Category: Being a Mom

Kate turns 10 in April, and we are considering giving her an iPod for her birthday. And by iPod, I mean my old iPhone in a new case. She’s been wanting one for a while, and since I just upgraded my phone and have a spare lying around, it seems like a good time.

I am a little nervous about it, though. I don’t exactly know why – she spends more time with my iPad than I do, mostly watching Netflix and YouTube videos about kids who got puppies for Christmas. But something about her having her own device, even if it’s closely monitored by Andy and me, seems a little bit different.

To be honest, I am not worried at all about the information she will seek out, but I am mostly worried about what she could potentially stumble upon inadvertently. I mean, we’ve all googled something and found something entirely different (for the record, if you’re looking to order soccer cleats, make sure to go to dickssportingoods.com – not the shortened version of that), and then there are all the horror stories we’ve heard about mean girls and “hot or not” contests and all sorts of nonsense.

So, obviously I want to stay out ahead of this stuff, but I don’t have a solid plan yet. One thing I do intend to use, though, is this contract I came across. It’s from imom.com (that link will take you to the site where you can download a PDF version of your very own).

It’s time for some intense interwebz research on this topic! But I’d also like to hear from you.

How do you monitor what your kids are doing online? What, if any, parental controls do you employ? What conversations do you have with your kids about it?

This post is part of my duties as an Energy Balance Ambassador for Together Counts, for which I am being compensated. But I wrote it my own self and the words, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are completely mine.

Since I’ve been working with Together Counts all year as an Energy Balance Ambassador, I’ve really been thinking a lot about being active – calories in, calories out. And though most of my thoughts on families being active together have been on the Together Counts blog, I do have a few I’ve saved to share here. Specifically about being active during the c-c-c-cold months of the year.

Now, my friends who know me know I’m more of an “indoor girl” in general, but this applies especially during the winter. I HATE COLD. And we’ve had an especially brutal winter this year already, and it’s technically not even December 21st yet! But, I know that it’s important to be active and keep my kids active. I’m all for indoor yoga and Pilates myself, but they’re into things that are more fast-paced. Here are a few ideas to keep your family active during cold weather.

1) Bundle up & get outside. I know it seems simple, but it works! Snow is a great excuse to get out, but even 15 minutes out in just plain cold with lots of layers is better then being inside playing video games all day. My kids ask to go outside no matter what the temperature – sometimes you just need to get out and run.

2) Get yer skate on. Got a local skating rink? They’re open year-round, pretty affordable, and taking a million laps around the rink with your kids is a great way to get some exercise and have LOTS of fun!

3) Spring for some lessons. My Sophie takes gymnastics once a week; she’s never going to be in a competitive class, but she has a great time learning and building strength, not to mention getting some great exercise. This winter both kids are also going to be in swim lessons. Joshua’s already a great swimmer but he can always use the exercise and learn new strokes and safety techniques, and we’re hoping this year Sophie will become a confident swimmer by summer time.

Those are just a few of the ways we’re keeping active this winter – what are your ideas?

For more great articles on family activities and  meals, visit the Together Counts blog!

One day, a long time from now, our kids will be old enough to be mortified by their embarrassing parents. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, they’ve provided us with an arsenal of stories about the times they humiliated us – paybacks are fair game! NickMom has a feature called “Kids Say of the Day,” and it brought to mind some of the crazy things my kids have said!

Before I get to my kids’ stuff, though, let me share with you this “Kids Say of the Day” that left me speechless.

Yeah. My kids would so be grounded for all eternity.

So anyway, back to the ways my kids have publicly shamed me.

Let’s start with Kate.

When Kate was about two, as she was in the picture above, we were walking through Target with my grandma. Kate was sitting in the cart, and my purse was stashed right beside her. So anyway, I’m walking around, minding my own business, not paying any attention to the fact that Kate is sorting through my purse, when all the sudden – to my horror – she pulls out two tampons. She started waving them around in the air and shouting “maracas!” at the top of her lungs.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, my grandma thought it was the funniest thing ever, and was laughing hysterically, adding to the scene we were causing. It. Was. Awesome.

Not long after that, Kate was in the midst of potty training and, you know how it is, we talked about all things potty a lot. At home. (Not so much on social media, unlike some people I know *ahem*Jenny*ahem*.) However, Kate hadn’t yet picked up on the appropriate times to talk about such things (or, evidently, anatomical terms) and one night we were out to dinner when Andy excused himself to go to the restroom. Kate piped up for the whole place to hear, “Daddy, are you going to go potty with your… with your… with your tail?!?!?”

Andy would have liked the floor to open up and swallow him at that moment!

Though Kate’s gotten older, her flare for saying things at inopportune times is still going strong.

When she was in the first grade, Andy and I went to her parent/teacher conference, expecting to hear nothing but lovely things about our girl. That was true, all right – her teacher was very complimentary. Toward Kate. At the end of our session, though, the teacher looked at me and ask if I had any questions about the homework Kate had been assigned. I was confused, and said, “Well no, I don’t think so.” Her teacher responded, “Are you sure? When Kate turned hers in yesterday, she said ‘My mom said this assignment is all jacked up!”

Oops!

Kate has said some doozies, but lest you think that she is the only child who has embarrassed me, let me tell you this story about Sam. This is the #1 takes-the-cake kids-say-the-darnedest-things story I have.

I took Sam to his three-year well-checkup at the pediatrician’s office. When the doctor came in, he and I were commiserating about the early hour of the morning. The doctor said he could use a cup of coffee.

“Boys don’t drink coffee!” Sam piped up. “Boys drink beer!”

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I know I’m not alone here – I’d love to hear the stories about how your kids have embarrassed you! You know, the stories you’ve stock piled in your mind to use on special occasions like when he or she brings a date home. The ones you’ll tell for years to come. Let’s hear them!

And while you’re at it, click over to NickMom to read more “Kids Say of the Day” stories. Seriously, I cannot get over the one I showed you above… and there are more where that came from!