You are busy, tired and burned-out by the end of the day. I get it. I really do.

But, family meals are too important to skip. Eating together has always played a key role in training kids and keeping families healthy.

If you don’t know, we spend a lot of time together as a family. Even when Knick is busy with coaching and I’m stretched thin, we still eat 99% of our dinners together. It is easier to do this with little kids, since they will be busy themselves as they get older. But, eating together requires prioritizing family meals at all times. Understanding the importance of eating together as a family and how you can make that easier is the first step to establishing that priority.

September is National Family Meals Month and I am so excited to partner with the FMI Foundation to bring you this post on family meals.

Keep reading for some helpful tips and inspiration to get you started on making those family memories across the table.

Are Family Meals Really that Important?

“Home Cooking in America 2020,” by the FMI Foundation[1] notes the biggest reasons families don’t cook meals and eat together at home include lacking time, energy and inspiration. But, homemade family meals create a deep connection, can cost less and can be healthier.

It showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• 40% of American adults say they are cooking more
• 23% are planning more meals in advance
• 18% are trying new dishes more often

Studies show that family meals improve fruit and vegetable consumption. My kids are always more willing to try vegetables if they see us (especially dad) eating them first. Family meals improve communication, teach table behavior and give us a set time to spend time together each day.

Whatever our new normal will be, we need to stay physically and emotionally fit. Family meals help with both. But, so many meals at home means we need to get creative with options for healthy, cheap and easy meals.

Cheap, Healthy and Filling Family Meals

I know all too well what it’s like to feel broke and in need of a cheap meal. Sometimes money gets tight and that’s when you need meal ideas that will stretch out those pay periods without sacrificing your family’s health. Rather than spend money on fast food, you can make cheaper dinners at home. My go-to cost-conscious meal typically involves:

Chicken: usually the cheapest by the pound of the meats, chicken is also one of the more nutritious—high in protein and low in fat. I try to find on-the-bone meat for around $.99/lb and boneless for under $2/lb. It can be added to pasta, grilled, baked or fried.

Green vegetable: Adding a green food to the plate adds nutrients and vitamins without starches or carbs. In-season vegetables are the cheapest and can be as low as $.99/lb. Asparagus, green beans, bell peppers (we eat these raw) and broccoli are all great vegetables to snag when they are on sale. You can also opt for a bag of frozen peas for $1. Kids are probably going to push back a bit on this, but it’s really important to keep putting green foods in front of your kids, despite their protest. I personally make my kids (over 2) eat at least one bite.

Potatoes: Not necessarily the healthiest vegetable, but kids do need carbs to fuel their incredible energy. Unprocessed potatoes are natural and filling. Sweet potatoes are the most nutrient-dense and are a complex carb. Potatoes are very cheap per pound (less than $1) and easy to roast with a little butter or oil, salt, pepper and seasoning salt. They should be started early, since they will usually take longer than the rest of your meal. If you are in a hurry, try microwaving for 3-4 minutes before putting them in the oven to speed up their cooking process.

For our family, a home-cooked meal of chicken, vegetables and potatoes will cost around $10. Add in something fun, like watermelon, and you can still stay under $15.

Not bad for a family meal, right?

You can switch it up with these cheap ingredients instead of the potatoes:

• Pasta noodles (Hearty Chicken and Noodles Soup or chicken parmesan)
• Rice (chicken stir fry or just as a side)
• Homemade bread (it’s cheap and delicious! Try my Perfectly Homemade Dinner Rolls)
• Tortillas (chicken tacos)
• Tortilla chips (chicken nachos)
• Beans (buy them dried in the bag for a healthier, cheaper option)

Fast and Easy Family Meals

I like to make complicated meals because cooking is an art form. But, sometimes you are short on time. Making pretty or complicated food isn’t the point. Sometimes we hold ourselves back because we put too much pressure on the process.

I reached out to Krista Marshall, creator of Everyday Moms Meals, and she stated it perfectly: “Putting a delicious meal on the table to bring your family together can be the best part of a busy day. No matter how simple the meal might be, the most important thing is everyone sharing time with one another, creating memories.”

My personal go-to meals when I’m in a rush are spaghetti and tacos.

It’s also a huge time-saver if I have the chance to make meals ahead of time for the freezer to heat up on another day for dinner. Meatloaf, quiche and chili are a few of my top homemade freezer meals. Even just freezing the cooked meat can be a huge time-saver (like cooked ground beef for spaghetti or tacos). I also tend to put big batches of chicken or burgers on the grill if I can, saving part of the batch in the freezer for a future meal.

Special Family Meals

Sometimes you can splurge—in time or cost—and those are special family meals! While all family meals are important, the special ones can be the most memorable. Some of our favorite ideas for changing up the scene include:

• Outdoor (picnic blanket in the backyard before we had a patio set)
• Our local cinema bar and grille or drive-in movie theater
• Party platters (they love crackers, cheese, sliced meats and wings they can self-serve)

Get creative with your family meals!

When I was a kid, my family ate a lot of meals together. However, some of the most memorable family meals I participated in were at my friend’s house—her parents would let the teens plan a themed family dinner we prepared mostly unaided and presented to the rest of the group. We did a drive-in Dog ‘n Suds while on rollerblades, a very wild Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party and other creative themes.

Eat More Meals as a Family

So, how many meals should you eat as a family?

According to the FMI: As many as you can.

The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB) recently published a review[2] that sorted through over 1200 studies to look for dietary outcomes linked to family meals. The review found studies agreed on a noticeably higher level of fruit and vegetables during family meals and a lower number of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Did you know September is National Fruit and Veggies Month too? So, take this as your reminder that the goal is  1-2 cups of both fruits and vegetables for kids aged 2-13. Planting a garden has gone far in getting my kids excited about trying vegetables. Having them help make the meal really helps them want to eat it–but that’s a whole other can of worms for another post.

Keep bringing your family together for meals and check out the Family Meals Movement for more ideas and information!

Additional Sources:
<sub>1. FMI Foundation. (2020). Home Cooking in America 2020, a Special Report based on U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends.
2. Robson SM, McCullough MB, Rex S, Munafò MR, Taylor G. Family Meal Frequency, Diet, and Family Functioning: A Systematic Review with Meta-analyses. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2020;52(5):553-564. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2019.12.012</sub> 

The post Get Your Crew Together: Science Says Family Meals are Important appeared first on MidKid Mama.

