Writing Letters to Your Children

Today I have started a tradition that I hope I can keep up. I wrote my first letter to my future, grown up daughter.

The inspiration hit me last night and these letters serve as a way for me to document my children's quirks, personality, my thoughts and my continual love for them. As morbid as this sounds, I want these letters to talk directly to my children just in case I'm not around to do it in person. Nobody will ever be able to convey just how much I adore being their mother more than I can.

This first letter to my daughter documents her excitement about starting school next year. Something I am both equally excited and sad about. Her enthusiasm for 'big school' is infectious, yet I am apprehensive about sending her to school 5 days a week. My letter reflects both her feelings and my angst about this new chapter and if I've made the right decision. I hope this letter will instill a newfound respect in her for the amount of thought I have given to almost every decision I've made on her behalf in the past 5 years.
My letter also discusses her excitement about turning 5 next month, the party we have planned and her current door slamming tantrum style.

I am not sure how I am going to store these letters yet, but it will need to be pretty. A nice notebook maybe. A jazzed up display folder perhaps? Something to ponder anyway. I am also hand writing each letter. It does take time (especially in a world where old school writing is almost defunct) and it hurts my hand a little, however, I think it will hold extra meaning for my children seeing their mother's own handwriting on each page.

So why write a letter for your children?

• It strengthens the connection between you and your child. 
• It documents their personality, their milestones, funny things they say, their behaviour and more. 
• It conveys your love for your child like no one else can. 
• It expresses your dreams and vision for your child. 
• It's fun to predict their future and see how spot on or not you were!

This website and this website have some terrific ideas on what to write about when writing letters to your children. I am choosing to write when I feel inclined to and not to any particular schedule.

While I will write about my dreams and intentions for the kids in future letters, my main goal is to record our family's little history and to try and articulate just how very loved they are. My actions may not always convey that. I get tired, cranky, impatient and snappy like everyone else. Regardless, there is never going to be anyone who will ever love those kids like I do and I hope these letters I write will express that.

Medicine Charts for Sick Kids

Dealing with sick, cranky kids is never pleasant. And in our house, sick kids = a poor night's sleep. A poor night's sleep = an extra forgetful mummy.

One thing we're guilty of in the past, is forgetting to give our kids their prescribed medicines. A bit silly really when we've made the effort to go to the doctor's, paid for the medicine and have a child who is desperate to feel normal again. 

With my own little poppet battling a very nasty chest infection, I created a Medicine Chart to a). remind me to give her the medicine and b). keep track of each dosage given. 

Below is a copy of my daughter's Medicine Chart, but you can easily create your own customised Medicine Chart on the computer or even on a blank piece of paper.

 How To Create Your Own Medicine Chart:
1. Open a Program - I use Publisher for almost everything, but you can create your chart in Excel, Word or any other program that can have a table inserted. If using paper, have a ruler handy.


2. Add Your Information - At the top of the chart, clearly identify who the chart is for (with the child's full name), with the dosage amount, how often the dosage needs to be given and where the medicine should be stored all written down too. This information will prove handy for any other parents, carers or babysitters looking after your child during this time.

3. Insert a Table - Select the amount of rows and columns that work with the medicine's dosage requirements. I created a column for each required dosage (three times daily) plus a column to label what day of the week it is. Then create enough rows for each day of the week or until the medicine runs out.

4. Other Medication - On the demo chart above, I also added room to keep track of Panadol usage. When your little one is dealing with pain and high fevers at all hours and you're dealing with sleep deprivation, it can be difficult to keep track of each Panadol dosage given or if there's been enough time since their last dose. Allowing room to record each dosage and preferably at what time, will ensure you don't exceed the daily limit written on the label. If your child is on additional medication (as per your doctor's approval), you may wish to add additional rows for this or create a separate chart.

5. Print it Off - Keep your Medicine Chart on the fridge or any other visible area. Keep a pen close by to tick off and record each dosage.
If you have a repeat prescription, simply print off a new chart to record this new information. You may want to destroy or remove the old chart to avoid confusion.
If you have multiple children who are sick, I would recommend using ONE chart for EACH child. Try colour coding them for easier reference.

If you do use one of these Medicine Charts, be sure to let your partner know and let them know how to use it. In our house, however, we find it works best when one person (usually me) is the Chief Medicine Giver and is therefore responsible for all medicine administrations, unless otherwise specified.

For us, this chart means my daughter's getting her medicine in the dosage it was intended and helps my baby get better sooner. I know when my sleep is being disturbed, the days can start blurring into one, so this nifty chart takes away the stress of remembering each dosage on my own.

Here's hoping you all have a healthy run through the dreaded 'cold and flu season' and don't have to use this Medicine Chart too many times!

P.S. Got your own tips on keeping track of medications? Let us know.

Painting with Kids

So far in my children's short lives, I've kept the amount of times we have to paint to an absolute minimum, preferring to keep any messy craft activities as an exclusive part of their preschooling/daycare experience. Truth be told, there's just something about the thought of my kids being let loose near paint that sends me into a cold sweat.

Realising though my little cherubs are getting older and needing a little extra stimulation in order to prevent boredom, I've recently admitted defeat and am now trying to include more paint time into our stay at home schedule.

