How Words From Strangers Changed How I View My Kids

I just wanted to take a minute to share a quick story with all of you that truly made a huge impact for me.
     A little back story on my family will hopefully give you some perspective.  As a work at home mom of 3 I feel like I am a constantly being pulled in a million different directions, and I worry that it shows when I am out in public.  Between my 6 year old and 3 year old sons I feel like they can definitely be a handful.  Especially when they are excited or start to get tired.  My 10 month old is thankfully the happiest most content baby in the world usually but she is just coming out of being sick for a few weeks and has been quite moody to put it lightly.   Now let me tell you all of this together without the reinforcement of their amazing father can get very interesting and intense at times.  My husband works late and honestly does not like to deal with crowds or large groups of people when hes actually home, so usually I handle most outings and things without him. 
     Last night a friend and I packed up all 3 kids and took them to the mall to see Santa.  (yes, I know I should have gone sooner.)  We trekked through the mall and waited in line and then they had to wait to pay and so on.  Every year after we see Santa we usually go to Rainforest Cafe for dinner, but due to the loud storms and dark restaurant my daughter was not having it.  So now I have disappointed little boys who can't eat where they wanted.   They reluctantly agreed to go for Hibachi which they call the cooker man. 
     At the restaurant my anxiety was going nuts.  We were seated with a nice 50 something couple and two single men.  All I could do is hope for the best as my kids were overly hungry and getting restless from all the waiting, and we were dangerously approaching their bedtime.  As were sitting there my friend sat between my boys and I sat with my oldest and the baby.  As soon as people start ordering, my daughter starts fussing.  Again my anxiety is climbing, thinking I disrupting peoples dinner.  I quickly give her a bottle and she begins to calm down.  Then no more than 5 minutes later she manages to grab the corner of my plate and spill soup on me.  As I'm wiping it up, I see that my younger son is fidgeting and is bumping the young man next to him.  I quickly calm him down and they start cooking and it distracts him.  Now this type of mini chaos continues for about the entire hour and a half we are there.  I am sitting in horror feeling like my children are out of control because tiny things go wrong. 
     Then as the younger guys are leaving one looks at us and says "Its great that they want to explore things and do things, not just sit on phones or tablets."  I say thank you as I stand there frozen and confused.  Somehow what I was considering a disruption, someone else was thinking it was great that I don't allow my children to have devices at a dinner table.  Then a couple moments later as I'm fastening my daughter back into the stroller the couple stops me to tell "All your kids are so  well behaved."  I thanked them and kind of uncomfortably laughed for a second and said bye and Merry Christmas.  As I turned around I see all 3 kids waving bye to them and my sons telling them to have a Merry Christmas.
     Now as their mother of course I think my kids are pretty fantastic, but I do worry that the little things are bothersome when we are out and about.  Especially in a higher end restaurant in the evening.  I don't think any of them were expecting to sharing a table with 3 kids when they walked in. 
     After hearing those things from complete strangers who just met my kids, and not 100% on their best behavior it made me stop and think.  I realized that my sons both thanked the server as well as the chef at the table every time they were given anything (even the things they don't like)  My younger son was fidgety and chatty, but he sat in his seat the entire time and talked at an appropriate volume to everyone about seeing Santa, and everything Ghostbuster related.  My oldest was attentive to his sister and would grab toys she dropped and make faces at her as she started to fuss. 
     Today I got to look at my kids in a new light, I got to focus only on the positive and all the little things they do that make them such great kids, which I will be the first to admit, that I probably take for granted.  Instead of enjoying my meal and time with my kids I was so worried about what other people though.  I was so worried for no reason.  My kids had a great night and they made everyone around them smile too. 
     Mom's please give yourself a break.  We all need to realize that nobody but us is expecting our kids to behave perfectly.  And also take a minute to acknowledge when you see moms or dads out with kids and they are well behaved, because that parent is probably thinking the same thing I was last night.  Hearing those little things from strangers was probably the highlight of my week. 

