by Heather Lambie

“Mommy, you’re not going to throw that away are you? I made that just for youuuuuuu!”

We’ve all heard it. Sometimes it’s a tiny toddler plea, other times it’s our own mother’s guilt. It can be hard to let go of anything created by our little nuggets. But face facts:  You simply cannot keep everything your child brings home. As a certified professional home organizer, I’m here to give you permission to let go of (almost) all of your child’s artwork via a fun solution with a hidden lesson. You can thank me later.

CONTAIN THE ART
No, I don’t expect you to throw away everything (though I applaud you if you do!). I do expect you to have boundaries, however. Having one 30-quart plastic memory container per child is setting a boundary. When that container is full, it’s not time to buy another container. It’s time to purge.

In the case of artwork, throughout the school year, whenever your child brings home something that looks like it took a little time, drop it in the container. NOTE: Do not keep every worksheet or paper with scribble on it.  Do not feel bad about not keeping it. Praise the “work” then throw it out when your child isn’t looking.

EDIT THE ART (Great early-summer project!)

At the end of the school year, bring out the art/memory container and go through it with your child. Use a Flip or some other device to record him or her holding up each piece of art and talking about it. Who was their art teacher? What inspired them to paint a purple, cross-eyed elephant driving a dump truck? These are the things that we really wish we could preserve, not the actual art. We want to hold on to their squeaky, little voices and sweet, twisted minds.

After going through everything in the bin, have your child select his or her ten (and ONLY TEN or fewer) favorite pieces of artwork. These ten pieces will be the ones you keep forever in this same bin. If you are thinking that ten doesn’t sound like a lot, imagine you have two kids, and keep 10 pieces per kid per year from PreK – Grade 12. That’s 280 handprints, paper mache penguins and canvas self-portraits to store!

It’s important to have the child be a part of this selection and editing process. Oftentimes, my mommy clients keep their favorite pieces that a child has created. If the pieces are displayed in a frame or shadowbox in the home, bravo! But too many times I find these “keepsakes” shoved in multiple plastic tubs or shoeboxes in the garage. I have to ask, “Why?”  If the client tells me she’s keeping it to give back to the child one day when he or she is an adult, then shouldn’t the child have a say in which pieces they might want back one day? What if you keep a piece he or she is not particularly proud of or that was done mostly by a friend?

Having your child be a part of the editing process also helps teach an important lesson:  You Can’t Keep Everything. Prioritizing and editing are valuable life skills that will carry them through college and adult life.

CELEBRATE THE ART

Now the fun part! Send out an evite to your friends, your child’s friends, neighbors, local family members and even your child’s art teacher inviting everyone to an Art Show at your home.

Put your child’s ten best pieces (the ones previously selected) on display in one room you’ll call The Gallery. These are for viewing only. Put the remaining pieces on display in another room where they will be for sale. That’s right, For Sale! Use sticky tack to post art on windows and walls without damaging either. Have your child price his or her art (use small Post-Its) anywhere from .5 cents to $5.00.  Be sure to have plenty of lower-priced items so little kids who attend the show can make some purchases. And yes, if you simply must have a piece your child gave up, you can purchase one or two for yourself, but you must properly frame and display these pieces if you love them that much! Don’t throw them back in the bin. Serve wine for the adults (any excuse for wine!) and sparkling cider for the children.

Purging art, what was once a dreaded chore, is now a great opportunity for you to host a fun summer party, and for your child to feel important, get a little well-deserved praise and earn some summer spending money.

RELEASE THE ART

After the art show, any pieces that did not sell get rolled up into tubes and mailed to family members who could not attend the show. Larger pieces on construction paper or made from paper bags can be repurposed as wrapping paper.

Voila! You’ve just gotten rid of most of your child’s art, guilt-free!

Here’s the part where you can thank me. Feel free to write to me at heather@yourhomeeditor.com if you like this idea, or if you have another better one. I’m always on the lookout for fresh organizing tips to share on my Your Home Editor facebook and twitter pages.

