Preschool

I’ve always been the type of person that had absolutely no idea what to do or say when a loved one was hurting. I’ve always felt absolutely useless in these situations and as if I needed to step aside and let an adult handle it. Here are some things that stuck with me during a time I needed help: Don’t try to fill the silence. My best friend once said, “There’s not anything you can say to make it better, but there’s a lot you can say to make it worse.” Just let her be sad, hurt, angry, etc. It’s kind of selfish to fill silence just because you’re uncomfortable anyway, right? Buy a houseplant. Even if a mom thinks she has...

“Mommy, read.” As annoying as these words are to hear at bedtime some nights when we’ve already read four books, I still love them deep down. I love that I’m raising a reader. I’ve been reading to my daughter since she was a newborn. Don’t get ahead here and think I’m one of “those moms” that had reading all planned out, doesn’t let her get do screen time, etc. I’d bet money my daughter gets more screen time than your kid. No, I didn’t intend to be a reading mom. One of my great friends teaches elementary school. She told me a few weeks after having my daughter to start reading to her, even if it was just news articles. So, I started...

Kids really are amazing. They are so observant of the world around them and, of course, are excellent mimics. We’ve all heard tales of little ones repeating stories or words that they shouldn’t be saying. They are also great at mimicking our behavior. I’ve read the best way to teach a child to eat with utensils is to have her sit with you at the table and observe you. The same thing goes for chores, cleaning and other household tasks. Our kids really are watching what we do and are mirroring our behavior back to us. Organic Chores The first task my son ever did was to pick up the dog bowls. He watched us pick up the dog bowls every...

Cue the Christmas music and hang up your stockings, it is finally Christmas time y’all! With only weeks away from Santa’s arrival, we wanted to do something to inspire you to keep the little ones occupied. So, we bring you “12 Days of Christmas Crafts.” Much like the popular Christmas song, we will give to you a new Christmas craft idea for 12 consecutive days. The posts will include everything you need to know from ingredients to instructions to little tips. Let’s get right into it! On the first day of Christmas, Red Stick Mom gave to me … Contact Paper Christmas Tree. This activity is perfect for repeated pretend play and for color recognition for those younger ones at home....

I never imagined I’d be the mom with the “bad” kid. I remember those kids in my classes growing up. I could still tell you their names. They were usually boys that loved being the class clown, always acting out and vying for attention in some way. As a kid, I never gave much thought about their reasons for acting the way they did. Surely their parents just didn’t care or weren’t giving them the necessary attention at home. Now I can say with full confidence that I was entirely wrong because (GULP) that parent is me. It’s an extremely hard pill to swallow being a bit of a perfectionist myself. I remember being pretty good about following the rules...