Polls and Tips for Raising Kids

If there are six apples and you take away four, how many apples do you have? Four.

The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I? A hole.

What did the shark say when it ate the clown fish? Tastes funny.

Why does a duck have feathers? To cover his butt quack

Categories - pool style! - is a variation on pool tag, where the player who is "it" stands outside the pool, facing away from it, while all the other players remain inside the pool next to them. "It" chooses a category - colors, animals, states, Harry Potter characters, etc - and all the other players have to pick something from that category, without telling anyone what they pick. "It" starts to call out names/things related to the category, and if a player's selection gets called, they have to try and swim to the other end of the pool before "it" hears them and jumps in to tag them.

Popsicle tag is the swimming pool game version of freeze tag. The player who is "it" tries to tag all the other players, who freeze in place with their hands in the air - like a popsicle! - whenever they are tagged. Players "unfreeze" other players by swimming under their legs.

Our Pottery Barn bags were great, and seem to be a popular choice at our elementary school. We never had a chance to wear them out, but they definitely were in good shape after 2-3 years (when grandma wanted to get new ones!). Fun designs and personalization available, too. I wouldn't recommend getting the smallest size (as we did in Kindergarten), as kids outgrow them quickly and they really will last a long time.

I bought my son a Nike backpack two years ago and it is still going strong. It has a front pocket which is great for little items and side pockets for a water bottle. He loves it!

Annie! A classic for the whole family, always. Kids were 7 and 9 when we saw it, and we were coming out of an obsession with the movies, which made it extra fun!

I love the stage version of Beauty and the Beast! It's just similar enough to the familiar Disney movie for kids to understand everything, but just different enough to keep it fresh. The extra songs are some of my favorites.....and there's nothing like the magic of watching the beast turn into a prince right before your eyes!

Try to keep them outdoors as much possible. I try to take my kids to a local libray, outdoor park to play at. Also look up for any family friendly events that are free or vey low cost to keep them busy and less on screens!

We've experimented with no screens for a set time (a week, a couple of weeks, a day), with the length of time determined by our goal. For example, when it seems like the kids are getting too dependent on their screens and it is becoming difficult for them to have healthy limits, we'll do two full weeks with no screens. The first several days are rough, but just before the 1 week mark, we see that they "re-learn" the ability to play on their own and otherwise entertain themselves without screens. It makes it really tempting to swear off screens altogether, but they are such useful and versatile tools I doubt we'll ever truly go there.

museum membership

Zip line adventure gift cards

Placing letters on a letter board. I discovered this one by accident, but I love how it keeps my 4-year-old sitting quietly for long stretches of time while he tries to get the plastic letters to stay in my felt letter board.

Peeling and placing stickers. Sticker books are great for this - we like the "paint by sticker" series, though it may be a little challenging for some little ones. My 4-year-old is awesome at it, but my 6-year-old (whose fine motor skills definitely need work) struggles a bit. I also really like the Phidal line of reusable sticker books - the quality is such that they truly are reusable!

Pass the Parcel! We'd never heard of this one until we saw the Bluey episode about Lucky's Dad's Rules (best. episode. ever.), and now my kids want to play it ALL the time. Similar to Hot Potato, kids pass around a wrapped gift while music is playing. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift gets to unwrap it. According to the Bluey episode, the original way to play is to wrap a single gift in various layers of wrapping paper, so you go through several rounds before a child actually opens the gift, which they get to keep. Another version of the game includes small prizes within each layer of paper, and strategically stopping the music to make sure every child gets a prize.

Hot potato. We just had a birthday party for a five-year-old, and ended up playing hot potato along with pass the parcel. Though I’ve loved pass the parcel since we discovered it on Bluey, think the kids enjoyed hot potato even more, as they were able to toss the “potato” (we used a small plushy) to each other out of order, which made the game more active and the kids more engaged. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the plushy got out, and the last person in got the prize. This kept the kids from slow passing, too, since the goal was NOT to get caught with the plushy!

I put together little gifts (think Dollar bin) wrapped up in bags with a time on them. My kids look forward to these gifts and it helps to pass the time on long trips!

I like to spread out the distribution of any new activities or road trip toys over the course of the trip, and find that my kids enjoy them longer this way. If they start the trip with unlimited access to all of the new stuff, they blow through it pretty quickly and there's not as much to look forward to.

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle pees from its mouth.

Tigers have stripes on their skin, too.

If you were an Olympic gold-medal athlete, which sporting event would you want it to be in?

How were you kind to someone today?

My husband and I will usually take the day off work (when we can) so we can be there for drop off and pick up on the first day, which makes it feel extra special for all of us.

First day of school photos on our front steps, and couple more in front of the school too.

I am a huge fan of martial arts. I love that they provide great physical exercise, but also promote and support important life skills like discipline, confidence, and respect for self and others.

My 6 year old loves his running program and I see a fair number of kids who don't love team sports there. They do individual activities, like quick sprints and longer jogs, and the coaches have them work together and build team spirit in other ways.

Cook together! This is an activity my kids have loved at every age from toddler to tween, and the bonus is you end up with a yummy (usually!) meal or treat at the end of it.

Take a tour of a local firehouse. Many offer free tours if you call ahead and ask.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne Gretzky

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?" – Pirates of the Caribbean

"When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing." – Frozen 2