But, what if something happened and you couldn’t leave your house for a few days—would you be able to comfortably survive? Do you have the food, water and basic necessities on hand to make things work for even a week or two? There is a reality of natural disasters, diseases, storms and other things occurring at any time and with little-to-no warning.

The current virus threat has schools, workplaces and even whole countries closing down to anything but necessary travel. But I also remember ice storms taking out our power and making it very difficult to travel for over a week when I was a teenager. It happened again when I was in my twenties and living in my own house. There was also the blizzard of ’68 that my parents’ generation will never forget—where the snow was up to the rooftops across our state.

So, are you prepared for the realities of disaster situations?

US Disaster Preparedness Stats

Many people aren’t prepping enough. If something did go wrong, the more people who are prepared to manage their own care for a time, the less emergency services have to rush in with supplies and solutions. If we all had a week or two’s worth of supplies on hand, we could care for ourselves and neighbors that need help.

The last US census reported only about half of American households are storing water. Around 80% of families did report having enough nonperishable foods to last the family for three days. FEMA has stated:

If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm, or other disaster strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water, and electricity for days or even weeks. By taking some time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family.

Back when the ice storms knocked out the power and made it impossible to drive, stores were closed and things were tricky. I remember we had plenty of food, but we shared a friend’s generator so we didn’t lose the food in our refrigerator or have our phone batteries die. We had to have sources of heat, water and cooking, since the power was gone and a boil advisory was in effect for our area. If we would have been down to the last bits of food and supplies before the storm hit unexpectedly, we would have been in a little trouble and had to depend on neighbors and friends for help.

Basic Prepping for Beginners

Prepping and disaster readiness might seem a little out there for many. Perhaps you picture people in off-the-grid underground bunkers with freeze-dried soups and metallic heat-reflecting blankets. But what I’m talking about is scaled back, simple and manageable.

Basic prepping should include necessities you that you are already using in your daily lives for the most part. With basic prepper storage, you want to focus on items that are easy to store, easy to use and have a longer shelf life.

The goal will be to choose items you already use on a weekly, monthly or occasional basis so you can swap them out regularly. You don’t want to buy a special dried soup that you never actually use and it eventually goes bad. You don’t need to waste money on strange foods just because they will last a long time. You can choose items that will be swapped out over time and used naturally in the course of your family’s meal planning.

Easy Snacks

It is a good idea to have foods that can make easy snacks that are fun and filling. Items like Pop Tarts have a very long shelf life, are packaged individually and take no work to prepare (in case of a power outage). Something like pop corn is also fun and filling, but would take power to make, so it works if you just can’t travel. Snacking items can contain veggies, like the fruit and applesauce pouches they have for kids. Try to include as many nutritional snacks as you can in your storage. You want things that last for a while and are easy to store, but many of those items are not going to have a lot of green things in them.

Meal Basics

When you are planning your storage, think about what you need to make a good meal. Most of our meals include vegetables, a starch or carb and then meat. When you are storing food, you want a mixture of these items. It is easy to store a lot of frozen meat, dried noodles and very few vegetables if you aren’t thinking about it much. You don’t want to get overly heavy on the frozen or canned storage because canned items contain more sodium and frozen foods won’t last as long if the power goes out.

Some items, like rice, will require water and a heat source to prepare. While you will have power in many scenarios, you can’t always count on it. A mix of raw and cooked foods is helpful so you are prepared with or without power.

Some items, like noodles, are easy to store, but fairly pointless if you don’t have other things (like sauce or meat) to go well with them. So, when prepping, try to think about whole meals. Try to choose items that can be used in more than one way. Oatmeal, rice and peanut butter are foods dogs can eat too, for example. Canned chicken can be used for sandwiches, soups or on any kind of noodles without any work to thaw or cook it.

Pantry Food Storage

Pantry foods are dried, canned or packaged foods that don’t need to be kept in a specific climate. Preferably your pantry food storage will be a place other than your normal kitchen pantry and will be on the cool/dark side. You can use a basement closet, linen closet or even a big tote under a bed for this. The goal with the pantry storage is to have a few items on hand that you will use over time and replace with new storage items. How many pantry items you keep on hand will vary based on how much space you want to allot to your storage and how much extra food you want to keep on hand.

Get a locking plastic storage tote for items that could easily attract pests. You don’t want to have mice or bugs getting into your storage and invading your home because food is too accessible. A large locking storage tote will keep your items dry, collected into a neat space and safe from pests. Items that are well package in jars or cans will not need to be included in the tote for storage.

Check dates of everything you are planning to store. Ideally, your items will be good for a year or more. Some items, like crackers, don’t have long dates before they start to go stale. You want to give yourself room in case you forget to swap something out, so you want to avoid keeping any short dates in your pantry food storage. Checking the dates will give you an idea of roughly how long you have until you need to use it. If Pop Tarts aren’t really part of your regular family diet, then you know you have a whole year or so before you need to buy another box and use the current storage ones for a fun snack.

Examples of Pantry Food Storage:

• Popcorn
• Pop Tarts
• Snack pouches and/or baby food
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit
• Ramen noodles
• Spaghetti/rotini/macaroni noodles
• Egg noodles
• Canned meat, veggies and fruit
• Spaghetti sauce
• Peanut butter
• Honey
• Pancake mix
• Syrup
• Salt/pepper/spices (like 1 or 2)
• Oil
• Flour and yeast (if you like to bake)
• Water flavoring (preferably with vitamins or electrolytes)
• Coffee

Frozen Food Storage

How many things you can store in the freezer is going to largely depend on how much freezer space you have. It’s really nice when you have a separate refrigerator/freezer or deep freezer for food storage because it will give you a lot more space. But even if you don’t, just a few choice items can be stored in the back of your regular freezer in case of emergency.

Examples of Frozen Food Storage:

• Raw or cooked meat
• Lunchmeat
• Sausages and Hotdogs
• Peas and other bagged veggies
• Bread (double bag to avoid freezer burn)
• Easy dinners (pot pies, pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets, burritos, full meals)
• Cheese (including string or sliced cheese)
• Broth (I prefer to make my own and freeze it)
• Homemade meals (chili, quiche, meatloaf, soup, stews)
• Sauces
• Fruit (berries, peaches, pineapples and cherries freeze well)

Water Storage

Occasionally a disaster situation could lead to issues with the water filtration system. There have certainly been boil advisories here before. Keeping water on hand is a good way to have a clean source of drinking water in case of emergency. FEMA recommends keeping a two-week supply of drinking water for every person in the home (that is 7-14 gallons per person!).

While the average adult will only require about a half-gallon per day, sick people, children and pregnant women will likely require more, especially in a hot environment.

