Technology Rules For My Family

Recently we had a family meeting.  This was a first for our family, I am ashamed to say.  We have had intentions of doing this for a long time but I finally decided to put it on the calendar and scrape together some things I was burning to talk about and get the meeting done.  The meeting was a success, if I do say so myself, even if it went WAY overtime and my kids ended up staying up WAY past bedtime.  Sometime during the meeting my husband decided to take a picture and post it to Facebook.  Then the comments started that led me to making this post.  I had several people asking for my technology rules, which were only slightly visible in the post.  I could have just posted some better pictures but I thought I needed more explanation than that.  So here I go!  

Disclaimer: We have only been putting these rules into practice for 24 hours at the time of this post, so it could still completely fail.  We are a homeschooling family with very different schedules/expectations than your family (even if you also homeschool) so tweak it to work for you.

Here was my problem (I'm pretty sure I am not alone here): my kids get too much time on technology.  We define technology as anything that plugs in.  All of these items are not inherently bad.  My big worry is that I will unintentionally raise my kids to forget what it means to play outside and explore the real world (i.e. things that don't plug in).   I recognize that some technology items are even educational and creative in themselves, which has made it hard for me sometimes to draw a line and limit time they use these items.

Our rules before Sunday's meeting: We had already set rules in our house that they earned their tech time in several ways.  30 min for completing chores.  15 min for having a clean room.  15 min for practicing guitar for 30 min.  Over the summer we even gave them an hour for reading for an hour.  The first problem was that I had a really hard time keeping track of who had how much time.  Another problem was that they often decided they didn't care about the clean room or chores, and opted to read or practice guitar and just not get the other time.  Or they would not do any of it and find a way to watch a sister use her time, or just ask if they could play an educational game that would make it hard for me to say no (yes, I know that I am essentially creating this problem).  We needed to reset the rules and draw very clear lines as to what needs to be done before they pick up the tech, and what is considered "for school" and what is not.  I also decided to use some language that helped them see that cheating on their time was the same as stealing, and the consequences would match the crime.


SO, I started looking for rules online.  I found a ton of tech rule posts (I knew I wasn't alone!).   But none really fit my family.  So I read through the posts for inspiration and came up with my own list.  I also found this free printable that I used to make technology punch cards from.   I LOVE free printables!! 

Here are our tech rules, nothing fancy and the only way they will work is if I actually enforce them.

1. Technology is a privilege, not a right
2. You will receive a punch card on Sunday night
3. Once the holes are punched, your time for the week is up
4. You may only use your card once your chores are done and your room is clean
5. If you have any outstanding homework/schoolwork do not ask for time
6. If you go over your time, you will punch another hole
7. If you steal time you will punch 2 holes
8. If you have no more time left, you will lose time on next week’s card.
9. Watching your sibling means you punch your card too.
10. We can take time away as a consequence for poor behavior
11. You can get extra time for the following
1. Practicing Guitar = 15 min
2. Reading a non-school book for 1 hour = 30 min
3. Reading to one of the non-readers= 15 min

Other things that we talked about in the meeting I think will reinforce our commitment to the rules.  We spent a lot of time talking about the big picture.  We talked about what kind of family we want to be, and we allowed the kids to have some input.  More about family meetings in another post.  I am really excited we have finally started these meetings and that everyone seems to be on board.   

Feel free to use any or all of this, you may want to browse around pinterest to find other tech rules and create a list that works for your family.  The key is consistency and enforcement.  Time to put on my Tech Cop hat!

Keeping Connected With Far-Away Family During Christmas

This is our first Christmas where we are not going to join the traveling hoards and make our way home. While we are sad that we are missing our family and some of our favorite Christmas traditions, we are glad to be relaxing at home instead of fighting crowds in the airports.

We have been trying to think of a creative way to be connected with our family on Christmas day. More than just the conference call or pass the telephone that our family traditionally did with relatives that moved away. Thankfully, we live in the 21st century where technology can bring our distant family into our living room on Christmas morning. Thanks to Web cams, they don't have to miss out completely on our two little girls experiencing the joy that Christmas morning brings. In the past, we have web-chatted with our family for a few minutes at a time to catch up on the latest goings on in our lives and to have the girls see and be seen by their grandparents. This Christmas it will serve as our link to our family.

