Christmas is a very exciting time of the year, especially for children. With the festive season approaching here are a few ideas of how to keep the kids entertained before the big day.
Anyone who has been around little ones during December will be familiar with the way they ask every day, when Santa will be visiting. It can be fun towards the end of November to get them to make their own advent calendar, so that they can see exactly how many days there are left. The easiest way to do this, which will save cutting small, awkward pieces of cardboard, is to make a super sized calendar.
Get hold of a large piece of paper and divide it into 25 equal sections, marking the dates in the corner of each box. Stick it up on the wall somewhere people can see. That 's the boring part over. Now it is time to get creative, dig out all your coloured paper, paint, glitter, anything you think could inspire the children 's artistic side. Ask them to design pictures and creations of their choice. Tell them that the only rule is that their master pieces must fit in the squares of the calendar.
When 25 different pictures have been made, collect them all in a container and every day during advent ask someone to choses a picture to stick onto the calendar. The kids will be able to see how many sleeps are left until Santa arrives and there will be a pretty impressive piece of art in progress, which be completed on Christmas day.
When the kids have broken up for Christmas they are sure to be excited and probably more hyper then ever, yet there are still a few days to go before the festive day itself. It will depend on each families preference as to when they like to decorate their house, however, if the children are around, get them involved. This should keep them entertained and out of trouble. With the Christmas tree, put the lights and tinsel on first and then let the children take over. When they are in bed you may have to rearrange items to make the tree look bearable, but they will most probably never know.
An old fashioned but highly fun activity when you are a child is the making of paper chains. Put a Christmas CD on, buy a pack of paper chains and stick away. You can even buy tubes of glitter glue if you can afford to at this costly time of year and suggest they paint the strips of paper with it. You can even draw on each piece of paper before making them into chains. Once they are complete help the children to decorate their rooms.
You can also suggest the kids make their own Christmas cards to give to their best friends or even family members. See who can draw the best snowman or Father Christmas. Use glue and bags of cotton wool to make life like beards. Cotton wool also looks great when used for snow. Use glitter or gold stars and maybe even multi-coloured pens to decorate the inside. This is guaranteed to be an afternoon of mess and a lot of fun.
Some parents may cringe at the thought of children in the kitchen. However, you may find that involving the young ones in making Christmas cakes and snacks may actually be less hassle than having them running round your feet. Dress them in old clothes, tie their hair back, wash their hands, put them in an extra large apron and your away. If you can, set up a large preparation area, such as a big table, so that if they are clumsy with the flower or cocoa it won't be too much of a problem. Get them to do the simple tasks like stirring or pouring already weighed ingredients into a bowl. This may be a disaster but it may also surprise you and turn out to be very fun.
There are plenty of ways to keep the kids entertained this Christmas, so get the glitter, coloured paper, cotton wool, paper chains and any other arty bits together before the festive season. Buy all the ingredients for home made cakes and start thinking of recipes you could cook together. Then all you have to do is let the fun begin.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Work From Home - How To Involve Your Children
Worried about having your children pester you while you work from home? Here are some innovative ways where you can include them in your daily schedule.
Almost everyone who does work from home and has children wonders about the best way to involve your children in your work without making slave labor out of them. Depending upon the age of the child, he can be of complete nuisance when you are trying to work, or can be a cheerful and helpful assistant who is proud to be helping you. If your child is school age, you may elect to do most of your work during school hours and keep your afternoons and evenings free to interact with the children. If, however, you want to provide your children with a positive work ethic, one of the best ways to do that is to get them involved in your home based business.
Use their talents
When you work from home with your child, it should be as enjoyable to them as it is for you. If you like to create artistic web pages and that is the type of business you have created out of your home, it is unfair to expect your child to be as thrilled with the work as you are. They may have other talents that could mesh nicely with your own and make your business stronger than it would have been otherwise. If your child loves to work with numbers, let them keep track of the orders. If they enjoy organizing and inventorying things, put them in charge of your product inventory.