In any case, today's painting mission was actually alright. The kids were entertained for a while, they squished paint through their hands, experimented with colour and when I overheard my youngest exclaim how much fun he was having, I knew I'd done the right thing - despite the mild panic attacks I went through!

For future paint sessions, I'll be bearing the following tips in mind to ensure our painting time goes as smoothly (and as cleanly) as possible:

1. Have everything ready - This means getting your paints, paper, several old towels or cloths, smocks, easel, paintbrushes & containers out and ready to go before the kids get started. Find a suitable area in or outside of your house and set everything up there.

 

2. Cover up - Don't let your kids wear anything you wouldn't want paint to ruin, no matter how 'washable' the paint is supposed to be. If the weather's warm enough, strip your kids off. Otherwise dress them in old clothes or buy some art smocks.

3. Keep it clean - To stop little paint footprints covering your house, have an old towel on the floor ready for the kids to wipe their feet on or catch any spills as they occur. Alternatively, you may like to cover the floor with a cheap, disposable tablecloth that you can pick up for a few dollars in the party section at Spotlight (which I have continued to reuse & even machine wash successfully several times). Keeping an old, damp cloth on stand by is also a great way to wipe down your art easel or other equipment before the paint dries.

4. Paper rolls - The best $10 I have ever spent was on a roll of butcher's paper bought from my local newspaper (also known as an 'end of roll'). Our roll will probably take the whole year to finish, a bargain considering how much we've used in the past two weeks. For your painting session, roll a large sheet of the paper onto the floor or cut into appropiate sized sheets. Whatever works for you.

5. Set a limit - Unless you want all your paint & paper wasted gone in one paint session, discuss setting a limit with your children. While this isn't a necessary step, it will keep the amount of mess you need to clean up down a little and hopefully prevent a tantrum when you unexpectedly announce paint time is over. So give your kids three sheets of paper each, a certain amount of paint to use or set a time limit. Once their limit's been reached, it's time to clean up. 

5. Add in some learning - No doubt, learning works best when it's hands on and fun! Draw some shapes, letters, numbers or animals onto one of your child's sheets of paper and get them to paint it in. Don't forget to let your kids have some freestyle painting fun while they're at it!

6. Use little paintbrushes - At first, I was cursing the fact I only had little paint brushes, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The smaller brushes worked out easier for the kids to hold, gave them greater control and significantly reduced the amount of excess paint dripping onto the floor. Not to mention, you'll get a few extra minutes out of the activity since the little brushes take them a little longer to paint with :P

7. All over, red rover - When the kids are finished (or bored with painting), use an old cloth to wipe off any paint from their hands and arms before you march them towards the bathroom. Better yet, clean them outside under the hose with a towel or two you've set aside for cleaning and drying your child. If using the bathroom to wash up, place a hand towel over the basin so that it hangs down over your cupboards to catch any paint transferred from your child's clothes. Carefully remove their painting clothes/smock and throw them into the washing machine immediately along with any other towels, cloths, etc used during your painting time. Use your old cloths to wipe any equipment down as well removing any paint from your brushes.

So my next step here will be purchasing some proper paints and accessories to make paint time a little more exciting for the kids. And slowly, but surely I will be relaxing in the fact that I am embracing messy activities into our lives!

P.S. Have you got any painting tips that work for you? Any paint activities your kids love doing?

Alphabet Collage - Part 1

If your kids love craft time as much as mine do, this Alphabet Collage is a great little activity to do with your toddlers.

I know I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, but preparation really is the key to ensuring you enjoy these craft/activity times as much as your kids do. You'll feel more in control plus there seems to be less mess involved when our activities have been prepared in advance.

But moving on to our collage. Inspired from other learning blogs, I have tweaked this activity to suit our learning style and what resources I have on hand.

Step 1, print your A, B & C outlines.

Step 2, print off your worksheet with assorted images beginning with the letters a, b & c (hence the part 1 title. As more worksheets are developed they will be posted on this blog). Since I'm unsure how to insert PDF documents, this image below will have to do! Please contact me or leave a reply below for the original worksheet.

Step 3, cut out your letter outlines and all those individual little images. These can be all mixed together since part of the learning process involves sorting through the various a, b & c images and gluing them to the appropriate page.

Step 4, allow your child to colour in or decorate the letter outlines as they see fit. Glue them onto separate pieces of paper (I've used different coloured paper for each letter). As an alternative to this step, you may like to make your letter outlines large enough for the pictures to be glued inside of the actual outline instead of surrounding it like I will be doing. 

Step 5, let your children sort through the images and glue them onto the correct page. For example, all cars, cats and cameras will be glued around our letter C.

And just to emphasise the point of being organised, this is how my planned activites will now live. I have labelled a spare document wallet (now called Planned Kid's Activities), which quite rightly stores any planned activities or craft ideas I may have in store for the kids later on in the day or for tomorrow.

When not in use, our Planned Kid's Activities wallet will now reside in my newly organised and recently beautified errands zone/station (see below). I like to keep my little folder close by so that I can add ideas and worksheets whenever inspiration strikes and have all necessary bits and pieces ready to go when I get a chance to do so. It also makes life easier when I need a stand by activity to keep the kid's amused, particularly during all this wet weather we've experienced.

There you have it. A quick, easy and relatively mess-free activity to perform with your kids. 

P.S. How do you fit in learning/craft activities with your kids? Is it a structured thing or unplanned?