As my wife and gear up for our kids going back to school we have been thinking a bit more about this question.  How to teach our younger kids the basics they will need when they go school?

We have 5 kids and each has been very different.  Our first was vary vocal and a quick learner, learned to speak clearly and in full sentences by 1 and a half.  She also had all the main colors, letters and sounds figured out by the time she was 3 and was reading before kindergarten – we really did not have to do anything to get her ready for school.  Number two, my first son, was totally different, all he wanted to do was jump from the day he was born, and did not care about vocalizing.  When he finally started talking, he often got words mixed up, saying the last syllables first and then the first – for almost, he would say, “mosal,” for example.  We were worried.  We tried working with him a little more and by the time he was starting kindergarten he could read if he wanted to.  Once in school, our worries quickly vanished as he excelled in all areas.  Our third is just now getting ready for school, she’ll be going to kindergarten this year and has been the source of our worrying currently.  When she was little she was the last to start speaking coherently – up until about 3 she spoke mostly in what we called her own language.  Also she still struggles with remembering all the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make.  We have spent a lot of time reviewing things with her, much more then the first two and we have realized we have had it easy with the first two.  The last two kids have not been a worry.  Number 4, my second son, is tagging along with the teaching his sister is getting and is picking it up just as well as here and is learning well at the age of 3.  Our youngest, almost 1 year old, is also doing well and vocalizing a lot, much like her older sister, already with several words, the alphabet song and counting to 3.

The point in this post is how have you helped your kids?  I am fishing for ideas to help my third, as she enters school, what has worked for you?Similar Posts:

• End of Summer Vacation Final Fling! – By Robert
• 30 Things to Do When You’re Bored – By Robert
• Read To Your Kids! – By Robert
• The Art of Dadliness Tip 7 – Be a Kid – By Robert
• Daddy Tips – Little Things I’ve Learned Over The Years – By Robert

In less that a month it will be the end of that magical time for kids – summer vacation is winding down.  As we start getting out those school supply lists and start school shopping fro both supplies and clothes.  Most of our trips and camps are over and our kids are perhaps both excited, nervous, and bummed all at the same time at the thought of going back to school.  So why not have one final summer fling party with your kids – to finish off the summer magically.

I know for me the thought of doing one last fun party with my kids sounds like a lot of fun – I start getting ideas immediately.  The first few things that come to mind are similar to the ones I discussed for birthday parties here.   Treasure hunts are top on that list of things to do that are both inexpensive and fun for kids of almost any age.  Beyond that though I recommend talking to your kids – it is for them anyway – what would they want to do with, say, that last weekend before school starts, and what is within the budget.

I think the best fun you can have with the kids can actually be free to little cost and can be done nearby or at home.  Here are four of my ideas for the last summer fling:

1. Treasure Hunt – Like I mentioned before, this can be tailored to all ages.  For preschool you could do a little hunt with clues around the house or yard using pictures and symbols.  For elementary school age kids use clever riddle clues to send them around the neighborhood or a local park.  Last, for teens, try something on a bigger scale, and make an evening of it.  If you, and your kids friends have access to GPS devices you can make a GEO Caching treasure hunt making your own caches and clues leading from one to the next around town. (GEOCaching.com)
2. Board Game Party – My kids love board games.  I have found them several times this last summer up in one of their rooms playing Monopoly or Clue – or on occasion to please their youngers, a bit of Candyland.  When I look back too I have fond memories of long nights of board games with my friends and cousins playing Monopoly, Clue, Risk, or even Chess (yes I am a geek).  Now there a lot of new games that could appeal to almost any age.  You could plan a game night where you play one you already have or maybe find a new one and try it out, one I recommend for older kids is Settlers of Catan – this is a game I love playing with my siblings when we get together.  The point is, make a night of it and make it memorable.
3. Video Game Night – I can here some parents groaning… but hay it’s the end of summer and it could be a lot better than it sounds.  I actually get excited thinking about this one.  You could do several things with this one, depending on the age of your kids.  First there are a lot of great group/party video games out there now that really promote social interaction.  A lot of the Wii games are like this.  There are also great games like Dance Dance Revolution, or Sing Star (two of my favorite series of games).  These games can make for a great night for your kids and their friends and it could be as cheep as a game rental from your local video store.  These games are also great for all ages.  Another type of video game night for older kids could involve your kids friends bringing over their game systems and doing multi player games all in a group.  If your kid is often hooking up with friends on line with their X-Box360 or PS3, even some Wii games, to play different games then this may be the party for you.  It adds a new level of fun to bring everyone together in one house with their game systems and have a tournament all together in one place.  With younger kids you can do something similar with their Nintendo DS’s playing Pokemon games (my kids would go crazy over a Final Fling like that).
4. Camping Party – Here you could invite your kids and their parents for one last camping night.  Go out that last weekend for a night around a campfire at a local campsite.  Roast marshmallows, make smores and tell ghost stories then play some kick the can or capture the flag in the dark.  In the morning you could then go fishing or for a hike as a group, in my opinion this would be the best way to say goodbye to summer vacation.

