I love this one particularly - the ladybug one. :)
and the blue butterfly.
I'd love to make one for my li'l one next year. (we'll be on an India trip this year) Anybody else making halloween costumes this year?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Do it yourself halloween costumes
I was looking at making halloween costumes and came across this site. It has instructions for the most beautiful costumes ever... And so easy to make.
I love this one particularly - the ladybug one. :)
and the blue butterfly.
I'd love to make one for my li'l one next year. (we'll be on an India trip this year) Anybody else making halloween costumes this year?
I love this one particularly - the ladybug one. :)
and the blue butterfly.I'd love to make one for my li'l one next year. (we'll be on an India trip this year) Anybody else making halloween costumes this year?
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Frock designing and stitching
This post is written by Swapna Susarla of Susarlas kitchen.
I , myself desingned and made this frock by hand(not using a machine) for my daughter. My mother and all her sisters are professional in stitching.I never learned how to cut although i know how to make some small small stitches and how to stitch buttons.But never tried to cut cloth for stitching a frock.At first i thought of making some casual wears for my daughter.I bought some cloth and stitched .They were also nice.After that i took this cloth(2 yards) and planned to stitch a good one.I did lining also for this frock.(I don't know wether it is that great thing or not...but for me it is a very great achievement in my life:-) ). I was surprised to see the end result.I never imagined that i can do this.
My daughter is very happy to wear this.She is very excited and told everybody"my mom made this for me".Her happiness given me some more inspiration to do more things....Thanks and hugs to her....:-)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The race to nowhere
[Posted by Cee Kay. Also posted at my blog My Two Cents]
I just saw a Leap Pad Learning System's commercial on the idiot box that talked about learning skills for pre-school. I went "WTF???" in my mind. Pre-school teaches kids skills necessary for Kindergarten. When did things get so screwed up that babies need to learn skills to get into pre-school? Here, in the US, even pre-school is optional for kids. Parents don't have to send them there if they don't want to. Of course, there are certain skills a child must have before he or she enters kindergarten - like they should know how to read and write the alphabet, count to 20, know how to write their first and last name, know their address and phone number. THAT'S IT!!! It isn't too hard for a child to learn that. And that is exactly what S knew when she entered kindergarten. She is doing great in school despite the fact that she didn't know anything else. In fact, she is among the top five students in her class. And I am being very conservative when I say "top five". She could very well be on the top but we wouldn't know because no ranks are assigned to kids here. And we couldn't care less.
Every year, just before the November Parent-teacher conferences (that's when parents meet their kids' teachers to learn how their kids are performing in school and get the first progress report), and later before the March conferences, S becomes this pensive, stressed-out mass of nerves. She asks us 10 times each day "What will you do if you find out that I am failing? That I am not getting good grades?". And each year my answer is the same - "If you were to get bad grades, it would mean you need more help with your studies and we would help you. We would help you figure out how to improve performance". I don't care about grades at all. Not in elementary school. Later, when grades do matter, I will see to it that she is putting in her 100% in studies and even then if she scores low grades then I'll accept that - however hard that might be for me to do. All I want is for my child to put in her best efforts. I don't want to compare her to others and drive myself nuts trying to see who reads better than her or who swims faster or who is better at math. All I care about is whether or not she is making a sincere effort at whatever she does.
A friend recently mentioned to me that she is thinking of holding her son back from school one year because she thinks he isn't ready for it yet. That, in my opinion, is the smartest, and the toughest, decision to make. Only a parent can know their child's capabilities and if one honestly feels that starting a year later will help their child, I admire their courage. I say "courage" because this friend said she is expecting a lot of resistance from her entire family including her husband. We Indians, for some reason, place so much importance on starting school early. It is beyond MY comprehension. We don't seem to care how much the child understands of what has been taught, yet we are very worried about how early he or she can say the ABCs and recite the nursery rhymes or how far he/she can count.
