There are so many changes in child safety seats nationwide that it is often difficult to know what is the “right” thing to do for your child.  Here’s a great site that shows you EXACTLY where your child should be, carseat-wise.

Visit boosterseat.gov to read the latest regulations on car safety seats.  You can even use their “quick check” on the left margin to enter your child’s age, height and weight and find the ideal seat for your child!

As it turns out, my kids are actually within the recommendations.  My son (just turned is about to relinquish the booster as he is 52 inches tall and weighs over 70 pounds.  And my younger son - 2.5 years - is right at the cusp of changing into a booster seat.

Something this website does not point out is a little number called the EXPIRATION DATE.  Car seats are only rated for 5 years of use; standards change, materials change, and to keep your child the safest, it is best to heed these dates.  Pay attention to these dates (my younger son’s seat has recently expired, so thank goodness I was going to have to buy him a new one anyway for his next step up!).

Children should ALWAYS be  buckled into a car safety seat unless they are old enough and big enough to do without.  And, once they reach the point that they can leave the booster seat behind and seat in the “regular” seat, make sure they are still buckling up, as you should be, too.  In our house, the car does not leave the driveway unless all the seatbelts are buckled.  Please pay attention to the recommended seats for your children.  That’s our world’s future you’re buckling back there. 

We recently had our son’s 8th birthday and party, and I was quite overwhelmed with the number of websites out there with birthday party tips and ideas.  So, here are a few of my favorites, pared down from the almost 100 sites I originally bookmarked!

www.birthdaypartyideas.com  Talk about a clearinghouse for ideas!  Readers submit their own by theme and age.  It is a terrific resource for finding that little extra “oomph” to make the day memorable!  While it took me a while to sift through the list it gave me, I now have TONS of ideas for future birthdays…some of these people really go all out.

www.birthdayexpress.com and www.celebrateexpress.com  These two sites provide just about every item you might need for a great party, from plates to party favors.  Licensed themes as well as “originals” are included.  Another great site for stocking up on party supplies is www.orientaltrading.com. 

www.vistaprint.com  Looking to do something new for invitations this year?  Check out vistaprint and their possibilities.  www.shutterfly.com and even your local photo developing site have terrific samples for photo invitations.

Looking for a spectacular cake?  Check out www.cakesacrossamerica.com and their selection.  Be warned however, that cakes start at $58 for a 10-slice cake.  But, they can deliver in a moment’s notice!

For the little guys, check out www.pbsparents.org.  PBS provides party ideas based on theme on their site.  They have games, decorating ideas and even a recipe or two!

Once again, our calendar for the fall overfloweth.  And, that’s just with my older son.  Cub Scouts, our mid-week ministry at our church, piano lessons, baseball practice and games…and that’s not even touching homework and chores.  Throw into the mix my husband’s frequent business trips, my younger son’s preschool and gymnastics schedule, and my insane world of three jobs, a bunko group, church choir, and teaching a parenting class at our church, and you have the makings for a bit of stress.

While there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it now, there is something we can do in the future.  That is, we can plan our rest.  Now, that might seem silly, but being the overplanner I am, it is necessary.  And, it is VERY easy to do. 

Our schedule is posted on the refrigerator.  I have a monthly calendar that puts each person on their own column, and at a glance I can see who needs to be where and when.  I know of others who use different colored pens on their calendars to denote each person’s events.  There are tons of ways to organize your family’s busy schedule.

To plan a “rest” for my family, I take a dark pencil (and always in pencil because, while I don’t like to eliminate our rest time, sometimes things happen and you have to make changes) and I shade in whatever day will be our rest days.  This fall, our “rest” is on Fridays after school. That’s our family time, our down time.  Last Spring, our “rest” was on Tuesdays.  It can vary, you can take more than one day, but the important thing is to take it.  Make it a point not to schedule meetings or playdates or anything on those days.

That doesn’t mean you don’t do ANYTHING.  Sometimes, we go to our nearby zoo.  Other times, we piddle around the house or head to a local park.  The point is to spend time together and not running back and forth to one event or another.

I hope your family finds lots of time to rest when things get crazy, whether you have to schedule it or not.  If you can’t enjoy each other, then what is all of it for?

Going back to school, no matter what the age, can be an emotional time for children, parents and teachers.  It marks the beginning of another year of learning.  The rules and standards you set the first week of school can help your child be more successful for the rest of the year.  Here are some ideas on how to make the transition back to school easier for everyone!

BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS:

• COUNTDOWN!  If you still have several days to go until the first day of school, make a countdown calendar.  Cross off each day before the first day, or make a tear-off style calendar, tearing off a number as you count down to the day school begins.
• Early to bed, early to rise.  Unless your child is a living alarm clock like mine, it is best to start the early wake-up time before the actual first day.  Children need at least a week to readjust their sleep habits so they can be alert and ready to learn when they walk into school that first day.
• Take an early tour.  If your child’s school offers a “back to school” night prior to the first day, take advantage and go walk the halls with your child.  If not, call the school and see if there is some time you can go up to the school and have a look around, even if it is just to see the cafeteria and gym.

