Parenting | Faith and Family Reviews

Archive for Parenting

Talking to Toddlers Giveaway

Posted by html404 on November 10, 2012
in Giveaways, Parenting

Talking to Toddlers is a great audio program that we reviewed awhile back. You can read our thoughts here. But in a nutshell? We thought this was a great program filled with helpful tips for parents of toddlers and young children. This program will teach you how to deal with the terrible twos and all the chaos that ensues during this time period in our lives.

Brandy found it to be very helpful and I really enjoyed hearing a refresher course on the subject of toddlers and learning how to pick your battles.

If you want to win this great audio set then enter below-

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Share and Enjoy

{No comments}

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

Posted by Brande on November 8, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Books, Deals, Education, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, News Worthy, Parenting, Shopping

Head over to Melissa & Doug’s Facebook page to enter to win one of their Terrific Twenty! Then, don’t forget to visit Melissa & Doug’s Website to see all of the Terrific Twenty and the many other fabulous learning toys Melissa & Doug has!

Share and Enjoy

{6 comments}

Talking to Toddlers

Posted by html404 on September 28, 2012
in Parenting

Talking to Toddlers is a mini parenting course about talking to toddlers. There are 12 talks and each talk is approximately 10-20 minutes long and comes with a little summary and homework to practice what the talk went over. This course was created by Chris Thompson, author of Talking to Toddlers – Dealing with Terrible Twos and Beyond.

All three of us moms here at Faith and Family Reviews had the opportunity to listen to Chris Thompson’s audio about Talking to Toddlers. I thought I’d let us all have a space to share our thoughts. See below….Professor’s will be forthcoming.

Brande’s Thoughts on Talking to Toddlers

I’m not a yeller, however, I am a No..No…No… Mom. I really try and keep my anger levels low, but we all have a breaking point, right? Chris Thompson really helps to keep you together with his 12 tracks.

I paid close attention to Chapter 3 – How to Avoid Saying “No” While Getting What you Want. I’ve been try to use the “I understand that you want _________, however ____________” which does work sometimes. We usually end up getting into the “Why’s”. Which sometimes gets unnerving, too. But, I always remind myself she is only 3 and still little.

As every parent learns you pick your battles. Bringing me to Chapter 7. Our battle is clothing! It could be 20 degrees outside and my daughter wants to wear a sundress. THE BATTLE IS ON! After our disagreement and she is now in jeans and long sleeve shirt, if she grabs a crown and pocketbook and we are heading to the grocery store fine by me. We tend to lay clothes out the night before if we are heading out to keep the morning battles to a minimum.

I’ve started counting and if I get to 3 and your still doing a “bad” thing, you are heading to your room. Then the stomping, crying, and sorry’s begin. I will let her sit in her room for a few minutes and then head in to talk to her about what she did wrong and why she didn’t stop when I asked. Time outs didn’t work when she was younger, however, putting an item she loves in time out corrected the situation.

All in all, Mr. Thompson has wonderful tips and very useful!

Theresa’s Thoughts on Talking to Toddlers

Talking to Toddlers is a parenting series, but it’s not just for talking to toddlers, it’s for any child over the age of two. Chris even had a friend use it on his girlfriend! Chris had some very good reminders. If you remember, when my older children were little I read A LOT of parenting books, so many of Chris’ tips were the ones I had heard before, just presented in a different way.

While much of what he said was familiar, I appreciated hearing it again since we have a 2 year old in the house who isn’t much of talker yet. He’s the child that screams in protest because shaking his head no isn’t as effective in expressing himself. I am sure we have unintentionally trained him to be like this because none of our others were screechers like him.

Most of our children are getting older and hitting the double digits and teen years and much of what was presented seems to be what we’ve already worked through with them and our middle children. We generally do not have battles over clothing, going to bed or leaving the park or toy section of a store because we’ve learned how to work through those things. And if we do, it’s rare. The children know and have learned there are consequences if they choose to make a fuss. The most effective consequence for store fusses, we leave them home the next shopping trip, same as going to the park…after a couple of times they learn that it just isn’t worth the fuss to miss out on a fun outing. We only have a couple of children where it’s taken several times – those are the children who learn the hard way. Now we just have to work through all of this with Junior!