“Having an ample supply of clean water is a top priority in an emergency.”

-FEMA

While there are ways to store your own water, the process does involve the right amount of chlorinated bleach. Purchasing commercially bottled water (preferably gallon size or larger to reduce packaging and make storage easier) ensures you have a safe supply of clean drinking water that will last indefinitely.

Hygienic Supplies

Different scenarios (natural disasters where you can’t travel, power outages, national pandemic) will lead to additional items you will want to keep on hand. Cleaning supplies, soap and cooking fuel are examples of things you might want to keep on hand that won’t go bad for a very long time. Medications and batteries are items you will want to swap out every time you buy more for regular use.

Here is a list of things you may or may not want to have on hand. Choose things that you would desperately need if you lost power, had to travel, couldn’t travel or another possible emergency scenario arrived.

• Cleaners
• Soap
• Medication
• Hygiene products
• Batteries
• Skillet/firewood/fuel
• Toilet Paper
• Detergent/bleach
• First aid items
• Rubbing alcohol/witch hazel
• Diapers and wipes
• Unscented candles/flashlight
• Emergency documents

Low Budget Prepping

A lot of us don’t have a big weekly budget. There isn’t much room for building up a stockpile of items. When you are trying to buy extras for disaster prep, it can start out cheap and small. You don’t need to overwhelm your budget to create a pantry buffer. Just like a savings account or rainy day fund in the bank, prepping is best when it builds up slow and steady.

Add More Over Time

Don’t rush out and buy a huge stash unless you have extra cash on hand. You can start small and build up slowly. With just five dollars, you can buy a large box of Ramen noodles, a can of chicken and a couple gallons of water. If you keep buying a few additional items each trip, you will have a couple extra weeks of food in no time.

Plan to Swap Out

It is incredibly important when you are on a low budget that you swap your items out. Plan to stock up on items you already use that you will continue to buy. Each item you purchase, you will put it in your storage stockpile and use the stockpile item.

Check Dates

You might really be surprised at how long some things last while others expire quickly. You want to check dates so you know you can use items before they go bad. If PopTarts last a year, you know you can plan to eat them at any point in the year and you don’t need to plan on them being part of the weekly menu. Other items, like some crackers and noodles, might have a much shorter shelf life, so checking the dates will give you an idea of whether or not an item is good to store. If you use those items every week, then you can store them.

Start Small

Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with just a couple of days of extra food and expand over time Think about how you are going to use your items to create meals. This will help you stay organized and not get into a hoarding situation where you have a lot of items that don’t really work together.

Keep Pests in Mind

In order to protect some items, you will want to store them carefully. While jars of peanut butter or cans of tuna are safe from pests, flour, chocolate and oatmeal are examples of items that can attract pests. From mice to weevils, there are all kinds of things that could be attracted to your stockpile. When items are stored away from your normal kitchen stash, they may be more accessible to invaders and you may not notice as quickly. Store items that could be attractive to bugs and rodents (or pets!) somewhere safe, like in a locked plastic bin.

View Storage as Zero

When you get to a place you feel comfortable with your stockpile, you want to count it as your baseline or “zero.” That means, you don’t dip into it unless you are facing an emergency. You definitely want to swap out items as you buy new ones, but you don’t want to use those items before you have the new ones to swap out. Keeping it in a place separate from your normal pantry or freezer storage for every day use will also help with that separation mentality.

Start a Garden

To help out with your storage, grocery bill and skills, start a garden! While many think of gardening as a hobby, growing vegetables can be tricky but leads to a lot of value. A garden doesn’t necessarily seem like part of disaster preparedness, but knowing how to grow your own food is an important skill.

Growing, harvesting, preserving and saving seeds for the next year are all things that many people know little about. Yet, if something went wrong with the food supply chain, it would be a valuable skill. And, on top of that, you save money while controlling the quality of your food (you can avoid pesticides and soil quality, for example).

Overall, it is important to save up items in case of emergency. Don’t wait until things go wrong to start thinking about potential disaster scenarios. If you want to listen to meal prep ideas, you can check out this podcast:

The post Easy Steps to Disaster Preparedness appeared first on MidKid Mama.

In this podcast episode, I talk about some of the differences in routines that could impact your curls. I highly recommend you don’t worry about changing products until you have spent a few months with the Curly Girl Method and have kept up a simple routine with safe products.

Why Would You Need to Change Products?

After giving your hair a chance to adjust, you may find that the products you are using are not right for your hair. Products could have a variety of problems:

• Too light (doesn’t weigh hair down enough and hair may dry fluffy—this may also happen if you aren’t adding enough of the leave-in product)
• Too heavy (makes hair feel lotiony, weighed down or grimy when fully dry)
• Not enough slip (doesn’t make hair feel smooth when added and may dry frizzy)
• Wrong ingredients (your hair might be reacting poorly to certain key ingredients, like coconut, avocado, oils or other ingredients that are technically safe)
• Bad ingredients (an accidental slip up can lead to using a product that has a wax, silicone or drying alcohol and makes the hair react badly with excessive buildup or frizz)
• Not enough balance (all hair needs varying levels of protein and moisture—you will have to figure out your best balance over time)

Remember, it may not be the products. Try changing how much you leave in or how you apply the products (like squishing the hair full of conditioner to work it in or fingercombing at a different point in your routine) before you give up on the product itself.

What Should You Do When Products Aren’t Working?

When you do determine it might be the products that are too heavy or just want to try something different, only change one. You might theorize that a lighter leave-in will give you bouncier curls, but if you change out both your leave-in and gel, you won’t know what is improving and what isn’t. Maybe the new leave-in makes your curls shinier and bouncier, but the new gel leaves your hair flatter and duller—giving you a combined result that isn’t much better than your previous routine. If you had just changed the gel, you would feel how much worse it made your hair. If you had just changed the leave-in you would immediately notice the improvement, even if it wasn’t perfect.

Don’t throw non-working products away! What you might find is that it was your application or the point in your routine that mattered more than the product itself. For the first year I thought my hair hated Vo5, but now I’ve found it actually does a great job if I only use it for the cowash step. Plus, you can use up the products you already have that are safe on days you don’t care as much about the results.

Say I’ve worked out at the gym (so I need to wash my hair), but I know I’m mostly doing things around the house for the next day or two. The perfect time to use up product, give my hair a break or test out new products is when I’m not trying to have a good hair day. I think it’s better for the hair when you change up your best routine sometimes, giving your hair new ingredients and avoiding potential buildup. I’ve always found that switching products seems to help the regular products work better.

