5 Ways To Teach Your Child To Be Generous

We all want kids that share and are conscious of other's needs. Kind children who have a giving heart. The truth is, kids have a world that very much revolves around their little self and their own needs and need to be taught to remember others.

How do you teach this skill to a child?

In this post, I will share 5 ways you can teach your child to be a generous giver. It is never too late to start these lessons!

1. Model generosity in your own life. Kids of all ages learn from their parents. Have a giving spirit and show your children how to have one in their own lives. Take situations and turn them into lessons.

2. Sign your child up to volunteer with you. It is not only fun to do volunteer work, but kids will see real-life impact. Visit seniors in a nursing home facility, play with the dogs and kitties at the animal shelter and serve meals in a soup kitchen.

3. Help you child be aware of other people's wants and needs. Teach them to wait their turn, share something of theirs and invite others to join them in fun. Don't just say things like, "Don't be selfish!". Turn it around and say, "I bet Michael would love it if you shared your toy."

4. When your child does something kind for another person without being asked, make sure to give them a lot of praise. This kind of positive reinforcement sets them up for that "warm fuzzy feeling" we all love when we do things for others.

5. Help your child understand helping others who do not have what they have. Ask them to go through their toys a couple times a year and give the ones they no long want to a battered women's shelter or children's shelter. When they get an allowance, ask them to pick a charity and donate part of it periodically. Give them a sense of pride in doing so.

What other ways do you show generosity?

Tips for Getting a Picky Eater to Try New Things

Most kids go through it, some stay in it longer than others. Moms and Dads..you know what I am talking about: Picky eaters.

It can be extremely frustrating to deal with a picky eater. Meal times turn into stressful events spent begging, pleading and getting angry, even. You feel like throwing in the towel and making separate meals for everyone.

Don't give up yet! Here are some tips for getting picky eaters to eat.

1. Don't force your child to eat any foods. Many times, the lack of desire to try new foods is just a way of power struggling with you. Instead, just keep patiently offering.

2. Make sure to introduce only a few new foods every month or so. Don't expect your child to try something new every meal or week, even.

3. Don't bribe with dessert for eating a new food. Make sure to encourage by using phrases such as " I am very proud of you for trying that food you were unsure about" rather than "You are a good girl for eating that asparagus".

4. If you are unsure if your child will try something, offer it in a fun way. Give veggies a fun dip to go with or cut something into fun shapes.

5. Try having your child help make dinner. Many times, children are more interested in something if they have a part in preparing it.

6. Try, try and try again. Don't harp on your child to try something, but don't give up after the first try either. Keep offering the new food periodically and they may get curious about it. Also, Children's taste buds change over time. One year they may not like something, but the next year, it might be a favorite.

7. Most importantly, model a healthy relationship with all kinds of foods. It's OK not to like everything, but just as you want your child to try new things, be willing to do so in front of them as well.

Top Kidzies Tools You Need For Back To School

Kidzies is your one stop shop for personalized goodies, but did you know that many of our more popular items are back-to-school must-haves? Check out the list below for special Kidzies products that can really make your school year and look at the bottom of the post for a 20% off your purchase code exclusively for Kidzies blog readers!

Huggerz-

Huggerz are the perfect back-to-school companion because they keep your child's drink separate and easy to spot. Perfect for lunchboxes, soccer practice and more. Help your child stand out with a Huggerz!

Protector Palz-

Protector Palz help little ones arrive in style and keep the seat belt from rubbing on the way to school. What kid wouldn't want that? Plus, for expecting moms, Protector Palz keep your little bun in the oven safer by placing on your belly in the car.

Treasure Bagz-

No one wants a boring pencil case! Treasure Bagz are the perfect solution as they keep your pencils, crayons and markers all in one place and since they are personalized, your child will know it is theirs! Treasure Bagz are perfect because they are made of durable wetsuit material and they hold a lot! Treasure Bagz also come with a clip so they can easily be attached to a backpack for holding lunch money as well!