And, during that first week, here are some habits to establish early to aid in a successful year:

• SCHEDULES:  Create a time during the day for homework.  Even if your child doesn’t have “homework”, this can be a great time to work on independent reading.  Our routine in our house is to have a 15 minute break after school (for snacks and talking about our day) and then homework time before dinner.  Dinnertime and beyond is our family time, so we try to knock homework out early!
• Communicate with the teacher:  As a former public school teacher, I cannot emphasize enough how much of an impact it made on my relationship with a child when I developed a relationship with the parent.  Remember that the teacher has 17-24 other parents as well.  Be respectful of his/her time, but make an effort to introduce yourself early and make yourself available if he/she needs to talk with you.  And, let the teacher know how much you appreciate them.  Teachers rarely hear that!
• Set up a few chores.  If your child is not already helping out around the house, adding this to the routine during the school year is a perfect time to do so.  It instills a feeling of family and community; the child is helping contribute to the well-being of the family.  Just make sure that the chore or chores aren’t too overwhelming; taking the recycling out to the bin or setting the table for dinner are great, easy chores for children of any age.
• The debriefing.  From Day One, make sure you spend some time with your child, reviewing their day.  “How was your day” is not good enough.  With my older son, we have a game we play as we walk home from school.  I challenge him each day to tell me three good things that happened to him at school that day before we get home.  More often than not, this also opens the door to things that bothered him, scared him, or confused him.  And, by the time we make it home, he’s really talking.  His response is always far better than the typical “Fine” response.  When his days aren’t so great, he feels very comfortable telling me about it.
• Preparation.  If possible, have everything ready the night before - clothes laid out, lunch made/lunch money packed in backpack, homework done and ready to go back to school.  This will make the morning routine much easier on everyone.  Don’t forget to stick a note in your child’s belongings - a pants pocket, in the backpack, on the lunch napkin.  That little note will go a long way in helping your child feel comfortable throughout the day.
• Reward yourselves.  When the first week draws to a close, try to plan something a bit more personal for your children: a special dinner, a short outing, a family night, a movie.  And let them know that they’ve had a great week and you are looking forward to many more!

Plastic boxes and brown bags…packing a lunch is a great way to ensure your child is getting the nutrition he or she needs.  And, while there is absolutely nothing wrong with a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an apple and some string cheese to boot, it is also fun to try new things in the lunch pail from time to time.  Here are some fun faves from our house:

1. Tortilla rolls and pinwheels - When I’m running low on bread but my son is determined he NEEDS ham and cheese for lunch, I break out the tortillas.  Put a light coating of mayo along one side of the tortilla, then put a piece of sliced cheese and a slice of lunchmeat on top.  Then, starting on one end, roll up.  The roll can be left as is for a great lunch alternative, or you can slice it into rounds and make “pinwheels”.  This is also great in a vegetarian format with lettuce, cream cheese, nuts and tomato!
2. Homemade Lunchable Kit - I used to cringe every time my son begged for one of those pre-packaged cracker meals because I knew we were paying for the packaging.  However, he now helps me make his OWN versions, and the cost is considerably less!  All that is needed is cheese (we use sliced cheese and cut them in fourths), lunchmeat (our favorite here, though, is pepperoni slices) and some crackers.  We even package everything in either cool plasticware or in snack-sized baggies.
3. Soup’s on - my son loves to take a thermos with a little soup inside on a chilly day.  I heat it up before loading up the thermos and it is still warm when lunchtime rolls around!
4. Another fun alternative is the quesadilla.  I layer shredded cheese and any other fillings my son wants in between two tortillas, then I grill it until the cheese is melted.  Slice them up, package them in a bit of foil to keep them warm, and I even throw in a small lidded cup of salsa to boot!  (*NOTE: if you are including chicken or another meat in your quesadilla, chill to store to keep the meat fresher.)
5. Don’t forget the most important ingredient in the lunch - THE NOTE.  Whether it be on a cute piece of paper or on the back of a napkin (which is where all my notes are written), your child will know that you are thinking of them during their day.  For younger children, just a sentence or a phrase is all they need.  Older kids might appreciate a quote or a thought.  And, always end it with a little love.

And, here are a couple of sites on back-to-school lunch ideas….

• If you are a Bento fan, here’s a great site for bento-lunches that are pretty child-friendly.  And, here’s another one!
• Ideas for vegan lunches?  Click here!
• FamilyFun is a good resource for ideas, too.
• I use this site for a couple of recipes and as a springboard for my own ideas.

What are some of your favorite healthy lunch ideas? 

It is that time of year again - school is about to be in full swing!  Some schools have already started, some will be this week, and others will start over the next couple of weeks.  My older son will be in second grade starting August 27, and the younger one and I will return to our preschool on September 5th.