What About Protein and Moisture?

One of the trickier parts of the Curly Girl Method is in trying to figure out whether your hair needs more moisture or protein to be balanced. It’s pretty safe to say that at first, your hair is going to crave moisture. For beginners, the recommendation is to focus on getting more moisture into your thirsty curls.

But after a few months, your hair might start to become over moisturized and need protein. With bleached hair, you may find that it needs even more protein than normal. I use protein in my leave-in and gel steps, and I even add it in my cowash from time to time. Around 3.5 months, my hair started getting limp and frizzy because it had reached the point of being over moisturized.

If you think your hair might be over moisturized, you can add protein by swapping out one of your products in your routine to something that has protein in the ingredients. It isn’t recommended that you do a protein treatment unless you are sure you are over moisturized and protein will help. If you go too far the other way in adding too much protein, your hair may become brittle and break easily. It is harder to come back from over protein treated hair than over moisturized hair, so I recommend you go slow with the protein.

Once you’ve added in protein, watch for signs that your hair has had enough. If your hair starts to look dry and a little frizzy, ease off your products that have protein. Try to find a balance that will give you healthy curls. Remember, this will actually change by season in most areas as the climate goes from warm and moist to dry and cold. So, you might need extra moisture in the winter and more protein in the summer.

The post Podcast Episode 4: When Should You Change CG Products? appeared first on MidKid Mama.

If your hair is frizzy, fluffy, wavy, curly, dry, oily or kinky, then the Curly Girl Method is right for you! The method is ideal for hair that is curly (some find they have hidden curls!), but it also works for straight hair as a way of treating hair better. The Curly Girl Method is not a particular line of products, but a way of washing and caring for your hair.

Final Wash

The beginning of your Curly Girl Journey is going to be in doing a final wash. The final wash is using a shampoo with sulfates, but no silicones or waxes. I often recommend Suave Clarifying Shampoo because it is cheap and easy. Once you have done this final shampoo, you won’t use shampoo again (unless you accidentally get a silicone or wax in your hair).

Shampoo isn’t actually cleaning your hair as much as it is stripping oils. The problem is, not only does this remove dirt and grime, it also removes natural hair oils that are good for your scalp and hair. This stripping process causes frizz. In order to tame that frizz, most conditioners and styling products contain silicones—but those silicones can only be stripped out with shampoo. So, this vicious cycle harms your hair over time.

When you stop using shampoo, you don’t stop scrubbing out the dirt. Instead of using shampoo to scrub, you will scrub with an approved (silicone-free) conditioner to co-wash your hair. You don’t need a product called cowash because that literally stands for conditioner-only washing. So using any “safe” (silicone-free) conditioner to wash your hair will work. You will need to scrub the scalp with your finger pads for a longer amount of time than shampoo, but usually only by a few minutes.

So, did you catch that? NO MORE SHAMPOO AFTER THIS STEP.

Finding Safe Ingredients

So, before you start, you will also want to get a conditioner and gel for styling your hair. You can spot bad ingredients by seeing if anything in the list ends in:

• -Cone
• -Conal
• -Xane
• Or is listed as a wax

Dimethicone, for example, is a very popular silicone ingredient. This would require a shampoo to get off of your hair. If you try to cowash with dimethicone in your cowash, leave-in or gel, then you are going to start to get a lot of build-up and frizz because your hair is still coated in the silicone.

Most of the Shea Moisture conditioners are safe, but they can be heavy for many types of hair. I highly recommend starting with the Not Your Mother’s Naturals conditioners for leaving in. Many people love Vo5 and Suave conditioners because they are so cheap and many are safe. I personally use L.A. Looks gel for styling, but there are many options. You are going to want to start very simple, though, so don’t get crazy picking out too many products.

Track Your Progress

Take a before picture. You will be shocked at how things change. Most of the time, the changes are going to be so slow you might not even notice. Once you get into it and get a good routine going, you aren’t even going to remember how bad it was. My kids don’t recognize my before picture.

Have a Best-to-Date Routine

Do your final wash, then start cowashing. You can cowash as often as you want to because it is not hard on your hair. I like to diffuse my hair to cut the drying time and increase the curl definition, but many air dry or let their hair dry overnight. You should only make a small change or two with each wash so you can see what you are really changing. If you get to wild with changing products and ways of applying those products, you won’t be able to tell what really made a negative or positive impact.

Always know your best-to-date routine. That routine is what you fall back on if a change doesn’t make it better. So if you normally squish in your conditioner, you might decide to do everything as normal except rake in the conditioner that next time. If that doesn’t improve on your frizz or clumping, you will then go back to the original routine before making a change the next time. The reason you want to keep track of your best-to-date routine is because you need to have something you can fall back on for times when your hair needs to look its best. This will also help you make educated guesses about how to adjust to get a better result for your hair.

Certain hair is going to like and dislike certain ingredients—but everyone is different. Personally, my hair hates coconut, but two of my four kids do well with coconut in their hair. If I use coconut in my hair—even way far down on the ingredients list—it makes it extra frizzy. At the same time, if I don’t diffuse starting at the roots, my hair is flat and more limp. If I don’t fingercomb my hair long enough after adding my leave-in, then my hair will be frizzier than normal. Every point of your routine can be done many different ways.

On Transition Hair

Perhaps you’ve heard of the transition hair you get with the Curly Girl Method. As your hair adjusts to the new routine, it will have to stop overproducing oils in an attempt to keep up with the stripping that you used to do with shampoo. Your hair might look horrible for a few weeks, or it may look great for a few weeks before starting to look and feel horrible. Transition hair can hit any time in the first few months. For me, my hair looked amazing at first before hitting transition around 3 months.

With transition hair, your hair may feel:

• Limp
• Frizzy
• Producty
• Unclean
• Dull
• Poufy

These are all common with transition hair and you must just press through! You can clarify by adding lemon juice to your cowash, which will help cut the grease faster without stripping the hair. I highly recommend braids, buns, headbands and clips during this time to help hide the hair you are going to hate. But once you get over this hump, you will be able to move on to truly healthy hair.

On Feeling Overwhelmed

This might not really be possible, but try not to feel overwhelmed.

It’s a learning curve that most of us didn’t know existed. There is a lot of information to relearn and ways this can change what you do with your hair. There are so many avaiable products and ways to apply them, it can be very hard to keep track.

We’ve all gotten used to the normal routines and products that we expect to work in our hair. The CGM challenges all of that and goes against what we are most used to. There are groups to help and you can always reach out for support. Start simple and go slowly. It isn’t nearly as hard as it might sound.