I hope you’re all having a fabulous start to this holiday season!  I wanted to share a little secret with you all to help you make some easy extra money this holiday season!  So I have been using an app called ibotta and to say I’m obsessed is an understatement. I have made hundreds on this app by just clicking through and occasionally snapping a picture of my receipts. They are giving away $10 right now just to download the app. It’s so easy to use I just know you will love it. Just today I have earned 5% back on my sons basketball shoes from DICKS and $4 for the groceries I had to buy anyways. If you haven’t already started using ibotta now is the time. Click here to get started. https://ibotta.com/r/rcyaqtj

Girl, Wash Your Face

So this is a little different than things I usually post but I just couldn’t resist sharing this one with you. This book is seriously a game changer. I love the message of it and believe it applies to so many of us especially moms. I don’t know about you but I am seriously guilty of believing self told lies. I am constantly worried people are judging me as both a parent and a woman. The reality is that while yes people do judge others we judge ourselves way more often and harshly than anyone else does.

4 Gift Christmas List.

This 4 Gift Christmas List has seriously changed Christmas in this house for the better. I love the simplicity of it any my kids actually give me real ideas that they will actually use beyond New Years. I believe it helps them to actually think before just asking for all the latest craze toys.

 Something they want: we use this as primarily a toy. This year my oldest asked for a certain line of legos and my youngest asked for his own camera.

 Something they need: At our house this sometimes gets a little tricky but some things they have asked for are new comforters. New basketball shoes for my oldest who us playing basketball, etc. While they may not actually need these things it helps them to think about what they believe their needs are.

 Something to wear: we treat this as something special to wear that mom wouldn’t normally buy. Like that Nike hoodie they have been wanting or new converse. Although this year my 6 year old decided he wanted underwear 😂

 Something to read: This one is pretty simple, and quite possibly my favorite one. My oldest is asking for the Harry Potter series and my younger son for Paw Patrol 5 minute stories.

 Once they pick their 4 things. I do my best to follow the list knowing they actually had to put some thought in and not just circling out of a catalog. Although I am a little guilty of adding in a few small surprises along the way.

A is for Apple Activity - At Home Preschool

For letter A week we decided to make a paper plate Apple. This helped teach him letter sounds as well as his cutting skills, colors, how to use the right amount of glue as well as creativity. I love things that track multiple principles. Plus it's easy to throw together and you probably already have the supplies for it. 

What you need:

Paper Plate 

Red Construction Paper 

Markers or Paint. 

Scissors (if you feel it is age appropriate)

Glue (we used a glue stick to keep the mess down a bit) 

Green Craft Stick (you could also use green paper for the stem) 

1. I let him rip and cut the red paper into enough pieces to cover the plate. We used about 2 sheets. 

2.  I let him color the plate red for a base for the apple. 

3.  Let them go to town gluing all the red paper to the plate. 

4.  Add your stem. (We used a green craft stick) but you could easily use green paper if you don't have one on hand. 

I love how simple this was since we don't have a terribly long attention span.  

Happy Learning! 

Letter A Chalkboard Activity - At home preschool

With our at home preschool program we are doing the letter of the week plan to teach recognition, letter sounds, handwriting and upper and lower matching. Today is our first day! And we couldn't be more exciting. We did a couple chalkboard activities that went very well. 

First I drew a letter A at the top for him to use for reference then made the dots for him to connect. We did this about 10 tes to really drill it in. 

Next we erased the letters with some tips and water. 

First I drew several sets of upper and lowercase A's on his chalkboard. 

Then I gave him a small cup of water and a few quips and had him wrote over the letters with the water "erasing" them. He was so proud of himself after every set he did. You could really do this activity with any letter or number 

The most important part when doing this activity with your preschooler is to make sure you stay as positive as possible even when they are not tracing things great. Positive reinforcement goes a long way and will help them so much more then telling them everything they did wrong.

We have a few more activities planned for today. I will keep you posted and hopefully give you some good ideas for teaching your preschooler. 

3 year preschool homeschool

When my son turned 3 I started looking into preschool and was incredibly frustrated by the things I found. The programs were either way too expensive, way below my sons level, or way too structured. So I decided that at home preschool would be worth a shot. I agree that there are some social aspects that are very important to his overall development so I did decide to enroll him in a sports program.