In my ebook How to Build Character at Home I discuss creating family rules that reflect your values. Creating our family rules (kindly tongue, gentle hands, and respect the environment) has probably been one of the best parenting decisions we ever made. Why? Because each family member knows what is expected of them, and these… {read more}
Parenting
How to Teach Friendliness to Young Children
One reason parents think about teaching character traits to kids is so that they can help their children get along well with others. Being a good friend consists of so many virtues: truthfulness, courtesy, kindness, forgiveness, and the list goes on. When we think about teaching friendliness, then, where do we start? I think one of the… {read more}
The Keys to a Better Bedtime Routine
Sponsored by Finlee and Me Lots of people are asking me how the transition has been from two kids to three. Baby girl is almost 4 months old now, and I’m happy to say that I’m still sane and we’re all well fed and alive. It helps that I had organised my house for the new baby… {read more}
Dear Daughter: When Times Are Hard
Dear Daughter, This time last year I was impatiently enduring the two week wait to find out if we would be having another baby. One year later here you are – three months old in my arms. I am so grateful. I don’t even know how to express my gratitude. But I also remember the emotions I… {read more}
Kids’ Emotions are Real, Too
Children may be small, but they are still people. And their feelings deserve respect. When my three month old baby cries in the carseat because she is tired and wants to be held, that is real frustration. When my four year old shouts because he wants another cookie, that is real anger. When my six year old… {read more}
How to Teach Generosity to Young Children
In my ongoing effort to simplify our life, we have been giving a lot of things away and I love the attitude it’s creating in our home. We are trying to keep what we truly need and donate everything else so it can be used by others. The kids are realising that *stuff* is made… {read more}
Simple Living: Newborn Essentials
Last year, I shared a post about how I was decluttering our home and becoming more intentional about bringing *stuff* into our family’s space. Less stuff meant less time spent organising, cleaning, and being distracted from what was really important. It was liberating! I found that limiting our possessions to what was truly useful and loved was so much better… {read more}
We Don’t Do “Chores”… We Do “Family Service” Instead
Over the past few months, my husband and I have been concentrating on helping the kids become more involved in household duties. At some point we simply realised that they were perfectly capable of doing more around the house and we figured giving them some tasks would do a number of things including: -Foster more personal… {read more}