Listen to the podcast above and then check out my post about my 9 months progress here.

The post Podcast Episode 2: Starting the Curly Girl Method appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Go Places by Yourself

I love my kids and I love being a SAHM, but sometimes taking a break is like getting a breath of fresh air. Being able to just get out of the car without unbuckling car seats, run into the store and right back out (without answering 20 questions), makes me feel young and free. Yeah, it’s a little extreme, but getting a few breaks throughout the month means moments where I can just be me and not mom first.

Sometimes this means getting a relative to watch my kids. Other times I go during nap time on the weekends when my husband is home. And sometimes, my husband just tells me to go by myself to run an errand or two because he knows I need a mental break.

Establish a Daily Bedtime Routine

This is a slightly controversial one, but sleep exhaustion is a real thing. Studies have found that sleeplessness can have the same impact on the brain as intoxication. Not only is a lack of sleep hard on you as an exhausted parent, but it is hard on the mood, health and growth of your child. Not every kid needs the same amount of sleep. Of our four, two need more than an average amount of sleep for their age, one is pretty average and one could use a bit less than average. But every kid needs a solid block of sleep. I believe in sleep training.

While I don’t judge parents on how they handle sleep (you can do whatever works for you), I encourage struggling parents to set up a schedule and train their kids to follow it. Just like training kids to eat vegetables or to hold your hand while in the parking lot, there are a lot of good habits that don’t come naturally to the majority of babies. As parents, we can decide on schedules that make sense and then work to train our kids to stick to those schedules unless something unusual occurs. Our kids typically sleep from 8 or 8:30pm to 8 or 8:30am. That’s 12 hours of sleep for them and a few hours of quiet time for us before we head to bed.

Finding time to just hang out (we literally Netflix and chill most nights) helps us feel more refreshed for the next day. Getting uninterrupted sleep is also key to feeling up to regular activities and having the energy to parent, work and enjoy life in general.

It takes about 3 nights to form a habit—especially for babies. Gently, but firmly stick to bed times and they will catch on. You don’t need to let them cry for hours. Check in on them after 15 minutes (set a timer) and then keep that up until they go to sleep. I verbally remind them: “it’s night night time right now. It’s time to go to sleep. I love you.” After a few days, it will become natural. Pay attention (especially if your kids are older) to when they are drawing things out and just say “No, it’s time for bed right now.”

Find Your Afternoon Quiet Time

I find my sanity during times in the day when my kids aren’t asking me 20 questions. I love my kids more than anything, but I simply cannot get good amounts of work done when they are up and awake. My kids all take a nap and having that scheduled into our day has made it easier to hold on to.

They often hit stages where they don’t want to nap (especially around 3), but still need the sleep. If you hold on to the habit of the nap, then it works. I tell my kids they don’t have to sleep, but they do have to be quiet and stay in bed (spoiler alert, when they are quiet for more than 15 minutes, they sleep). My daughter is in kindergarten, so she only naps on the weekends or over breaks.

As they get older, they can take a 1-2 hour quiet time in their rooms if they are home during the afternoon. At some point, I know they probably won’t be able to nap because of homework or extracurricular activities. But I am taking advantage of the time they have now to let their brains and bodies rest.

Learn to Say No

I love to be busy and do lots of things, but you still have to sort out what is really best for you and your family. It’s important to choose projects and uses of your time that you feel are truly valuable. For example, I find it valuable to work on art projects, but far less valuable to scroll on Facebook. I love teaching at the gym (great for my health too!), but I might need to say no to signing the kid up for a second session of gymnastics.

This is totally subjective to your family and completely different for everyone. But look at your priorities. Don’t say yes because you are guilted into it or because the opportunity is there. Don’t fall for the hype of being overly busy.

Mini Parent Vacations

At least once (and sometimes twice) a year, we give the in-laws their grandkids and stay in a local hotel for a night. Even though we are in the same city, just having a few hours (and a couple meals) to ourselves is extremely refreshing. At least one other time in the year, we stay home for a weekend, while the grandparents take our kids during a few of their vacation days. These vacations aren’t elaborate, but they are exactly what we need to be more connected and more prepared as parents.

You have to set routines and rules that you are prepared to enforce, even when exhausted. But when you find this balance, things get easier because you aren’t drained and your kids know what to expect.

Look for Joy in the Every Day

At the risk of overwhelming you with opposite points; if you have to escape your life to enjoy it, then something is wrong. Not every day is going to be sunshine and roses. But there is the opportunity for joy and beauty in the everyday moments. Anne Frank wrote in her diary, “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” Even in the hardest circumstances, our perspective is what we make it. Taking on mantras of gratitude and joy can go a long ways towards improving our feelings about it.

And, while sometimes we spoil our kids and do too much, there are other times we get wrapped up in daily tasks and busyness. It’s hard to slow down and see the value and beauty of the mundane. I’ve written about making the effort to let your kids be bored, and I wrote a post about 10 easy (and free) ways to smile with your kids. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but adding a smile to your day is good for everyone involved.

Take Time to Pray

The quiet time when you meditate on prayer and focus your thoughts is a great time for destressing and collecting yourself. When I take time to still my mind and think about things from that outside perspective, it helps me not get bogged down in the little things. Burning incense when I pray can cause a helpful reminder to stay focused by the scent. I also use the Bible for reflective prayer when I am struggling to focus.

Know You Aren’t Alone

Most of us don’t feel like great mothers. We feel fuzzy, tired, awkward, inadequate. It can be lonely if you think everyone else has it together. Know you aren’t alone. Intimate women’s Bible studies at my church have been one of the most helpful things for realizing so many of us think and feel the same way.

This doesn’t mean depression/anxiety/stress isn’t real. The purpose of this post is to offer ideas for how to reduce mental strain with some of the things you can control. It all adds up, so alleviating even small points of tension might be enough to get your head above water.

I believe in counseling and I know there are truly things that impact us outside of our control. Talking to a professional about mental health is always a good idea, even if you feel healthy. Thinking through our actions and tendencies helps us be even better versions of ourselves.

We are all tired. We all struggle at times. Keep your head up, mama. Find that peace.

The post Finding Your Inner Peace as a Mother appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Not your typical peeing, chewing, sharp-nailed fluffy squish with puppy breath, but a mature dog. I’ve been wanting a dog/puppy/pet (owl?!?) for a while now, so this wasn’t a quick decision, even though it happened over night. The kids have been trying to catch and keep wild baby animals, so we have been considering a pet anyways.

