Getting your kids to clean

Getting your kids to clean is sometimes a HUGE task, and I think overwhelming to most Moms.  It's just easier and quicker to do it ourselves.  But, let me tell you...for me, I've learned (through much prayer!) that teaching my kids to help clean is THE answer to a more peaceful home, and THE answer for me to get it done.  And not only that, it helps them in SO many ways - it teaches them how to clean, it teaches them responsibility, it gives them a sense of accomplishment, it helps them to learn how to think of others (how good it will make Daddy or a guest feel when they come to our home - I teach my kids that it helps people to feel welcomed and honored when they enter our home), and it helps them to feel what peace and order feels like so they can begin to crave that.  Now, I realize, that for some with itty bitty's (kids under two), this is not going to happen and it really is up to you to do everything...remember, this is only a season...it does get better!  First of all, I'll tell you who I've got working for me.  I've got a 7 year old son who literally did not start cleaning until last year.  I just could NOT get the boy to focus - he's like me - details, details.  It wasn't until I learned to clean, that I could teach him how to clean.  Then, I have a 3 year old who is GREAT at cleaning - most days.  She still gets distracted - but is WAY better at it than my boy ever was.  So, here is what I did:

1)  For my boy, I wrote out a "To Do" list (this works well for husbands too- must be a boy thing?)  He couldn't read, so I drew pictures of what needed to be done.  It went like this only with little pictures with squares beside the pictures that he could "check off" (which he loved):  Pick up all clothes off floor (draw a picture of a shirt), Pick up all trash off the floor (draw a little trashcan), Pick up all books off the floor and put them in bookshelf (draw bookshelf), etc.  It sounds like a lot of work, but it is worth it.  You could just draw it one time and then put it in a plastic protector sheet (like you put in notebooks) so you can use a wipe-off marker to do the "checking," so you can use it over and over again.

2)  Walk it through with them a few times so they know exactly how to do it.

3)  Start small.  Maybe start with 10-15 minutes at a time.  Maybe put on the same "cleaning music" to cue them that it is ready to clean.  Also, a timer set for 10 minutes helps them to hurry and do as much as they can in 10 minutes, and, it helps them to know that there is a definite end to this cleaning!
4)  Help them at first until they feel confident to do it on their own.  But, don't do it for them - do it with them.  Even hold their hand and pick something up with them and walk it to where it is supposed to go in a cheerful manner - believe me, this does NOT work if you are too firm (I unfortunately know from experience that this only creates resentfulness and not the desire to want to help Mommy)!

5) Praise their efforts ALOT!!!  Give them big hugs and tell them what a big boy/big girl they are and how they are really helping you so much!

Part 2 will be coming soon with more details!

What to bring to Cub Scouts for snack!?

Okay, so here I'm the healthy lady, signed up to bring snacks to my son's Cub Scout meeting...I honestly don't know WHY we started this whole snack thing when Cub Scouts are from 7pm-8pm!!!  They will be dropping in the BED just after it!  Uggggh - very frustrating seeing that most of the time they get juice boxes and junk treats!  But, here's what I decided to bring:

A Strawberry-Lemonade drink (thrown in my Vita-Mix blender!  Recipe below)
Home-popped Organic Popcorn put in zip-lock bags
Clementines

Strawberry Lemonade Recipe (adapted from Dr. Josh Axe's recipe from his book, The Real Food Diet

     3 cups filtered water (this will make it taste better!)
     1 whole lemon w/out rind (seeds and all if you have a Vita-Mix!)
     6 Organic frozen strawberries
     About 2-3 tsp of Stevia - you need to start slowly w/ the Stevia - too much can make it NOT taste good - I'm not exactly sure how much I put in last time, so it could be less/more depending on what brand you have.

Combine until smooth.  I'm probably going to strain out the pulp in this b/c these kids are used to juice boxes.  I'm just going to bring little cups and bring the Strawberry Lemonade in a big Nalgene to serve.


PLEASE, if anyone else has any suggestions as to what you bring for snacks and really care about it being healthy, BRING ON the ideas!!!

What to do with all that Halloween candy???

