Another summer has quickly passed us by. The kids have reluctantly gone back to school. It stands to reason that life should be a little less hectic, right? Unfortunately, that’s usually not the case. Between all of your daily ‘Mom obligations’, helping with homework and providing transportation to every extra-curricular activity under the sun, you probably have little time to devote to dinner planning.

Many times busy parents resort to hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, frozen pizza or frequent trips to a fast-food restaurant. That’s not healthy for you or the kids – not to mention its pretty rough on the family grocery budget.

Kitchen time savers

There are things you can do to cut down on time spent in the kitchen. Pick one day a week and prepare several freezer friendly meals. You can even go the extra mile and package them in individual serving size containers. Doing so will provide your family with a larger variety of entrée choices, on any given day.

Do you have friends that are intrigued with the idea of a one-day a week cooking spree or a meal planning service? Get together with 2 or 3 of them. Each of you decides on 2 main dishes you want to prepare. Buy enough ingredients to make the entrees for each family.

You need to plan ahead

One simple thing that you can do is keep an ample supply of fresh fruits, salad ingredients, soups and fresh sandwich fixings, on hand. Quick meals such as this are nutritious and don’t require a great deal of preparation time.

If you take on the task of meal planning and want to get in the habit of consistently putting together weekly menus yourself, you may be surprised at how much time it involves. Did you know that the typical family meal planner spends roughly 3 hours per week combing through cookbooks, choosing recipes and compiling a grocery list? That translates into 156 hours, per year. Yikes!

A menu service can help

You can say goodbye to last minute thrown together meals and eliminate the stress of dinner planning for your family by subscribing to a meal planning service. This type of service is very affordable, usually costing only a few cents per day. Menus are often designed to be family friendly and easily adaptable.

When you purchase a subscription to a service such as this, your membership will typically feature a weekly menu emailed right to your inbox. This includes seven main dish recipes, side dish suggestions and dessert ideas. As an added benefit, you receive a detailed shopping list, categorized by aisle, which makes your trip to the grocery store that much easier. Simply cross off items already in your pantry, add any other products you may be in need of and you’re off!

If you enjoy planning your own menu, you may want to consider a dinner planning service, in addition to your own choices. Why? It will still save you time, in the long run. Use the membership menu as a base. Then, search for recipes that will deliciously compliment that weekly plan.

Remember, nothing is more important than family time. Don’t let dinner planning get you down. Consider the suggestions we’ve made and you’ll spend less time
slaving over hot stove and more time with the people you love.

For a free weekly trial of a family friendly menu planning service, visit DineWithoutWhine.com

By: Debbie Madson

Whether you work at home, stay at home or work full time if you have kids making time for them is the most important priority in your to do list each day. Do you ever have days where you just put the kids to bed and realize you haven’t read any books to them today, gone outside to play or just sat down and played a game of Candyland or Go Fish with them. Somedays they are fed, clothed and happy and you can call it a good day.

How can you find little ways to corporate more playing, laughing and enjoying your kids?

1. Make a point to eat together everyday. As kids get older they become busier but make family meal time a must in your house. Whether it is only breakfast and dinner it is important to use the time to talk to your kids and enjoy their company. Consider taking dinner with you if you are on the go.

2. Set a bedtime routine that includes 10 minutes at least with each child.
Even if they are 16 you can still go in their room and talk to them for a few minutes. For younger children bedtime is a great time to read or have them read to you. Talk about what their favorite thing they did today was or what they want to do tomorrow. Asking them questions that provides more than a yes or no answer can open the lines of communication as well as not asking too broad questions. Asking a 5 year old what they did in kindergarten may be too hard for them to answer but ask them what they did in circle time or who they ate lunch with they can easily answer.

3. Have special one on one activities with each child each day or an outing once a week. Whether it is something simple like playing a game, letting them help you with a household chore or going out to lunch once a week make it time when they have your full attention.

4. Get your kids involved in making dinner. It may take a little longer when they are younger but it is great quality time with your kids. Not too mention teaching them to cook has many added benefits like instilling healthy eating habits, reiterating school lessons and improving their self esteem.

5. Take your kids with you to run errands, shopping or where ever possible. Listen and sing to kids music with them. Play a game of 20 questions while you are waiting at the doctor’s office. Tell them a story about “when you were little”. These times can be great teaching moments.

Whatever you do, don’t let a day pass that you forget to take time for your kids. Give them a hug and tell them you love them but also show them by your actions throughout the day. I know if you are like me you don’t mean to overlook the time we could be spending with our kids but we get busy, life passes us by and our kids just keep on growing!

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www.kids-cooking-activities.com has kids cooking lesson plans to help you in teaching your kids to cook and giving them activities to explore and learn in the kitchen. You will also find seasonal cooking activities, kids craft recipes, easy kids meals and so much more. Getting your child involved in the kitchen and learning to cook is an opportunity not to be missed.