*To read Heather’s bio and see her beautiful family click here. Thanks, Heather!*

Written by Heather Lambie • Leave a comment

In a couple weeks, we will be leaving for our annual 4th of July family vacation.  I have been traveling with toddlers in tow for 4 years now and consider myself a semi-pro when it comes to the daunting task of kid-friendly packing.  Here are 5 tips to keep in mind to keep your travel stress to a minimum:

The Basics

If you have ever left the house with a child before you are well aware of the basic travel necessities.  For extended travel, just picture the diaper bag on steroids. Lots of extra clothes, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, drinks and an endless assortment of dry snacks.  I am not an advocate for shoving food in a kids face when they start to get irritable but I make an exception to  that when we travel.  We are on vacation after all.  The key to remember with your basics is to have everything packed within arms reach.  You don’t want to stop the car and unpack everything your husband so diligiently shoved in the trunk to get to the drink boxes.

Bags, Bags and More Bags

I am not talking about your luggage here.  The 3 types of bags I never travel without are ziploc, mesh and grocery.  The  large ziplocs will hold all the items that would otherwise wreak havoc in your suitcase if a potential leak should occur.  The mesh is a useful place to store underwear items and bathing suits.  The grocery bag can be used for wet clothing and of course provides a home for the massive blown-out diaper that occurs as soon as the plane takes off.

Childproofing

Whether a vacation home or a hotel room, your destination is most likely not childproofed.  Bring along a baby gate, outlet covers and cabinet locks to lower your anxiety level over safety concerns.  Blue painter tape comes in handy for a variety of reasons.  It will cover outlets, secure cabinets and bind a washcloth over a sharp furniture edge without leaving any residue after removal.

Medical Supplies

Pack a medical supply box that keeps all first aid and toiletry items in one place. Be sure to have an ample supply of any prescription meds, and bring along the basics like band aids, antiseptic cream, pain reliever, and thermometer. Travel sized baby shampoo, toothbrush/toothpaste and sunscreen should be included as well.

Entertainment

The portable dvd player has saved my sanity.  It is a must-have for my kids if we are traveling more than an hour away. An iPhone works well too and is definitely less bulky. Don’t forget to bring a manageable amount of books and toys.  It may be a pain to pack but you’ll be thankful later.

Written by Lea Barlow • 1 Comment

Some of these are obvious and some are just down right ridiculous but none of them involve sex or walking up an amount of endless stairs.  I wanted to give you more unique ways to burn a few extra calories in the day.

1. Indulge your inner dork and do 27 underwater handstands.

2. Push a grocery cart for 45 minutes.

3. Put a 42-pound 4-year-old in the child seat and it’ll only take half an hour.

4. Carry five grocery bags from the car to the kitchen and put the food away, take out the trash, wash the dishes, and wipe down the kitchen counter.

5. Eat chili for a couple of days: Research shows that chili peppers boost your metabolic rate, burning 50 more cals a day.

6. Hula-hoop for 22 minutes.

7. Wash, halve, and seed two acorn squash, then watch them bake for 30 minutes.

8. Play “Chopsticks” on the piano incessantly for 41 minutes.

9. Sing the Grease original soundtrack from start to finish.

10. Degrease by scrubbing in the shower for 15 minutes, then spend 7 minutes shaving, 3 minutes toweling off, 4 minutes moisturizing, and 20 minutes blow-drying and styling your hair.

11. Have fun when you get back to work: Twirl 123 times in your office chair (try not to puke).

12. Shop during your lunch hour while carrying a 7-pound hobo bag (and, naturally, a few new purchases).

13. Kick off your Sunday shoes and dance to the first four songs off the Footloose soundtrack.

14. Drink 3 cups of green tea in 24 hours: Researchers say it can increase energy expenditure by 106 calories.

15. Play interactive Wii Tennis for 13 minutes.

16. Do 780 jumping jacks. Yes, 780.

17. Spend 29 minutes mopping over any scuff marks.

18. Sweep your floors for 15 minutes, then vacuum for 15.

19. Now read 30 pages of Hugo’s Les Misérables (or how about just lifting that book a few times!)

20. Take in the greenery: Sit in lotus position and breathe deeply for an hour and 42 minutes.

21. Email 68 times.

22. Carry a cooler stocked with three bottles of water, a six-pack, four PB&Js, two oranges, a bag of tortilla chips, and 12 servings of cool cucumber salsa for 22 minutes.

