Quick Bordem Buster

Do you need a quick and inexpensive way to entertain your little ones?

Using some painters or masking tape,
you and your kids can make a RACE TRACK!
This can be done on tile or carpet.
They will love it - especially if you play with them.

For more fun ideas like this one, check out:

"The Toddler's Busy Book"
by Trish Kuffner

"The Preschooler's Busy Book"
by Trish Kuffner

FAMILY VACATION TIPS

10 Ways to Improve Your Family Vacation
(for parents with children school aged and older)
By David Boesch, M.D.*
additional tips by Keri in italics

1. Let the kids help plan the trip. Let them pick the destination for a day or plan the day’s sightseeing. This way they will be doing what interests them. They aren’t likely to choose an art museum or theater, but whatever they decide will balance out the cultural activities you have chosen.
2. Manage expectations. If you tell your kids that a car ride is going to take four hours and it takes four and a half hours, they will be angry because you are late. If you tell them it is going to take six hours and it takes four and a half, they will be stoked that you are early. High expectations beget disappointments; even if you are going to a great spot, don’t make the mistake of talking it up too much. Talk about what is going to happen at the event. Walk through the drive; where you will be stopping and how long it is will be between those stops. This is so they have a sense of time and purpose to the day.
3. Make a spontaneous rule that can break up the road trip at any moment. We vowed we would stop at every go-kart track. This is a great way to break up a boring drive. It doesn’t have to be go-karts – it can be a driving range, batting cages or whatever your family enjoys – but it helps to have something for the kids to look for that results in a spontaneous stop. Be sure you collaborate on the "rule" to make it fun for everyone!
4. Develop a tradition around food. For us this was a pizza contest. One of our goals during our year of travel was to find the world’s greatest pizza. At each stop we asked the locals where to find “the best pizza in town.”
5. Use “dollar snacks” to save money and limit empty calories. We treated our kids to one snack per day, as long as it cost under a dollar and has less than 300 calories. If someone didn’t want a snack, we would give them the dollar to save or spend on a non-food item.
6. Turn museums into treasure hunts. Whenever we visited a museum, we started in the gift shop, where each of us bought a postcard of a famous exhibit. We would read about the exhibit in one of the books and then searched for it. Once we found the exhibit, whoever had the postcard would give a brief presentation. No two objects could be in the same section of the museum, which guaranteed that we would walk by a lot of different stuff. The postcard could then be cut into a puzzle for a game in the car or hotel.
7. Use electronics to your advantage. Automobile DVD players and other portable electronics can be a godsend on a long road trip. But some technology can be destructive to family time. (i.e. a teen texting her BFF instead of looking at the Statue of Liberty or a father who turns on the t.v. and plops on the bed as soon as he checks into the hotel). Not having these distractions forces your family to interact more, and isn’t that the point of travel? Make sure that the rules for electronic use are agreed upon BEFORE you leave for your trip.
8. Read your kid’s body language. Throughout our year of travel we were constantly tinkering with the pace of our trip. If our children were bored, we did activities to tire them out. If they were tired, we slowed down to let them rest. There is no requirement that says you have to see every single monument in Washington D.C. for the trip to be a success. It is okay to leave some famous sights for the next time!!
9. Don’t be afraid to split up for a couple days. Many times during our trip the boys went one ways and the girls another. This allows family members with different interests to do what they want.
10. Don’t leave home without a tour book. Throughout our travels we bought dozens of tour books and they have all paid for themselves many times over in saving money and avoiding hassles. The Internet is no substitute for a book that you can carry in the car and pass around to members of the family to discuss restaurants and accommodations.

*Four years ago, David Boesch, his wife Jill, and their three children packed up their minivan and set off on a one-year trip around the world that would take them to 17 countries on six continents. As time went by, their family dynamics improved dramatically. The kids became experienced travelers who tolerated long trips without complaining and David and Jill learned a few parenting tricks that helped foster family harmony.

Question of the Week

“My kids leave their stuff ALL OVER the house!! How do I get them to clean up after themselves?”

1. Set the foundation before expectation! Teach when things are going good. Begin with collaboration or sharing the control by giving LOTS of choices. Once the child has successfully mastered the task, correction can be implemented as needed.
For example: “Today we are going to play ‘pick up’. Let’s practice for 10 minutes and then have a treat! Would you rather start in your room or in the play room? Do you want to do the balls or trucks first? Should they go in bins or lined up neatly? Which makes it easier for you to put away? Ok! Now let’s mess it up and practice putting it away again! Who can guess how fast we can get it done? 5 min or 7 min? Do you want to put some music on?

(With older kids who have already been taught, you may just skip this step).

2. As a parent, I must model what I want to see in my child. I won’t be tempted to remind or nag and can teach them in the present time. I may ask myself – “Am I putting my things away in a timely manner without whining”, OR do I say something like,“Hey guys… come and help me with this stuff… do you think I like cleaning up by myself?”

For example: If I want to model cleaning up and putting things away as we go, I may talk about it out loud: “’I’m just going to wash these pans up now so it won’t be a big problem later.” OR “I’m putting my shoes away so I don’t forget where they are tomorrow when I need them.”

3. If you see their stuff on the floor or elsewhere, do the following

- Remain calm, smile, and then give them the responsibility to take care of the problem.

Here’s an example:
Parent: “Do you want to take your shoes upstairs now or in 2 minutes?”
Child: “2 minutes”
Parent: “Great!”

Note: there is no choice given about taking them upstairs, just when it will happen.
If the shoes are still there after the 2 minutes, say something like this –
Parent: “I see your shoes are still here… Oh buddy… what did I ask you to do?”
Child: “But… mom….”
Parent: “What did I ask you to do?” (Go into ‘broken record’ mode here)
If the child refuses, say: “So are you saying you won’t take them up like you said you would? Bummer or how sad (empathetic one-liner)…” Then the parent takes the shoes and puts them in their collection/buy-back box. (I collect stuff and they can buy it back).

When they realize they need them, with a smile I can calmly say: “Oh…. I’m happy to let you have those back when you can pay me for the trouble I had to go to through to pick them up. And you can do that by ________ (doing an extra chore, or paying $$). Let me know which works for you.” (Remember, no sarcasm allowed!)