family — Page 17

Mother of Multiples – How to Handle Family Outings as a Parent of Twins

March 18, 2019 By Anne

Twins are an absolute delight, discounting the fact that all your planning and procedures go out the door as soon as you set off for a family outing. Now just because you have no evidence of a perfect outing yet, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Take control of your double trouble and start looking forward to family excursions and events, rather than turning them down.

Find a prime pram

A pram is like the third parent, invaluable in keeping things together and always there to hold the little ones. Although it’s not as simple as buying the first double pram model you see, so take your time and do your research so you roll away with the best pram for your family. Beyond the fact that the pram needs to accommodate two babies, you should also look for attributes that will suit your need and lifestyle. Maybe you are after a compact model, a jogger pram, right down to colour and material preference. Whichever double pram you select, get acquainted with it before you roll into your family outing.

Alternate floor to hold

Your family outings are likely taking place in areas that are kid-friendly, which is a good start. This will allow you and your partner to alternate between the two bundles by putting them on the floor and then holding them, letting them explore and be cuddled. Not only does this wear them out and ease them into an afternoon nap, it’s actually a great sensory experience that allows you as parents to take a break share the burden around. Pack your pram with a few floor mats so that you can lay them out and have your little ones roll and recline as they wish.

Sleep train your twins

Sleep training are the two magic words that can tame your two not-so-magical babies, and give you your life back. Sleep training will be critical in creating a routine in your home, that will eventually allow you to stick to plans and attend outings with your extended family. Sleep training is a relatively new concept, tweaked and updated from previous well-known parenting styles. That means whatever parent you identify as, there will be some sleep training wisdom that will resonate and be applied to your life. Unfortunately, it does not happen overnight, and you can probably expect even longer with twins in tow.

Don’t turn down support

In the first few years of parenthood, you can feel isolated in your own circumstances. Unable to get everything done and overwhelmed at the magnitude of the days. It’s imperative that you do not turn down support, and choose to share the load of taking care of your twins. Next time you are planning a family outing, make sure your partner can be there to assist, as well as a few helpful aunts or uncles.

Bring more than you think you need

There is no telling what mood your twins will be in, and just how many times that mood will change. One of your strongest lines of defence is going to be having toys and pacifiers at your disposal to distract and detain your little ones. As a rule of thumb, try and bring a good variation of things to play with, because you know how often the preferences of babies can change.

Well, hopefully you are feeling a little more confident and prepared in your upcoming family outing, armed with the skills and tips to make it a memorable occasion – for all the right reasons! Your pram is going to be a godsend for raising twins, so make sure that is a decision you take time with.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Balancing Act – 5 Tips for Working Moms to Stay Ahead of the Game

March 18, 2019 By Anne

Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

School time traffic, plenty of stress, deadlines, and crying; the best way to describe your lifestyle as a working mom is LOUD. Of course, being able to provide for your beautiful child or children while growing your career is rewarding. It’s when those nasty periods come about when all your responsibilities seem to stack up into an infinite pile, where it can be difficult to feel the gratitude. Here are five ways you can regain control and get back on top:

1. The Right Child Care Arrangements

Choosing the right care for your little one can be a challenge. You don’t want to disrupt their routine too much, and you also might feel conscious about missing their developmental milestones. Opt for a childcare center that is focused on creating a balance in your child’s life and is open to discussing and supporting your child’s individual needs.

For security, ensure that they employ qualified educators and have a good teacher-student ratio for optimal supervision. You need to choose a place that both you and your child feel comfortable with so do not worry if it takes a bit of time.

2. Weekly Meal Prepping

Meal prepping is not just for the vigilante fitness bloggers and it really is not as difficult as you may think to prepare meals and snacks for weeks in advance. After all, you’ll be preparing meals you would normally cook otherwise that can be refrigerated or frozen. The only difference is you’ll be cooking a week’s worth. This is also a great way to avoid excess food waste and encourage a regular, balanced diet.

You’ll need to schedule a time, ensure you have all the right ingredients, utensils and cookware and allow a couple of hours to stock up on all the needed groceries and get the cooking and packing sorted. You will not miss the rush of trying to prepare kindergarten or school lunches and snacks for the family on a tight morning schedule.