23. Slather on lip balm 765 times

24. Swing a lasso over your head 375 times

25. Play fashion show and try on 16 different outfits (one every 3 minutes). – my personal favorite

Source:  womenshealthmag.com

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment

The fat doesn’t stop with the pregnancy weight.  These kids keep bringing it – just in sneakier ways. Usually, I can keep the extra pounds at bay through my daily cardio regimin.  But with summer break looming typical routines will likely change potentially leading to a few fattening habits. Children’s Health Magazine brought to light several parent fat traps many of us fall into without realizing it’s sabotaging our dieting efforts.

Fat Trap No. 1

You polish off your kid’s fries/scrape the last spoonful of chocolate pudding/lick the peanut butter off the knife.  I do all of these!

Skinny Fix
Don’t overload your child. In one sitting a typical toddler will eat just one-quarter to one-half the amount of food a grown-up will. If you keep servings age appropriate, that means fewer leftovers for you to pig out on. Your kid can always ask for seconds.

Graze on grown-up goodies. If you feed the kids separately (because who wants dinner at 5 p.m.?), have something healthy and filling to munch on while they eat, like a handful of almonds, hummus and baked pita chips, or edamame (in the pods, so you have to take time to pop ‘em out). Bonus: All of these snacks are high in the monounsatured fats that help melt belly flab.

Waste not. A triangle of PB&J, a couple of untouched chicken nuggets, even a handful of veggie chips can be saved for your kid’s snack the next day. Serve with fruit and some milk or greek yogurt.

Fat Trap No. 2

You cook to please your tot’s picky palate–which means a regular diet of starch plus dairy (mac ‘n’ cheese, grilled cheese, cheese pizza…).

Skinny Fix
Get rough(age): Use whole-wheat pasta, whole-grain breads, brown rice: They have more fiber, which speeds weight loss by binding with other foods and escorting them out of the body. It also helps you feel full longer.

Know your cheeses. Opt for  low-fat in sandwiches, on grass-fed beef burgers and in mac ‘n’ cheese.  White cheeses are typically lower in fat, calories and sodium.  We are big fans of Baby Swiss in my house.

Go halfsies. Make two versions of a dish–one they’ll eat, and one you’ll like. Serve your grilled chicken on a bed of steamed spinach; the kids can have theirs sliced with baby carrots and honey mustard for dipping. Or pimp your pasta with lots of veggies.

Fat Trap No. 3

You’re on the soccer/gymnastics/ballet/baseball mom diet: constantly caught empty-bellied and forced to succumb to the snack stand.  A recent study in the journal Obesity found that dieters consumed an average of 36 percent of their weekly calories on Saturdays.

Skinny Fix
Be prepared! Keep a stash of snacks on hand: a mix of almonds and dried apricots in a mini plastic bag, or an energy bar or protein drink with less than 200 calories.

Stay active.  Get out of the chair or bleachers and walk around. Fast.

Fat Trap No. 4
You barely have time to take a shower in the morning, much less shovel down breakfast.

If you regularly skip your a.m. meal, you might as well send excess pounds an engraved invitation to take up residence on your butt. Researchers know that morning fasters are more likely to be fat than morning eaters.

Skinny Fix
Always Eat Breakfast. Prep in the p.m.  Make yourself a peanut butter sandwich with sliced banana while you make school lunches at night.

Additionally, have some egg with that toast.  An all-carb (or very low-carb) diet will increase your carb craving and slow your metabolism, research has found, so be sure your morning meal includes a lean protein.

Fat Trap No. 5

Your pantry is stocked with kid-pleasers like cookies, chips, and soda.

Skinny Fix
Dump the junk.  Yes, I realize you have to have some treats around but severely limit the stock.
If I have potato chips hanging around I will eat them. Not one, all.  Limit decadent calories to around 150 a day.

WATCH OUT FOR THESE:

1 bite of a PB & J: 47 calories

1 chicken nugget: 46 calories

1/2 small order of fast-food fries: 115 calories

2 spoonfuls of chocolate pudding: 46 calories

3 spoonfuls of Kraft macaroni and cheese: 82 calories

1/2 hot dog in a bun: 134 calories

2 big swigs of 2% chocolate milk: 47 calories

*Remember, all it takes is 50 extra calories a day to put on five pounds in a year.

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment