Savvy Mom's Guide

4 Quick and Easy Meals my Picky Eater LOVES

2008-09-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Do you have a picky eater? I do. Also, I must admit I am a picky eater myself. It is hard feeding a picky eater. I learned to simply find what the child likes instead of fitting over food. Your main goal should be to get your child to eat. I remember I use to stress myself out about how or what I am going to make to get him to eat until a lightbulb went off. He must eat and I am not going to kill myself by jumping through hoops. The nights he doesn’t want to eat what I cooked, I give him either leftovers or cereal. Not sugary cereal, I tend to buy healthy cereal such as Honey Nut Cheerios. Through patience and persistence I found my picky eater loves 3 meals which are quick and easy to make.

Here are the 4 meals my picky eater loves:

Tuna on Toast

Baked Ziti

Spaghetti

Baked Chicken and Rice

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2 Steps to take to Parenting Effectively

2008-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

As parents whether we want to acknowledge it or not, our job is to teach our children to be responsible, self-sufficient and productive adults. These lessons should not begin at age 18 instead they should be lessons over the entire course of their childhood.

How do I teach my child to become self-sufficient?

I have written 2 articles which explain how to incorporate effective parenting skills to help you get your family organized. They are as follows:

1) Delegation
2) Example of How to Teach Kids to Help you with Tasks

Each of the about mentioned articles use real world examples that can you can use to effectively parent using resources which are readily available to you. It takes a little work to implement these family organizing strategies and will prove invaluable once incorporated into your busy lifestyle.

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3 Ways to Run Errands While Saving Time, Money and Gas

2008-08-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Mom has so many things to do is so little time. Therefore, it is important to stay organized and focused to achieve tasks. It not easy to do this in the fast-paced busy world we leave in, but with a little preparation you will be able to accomplish your goals.

To run errands efficiently do the following:

• Make a list
• Decide the order in which you will complete tasks
• Plan your trip

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Making a list is a daunting task which is invaluable to completing tasks. This type of preparation is necessary because it keeps you focused and organized during inevitable interruptions. Once your list is made, it is easy to decide what tasks to complete first along with the order. Deciding which order you need to complete a task will depend on the location and business hours of the place you are going to.

Just make sure you are plan your trip so that you make the most of your time, money and gas.

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3 Reasons Why I Love the Wii

2008-08-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I spoke about the Wii in a previous post Why do I Love the Wii for my FamilyI love the Wii for many reasons. It is very interactive and conducive to family time. If you purchase a Wii you will not be disappointed because it adds invaluable quality time to family life.

Here are my 3 reasons:

1. The Wii is inexpensive
2. Good for family bonding
3. Give Moms invaluable time to take care of other tasks

The Wii is inexpensive at a mere $350. It is worth every penny because there so many things you can do with it such as exercise and get on the internet. Also, when you think about it going out to dinner, movies, amusement parks, etc will prove to be more costly over time with the same end result of family time.

Your family will thank you for buying the Wii. It is fun for all ages. It helps your family learn about teamwork, sportsmanship, persistence and develops their analytical skills.

A Mom could have some invaluable time to either bond even more with your family, take care of tasks or have some much needed and deserved Me-Time.

If you buy the Wii make sure you buy an extra controller which costs approximately $39.99, but if you buy the Wii Play game for $49.99 it includes more games and an extra controller. All for $10 more.

I can't say enough how much I love the Wii. It has saved us alot of money, created new topics of conversation, gave me Me-time and has helped us bond even more as a family.

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Why do I love the Wii for my Family?

2008-08-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Videos have come along way since I was a child. The video games I use to play were one-dimensional and if I was lucky they had color. I was not much of a video game player until recently when I found how interactive and family-oriented video games are.

For example, my 7 year old son played Wii with our aunt and uncle. Of course, I knew what the Wii was, but had no clue as to how entertaining it is. My son told me after a visit how they played baseball and golf on the Wii along with how much he liked it. He told me it was so much fun!

So I started doing some investigation about the Wii. She told me how she and her husband have family time and bond every evening by playing the game. They even invite friends over to play sometimes. Click here to buy a Wii!

Finally, I got the opportunity to play the Wii at my aunt’s house. It was great! I really enjoyed it. It is very interactive and detects your motions via a controller a controller which has a great wrist wrap. The wrist wrap prevents you throwing the controller if you throw the controller inadvertently after getting over excited and risking injury.

If you want to have family time without a major expense, then buy a Wii.

Click here to buy a Wii!

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Example of How to Teach Kids to Help You with Tasks

2008-08-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting video on how to Saying Thank You. I want to share it with you because because it really captures the essence of how to get kids involved, how getting kids involved decreases your to do list and teaches kids how to help.