So, what can you do to get your kids ready to have a terrific year in school?  PLENTY.  Here’s what we’re doing at our house:

• Cutting back on TV. As much as I would love to say I adhere to the one-hour-a-day rule I mentally made for myself this summer, it didn’t happen.  My job(s) and life took over, and there were times when the Koala Brothers were my Best Friends.  However, it is time to start cracking down.  No more TV at night, and TV at all is limited from now on.  Once school starts, our schedule is pretty tight, so TV is usually an afterthought by then.
• Mind your mouth (and what goes in it).  Things are pretty lax around here during the summer, but it is time to start focusing on fun HEALTHY snacks and not just popsicles and sodas.  Not only are sodas not great for teeth, but those with caffeine will only make sleeping issues worse and the sugar in them is enough to put your child on a sweet high for a while.  We’re also spending some time this week remembering what foods we like best in our lunch boxes at school so that I can stock up on the essentials next weekend at the store.
• Tick Tock - time for bed!  While my kids have been pretty good about hitting the hay around 8 each night, it is easy to slip out of that habit with the longer days.  If your child has been up later than normal for the summer, ease back into the routine, going to bed a few minutes early each night.  Hopefully you will be back to your start time in no time!
• Wardrobe check!  Now is a great time to clean out those closets.  Make sure everything fits and purge those things that won’t work this year.  Donate your gently used clothes to your local Goodwill or thrift store, or pass them along to another child or sibling!  Don’t forget to check shoes, socks and underwear, too.
• Rehearse the first day.  This is something we do every year.  A couple of days before the actual start of school, we do a “dry run” of our drop off and pick up routine.  Riding the bus?  Practice getting to the bus stop (and time yourself to make sure you’re not late!).  Carpooling?  See if there is a time you can all go through it together.  The more familiar kids are with what is to come, the more comfortable they will be with the situation.  Our school district hosts an open house at each campus a few days before school starts, and kids can drop off their school supplies at that time.  This is a great time to practice routines!
• Supply yourself with extras.  Snag a few extra boxes of crayons while they are on sale.  Pick up a couple more packages of notebook paper.  Later on in the year, you’ll be looking for a few replacements, and if not, you can always save them for next year’s list!

Easing back into the way things work during the school year is much better for your child than flipping over to “school mode” in one day.  What are your suggestions for making a sucessful transition into the school year?

We are about to embark into the land of “all things potty-related” at my house.  My 2.5 year old is almost ready.  He asks about the potty, he watches his big brother, and he tells us when he’s gone.  The signs are there.

 There is no right way to potty train a child.  Some people believe you should wait until the child fully makes that move themselves, and some think you should start as early as infancy.  I’m not here to debate the two schools, but I want to share with you my experience with my older son and what is to come with the little guy. 

My older child was an easy train.  We started a week before his third birthday, and by the time the big day came, we were in big boy pants, using pull ups for naps and bedtime only.  My opinion of pull ups back then wasn’t very high; we used them for the first six days of training and he did excellent until he had an accident in one and realized how diaper-like they were.  That’s when the pull ups went away (except for the aforementioned sleep times).  I was at home with him, so it was a leisurely, quiet time with just us to get him trained.  We used Smartie candy as a reward (one per successful trip) and all was well.

Enter child #2.  Things are a bit different now.  I work part time, we are out of the house quite a bit, and slowing down to learn to use the potty is not that high on my priority list.  However, back in May, he had a keen interest in the potty, wanted to sit on it, would go at bathtime and pretty much anytime you sat him on it, so we went for it.

And failed.

We failed miserably.  After a few days of cheering and gummy bears (his choice of reward), the crying started, and the holding, and the protesting, and the accidents.  It just wasn’t worth it.  He was two and a half, and this was NOT what potty training was supposed to be like.  So, we did what every “expert” tells you NOT to do; we pulled out. 

My younger son is now in diapers again and a very happy, well-adjusted little boy.  He still goes on the potty at bathtime, and on a whim you can catch him and he’ll go.  But, he’s just not ready.  He will be - soon, I hope.  My new “plan” is to try around October, just as he’s getting ready to turn three.  We’ll be in a pretty solid routine by then, and I sense he’ll do quite well with it.  One thing I will do differently this time around, though, is invest in a potty chair.  While we didn’t have one with our first son, I can see this as a pretty valuable tool to becoming self-sufficient on the potty.  Not only is it important that the child is able to undress themselves to go to the bathroom, but they also need to be able to get to the potty on their own.  Little potty chairs are perfect for such an event.

You can check out some adorable potty chairs on Wonderbrains…and don’t limit yourself to just thinking of them as a potty when the training is over…they make a great plant stand, too!

So, what are your successful potty training hints?  Share with the rest of us in our comments section!

There’s a friend of mine running a scrapbooking contest right now - you can win a Priority Mail box full of papers and scraps - FREE!  Stop on by and enter if you are a paper freak like myself!