siblings with the extreme nature of her outbursts over the smallest of things in the morning. All they have to do is look at her for two seconds too long and she will scream, kick, hit, and throw anything she can get her hands on.  

Last but definitely not least, Miss Kaylee (9), who just really has a hard time waking up in the morning. At least with Kaylee I do not have to worry about the physical outbursts. Most mornings she will sit up in her bed for 10 minutes, and then sit and pick out clothes for 10 minutes. And if she cannot find a piece of clothing, the whole process is on hold until that one piece is found (even socks). I think you get the point, so I spend all morning reminding her to keep moving. Sometimes she will just sit and stare at whatever it is she is supposed to be doing.

If anyone has any ideas for me, I am so open to suggestions. I just recently started a new tactic with the girls. Instead of saying, 'Hurry, Come on, move it'; I say, 'Not my fault, miss the bus and you have consequences'.  Being punished 8 hours after the situation really makes them think about how their actions affect them directly in other aspects of their lives. 

Girl Scout Cookie Selling times 3

I love Girl Scout Cookies and it is that time of year again. But how many families out their have several children in the same extra curricular activity. Multiple soccer games, softball, cheer leading, boys scouts, girl scouts, and that doesn't include the school related events throughout the year. While I love that my children are social and busy with good activities, I only have so many directions that I can be spread.

The cost of having multiple children enrolled in extra curricular activities can be overwhelming as well. For example, my 3 girls are all in girl scouts. Last summer, they all wanted to go to Camp Tahigwa for a weekend camping adventure. That weekend cost us over $150 and this was not an expensive specialty camp. 

I have to say though that fundraising time is the worst when you have multiple children in the same activity. I have had to make a rule that the only fundraisers we participate with in girl scouts are Girl Scout Cookies and bake sales. We can spend quality time together baking items for a bake sale. When it comes to selling the girl scout cookies, we had to implement a pot for cookie sales and then divide the amount sold equally among the three girls. In order for each of the girls to earn the prizes worth 100 boxes sold, they have to sell 300 boxes all together.

We have tried letting all the girls put their orders in separately, but then it just gets confusing for the customers because everyone feels like they have to buy at least one box from each of the girls. Then there are the people that just want one box. How do you decide who gets credit for that box? What is fair in that situation? As parents, we knew that was not going to work another year. The next year we decided to put everyone on the same sales form and divide the sales. That was obviously our first year because I didn't count as we went and ended up buying like 35 boxes so that the third girl could get that 100 boxes sold prize.

Last year we used that same selling method, but we agreed with the children that they could only submit an equal amount of boxes sold. The rest would be banked for discounts on trips for the rest of the year. That worked wonderfully! The girls worked their butts off and they sold over 300 boxes on their own. Plus, they had 60 boxes to submit towards discounts later in the year. They were happy because that meant one more trip than the year before. We were happy because we did not have to buy 35 extra boxes of cookies!

It worked so well for us last year, that I thought maybe some other parents selling Girl Scouts Cookies may want to try this idea out. Happy Cookie Selling to all you wonderful Girl Scouts out there!!

Treating Children Based on Their Abilities; Not on What Their Siblings Can Do

When our children are little and just learning all the basics of life, most of us believe that our child is so smart and ahead of the group. But what happens when you have multiple children and you notice that they do not progress the same? First of all, CALM DOWN! No two children are going to progress exactly the same at any point in their lives. Secondly, learn what each of your children can do, instead of focusing on what they cannot do. Thirdly, make sure you do not compare your children's abilities to their siblings.

First and foremost as a parent of multiple children, I had to force myself to realize that every child is individual. For example, my oldest daughter walked at 10 months old. None of her siblings walked that early, but they all walked within the 'normal' time period for that milestone to occur. Now that they are in school, I have to understand that my children are going to have different areas of strength and weakness. It is my job to help them progress at their personal rate to become the best person possible for their abilities.

Focusing on the bad math grades my 4th grader brings home is not going to help her to grow. Neither is telling her that this is easy for her sister so she should be able to do it as well. I have realized that my 4th grader is an excellent reader with high comprehension skills. While I have not given up on improving her math skills, I make sure to point out how well she is doing with her reading and comprehension school work.

My first grader is one of the most stubborn six years old that I have ever met. However, when I try to explain that she needs to listen like her sisters, she tends to go off in the other direction. Then I have lost her, the temper flares, and I am no longer in control of the situation. If I leave her sisters out of the conversation, I can make progress with her. She does not want to be compared to her sisters, especially when she thinks that I am saying they are good and she is bad.

Ultimately, no matter how many children you have, you have to treat each one as if they were the only child. They have to know that they are just as important as their siblings all the time. They need to know that no one is perfect and we still love them just the same. You must make the time to individually deal with situations that arise with your children. Disciplining and lecturing in front of the siblings comes back to comparing them to the siblings and we do not want that to be the focus of the situation at hand, whatever that may be.