I can definitely relate to the “lazy parent” because I just don’t have the time I use to when I was parenting the older children. Sad but true and certainly no excuse for Junior’s lack of training. Talking to Toddlers just made me realize how much work I have to do with our youngest.

A warning for those who do not use curse words of any kind, there are a couple of spots Chris could have used “ticked off” or “upset” instead of the alternative. As with any parenting resource, parenting styles differ from parents to parents, therefore take what you need/what works from this Talking to Toddlers and leave the rest.

P.S. I just thought of ways to use Talking to Toddlers with my older children…with their chores and practicing their music…now to incorporate it!

Talking to Toddlers Giveaway in November

We will be offering Talking to Toddlers as a giveaway in November so please be sure to watch for it so you can learn how to talk to your toddler too. If you’d like to know more about Talking to Toddlers, here’s the link: http://talkingtotoddlers.com and FAQs section: http://talkingtotoddlers.com/faq

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Share and Enjoy

{14 comments}

Kidorable Towel Review & Coupon Code!

Posted by Brande on September 15, 2012
in Baby Products, Clothing, Coupons, Deals, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, SALES, Saving Money, Shopping

All our children have big dreams of being mermaids, space Heros, and pirates. Here’s their chance to live out their dreams with Kidorable Hooded Towels! These terry cloth soft towels are great for the beach/lake or after bath time. They are 100% cotton, machine washable and dryer safe. My kind of product – easy care! The hooded towel are available in 2 sizes (Newborn to 2 years old and 3 to 6 years old). Here’s the tough decision, which one to choose out of the 11 Kidorable Hooded Towels available.

Here’s what Kidorable has to say about their hooded towels…

“Our customers tell us that our towel designs are the best anywhere. Now our towel quality leads the industry as well. The old material was a soft and absorbent terrycloth. The new material retains all that is good about that, and adds a layer of super soft velour. The result is an equally absorbent, and now lighter, brighter, softer towel. ”

Pictures can say a 1000 words.

Kidorable Towel Review

Here’s my kiddo in her Kidorable Mermaid Towel! She loves it!

From the moment we got it in the mail, she’s been wearing it! The Mermaid Towel has a starfish on the head, an orange fish on one side blowing bubbles and a seashell pocket on the other. Then in the back is her mermaid fin. One of my favorite features is a big yellow plastic snap, that’s even friendly for her to snap herself. We always try and slip some motor skills in even during bath time. The Kidorable Towel is very soft with vibrant colors. Two thumbs us from us!

Save Money with this Coupon Code

We have a coupon code for you!!!

“From September 15-30, you can get 20% off your entire order when you purchase Kidorable’s impossibly cute and soft cotton hooded towels. Just use code DRYOFF33 at checkout on www.kidorable.com”

Head over to Kidorable today and get a few towels for your kiddos to live out their fantasies!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Share and Enjoy

{9 comments}

When to be Soft and When to be Strong #CharminVote

Posted by html404 on September 13, 2012
in Family Stuff, Parenting

Like most mothers, I want what’s best for my children, but conveying that is difficult sometimes especially when there are other factors involved and a pull from other directions. This means knowing when to be soft and when to be strong through the different situations that arise as a parent.

Life has taken me through many twists and turns. When I was young all I could think about was being grown up, but what I didn’t realize then was adulthood is so much harder than I ever thought it would be. I remember wanting to be a mother and having lots of children. Yes, you read that correctly. You see, I grew up babysitting and being around some amazing children. I was a Sunday School teacher, Nursery worker, Youth Group leader, camp counselor and I eventually “graduated” to become a teacher at the camp I attended as a kid and worked at as a teen. Those experiences helped me know I wanted to be a mother from a young age. The thing is, the parents around me never prepared me for what being a mother all entailed, after all I could leave the children that were in my charge in every situation I worked. Nothing can prepare you for being a full-time parent. While it is the hardest job I have ever tackled, it is the most rewarding job I have ever had. Especially when the fruit of our labor starts to show itself….years and years down the road. Try like 12-15 years. That’s a long time to wait after pouring your heart and soul into another person. Or multiple people. I know I spent countless hours in prayer and agony worrying about how my girls were going to turn out. I still worry, part of being a parent, I guess.

