The Terrible Twos: How to Love This Stage (not just survive it)

Family / Parenting
how to survive the terrible twos

Inside: The terrible twos is a stage of childhood many parents dread. With a perspective shift and the right strategies, you don’t need to just survive this fun childhood stage. You can love it, instead!

When I was a new mom, everything I heard about the terrible twos was negative.

“Just wait until you get to the terrible twos.”

“Oh man, the terrible twos – they’re coming. You’d better be ready!”

“The terrible twos are gonna be rough. Hang in there!”

As you can imagine, this negativity drastically affected how I approached this phase of my child’s life. Before my daughter was even close to two, I was getting ready for battle and dreading the terrible twos. I expected the terrible twos to be what everyone said they were – terrible.

There wasn’t any room in my mind for a different point of view.

Thankfully, I’ve come a long way since my first child’s “terrible twos”. Now that I’m experiencing them the fourth time around, the twos is by far my favorite age.

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How to Survive the Stomach Bug with Kids (+ Cleaning Checklist)

Family / Parenting

Inside: The stomach bug with kids can be a nightmare! Follow these 7 tips to make surviving the stomach bug a little less painful.

The Stomach Bug. I’m pretty sure there are few things parents dread more than dealing with the stomach bug. It’s right up there with potty training!

We just survived another round of the stomach flu with kids last week. It made its way through all four kids, age 8 down to age 2.

Thankfully, having been through it before, I’ve learned a few tips that made this time a hundred times easier than before.  The stomach bug with kids is messy and unpleasant, but you can get through it with these tips from a mom who survived the stomach flu just last week!

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38 Easter Basket Ideas for Kids (Candy and Clutter FREE!)

Family / Parenting
easter basket ideas for kids

Inside: Looking for Easter basket ideas for kids that don’t involve candy or clutter? Try these 38 creative ideas for clutter and candy-free Easter baskets they’ll love.

Easter will be here before we know it. If you missed the last major holiday (we definitely celebrated Valentine’s Day two days late) or you just love being extra prepared, then it’s a good idea to get your Easter baskets ready NOW. I created this list of clutter-free and non-candy Easter basket ideas for kids to help you get a head start!

Before I launch into my list of ideas for your awesome Easter baskets, I’m going to let you in on my super simple secret for clutter-free Easter baskets (because who needs more junk in their house when you have little kids?).

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Nighttime Potty Training Supplies You Can’t Live Without

Family / Parenting
nighttime potty training products you need

Inside: When you’re in the throes of nighttime potty training, you don’t want to be stuck without the supplies you absolutely need. Make sure you have everything on this list for nighttime potty training success!

We just started nighttime potty training our second child. As with our oldest, we kept waiting for it to happen naturally. I expected him to start having the occasional dry pull-up a year ago.

Six months ago.

One month ago.

Those dry pull-ups never came.

Unfortunately, some children just have small bladders. They get them from us, you know! Sometimes, getting older is the only thing that will make nighttime potty training easier, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try at different intervals to see if you can ditch those pull-ups.

(If you don’t succeed the first time around, these pull-ups are the only ones I could find that didn’t leak.)

No matter when you choose to start nighttime potty training, it is absolutely essential that you have all the supplies you’ll need before you start. You really don’t want to wake up two days in to realize you don’t have extra sheets or any clean underwear.

Nighttime potty training can be rough, depending on the kid. Everything on this list will make it SO much easier.

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Little Passports Review: Everything You Need to Decide

Family / Geography / Homeschool / Parenting
little passports review

Inside: Get an honest review of Little Passports from a homeschooling mom of four so you can know whether it will be a good fit for your family!

Our first Little Passports subscription box showed up in the mail two months ago, and the kids were jumping up and down with excitement.

What kid doesn’t love to get not just letters, but ENTIRE BOXES in the mail addressed to them?!

They tore open the box, eager to dive into the activities inside. They examined the shiny blue Little Passports suitcase, flipped through the pages of their new “passport”, and sat down together to start on the written activities inside.

They worked steadily through each activity, happily occupied for a good half hour.

