Mindful Kids in the Capital

by Ali The beginning of school has been pretty hectic around our house. Just finding the balance between school, work, lunches, dance and homework has left my two girls and I feeling frazzled at times.  This feeling of frazzled has, unfortunately, migrated to bedtime. My youngest daughter, now 10, has always had what I’ll so lovingly call “sleep issues.” From a colicky baby who needed to be rocked to sleep to a child, to a toddler with night terrors, to a kid who spent most nights in my bed, she still has difficulty both falling and staying asleep at night. Needless to say, stress doesn’t help the matter. In comes a new strategy we’re exploring called Mindfulness For ChildrenBasically, Mindfulness is the art of paying attention to your life and your surroundings on purpose, without judgment. The recent studies I’ve read say that Mindfulness can reduce anxiety and stress in kids (and adults) and them develop social and emotional intelligence, resulting in better self-awareness and less stress which leads to happier kids. And I’m all for using it to help DD relax and fall asleep – after all, when she sleeps, I can sleep. So here are a few of the ways we’ve been trying to introduce Mindfulness into our day:

Mindful Walking

When we’re out for a walk, whether it’s to the corner store or just around the block, we are now starting to really pay attention to our surroundings. I will ask her to feel her arms move as we walk.  I ask her to notice how her feet feel as they hit the ground. I encourage her to pay attention to her five senses – the sights, sounds, smells, feel and taste of the walk. DD finds this a bit amusing but we’re getting better at it.

Mindful Listening

I find this one is best before bed and helps to settle DD. We spend a few minutes just listening to the house. We try to guess what the sounds are and what’s making them. This also helps because my daughter has a lot of fears about sounds and being alone at night. When we try to make sense of the noises, she calms a bit.

Mindful Breathing

This one has worked the best for us when I’m trying to settle my daughter before bed. We lie on her bed together and focus on our breathing. She’s pretty good at it, we’ve practiced relaxation since she was little as a way to relax and calm down. We focus on breathing in – holding it—and then focus on our breathing out. I often talk her through the breathing saying things like “In with all the good, night time thoughts, and out with all the stress of the day. Often, in the middle of the Mindful Breathing, my daughter will finally settle and then I hear her deep slow breaths turn into sleeping breaths (my very favorite sound). These techniques aren’t perfect and they do take some practice but it really has helped my daughter and me at night, especially at 2 in the morning when she’s awake (again) and we need to start all over.

If you have any sleep strategies for older kids, please share! I’m all ears!

Ali is a psychotherapist, blogger, social media enthusiast and chocoholic. She is also a Dance Mom to two awesome girls. She is the owner of Second Act Consignment Dancewear and creator  of Therapy Stew. She blogs at AliGoldfield

Flashback: OAMC, or simply put, Freezer Cooking

This was one of our very first posts on the blog but I've been thinking about it a lot lately as I try to figure out how to not only avoid takeout by being more efficient but also figuring out ways to save money on groceries. ~Lara by Jenn

I am very happy to write my first post as a contributor to this Blog!  I really believe that this blog will be a great way to help other parents in the Ottawa area in many, many ways!  I am not very good with figuring out new things to do with my kids (Jacob - 5, Zachary - 2.5), but I realized today that I do have something important to share.  Once a Month Cooking, also called Freezer Cooking.

Over the past 4 years since going back to work after my first child, I have struggled with getting proper, healthy meals on the table after getting home for the day after 5pm.   Then, last October, a friend posted something on Facebook about a place you could go to where you choose a certain amount of meals and then prepare those meals right there at the store.  They provide everything you need and have everything all ready to go.  You just have to follow a recipe and dump ingredients into Ziplock bags.  It sounded great!  I decided to give it a try.  It was a lot of fun, but it was also pretty expensive.  I justified it by convincing myself that we would end up saving money by not going out to eat. I thought I would just go once a month and make 6-9 meals.  Shortly after, I realized that we would not be able to do this regularly.  The cost was just too high.

Skip forward to February.  A different friend posted on Facebook how she had just made 12 meals in one day.  I immediately drilled her on how she did this.  It was that day that I was introduced to Once a Month Cooking / Freezer Cooking.  She suggested two books for me to have a look at - The Big Cook and Fix, Freeze, Feast.  I researched both books and decide I needed both of them ASAP!   So I ordered them online from Chapters.ca.  The day they were delivered, I went crazy planning my menu for the next little while, preparing a grocery list, and ultimately went shopping at Costco and Bulk Barn for my ingredients.  That first night, I had prepared 3 meals of Basil Balsamic Chicken Breasts.  It took me no more than 15 minutes of work.  We had one that night and two more went into the freezer.  I went about three days in a row doing this and then spent a Saturday afternoon making about 8 meals.  It was great!  I had 12 meals in the freezer ready to go.  All I needed to do was put it in the fridge to thaw in the morning or night before and I had dinner figured out.