The list could go on, you know your kids best, make some plans now to make it a summer ending fling they will be talking about with their friends back at school for the rest of the year.

Nester Dad out…Similar Posts:

• Birthday Parties on a Budget – By Robert
• Summer Break!! – Keep Your Kids off the Couch – By Robert
• The Time Game… A Family Favorite – New Video – By Robert
• 30 Things to Do When You’re Bored – By Robert
• The Art of Dadliness Tip 7 – Be a Kid – By Robert

How often do toys get broken or come apart and we throw them away without trying to fix them? Now, some times toys are just beyond repair, but often there ways we can fix them if we just gave it some time or a little thinking. In our day, we also have the Internet we can turn to.  On-line you can find all kinds of instructions on how to fix different things, so don’t give up on your broken toys.

Case in point, today my oldest son brought me his Rubiks Magic with strings coming off all over one side asking, “dad, can you fix this?”

Now, I consider myself a clever guy, so I took a look. I had my first Rubik’s Magic when I was a kid and knew it forwards and backwards but the tangled mess was just a little to much for me. Giving in a little, I hopped on line and googled how to fix a Rubik’s Magic. It didn’t take long to find some great instructions on how to restring it and that tangled mess is now back to normal.

So next time something breaks – see if you can fix it, check on-line for additional help and you may have a chance to make your kids day.

Here are the video tutorials I found to fix the Rubik’s Magic today:

Similar Posts:

• Wasps Wikipedia and the Web – Learning With Your Kids On-Line – By Robert
• End of Summer Vacation Final Fling! – By Robert
• “Dad, can I get on the Internet?” – By Robert
• The Art of Dadliness Tip 4 – Get Holes in the Knees of Your Pants – By Robert
• Should Parents get on Facebook… I Say Yes – By Robert

The web has always been a great resource for my family when we are curious about the world around us.  When the kids have a question about something it is where we turn, often mid discussion, to help answer the question.  A recent experience was no different.

Over the last few days we had some mud nests developing on our front porch light.  At first we were not sure what they were, the nests were fascinating though and intricately made – new long mud tubes would show up each morning.  After we saw a few of them show up stacked on top of each other it was time to figure out what was going on so I hopped on line and googled mud nest – searching under images.  I quickly found images that looked like what we had – they were built by wasps, mud dauber wasps.  I hate wasps.  I then hopped on Wikipedia and search mud-dauber wasp and leaned more.  I also read information about them on other web sites.  The more I read the more fascinated I was with these wasps; my kids and wife included.  We learned that they are not quite like the paper nest building wasps – not as aggressive and more related to honey bees.  We also leaned that they keep the spider population down as they collect spiders to put into their nests as food for their larva.  Each tube that was being built was for one larva.

This morning we went out in the morning and caught our wasp at its nest on video.  We are still not sure what to do with it.  We like that the wasp is helping keep the spider population down, its nest is quite the work of art too, and we’re not afraid of it stinging us but it is right on our porch light.  For now it’s saying – decision pending since we have become fond of our wasp.

So, the next time you or your kids have a question about the world around you, hop on line and see what you can learn – it may surprise you and it may change your perspective.

Nester Dad out…

• Don’t Give Up on Broken Toys – Broken Rubik’s Magic – By Robert
• Should Parents get on Facebook… I Say Yes – By Robert
• “Dad, can I get on the Internet?” – By Robert
• QuinturaKids.com – Review of a Kid Friendly Search Engine – By Robert

Facebook is now a big part of society.  It has been around for a few years now and has changed the way we interact with friends and keep connected.  It is also a big way for our kids to connect and share with their friends.  So the question comes up, should parents get on Facebook?  My answer is most defiantly yes, for several reasons… none of which are to spy on your kids.

First of all, some of the rules, Facebook is set up for users 13 and older.  You should make sure your kids are not on Facebook until they are 13.  Also under the Facebook Privacy Policy they recommend that minors (13-18) get permission before they send any information to anyone over the Internet.

From it’s terms of use:

Registration and Account Security

Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
2. You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.

From it’s privacy policy:

Children Under Age 13

Facebook does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If you are under 13, please do not attempt to register for Facebook or send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on Facebook. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us through the form on our privacy help page.