If you're like me, you can NOT have candy around the house or you will eat it!!  And, those of you who know me, I strive to really live a healthy lifestyle and have very strong convictions about it - but even I struggle with eating that junk if it is just sitting there right in front of me!!  (Maybe also because I'm pregnant...sometimes even the strongest convictions fly right out the window when you have a really good excuse! HA!)  But, anyways, so...the solution, GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! NOW!!!!  So, here is one thing we've been doing the past 2 years, and we are about to go again today...do the Halloween Candy Buy Back program!  This is a program where local dentists will give your child $1 for every pound of Halloween Candy, and they will in turn send it to troops overseas.  My children like to know that it treating the soldiers as well.  You can go to this link to type in your zip code to find a dentist near your area who is participating.  Some only do it the day after Halloween, but the dentist we go to is still doing it today - so call, it might not be too late!  http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/search-results.html   I do let my children have about 10 pieces of Halloween candy, and then we give the rest away.  I try to steer them clear of candies that I know have a lot of yucky ingredients, like fake colorings, hydrogenated oils, aspartame and things like that.  I have taught them to identify those and steer clear of them.  Good luck, this is NOT an easy battle being a parent!!! 

Getting your kids to clean - Part 2

I may have a part 3 and 4 and 5 by the end of this year because my tactics seem to have to change because my kids HATE to clean (as do I when I'm trying to get THEM to clean!).  Anyways, here is the latest of how I got my kids to clean on just about a whole half of a day (which is a LONG time for an 8 and 4 year old).  I had to do it though because my house was driving me crazy it was so horrible, my husband was out of town, and I had no other option other than to slave-drive and bribe (I mean, give them incentives) to help me!!!!

1)  Prepare them.  First, I told them the day BEFORE to get ready, because Saturday, for most of the day, it was going to be a CLEANING DAY.  And, after we cleaned, we were going to do something fun (it was going to the park to listen to music, but then it changed to riding bikes on the street - which they love!).  And, this will be chores they were getting PAID for (which definitely interests my 8 year old).

2)  Make a good & filling breakfast that morning.  Otherwise, you'll have to stop a million times to provide snacks if your kids are like mine and eat every hour or 2 - good grief.  This actually happened, so next time, I'm going to make a BIGGER breakfast - like pancakes that they can eat on all morning.

3)  Make fun little GLASS containers with their names on it to hold their chore money.  This is actually a big part of it, because kids like something special that is theirs, and they LOVE that cha-ching sound when the coin hits that little glass container.  We used jelly jars.    

4)  Give your children 2 choices, and only 2.  Ask them, "Do you want to gather the trash and put the trash out, or do you want to gather up the laundry to put downstairs?"  This helps them feel like they at least have a choice in the matter.  :)

5)  Start with the hardest task and move to the more detailed.  Or, vice versa, depending on how your children operate.  My kids operate best when doing the hardest thing first.  That first thing may take a LONG time to get done, but I find that after they've accomplish that really hard thing, they feel good about it, and get motivated to do something else and make a little bit more cashola!  Or, it may be that they need to do easy tasks first to feel more confident - try both ways!

6) Give small amounts of change for each task done and give to them to put in their jar!  (Example, 25cents for watering garden that takes a bit of time, 1 cents for putting away shoes, etc.)  I give the amount based on how hard it is for them to do also. 

7)  Find out who your detailed kids are and put them on a detailed task.  A detailed task such as, "organize the bathroom" sounds really fun to these types of kids!

8)  Remember:  "Something is better than nothing!"  It is better that your child do something half-way as good as you would and help them to learn responsibility and the how-to's of cleaning than for you to just do it yourself 100%.  And, maybe you don't have the time or energy to even do it - so remember the slogan!

Here are some of the jobs I give my 4 year old daughter:

Gather up her shoes and put them in her shoe drawer
Pick up all the toys in the front room and put them in your room
Pick up all dirty clothes and put in hamper
Gather all the dirty clothes and throw them down the stairs (see, definitely not perfect!)
Find all dirty dishes and bring to put on counter or in sink
Scrub dishes in soapy water (sometimes this can be so fun for a 4 year old!)
Put away clean clothes from box
Clean room (put away play/dance clothes in box, pick up books to put on shelf, put toys in bins, etc).

Here are some of the jobs I give my 8 year old son:

Clean room
Gather up all trash, consolidate and bring to big outdoor trashcan
Sort laundry into piles to wash downstairs
Put away clean clothes
Pick up all off floor in room & sweep room into a pile (I usually do the rest)
Take out the recycle to big outdoor recycle trashcan
Water the garden
Organize bathroom (he's my detail-lover!)
Organize books under coffee table
Help your sister put away her clean clothes (chuckle)

I hope this helps you to help your kids HELP YOU clean your home!!!  If you clean on a Saturday, they will feel so good the next day when you can enjoy your day of rest in a clean & peaceful home!  Please share any other tips you do with your family!

