WHY TODAY'S PARENTS ARE ALL STRESSED OUT, & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Post Written by Judy Keech

If you are the parent of an adolescent, and especially if you have more than one, chances are you are stressed out. Right now. Right now you are totally stressed out. STRESSED OUT!!! Or you are in denial--a whole other issue I promise to discuss later.

Face it. Balancing work, home, church, sports, theater, dance, speech therapy, tutoring, girl scouts, boy scouts, field day, testing days, parent/teacher conferences, grocery shopping, birthday parties, pool parties, play dates….You are STRESSED OUT!!!  

10 More Things, Episode 6

By Staci Pace

51.  Always use stain remover or oxy clean in every load. ALWAYS. 

52.  Dads really do buy their kids toys for their own enjoyment, which is why they grow terribly upset when the kids play with them in an inappropriate manner. (Such as Superman becomes a bad guy, or the GI Joe is using a Star Wars light saber, or your kid's favorite "Bumblebee" car is a Grand Am and not a Camaro.)

53.  Christmas is more fun than you ever dreamed. And more stressful. And more expensive. 

54.  Forget saving for college. Elementary will cost you. And so will any sport your kid might want to play. Not to mention field trips, play dates, and music lessons. 

55.  There actually are good teachers and bad teachers but you can NEVER tell your kid that. 

56.  You will one day find your child trying to clean their sibling with the Windex. 

57.  Never ever give your kids a choice of what to have for dinner. If you do they will never eat what you eat. 

58.  Learn how to edit photos. Because they will never all smile and look good at the same time. 

59.  Buy Band-Aids in bulk. But NOT the cheap kind. 

60.  If your child owns a piece of clothing that you don't like get rid of it quickly and quietly because it will be all they will ever wear. 

What have you learned as a parent? Wisdom is better shared!

Episode 1: 10 Things I Wish I Knew BeforeI Had Kids

Episode 2: 10 More Things I Wish I Knew

Episode 3: 10 More Things, Episode 3

Episode 4: 10 More Things, Episode 4

Episode 5: 10 More Things, Episode 5

10 More Things, Episode 5

by Staci Pace

and continues...

41.    Go ahead and get used to saying: "Stop that." "Don't do that." "Put that down." "Be quiet." You'll never stop. 

42.    You'll quickly learn why your mom made some meals over and over again. And then you'll ask her for the recipes. 

43.    Don't ever tell your children that they have to pick up their toys or you'll throw them away. Because the problem is that they don’t want to pick them up in the first place, and they’d rather you do it for them. Not to mention, what will you do tomorrow when they’re bored?

44.    You have to set ground rules with your spouse early on about discipline. Because when a kid is grounded from outside and friends it's not really punishment for them as much as you. 

45.    At least one of your children will eat their boogers, one will wipe them on everything and one will try to give them to you, but they all will pick them. 

46.    No matter how many times you tell them not to they will wipe their hands on their clothes. 

47.    Some areas of your house will always smell like pee no matter how many times you scrub them. 

48.    A parent with all girls just won't understand a parent with all boys and vice versa. 

49.    At some point you will wish that you could arrange a marriage for your child, and possibly as early as 12. 

50.         Baking with your child is NOT NEARLY as fun as it sounds. 

Episode 1: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Had Kids

Episode 2: 10 More Things I Wish I Knew

Episode 3: 10 More Things, Episode 3

Episode 4: 10 More Things, Episode 4

Supermarket Meltdown

The Simple Guide to TANTRUM Prevention 

while Shopping with Your Child 

Contrary to a popular belief that all children are born angels (who in their right mind would come up with that?

Have you ever been in a room full of toddlers? One might think he had slipped into an evil pit of selfish opportunistic egomaniacs. “Mine!! MINE!!!”, not my definition of angelic…nuf said) the Bible teaches we are ALL born in SIN. We all have need of redemption, and your precious little angel is no exception. 

10 More Things I Wish I Knew...

 Here are 10 more thoughts I've had about having children. Can you relate?

11. Spending the day at home with your kids alone is completely different than spending the day at home with the kids AND your spouse. 

