By Whitney from Rookie Moms

Twice my 5-year old son has been to the Ringling Brothers Circus, and twice we left at intermission. 

Heather serves her children vanilla yogurt or plain fruit and calls it dessert. She drinks out of their hot chocolate mugs when they are not looking.

We buy “all-you-can-visit” membership passes to museums and zoos so we can cut out of there at the slightest hint of a meltdown without worrying that we have wasted money on single-use tickets.

Are we the meanest moms around?

I would argue not. We simply share a philosophy that small children need everything in small doses. I would not serve my 2-year old a full surf and turf meal and ask her to clean her plate. Why would I expect her to enjoy a full day at Disneyland? Well, I didn’t!
 
While we took our big boy to Disneyland, his little sister went to the Disney store with Grandma. Is that so wrong? She got three healthy meals and a long nap, plus time to fondle Snow White costumes and stuffed Nemos. At the end of the trip, they both got the age-appropriate dose of Disney (and we saved on double park admission prices!).

Travel can be full of exciting experiences for kids, but their ability to process entertainment, food, and other stimulation is on a smaller scale than ours.

So if you see my eating my daughter’s cupcake at a birthday party this weekend, you’ll understand why.

Heather Flett and Whitney Moss are authors of The Rookie Mom’s Handbook: 250 Activities to do With (and Without!) Your Baby. They also share crazy fun activities at Rookie Moms and 510Families.com. They each have two children and live in Berkeley, CA.

The heat you feel as you watch your child pull the toilet paper roll off the wall and then proceed to run though the house with it after managing to get parts of it wet is enough to make any mom go crazy. I try to stay calm by taking a deep breath or counting to 10, but my children know my pressure points. They push me to my breaking point so I have to make sure that I take care of myself and so should you.

Two major ways to keep your cool:

One, remember to parent out of love and not anger. When I discipline my children while I’m angry nothing gets resolved. They just feed off of my yelling and they yell and cry even more. When I remember to stay calm and talk to them on their level the problem is usually resolved and we’re all able to get back to playing and laughing together much quicker. Have a happy thought about your child that you can use to draw positive energy off of. Take a deep breath, count to ten or walk away for a moment and come back to them when you are calmer. Look them in the eye once you are calm and talk to them and not at them. I’ve discovered my son listens much better when I come down to his eye level and speak calmly to him. All other attempts are like talking to a brick wall.

Two, every mommy needs a mom’s time out. I’m very guilty as a parent of forgetting to take care of myself but I always feel like a million bucks after I take a few moments to refresh and recharge. Ask for help! Many cultures say, “It takes a village to raise a child” and it is so true. Get a baby sitter, do a child swap but give your child to someone else for a few hours. Even if it is just your spouse or the grandparents! Then use that time to do something you enjoy.

Ten things I like to do with my alone time:

Take a bath
Eat some chocolate
Drink some wine
Watch a movie
Read a book
Go Shopping
Read a blog
Write a post
Go Out with Friends
Scrapbook

By guest blogger Louise Bishop, MomStart

By Heather from Rookie Moms

I have many fond memories of eating fast food growing up. I remember those salty fries, the cheap toys, and begging for it all the time. The best thing about road-tripping was that my mom would stop putting up a fight.

Now that I’m a parent of a three year-old and a five-year old, with Alice Waters-influenced eating standards, I’ve made eating on the road tougher for myself. It’s harder to turn up my nose at fast food when there are two whining monkeys in my backseat, yet I am stubborn that way.

For healthier meals on the road, I encourage you to do three things:

1.    Pack and hoard. Bring along some nuts and a small cooler of chillable healthy food: baby carrots, snap peas, hummus, {link} hard-boiled eggs, cheese sticks. As tempting as it is to pack snack bars and other foods that come in their own cartoon character-adorned containers, make sure you’re bringing protein and grains that will keep everyone’s energy level on even keel. Anywhere you stop, you’ll have a healthy picnic ready to go.

2.    Preview your route. Can you find a few healthy chain restaurants along your way? We often use Yelp on our phones to search for “fresh-mex restaurants”. A black bean and cheese burrito will fuel every family member for the next hundred miles or so. The website companion for Eat This Not That! Restaurant Survival Guide scores various fast food restaurants and shares tips to avoid extra salt, calories, and bad stuff.

3.    Be realistic. If a constant stream of treats is what keeps the monkeys quiet (and in turn the driver’s blood pressure in check), you can always resume  eating well when you get home. And your monkeys will have their own fond memories of road-tripping as the only time you ever gave in to their demands for junk food.

To be a savvy parent, sometimes you must plan ahead and sometimes you must chill. Going on vacation should be relaxing for you too. Vegetable consumption may suffer.