Give them a break
If a child is in school all day and you expect them to sit at a desk when they arrive home without any break in routine, you will have a child who is not focused on the work from home. You would be far better off to let them do something active for a short while, or even grab a snack. Especially if the child will be doing homework in the evening, they should not be doing sedentary work or even just watching television when they are at home. A variety of work will be better for their concentration and for their physical health as well.
Remember their birthday
Expecting a child to work from home is reasonable, but expecting perfection is not. Find tasks to do that the child can achieve success at. Not 'make work' but tasks that will benefit the entire household in one way or another. Particularly if there is more than one child involved, each should be made to see that their particular job is important and worth doing well.
Rewards system
If you provide your child with an allowance and in return they are expected to do certain chores, it is a good way to teach work responsibility and money management at the same time. If at all possible, doing tasks so that you can work from home should be rewarded. The child should be paid for any tasks that you would otherwise have to hire outside help for. This includes completion of household tasks such as cooking, laundry, pet care and vacuuming.
by: Alan Lim
Almost everyone who does work from home and has children wonders about the best way to involve your children in your work without making slave labor out of them. Depending upon the age of the child, he can be of complete nuisance when you are trying to work, or can be a cheerful and helpful assistant who is proud to be helping you. If your child is school age, you may elect to do most of your work during school hours and keep your afternoons and evenings free to interact with the children. If, however, you want to provide your children with a positive work ethic, one of the best ways to do that is to get them involved in your home based business.
Use their talents
When you work from home with your child, it should be as enjoyable to them as it is for you. If you like to create artistic web pages and that is the type of business you have created out of your home, it is unfair to expect your child to be as thrilled with the work as you are. They may have other talents that could mesh nicely with your own and make your business stronger than it would have been otherwise. If your child loves to work with numbers, let them keep track of the orders. If they enjoy organizing and inventorying things, put them in charge of your product inventory.
Give them a break
If a child is in school all day and you expect them to sit at a desk when they arrive home without any break in routine, you will have a child who is not focused on the work from home. You would be far better off to let them do something active for a short while, or even grab a snack. Especially if the child will be doing homework in the evening, they should not be doing sedentary work or even just watching television when they are at home. A variety of work will be better for their concentration and for their physical health as well.
Remember their birthday
Expecting a child to work from home is reasonable, but expecting perfection is not. Find tasks to do that the child can achieve success at. Not 'make work' but tasks that will benefit the entire household in one way or another. Particularly if there is more than one child involved, each should be made to see that their particular job is important and worth doing well.
Rewards system
If you provide your child with an allowance and in return they are expected to do certain chores, it is a good way to teach work responsibility and money management at the same time. If at all possible, doing tasks so that you can work from home should be rewarded. The child should be paid for any tasks that you would otherwise have to hire outside help for. This includes completion of household tasks such as cooking, laundry, pet care and vacuuming.
by: Alan Lim
Saturday, September 27, 2008
8 Tips to Keeping your Kitchen Organized
As I went out to feed the birds today I sunk up to my knees in snow as I made my way to the bird feeder. And more snow is expected for the end of this week. I know this kind of weather makes some people have cabin fever. Do you get cabin fever?
I was working with a woman who said her therapist told her to get organizing. He told her even if you don't do any more than move one can to the other side of the shelf you have done something and that is a good thing.
In my jargon as a professional organizer of homes I would say doing this is taking baby steps. If you are having cabin fever and want to get outside but can't because of the weather and it is too early for Spring cleaning here are 8 tips on organizing your home.
Let's start with the kitchen:
Pantry or food shelves: Put like items together, soups in one place, and canned vegetables in another and canned fruits all together, pasta in one place—you get the idea. Everything has its place so when you need it you will save time and easily be able to see what you have. (It just might scream 'take out' pizza night.) If you haven't done this for awhile it is a good idea to make sure the cans or bottles are still good by checking expiration dates and check to see it is bulging. If it is, it is definitely spoiled and you need to get rid of it.