I am not a fan of caged birds (aside from potentially an owl because they are so cool, but Knick says no and to stop researching it). I don’t really get the point of small rodent pets or reptiles that can’t really love you back or listen to commands (am I wrong on this?). And I’ve had fish, but not only do they not care about you, they tend to die very easily. Knick hates cats and swears he’s allergic (I think that’s an excuse). And, unfortunately, we don’t have space for a horse (yet).

We also want chickens, but our city ordinances consider them livestock and so far the Fort Wayne city council hasn’t been willing to see the benefit of allowing 2-4 chickens (no rooster). Indianapolis allows them in the city limits—but that’s another rant for another post. So, it pretty much came down to a dog.

Choosing the Right Kind of Dog

There aren’t a lot of pets we are willing to consider. And when it comes to dogs, there aren’t a lot of those we would consider either. We like working dogs that are strong and moderately active (nothing hyper though). We aren’t fans of small dogs. We need something good with kids and good with training. We prefer no (or little) shedding.

We’ve had pit bull terriers in the past, and that’s one of the breeds we like. We also like Airedale Terriers and Staffordshire Terriers. There are a lot of dog breeds we disagree on. I wanted to look for a shelter dog, but my husband is leery of unknown backgrounds and unknown mixes. He had a dog turn crazy growing up and it’s altered his view on what he feels okay with bringing into the house. I had one dog growing up that we rescued at age 2 and lived to be 18. Neither one of us want a champion bred dog (too expensive to just be a home dog) and yet we also don’t want puppy mills/backyard breeders. We prefer families that take care to breed two healthy dogs in a limited fashion just to continue good dog genes.

Not asking too much, right?

But we also aren’t ready for a puppy. We still have a kid in diapers, and training a dog well takes a LOT of time, patience and consistency. Our first dog was a puppy (back before kids). He was a great dog, but those first couple of years take a lot off time and patience.

So we had an idea of what we were looking for, but we knew the right dog had to come up or we would have to wait for the right puppy opportunity in a few years.

Rehoming a Dog

The ideal situation kind of fell into our laps when Knick’s parents decided they needed to rehome a dog. Caesar is a beautiful, 5-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier. He has been trained, but they just didn’t have time to spend with him between work schedules. A few months ago we joked about Pappi sending the dog home with Kaleb (he has been really wanting a dog for over a year). But then a couple weeks ago it was serious.

Since they really wanted to rehome him and we were pretty serious about getting one at some point, it suddenly seemed like a good fit. We made sure he was comfortable with us and the kids, pushed down one of the bucket seats into the van floor (man, that was a workout!) and brought him home with us Christmas day in his XL crate.

He was so excited to explore his new home. The very first thing I did was give him a shower (I love the smell of a clean dog once dry). I’ve decided the dog will be “Curly Girl” too. That means unless he really gets into something crazy, I will only be cleansing his hair with conditioner. It makes his coat really soft and keeps his skin healthier than stripping it with a harsh shampoo.

Learning New Boundaries

I started by gently teaching him certain areas were off limits. He isn’t allowed in our bedrooms, office or upstairs. Unless we call him into the bathroom, he’s not supposed to be in there either. Setting the boundaries is helpful for keeping him out of trouble and creating areas where we can have a little respite if needed.

Introducing the Kids to the New Dog

At 60+ lbs, you just can’t have a dog that jumps on small kids or accidentally grabs their hands with teeth. So there is a real responsibility that comes with making sure the two parties can coexist. I knew I could keep the kids from being too rough—pulling, kicking, teasing—but I didn’t know how much I could trust Caesar to understand his limitations with them.

But, as a mature dog, Caesar was really good about reading the kids. We introduced them one at a time the next morning after he had the whole night to calm down and get adjusted. I expected to do some refereeing, but he did a kind of hit-and-dodge style introduction—giving them just enough to get nervous before dipping away. As they got comfortable, he gave them less space (but not ever aggressively).

Kniya was comfortable pretty quickly. Kaleb and Kamden took a while to get warmed up. Klay jumped right into bossing him around and owning him from the second his feet touched the ground. I couldn’t get over how well Caesar did with reading their emotions and backing off if they got nervous.

He has been a great addition and the kids are completely loving it.

The post Welcome to the Crew, Caesar! appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Sometimes, stay-at-home-parents forget how to adult. But it’s important to take breaks and come back refreshed for your kids.

Finding a Regular Time Away

We kind of accidentally started a tradition of overnight staycations.

Every Thanksgiving, we go to our in-Laws who live just a couple of hours away in Indy. Our first couple of years as a married couple, we got a hotel for fun. We’ve continued doing this every year, leaving the kids with their grandparents for the night.

Our tradition has become booking a hotel the night before Thanksgiving in the downtown Indy area, just minutes away from the in-laws. We hang out with them and help prep the house for Thanksgiving, then we head to the hotel and get a quiet night sans kids. The next day, we checkout at noon and head over to help with the holiday prep.

Just a Short Time Can be So Refreshing

Sleeping in a few extra minutes without worrying about taking care of the kids, or eating a meal without having to remind kids to eat 87 times, can feel absurdly free. Even driving somewhere and not toting kids and extra bags can make you feel like a singular person again. I absolutely love being a mother, but having a few moments every year to ourselves is encouraging.

Breakfast of Champions

One thing we are sure to do each year is eat breakfast! While I’m not normally a breakfast person (I often don’t eat until noon), on Thanksgiving things are different. We typically don’t eat until the afternoon, so eating a good breakfast gives us energy to meet the kids and help prep for dinner.

This also gives us a chance to spend a little more focused time before we check out. Normally when we first get up, I work or shower while he works out in the hotel gym. So breakfast is a good cap to the stay. Some of our hotels in the past have provided breakfast (which has been amazing), but we always make sure there is at least a good breakfast option close. Starbucks is one of our favorite options.

Finding Time to Connect as a Couple with Kids

Of course, our situation is probably unique to our family. We don’t have grandparents in town who can take our kids overnight at any time. So, we look for a few times a year when we can make those overnight stays happen. The kids love it, the grandparents love it, and we love it. It’s a win, win, win.

Not everyone has parents they can do this with. You might have to be creative. Perhaps you have another relative or friend that could keep your kids for the night. We do a lot of our times together with our kids too, even though that’s not quite the same.

Conversation Starters for Your Spouse

We get into routines and it’s hard to get out of the rut sometimes. It can be fun to find new ways to connect as a married couple.

