Question of the month: Back to school

Many kids are heading back to school today - or starting for the first time!  It's an exciting, nerve-racking and stressful time for many.

My biggest struggle with back to school is packing healthy lunches with limited time on my hands and a picky eater. I'm trying to involve Kiernan in the process more now that he's in grade one but also rely on buying hot (and healthy) lunches from the school.

What are your struggles with back to school and what are your best tips for making things run smoothly?

Parenting tips: What to bring to the cottage

by Amanda I grew up in the country where dirt biking, wood piling and frequenting lakes where a regular part of my childhood. We lived extremely close to many lakes and most of our family members and friends either lived on a lake or had a cottage. We had access to many great spots for spending our days.

There is nothing like jumping off a dock into refreshing water, cutting in and out of the wake as you water ski and wearing a bathing suit all day long as you bbq and relax in the outdoors.

Whether you are visiting a local beach, heading to a friends cottage or renting this summer here are some of my favourite (and need items!) to bring along with you if you have children in tow.

• Bathing suits and towels (of course!), hats and sunscreen.
• Water shoes- even if there is a sandy beach and the water bottom is smooth you never know if you will discover a new area that is a bit rougher or be walking through the woods with uneven ground or rocks.  They are also nice for hot days when some surfaces get extremely hot where your little one may be walking. We put our son's water shoes on and he wears them to the cottage and we know we have them with us should he need them.
• Sand toys. No beach nearby, just water? No problem! Use buckets, shovels and beach toys in the water, use buckets to clean off feet after walking back up to the cottage, use them to collect rocks, leaves and other nature memorabilia!
• Sidewalk chalk- this can come in handy and keep children busy for hours as they colour rocks, trees, the deck and more! Super easy clean up the next time it rains or by using those sand buckets full of water to clean it up!
• Bubbles. Okay what kid doesn’t like bubbles? Seriously!
• Pool noodles, lifejacket and a ball! This can lead to hours of fun playing in and around the water.
• Heading out to a cottage for a few days? Head to the dollar store and stock up on a few colouring books, crayons, stickers and other things that can keep the kids occupied indoors if and when needed.
• Don’t bring too many pieces of clothing, towels, etc. It’s the cottage! Rinse it out in the lake and hang it over a chair to dry!
• Designate a large blanket or old sheet that you can keep in your car for beach days or sitting by the water to enjoy a picnic.

What are your must have items when heading to the beach or the lake for a day, two or even a week?!

Amanda is a mom to a 2 year old boy and 4 month old baby girl.  When she is not out having fun with the kids you can find her getting her yoga on at www.littlelotusyoga.ca

Preparing for the First Day of School

by Jayda

The first day of school preparations are in full swing. My oldest son, JWS, will start half-day senior kindergarten in September. Here, in Ontario there are two grades of kindergarten: junior kindergarten (JK) and senior kindergarten (SK). Junior kindergarten begins at age 4 and senior kindergarten at age 5. Since we did not live in Canada last year, this will be the first year JWS has attended school.

We are all having mixed emotions about this milestone.

Anxiety.

We are anxious about the unknown. For JWS this is the unknown of what to expect. He has never met his teacher, seen his classroom, or taken a school bus. He doesn't know any of the other children in his class.

For me,  it is the unknown of how will he 'do'. Will he like it? Will his teacher and peers talk to him and treat him in a loving, kind way? Will he be bored, discouraged, or will he be stimulated and eager?

What will the days look like, for LLS and I at home? Will LLS be lost without his big brother or will he embrace the time to himself/with me ?

Excitement.

JWS is excited to go to school to learn some 'stuff'. He has been counting down the days.

I am excited for JWS to experience school. I am excited for him to make new friends, learn new skills and have experiences independent from home.

Pride.

I am certain he will do very well at school. He is a confident child. He easily makes new friends at the playground. I am proud of him and the wonderful, kind, loving, inquisitive 5-year-old he is today. I am proud of us (his parents) for our parenting philosophies that I believe have shaped him and fostered his confidence.

Here are some of the things we did to prepare for the first day of school:

1. We made a routine folder. I took photos of JWS doing all the things he will need to do (eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, play, eat lunch, put on shoes/coat) in order to get ready for school. Luckily, this year, we have all morning, since he is going to afternoon, half-day kindergarten. I will let him choose the order that he wants to do them in. This will be a nice visual reminder of what he has done and what needs to be done. He is a visual learner.

2. We attended our school district school bus safety course for first time riders. JWS is still undecided if he want to take the bus to school or not. I wanted him to be prepared, whatever his decision. He was very excited about the bus. This course alone relieved a lot of his anxiety.

3. We went school shopping (supplies and indoor shoes), just the two of us. To my surprise he is very possessive over his supplies and very happy to use it everyday. He likes to practice writing the letters, something he learned on his own.

4. And finally, we drove the bus route to his school and played on the playground and spied in the classroom windows.

Are your memories of school influencing how you portray school to your children or how you prepare them for school? Sometimes I catch myself projecting my emotions on JWS. This is how I felt therefore he must feel this way to. I have to stop myself and allow him to have his own feelings, positive or negative.

What did you do to prepare for the first day of school?

Jayda Siggers is a Mom of 2 ( JWS, 6 and LLS, 4), a nutritionist, a coach at Clean Plate Cleanse, a master mediator living under a co-dictatorship, whole food advocate, trying to live a little greener everyday.