There are many different options for video chatting. Skype, ichat, Aim, MSN, etc. A newer one though allows more than two cams to be connected at a time. Tokbox. With Tokbox, we can connect with both sets of grandparents and maybe even an uncle in another part of the country at the same time. It also works well whether you have a Mac or a PC. So check it out, and see if you can connect your family this Christmas beyond the Merry Christmas pass the phone game.

www.tokbox.com

I have to get back to you on this...

I mentioned earlier that I was going to try out emealz.com and let you know how I like it. Well, I did some further research on www.emealz.com and I decided against it. The best I could do on their plans was 70$ a week. That 70$ was only for dinner foods. So on top of that I would have to get breakfast and lunch makings. Currently, we spend about $70 (maybe a little bit more, but not much more) a week for all of our food and household goods. It's not spectacular but it is better than $70 just for dinner. I did like their variety of foods and having a list that you could take and know just about exactly what you were going to spend. But for us, emealz is not the cost-effective option that we are looking for. So it's my meal plan for now!

Making My Home a Haven: Inviting

Thank you Monica from The Homespun Heart! It has been a revealing, fun week for me this week.

Well, since my husband has been away on business for most of the last month and a half, we are really just looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. But with Thanksgiving around the corner we are hoping that our friends will be joining us. With family far away, we find it lonely around the holidays. Most of our friends live close enough to drive home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it would take us at least 3 days just to drive home! Leaving us the only ones in town, it seems. This year we have invited some new friends for Thanksgiving and though they haven't officially gotten back to us yet, we are hoping to have them for Turkey day. On that note, I want to encourage those of you who have family close to invite at least one of your friends who is far from family to join yours for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Being invited to be part of a family helps a little when your miss your family.

So here is my plan for the day, not much in inviting. We're carrying fun Thursday over to Friday!
*Get 5 year old to school - complete with lunch in hand today!
*Library with 3 year old
*local Firehouse with our playgroup!
*Dollar menu lunch
*Straighten up counter tops
*Laundry
*pick up playroom and media room with help from 3 year old
*pick up 5 year old from school (devotion and knitting in the carpool line)
*Read/play with the girls
*dinner- Pizza tonight!
*Mommy goes scrapbooking!

So that's our day. A mixture of fun and duty today. Hope all of you have a blessed day!

Day 4 update: Fun

Today's plan was pretty simple: have fun! So we did.

I only had a couple of to-dos other than playing with my girls and I was able to complete them.

I got my 5 year old to school unscathed.
Ran to Super Target and got some fruit and the needed bread,
Ran home to make a lunch for my 5 year old then ran it to school.
Played Candy land, Chutes and Ladders and Dominoes with my 3 year old. How does she always win?
Had lunch
Made Cookies (burned one pan thanks to my timer that makes one weak chirp when it goes off)
Ate Cookies
Napped with 3 year old
Picked up 5 year old
Announced my plan to feed the ducks and go to the park which was turned down for playing in the driveway with their various vehicles and chalk. (5 year old doesn't like ducks?)
Still playing while I am typing.
Getting ready for dinner and a night of more fun (so glad Daddy is home!)

Since I want to focus on being real with everyone, I want to be clear that things do get derailed from time to time, it's really an unspoken part of my plan. I'm not usually a lister but after this week of being focused on my home, I think I will make more lists. Like I said in my comment on the last post, I feel like I was able to get a lot more done. And if something were to get in the way, oh well, I can put whatever got missed on my list another day. I'll get there eventually!

And on a spiritual note, today I found myself thinking of those dealing with cancer a lot today. I think its because of my knitting. I decided to pray over the piece that I'm attempting to make for someone I don't even know, who may not even know they are sick yet. I pray for healing and comfort and that they know the maker of the universe and his love.

Hope everyone else has had a successful day! Thanks again Monica from The Homespun Heart for hosting this challenge.

Pictures from Day 3 and 4

The beginning of the knitting project (ok, I had to start over a couple of times after this picture)

The first game with the 3 year old (can you see how far ahead the red marker is from the blue? Yep, that's me in the blue, she caught all the breaks and I wasn't even making it easy for her)

Making My home a Haven Day 3: Cared For

Today I had to come up with a project that I have been putting off that needs some attention. Hmmm....what to do. Since I always have everything done that I want to have done, I have to be creative with this one. NOT! I have a lot of things that I could put on this list today. I could put them all on my to do list today but then I would feel defeated by the end of the day so that's not really productive. So I think I will choose a couple and hope that I get it done!