36 Questions for Your Spouse

One time we took turns answering “36 questions that will make anyone fall in love” from a study by psychologist Arthur Aron. The 36 questions put forth in the study are broken up into three sets. Each set of questions is supposed to be more probing than the last. They are long. Honestly, I think we only got to question 20ish. They are all very open ended, so that is as far as we got over one meal. To give you a taste, the first three questions are:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

Love Language Quiz

Another interesting topic to discuss with your spouse, is how you love. There are five ways to show love and receive love, according to Gary Chapman. This isn’t the end-all, be-all of relationships, but it really helps you understand where you might be missing each other.

When you speak two different love languages (like Knick and I do), you can really feel like you are speaking different languages. I might feel very unloved without even the most basic forms of physical touch or verbal affirmation. But Knick doesn’t naturally turn to those things to show love. And if I try to just give him a hug, it doesn’t feel like spontaneous love to him—it feels like I’m poking him or needing something from him. I highly recommend taking the Love Language quiz as a couple to give yourself new insights into how you tend to operate.

Experience Something New

If you aren’t really the talking type (or couple), you can always go for a new experience. We’ve ridden horses on the beach and watched new movies together. You could go rock climbing, do an escape room, take a walk on a new path (we play Pokemon Go together) or try a new local restaurant together. New things will get the conversation going in a new direction. The goal is to get out of the daily routine enough that you can feel refreshed in your time together and not the same.

When we stayed in Indy this time, we walked a few blocks to try out a local Pizzeria that had the game playing, rather than watch it in the hotel. It was a really fun time and the food was amazing.

Remember the 80/20 Rule

I don’t know where, but somewhere I heard about the 80/20 rule with marriage and it really resonated with me. It mentioned the majority of people cheat because their spouse is missing 20% of what they want, but they fail to realize they are giving up 80% to chase the 20%.

“The 80/20 Rule is simple. In a healthy relationship, you get about 80 per cent of what you need/want from your partner. They are caring, respectful and share a lot of the same interests as you, but then you meet someone who catches your attention for an unknown reason. It may well be because they fulfill the missing 20 per cent in your relationship…”

Basically, no one is perfect and we really need to be careful how we are judging our significant other. If the other person has 80% of what we want in a mate, then we need to be really careful how we crave the other 20%, because no one is perfect.

If you start looking around to see who has the missing 20%, you might end up leaving for 20% or even 40%, when you already had 80%. Maybe this doesn’t hit you as hard as it did me. I certainly wasn’t looking at cheating or considering a divorce, but it really made me consider my perspective on our relationship. It also made me think about the 20% I was lacking for him—and how subjective it all was! Always challenge your natural instincts because they are often biased, selfish and unfair.

Hopefully, a good date, conversation or night away will have you ready to take on the world together once more.

The post Finding Time to Connect as a Couple with Kids appeared first on MidKid Mama.

“This post on getting green foods into your baby’s diet has been sponsored by Gerber. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

As a parent, you want your kid to eat plenty of green things and have a balanced diet. But babies often have an opinion about food as well. Out of our four kids, two did not like anything green when they first started trying out foods. Sometimes as a parent, you have to be strategic in order to get green foods into a baby’s diet. The NEW Gerber^® Lil’ Mixers are one way I can help my son expand his taste pallet.

Getting in the Green Foods

The first food I usually tried introducing to my babies after rice cereal was peas. Sweet potatoes and fruits are usually easier for babies to like, so the doctor recommended waiting to introduce those sweeter tastes until the baby ate veggies. Both Klay and Kaleb absolutely hated peas, green beans, spinach, or anything that even looked a tad bit brown (the color of orange baby food when it is mixed with anything green). So, I started mixing together just a couple of the 1^st Foods^® together. I might take peas and add just a spoonful to a container of sweet potatoes.

I’ve also made my own green veggie powder to mix into sweet potatoes but with Gerber, I can get this done quickly. Gerber 2^nd Foods^® made this mix and transition really easy because they often mix those flavors themselves. When they add in the green foods, the baby still tastes the sweeter veggie or fruit paired with it. Klay’s favorites were:

• Sweet Potato, Mango, Kale
• Apple, Avocado
• Carrot, Sweet Potato, Pea

Eventually, we even worked our way up to peas, carrots, and spinach (which were more green than he could handle at first).

Working Up to Food Texture (While Still Getting in Green Foods!)

Many kids struggle with texture, too. According to one study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and looking at the eating habits of infants, 19% of 4- to 6-month-olds are picky eaters. That number jumps to 50% for 19- to 24-month-olds and only gets worse through toddlerhood. The dislike of vegetables starts early and often persists through childhood.

To combat this, many professionals encourage parents to avoid the “easy” solutions of the common children’s food menu (chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, etc.) and opt for as many nutrition-focused meals as possible. While the occasional “children’s meal” is okay, it is the consistent exposure to new tastes and textures that helps them develop a diverse palette. But, it can be really hard not to turn to the quick foods you know your baby likes.

Gerber does a really good job of helping babies move from the blended tastes to experiencing new textures by remixing mealtime with the Lil’ Mixers. There are 8 combinations inspired by homemade tastes with no artificial colors or ingredients.

They are so easy, and I know he will get nutrition in every bite! Lil’ crisp? Lotta crisp! Add texture your way. The texture is in a separate container, so you can custom mix the amount you want in the food (the food isn’t wasted if your baby isn’t feeling the extra texture!). Plus, some textures are best kept dry to keep them from getting mushy from being premixed in the food.

Klay is a huge fan. They offer the flavor of other Stage 2 foods, but with an additional texture for toddlers like him that are starting to outgrow purees.

You can explore the whole range of Lil’ Mixers by heading to Walmart and using this Ibotta offer! I go to Walmart for a convenient one-stop shop. We grabbed some of these while the auto center replaced the battery on our van. They are located in the baby food aisle, on the end of the Gerber food section.

Offering Green Foods as Snacks

Another tip is to make healthy foods (especially vegetables) the only option for snack time. Just offer whatever vegetable you are cutting up for dinner. If your kids are at all like mine, they will actually start to enjoy raw green beans, sweet peppers, celery, and carrots.

For babies, this can be difficult because they are hungry and don’t fully understand dinner is right around the corner. Gerber also has all kinds of snacks, like Veggie Melts^® snacks or veggie-filled granola bars, that even make snack time nutritious.

