Parenting – Page 2

Strategic Showering – When to Throw a Baby Shower

October 12, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Knowing when to throw a baby shower is important because it sets up the entry of a new child into the world. One that must be celebrated with the friends and family of the soon to be parents. Showing the parents the support they and their child will receive in their new journey.

Start Planning Early

To allow all key people to join in the celebrations you should make sure you give attendees enough time to block out their calendar and attend a baby shop in Melbourne. With that being said it is crucial the event is planned in advance. Traditionally, baby showers are held around four to six weeks ahead of the mother’s due date. Meaning typically the pregnancy is well into the safe zone and also unlikely that the baby will arrive too early. Plus, by this time the mother and father are likely to be well and truly looking forward to giving birth.

Consider Co-Ed

Traditionally, baby showers have been focused around the mother. However, more recently, they’ve become more of a joint affair; known as a co-ed baby shower. For this reason, it is a good idea to speak to the parents and ask what their preferred type of celebration would be. If it is catering for both parents, make sure to incorporate games and questions for both parenting roles and invite an equal mix of attendees.

Get Help

When organising a baby shower it is a good idea to work alongside other individuals which represent different parts of the mother’s or father’s social network. For instance asking a family member, a colleague, a school or university friend to help plan the invitation list is a good start. This way it will allow all facets of the parents’ social network to be involved and prevents any last minute invitations being sent to long lost cousins.

Design Decisions

After the invitations have been sent and you are starting to receive responses, it is the ideal time to start designing the special day. A good starting point is set an agenda as it creates structure and once finalised will give clarity to the event. It will also inform the expectations of both the parents and the attendees. Generally speaking the baby shower should be a mix of stories, games, socialising and snacks and have a clear structure.

A good time of day for a baby shower is on a weekend, in the afternoon, ideally post lunch. This way it will allow people to do any errands before the shower and be totally present when at the shower. Planning the event duration to be a couple of of hours is near the right amount of time. It gives people a set amount of time and a structure to the shower, and provides people with an expected end time in case they have family commitments. Although if attendees wish to stay later then they can.

Baby Shower Structure

A good structure to the shower consists of an ice breaker at the start, some nibbles and drinks followed by an easy introductory game. ‘Pick the baby photo’ is an example of a good starter game. It can be a bit time consuming initially, what with asking people to supply baby photos and arranging them on a canvas. However, once the preparation is complete – it is well worth the effort, particularly when everyone is laughing and getting along swimmingly. This game is a great ice breaker because it doesn’t directly focus on individual attendees, and is a more collective approach and a subtle way to enquire and get to know one another. This is particularly good for groups of people who don’t knows one another.

Once the initial ice breaker is out the way, it is a good time to focus back on the new parents. A fun game for mother’s that aren’t body or weight conscious is ‘measure the mum’, where attendees guess the size of the mother’s stomach. This provides a bit of light hearted fun but also creates some real surprises around the growth of a child and opens up conversations around how the expectant mother is feeling and can gear up questions around the birth. This type of conversation will be important for first time parents, especially if there are friends and family members in attendance who have already experienced childbirth.

Remember that although a baby shower should be fun, it should also be informative and supportive. It is the perfect opportunity to show the expectant parents how supported they and their new child will be.

Five Ideas For Moms To Set Up A Game Room

September 26, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Moms who are trying to set up a game room will find that they need to get a lot of different things to use in the room. You need to set up a game room that will be easy to use, and it has to have all the different things that will make you feel so much better about setting up game night. You need to look into all the things that are listed because some of them will completely change how you entertain your family.

Get A Pool Table

You can buy a pool table to put in the room, and you need to find a pool cue or two to use in the room. You can use some information when finding the right pool cues, and people who are looking to buy a pool cue should read up on these items. You might need smaller ones for the kids, and you can get the bridge and rack that will help you take care of the cues.

Get Board Games

You need to have an assortment of board games that will look amazing when you have people come over. You want all the people who come over for game night to have a good time, and they need to have a lot of games to choose from. People who do not want to get bored should keep buying board games so that you have a large assortment for everyone to use. The people who are playing board games can pick up different editions, and you will never get bored.

Add A Fridge

You should add a fridge to the room so that you can have refreshments in the room, and you will begin to enjoy this space more because you can always have something to eat or drink. You need to be certain that you have found the fridge that will be easy to use, and you could get a mini fridge or a large fridge. You could even get a freezer for your beer if you want something down there for the adults on late nights.