To Do:
Get 5 year old to school
Pick up pictures from Walmart (didn't make my walmart run yesterday)
Organize pictures for Scrapbooking crop on Friday night
Sand Radio cabinet in the garage to prep for painting (will probably take the rest of the day)
Lunch
More sanding
Nap
Pick up 5 year old (devotion in the car while waiting in line)
After school snack/read books with the girls
Dinner- Probably Hot Dogs tonight because of Church
Wednesday night church activities

Wow, that still looks like a long list. Wish me luck! I added the link to my radio cabinet, maybe you have an idea of what to do with it. Right now I just plan to prep it, then I will decided to paint or restore it.

After Pictures of Day 1 and Day 2 Plan

Making my home a haven...




Here are my after pictures from yesterday. You probably couldn't tell what was under all that stuff! I felt really good because I got all of this done before lunch. In addition to the effectiveness of lists, I learned that I really don't have much of an excuse to not get things straightened up. It didn't take that long and I felt more comfortable in my house all day long! Instead of walking into the kitchen and being stressed by the mess, the energy from the room was much more positive. And my bedroom felt more like a retreat at the end of the night. The only thing I didn't get to was the car, but it really isn't bad, just need to throw out some papers that seem to accumulate.

So today I am going to follow the Challenge and Clean. Here is my list for today:

Clean up Kitchen dishes
Clean downstairs bathrooms (upstairs bathrooms don't get used very much)
Vacuum downstairs and the stairs (I vacuumed upstairs last weekend) I LOVE my new vacuum cleaner so this will be fun!
Sweep and Swiffer tile floors
Clean the inside of the fridge
Clean out the Microwave
Wipe up the front of the oven and the dishwasher
Lunch
Walmart run
Nap (I might as well admit to my blogging friends that I am 7 weeks pregnant and need to take about a 30 min nap in the middle of the day to function)
Read devotional while waiting for daughter in carpool line
After school Snack and read with the girls
Dinner- Chick Fil A school night (Like I need an excuse)

My devotional this week is on Leah. Interesting character. She was the unwanted bride of Jacob. Her sister was the one he wanted but their father tricked Jacob into marrying Leah first then working more years to get Rachel, the wanted sister. What discord must have existed between the sisters for all of those years. I will pray that my home and yours is one of peace and unity.

Making My Home a Haven: Day 1

I am taking the challenge from Monica of "the homespun heart" to create a Haven out of my home. Today's challenge is to tidy up, declutter and to make time for quiet time with God. Here is my plan for the day:

Laundry (all day)
Unload clean dishes from the dishwasher
Declutter kitchen counters
lunch
Declutter bedroom dressers and side tables
A hot cocoa break with my 3 year old
Declutter bathroom counter
Devotional time in the car while waiting in carpool line for my 5 year old (Women of the Bible, great book!)
Re-organize the cabinets and shelf in the laundry room
Declutter the car!

Whew! Kind of a lot! but I think I can do it if I start now! If you want to join in the Making My Home a Haven Challenge this week, check out "the homespun heart." I will post before and after pictures too. Here is my before - I'm being vulnerable here!



Update: I am more than half way through my list and it is only 11am! Sweet. Something I have learned: Lists are good motivators. (duh) I should have known that making a list would motivate me, I love to cross things off and get that sense of accomplishment!

Cleaning On My Mind

All I can think about today is how much cleaning I need to do in this house. This is the day that I curse all 3000 square feet of our house! So here are some of my cleaning practices that might help you get your square feet shiny and clean. Some of these ideas have been collected from other sources, so I can't take full credit, but it really helps to have a game plan when cleaning.

1) Take all cleaning supplies with you in a carrier, so you don't have to go looking for them once you start cleaning.
2) Include laundry basket (cause laundry never seems to get to where it is supposed to go) and garbage bag in your supplies.
3) You can use a stroller to contain all of your supplies if you need to. Think "hotel housekeeping."
4) Clean one room at a time, do not leave that room for anything until you are done.
5) Items that need to go to another room can go in your laundry basket or stroller and get dropped off as you clean the rest of the house.
6) Give helpful kids a Swiffer duster (they love to dust and it gives them something to do).
7) Take a short break between rooms (makes you feel like you aren't abandoning your kids!).

These tips help me stay focused. I tend to get distracted if I leave the room I'm cleaning and it takes ten times longer to clean. If I focus and stick to one room, not only is it faster, but I feel like I do a more thorough job.

