Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Shares, not Chores: Helping your Kids Help You Without Coercion

Welcome to the June edition of the Simply Living Blog CarnivalAround the house cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about what we do to keep our houses liveable without losing our minds. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post. Join us on our blog hop with the same theme tomorrow!


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At our house, we don't do chores for various reasons, the main one being that we don't use coercion as
a parenting tool. Yet even though we don't, it doesn't mean I have to do all of the housework all by myself, or even that we let our kids just treat us as their servant. We don't.

No chores doesn't mean your kids can't or won't help out around the house, it just relieves the idea of coercion, and replaces it with freedom of choice. Freedom of choice works out really well :)

Children are naturally inclined to help and imitate their parents. When they see you doing something, they'll most likely want to do the same. If you want your child to have a active role in helping you around the house, it's really important not to suppress that need.
Very often parents refuse to have their children help or try the adult work because they fear they might not be capable, will hurt themselves or break somethings. Then when the day comes, they are surprised to see their kids aren't willing to help them out around the house.

In order to nurture your child's helping hand, allow them to try out all of the things you do as soon as they show an interest. 

My 17 month old has been helping us sweep and clean up the floor ever since he could walk. Sure, I often have to lend a hand and it takes longer then when I would do it, but in helping him, in showing him the way, he gets the satisfaction of learning and knowing he helped mommy clean the house. 

Whenever I do something housework-y and my daughter is around, I'll ask her to help me. Mostly she's willing, sometimes she's not. I also explain why certain jobs are worth doing. Often, she'll suggest helping herself and I just make it possible for her to do so, safely. 
It happens that she's not able to keep an interest if the task at hand is very tedious, but that's ok. SHe's learning and she doesn't see the housework as a dread.

When given the chance, children are capable and willing to do various jobs around the house. Sometimes they just need some guidance, and someone to make it safe for them, but basically they can help you with just about anything. Taking the time to help them help you while they're young will pay off in the long run. 




image source: clogozm



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Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. Read some tips and tricks on how to get your lives organized from other bloggers. We hope you will join us next month!
   



  • Embracing the Schedule - Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy describes how they learned to keep on top of household life by creating a family calendar.
  • Simply: Car Free - On the one-year anniversary of selling her car, Lyndsay from ourfeministplayschool, reflects on her family's decision to go car-free in urban downtown Toronto.
  • The Importance of Finding Your Housecleaning Rhythm - Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama outlines how she keeps her housecleaning under control with a daily rhythm. Even her 4 year old gets in on it!
  • Keeping It Simple At Home - At Living Peacefully with Children Mandy shares some tips for keeping the clutter and cleaning at bay.
  • In her post Cleaning? sustainablemum outlines how keeping clutter to a minimum makes for an easy life when trying to keep her house clean and tidy.
  • Simply Downstairs - Jorje of Momma Jorje has found a way to simplify laundry AND bedtime... all with one simple move.
  • In Shares, not Chores: Helping your Kids Help You Without Coercion Laura from Authentic Parenting tells us how she gets work done with two little kids and without coercion.


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Friday, June 14, 2013

How to Teach Your Children Healthy Eating Habits in 10 Simple Steps (re-run)

A lot of people struggle with teaching their kids how to eat healthy and stay away from salty, fatty and sweet snacks. Teaching them a healthy eating pattern shouldn't be very difficult if you respect of the following set of simple rules:  


1. Children learn from what they see
If all they see around them is people eating potato chips, burgers, sweets, pies etc... how can they develop a taste for healthy food? Maybe it's time to change your eating behavior.  


2. They decide how much they eat, you decide what's put on the table (or in the cupboards)
Taking your child grocery shopping might be something to avoid if they have developed a taste for the sweet and the salty. Buy fresh produce, lean meats, fish...  


3. Variety, variety, variety!!! 
If you only ever bring the same five dishes to the table, they will get bored quickly. Try some exotic fruit, buy veggies you haven't tried before. If you don't know how to prepare them, google it, that's what the internet is for. They might even learn something from it!  


4. No forcing! 
If your child isn't hungry, don't make him eat. Finishing his plate is not necessary, trying a little bit is. Don't worry too much if they are 'getting enough', if they are otherwise healthy and happy, they probably are.  


5. Forget three meals a day
Let your child eat when he wants, he'll enjoy eating much more than when he is forced to eat at hours that don't suit his biological rhythm. 


6. Eating out is possible 
And even welcome, a change of foods might give him an appetite. But don't go straight for macDonalds or Burger King, if you give them the right example, children do just as well in a healthier alternative. Maybe you can use the situation to get to know a little more about another culture.  


7. Provide healthy snacks 
Snacking isn't a bad thing. Provided they don't overeat at lunch or dinner time. Just see that you have healthy snacks available at all time. Some juice (no sugar added), fruit, dried fruit, nuts, a small salad in between might just do the trick.


8. Trust your child 
Trust upon your child's ability to know when to eat and how much they should eat. This might take some learning on both sides if you have gotten very used to the three meals a day pattern. Mostly, children are very in touch with their body and can let you know what exactly they need, even from very young.  


9. Start early on 
Learning to eat a variety of healthy foods begins at birth, really, and even before that. If they see their parents enjoy a good meal, enjoy a variety of healthy and wholesome foods, they most likely will enjoy eating themselves. Remember that even in utero the fetus tastes what the mother eats, so it really begins there.  


10. Don't worry too much 
Your child can pick up on your anxiety and start fearing lunchtime. Eating should be something the whole family can enjoy.


This post is part of the 2010 API Principles of Parenting blog carnival, a series of monthly parenting blog carnivals, hosted by API Speaks. Learn more about attachment parenting by visiting the API website.

Image: epsos



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Thursday, June 13, 2013

APBC Call for Submission: Babywearing

APBC - Authentic ParentingWelcome to the Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children and Laura at Authentic Parenting. We hope that you will join us on the last Friday of each month as we share posts about simple living in our lives. Submission deadline: Friday June 21st.


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Babywearing

This month, we want to know the nitty gritty about baby wearing: carrier styles, the best carriers, how-to's, positioning, baby wearing in extreme situations... Let's make this a reference list of everything you want to know about baby wearing and then a little more.

How to join in?

To submit an article to the blog carnival, please e-mail your submission to mandy{at}livingpeacefullywithchildren{dot}com and mamapoekie{at}yahoo{dot}com, and fill out the webform by June 21. Please write a new, unpublished piece for the carnival. We will e-mail you with instructions before the carnival date. We ask that you publish your post on June 28.

Please do:
  • Use your creativity
  • Write an original, previously unpublished post on the given topic
  • Be respectful
  • Spell check your post
Do Not Use excessive profanity or promote violence against others As the co-hosts of the carnival are advocates of peaceful living and gentle parenting, we ask that you not post about non-gentle practices or violence toward others. While we will not be editing your articles, we do reserve the right to not add your post to the carnival if it is not on topic, is poorly written, or goes against the guidelines which have been set forth.

Why Participate?

Blog carnivals are a great way to generate blog traffic and build a supportive community. Your blog will receive links from many other blogs and you and your readers will have the opportunity to discover other blogs with similar goals in mind. Please join us as we embrace Authentic Parenting! We hope you will consider joining us every month as we discuss ways to live and parent authentically.


 


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