What Works for Us Archives - I Can Teach My Child!

Sleeping Solutions for Summertime

May 16, 2012 by Jenae — 14 Comments

It’s nearly summer…which means the sun is shining early and late. Although this is wonderful for plants and trees…it is often not great for getting your kids to go to bed (and stay there). What kid wants to go to bed while the sun is still up, anyway?

The fact is, most young children need 11-12 hours of sleep each night. This means that your child will probably be both going to bed and waking up while the sun is brightly shining.

Here are a few suggestions for ensuring that your child gets enough sleep in the summer.

1) Stick to a consistent routine. If you usually give your child a bath at 7:30 and put them in bed at 8, keep up with the same routine in the summer. With the exception of special occasions and holidays, your child needs the consistency to ensure he/she gets a proper amount of sleep each night.

2) Use blackout curtains. Find some way to keep the sunlight out of your child’s room at night and in the mornings. We purchased blackout curtains when our oldest was about 18 months old and decided that he wanted to go to bed (and wake up) with the sun. Many stores also sell blackout liners that you can attach to the back of your existing curtains.

3) Teach your child not to get out of bed until the clock shows a certain time. If you have a child who is naturally an early riser despite your best efforts to block out the sun, you might consider putting a clock in his/her room. Tell your child that she can only get up when there is a 7 on the first number of the clock (or whatever time you want her to get up). If your child is too young to recognize numbers, you might consider trying a nightlight with a wake-up indicator. This will help regulate her natural sleep cycle and ensure that she isn’t waking you up at 5:30 every morning. :)

What suggestions do you have for ensuring your child gets enough sleep in the summer?

Please note: The links in this post are my affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy.

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Filed Under: Changes and Transitions, Helpful Hints for Parents, Parenting, Routines, Sleep, What Works for Us

The Lazy Mom’s Guide to Doing Laundry

September 16, 2011 by Jenae — 39 Comments

One thing that irritates me more than anything is washing and matching socks.

A sock inevitably gets lost.

It takes a million years for me to “triple roll” all those socks.

I can’t differentiate one boy’s socks from another, therefore they get put in the wrong place.

After a sock-less summer, I was sharing my upcoming laundry woes with my husband (who hates doing laundry even more than I do) and he came up with a brilliant plan.

I’m going to share this plan with you…are you ready?

It might just revolutionize the way you do laundry.

Either that or you’ll just think I’m really lazy. Well, I am…at least when it comes to laundry.

Here’s your new miracle: mesh lingerie bags. I walked around aimlessly in Target for about 30 minutes trying to find these beauties. The only thing I found was a mesh laundry bag. DON’T GET THAT! The bag is larger than your kid and holds multiple loads of laundry…it’s for college students! Make you sure you buy the mesh lingerie bags…I found mine on Amazon.

And new socks. Preferably not triple roll socks (because they are a pain to “roll”), but get them if you must. I bought triple roll for Little Brother, since they stay on his better, and ankle socks for Big Brother. I really like the socks from Old Navy. They hold up well and they have the sizes on the bottom, so I know which child the sock belongs to based upon the sizes. And they’re relatively affordable.

Now here’s the trick: Hang a mesh lingerie bag in each child’s closet. Put only their socks in the bag as they become dirty. When you’re ready to do the laundry, tighten the drawstring and throw the bag in with the rest of your laundry. Once dry, just dump the socks into the drawer…no need to match or roll unless you want to!

Interested in my other laundry “shortcuts”?

Read about my brilliant “plan” for doing less laundry.

We don’t use a top sheet for Big Brother. He always kicked it down to the bottom of the bed anyway, so we just removed the top sheet. Now he just sleeps with the fitted sheet on his twin bed and his quilt. And I have a little bit less laundry to do!

I do laundry one day a week. I’ve got laundry on the brain today…Fridays are officially my “laundry day.” I occasionally do just the boys’ laundry on Tuesdays as well, especially when Little Brother was a baby and went through more changes of clothes (with blowouts and whatnot). I’ve found that I can get myself geared up for doing laundry on Fridays and just get it all over at once. Then I have the weekend to ~~relax~~ do other things.

Oh, and don’t forget to try my homemade liquid laundry soap recipe. It will save you TONS of money on laundry detergent!

What’s your favorite laundry shortcut?

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Filed Under: Helpful Hints for Parents, Parenting, What Works for Us

Our New School/Craft Supply Organization

August 18, 2011 by Jenae — 52 Comments

Organization is apparently not my thing. Try as I might, I just can’t seem to stay organized! This presents an assortment of complications, one of them being I can never find what I’m looking for. This is especially true for school and art supplies. Things seem to get buried in the bottomless pit of “organizational methods” that I’ve tried (and failed at) before. And after Stacie’s guest post last week, I was motivated to get things organized around here…well at least the school supplies anyway.

This is my new favorite organizational tool: an over-the-door shoe organizer! A comment from Kate on Stacie’s guest post last week tipped me off to this idea and it is pure genius! I got my shoe organizer at Lowe’s for $12, but you can also buy them here.

There are two main things I love about this: (1) it is clear so you can see exactly what you’re looking for and (2) it doesn’t take up any space…it just hangs on the back of a door! We have it hanging on our pantry door because we usually do our art projects in the kitchen. Our art supplies are literally 2 steps away and arranged in a way where we can see what we have! I feel like doing a happy dance.