At the beginning of this rant I was going to add the note that people shouldn't take offence to what I am going to write because I am not judging anyone. But then I realized - Heck yeah! I DO judge people who push their kids too soon too far to acquire skills that they might as easily learn in due course of time without being pressurized. How does it matter if a child can say the ABCs before going to pre-school? He/She is going to learn it there anyway, right? So, why not let the child sit back and enjoy life without any pressures of formal learning? They do a lot of learning while playing anyway. I am not against teaching them the alphabet, colors or the numbers during play. I am against sitting them down to teach these explicitly. I am against teaching them stuff just so they are "one up" against other kids in a gathering. I am dead against formally teaching anything to a child under the age of 3 years. I know this might not have gone well with the way things are done in India and for that reason I am happy that I live in a place where I can practise what I believe.
We started sending S to KUMON just before she started Kindergarten (a little before she turned 5). Even then we worried we might be pushing her too much so we decided to give it a try and stop if we saw any signs that she was being overworked. Fortunately, the owner of the KUMON franchise that S goes to, has the same philosophy regarding teaching kids. In her opinion, learning is only fun if the child doesn't feel overburdened. So, on occasions when we saw S taking a long time in finishing her KUMON homework (more than 15 minutes), she cut back the number of pages that were given to S for homework. She suggested we always make sure that she gets only as much homework as can be completed within 15 minutes. That really helped. S never felt overwhelmed. And we let her take a break from KUMON for one week 2-3 times a year. This ensures that S does her KUMON work willingly without us having to ride her constantly. Every year her teachers ask us if she feels pressured by the extra work. We don't think she does. For one thing, KUMON helps her stay ahead of the rest of her class at school. She was very proud of her math skills in Grade 2 when her classmates dubbed her the "Math Wizard". Small things like that keep her motivated to do the extra work. And we do see it paying off. Last year, by the end of Grade 3, S was already doing Grade 5 math (division and fractions). If all this can be accomplished without pressuring and pushing a child, then I think we are on the right path.
Once when we were at KUMON (S doing her classwork and I waiting outside in waiting room), an Indian lady came in with her 3 year old daughter. She wanted to sign her up for Reading. Professor P, owner of the KUMON franchise, tested that girl to determine the level she would start from and told the parent that she will be starting the child from the level that taught letter recognition. The parent immediately took offence to that and informed Professor P that her daughter already recognized all letters, thankyou. Upon being told that the girl got confused between lower-case p and q, and lower case b and d, the mom was furious. At her daughter! She started scolding her right then and there, demanding to know how she could confuse p with q and b with d when at home she always recognized the letters correctly. Now, I know children do get confused between these letters quite often and I don't think it is a crime punishable by public humiliation. The lady could very well have signed the kid up for the recommended level and if the child indeed was very comfortable with letter recognition, she would have sailed right through that level in no time anyway. That is MY thinking. We never pressured S into completing a level fast. In fact, on occasions we have requested that she be allowed to repeat a level so that her concepts become clearer (when we feel she is still a little hazy on the concepts). On other occasions, Professor P has recommened that we have her repeat a level and we have happily accepted because if S isn't a 100% comfortable with concepts taught at one level then she WILL face difficulties in future levels even if she scores good on the test. We do have a "positive reinforcement policy" under which S gets to buy a new board game or a book if she completes one level at KUMON. We NEVER associate having to repeat a level with failure. As a result, while friends tell me that their kids stopped KUMON after a little while because it became too boring or challenging or whatever, S is well into her 5th year at KUMON and wants to continue. Our original goal in sending her there was two-fold. One, she would gain self-esteem if she found she was better at something than the rest of her peers and two, it would help her in the (waaay) long term with SATs. We were bang on with the first one and seems like we might be correct about the second one too.
I actually pity a child when his/her parents start telling us how they taught their kid X, Y or Z at an early age. Or when they start comparing their kid with other kids "just to see where they are at". I am all for buying age-appropriate learning games for kids. But this commercial about teaching kids skills to get into pre-school got me. And the "Baby Einstein" DVDs get me for the same reason. DVDs and videos for 6 month old babies??? Come on! One friend of mine proudly told me (a few years ago) how her 6 month old was hooked on "Baby Einstein" videos. So much so that he whined and screamed if someone blocked his view while he was watching one. I guess she took it as a sign that he was a genius. I definitely took it as a sign that she needed to use more common sense in her parenting. (Hey Cee Kay! Bitchy much??! :P)
I think this race to get their kids to the top is all in the parents' heads. The kids will take their own time getting where they want to get, if they want it. And staying at the top once they get there is another matter. One can push their kid to the top, but they cannot keep their kid there if the kid him/herself is not motivated. And most kids eventually catch up to grade level learning. One might be able to push a kid to the top at an early age, but we also have to keep asking ourselves two questions.
1. Is it really going to make a difference in their lives 20 years from now? Will learning the alphabet at age 2 help them when they are 20 and in college?
2. Are they having fun (while learning things to "get to the top")? THAT, in my opinion, is the most important question of all. In my opinion, learning that is done while having fun stays with us longer than learning done under compulsion.
Every year, just before the November Parent-teacher conferences (that's when parents meet their kids' teachers to learn how their kids are performing in school and get the first progress report), and later before the March conferences, S becomes this pensive, stressed-out mass of nerves. She asks us 10 times each day "What will you do if you find out that I am failing? That I am not getting good grades?". And each year my answer is the same - "If you were to get bad grades, it would mean you need more help with your studies and we would help you. We would help you figure out how to improve performance". I don't care about grades at all. Not in elementary school. Later, when grades do matter, I will see to it that she is putting in her 100% in studies and even then if she scores low grades then I'll accept that - however hard that might be for me to do. All I want is for my child to put in her best efforts. I don't want to compare her to others and drive myself nuts trying to see who reads better than her or who swims faster or who is better at math. All I care about is whether or not she is making a sincere effort at whatever she does.
A friend recently mentioned to me that she is thinking of holding her son back from school one year because she thinks he isn't ready for it yet. That, in my opinion, is the smartest, and the toughest, decision to make. Only a parent can know their child's capabilities and if one honestly feels that starting a year later will help their child, I admire their courage. I say "courage" because this friend said she is expecting a lot of resistance from her entire family including her husband. We Indians, for some reason, place so much importance on starting school early. It is beyond MY comprehension. We don't seem to care how much the child understands of what has been taught, yet we are very worried about how early he or she can say the ABCs and recite the nursery rhymes or how far he/she can count.
At the beginning of this rant I was going to add the note that people shouldn't take offence to what I am going to write because I am not judging anyone. But then I realized - Heck yeah! I DO judge people who push their kids too soon too far to acquire skills that they might as easily learn in due course of time without being pressurized. How does it matter if a child can say the ABCs before going to pre-school? He/She is going to learn it there anyway, right? So, why not let the child sit back and enjoy life without any pressures of formal learning? They do a lot of learning while playing anyway. I am not against teaching them the alphabet, colors or the numbers during play. I am against sitting them down to teach these explicitly. I am against teaching them stuff just so they are "one up" against other kids in a gathering. I am dead against formally teaching anything to a child under the age of 3 years. I know this might not have gone well with the way things are done in India and for that reason I am happy that I live in a place where I can practise what I believe.
We started sending S to KUMON just before she started Kindergarten (a little before she turned 5). Even then we worried we might be pushing her too much so we decided to give it a try and stop if we saw any signs that she was being overworked. Fortunately, the owner of the KUMON franchise that S goes to, has the same philosophy regarding teaching kids. In her opinion, learning is only fun if the child doesn't feel overburdened. So, on occasions when we saw S taking a long time in finishing her KUMON homework (more than 15 minutes), she cut back the number of pages that were given to S for homework. She suggested we always make sure that she gets only as much homework as can be completed within 15 minutes. That really helped. S never felt overwhelmed. And we let her take a break from KUMON for one week 2-3 times a year. This ensures that S does her KUMON work willingly without us having to ride her constantly. Every year her teachers ask us if she feels pressured by the extra work. We don't think she does. For one thing, KUMON helps her stay ahead of the rest of her class at school. She was very proud of her math skills in Grade 2 when her classmates dubbed her the "Math Wizard". Small things like that keep her motivated to do the extra work. And we do see it paying off. Last year, by the end of Grade 3, S was already doing Grade 5 math (division and fractions). If all this can be accomplished without pressuring and pushing a child, then I think we are on the right path.