Bigger Bagz-

For the kid who had a ton to carry, Bigger Bagz are the solution. Carry your scissors, glue sticks, pencils, markers and crayons all in the same tote. Made of the same durable material as our Treasure Bagz and they can be personalized, just like all our other products! Bigger Bagz are perfect for teens and tweens as well since they come in some pretty nifty styles and can hold cell phones, calculators and more!

To help you get the must needed items listed above for back to school, make sure you plug in code KIDZIESBLOG at checkout and enjoy 20% off your entire order!*

Have a safe and fun back-to-school season!


*20% off any sized order, but subject to shipping. FREE shipping on orders $50 or more!

Four Ways to Save on Back to School Clothes

School shopping can be an enormous expense, but if you know how to get great deals, it can really add up to great savings.

Here at Kidzies, we want to help you by giving you a few tips on shopping for back-to-school clothes that will help you stretch every dollar.

1. Don't be afraid to shop for second hand. Many times, you can find gently used and even new clothing items at thrift stores. Some even have tags and many are expensive brand names.

2. Make a list and stick to it. Don't buy more than you need and don't feel the need to buy all new items for things your children already have. Plan to do a second shop in the Spring as kids often grow out of clothes that quickly.

3. Use clothing from the summer and give it new life. Polos can be worn year round as can skirts and dresses. Just add a set of leggings under skirts and you have them ready for winter. For tank tops, add a t-shirt of long sleeve tee under.

4. Consider doing a clothing shop with other parents. This would be a great way to get rid of hand me downs and get to know new parents in your child's school.

Tips for First Year "School Parents"

It can be quite scary that first year your child enters school in kindergarten. You can't imagine having all that "free time" and your little buddy not hanging out with you all day or taking them to daycare.

Just as your child is probably excited to enter school, you, as a mom or dad are just as nervous. How will YOU survive going into this new phase of childhood with them?

Here are some tips to help you both ease into the school routine and put your mind at ease:

1. Know that you have done an amazing job with your child to begin with. You have raised a little super-hero so far and this phase is just as scary, but also exciting as that first step or first day of daycare. You and your child will be OK.

2. Try not to show how nervous you are as that can run off onto your child and make first day jitters hard on them as well.

3. It will probably help if you and your child tour the school before that first day. It will help calm you to meet administration and teachers and begin to visualize your child in this environment.

4. See if the school has a kindergarten get together for parents of new children entering school. If not, maybe try to plan one? It will help you, as mom and dad, not feel so scared if you know that you are probably not alone.

5. Hold a party for both you and your child. Do something special together as you both enter this phase. Have a "big boy" or "Big Girl" party to prepare yourself and your child for the new adventure.

6. In the weeks leading up to school, get a routine down for bedtime and wake-up time. This will help you ease into it better for both of you.

7. The night before school starts, do a low-key and easy meal..maybe even pizza or takeout. Spend that day and evening with your child and do something fun.

I promise, you will get through this, brave Mom or Dad. All of life and parenthood is so full of exciting changes and you will be so happy to see your child gaining more independence and almost leap for joy when they tell you all about it!

Chores by the Ages

As parents, we want to teach our child how to live in the world around them and how to be responsible. These are life skills that they will need into adulthood.

Many parents want to start as soon as possible in teaching how to do chores, but often wonder what is the age appropriate chores they should be teaching and expect good results from?

In the following post, I am going to go over some age appropriate chores as well as some tips on what to expect.


Toddlers: (ages 2-3)
~Picking up toys
~Putting dirty laundry in baskets
~ Dusting low, unbreakable items


Pre-school (ages 4-5)
~Helping wipe counters and spills
~Making their bed
~Watering plants (low)
~Matching socks

Elementary school aged (6-10)
~Feeding pets
~Doing dishes
~Taking garbage out 
~Sorting Laundry

Tweens (11-12)
~Straightening up common areas with little to no help
~Helping with dinner or meals
~Weeding out gardens
~Sweeping well

Teens (13-17)
~Doing laundry
~Getting groceries (with list)
~ Mowing the lawn/weed-eating

Tips: 

Expect chores to take longer. Remember, your child is learning not only how to do the chore, but they may not have as fine tuned abilities as you do. Let go of perfection and timeliness for these lessons.