Freezer cooking is not only a great way to plan meals and have something ready for dinner every night, it is also a great way to save money.  If you are a Costco shopper, this is definitely a great thing to do.  You can buy big trays of meat and use it all at once to make many meals and not be afraid of wasting.  You can watch for sales and save even more money.  I tell you, once you start, you can become a little obsessed with it!  I started seeing meat and thinking "What can I make with this".  By the beginning of March, my freezer was packed with about 30 meals.  :)  Obsessed I was!  But we have been eating GREAT food and I have been saving us money!  Win, win!

Stay tuned for more adventures in Freezer Cooking!

Jenn is mom to five-year old Jacob and two and a half year old Zachary.

Have you ever tried once a month cooking? Do you have any tips to share?

Taking the mourning out of our mornings

by Carly With the possible and occasional exception of my husband, we're not morning people around here.  I think I've mentioned that a time or ten in the past.  And now that the Little Man is back to being on the school bus every morning at 7:40 am, not to mention being gone for a whole day and therefore needing more crap stuff, I knew I needed to get my bum in gear so that mornings wouldn't be a nightmare.

I've got two and half months before my maternity leave ends and I'm back to work full time.  That means two and half months where my only task in the morning (is it terrible that I shudder a wee bit inside every time I type the word "morning"?) is to get just the Little Man out the door and on the bus, clothed, fed and watered.  Come mid-November I'll have to add myself and the Baby Man into that mix.

Knowing this, I started planning ahead for that eventuality.  I may have a hate-hate relationship with mornings (shudder), but I love me some organizing.  Here's what we're doing . . .

1. Must-Do Posters Inspired by a similar poster designed by Kids in the Capital mom, Kim-Anh, I made these:

They're on the wall between the kitchen and the powder room and the Little Man loves checking them every morning and afternoon to ensure he's crossed his "must-do's" off his daily list.  My personal favourite on this list?  Choosing his clothes for the next day the night before!

2. "Make" Breakfast the Night Before We've all heard of making lunches the night before, which we do around here too, but Mr. Tree was quick to point out how much easier it would be for the Little Man if we set out everything he needs for breakfast before going to bed every night.

Since the Baby Man wakes up at the same time as the Little Man, and still needs a grown-up to feed him, I put out what Jake will need for his breakfast the night before.  Thankfully Jake loves a good, big breakfast but dragging stools or chairs to the necessary cupboard to get everything he needs out in the morning is time consuming and leaves us tripping all over each other.  So his bowl, spoon, cereal and honey are put on the table for him, and the milk is left easily accessible in the fridge.  Whenever possible, I get his fruit and yogurt ready to go as well.

3. Making use of the Powder Room Like most kids, Jake is an easily distracted dawdler.  Imaginary friends can suddenly and unexpectedly pop out of anywhere, urgently needing his attention.  Sending him upstairs to floss and brush his teeth every morning was taking anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes.  So we put a second toothbrush (for everyone in the family), toothpaste and flossers in the powder room on the main floor.  Amid the hustle and bustle of everyone in the family getting ready, Jake finds it easier to stay focused on the task at hand.

No running back upstairs (to get dressed or brush his teeth) also ensures he doesn't get sidetracked by the ALL! THE! AWESOME! LEGO! in his room.

4. No TV in the Morning This was a tough one for Jake, as there's nothing he loves more than chilling on the couch first thing in the morning watching a fifteen minute episode of pretty much anything on Treehouse or Disney Junior.  Like a lot of children (and adults), the Little Man has a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time.  Even having the news on while he eats is distracting so we're working on limiting TV even for the grown-ups to the first 10-15 minutes after the hour or half hour . . . to catch the weather and traffic.

5. No Dishes in the Morning If it doesn't go in the dishwasher (we prefer to wash some of our kid-friendly dishes by hand), it gets left neatly in the sink to be washed later.  Right now I'm doing those dishes once Jake is on the bus, but I plan on teaching my recovering perfectionist self to just leave them there until I get home from work.  Sure it's not always fun to walk in the door to a sink full of dirty dishes, but since mornings and I already struggle to get along, this works for me.

And one of the very important reasons I'm choosing not to do dishes is because I want us to have . . .

6. Ten Minutes to Hang as a Family As I write this we're only on the second day of school and so we're still working on this one.  I'm trying to make sure we're setting aside ten minutes in the morning to just touch base as a family.  Ten minutes for Jake to sit on the floor and be goofy with Noah.  Ten minutes to read a short story.  Ten minutes to express our hopes for the day ahead or just talk about a crazy dream we had last night.

I'm a night owl at heart so I'm always interested in what works for other families.  What do you do to make mornings less mournful?

Carly has red hair and occasionally the temper to match.  She loves potatoes, rainy nights, photography, her husband, her 6 year old son, Jacob and her 10 month old son, Noah.  Probably in reverse order.   She also blogs.

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