Once when we were at KUMON (S doing her classwork and I waiting outside in waiting room), an Indian lady came in with her 3 year old daughter. She wanted to sign her up for Reading. Professor P, owner of the KUMON franchise, tested that girl to determine the level she would start from and told the parent that she will be starting the child from the level that taught letter recognition. The parent immediately took offence to that and informed Professor P that her daughter already recognized all letters, thankyou. Upon being told that the girl got confused between lower-case p and q, and lower case b and d, the mom was furious. At her daughter! She started scolding her right then and there, demanding to know how she could confuse p with q and b with d when at home she always recognized the letters correctly. Now, I know children do get confused between these letters quite often and I don't think it is a crime punishable by public humiliation. The lady could very well have signed the kid up for the recommended level and if the child indeed was very comfortable with letter recognition, she would have sailed right through that level in no time anyway. That is MY thinking. We never pressured S into completing a level fast. In fact, on occasions we have requested that she be allowed to repeat a level so that her concepts become clearer (when we feel she is still a little hazy on the concepts). On other occasions, Professor P has recommened that we have her repeat a level and we have happily accepted because if S isn't a 100% comfortable with concepts taught at one level then she WILL face difficulties in future levels even if she scores good on the test. We do have a "positive reinforcement policy" under which S gets to buy a new board game or a book if she completes one level at KUMON. We NEVER associate having to repeat a level with failure. As a result, while friends tell me that their kids stopped KUMON after a little while because it became too boring or challenging or whatever, S is well into her 5th year at KUMON and wants to continue. Our original goal in sending her there was two-fold. One, she would gain self-esteem if she found she was better at something than the rest of her peers and two, it would help her in the (waaay) long term with SATs. We were bang on with the first one and seems like we might be correct about the second one too.
I actually pity a child when his/her parents start telling us how they taught their kid X, Y or Z at an early age. Or when they start comparing their kid with other kids "just to see where they are at". I am all for buying age-appropriate learning games for kids. But this commercial about teaching kids skills to get into pre-school got me. And the "Baby Einstein" DVDs get me for the same reason. DVDs and videos for 6 month old babies??? Come on! One friend of mine proudly told me (a few years ago) how her 6 month old was hooked on "Baby Einstein" videos. So much so that he whined and screamed if someone blocked his view while he was watching one. I guess she took it as a sign that he was a genius. I definitely took it as a sign that she needed to use more common sense in her parenting. (Hey Cee Kay! Bitchy much??! :P)
I think this race to get their kids to the top is all in the parents' heads. The kids will take their own time getting where they want to get, if they want it. And staying at the top once they get there is another matter. One can push their kid to the top, but they cannot keep their kid there if the kid him/herself is not motivated. And most kids eventually catch up to grade level learning. One might be able to push a kid to the top at an early age, but we also have to keep asking ourselves two questions.
1. Is it really going to make a difference in their lives 20 years from now? Will learning the alphabet at age 2 help them when they are 20 and in college?
2. Are they having fun (while learning things to "get to the top")? THAT, in my opinion, is the most important question of all. In my opinion, learning that is done while having fun stays with us longer than learning done under compulsion.