For example, in a previous post called Delegation we discussed how getting kids involved with tasks is a major step toward independence for the kids, helpful and important to reduce the stress you feel by taking responsibility for everything.

Saying Thank You is a great video because you can apply the concept of getting kids involved to any task.

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Delegation

2008-08-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

As a Mom, we get so caught up in taking care of everyone else literally and figuratively. By getting caught up, I mean we take on their problems as our own even neglecting our own needs. We are responsible for many people, but we shouldn’t take on everyone’s problem. If we do, how are they going to learn to take care of themselves?

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What is delegation? It means to allow another person to perform tasks to aid in getting things done. Through delegation we can teach our family to be independent and self-sufficient. Of course, before delegating tasks you must consider the person’s age and maturity.

Experiment!

1. Think of several tasks you do for your child
2. Write them done
3. Are there any of the tasks on the list that they could start doing for themselves?
4. If they can’t completely do it alone, can you teach them to do a portion to help you get more tasks done?

I really encourage you start delegating task. Even if it is tough at first helping your child learn what is expected of him or her, the benefits of someone else completing tasks besides you will be very rewarding. You will experience peace and complete tasks quicker.

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Let me know what you think of this experiment by leaving a comment on my blog or email me.

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Need Homework Help?

2008-05-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

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I have a first grader who has a lot of homework. I am sure this sounds funny because if you are like me I don’t remember having homework at that age. Helping him with homework is being back horrific memories of my childhood when my parents helped me bring my “C” down to a “F”. Needless to say I had to seek other sources for homework help.

How It Works

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Thanks to the computer and the internet parents have an abundance of resources when it comes to helping a child with homework. I wish they were available when I was a child. I was beginning to feel like I was in first grade again, since I haven’t been in school in such a long time. So I began to look for ways technology could help me and my son with homework.

One service I found was tutor.com, which is a fee-based, interactive service. They offer a free 60 minute trial of their service. I strongly suggest that you sign up for the free trial.

Once you log into your account, pick your grade level and subject; you are taken to an interactive whiteboard area where you and the online tutor share the workspace on the computer. You ask questions in the chat area and write homework problem on the whiteboard. Then the tutor shows you how to solve the problem on the whiteboard and you can ask questions about anything you do not understand. Also, you can save the workspace as a file and/ or print it out for further and future reference. I was really impressed with how quickly the problem was resolved and the efficient use of technology.

If you child doesn’t use a computer on a regular basis, beside his or her PSP, then this is a good time for you as well as your child to see the many benefits of technology.

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5 Tips for Laundry Day Bliss

2008-05-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Laundry day is a very mundane task and is at the top of the list for me as one of the dreaded chores I have to do. I have created a list of 5 things to do to make this daunting task easier.

Use a good laundry detergent.

Tide

Spot clean clothes daily.

Zout

Sort clothes nightly.

Use fabric softener sheets in the dryer.

Remove and hang clothes from the dryer while they are still warm.

This significantly reduces the amount of wrinkles in the clothes and makes ironing easier, if necessary.

These helpful tips will reduce the stress and dread often felt when doing laundry. Also, you can get the kids involved with helping you.

If you like these tips, make sure you read about more cleaning tips in the
Cleaning Tips ebook!

What do you do if the teacher doesn’t like your child?

2008-05-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

I always thought teachers were objective and taught kids objectively without showing favoritism. This was until I started receiving disparaging notes from the teacher regarding my child. I hadn’t received any notes from any of his previous teachers regarding his behavior. Needless to say, I was shocked, appalled and overwhelmed all at the same time.

We tend to hold teachers in high regard. However, we must realize they are people too. They are not going to make a wise decision or be objective about every situation. They are only human.
Moreover, it is difficult to objectively handle a situation regarding your child, especially if you feel it reflects disparagingly on your child. After all, you are your child’s advocate and protector.

Here are 3 things you can do to handle this situation objectively:

1. Monitor all of the assignments your child brings home. This will give you insight to how your child is doing in school and determine if there are any learning disabilities are involved. Is your child grasping concept and learning the topics presented in class.

2. Seek help. Ask people whom you trust and value for their unbiased advice. How would they handle the situation? It is better if your advisor has kids. You will be surprised how venting and hearing another person’s viewpoint will help you relax and see things from a different perspective.

3. Meet with the teacher. Speak with the teacher to see if you both can getting an understanding of the situation and develop a plan of action.

4. Setup a meeting between you, the principal and the teacher. As a parent you have a lot of power, it is a simple and easy task to call the principal’s office to arrange meeting.

The above-mentioned steps will help you handle this situation objectively. It is important to handle this touchy situation objectively because you don’t want to create a bigger problem for yourself or your child.