Getting Sick: Before and After Kids

Getting sick in my pre-kid days was a simple, three-step process: 1) Get sick

2) Lie in bed. Moan. Coerce loved ones to take good care of me, bringing cool cloths and ginger ale.

3) Get better.

Getting sick with kids is slightly more complicated:

1) Feel the onset of sickness. Panic slightly.

2) In anticipation of sickness, rearrange all plans - find alternative rides to school, reschedule appointments and cancel all extracurricular activities.

3) Get sick.

4) Keep taking care of kids and cleaning house, despite horrible sickness. Lie on the couch only when children are occupied by the television, lest they try to destroy the house. Carry plastic bags with you for school drop-offs, just in case of sudden bout of vomiting.

5) Husband stays home and lets you lie down. Baby needs to be nursed every 2 hours, and 3 year old bursts in on you several times throughout the day asking for random stuff. "Where is that pink shape I cut out yesterday?" To which you answer, "I don't know, jerk, go away!" Or if you're a really Good Mother like I am, you say "I'm not sure, sweetie, why don't you go ask Daddy?"

6) Continue to nurse throughout the night, while running out of the room several times to get sick. Wake baby more often by running out of room.

7) Begin to feel slightly better.

8) Get a sore throat instead.

9) Get woken up in the night by vomiting 3 year-old.

10) Seven days later, your family is finally healthy...

Until next week of course!

Hoping your family is happy and healthy this Spring Season!

Swimming Stress

I posted on our Facebook page the other day, asking parents whether I'm the only one who gets frustrated during swimming registration time. Apparently I'm not alone! We've been kind of lazy when it comes to swimming. I took our oldest for a lesson when she was 4 months old, and then promptly forgot to sign her up for anything after that for a couple of years. In all honesty, I'm not sure that early swimming lessons actually do anything to promote swimming ability. It's kind of like potty training - if they're not ready, then you won't have a lot of success.

However, that's not to say that introduction to the water (and getting wet) isn't a good thing! Our daughter is now 4.5, and making some good progress in her lessons.

But swimming registration? How frustrating!! Our city offers fantastic programming, but trying to register your child for a particular time spot is a nightmare. Online registration opens at 9pm, and the site usually crashes due to overwhelming demand. If you wait even 24 hours, chances are, your preferred spaces are gone. And trying to register more than one child in the same time slot? Forget it!

I completely forgot about winter registration, and ended up getting the last spot available for both my girls - 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. It's been tough, let me tell you. We're usually up by 7am, but by the time we eat and get dressed, we're often rushing out the door (or late for class).

However, we noticed a benefit to early Sunday morning - small class sizes, without having to pay for "low ratio." So when Spring registration began this past Monday, I couldn't believe that I actually chose the 8:30 spot :) This time, though, our 17 month-old won't be taking part. The water is freezing, and she just doesn't enjoy it much at this age. So 8:30 seems more doable with just one child.

Where's your favourite place to swim in Ottawa?

5 Stars for Starr Gymnastics!

Welcome to Starr Gymnastics, our featured sponsor this month!

Our daughter was delighted to check out Starr Gymnastics (Orleans location) this past week. We've been living in Orleans for three years now, and have definitely been missing out on this local gem!

With a bright and large open space for plenty of exercise, Starr has it all - a climbing wall, a swinging rope, several mini-trampolines, and balance beams and bars. There is also a nice quiet room in the back, intended for use by parents with really young children, and a raised area where there are four large round trampolines, and a foam pit for the children to dive into. There are also slides, balls, hoops, bean bags, and small play equipment spread throughout the space.

Starr offers regular instructional classes,March and Summer day camps, and private birthday parties. We checked out one of the many drop-in play times. My husband was very impressed with the instructors, who he said were enthusiastic and very helpful. The highlight of the hour was the parachute, when the kiddies got to send a bucket full of balls flying up into the air. By the end of the drop-in, my daughter had already decided that instead of soccer this summer, she would rather do gymnastics camp!