When to be Soft

As a mother, there are times when I am a big softie. I love buying my children things and seeing them delight in those things. I don’t usually go overboard, but when I have eight children to buy for a simple trip to the store can pretty expensive if I cave and get them each something they ask for. That’s why we have established a rule they are not to ask for things when we go into a store. There are exceptions of course, especially if it’s something we have been talking about getting and just never have.

I tend to be a softie when it comes to allowing my children to explore and create too. This translates into our basement being a complete ~~mess~~, er, I mean a masterpiece of “creating”. Part of my philosophy of homeschooling is to give our children freedom to find out who they are and what they enjoy so they can discover their life’s work in the process. I don’t want to force my children into a square peg if they are a circle. An example of this is our older daughter, who has been given ample opportunity to write. Her goal is to become a published author. The world needs good authors and I believe she can and will become one in God’s timing.

Yet there are other times when as a parent I need to act strong and establish authority and discipline in our children’s lives.

When to be Strong

I think being the authority and disciplining is what I find most difficult about parenting. As I said, I am a huge softie, that also translates into being pretty sensitive. Yet, as a mother I want to do what is right for my children so that overrides my soft heart when it comes to making sure our children are being steered in the direction of being responsible, God-fearing citizens. For example, if Junior is screeching for his way that means I don’t give in to his demands because that would go against our goals for him as a person. It is much harder to remain strong than it is to give into him. My older daughters would say that we have grown soft over the years and while that may be true, our desire is still the same, we just may be adjusting how we reach the ultimate goal. After all the girls were our so-called guinea pigs, unfortunately.

I need to be strong when my children oppose my authority or else I am going to raise spoiled brats and they will never learn how to listen to anyone in their lives. Whether or not they work for themselves or for someone else they have to learn to take direction from people in authority. After all, don’t I obey speed limits out of fear of a speeding ticket from the police, an authority in my life? Children need boundaries and I need to be strong when establishing and enforcing them.

Soft or Strong Charmin Vote

Charmin knows about the soft and strong dilemma and invites you to cast your votes for your favorite Charmin: Ultra Soft or Ultra Strong on their Facebook page.

You may also connect with Charmin on their website:
http://www.charmin.com/

and

http://www.enjoythego.com

and

Follow @charmin on Twitter

We all have areas in our lives where we need to be soft and to be strong. The key is to determine those times in advance and stick to it through the hills and the valleys, especially as a parent.

“I am being compensated for this blog post as part of the SocialMoms and Charmin blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. For more blog posts on this topic, click here.”

Share and Enjoy

{6 comments}

Back to School with U by Kotex Tween #KotexMom

Posted by html404 on September 12, 2012
in Articles, Girl Stuff, Parenting, Personal Care Products

Can you believe summer is over? I can’t. Sniff. Sniff. Summer is my favorite season. Everyone’s been busy with their back to school schedules and acclimating to new routines. I know nearly every weekend in September, October and November we have something one or both days of the weekends. It’s mind boggling. With such busy schedules and being out and about more it’s even more important to keep in mind our daughters’ monthly cycles. Since my girls are still pretty new to having their period I tend to baby them a little.

Back to School with U by Kotex Tween

We homeschool so our girls do not have to worry about going off to school all day and starting their periods, but we do go out places. I have always told them to carry a couple of pads in their purse…just in case they started while we are out. Our older girls are very much girlie girls and love purses and accessories, so it wasn’t difficult for them to adapt to carrying pads around. U by Kotex Tween pads are very compact to carry and easy to keep hidden. Last month, my girls received little bags that look like make up bags, which just made carrying pads easier for them.

If your girls are in school, then getting a little bag that could pass as a pencil case could make them more comfortable carrying pads too. It would make it less conspicuous in a locker or back pack.

Warning Signs

I’ve tried to teach my girls to keep track of their menstrual cycle on a calendar so they know when to expect it. This is to help eliminate the surprise element. U by Kotex has a calendar available on their website. Even if they are experiencing irregular cycles at first it is a habit I established as a young girl and wanted them to as well. We all have warning signs that our period is near and my girls know that they are prone to headaches or backaches and probably other things that are escaping me at the moment.