3. Strategic Carpool and Play Dates

Chances are, you are not the only busy parent in your child’s life. Reach out to your partner, family members, friends and peers for some shared responsibilities to help each other out during demanding activity periods. This could be alternating carpool days to daycare or school, sharing drop-off and pick-up duties or organizing a weekly play date at a friend’s house on that afternoon you have the biggest workload – in exchange for returning the favor at a different time.

4. Flexible Work Arrangements

Employers are generally understanding of childcare and parenting duties and will want to keep their hardworking staff happy and satisfied at work. Schedule a meeting with your boss or HR department to discuss flexibility in your routine. This doesn’t necessarily need to mean working remotely 100% of the time but possibly adjusting your hours to accommodate for school pickups or having one day a week where you can work remotely to accommodate your other responsibilities.

5. Embrace Quality Family Time You Do Have

It’s unfortunately common for working mums to feel a bit of occasional guilt over not living up to preconceived expectations they may have. While you can overcome this fairly easily with some mindfulness or reflection, you do not want to be projecting your feelings of guilt or scarcity to your children. Instead, make the most of the quality time you have with your family, switch your phone to Do Not Disturb mode and join in play time with your kids!

Being a working mum can be hard but by following through with these five tips, you’ll be able to regain your work-life balance and enjoy better quality family time. Don’t let seemingly endless responsibilities stop you from enjoying the journey that is motherhood.

Anne

“Instant Family” now available on Digital/DVD/Blu-ray

March 5, 2019 By Marijean

Looking for a new family friendly DVD for movie night? Look no further, INSTANT FAMILY is now available on Digital/DVD/Blu-ray.

The heartwarming film, inspired by the real events from the life of writer/director Sean Anders, follows Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) as they decide to start a family and stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl (Isabela Moner), they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight. Now, Pete and Ellie must hilariously try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hopes of becoming a family. INSTANT FAMILY also stars Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro and Margo Martindale. The film is rated PG-13.

My family and I couldn’t wait to watch this movie on our family movie night. We even received a cute kit that has items in it based upon moments from the film. We all laughed and some of us even cried during the movie. We highly recommend!!

For more information about this film, please check out http://www.instantfamilymovie.com

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Family Finance – 4 Easy Tips for Managing the Household Expenses

February 12, 2019 By Anne

Photo by stevepb on Pixabay

Running a household can be exhausting. Between events, activities, school and work it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Throughout all of it, you are spending money, often without keeping track of where it is going. Surprisingly, you don’t have to undertake the task of managing your household expenses alone. You can involve your family and teach your children valuable life skills at the same time.

Deal with your Debt

Too many families don’t have an accurate picture of their debt. Even small monthly payments can add up and quickly undermine your best financial efforts. Large, unexpected expenses can bring with them high-interest payments if your habit is to pay with a credit card. Small cash loans generally have much lower interest rates and more flexible payment options.

Another option to get a handle on your debt is to write a list, including everything you can think of and the corresponding payments due. Once you are aware of all your outstanding debt, you can pursue options like debt consolidation or debt overpayment to reduce it quickly. Professional credit counselors can also help you create a plan of attack.

Make Time to Review Your Finances

Set aside one evening a week to balance your accounts. If you are not already, use auto-pay to set up recurring monthly bill payments for everything possible. Then, once a week review your impending payments against your available funds and check your automatic payments against your budget—are they what you anticipated? If not, research why the bill was greater or less than your budget that month and call the company to correct any issues. Companies can make mistakes on their billing. Don’t let those mistakes hurt your household budget unnecessarily.

Make Time to Review Your Finances

If you have a hard time tracking finances and making and sticking to financial goals – have no fear! There are many apps and different software programs that can help you manage your finances. Websites like Pigly.Com can help you look into all your household finances and make wise decisions when it comes to managing those finances.

