My own tip towards eating
right is to make one or two “big” meals of something
easy on Sunday. Try throwing some chili into the slow cooker or
make a tray of lasagna. These dishes are easy to make, good for
you and make weeknights a lot easier! The nice thing about using
the slow cooker is that you can get the family together, leash up
the dog and go for a walk while dinner is cooking. When you come
back tired, you’ve got a nice, big meal to come home to. Or,
if you prefer to stay within your ethnic boundaries, make a big
batch of daal and one sabzi or consider making
a tray of biryani. Cooking extras means lunches will be
a breeze to pack as well!
Communicating With Your Children, Even Though They’re
Not Always in the Mood to Talk
There are days when you know your child hasn’t had the best
day at daycare or school and doesn’t always want to talk about
it immediately. One good approach to figuring out what’s going
on is to wait until your child is in a better mood and is willing
to talk about it. Another approach is to pick an appropriate story
to read to him or her—that way you can broach the subject
without having to bring it up directly.
Making Sure that Everyone is Getting Exercise
Here’s a great tip for you video game addicts out there: Challenge
each other to a few games on the Wii. A friend of mine has boxing
matches with her son, saying they’re a great workout and loads
of fun for everyone.
She also suggests mixing it up and engaging with
kids in traditional exercises they enjoy: practice their sports
with them and better yourself a bit in the process. And if they’ve
got a trampoline, get on there with them! This is a great way to
bond and burn a few calories—which makes everyone
happier and helps everyone sleep better.
Taking kids for walks or runs with you helps set
the example that exercise is fun and good for you. In my
own family, we’ve found that taking walks together is a great
activity for all of us. Our son enjoys trying to hold onto the dogs’
leashes, which also helps the dogs learn his hierarchy in the family.
Lately, he’s started challenging his dad to races and, usually,
one or both dogs join in. This leaves me, currently a very pregnant
woman, waddling along behind, but happy to see everyone having a
good time.
Finding Time to get Random Chores and Projects Done
Another busy mom that I know suggests keeping a running “to
do” list. She picks things that fit in with her overall goals
for the week and selects the top three tasks to accomplish. Since
she has trouble stopping once she gets going, she’ll sometimes
set a timer and work only on the selected task for 15 minutes.
Making Sure Your Voice is Heard
Let’s face it: Anyone who has been through the toddler years
has had the agony of their child “trying to assert their independence.”
That’s all well and good, but most of us are also interested
in having respectful relationships with our kids. My own son has
a tendency to zone out and not answer me, and I find myself getting
frustrated as I repeat questions or requests over and over again.
What makes it even more frustrating is that we’ve noticed
he doesn’t do the same thing with his dad.
A few weeks ago, I decided to take control of the situation. Every
night, after his bath, the parent with “bath duty” reads
stories to him before turning off the light. I told him that from
now on, he gets three stories a night, but if he doesn’t answer
me when I talk to him, or if he doesn’t behave, he loses a
story. I am amazed at how great this rule is working for us! On
the nights when he loses a story or two, I tell him that tomorrow
is a new day and he’ll get to try again for all three stories.
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