What more can a homeschooling mom ask for?

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Valentine’s Day: Handmade Cards for Kids

Family / Parenting
valentine's day handmade cards for kids
Inside: Skip the identical, boxed card sets this Valentine’s Day! Handmade cards are the perfect way to help kids make Valentine’s Day more meaningful.

I walked into Target yesterday a few days after Christmas, and guess what? Yep, the Valentine’s Day stuff already decked the aisles!

Earlier and earlier they roll these things out. Pretty soon the Christmas stuff will be up before Halloween. We’ve all thought it, and I’m just waiting for the first retailer who dares to cross that invisible October 31 boundary.

But I digress.

As I glanced through the Valentine’s Day card offerings, my eyes fell on box after box of pre-made, cheesy, identical Valentine’s cards. If I sent my children to school, I’d probably be shopping for those. They provide the speed and convenience that busy parents crave.

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How to Help Your Child Change the World (even when it seems impossible)

Family / Parenting

“Mommy, this sounds kind of crazy…but what if I write to President Trump and ask him to change his mind?”

This wasn’t my idea. It was all hers, my eight-year-old’s, that is.

She’s trying to change the world, to make a difference, but in something that is so huge and political and complicated that I wasn’t really sure how to help her at first.

How do I encourage her and support her when I don’t even call my Congressman about issues I semi-care about?

Because as an adult, I am convinced my call won’t make a difference.

At eight years old, she’s old enough to know that trying to change the mind of someone like the President of the United States (and the Secretary of Homeland Security besides) is a “crazy idea.”

But she’s still young enough, idealistic enough, unjaded enough, to believe that writing a letter to a powerful person just might make a difference.

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16 More Unexpectedly Awesome Books for Young Boys

Book Lists / Books for Boys / Family / Homeschool / Parenting
best books for young boys

Inside: Have a difficult time choosing books for young boys? Grab these books at your local library – our boys loved them and asked to read them over and over again!

It’s time for another installment of “Books for Young Boys”! We’ve finally waded through enough books, sifting through the mediocre ones to bring you some truly awesome books perfect for young boys (and probably girls, too!).

The more library books I choose books for my boys, the more I’m surprised by how you truly cannot judge a book by its cover.

Some book covers make a book seem like an instant hit…only to find that its contents, while well-illustrated, are just so-so. Other covers are lackluster, but inside? A truly memorable story. 

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5 Quick Tips for When Parents Disagree About What to Get Kids for Christmas

Family / Minimalism / Minimalist Christmas / Parenting
what to get kids for Christmas, parents cant agree on kids Christmas gifts
Inside: Agreeing on what to get the kids for Christmas can be tough, especially if you and your spouse have different opinions on what makes a good gift. Use these 5 quick tips to work through it!

My husband and I have very different ideas about what to get the kids for Christmas this year. While we are both pretty frugal, I’m a minimalist, and he is decidedly not a minimalist.

The only thing we’ve agreed on so far are new bikes for all.

Deciding what to get the kids for Christmas kind of reminds me of how choosing names for our boys went down. I’ll throw out idea after idea: he vetoes every single one (without contributing ideas of his own – he just doesn’t like mine).

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How to Have a Simple Christmas with Kids

Family / Minimalism / Minimalist Christmas / Parenting
Inside: Are you longing for a slow, simple Christmas with your kids? Get 6 tips to simplify your Christmas traditions, so you can actually enjoy the Christmas season (instead of collapse at the end)!

I remember vividly the day I sat in a circle with a big group of moms discussing the importance of creating traditions for your kids, starting when they are little. As the holiday with the most traditions, Christmas was the central topic of discussion, a discussion that led far, far away from the slow, simple Christmas I craved.

I remember it so well because of the crushing pressure I felt.

What everyone in the room seemed to be saying was, “More, more, more! Without a million Christmas traditions, your kids will be ruined for life!”

When your kids are small and you are barely treading water as a mom, the last thing you need is additional expectations and pressure, especially during Christmas.

And it’s not just you that needs slow and simple: your kids need simple, too.

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