Note: A few comments on this post at my personal blog have prompted me to start another post about KUMON, its drawbacks and why it still works for us. I realized some parents might appreciate information on this topic from someone who has already had some KUMON experience. I hope to be able to put that post up soon.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Friday, September 7, 2007
Protect yourself and your family - Online Safety
This issue is close to heart for many reasons - One, I've had a stalker(not creepy but very annoying nonetheless) during my teen ages and that had bothered me in many ways. Second, two of my online friends were troubled by a stranger, who knew their whereabouts from reading the online interaction of my friends in a discussion group.
We blog, comment, write about ourselves pretty freely, mostly with the idea that you are sharing the post with like minded bloggers or moms...which in our mind translates to harmless people. But , in reality, we never know what kind of 'creatures' read our posts. Some of the mommy bloggers had figured out a way to see what brings the readers to their sites and some of the search words are not very nice. So, we have to watch out for the kind of information that we are sharing on our blogs.. It might reveal our/our children's whereabouts which we don't want those unwanted readers to know.
What not to reveal
We blog, comment, write about ourselves pretty freely, mostly with the idea that you are sharing the post with like minded bloggers or moms...which in our mind translates to harmless people. But , in reality, we never know what kind of 'creatures' read our posts. Some of the mommy bloggers had figured out a way to see what brings the readers to their sites and some of the search words are not very nice. So, we have to watch out for the kind of information that we are sharing on our blogs.. It might reveal our/our children's whereabouts which we don't want those unwanted readers to know.
What not to reveal
- Full names, date of birth, place of birth etc - not yours, not your child's and not anybody else's.
- Places that you visit frequently... eg: Every Wednesday you goto this xyz park... or every Sunday we attend the Presbyterian church near to this school etc
- Address and phone numbers of course
- About an activity that you are planning in recent future - say, a blog meet at starbucks on 3rd street at 3 pm... or a birthday party at chuckycheese on el camino and lawrence at 6 pm.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Potty Training Tips That Help
Some days back Dee had questions on Potty Training. From all the responses I have gleaned gems and gathered them in this post.
Since these are experiences and tips from real life Moms they should definitely be very useful
Right Time to Start
This is very debatable and also differs from child to child. Also the climate, your patience, how much help you have, determines the right age to start.
In India kids are potty trained pretty early on as the climate being hot it is possible to let the kids go diaper/panty free for a longer period of time. When there are accidents which is bound to happen, a quick wash both of the bottom and floor resolves the problem
This I found a difficult aspect here, I was hesitant of my daughter going around without diapers and wetting up my carpet and stuff everyday if I started to train her at 1 year. As many of the moms said the entire task of training is much easier and shorter if we start when the child is ready.
How do you know ?
Try training at around 22-24 months by making a routine of taking the child to the potty at scheduled intervals. If you feel the child does not understand the concept let go and wait for a couple of more months
Here is what mummyjaan said
“Our DD started demonstrating awareness - at around 20 months alright. By that I mean if I left her nappyless (in short/pants without diapers) she would squirm and get uncomfortable before needing to go. We didn't actually try to potty-train her till she was 24 months.But it wasn't until she was about 29 - 30 months before she actually 'got the idea'. And when it clicked for her ('the *small* potty seat is for *me*, for going to the potty'), then she kinda self-trained in a week, with little input from me.”
Get a Potty or Potty Seat
Get a colorful character potty seat or a potty. I personally feel the seats are much better. Start a routine. After breakfasts in the morning try to make the child sit on it. While he/she is there, try reading books etc. to give an idea that it is fun. Again try to take him/her to the bathroom after fixed intervals.
If your child already has a routine when he goes potty (i.e for BM) it might be easier.
Asha says
“Boys are little tough to train. Still buy a colorful potty with cartoon characters on it and tell him it's for the "big boy" and make him sit on it even when he is not needing to go.Some kids are just scared to go near it if you make them go when they need to.He will slowly get the idea.Accident happens when you start without the diaper but he will learn eventually.Reward him even if he just sits on it.”
Swapna and mnamma echo similar thoughts
Give Awards
My daughter’s daycare teachers helped a lot with the potty training. She started both the part time day care and subsequently the training around 25-26 months after a failed attempt by me at 23 months.