I Remember When…

I remember when I first started my period and going to school. I had to watch what color pants I wore. I even remember asking one of my close friends if she could tell if I was on my period – you know that pad “bulge”? Ugh. These are not very fond memories. I remember being uncomfortable at school when I was on my monthly cycle. Not fun. If I had of had internet access back then, I imagine I would have Googled “pad bulge” or visited a website like U by Kotex Tween to get answers to my questions since I really did not talk to my mom about the subject.

What about you, what are your memories of your starting your period and school? What kinds of things do you do to help your daughter feel more comfortable with her feminine cycle while at school?

“I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Share and Enjoy

{2 comments}

Primrose School of Algonquin Mommy Mixer

Posted by Professor on September 1, 2012
in Community Issues, Education, Parenting, School

We were privileged to be invited to a “Mommy Mixer” at the Primrose School of Algonquin. The Primrose School opened their doors to area moms and gave us a day of engaging activities for the children and tours and information for the mommies!

Overall it was an enjoyable day. We began as a group and shared a music class, comparable to those the children experience every day at Primrose. My children we engaged and active during the class, it was a delight. The children then were broken up by age group and went to have fun with the teachers while the mommies were able to tour the building and learn more about the philosophy.

My children separated well, and there fore loved the activities that were planned for them…they did two crafts and played on their awesome playground facility. While the children played I was able to view all of the play/educational rooms at Primrose. They were very clean and organized. They felt welcoming and ready for children!

My sister accompanied me to the event. She has 3 little children who do not normally separate well … but at this event they did pretty well. Her 1 year old twins were engaged and receptive to being separated from mom. Her 3 year old separated well because he was with my children and they feel comfortable together. (Primrose had children separated the children in two rooms one for 2 and under and one for 3 and over).

While touring we were enlightened about the Primrose philosophy by the owner Laura. Primrose believes that with the right foundation anything is possible. At Primrose they provide the right foundation to Build Active Minds, healthy bodies, and Happy Hearts. They are able to do this by creating the right balance… laughing and learning…playing and exploring…talking and listening. This is a great philosophy because it mirrors my own philosophy with my children.

Primrose has educational full day programs for children 6 weeks to Kindergarten. (They have a private kindergarten). For those looking for only educational programs rather than a care option included they have half-day programs for toddlers through kindergarten that run up to 5 hours per day. They also have programs for 5-12 year olds who need before and after care…they call this their explorer club.

Overall… if you are considering a care option or a preschool/kindergarten option for your child Primrose is an excellent choice. They provide excellent care in a state of the art facility close to home.

To find more out about the Primrose School and their philosophy please visit their website http://www.primroseschools.com/OurSchools/Illinois/Chicago/Algonquin/Algonquin

Share and Enjoy

{22 comments}

Mabel’s Labels Review

Posted by Professor on August 24, 2012
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Girl Stuff, Kids Stuff, Organization, Parenting, Reviews

Mabel’s Labels

Labels for the stuff kids loose!

Mable’s Labels creates top-quality, durable labeling products.

The Mabel’s Labels personalized labels feature extremely durable laundry, dishwasher and microwave safe sticky and clothing labels plus child safety products, household labels and seasonal products. All labels are UV resistant.

Prices range from $12-21 per pack, with combos priced between $ 30-55. ALL Products are backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The Mabel’s Labels line includes:

Baby Labels

Iron-On Labels

Sticky Labels

Allergy Labels

Waterproof Labels

Clothing Labels

Shoe Labels

Uniform Labels

Mabel’s Labels also has great fundraising ideas!

OUR REVIEW:

We received two products from Mabel’s Labels

~ Ultimate Back to School Combo

~ Tween Pack

The Ultimate Back to School Combo is their bestselling combo. It has all the labels needed to identify children’s belongings and keep them out of the lost and found. This was really a great pack! There are so many labels you cannot help but label EVERYTHING! The labels come preprinted with the child’s name…so it makes labeling a breeze. I like that they are super sticky they stay where they are placed! We used the labels to mark all of my son’s school supplies, his backpack and gym shoes. After two weeks of school I can honestly say these labels stick! Any other labels would have been long gone by now…not Mabel’s! The Ultimate Back to School Combo includes the following:

40 skinny-minis ~ 50 Tag mates ~ 16 Shoe Labels ~ 2 Teeny Tags

(Choose from 4 limited edition solid color palettes or 40+ multi-colored designs.)