Once they are old enough to understand they can either eat the fresh vegetable snack offered or wait for dinner (around 2.5 or 3), it gets easier to make the vegetables an exciting treat. And they learn from each other. Klay has been more willing to gnaw on a green bean when he sees the older kids think it’s cool.

Keep offering the green foods and textures. Use Gerber to help with the transition. Over time, they will become familiar and your child won’t be as limited with taste. Use Gerber to help with the transition. Over time, they will become familiar and your child won’t be as limited with taste.

The post Getting Green Foods into Your Baby’s Diet appeared first on MidKid Mama.

I was recently included in an article on Thrive Global with several other bloggers collaborating to come up with 100 Ways to Make Someone Smile from Mom Bloggers. I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about 10 easy and inexpensive ways you can smile with your kids.

1. Record Everyday Moments and Activities

Set up a tripod and read your kids their favorite book or sing a song with them on a selfie video with a timer. Right now it might feel silly, but you will cherish those memories of everyday moments. If you are the mom behind the camera, you probably aren’t in enough of the family memories.

And, please, don’t let your weight or self-esteem stop you. Even if you feel a little uncomfortable, you will one day look back and be glad you are at least pictured as part of the activities. Your kids love you the way you are, so don’t deprive them of having photo and video memories to cherish. More than likely, you will cherish the “dull” everyday moments being captured more than the occasional birthday or sporting event video.

2. Add Their Names to a Familiar Story

Do you have a favorite book? Read it, changing one of the character’s names to their own without any warning. They will likely find this hilarious. You might even change a few parts to better fit their own personality, habits or possessions. Or you can also change up familiar songs if you are quick on your feet like that.

3. Celebrate the National Day

Did you know October 24^th is National Bologna Day and October 25^th is National Breadstick Day and National Frankenstein Day, among other things? Each day has a handful of somewhat unknown holidays that you can find fun ways to bring to light. Check out what today’s National Day is by looking at the National Day Calendar. Then have a blast finding the most ridiculous one and celebrating it!

4. Try a Balancing Contest

One foot? No problem! Try tossing a small ball up at the same time, or reaching your foot back to hip height with a straight leg. Improving your balance can help with core stability and the small exercise will even help boost your mood by getting the blood flowing. More than likely, you will find it easy to crack a smile as your watch your little try to balance on wiggly legs.

5. Make a Fun Plate

Mix up lunch or dinner a bit by making a face with the food! From bananas to sandwich triangles, you can start with the mouth. Then add fruits or veggies to make eyes. Or go the IHOP route and use whip cream and a few chocolate chips on a pancake for a fun and easy pancake. This can be as much fun to make as it is to eat.

Or, a simpler spin on this could be to just make a whip cream “worm” on their finger as a really fun and silly snack! A restaurant did this once while we were on a vacation and it was a hit for everyone from the small kids up to the teens.

6. Make Snacks or Treats to Share

Have your kids help you make cookies, soap, bath salts, bread or really anything they can take to share with their teacher, neighbors, coach, etc. Put it in a cute bag (there are usually several options in the baking isle) and help them deliver it with a small note. This one may be a bit more in-depth, but my kids love doing things like this for other people.

7. Take a Toddler Survey

Got small kids? For children ages 2-6 (maybe even older!), a survey can result in some really funny answers worth recording. Share them to Facebook or write them down in a journal to laugh over later too. Here is one I did with my 3-year-old and the outcome was pretty funny:

**TODDLER INTERVIEW – No coaching..**

• What’s your name?
• How old are you?
• How old is your mommy?
• What’s your favorite color?
• What’s your favorite food?
• Who’s your best friend?
• What’s your favorite song?  
• What do you like to watch on tv?
• What’s your favorite animal?
• What are you scared of?
• What makes you happy?
• Where’s your favorite place to go
• What do want to be when you grow up?
• What is love?
• Who loves you the most?

8. Recreate Old Memories

Have slightly older kids (3+)? Try remaking an older picture with a fun memory. Whether your picture is from one year ago or 10, try to get in the same position and make the same faces as the original picture. Hopefully you will smile with your kids and get some fun comparison memories as well out of this silly shoot. The more absurd the original picture, the better!

9. Go Outside and Collect Something

Leaves? Flowers? Bugs? Sticks? Rocks? Whatever is outside and in-season, go collect it. Explore your surroundings and then compare what you’ve found. You can use crayons to stencil leaves onto paper, trace rocks and turn them into faces, paint on rocks, use a magnifying glass to examine bugs/leaves/flowers and so much more.

10. Give a Ridiculous Answer

If you are a slightly frazzled mother like me, then it might also be due to kids asking silly things 24-7 and frying all of your brain cells. I have a rule that a ridiculous question gets a ridiculous answer. Most of the time, this leads to smiles instead of irritation or exasperation. It not only helps them to develop a sense of humor, but it also helps them to think about what they are asking and if the answer is something they already know.

“Are you going to make us lunch?” My three-year-old asks. “Nope,” I reply. “Never again. I decided we don’t need ANY more food. Ever.”

If they look concerned I giggle and tell them that was a silly question. They catch on quick. If it isn’t done in a mean-spirited way (really trying to trick them and get a rise out of them), it can be a lot of fun. Smile with your kids and teach them at the same time!

Kid watches me drop my phone and asks immediately, “Did you DROP your PHONE??” Me: “Nope, it flew out of my hands because it yearns for freedom.”

The more ridiculous the answer, the more funny I find it deep in my soul. An extra five points if you can keep a dead straight face while responding.

Smiling is Free

You might not always feel like smiling, and that’s okay. But look for reasons to create joy and smile with your kids on a daily basis. Happiness is good for you on a mental and physical level. The more we can find reasons to smile, the better we are going to feel. You don’t need to go spend money or do something elaborate to build good memories with your family.

The post 10 Easy Ways to Smile with Your Kids appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Responsive prayer can occur with any verse in the Bible as you allow the words to move you. React to the truths, and let the words apply to your life as they do. Not only can the verses help keep you focused, they can also help you deepen your prayers and move past ruts of repetition.

You can really use any verse, but here are some beautiful, uplifting Bible verses for responsive prayer.

His Righteousness Endures Forever

Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

Great are the works of the Lord,

    studied by all who delight in them.

Full of splendor and majesty is his work,

    and his righteousness endures forever.

Psalm 111

Before All Time and Now and Forever

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 1:24-25

Bless the Lord O My Soul

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

He Gives Power to the Faint

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

    his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

    and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

    and young men shall fall exhausted;

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

    they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 103:1-5

Every Tongue Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Phillipians 2:3-11

Wisdom from Above

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James 3:17-18

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