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Tips On How To Teach Your Kids To Clean The Dishes And Other Chores
For parents who have kids, it can be a challenge to raise them to be responsible or helpful at home. This becomes especially clear for households who don’t have any nannies or help to do certain chores, like cleaning with dishwasher detergents or doing the laundry. Assigning tasks to kids, therefore, becomes a must at this point, but you might be clueless as to how to make this effective. Here are some tips on how to teach your kids to clean the dishes and other household chores. Assign them tasks they can understand. According to Bright Horizons, kids should be assigned simple tasks or ones that they’ll understand. If your…
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Sibling Rivalry Will Be The Death of Me!
I’m not sure what’s worse. Being asked for a snack every few minutes, toddler tantrums or siblings that just won’t give it a rest! Our family has incredibly good great days, and then there are some like today when I wish I could stick my head in the sand and pretend I’m on an island holiday. The struggle is real! Sibling rivalry is exhausting friends. It sucks the life right out of you. How many times can you say, “please stop arguing” or “please can you just listen to each other and get along?”. Not enough I guess. Apparently it stems from the need to have your attention 24/7, a…
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Finding My Joy Again
I often catch myself thinking, while watching my children play, how I wish that I could experience that same unbridled JOY that seems to ooze out of them. The pit-of-your-stomach kind of laughter, the smiles, the giggles, and innocent teasing that fills their play. I must admit, sometimes I’m a little jealous of their JOY. a joy so unencumbered by the concerns of this world… I wish I could bottle it up and take a sip each morning as I open my eyes. That it would flow through my veins and sustain me through the day. That JOY! Now this does not mean that we are unhappy in life. Or…
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Our Lives Are About To Change
These last few months have brought with them so many questions, frustrations and considerations for the future of our family. We’ve decided to take our children’s education into our own hands. It wasn’t an easy choice, it didn’t happen overnight, but sitting here writing this, I know in my heart that we are making the right decision (for now, and for our family). We’ve chosen to homeschool our children. I am still trying to find the right words to express our reasons for making this decision. I know that homeschooling doesn’t have the best “reputation”, and that there will be people that think we are absolutely insane. But let me…
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What I Want My Girls To Learn From Caster Semenya
Imagine the possibility of taking a sneak peak through the looking glass of your little girl’s future… not to see what she might become, what career path she may choose to follow, or who she may choose to love and share life with… but to anticipate some of the struggles and challenges she will face, some of the criticism she will endure, some of the opposition she will confront. Now take that little girl, with all her fanciful dreams and unbridled aspirations, and tell her about these struggles, challenges, criticism and opposition you’ve seen (for these things will surely come!). But what would you want her to leave that conversation…
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Geocaching – Technology and 21st Century Fun
In this day and age, while technology rules the roost, getting our kids outdoors can be difficult. Surfing the Web on Ipads, “connecting” with friends through social media apps on smartphones, or (if you’re old-school) playing games on Xbox or PlayStation, often takes preference over getting out, running around, rolling on the grass and jumping in the pool. I for one don’t like seeing my kids stuck inside when they could be enjoying the great outdoors and making memories. I have nothing against technology, however, I do feel that there needs to be a balance between incorporating it into our daily lives alongside good old fashioned Gross-Motor activities. If you’re…
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We’re A Trendy Muppie Family!
There is a new trend on the fashion block. It’s fresh, it’s exciting and it’s totally off the charts creative. #muppielounge Muppie Lounge was created by the beautifully artistic Marishka. She has taken her love of drawing with charcoal to the next level and created an incredible brand of trendy and upmarket apparel products. Marishka is a devoted mom of 4, a blogger and a businesswoman! All her products are locally sourced, using only the best that the local market has to offer. As if beautifully crafted products aren’t enough, it is the artist herself who sets this brand apart… Marishka has a heart for people! Her brand is closely linked with…
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The Pee Files #5 –
A good few weeks have passed since I last wrote… As most of you know, our house is in utter chaos at the moment! We left the US on June 8th, and our container of furniture and household items only arrived 4 days ago. Adding to our craziness is the fact that my husband (darling of note!) decided to get the kids a puppy… OK, she is adorable, I have to admit, but it’s like having another baby in the house (like I need that:) ). And to top it all off, I decided to start potty training my almost 3 yo. Don’t ask me why? I should be a…
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Opening Up About My Pre-Natal Depression
From the moment we found out we were pregnant the negative thoughts began to roll in like a swelling ocean tide. Don’t get me wrong, I was over the moon and incredibly grateful that we were blessed with another pregnancy. However, the thought of having 5 children overwhelmed me… and, honestly, it still does! In my mind, I was barely coping with managing the 4 beautiful children that I already had. How on earth was I going to manage 5? It began with subtle changes in my mood and emotions. I wasn’t able to sleep at night and then spent most of my early mornings snoozing on the couch while my…
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Mindful Mothering
I was enjoying some mommy reading this weekend and stumbled upon this article from one of my favorite South African magazines, YOUR FAMILY. With just over 2 weeks to go until our little man arrives, I must admit my patience has been incredibly short, my mood dark and dreary, and my poor kids (and husband) have been the unfortunate recipients of a super grumpy mommy. And there it is, sneaking quietly in through the back door… #momguilt (I’m sure we’ve all felt it before). YOUR FAMILY has set up a Mom Challenge for this coming month. One challenge per day. I have already put reminders on my phone (because that’s how much…
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Overcoming Feelings of Un-Appreciation!
Whether you just happened to stumble upon this post or have come here from my Letters Of Lace series. Know that you are in the company of a good friend! There are seasons in life when our acts of service go unnoticed, when our kindness is accepted but not appreciated, when “thank you” and “I’m grateful” are phrases we hardly ever hear. In these seasons we feel a sense of meaninglessness – that who we are, and what we do doesn’t have real value. Perhaps you’re going through a season like this right now… Sometimes we wear a smile for the world. When in actual fact all we want to do is…
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Dear Friend – With No Kids!
A little while ago a very dear and special friend made a passing comment that she never read my blog because she wasn’t a mom. As human nature would have it, I was a tad offended. However, once I was able to get over my self pity and think a little deeper into why she made that comment, I was sad for a different reason! You see dear friend, I too know what it feels like to long for a baby. To watch as others are filled with an unspeakable joy whilst I sit in the background broken and hurting. I remember all too well all the Dr’s appointments, all…