Add Game Tables

You could add game tables, and this will give you a chance to play normal card games with your kids. These games tables are easy to set up, and they can be folded or stored.

Add A TV

You need to have a TV in the room so that you can keep everyone entertained if all your games are over. You could also play games that you will watch on the TV. It all depends on what you want, and you will find that you could easily get everyone interested in game night when they are watching something.

You could have a game room in your home that is very easy to use, and you could put all the things in the house that will make your game room fun to use. You can buy a lot of things, and you will start to build a room that everyone enjoys.

DIY Gifts for Kids

August 21, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

There is no a greater joy in life than having children of your own; getting to nurture them, watch them grow into amazing people and guide them through life. Once in a while, during birthdays, holidays, when celebrating milestones and achievements with your child, gifts are an exceptional requirement to show how much you appreciate them and how proud are you of them. Luckily, gifts do not need to be expensive, they have to come from a place of love, and what better way than to make them yourself?

Here are Some gift ideas that you can DIY at home for your kids…

Cardboard Box Castle

Children love stories about royalty and fairy tales such as sleeping beauty, the beauty and the beast, Jack and the Beanstalk, so you can be sure they will be delighted if you turn one of the stories into something real like creating a castle. They are quite easy to make at home, and if you do not know how to do it, there are always videos online guiding you on how to go about it. You do not need much stuff, just cardboard, a few trinkets for decoration, glue, confetti for decoration and a few more things to make the castle beautiful for your kid.

Treasure Chest

Kids develop interests as fast as they drop them, and most of these interests are inspired by stories we read to them or the cartoons they watch. Hunting for treasure is a fun activity for your kids, and you can create a treasure chest for them to store souvenirs they find and keep as they grow for them to reminisce about when they are all grown up. It is also inexpensive; you can use card boxes or cereal boxes to create a dome-like chest and paint the outside of it to resemble cool treasure chests like those of pirates – your kids will love it.

Child’s Tool Belt

If your children (either boys or girls) like building stuff, then a tool belt for them will come in handy. There are a lot of detailed tutorials on the internet on how to make one with things lying around the house, especially fabric and sewing kits; and line the belts with plastic tools – so that they do not hurt themselves – such as hammers, spanners and wrenches. Watch your children play pretend with the tools and enjoy pretending to fix things around the house; you never know; they could be future engineers.

Felted Stuffed Animals

For parents who are tired of buying many gadgets and tech toys, a stuffed animal is another way to go, and they can easily be crafted by hand. Make your kid’s favourite animal into a stuffed toy using only felt wool, a pair of scissors, sewing kit and a steam iron; adding appendages like ears and wings and noses will make the stuffed toys quite adorable. They are inexpensive and simple to make, and your children will want to cuddle up with them during nap time.

Conclusion

Home-made presents are inspired and thoughtful, fun to make, made with love and a personal touch, and save on money. Wrapping your kids’ gifts will give you and them the satisfaction of tearing into the packaging to discover what is inside; just because they are made at home does not mean they cannot be wrapped. This is precisely why The Works have this amazing offer of 3 for £2 Cards and Wrap to make sure your gift looks neat and ready to be open.

Free Summer Activities for Kids

August 6, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s already August? The new school year may be right around the corner, but there are still those last few weeks of summer to enjoy. As the summer progresses, you might find the kids start to get a little bored and restless around the house.

There are plenty of super fun summer activities you can do with your kids without breaking the bank. In fact, there are plenty of free activities you can do to keep the kids busy, and your wallet full!

Go Hiking

Hiking is a fun, free, and active way to spend time with your kids. Not only is it a great way to see the outdoors and get some fresh air, it’s also a great way to work some physical activity into your family’s routine. You can hike through community trails or routes near your home. Do some research online to find great walking trails near you.

Go For a Bike Ride

There really is nothing like riding bikes through the neighborhood. If you don’t have an ideal neighborhood for bike riding, take the kids to local parks or community trails for bike riding. Like hiking, this is another great way to work moderate exercise into your kids’ routine, and teach them to enjoy playing outside.

Hit Up a Public Pool

Even if you don’t have your own pool, you can still take the kids swimming pretty often. Take the kids to your nearest public pool (or better yet, beach!). Kids really do love to swim, and many community pools will have a free public swim where you can take your kids to enjoy a few hours of sun and swim.