Cook at Home

After a long day at work, cooking a meal sounds way more challenging than picking something up on the way. The research results are in: eating out can be five times more expensive than cooking meals at home. Restaurants charge very heavily for dishes including proteins and pasta, so if these are some of your favorites, you stand to save a lot by cooking them at home. Home meal kits aren’t much better. They can be three times more expensive than buying the same ingredients. You could be overpaying tremendously for some Macaroni and Cheese! If your children are old enough, use this as an opportunity to teach them a valuable life skill by making them responsible for preparing a meal.

Teach Your Kids to Pay Their Way

If you have older children capable of earning an income from things like babysitting or dog walking, teach them the value of money by encouraging them to pay their way. Make them responsible for purchasing the items they “want.” For example, if your adolescent needs $10 to go to the movie with friends, teach them to pay for that expense themselves. When you make your children responsible for providing for their wants, they learn to be more selective with their money and relate dollars spent to dollars earned much more quickly. It also allows your paycheck to stay firmly rooted in paying for things such as the mortgage and utilities.

Your family may be more capable than you thought of managing the household expenses. Including them whenever possible will not only teach them life lessons like how to cook and pay for their own “wants,” but also help reduce your expenses. To effectively steer the family ship, track your debt carefully and take time to review your finances on a weekly basis.

Anne

Australian Ambitions – A Guide to Getting the True Down Under Experience

January 21, 2019 By Anne

It only takes travelling abroad to understand that most non-Australians? Don’t have much of a clue what the deal is Down Under. But it’s not totally uncommon to meet people from another state who have no idea of the wonder and excitement to be found in your state. If you’re weighing up which country to hop to this holidays, pause those plans and look in your backyard for inspiration. Here’s our guide on what the true Down Under experience should be.

Road trips

Australia is a huge country, which means it takes a while to discover it all on the road. This presents a great opportunity to take out a few weeks driving to all destinations and checking out each unique Australian state. There are many roads and recommended paths you can take, but many start in South Australia by visiting the wineries and enjoying the high life in serviced apartments in Adelaide CBD. From there you can take Nullabor Plain and head to Western Australia, and then on to the rest of this Great Southern Land.

Diving

Diving in Australia needs to be seen to be believed, and Finding Nemo was only a hint of what is waiting out there. Cairns (Queensland) is the logical place to dive in Australia, but you may be surprised to learn that other pockets in Australia also have great clarity and unique sea life beneath the water. Byron Bay (New South Wales) is another great place to explore on the diving front. If you wanted to make a trip of it, you can hire a charter boat and visit a few hot spots in a weekend or week. If you are unqualified, you may need to have a dive master on board to make sure the dive is safe and above board.

Beach hopping

So many people think all Australians spend their weekends surfing, like something out of Summer Bay. For many this is true, and it can be for you if you spend a couple of weeks beach hopping along the coastal line. Each state in Australia will claim they have the most pristine beaches, and the truth? They are all unique and perfect in their own way. Perth (Western Australia) is quite renowned for their beaches, and Melbourne and Sydney have beaches that are built into the city hotspots (Bondi and St Kilda).

Landmarks

It wouldn’t be a true Down Under experience without a visit to those quintessential Aussies landmarks. If you think they are too touristy for you, remember that they are famous for a reason, and quite breathtaking when you are standing in front of them. To name just a few, the obvious callouts have to be:

Adelaide: Adelaide Central Market, Glenelg and Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Sydney: Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach

Melbourne: Queen Victoria Markets, the Laneways, Federation Square and the MCG

Brisbane: South Bank and GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art)

National and animal parks

The wildlife and natural beauty of Australia makes up the full picture of Down Under. Whether you live in Australia or not, chances are you have not visited and seen all the famous Aussie animals. We’re not just talking about koalas and kangaroos either. There is also Quokkas (Western Australia) and Tasmanian Devils (Tasmania) to be seen. If an active holiday sounds right up your alley, you’ll find a stunning collection of National Parks like Kakadu, Uluru and Litchfield (Northern Territory).

There is so much to be discovered in the Great Southern Land, and can be accessed and enjoyed all year around. Adelaide is a great destination to kick off your adventures, before setting off to see it all.