Snacks: Place them in a basket at a convenient level to grab and go. Or if you have family members that you don't want to get into them, hide them.
Lids: Do you have plastic or glass bowls used for storing left-overs? If the lids are always all over the place, put them in a basket by themselves which makes it easy to match to the bowl and eliminates hunting for the matches. If you keep the lids on the container that takes up a lot of space in your cupboard.
Dishes: Do you have enough room for all you have? Get metal stacking shelves that can double the amount of space in your cupboards. They come in many sizes and there are corner ones as well as straight ones that are adjustable. It is a good time to determine if you like or need all the dishes you have. If you see you never use some as you don't like them or you have too many for your needs or space; then donate to a charity.
Silverware drawer: Place the silverware in a container made for that purpose. Larger serving pieces can be placed next to it. Does your container slide back and forth as you open the drawer? A simple solution is to use sticky Velcro on the underside of the container—works great for bathroom drawers too where containers tend to want to slide about.
Pans: Place the ones you use most frequently toward the front of your shelf (if you hang them you have no problem with finding the right size when you need it). If you have pans with a finish that can be chipped or scratched paper plates between the pans prevents this from happening.
If you have medicines in the cupboards check their expiration dates and make sure little children can't get into them.
Have vases become squatters under your sink? If they belong in a different place, move them to their home.
Kitchens are often the hub of the home so a well organized one makes everyone happy. While you are waiting for Spring, or if you live where it is already Spring check out those cupboards, take an inventory and Get Organized now.
By: Marilyn Bohn
I was working with a woman who said her therapist told her to get organizing. He told her even if you don't do any more than move one can to the other side of the shelf you have done something and that is a good thing.
In my jargon as a professional organizer of homes I would say doing this is taking baby steps. If you are having cabin fever and want to get outside but can't because of the weather and it is too early for Spring cleaning here are 8 tips on organizing your home.
Let's start with the kitchen:
Pantry or food shelves: Put like items together, soups in one place, and canned vegetables in another and canned fruits all together, pasta in one place—you get the idea. Everything has its place so when you need it you will save time and easily be able to see what you have. (It just might scream 'take out' pizza night.) If you haven't done this for awhile it is a good idea to make sure the cans or bottles are still good by checking expiration dates and check to see it is bulging. If it is, it is definitely spoiled and you need to get rid of it.
Snacks: Place them in a basket at a convenient level to grab and go. Or if you have family members that you don't want to get into them, hide them.
Lids: Do you have plastic or glass bowls used for storing left-overs? If the lids are always all over the place, put them in a basket by themselves which makes it easy to match to the bowl and eliminates hunting for the matches. If you keep the lids on the container that takes up a lot of space in your cupboard.
Dishes: Do you have enough room for all you have? Get metal stacking shelves that can double the amount of space in your cupboards. They come in many sizes and there are corner ones as well as straight ones that are adjustable. It is a good time to determine if you like or need all the dishes you have. If you see you never use some as you don't like them or you have too many for your needs or space; then donate to a charity.
Silverware drawer: Place the silverware in a container made for that purpose. Larger serving pieces can be placed next to it. Does your container slide back and forth as you open the drawer? A simple solution is to use sticky Velcro on the underside of the container—works great for bathroom drawers too where containers tend to want to slide about.
Pans: Place the ones you use most frequently toward the front of your shelf (if you hang them you have no problem with finding the right size when you need it). If you have pans with a finish that can be chipped or scratched paper plates between the pans prevents this from happening.
If you have medicines in the cupboards check their expiration dates and make sure little children can't get into them.
Have vases become squatters under your sink? If they belong in a different place, move them to their home.
Kitchens are often the hub of the home so a well organized one makes everyone happy. While you are waiting for Spring, or if you live where it is already Spring check out those cupboards, take an inventory and Get Organized now.
By: Marilyn Bohn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