Top 5 Baby Items to bring when Travelling

by Amanda Over the past two years we have travelled with at least one child (and now have 2!) under the age of 2 to Florida, Toronto and Montreal (frequently!), cottages, Eastern Townships and a few other places in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.  With trips being for the day up to 10 days we are learning how to pack more efficiently and only bring what we truly need.  Here are my top 5 baby items that we don’t leave home without!

1. Baby Carriers- we don’t leave home without a soft structured carrier like our Ergo  or Onya  baby soft structured carriers and a woven wrap.  This way we always have a way to carry both children at the same time! Our woven wrap can also double as a blanket, something to sit on or a way to shade the sun.

2. Bumbo Chair - once baby is able to support their own neck and head this chair comes on all travels with us. It allows baby a place to sit when we are eating so they feel part of the conversation.  Note: DO NOT LEAVE baby unattended on any surface at any time! We use ours when sitting on the deck and put baby under the umbrella, at restaurants, to sit in the bathroom when we need a shower and many other times! We’ve also been known to leave it on top of our car when travelling and drive away leaving it behind in places like Hudson, Quebec ;)

3. Aden & Anais blankets - these light blankets are very big which allows a place for baby to lay down and play or can cover up our toddler and make the perfect sun shade when the kids are in a baby carrier and it’s a hot sunny day.  Also? These blankets are big enough to snuggle up your toddler!

4. Goodbyn Lunch containers - These containers have compartments that allow us to pack a variety of food for the whole family on a road trip.  We have adult size and kid size ones! Packed with raisins, goldfish, sandwiches, cheese and crackers the long drive is made a little easier so we don’t have to stop too often.

5. Planet Wise wet bags - Not only are these wonderful for cloth diapering families we use our waterproof bags for when we spend days at the beach and splash pads so we can throw our wet stuff in it. These bags are also wonderful for dirty laundry.

What are your most have items when travelling with a baby? What kind of adventurous family trips have you taken with baby?

Amanda is a mom to a 2 year old boy and 4 month old baby girl.  When she is not out having fun with the kids you can find her getting her yoga on at www.littlelotusyoga.ca

The beauty of a visual schedule

by Karen This is a post in an ongoing series I'm doing for Kids in the Capital to talk about our experience in going through the assessment process for our son, Brandon. My hope is to give ideas and insight to families of special needs children, as well as some creative ideas for families who want to incorporate different ideas, all while raising awareness and telling our story.

*****

A couple of months ago, we took Brandon to a speech pathologist for a series of assessments on his speech/language skills. It was an interesting process. I got to see a very concentrated view of his transitioning abilities, which is an area we've had challenges with for a long time.

And let's face it: Change is hard!

The speech pathologist gave us two really good tactics (and even made some of the tools for us to start with)!

First Then

"First then" is a shortened visual schedule method. We've used it to emphasize pieces of the overall daily schedule at times. Other times we use it to make it clear to Brandon that before he can do what he wants, there's something he needs to do.

Having a visual reference gives a more concrete understanding of what's going on, particularly for children who comprehend visual information more readily than verbal, as is the case with Brandon (based on my personal observations).

Visual Schedule

A visual schedule is portable, flexible and gives an overview of the entire day or a block of time that has a series of transitions. When we use it (and admittedly, we don't always think about it), transitions go more smoothly. We discuss the schedule as we're laying it out and Brandon gets to provide input.

(It cracks me up when he removes bedtime from the schedule, though I'm always super serious and never let him know it's funny. Yeah, right. ;))

Our visual schedule consists of an odd mish mash of items, but as we get deeper into using this as a tool, I am thinking of lots more to add to it.

Getting Brandon involved gives him a sense of control about his activities. This is important for him. He needs to feel safe and secure in knowing what's coming next. We don't like to plan our weekends and often regret not having a plan because we haven't equipped ourselves to adequately prepare Brandon to move from one activity to the next. (We're a work in progress!)

The visual schedule and first then tools would be useful for any child, though some clearly benefit more than others. If you're interested in putting one together, here are a couple resources to help you get started (Google can tell you loads more!):

Factsheet for autism therapy: visual schedules, by Healing Threshold

How-to Templates: Visual Schedules (PDF), by HANDS in Autism

Because we're a tech geek family, I was keen to find out what was available for our iDevices. Turns out there's quite a bit! GadgetsDNA.com did a review of "10 Revolutionary iPad Apps to Help Autistic Children" and I think there's one I'm going to check for a free trial version with the intent to buy if it's good. They range from free to nearly $200 for more sophisticated functionality. (Depending on a child's needs, that $200 may be a cheap expense. iPods/iPads - we've found - are fantastic for helping Brandon explore and learn.)

These tools were my first glimpse of how the pros would end up helping us learn to cope differently. There is a heightened level of attention to detail required of us to accommodate Brandon's needs, but he's worth it. Besides, the right kind of attention mixed with the right frequency has never been known to hurt a child.

*****

Karen Wilson is a wife to Matt and mom to Brandon (4), who blogs about her life at Karen’s Chronicles. She can be found at Wellman Wilson, helping businesses use social media more effectively. Karen is also committed to doing her part to keep the coffee industry alive, because who needs sleep?