We'll certainly be signing her up for a class. If you're looking for last minute March break activities, there are still spaces available in their half or full-day camps. For those who like to plan in advance, summer camps will be posted soon!

Have you visited one of the three Starr Gymnastics locations? What's your child's favourite activity?

Recipe for raising a financially-literate kid

Preparation time: 20 years

Ingredients:

• At least one child (more if you are up for the challenge)
• Your words
• Your actions
• Toys
• Money
• Piggy bank
• Debit card
• Credit card
• Various investment vehicles of your choice (i.e. stock, GIC, etc)
• Patience
• Imagination
• Fun

Instructions:

This is one of those recipes that may turn you off because of the amount of work involved and the length of the preparation time. However, making anything great requires time and effort, and the end result makes it all worth it.

Step 1: Start off by teaching your baby/toddler to take care of his toys. Taking care and appreciating our possessions helps fight the need to constantly purchase more new stuff. Use the toys to teach the child to share. This will eventually turn into donating, which is important part of financial literacy. It shows that we are thankful for what we have and want to help out the less fortunate.

Step 2: Once the child starts asking you to buy him things, it is time to start frequently adding a good measure of pep talk as to where the money comes from, how mom and dad work hard to earn money and have to make choices about how to spend our money.

Step 3: When your child is about 5 years old, start giving allowance. The allowance is supposed to be a teaching tool for money management. It may be tempting to withdraw the allowance for misbehaviour, but I urge you to withdraw other privileges such as TV or computer time instead. This way you will not deprive your child of an opportunity to manage and learn about money. You should gently guide the managing process, and let the child learn from mistakes while the dollar amounts are low and stakes are not high.

Step 4: Make sure that as soon as the child receives any money, a portion is saved in a piggy bank or a savings bank account. Explain that by saving money as soon as it comes in, we are paying ourselves first before we spend the rest of the money by paying others.

Step 5: Teach the everyday important money management skills like budgeting, couponing, price matching or how to look for the best deal.

Step 6: Buy a stock for your child of a company that they admire like Apple. Follow the stock and the company, then buy a different investment vehicle such as a GIC.

Step 7: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of debt and credit cards. Explain credit interest, credit rating and credit history. When your child turns 18, have them apply for a credit card, and for the next couple of years closely monitor and coach credit card use.

Sprinkle each of the above steps with fun and imagination for more enjoyable experience, and don’t forget to add a generous helping of patience.

Enjoy and show off your creation!

Maya Kuc Corbic, CPA, CA is a financial literacy expert. She is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant and the founder of DINARII Financial Education Academy, whose mission it is to teach children and youth financial literacy skills. They offer fun and engaging workshops to schools. They also hold workshops for parents and provide tools so that parents can continue teaching personal finance at home. You can follow Maya on Twitter: @Educ8Money2Kids, or Facebook: Dinarii Financial Education Academy.

Let's Say Goodbye to the R-Word

Do you see things on Facebook that you find offensive? I'm not talking about grammatical errors and spelling mistakes (although, yes, those are annoying), or the fact that your brother supports the conservatives (equally annoying). I'm talking about comments, posts or photos shared that have you shutting down the computer in disgust, and going to rant to your husband about the insensitivity of other human beings. Today I commented on a photo that a friend had shared, and was appalled to see someone else commented using the R-word. What she was really trying to say was that the photo (and situation/context) was ridiculous or stupid. Instead, she used a derogatory word - perhaps because she is unaware of its meaning, or perhaps because she is just plain mean.

If this woman was my friend, I would have sent her a private message and kindly asked her not to use that word anymore. But because she was a friend of a friend, the situation was a little awkward. So what I decided to do instead was to share this wonderful website with all of my Facebook friends, so that we could start an important conversation - hopefully one that might continue at the dinner table tonight.

This is not about being "politically correct" - this is about recognizing that a word is offensive and hateful, and should no longer be a part of our vocabulary. People with intellectual and/or physical disabilities do not deserve to be associated with a word that means "dumb" or "stupid."

So check out this great website with your children, and start a discussion. Spread the word to end the word!