For many parents, organizing your kids to do chores, put things away in proper designated places, be respectful and civil can be a most daunting task. With such frustration, some parents can resort to anger, threats and even name-calling.

Anger can seem to be appropriate on occasions, but if a parent sinks into a continuing pattern of resentment and negativity toward a child’s lack of compliance, it could cause real damage to the child’s self-concept and well being. None of us wants that.

Nothing breeds unwillingness and apathy more than being made to feel accused and inadequate. Think of a time when you were made to feel that way. Did it make you want to improve at all? Of course, it did not.

Create an enthusiastic atmosphere with your kids. How do you do that? Have your kids excited about rewards they will receive if they clean up their rooms, keep the house tidy and do their chores. Let them know that they are appreciated and how a family is a co-operative unit for the wellbeing of everyone. Bring this across to them in a number of ways. They will feel loved and a valuable part of the family. Teach them to earn their place by being a contributing part of it.

Devise a point system that adds up to an allowance that allows the children spend their money the way they want to. They love this! This empowers them! If they want that trip to the roller rink or some other new possession that is really important to them, they know getting it will be a direct result of their efforts. This teaches them value for your efforts.

Be encouraging. Do not make them feel bad if they mess up, but when they do, absolutely, take the reward points away. Let them know there is always next time, and let them know they can do better, but do not sway in your position. It has to be as real as if they were going to a real job and being paid for their production. The rules agreed to have to be kept, no matter what and they have to know it’s firm but fair. It has to directly affect what they consider to be important to them and in how they are directly affected by it.

Those well-to-do families and their children have so much – perhaps too much! It’s all there without any effort on their parts, and they don’t have to earn a thing. They just take it all for granted. Make incentives that are particularly important to them and let them learn the lesson that participation equals real reward.

Tasks to earn rewards can alter, week by week, and with multiple kids the highest point winner can take the pick of the favorite chores and the lowest point winner gets the ones that are left over. Make it a realistic approach for each child according to age and ability to have their fair chance to win.

Do they have their own reasons and incentive to keep their bedrooms and the play areas clean? Talk it over with them; ask them for examples of how it could be more meaningful for them. Gently guide them to discover for themselves what reasons the clean room, etc. would serve their best needs.

If they wish to earn extra points to gain something special or to catch up if behind, make available extra chores above and beyond the call of duty. This will help them do that, such as taking over one of the parent’s tasks for a time or doing a special project for the home and family.

Rearing our children is a really tough job. Even miracles can occur with the right attitude, good communication and good systems! Bring up your child to respect you and to earn their way and you will have a naturally organized household.

Organizing Your Morning Routine

It’s stressful isn’t it?  Having to get all those things ready, trying not to forget anything, not to mention bickering kids, tantrums about what to wear or the sleepy head who doesn’t want to wake up.  No, the morning rush isn’t any fun but luckily there are a few things you can do to bring peace back into your family’s morning routine.

Prepare Ahead - Sounds simple enough but did you know you could actually leave just about everything ready for the next day?  It might take a few extra minutes out of your evening but you’ll be much faster if you prepare everything once the kids are asleep rather than rushing in the morning.

Lay out the kids clothes for the next day – Include things like hair clips, socks and shoes.  And don’t forget to lay out your clothes too.

Leave breakfast ready (or nearly ready) – Depending on what you have for breakfast you can often pre-prepare a lot of it.  If you have pancakes make the batter the night before and stick it in the fridge.  If you have cereal and toast, leave the cereal out, bowls, spoons and bread.  You can even set the table to save time.

Pre-Pack Lunch Boxes – If your kids take a packed lunch to school prepare it the night before.  Most things like sandwiches will be fine left in the fridge overnight.

Pack Their School Bags – Look through their bags and make sure there aren’t any last minute dates or events you’ve overlooked.  Pack all their books and things in their bags and leave everything by the front door.

Get The Kids Involved – The responsibility of getting the kids to school shouldn’t completely lie on your shoulders.  As soon as children are old enough to help out then they should.  Even the youngest of kids can help.

Make a Chart – If your kids (like most kids) are forgetful, make a chart for each one which explains in order all the things they need to do in the morning.  You can draw pictures for the really young ones and write a description for the older ones. For example, you can have a picture of a toothbrush, then the school clothes, hair brush, etc. 

Talk to your kids about the list beforehand and explain it to them.  Then stick it up in a prominent place in their rooms and the next time they ask you “mom, what do I do know?” tell them to go look at their list.  This is a great way of getting kids a little more involved and to start teaching them responsibility.

By preparing ahead you can’t avoid all of your family’s morning stresses but it will certainly help a lot, and who knows you may even have time for that extra cup of coffee.