10 Tips for Managing and Organizing your Family!

1) Prepare a weekly healthy menu ahead of time. Once a week go grocery shopping for the ingredients you'll need to be able to stick to your menu. Make sure to include healthy low sugar breakfast items to start your kids off with brain fuel. Remember to include healthy after school snacks and items for extra curricular events during the week. On a budget? Check the local sale adds before heading out to shop. On the day of your extra after school activities stock a small ice chest full of healthy snacks or a prepared meal to have on hand to avoid the temptation of the fast food urge. Get the kids involved in learning about making healthy choices and planning out the weeks menu and getting them involved in cooking the meals.

(One of my fondest memories as a little girl was when my mom and grandma were in the kitchen cooking dinner. I was around three so to keep me occupied, I had my own cook station. A tray with a bowl and stirring utensils and extra food scraps, egg shells, vegetable scraps and such to mix away and cook my imaginary meal.) Always wash children's hands before and after handling food.


2) When your young children arrive home from school. Go through their backpacks looking for notes from the teacher, homework, or flyers for other schools events. Update your calendar right away with any new events and talk about your child's day. Make sure to ask your older children how their day was and what go over their assignments they are working on.

IT ENDS HERE….By Ian Hawkins

Guest Post by Ian Hawkins.

A very good friend of mine was recently telling me a story about his family and how he and his wife had changed their outlook on their life and that of their family. They were heading in a direction they didn’t like, one they were all too familiar with. And so they made a crucial decision – IT ENDS HERE. He actually used those three words and they have become like a mantra to live their life by. This is so powerful and so inspiring.

Certain beliefs and behaviors that had been stuck in their family for generations were repeating and they decided enough was enough and it was time for change. This generation would be where it ends and they would set a new example for their children and their children’s children to follow. And things are changing. I can see it in him and I can see it in the stories he tells me about his wife and children.

Alphabet of Child-Raising Ideas

(Click to enlarge)

While digging through some old files from when Carol's mom worked in daycare many years ago we came across this alphabet chart.

It was originally published in Ann Landers.
We fell in love this this soup of alphabet parenting tips.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

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5 POWERFUL REASONS YOU ARE ALREADY AN EXTRAORDINARY DAD.

Guest Post By Ian Hawkins.

I had an interesting conversation with my daughter a while back. I was apologising for speaking to her with angry eyes and she said something so simple to me, and yet so powerful. “Dad, I don’t see any anger in your eyes, I only see kindness. It’s just your eyebrows that look a bit angry sometimes.” Brilliant! So while I was frustrated at myself for not bringing kind and loving body language, she was so beautifully reminding me that just because I had made a mistake, didn’t mean that I had angry eyes, it didn’t mean I was an angry person. What she saw was her “kind” Dad pulling an angry face.