If you have a child that is too young to reasonably be expected to do a chore alone, offer to have them help you do it. Cleaning the walls? Give a small child a rag and you do it as well. This not only helps them feel accomplished, but also builds a sense of teamwork.

If your child does a less than perfect job and it makes you feel like you must "fix it", try to do it out of their site. They may begin to feel defeated if you make them feel inadequate.

If you must further instruct due to carelessness, try to do it in the kindest way possible. Always cheer them on when they do a good job!

Time Out Tips

Anyone who has had a toddler or a young child knows what time outs are all about. Sometimes, though, they can seem so drawn out and hard to manage that they are easy to cave on if they are not effective.

You know what I mean. The screaming, protesting and eventual calm down only to be asked, "Can I get out of time out yet?"

While time out is not supposed to be fun, it also is not supposed to be traumatic, either, for parent or child.

Here are some ideas on how to make time out more effective and easier to administer for parents:

1. Have a specific place in your home for time out. I suggest a corner, or another quiet place in your home that is not a bedroom. A bedroom has too many distracting things in it and the child can begin to associate their room with bad behavior. You want their bedroom to be a place of peace.

2. The general rule is 1 minute for every year of age for the child. So, a 5 year old would get 5 minutes.

3. In my home, time does not start until the child is calm. If you have a child who is very upset, this can take a while. To help calm them quickly, try making a "time out bottle". Simply get a plastic water bottle, add food coloring and glitter and when the child is upset, shake it up and have them watch the glitter settle. It may take a minute or two, but the calming water will help calm them down.

4. Don't ever make threats of time out and not follow through. One of the hardest parts of parenting is being consistent, even when you ware tired. If you tell your child the behavior will get them a time out, follow through in every instance.

5. Time outs do not have to be viewed as punishment. Let you child know that sometimes, even adults need time outs to calm down. Show by example that you do on occasion.

6 Fun things to do with Food Coloring

Food coloring is a huge staple that any parent should have in thier cupboards.Not only is it great for making colored frosting for cookies, there is so much you can do with it in play!
Try out these fun things to do with food coloring and yourkid's eyes will just light up!

1. Make "Rainbow Spaghetti". Add cooked noodles to a bowl filled with food dye and water. Let them sit for about 15 minutes.

Too Much Stuff

Do you have too much stuff? I do! I bet your kids do, too! As my son and I were going through all of his way too many toys, we started making piles.

Dean Terry / Kids Photos / CC BY-NC-ND

Pile #1-BROKEN and/or MISSING PIECES

Teaching Life Skills

As a mom, I look for any and every chance to teach what I call "Life Skills."  My hope is that my kid will gain some street smarts from these little lessons that I employ each day while we're playing, or in this case, washing dishes.  Oh, yes, my 4 year old loves to wash dishes.  Probably because he gets open range of the water faucet and uses half a bottle of soap because of the fascination of bubbles coming out of the other side of the sink.  But I'm okay with that, as long as some of what we talk about sticks.  Here's a few lessons I gave while he was washing his Huggerz out in the sink (one of many ways it can be cleaned).

Lesson #1:  Get dirty.  Play in the dirt.  Don't be afraid to dive after that ball.  But then use soap.  If you pet the dog, use soap.  If you say dirty words, the soap will go in your mouth.  Don't go through life afraid of getting dirty, you can clean up the things that matter most as long you are sincere and honest.

Lesson #2:

Sunday Fun Day

We enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon hike today.  We have had such cabin fever this spring - long overdue have been these two days in the 70s.  Note:  I use the term "hike" lightly, as we never left our back field.  
 

Jett found his own personal "Grand Canyon"