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.

Life is precious and can be gone in an instant. Do not waste a minute of it.

Guest post by Erin Taylor, author of 

Connection and Kindness: The Key to Changing the World Through Parenting.

I WAS HIT BY A DRUNK DRIVER LAST NIGHT
Yes, you read that right. I was hit by a drunk driver last night. Thank God I walked away without a scratch, but needless to say, it was pretty scary. As you know well by now, I tend to write through my experiences in order to process them, so this will likely be a long but chocked-full post. Please read on if you will….

I was on my way to a school to meet my friend and colleague Sue DeCaro so that we could present part one of our Conscious Parenting series when the accident happened. I was in rush hour traffic on a very busy road. I was probably the 20th car stopped at a red light when out of nowhere, a car slammed into the back of my car. I called Sue right away to ask her to come pick me up where we were so that she could bring me to the workshop (because yes, I truly am that committed to the work that I do!). She immediately turned around to come to me. 

As Conscious Parents, We Must Accept The As-Is Of A Given Situation

Guest Post By Erin Taylor Author of,  

Connection and Kindness: The Key to Changing the World Through Parenting

Leaving the grocery store this morning, I noticed a mom holding the hands of her two young children as she waited to cross the parking lot to get to her car. With the amount of information one can glean from a very short observation of another, it appeared that the mom seemed relaxed and peaceful, as did her two children.

As I reflected on this woman's demeanor, it got me to thinking about how I used to feel as mom of very young ones, and I believe that more often than not, I looked anything like this mom today; for I remember very often feeling stressed and unhappy, with a furrowed brow and all. I am certain that people who saw me must have wondered why I looked so tortured and miserable. This was unsettling to me, especially as a mom who had suffered the death of her first-born daughter. How can parenting be so difficult and stressful? Why is it so hard? And I felt guilty for not enjoying it more than I did, especially given my life experience.