Host a Backyard Olympics

This is a fun one – have your kids invite some of their friends over and host a backyard Olympics! Split the kids into teams and organize some fun events like: three-legged races, egg and spoon races, water balloon toss, and any other fun outdoor games you may think of. These olympics can take up a few hours and you can do them as frequently as you like.

Turn Your Living Room Into a Home Theater

Family movie nights are always great for night time, but movies are also a great way to spend a rainy day when the kids get a little stir crazy all cooped up in the house. Make it extra exciting by printing out movie ticket templates online and giving them to the kids. If you don’t have a printer, you can make your own homemade tickets.

Pop some popcorn and give the kids some snacks to make the experience super authentic. If your kids have play money, you can have them “pay” you for their tickets and snacks to sneakily practice some math skills while you’re at it!

Host a Book Club

Reading is always a fun way to pass the time, and helps your child’s mind develop. If your kids got a summer reading list at the end of the last school year, turn reading into a fun activity by hosting a book club! You can provide snacks and a list of fun reading questions about what they liked most about the book. Asking insightful questions will help your kids engage with the books.

Hit up your local library to get the books for free!

Color

Coloring isn’t just for little kids! The influx of adult coloring books has given way to plenty of free printable coloring pages for adults and children of all ages. You can print the pages for free and color to your heart’s content. Coloring is great for rainy days or when your children need to relax and calm down.

Bonus: If your kids are big Disney fans, check out the Disney Family page of free Disney crafts and printables! Disney updated this page with plenty of fun (and free!) printable and craft ideas for families.

Sponsored Post by Brittany McGourlay – Content Manager – freebies.com

Working Moms – 5 Tips for Balancing the Pressures of Work & Family

July 18, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Balancing your work life with being a mom can be overwhelming at best, and sometimes it can seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. However, being a great mother while holding down a job is possible – countless moms have done it before, and you can too. Here are 5 tips to reduce stress on yourself and make your life as a working mom easier:

Photo by Jurien Huggins on Unsplash

Investing In Proper Childcare

One of the most significant concerns of every mother is the safety of their children. Establishing a good childcare system comprising nannies, babysitters, and child care centres will help to ease the tension. Opt for daycare centres that are closer to your home or office, which will make it easier for you or your partner to rush there in case of any problems. Do your research thoroughly and choose a centre that is highly recommended by other parents, has employees with the necessary training and certifications, offers flexible hours, and is equipped with proper medical facilities.

Communicate With Your Employer

Many working mothers are scared to have an open discussion with their employers, with fear of ridicule, rejection, or losing their job stopping them from openly communicating their issues. However, to expertly manage both work and home pressures, it’s imperative to have an open channel of communication with your higher-ups. Many a time, the mother is the primary contact for nannies and daycare centres to call in case of emergencies, which means you may have to leave the office at a moment’s notice. Or, you may have to work from home or skip a day because your child has fallen ill suddenly. Talking about these issues with your employer is essential. Assure them that you will make up for the lost hours by either working during lunchtime or on weekends.

Tech For Good

We are living in a highly connected world where everything has gone digital. Take full advantage of all the technology available at our disposal. Ordering groceries online, getting food delivered, and using doorstep laundry services will free up your time for other pressing family issues. There are also numerous mobile apps that you can use to arrange babysitting services and even book doctor’s appointments.

Plan Beforehand

Sorting tasks for the next day after a tiring shift at work can be arduous, but taking that extra 20 minutes every night to organize your child’s clothing, plan meals, and schedule tasks and appointments for the next day can help ease up your mornings. This will ensure that you’re not hurried and frustrated when you step out to face the day.

Don’t Feel Guilty

Mother’s guilt is a universal phenomenon. Trying to adhere to antiquated societal expectations of how a mother should behave can invoke a sense of guilt in many women, who are often torn between wanting to spend more time with their kids and work commitments. Don’t give in to the pressure, and think about the positives of being a working mother. It makes you financially independent and boosts your family income while giving your kids a strong role model to look up to. Moreover, your children will always be your priority, and that knowledge itself should free you from any guilt.

Being a working mother is not easy, and now and then you may need to take a break to recuperate and rejuvenate. Most importantly, don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back for making a tough job look effortless.