There are so many tags that if by chance (very slim) you happen t have to replace a tag you will have extras to replace the missing tag. I honestly am not worried about having to replace any tags… except for maybe a shoe tag. But…with 16 shoe tags I can easily replace a tag if it goes missing (which I doubt it will). This is such a GREAT combo…can I say AWESOME!!!

The second product we received was the Tween pack. This is a new product to the Mabel’s Label family and it is a must stay! This label pack helps your child identify ~ with style! These beautifully personalized, shaped labels are designed especially for big kids ~ whatever their ages! These labels are perfect for lunch, camp gear, water bottles, school supplies, journals, electronics, sports equipment and more! My daughter has adhered these labels to her water bottle, backpack and notebooks. I was a bit leery about sticking them to her water bottle and backpack thinking they would not last more than a day…boy was I wrong… now two weeks into school we have not see any wear on the labels! This is amazing! The water bottle label has even sustained through a dish washing cycle or two! The Tween Pack includes the following:

25 personalized labels & graphic labels

(Choice of 2 multi-colored designs)

Overall, we are ecstatic about Mabel’s Labels! This is such a resilient product…that will LAST! Not only are the products hardy but they are kid friendly and have such nice designs to choose from…you cannot go wrong with Mabel’s labels for your labeling needs!

I am definitely a fan of Mabel’s labels and will be back to order more products for my labeling needs!

You can find this product and many more at mabelslabels.com. I would recommend this site to ANYONE who needs to label products! They are so versatile!

Share and Enjoy

{5 comments}

U by Kotex Tween Talkable Moments #KotexMom

Posted by html404 on August 24, 2012
in Education, Family Stuff, Girl Stuff, Parenting, Personal Care Products

Over the past few months I have been sharing my experience and thoughts about talkable moments with my daughters about their menstrual cycles, the facts of life and using U by Kotex Tween products and their website.

While I have always strived to discuss these all important topics naturally, inside I have struggled a little bit with knowing the right words to say. After all these are the facts of life we are talking about, not just random information and I want to be sure that I explain things in such a way that my girls “get it”, not to mention digest the correct information – from me, not anyone else.

Preparing for the Talkable Moments

Lots of talkable moments at our house seem to occur either when I have the girls one on one in the car or one, two or all of them sprawled all over my bed or in the living room late at night. These moments seem to happen naturally for us. It’s rare that I deliberately set a time aside, though I must say I probably should do more of that with my busy work schedule. I certainly want my girls to know that I am accessible.

Breaking the ice for “big talks” never has been an issue for us. For the most part my girls come to me and ask me any questions that come up while they are on their period and the one who has yet to start asks me some questions but tends to ask her “twin” (they are 14.5 months apart) and her “twin” directs her to me.

I gave the girls each a little sack recently for them to carry extra pads and personal items in. They really liked this little gift. I think this is one way to break the ice on talks. I did at one point give one daughter a starter kit of sorts and remember her asking what each thing was for, but I don’t think she completely understood until she started her cycle, which is understandable.

I think bonding moments can occur when we deliberately set aside time to talk about questions our girls might have or to share resources and tools they can read and explore with you. Take Kotex.com/Tween for example, just taking my girls to this site and showing them how to navigate different topics and discussions opened up the door for us to have a very open talk and for me to find out where they are at with their understanding of the different issues we have already covered in other conversations. See Hello Period for specific topics.

Bonding Moments

Bonding with my daughters has become more challenging the older they grow or at least that’s how I find it as I am working part-time to full-time hours. It takes more effort on my part to concentrate and be focused on them when my mind is going in a million different directions. As I said before those moments come in the car or on our bed when we are just shooting the breeze. It’s amazing what children can come out with once the realize they have your full attention.

Sensitive Topics and Comfort Level

Most of my girls will tell me like it is. If they think something is gross, they’ll say just that or if I’ve talked too much, I’ll be told, “Too much information, Mom.” Then I know to stop or let it be for another time when they are ready. I hate to come across as having a perfect relationship with my girls because we are far from perfect, but for the most part, depending on the day we do have really good relationships. I do worry sometimes and hope I am giving them the information they need to transition into womanhood successfully.

What are your talkable, bonding moments with your daughter(s)?