Parenting Blog

...best job in the world

Relationships

Should You Invest In A Vacation Property While Your Kids Are Still Home?

By

Even when you have children it’s pretty likely that you go on a family vacation each year, or at least once in awhile. It may be prudent and cost effective to consider investing in a stationary vacation property while your children are young if it’s something you can afford right now. It’s a wise option if a vacation home is something you’re going to want after you retire and the market for buying a home is currently a good one.

One people “fly” south for the winter, especially those that are retired. Having a vacation home now guarantees you have that place to escape to later in life, and it also ensures you have a vacation place to go to each year prior. If you don’t like letting it sit empty for the majority of the year you could always rent it out as a timeshare when you don’t need it. [Read more…] about Should You Invest In A Vacation Property While Your Kids Are Still Home?

Tips For Helping Your Teen Prepare For Adulthood

By

pretty-girls-happy-young-55811

By the time your child has reached their teenage years you’ve probably already taught them all of these things, at least once. But they have been busy being a kid, so it’s during those teen years that they are in most need of a refresher course. Before they get to their senior year of high school, graduate, and run off to college, you want to make sure that you’ve raised an intelligent child that is going to be able to make a good life for themselves.

Being a parent isn’t easy, and if you have more than one child you’re going to need to do this stuff more than once. You don’t just want one of your children to be successful at life, you want that for all of them. [Read more…] about Tips For Helping Your Teen Prepare For Adulthood

3 Things That Change When You Have a Child

By

pexels-photo-parent-child

When you decide to have a child you are prepared for a certain amount of changes. You know that you will have to come up with money to be able to support your new family and that you will have a little one to look after instead of just yourself. You know that you won’t be able to stay out as late or do things at the drop of a dime like you could before becoming a parent.

However, the changes don’t just stop there. There are a lot of things that a lot of people don’t tell you will change after you have a child. Here are some of the most common that most parents can agree on. [Read more…] about 3 Things That Change When You Have a Child

3 Tips for Keeping Your Kids’ Room Organized

By

Although kids are tiny humans, they tend to have a lot of stuff. From clothing to toys, books and shoes, your kid’s room probably looks like it’s always on the verge of bursting at the seams. While you can go in there yourself and straighten things up, this won’t actually solve the long-term problem of helping your child have a more organized room. So to help get rid of this headache for yourself and teach your child valuable life skills, here are three tips for helping to keep your child’s room more organized.

Consider Their Age When Creating Organizational Strategies

While having your kids understand and enjoy cleaning from the day they can pick up a toy would be amazing, this just isn’t a reality. For this reason, it’s crucial that you take baby steps toward organization based on your child’s age. Jennifer Haupt, a contributor to HGTV.com, recommends keeping things simple for children ages 2 to 4, getting creative with children ages 5 to 8, and gradually increasing organizational responsibilities for children ages 9 and up. For each age group, make sure you have the organizational tools you need for success, like toy shelves, bins and buckets for each and every item in the room.
[Read more…] about 3 Tips for Keeping Your Kids’ Room Organized

By The Rules: 3 Behavior Management Strategies For Every Age

By

child-misbehaving

Kids are masters at testing limits; it’s how they learn about the world and become independent. Unfortunately, the majority of children engage in this type of behavior to learn about you as well – when mom says to clean up, can they ignore her for five minutes? For twenty minutes? Figuring out what makes their parents mad and what they can get away with is just part of growing up.

As a parent, of course, you want you children to behave, ideally the first time you give a direction, but this won’t always happen and there will need to be consequences. If you’re currently struggling to provide your child with healthy boundaries or coping with problematic behaviors, it’s time to make a change. These 3 tried and true strategies for handling problem behaviors may be just what you need.

Consistency Is Key

One of the most important things that parents need to do when applying rules and disciplining their children is to always be consistent. If the rules say your child can’t eat in the living room, but you let them have a snack on the couch sometimes, then you can’t expect your child to understand whether or not that rule is actually meaningful. This leads to testing – your child will take food to the couch, and if you ignore it one day and yell about it the next, they may become anxious or unsure of how to respond. [Read more…] about By The Rules: 3 Behavior Management Strategies For Every Age

Spoiling Yourself As a Parent: The Royal Treatment

By

Not everything about being a parent means that you have to focus just on your kids. You’re still an adult. You still enjoy your personal time, and you still have your individuality. Plus, as an adult, you have money that you didn’t have when you were younger, so at some point, you should spoil yourself and give yourself a reward for your hard work. Yes, your time will probably be largely selfless as you help your kids grow up, but give yourself some credit!

And a few ways to do this, once you get the funds in order, would be to do things like buy a pedicure chair, take a vacation without the kids, go for the occasional dinner and a movie date, create your perfect master bedroom, or maybe even buy a nice car.

mom having a pedicure
[Read more…] about Spoiling Yourself As a Parent: The Royal Treatment