Summer holidays are knocking at the door. People often wonder how I keep six kids occupied during the summer months when school is out. While my kids love spending some time at summer camp, I was sure to make our home an entertaining place for kids – particularly the backyard.
Another season is wrapping up and it appears our family has survived a winter with six kids in hockey. More importantly, the parents have survived six kids in hockey. I thought it would be worth sharing a few lessons I’ve learned in my prestigious role as a hockey mom. Train them to be independent. Never carry their hockey bags for them. And teach them to
Two of my real life daughters are ages 13 and 14. Out of respect for their privacy, I couldn’t possibly talk about their entrance into teenage-hood.
When you’re raising school-aged children, it’s pretty easy to make friends with other parents. I’ve spent many years enjoying the friendships I’ve made simply because my kiddos made friends at school and those kids have nice parents.
This week I was on the Parenting Panel at Canada AM chatting about how to discuss death and dying with kids. There is no question, this topic is a tough one for parents.
According to my calculations, six kids equal a ridiculous amount of Halloween candy. Parents always wonder: do we let them gorge and be done with it? Or do we portion it out over an extended period of time?
I have to be honest, I always saw myself as a baby kind of a mama. When my Biggies were babies, I remember being at the park and seeing school aged kids and thinking how weird it must be to parent such big kids.
Most parents say that there was a particular age and stage in their child’s life that they enjoyed most. I’ve always identified as a “baby” person. If there is a newborn in the room, before a minute passes, that babe will be in my arms. I’m quite sure that every time I smell a newborn, I immediately ovulate. Right now I have kids between the
That time of year has hit again and while we’re busy getting kids organized for back to school, I’m reminding myself of some goals that will help all of us survive the season (and the year!) in a happy and successful way. Family Calendar Get it organized early. Make sure all information for every family member is in one central location. Certainly Daddy-o and I
March is birthday month in my life. March brings birthdays for both me and Mabel’s Labels. I also have a daughter with a birthday this month. I recently had a parent ask if I had any birthday party activity suggestions.
For the last 2.5 years, Daddy-o has been a FIFO (Fly In, Fly Out) Father. His current client requires that he be onsite during the week so as such, he arrives home on Friday nights, then leaves again on Sunday evenings. I have not written about it because I was advised not to go public that I was ‘alone’ during the week. But since I
I recently celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary to Daddy-o. When I say “celebrated,” I actually just mean that we both “remembered.” It has been a busy sixteen years and I’d be lying if I said we’ve actually remembered all of our anniversaries.
I have a busy house full of my kids, their friends, neighbourhood kids, and an assorted number of random drop-ins. I’d rather not sound like the meanest mommy on the block, so I have a few key phrases that allow me to say “NO WAY” to my kids, without using those exact words.
There are often discussions about what NOT to say to parents about their children with autism. I wrote about it myself – how some innocent questions and comments can actually be painful for a mama raising a child with autism. Although well meaning, some comments have the opposite of the intended effect.
Every year, we host a big Victoria Day fireworks party. For my American friends – this means that yes, we celebrate the birthday of a long dead English Queen, but we’ll take our holidays where we can get them.
With such a big family, I’ve always told my kids that they can’t be on travelling sports teams. When my children have asked to try out for such teams, my response has consistently been, “There are enough kids in your own city that are good enough to play with you.”
Thirteen years ago, I had my first child. He arrived into this world all tiny and delicious after a fairly unpleasant delivery. Our eyes met and I fell in love. He’s always been my baby boy. Until recently.
Last week I told my tween girls that I’d got them a subscription to a magazine. I thought they’d be excited, but instead they responded with “We don’t want it mom – we don’t want to read about lip gloss”. Interesting.
Summer holidays are knocking at the door. People often wonder how I keep six kids occupied during the summer months when school is out. While my kids love spending some time at summer camp, I was sure to make our home an entertaining place for kids – particularly the backyard.
Another season is wrapping up and it appears our family has survived a winter with six kids in hockey. More importantly, the parents have survived six kids in hockey. I thought it would be worth sharing a few lessons I’ve learned in my prestigious role as a hockey mom. Train them to be independent. Never carry their hockey bags for them. And teach them to
Two of my real life daughters are ages 13 and 14. Out of respect for their privacy, I couldn’t possibly talk about their entrance into teenage-hood.
When you’re raising school-aged children, it’s pretty easy to make friends with other parents. I’ve spent many years enjoying the friendships I’ve made simply because my kiddos made friends at school and those kids have nice parents.
This week I was on the Parenting Panel at Canada AM chatting about how to discuss death and dying with kids. There is no question, this topic is a tough one for parents.
According to my calculations, six kids equal a ridiculous amount of Halloween candy. Parents always wonder: do we let them gorge and be done with it? Or do we portion it out over an extended period of time?
I have to be honest, I always saw myself as a baby kind of a mama. When my Biggies were babies, I remember being at the park and seeing school aged kids and thinking how weird it must be to parent such big kids.
Most parents say that there was a particular age and stage in their child’s life that they enjoyed most. I’ve always identified as a “baby” person. If there is a newborn in the room, before a minute passes, that babe will be in my arms. I’m quite sure that every time I smell a newborn, I immediately ovulate. Right now I have kids between the
That time of year has hit again and while we’re busy getting kids organized for back to school, I’m reminding myself of some goals that will help all of us survive the season (and the year!) in a happy and successful way. Family Calendar Get it organized early. Make sure all information for every family member is in one central location. Certainly Daddy-o and I
March is birthday month in my life. March brings birthdays for both me and Mabel’s Labels. I also have a daughter with a birthday this month. I recently had a parent ask if I had any birthday party activity suggestions.
For the last 2.5 years, Daddy-o has been a FIFO (Fly In, Fly Out) Father. His current client requires that he be onsite during the week so as such, he arrives home on Friday nights, then leaves again on Sunday evenings. I have not written about it because I was advised not to go public that I was ‘alone’ during the week. But since I
I recently celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary to Daddy-o. When I say “celebrated,” I actually just mean that we both “remembered.” It has been a busy sixteen years and I’d be lying if I said we’ve actually remembered all of our anniversaries.
I have a busy house full of my kids, their friends, neighbourhood kids, and an assorted number of random drop-ins. I’d rather not sound like the meanest mommy on the block, so I have a few key phrases that allow me to say “NO WAY” to my kids, without using those exact words.
There are often discussions about what NOT to say to parents about their children with autism. I wrote about it myself – how some innocent questions and comments can actually be painful for a mama raising a child with autism. Although well meaning, some comments have the opposite of the intended effect.
Every year, we host a big Victoria Day fireworks party. For my American friends – this means that yes, we celebrate the birthday of a long dead English Queen, but we’ll take our holidays where we can get them.
With such a big family, I’ve always told my kids that they can’t be on travelling sports teams. When my children have asked to try out for such teams, my response has consistently been, “There are enough kids in your own city that are good enough to play with you.”
Thirteen years ago, I had my first child. He arrived into this world all tiny and delicious after a fairly unpleasant delivery. Our eyes met and I fell in love. He’s always been my baby boy. Until recently.
Last week I told my tween girls that I’d got them a subscription to a magazine. I thought they’d be excited, but instead they responded with “We don’t want it mom – we don’t want to read about lip gloss”. Interesting.
Kids Events and Fun Things To Do in Toronto, York Region, Peel, Durham, Halton, Simcoe County and Southern Ontario for Families.
