Response to: “What are your favorite graphic novels for ages 7-11?”Investigators and Agents of SUIT, my 3 kids ages 6-11 are bananas about both series!
Response to: “Trying to get a handle on laundry....how do you keep it under control without it controlling you?”For us we realized that sock matching and folding a that particularly laborious so we made a change. We have all the kids wear the same black ankle socks. There is no matching needed and no deciding of whose is whose either. Additionally my husband wears only one type of sock. This drastically cut our time down. We do fold the clothes because otherwise it would never fit in their shared closet/small space. We usually do this on the master bed and then the kids are tasked with putting it away. We wash everyone’s clothing together to save on water (except one white load/week ) and immediately sort adult from kids. If we fold kids clothing IN the kids room, it seems to go much faster.
Response to: “I am having surgery in December and will be unable to lift anything or do much for four weeks. I’m trying to figure out how to prep for this because I have 3 small (but not tiny) kids. Help!”Ok a bunch of thoughts, some from helping my mom who has very limited abilities in both shoulders. I’d do a run through day where you anticipate the needs you will soon have throughout the whole day. You’ll find lots of things you didn’t even think about. It will help to teach the kids any additional skills now so they can help such as knowing where all the cooking ingredients are located and how to carry laundry baskets. Also moving laundry from one machine to the next could potentially be difficult, not because of weight but just what you will need your arms to do. Have the older kids learning to help with younger for car seat/backpack/sports gear needs. It’s super helpful to have one of those lightweight three tier carts to have on hand, this will help you get things moved from room to room without carrying them. The kids can help push it too! We switch over to using paper plates and bowls when a parent is not a full capacity and it makes a big difference! Also a sling purse/fanny pack for your keys, wallet, phone ONLY…weighs close to nothing. Mine can clip on and off so you don’t have to put over head. One possible area to consider is pulling open heavy doors and sliding open some glass outdoor doors that need a lot of force to open- these are also ones that your child at three and four would’ve struggled with. Do you have any of those that you will have to deal with?
Response to: “Any advice on room sharing for siblings. Our daughter is 27 mos and our son is 8 mos and we are planning to have them room share sometime soon. Anyone general advice, tips or lessons learned?”Everywhere we’ve lived, our 3 boys have shared a room. I don’t have deep sleepers and everything morphs with age, but when they were babies/toddlers we’d have the baby temp. sleeping seperate (like in a pack and play or parents room until the older boy(s) were down for the night, then transfer the baby into the room last. It’s a game changer when they can share a bedtime, but that will have to wait.
HOW can I break the news about Santa to an older child but with a soft & happy landing? We still need to keep the dream alive for younger siblings!2 answers