A really, REALLY good sandwich

I have to tell you about this sandwich our friend Charlie made when he was over at our house.  He just kinda threw together what he could find from our fridge - but I was absolutely addicted to this sandwich for about a week straight - like, just craved it and had to have it everyday!  When I saw him making it, I thought, THAT is going to taste awful - but I was completely surprised!  Here it is:

2 pieces of Ezekiel bread toasted
Mayo on 1 side of bread
About 1/2 tsp Trader Joe's crushed garlic spread and about 1 tsp Trader Joe's Whole Grain Dijon mustard (w/ the seeds in it) on the other side of bread
3-4 slices of Trader Joe's sliced turkey heated w/ sprinkle cheese melted on top
Lettuce
Tomato
Sprinkle of Black Pepper on top of tomato

YUM!!!!  Just stay home a bit after you eat it and don't talk to anyone :)  but it is SOOOO GOOD!

Purple Smoothie Recipe

This is our purple smoothie we always do about 3 times a week - the kids love it, we love it and it's just chock full of good things!  You will need a high-powered blender such as Vita-Mix to make it super smooth.  You might need to change a few things up to your taste - it seems to taste a bit different everytime I make it because I never measure the ingredients, and raw food tastes a bit different each time.  This makes 2 tall glasses and 2 small glasses of smoothie.  If this makes too much for your family, pour the other parts you don't eat into freezie pops! 

1/3-1/2 can of full-fat coconut milk
About a cup or more of water depending on how thick you want it
1 to 2 leaves of kale or 2-3 cups spinach
1 ripe banana
1 large apple
1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of frozen strawberries
1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of frozen blueberries
2-3 TB of flax seeds

Blend on high for at least 30 - 45 seconds to blend the flax seeds.  ENJOY!

Veggie bean cakes and greens

First of all, I can't tell you how excited I am with myself that I actually created a new recipe!  I'm NOT usually one to fly solo without a recipe (because I've tried that before and it was pretty much a disaster everytime).  But, today, I tried something that the kids actually loved!!!  Woohoo!  Well, my husband wasn't there to taste it tonight - and he's my ultimate taste tester, because he is the chef in the family - BUT, the kids and I really loved it!  I will say, it probably needs a bit more herbs or something, but it still tasted good to me.  Here is the recipe:

1st, Steam or boil cubed sweet potatoes and carrots.

2nd, get some rice going (1/4 cup of dry white rice) to make 1/2 cup 

3rd, saute ingredients below:

1/2 onion

2 minced cloves of garlic

1/5 of a yellow pepper (I wasn't sure if the kids would like this, so I didn't put alot!)

(Saute above ingredients w/ grapeseed oil) until tender and then add for 2 minutes:

1 TB chopped fresh oregano (fresh from my garden - yay!)
1 TB chopped fresh basil

4th, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Or, you could just brown each side of the below patties in a skillet on medium heat w/ a tiny bit of grapeseed oil.

5th, throw in Vita-Mix or food processer ALONG WITH sauteed things above:

1/2 cup of cooked sweet potatoes (I had some left over from our sweet potato pancakes this morning!)
1/2 cup of cooked white rice (more leftovers!)
1 can of Great White Northern Beans (drained/rinsed)
2 TB of egg that has been beaten
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of cooked carrots (I steamed mine)

Put brown rice flour in bowl (or any kind of crumb mixture - we're gluten-free here, so that's what I used), and spoon out globs of mixture into and work flour into until you can form into patties.  Put on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on 1 side, flip and bake for another 10 minutes on other side.  Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on it to taste.

We had some collard greens (I think?) or some kind of greens that I got from my friend's CSA while she was on vacation, and I steamed those to go on the side.  Steam greens for 5 minutes.  I actually steamed mine a bit too long I think for 6-7!

YUMMO!!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!  The picture is not very good - sorry, don't have a fancy camera!  Hopefully you get the idea of what it should look like.  I actually did some in the skillet and browned them a bit in just a tiny bit of grapeseed oil.  You could also do that - I actually liked the skillet ones better I think, even though they both pretty much tasted the same.  So, this 1st picture is of Mitchell choking down his greens - he did NOT like these, but he was willing to eat them all for a 3rd Veggie bean cake :)  Evelyn took that picture - she was taking a bunch of pictures!  HA!  The 2nd picture is of him finishing up his Veggie bean cake.