Truth for the Trenches

Some of the things books have taught us… 1.      Attention span I have a three-year-old, five-year-old and a six-and-a-half year-old. Their ability to sit and listen to books is not the same but reading books has grown their ability to sit quietly and listen. Reading during breakfast and lunch gives them extra motivation to stay at the table and eat. It helps give them focus when they are distracted and aimless. 2.      Facts about specific subjects There are so many great STEM picture books for kids that give them facts in a story telling style and introduce them to weather, animals, history and physics using correct terminology.   fit We don’t always read picture books sometimes we read Wikipedia pages and let them ask questions about what they are interested in. When we are able to explore their interests it gives them an appetite to learn and to listen and to discover and eventually to read for themselves! 3.  ...

I can be opinionated and sensitive but laid back about many things. My kids regularly play in mud, run around the back yard naked in the hose, we have dance parties in the middle of Kroger because it's a good song and my son is regularly seen in a spiderman costume. However, I lay my foot down about sleep...EVERY TIME! When I was pregnant with our now six-year-old I read a book about sleep (Healthy sleep habits, happy child). I know there are differing views on crying it out, sleep training, and the best bed time. There are lots of books written that tell you what to do but few tell you why. The book I read taught about the science of sleep: why we need it and how the brain develops with it and without it. Before it told me what to do it explained the whys of sleep. For me this changed the game. It educated me on sleep so that I could make decisions for my kids, for myself and for caregivers and I knew why I was doing it that way. I knew how to problem solve issues as they arose ...

I love organization, everything having a home. When you put something away and need it an hour later or a day later you know exactly where it is. It removes chaos and additional time on wild goose chases hunting that spiderman sock, the purple sunglasses or the left tennis shoe! Our kids are great at picking up messes when reminded it is a constant conversation as they run around toys, books, clothes in hand and like a tornado leave them in a maze of a path all over the house. So I have chosen specific areas to focus on... Shoes go by door Books go on the shelf Clothes go in drawer Those are the things I say on repeat hoping that they will sink in and when they become a habit I will give them a new area to master. For many people a made bed is on their priority list but for me it is not. In this season we climb into bed often throughout the day to read stacks of books, the kids snuggle in my bed and watch a show so I can shower, they have rest time with books and toys ...