Thank you for reading the Parental Playground newsletter!
We have changed our newsletter to quarterly issues beginning in 2009. The newsletter will be published in March, June, September, and December to ensure we have plenty of articles for our readers.
If you are interested in writing for the newsletter feel free to let us know. You don’t have to be a member of our forums to submit an article, although we’d love it if you came to play with us! We simply ask that articles be somehow relevant to the lifestyles of parents - any kind of parent! If it’s interesting to you, it is probably interesting to someone else, too. Contact Admin Candie - candie@parentalplayground.com while Admin Leah takes a sabbatical.
Not a writer? No problem. We are always looking for individuals interesting in moderating any of our forums. Forum moderators keep things interesting by replying to member posts, occassionally thinking up new topics, and spreading the word about the site in any way you can think of. We understand the many time-consuming things parents must do each day which is why we strive to maintain a “Families First” mentality at Parental Playground. We don’t want anyone who will make the website their lives, we just want people who are willing to share a bit of your life’s experience with the rest of us.
If you are interested or just want to learn more about being a moderator, contact Admin Mandy at mandy@parentalplayground.com or drop her a Private Message in our forums (faster response with a PM).
Candie @ April 1, 2009
It’s that time of year again - time for rummaging through someone else’s trash to find your treasure!
The very first step in a successful morning of shopping the yard sale (otherwise known as a garage sale) is to locate sellers in your area. A quick search through your local newspaper is the best bet. If you don’t have a newspaper I will bet the newspaper has a website with classified ads you can view online. Or if you want even more options look at all of these websites designed for finding a yard sale in your area: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=yard+sales&aq=f&oq=yard+sale
Next step - make a plan. Now that you know where all of the sales are located for the day you plan to shop, you need a strategy. Do a quick map pinpointing where each sale is located and create a driving plan. You don’t want to waste gas backtracking all day long, so a plan of action to stop at each yard sale in a row is best. You now know where you’re going, but do you know why?
What are you looking for? The biggest mistake of any kind of shopper is to be impulsive. Let’s face it, the economy is tough and your money doesn’t go as far as you’d like. If you don’t need that overly priced figurine that will collect dust on your shelf - don’t buy it! A “good deal” is only a deal if you need it. Add to your strategy and make a list of things you need to buy. If you are looking for furniture - make a list of your requirements including dimensions (length, width, height) and purpose. Colors can always be changed with a little elbow greese and paint.
Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, either! If you are looking for a new television stand for your living room a lovely dresser or sofa table may suit you. In my living room our television sits atop an antique dresser. It needs to be sanded and re-stained but it is made of strong solid wood capable of supporting a 27 inch television. The drawers and cabinets work wonderfully for storing DVDs and toys. Use your imagination and you won’t be let down.
Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean lowering your standards. Fully inspect everything before buying for safety conerns. Check baby and kid furniture and toys for loose parts, safety hazards, or expired materials. Never buy a baby carseat without checking for cracks and the expiration date. Be very wary of buying certain used items such as a mattress - a fabric mattress can be home to bed bugs (yes, they really do exist and they really do bite!), bacteria and other hazards. A plastic mattress (such as crib mattresses) isn’t always safe, either. Check for holes, wear and tear, loose springs, and if you really must buy it be sure to clean with bleach and water before using.
Don’t get stressed. The odds of your neighbors wanting to sell something you need are not great. If you’re searching for something you can’t find, then there is always next weekend.
Be willing to negotiate. Never pay a retail price at a yard sale, even if the item is “new in package” or “never used”. A person would never have a yard sale if he or she didn’t want to get rid of things, and odds are the seller doesn’t want to drag that 100 pound armoire back into their basement at the end of the day. Know what you want to spend on something and bid lower. Sometime you’ll get lucky and buy it for less than you expected, but usually the seller will come back with a counter-offer. Either way the odds of buying a yard sale piece for lower than the original asking price are very high if you are willing to ask. Never forget you are doing the seller a favor by shopping at their sale.
Clean out your car or borrow a truck for the day. Never go shopping for a large item without the means to haul it away immediately. Even if your plan doesn’t include large purchases and you have no intentions for impulse buys - unexpected buys can still happen. Be sure your trunk and back seat are empty, and pack some rope for tying down the trunk just in case.
Finally, have fun and make a day out of it. Bring a friend or spouse (but get a babysitter for your kids, if possible), stop for coffee in the morning and maybe a quick lunch at the end of the yard sale “day”. Pack plenty of water if the weather is warm. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting a bit dirty. And if your neighbor’s 6-year old has setup a lemonade and cookie stand - save a few bucks from your budget to indulge and earn some extra karma points.
Candie @ April 1, 2009
Restaurants do not help us in getting our kids to eat healthy. They sell what’s essentially a slightly amped-up version of a Happy Meal (cheeseburger/hamburger/chicken nuggets with fries and a drink) with occasional detours into pseudo-ethnic specialties. Italian chains, for instance, will serve spaghetti and a Tex-Mex chain might offer a cheese quesadilla made with authentic pasteurized processed cheese food. The one hopeful sign, and again this is in response to the fast-food chains, is in side items. Denny’s, for example, now has things like fresh grapes and a fruit medley alongside the traditional fries and mashed potatoes. I think we are looking at the problem from the wrong angle. Kids don’t learn healthful eating habits at restaurants, they learn them at home. I’ll confess, I have a sack of chicken nugggets in the freezer just like most of the rest of you, to be deployed on those nights when all sh*t breaks loose and there’s no time to cook a proper meal. However, those are the exception, not the rule.
Want your kids to learn to eat well? Here are two easy tips:
Don’t Be A Diner
Let’s say you just spent a good hour preparing a nice meal for your family. Your kids won’t eat a chicken breast so you microwave them some chicken nuggets so they “won’t go hungry”
Friends, this is letting the inmates run the asylum. If you let your kids dictate the menu, be prepared to buy Kraft mac and cheese by the pallet and chicken nuggets by the truckload. I’m not saying you should serve bizarre or overly spicy foods and expect the kids to eat them, but they’ve got to know that they will either eat what’s for dinner or go without for a night. Please note that I am not in any way a child psychiatrist; I am simply working from my own and others’ experiences with this issue.
Practice What You Preach
This is the part that will help you, too. If you want your kids to eat good, balanced meals, you need to set the example. When Richard and I sit down and eat dinner with our daughter, there’s rarely a complaint. We’re all eating the same food, and when she sees us enjoying it, that more often than not will prompt her to at the very least try new foods or new preparations. Our rule is that she must at least taste any new dish. She doesn’t have to eat it all, but the “I don’t like it” based on appearance alone won’t be allowed.
You’ll need to set an example not just with what you eat, but how. My husband Richard had a bad habit of taking huge bites from time to time. I noticed Krymson watching him eat, with a monster bite on her own fork. I have quickly learned that she mimics a lot of the stuff we do so I found myself modifying my own behavior quickly.
Simply put, don’t be so quick to give into your kids demands and be more aware of the bad habits you have and your kids will earn healthy eating habits with out all of the fight and fuss.
Mandy @ April 1, 2009