Guest bloggers Heather Flett and Whitney Moss are authors of The Rookie Mom’s Handbook: 250 Activities to do With (and Without!) Your Baby. They also share crazy fun activities at Rookie Moms and 510Families.com. They each have two children and live in Berkeley, CA.

Are you prepared, or am I over-prepared?

Remembering what I need for an outing can seem like more than I can handle sometimes let alone, thinking about what I need in an emergency kit. We keep a basic first aid kit in the van, in the upstairs bathroom as well as in the kitchen cabinet but we’ve also added a few things beyond a basic kit for all kind of emergencies. A basic first aid kit can be purchased at all of the pharmacy stores and has been a great starting point for our emergency kit and here is my advice on putting together a kit. Keep in mind; I’m just a MOM and not an emergency expert of any kind. I fly by the seat of my pants and change as change is needed!

When looking for a basic emergency kit, make sure it has things your kids use all the time, bandages, gauze, Tylenol, Ibuprophen, anti-biotic ointment, alcohol wipes, gloves, scissors, medical tape. The list goes on and on, but I hope you get the idea of what the basic necessities are. I also include batteries and water, lots of water.

The rest of your children’s emergency kit is dependent upon what age your child is and what you might be doing. I lean towards having too much rather than not enough. For babies, you’re going to want extra diapers, a change of clothing, baby food and bottles. As your children get older you’ll need to make changes that meet their needs. No matter what the age of your child you should include dark colored towels, not only so when and if you have to soak up any blood they aren’t terrified by the color of the red on white towel, but also for messes, and with kids there is always a mess that needs to be cleaned up. You should also include a toy of some kind. Now, before you judge me, think this through, in a real emergency, you are going to need something to keep your child occupied while you are taking care of whatever is going on. It is their entertainment and will keep them from being completely freaked out along with you.

What would you add to your kit?

By guest blogger, Louise Bishop Momstart

If you would have come up to me 3 years ago and told me that I would be using cloth diapers, I would have probably laughed and told you that cloth diapering wasn't "my thing".  I was keeping another child in my home 1 1/2 years ago and that mom used cloth diapers.  I was hesitant to say the least when she pulled out a cloth diaper and wet bag to cloth diaper her child.
 
I couldn't believe how easy it was.  I was shocked to learn that an average family can spend between $2,000-$3,000(depending on the brand) for disposable diapers.  The real diaper association even states that over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for *one* baby *each* year. After learning all of this, I decided I'd give it a shot.
 
Cloth diapering was extremely intimidating to me, but it shouldn't have been.  Had I known how easy it was, I would have done it from the beginning.  My biggest worry about cloth diapers was how to wash them.  A friend introduced me to the diaper sprayer and all my worries washed away.  A diaper sprayer attaches to the side of the toilet and when you have a poopy diaper, simply spray the contents out into the potty and flush.  I then put my diapers in a huge wet bag until they are ready for washing(usually along with a little baking soda for absorbing odor), but you can also put them in a diaper pail or any other container.  When I have enough for a load(1-2 dozen diapers and their inserts), I put my washing machine on the Hot wash/Cold rinse setting.  I then set it to rinse and add a few drops of tee tree oil for odor and turn it on.  After it has gone through a rinse cycle, I use 1/4-1/3 of the recommended amount of detergent and turn the washing machine on.  I occasionally use the rinse cycle one more time if I feel that the diapers were extra stinky or if I feel that the diapers are still holding a little detergent.  Different diapers do require extra washes before initial use and some require special care when it comes to drying(each diaper will come with its own instructions).  I line dry all of my diapers in direct sunlight(which also supposedly helps with odor and sanitization). I will occasionally throw them in the dryer, but I feel the less beating they take, the longer they will last.

I'm not going to lie, I still occasionally use disposable diapers for convenience.  If I'm going to be out for several hours, it is easier for me to keep up with disposable diapers vs cloth diapers.  However, I use cloth diapers the majority of the time.  I can only imagine how much I've saved on diapers in the past 1 1/2 years.  I decided to use mostly One-Size All-In-One(AIO) diapers so that I could use the same diapers with each child.  Evan is potty trained now, but when Isabella was born, they were both in diapers.
 
With the economy down the drain, I am happy to find out about any way to help save more money.  The initial cost of cloth may be a little overwhelming(just a couple hundred dollars), but in the long run, I'm saving thousands.  There has been a huge focus on "going green" over the past few years and I'm glad that I can do my part to be environmentally friendly in addition to going easy on the wallet.  There is a wealth of knowledge about cloth diapering and I want you to understand that if I can make the switch to cloth, anyone can do it.

By guest blogger, Dee twoofakindworkingonafullhouse.com