Children Between the Ages of 13 and 18

We recommend that minors 13 years of age or older ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

With that aside we can get into the fun.

Reason 1: Facebook and social media as a whole is about connecting with people.  With those you know and those you have not met yet.  It is a way to get to know your friends and family better along with a way to get to know new people who, perhaps share a common interest or experience.  With Facebook as a parent we have the opportunity in basking in all the social media fun, connecting with past friends and family.  Meeting new friends and sharing in common experiences.  It does not have to be just about being a parent… In fact I think the best way for you and your kids to be comfortable with your use of Facebook is for you to primarily use it for this reason – just to socially interact on line with your friends, old and new.

Reason 2: As a kid I was always curious about my parents and what they were like, who they know and what they did when they were my age.  As parents use Facebook more and more they open up a window for their kids to better understand them and where they come from.  There is a lot they Can learn about you by how you interact with your friends on Facebook – it gives your kids a new window into your life they would not have had otherwise.  Also, if you are a parent with older children who are at collage, or on their own, it gives your kids a place to go to see what is going on at home and in your life.  I personally love that my parents are on Facebook and have yet to catch up to my mom in the number of friends she has.

Reason 3: Just as our kids have a chance to connect with us we have the chance to connect with them more through their Facebook profiles.  Now I know the question is coming up, “What if your kids will not accept you as a friend on Facebook?”  I would not push it – it really depends though on your relationship with your kids.  The reason they may not want you as a friend may be that they are more afraid of being embarrassed by you then being spy-ed on.  In an article on Facebook and parenting on the Facebook blog by Kathy H. Chan where she interviewed BJ Fogg and Linda Fogg Phillips about Facebook for Parents, Kathy asked them about just this subject – I liked the answers they gave:

We’ve heard that some kids are uncomfortable “friending” their parents on the site.
Linda: I am friends with each of my children. The reaction was mixed. I found that it depended on the age and maturity level of my child and to some degree, the relationship I have with that particular child. I will admit that one of my daughters got mad at me and blocked me for a period of time, but then we worked out our differences and she added me back as a friend.

Are you friends with your kids’ friends, as well?
Linda: Yes, quite a few of them. It really helps bridge the gap as far as communication and for me to be comfortable with their friends, too. I don’t request them, they request me. I’m not going to intrude on their lives.

Any other ground rules?
Linda: Depends on the child. That’s also what we talked about with the parents in our class. If your child doesn’t want to “friend” you, don’t worry about it. We found that the No. 1 reason most kids don’t want their parents to be their friend on Facebook is that they’re afraid their parents will embarrass them — more so than being exposed and letting parents know what they’re doing.

BJ: In some cases, that means, “Don’t ever post on my wall,” and in almost all cases, it means, “Don’t post baby photos of me naked in the tub and tag me.” The more the parents in our class learned about Facebook, the more their kids seemed to relax.

Linda: I try to respect my kids’ space, but at the same time, I try to be a responsible parent who is involved in their lives. In turn, they actually enjoy interacting with me on Facebook.

Reason 4: This reason applies to everyone – social media is a part of our society.  I am still surprised at some of my friends who are afraid of being on line and do not have a facebook account.  I use Facebook as my rolodex – the method I find and connect with my friends.  If you are not on yet, it is time, not just as a parent; people are looking for you to organize the next high school reunion, to find out what’s up in your life, or to find out where you are.

In short, Facebook is where your kids are going to be and where your should also.  As you use it to connect with your friends your relationship with your kids will also reap the benefits.  So get on line and sigh up if you have not already.

Nester Dad out…

Similar Posts:

• Web 2.0 Commenting – Disqus is On – By Robert
• QuinturaKids.com – Review of a Kid Friendly Search Engine – By Robert
• “Dad, can I get on the Internet?” – By Robert
• Don’t Give Up on Broken Toys – Broken Rubik’s Magic – By Robert
• Wasps Wikipedia and the Web – Learning With Your Kids On-Line – By Robert

Reading to our kids has been something my wife and I have been on-and-off good at, but something that is of great benefit to our kids.  We have always done it just before bed and I really feel that this helps solidify the habit of nightly reading for them as they get older.

With my younger kids, and when my older kids were young, the reading was from simple books like those from Dr. Seuss and Disney.  At this age it is reading a whole, but small, book a night and sometimes the same book over and over.  One of my older kids favorites was Q Pootle 5 by Nick Butterworth, a cute book about an alien who needs help to travel to the moon for a party – I almost had this book memorized at one time.  I loved reading it too – it reads smooth and has great pictures too.

As my oldest kids have grown so have the books I read to them.  Just as my oldest daughter we entering school I started reading The Chronicles of Narnia books to all the kids.  This was also around when it was announced that the books were being made into movies.  I wanted to read the books to them before the first movie came out so they could enjoy the movie that much more.  When The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came out they were really excited.  I also did the same thing with Harry Potter. We caught up to the movies first, just before the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie came out so they could have the full story and enjoy the movie more.  My oldest then went on to read the books on her own – she is really looking forward to the movie release of The Half Blood Prince tomorrow.

My point in sharing all this is simply the love I have reading to my kids and the memories it has created.  The latest book I am on with my two school age kids is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – it is a book with a much deeper message but I am still surprised at how much they hang on every word; I love it.  So get out a book tonight and read to your kids – it will create memories for all of you – memories that you, and they, will never forget.

Nester Dad out…Similar Posts:

• How do You Teach Your Kids the Preschool Basics? – By Robert
• 30 Things to Do When You’re Bored – By Robert
• The Art of Dadliness Tip 5 – Cook – By Robert
• End of Summer Vacation Final Fling! – By Robert
• Daddy Tips – Little Things I’ve Learned Over The Years – By Robert

So, I am sitting at a picnic table up in the mountains getting eaten by mosquitoes near the offices of Camp Morrison, a BSA summer camp, in the middle of Idaho.  I am up here for just part of the week (I wish I could stay for the whole week) spending some quality time with my scouts (I am the scoutmaster for our Church Troop).

Some of the great things about summer camps for scouts are all the different people the boys have a chance to meet and the simplicity for the leaders.  At organized camps such as Camp Morrison the boys get a chance to work on up to 6 merit badges throughout the week – I like to have my boys do some of the more difficult and required ones while they are here such as First Aid.  For the leaders there are also typically lots of opportunities for training and participation.  In fact it was 2 years ago, here at Camp Morrison during a week with my scouts, I was able to get the Scoutmaster Training.  That week I also got to compete with the other scoutmasters in the scoutmaster canoe race, the mile swim, and their 240 foot repel.  This week I will just have time for the mile swim (one of my favorites) and the scoutmaster canoe race – both a lot of fun.

I highly recommend scouting for any of your boys and the organized summer camps.  They are a great way for your boys to learn everything essential to be good fathers and true men.  I am happy to be a scout and will be for my lifetime.

Nester Dad out…Similar Posts:

• Summer Break!! – Keep Your Kids off the Couch – By Robert
• End of Summer Vacation Final Fling! – By Robert
• The Time Game… A Family Favorite – New Video – By Robert
• 30 Things to Do When You’re Bored – By Robert
• Birthday Parties on a Budget – By Robert

Kid #4 sleeping in his swing - another great help.

With 5 kids getting kids to bed has been a daily part of my life for the past 10 years.  I have also tried several different methods to get them to bed, and seen different results for each kid.

So I ask the question:

How did you get your kids to bed?

Here is a list of what we have done with each of our kids… good and bad and how it turned out:

• Our first really liked to sleep – it was nice and simple.  At 3 months old she started sleeping well through the night (she was the only one to do this easily).  Each evening though we would hold her and bounce or rock her to sleep and then try to gently place her in her crib… hoping she wouldn’t notice the change.  If she woke up we would coddle her again and slowly get her back to sleep and try to lay her down again.  As first time parents we were delicate and paranoid, if anything we did made my daughter cry we felt horrible.  Once she was sleeping though, she was good for the night.  As she got older going to sleep was something that she welcomed but she had, and still has a hard time slowing her self down and getting to sleep – she is the only one who has come down regularly at night with silly things to, “talk” to us about…  In all though she is not difficult to get to bed and really enjoys her sleep.
• Our second was totally different.  He seemed to need way less sleep and wanted to eat non stop; day and night.  He also loved to play with my wife’s hair while he nursed and would hold it against his cheek to help himself to fall asleep.  Since our first was so easy get to sleep thought the night we didn’t have much of a game plan other than to get him to sleep and put him in the crib… he would wake up over and over wanting to eat, and since he was so much more active when compared to our daughter, we thought he needed it – so he got fed all night long.  This left my wife exhausted and we soon had our son sleeping in our bed to be nursed, so my wife could have some sort of rest (I know some of you feel this is, “way,” bad… I have mixed feelings and opinions on kids in my bed… I don’t want to discuss those here in this post, perhaps another time).  So going on, he would nurse on and off all night… in MY bed… kicking me and comforting himself to sleep, when he did sleep, with my wife’s hair like a baby blanket.  After a long period of time doing this we decided it was time to start weening him off the night nursling’s, around when he started eating baby food regularly.  This was really tough, and still as fairly new parents we wanted the transition to be smooth and gentle on our son.  Our son was so use to waking up all night long to nurse, he would wake up over and over, almost every half hour.  Also if my wife was in the room, he wanted her to nurse him and for her hair.  Our solution was me… I ended up spending the next several weeks comforting him in his room, holding him and getting him to sleep, then slowly placing him back in his crib.  At first he seamed to subconsciously know if I stopped touching him, when I wasn’t he would scream, so I would keep my hand on his back while I slept standing/leaning by the crib until I felt I could slowly move my hand away… I would try and time this with his breathing to make it less noticeable.  I know it sounds lame, but this is what I did.  I would then sleep on the floor in his room to help put him back to sleep if he woke up, and he always did.  Gradually he started sleeping longer, and I got more and more time in my bed.  Eventually he was good to go and slept through the whole night and actually does really well with going to bed on his own now.  By far the most work out of all my kids.
• With our third we had a plan.  I was not going to go through what I did with the first two, especially what I went through with my son.  I didn’t want to bounce or rock kids to sleep and then gently place them in the crib, hoping for the best.  Our third was another girl and also enjoyed sleep like her older sister but did not start sleeping on her own through the night.  With her we had decided we were going to put her down awake.  We also had decided, once in the crib, we would not take her out until it was time for another nursing or morning… and I can say we never did.  Initially it meant a lot of crying and screaming (our third was by far the loudest of our kids and she could, and still can scream).  Each night the screaming time got shorter and shorter and soon she would get excited when it was time to go to bed, snuggling down and grinning.  She loved going to bed.  Still to this day she is the one that loves to go to bed at night, and she needs nothing from us to do it.  We did it right.
• Next was number four – another boy who wanted/needed to eat all night long and needed less sleep (I don’t know what’s with my boys and not needing much sleep).  Our plan was the same as with number three.  It worked well with him also but there was less love for sleep involved.  He would, and still does, lay awake playing with toys to get himself to sleep, these toys were almost always cars; not stuffed animals, not a blanket, and not mom’s hair like his brother… his cars.  In fact he can still be found in the morning hugging a toy car to his chest.  That’s what worked for him.  Now that he is in a bed and out of a crib thought he likes to get out and play with these cars on the floor… he still has to be reminded regularly to get back into bed.
• This brings us to number five and the reason I started this post.  When I started typing I was still listening to screaming.  You would think by number five, we would have it figured out.  The fifth was another girl, she does not seam to need quite as much sleep as here older sisters though, but not as little as her brothers.  She was really colicky though, and the only way we could calm her down to sleep was to bounce her… to sleep.  Slowly we began to slip back to, “no plan,” and putting her to down slowly in her crib so as to not wake her.  She also wanted to nurse a lot at night, and gradually she ended up in our bed, so we could maintain some sanity…  We were really slipping.  By the time that we started her on baby food though, we started saying we needed to let her cry herself to sleep.  We would try, and then we would end up taking her out, she also started to try and pull herself out of the crib and we were afraid she would succeed.  Finally we decided that was it.  I lowered the crib so she could not climb out.  We would then get her almost to the point of sleep before putting her in the crib… but still awake.  She would cry and then gradually go to sleep.  Tonight I put her to sleep just a little more awake than normal… she welcomed the bed, excited to go to sleep, and then screamed quite a bit longer than her standard courtesy cry of 15 seconds.  We’ll see how it ends up affecting her in the long run.  I hope she ends up loving sleep like our middle daughter; we’ll see.

Now that I have babbled on about mine, I would love to hear what you have done…

Nester Dad out…

The Family Nester Community is a place where you can share posts, thoughts, pictures or just about anything with the rest of the community. You can also comment on, like or share what you read there. Family Nester uses the Friend Feed platform for this community. If you are already a Friend Feed member then you are set; you can comment all you want and if you want to add Family Nester to your feed you can also subscribe to the group. If you have not yet joined Friend Feed, you can join here using your Facebook, Twitter, or Google accounts or you can join directly. Enjoy…Similar Posts:

• Family Nester Store – Help Support Family Nester – By Robert

With some of the recent changes to the Family Nester site we have added an Amazon A-Store, Family Nester Store, as a way for our readers to help support Family Nester.  Currently the provides most of the family life related categories from Amazon – offering you the chance to buy what you would buy normally from Amazon but with the ability to help contribute to keeping this site going.  In the future we will also be adding a, “Family Nester Recommended Products,” section highlighting products we have tested or recommend.

So check it out and show your support for Family Nester!Similar Posts:

• Amazon’s Free Music Downloads! – By Robert
• Family Nester Community – By Robert