If you’re interested in seeing what supplies we have in our “organizer”, click on the two pictures below to enlarge.

Here are the top 3 rows:

And the bottom 3:

I was so excited about out how organized I was feeling…I tackled my two junk drawers as well! Aren’t you proud, Beth?

On to the rest of my house…or perhaps I’ll just read a book instead. ;)

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Filed Under: Helpful Hints for Parents, Mommy Must Haves, What Works for Us

Journal of Letters

January 24, 2011 by Jenae — 14 Comments

I didn’t intend to start a journal for each of the boys. It actually came about on whim (as with many things in my life). When I found out I was pregnant with Big Brother, I was in shock. We hadn’t really expected it to happen as fast as it did. During my plan time the following day at school, I was trying to process it all…how excited, scared, nervous, and joyful I was. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out an empty journal (the one on the bottom in the photograph below). I began writing a letter to the unborn life inside of me. I shared how we found out, how I told Prince Charming, and all of the emotions I was feeling. I continued to write in the journal for Big Brother about once every month or two from then on.

Once I found out I was pregnant with Little Brother, I wanted to do the same thing. As I was perusing the journals at Barnes and Noble, I then had the idea of creating a journal for Prince Charming and me (I was inspired by John and Elizabeth Baxter’s relationship in the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury). Even though I’m the only one who has written in our journal (uh-hum), I know it will be a treasure for all our life together…a record of the season’s of life that have come and gone and how God’s love has carried us through it all.

I’m not sure when I will give the boy’s their journals. I write the letters to them, not like they are babies, but like they are adults. Perhaps when the graduate high school, get married, or have their first child. Or maybe I’ll share special letters with them at pivotal times in their growing up years to show how much they are loved. And as morbid as it may sound, as least they will have something of me if anything should happen.

I also keep a personal blog with pictures, milestones, and funny things they say, but their journal is for especially for them. There are things I tell them in their journal that I wouldn’t necessarily share with the entire internet. And I think there is power in the hand-written word. I would LOVE to type everything out because it is so much faster, but handwriting will soon be a lost art. Plus, it seems more personal. Right or wrong, a handwritten card in the mail means more than a quick e-mail…even if they say the exact same thing.

I love looking back and reliving the memories…reading about how I bawled my eyes out as I read Love You Forever to Big Brother when he was a day old, the fear and complete dependence on God when the OB told us they detected an irregularity with Little Brother’s heart, and the scriptures that have touched my heart at different times in our journey together.

There are lots of options for journals here, or you could even make your own! And if you’re interested, my friend Julie also has an amazing idea for creating prayer journals for her children each year here.

What about you? How do you record your child(ren)’s milestones and memories??

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Filed Under: Helpful Hints for Parents, Spiritual and Moral Development, What Works for Us

What Works for Us: Coping when your spouse is away on business

October 20, 2010 by Jenae — 17 Comments

For our first four years of marriage, Prince Charming and I were apart one night. Just one. And that one night was torture!

Big Brother had just turned one-year old when Prince Charming took a new job…a job that required a bit of travel. I wasn’t really pleased with the idea because I don’t like being alone at night. He is typically gone once a month for a couple nights…I know, it could be a lot worse and I am a REALLY big baby (and I am extremely thankful that he has a job in this economy).

Times that he is away are times that we typically have frequent moments of “intense fellowship” (as my friend Sarah would say). It has honestly been one of the biggest challenges in our marriage because these business trips tend to fall when something big is going on in our lives (Big Brother had H1N1, Little Brother had been born not even 2 weeks prior, I’m sick and so are both boys, etc). Prince Charming doesn’t like being either…he just understands it is part of the job while I am a little less understanding at times. Not only do I miss him when he’s gone, I also miss the help that he is with the boys. Being a stay-at-home mom with no relief come 5:45 can make my patience fly out the window faster than a speeding bullet!

These last few business trips, I have made an attempt to make his being away as positive as possible, for both me and the boys. Here are just a few suggestions that I have found helpful:

Take a break. Whether you hire a babysitter or recruit a friend or family member, you need a break while your spouse is away (regardless of whether it is 1 night or 7). Just take a few hours for yourself…go to a movie, go grocery shopping, or go to the bookstore and enjoy a cup of coffee. Take a break from the daily grind so that you will feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
Give yourself a treat. Go to your favorite restaurant and get carry-out. If you have something to look forward to while your spouse is away, it will make things much easier.
Do something special with your children. As hard as it is on us when our spouses are away, it is equally as hard for your children. Let them stay up late for a “movie night”, go to the park, or anything else that they enjoy!
Stay in frequent contact. Let your children talk on the phone to their Daddy or Mommy. Share events from the day. Let your spouse be a part of your daily routine, even while they’re hundreds of mile away.
Send something special along with your spouse. Sneak an “I love you” note into his suitcase or arrange for a note to be sent to her hotel room. Even though this should never be an incentive for a loving gesture, it might be reciprocated as well. There’s nothing better than a reminder of the love your spouse has for you!

We also bought this book from Amazon that we read whenever Prince Charming is away. It is one of Big Brother’s favorites and explains what Daddy does while he is gone (rides in an airplane, eats in a restaurant, sleeps in a hotel, goes to meetings, etc).