One thing I noticed that at school the peer pressure helped. So the teachers gave out stickers etc. for success and the clamor for getting more stickers gave a big boost to the whole process. I continued the award series at home too.
DR says
“Bought some stickers..so the day he succeeded he was given one and he could paste it on his cupboard door..and we would count them together..sometimes even call papa to have a look....and he glowed and beamed!!”
No Pull ups or Diaper
I did use pull ups for some time but I stopped using them at home when I started training. It seems using the pull up and also using the potty gives a child mixed message. It didn’t really take very long to get trained once the idea got into her head so there were very few accidents and my carpet was dry :D
GTN says
“The discomfort from being wet without a diaper propels them quickly into wanting to use the potty :P But then, every child is different so what worked for me might not work for you. Also, don't make a big deal out of it (or any accidents for that matter). Don't worry about carpets if you have them and keep a lot of paper towels, newspapers and the phone number to a good carpet cleaner handy :P”
Night time training
Start this once the child is trained during the day. Do not give milk or water at bedtime. After a drink, brushing etc. take him/her to the bathroom as the last step in the bedtime routine. Try to take him/her once more around mid night.
In my daughter’s case she does not go to the bathroom during the night. This I had seen from her pull ups being dry on most days so night training had not been difficult.
Some good tips for night time training are here :
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/staying-tips.htm
Important Tips on Hygiene while Potty Training
Some very good tips are in here :
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/maintaining-tips.htm
Remember little girls wipe front to back. Also it seems rather than wiping hard we should teach them to go “pat, pat” to avoid irritation
Another thing is have the pack of moist wipes ready. After the child has cleaned himself/herself do a clean up with the moist wipe. At least I always do that.
Don't Stress, Be Cool
Do not get stressed or stress the child. Make it a fun thing. He/she will get trained maybe a little early or late, doesn’t really matter.
Some more tips from here
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/preparing-tips.htm
Since these are experiences and tips from real life Moms they should definitely be very useful
Right Time to Start
This is very debatable and also differs from child to child. Also the climate, your patience, how much help you have, determines the right age to start.
In India kids are potty trained pretty early on as the climate being hot it is possible to let the kids go diaper/panty free for a longer period of time. When there are accidents which is bound to happen, a quick wash both of the bottom and floor resolves the problem
This I found a difficult aspect here, I was hesitant of my daughter going around without diapers and wetting up my carpet and stuff everyday if I started to train her at 1 year. As many of the moms said the entire task of training is much easier and shorter if we start when the child is ready.
How do you know ?
Try training at around 22-24 months by making a routine of taking the child to the potty at scheduled intervals. If you feel the child does not understand the concept let go and wait for a couple of more months
Here is what mummyjaan said
“Our DD started demonstrating awareness - at around 20 months alright. By that I mean if I left her nappyless (in short/pants without diapers) she would squirm and get uncomfortable before needing to go. We didn't actually try to potty-train her till she was 24 months.But it wasn't until she was about 29 - 30 months before she actually 'got the idea'. And when it clicked for her ('the *small* potty seat is for *me*, for going to the potty'), then she kinda self-trained in a week, with little input from me.”
Get a Potty or Potty Seat
Get a colorful character potty seat or a potty. I personally feel the seats are much better. Start a routine. After breakfasts in the morning try to make the child sit on it. While he/she is there, try reading books etc. to give an idea that it is fun. Again try to take him/her to the bathroom after fixed intervals.
If your child already has a routine when he goes potty (i.e for BM) it might be easier.
Asha says
“Boys are little tough to train. Still buy a colorful potty with cartoon characters on it and tell him it's for the "big boy" and make him sit on it even when he is not needing to go.Some kids are just scared to go near it if you make them go when they need to.He will slowly get the idea.Accident happens when you start without the diaper but he will learn eventually.Reward him even if he just sits on it.”
Swapna and mnamma echo similar thoughts
Give Awards
My daughter’s daycare teachers helped a lot with the potty training. She started both the part time day care and subsequently the training around 25-26 months after a failed attempt by me at 23 months.
One thing I noticed that at school the peer pressure helped. So the teachers gave out stickers etc. for success and the clamor for getting more stickers gave a big boost to the whole process. I continued the award series at home too.
DR says
“Bought some stickers..so the day he succeeded he was given one and he could paste it on his cupboard door..and we would count them together..sometimes even call papa to have a look....and he glowed and beamed!!”
No Pull ups or Diaper
I did use pull ups for some time but I stopped using them at home when I started training. It seems using the pull up and also using the potty gives a child mixed message. It didn’t really take very long to get trained once the idea got into her head so there were very few accidents and my carpet was dry :D
GTN says
“The discomfort from being wet without a diaper propels them quickly into wanting to use the potty :P But then, every child is different so what worked for me might not work for you. Also, don't make a big deal out of it (or any accidents for that matter). Don't worry about carpets if you have them and keep a lot of paper towels, newspapers and the phone number to a good carpet cleaner handy :P”
Night time training
Start this once the child is trained during the day. Do not give milk or water at bedtime. After a drink, brushing etc. take him/her to the bathroom as the last step in the bedtime routine. Try to take him/her once more around mid night.
In my daughter’s case she does not go to the bathroom during the night. This I had seen from her pull ups being dry on most days so night training had not been difficult.
Some good tips for night time training are here :
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/staying-tips.htm
Important Tips on Hygiene while Potty Training
Some very good tips are in here :
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/maintaining-tips.htm
Remember little girls wipe front to back. Also it seems rather than wiping hard we should teach them to go “pat, pat” to avoid irritation
Another thing is have the pack of moist wipes ready. After the child has cleaned himself/herself do a clean up with the moist wipe. At least I always do that.
Don't Stress, Be Cool
Do not get stressed or stress the child. Make it a fun thing. He/she will get trained maybe a little early or late, doesn’t really matter.
Some more tips from here
http://www.pottytrainingtips.com/preparing-tips.htm
August has passed ....
Linda has a great theme for this month Back To School!. The scramble to get everything in order, the alarms that stop working, the school bus being missed, the argument over lunch, the list is endless. It will be fun to see what members come up with.
I want to thank everyone for participating and sharing ideas for the August Theme SAHM Vs WM. It was an interesting exchange of ideas for sure. One of the most surprising aspects at least for me is each posters comfort and satisfaction with the choice they have made. It has been a healthy discussion and we come away with a greater realization and understanding of different viewpoints and should try our hardest to respect them.
We all agree that SAHM Vs WM is not one versus the other rather each one's most comfortable way of getting there. "It is meant not to mean what Plaintiff Vs Defendant would mean rather travelling by Plane Vs Travelling by Train, means to the same end." And Tharini summed it up nicely "May we all get there, in this life, without too much heartache...."
We also realize and should never forget the fact, that for a majority of moms in this world There is no Choice...
Here is some food for thought, an article from Yahoo Finance - To Raise Baby Einsteins, TLC Will Suffice
Thanks everybody and have a great weekend.
I want to thank everyone for participating and sharing ideas for the August Theme SAHM Vs WM. It was an interesting exchange of ideas for sure. One of the most surprising aspects at least for me is each posters comfort and satisfaction with the choice they have made. It has been a healthy discussion and we come away with a greater realization and understanding of different viewpoints and should try our hardest to respect them.
We all agree that SAHM Vs WM is not one versus the other rather each one's most comfortable way of getting there. "It is meant not to mean what Plaintiff Vs Defendant would mean rather travelling by Plane Vs Travelling by Train, means to the same end." And Tharini summed it up nicely "May we all get there, in this life, without too much heartache...."
We also realize and should never forget the fact, that for a majority of moms in this world There is no Choice...
Here is some food for thought, an article from Yahoo Finance - To Raise Baby Einsteins, TLC Will Suffice
Thanks everybody and have a great weekend.
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