12. Bunk beds are from hell. Have you ever changed the sheets on bunk beds??

13. You will clean up more spills than you ever thought possible. FOR.THE.REST.OF.YOUR.LIFE.

14. Independent kids are messy kids. But they can make their own lunch and entertain themselves for hours. You'll just have to spend hours cleaning up afterward. 

15. If they fall asleep in the car, you'll never want to stop driving, so keep your favorite music handy and enjoy the ride every once in a while.

16. If you want your child to be clean, you'll have to physically wash them yourself until they're about 6. And after that, you'll have to smell them to be sure they actually washed themselves. 

17. You have to floss their teeth. Yes, seriously. 

18. You will find remnants of food EVERYWHERE! 

19. You will find a new appreciation for hard flooring. Until they fall. And then, for a fleeting moment you'll wish for carpet. 

20.  Shoes are worn only to be ruined. 

BECOME A BETTER PARENT OVERNIGHT

5 EASY ADJUSTMENTS TO UPDATE YOUR PARENTING STYLE

Every parent wants to believe they are the best parent they can be. It’s no mystery that often times that means we set ourselves on a course toward a parenting style that is the OPPOSITE of the way we ourselves were parented, and often accompanied with the vow that, “I refuse to be like my mother!” or “I will NEVER be like my father!”  When in fact, our parenting styles should NOT be patterned after Mom or Dad, nor patterned to be the opposite of Mom or Dad, and our parenting styles should definitely NOT be patterned after current social trends or peer pressure fads, i.e. “you aren’t a good parent if you aren't making your own organic baby food,” or “if your child is not on the waiting list for a certain academy by the age of 6 months…” Social Media does not a good parent make! 

God makes good parents. 

After all, it is He who gifted you with your child in first place....

TODDLER NEGOTIATIONS __Because I said so...

So, you have a toddler. 

A small person tumbling around your house, probably causing havoc and making utterances only extra terrestrials and maybe other siblings in your household can translate. A small person in the making, coming into an understanding of what it means to be human; what benefits he or she has because he or she is your offspring, or maybe hand selected royalty. 

You are the proud parent of A TODDLER. 

Most of us can’t actually remember our toddler-hood. Oddly, my most ancient memory is the day I turned 3 years old. I remember toddling along the back fence in my back yard on my third birthday singing to a self-made tune, “I’m three! I’m three!” But for the most part we don’t particularly remember our toddler years, and for a good reason. We were DIFFICULT! Most toddlers are difficult! And today’s culture pressures a new mama...

Because I Dreamed

Juju.  It's a name given to me by toddlers who couldn't pronounce "Judy". It's a name.  Not a belief, not a practice of witchcraft, or voodoo. It's a name...that stuck. I am Juju. I am a grandma.  And when I became a grandma I didn't feel worthy of grandma status. Grandmas have gray hair. Grandmas have facial hair. Grandmas wear corsets, and braziers, and have false teeth. Grandmas are awesome! So all my grandkids, and many others who love me, now refer to me as Juju. I am Juju, and there's nothing that warms my soul quite like hearing that. 

When my eldest grandchild, Reese, was 4 years old I remember the day we were attempting to explain to him the family structure. "I am your Mommy's mommy", I said. "That makes me your grandma".  
"No!" he rebutted, "I don't have a grandma, I have a Juju!"  He is 9 now, and I recently heard him explaining the family structure to the youngest members of our clan, "she's Juju, but she really is our grandma." 
As quaint as this may be, to me it brings up the dilemma of aging.  Aging when you aren't really ready for it. Aging into "grandma". Aging into a body that surely must belong to someone else... unfamiliar, awkward, baggy, saggy, uncooperative, with weird hair and spotted skin, other-worldly moans and groans, and strange noises from the digestive tract. Just-yesterday-I was-30 kind of madness, and now 5 not so little offspring of my offspring call me Their Juju! Yikes! How did this happen so fast?! Why does it feel like I skipped ahead, spacing out an entire eon of my life?  What happened to my dreams? My bucket list? The things God promised me? (I have a dream book, you know.)