Now, off to work! I look forward to the sweet smell of a clean house!

More Saving Money

I've talked about menu planning before and I tried some of the websites that I mentioned in that post. Honestly, I was pretty overwhelmed and barely got started.
But now I am checking out e-mealz.com. I haven't gotten started yet but I think it might work. They actually have plans that are diet-specific (including weight watchers points!) or based on store sales. They also have different menus based on how many people you are planning for and the shopping list is made for you too! Can't beat that! Its only $1.25 a week so I think we'll start next week and I'll get back to you on how it works for us!

Christmas Gift Idea For Your Kids

This time of the year grandparents are probably asking for Christmas present ideas for your kids. This can be hard to come up with as you look at your house/playroom/kids rooms and you see gifts from Christmas past strewn about the floor in disaray sometimes even broken. What could they possibly need? I think it would be good to start with trying to get the grandparents on your side. Of course they want to get your child something they will appreciate and that will make their dreams come true, but does it have to be in the form of a toy or some other item that will become part of the chaos in your home? How about something expendable. Gift cards will only put off the mess and they aren't much fun for the grandparents. How about classes? How many times have you put off getting your little one into dance, music, art, gymnastics because of the cost? Wouldn't it be a great gift for Christmas? It's easy to ship. Doesn't take up room in the toybox. Doesn't require batteries. Doesn't break. Doesn't get fought over. Grandparents can see the joy they have provided by attending recitals in person or via video. It enriches your child's life and therefore is the perfect gift! Big hint to our kids's grandparents!

PS- Sports would be great too (they are so expensive these days!).

My List Gets Longer!

Joining twittermoms.com has expanded my blog horizons! I just love learning about everything there is to learn through blogs and the real people behind them. And since joining twittermoms only a week ago, my blog list just gets longer and longer! I try to look at 2 or 3 new blogs a day and then do a quick check on any blogs that are on my list and have been updated. It's an obsession but I feel like I learn so much in these quick visits around the world. Take a look at some of my listed blogs. My newest favorite is minnemom.com, this Minnesota mom blogs about her "travels with children." A blog after my own heart. It has inspired me to share my own experience with traveling around the country with our children. My favorite thing to do! Also, check out Today is Fun. Another great blog and an everyday resource for that daily question...what to do with the kids?

Mommy tip: Formula Checks

This is a mommy tip from a friend of mine who has a precious little one. Did you know that you can use the formula "checks" at Costco? Those checks that you get as a promotion from companies like Similac and Gerber can be used to go toward your purchase not just in your local grocery store but at the mega one-stop Costco.
Another reason to love Costco!!

Kaboom! Playspace finder

I found this from a tweet that my husband received (yes, I stalk his tweets). Its a GREAT idea. I know when we moved to Texas I was desperate to get out and find new places to take the girls that were free and fun. The Kaboom! Playspace finder is a place where parents have entered info about parks and play areas that they know about and frequent. The more people add, the more it will become a great resource for parents. You don't have to be a member to search but you do need to log in to add a playplace. They don't add it until they verify the information. So click in and help build this wonderful resource for parents in your area. And take a look around, you may find a place you didn't know about!!
playspacefinder.kaboom.org

Teaching kids about money

I found this great product on Parent Hacks, I'm going to purchase it. I thought it would be a good thing to pass on.

Parent Hacks: Introducing Money Management to Preschoolers

http://www.parenthacks.com/2008/09/introducing-mon.html

Blog Surfing

There are so many blogs out there it's hard to know which ones are worth a look. Just clicking on "next blog" at the top of the screen is a little dangerous, to say the least, and usually unsatisfying.
So how do you find quality, informative, interesting and even entertaining blogs? www.alltop.com Alltop is an aggregator of blogs. Meaning it collects, categorizes, and ranks blogs. You can find all of the top blogs for most subjects worth looking into. For instance, if you are looking for mom blogs moms.alltop.com and you will get a list of mom blogs that are the cream of the crop (oh, I can only dream!). Going to the main website, www.alltop.com will get you to a large list of topics that seems to be growing every day. Only a few topics include: homeschooling, adoption, theater, tv, and of course, blogging.

I want to share a blog with you that my husband discovered and shared with me, it is not a mom blog and can be found under church.alltop.com . Her site is www.flowerdust.net and she is an author and serves on staff at a church in Nashville. I find her entries to be interesting and real.

Happy reading!

Bad Mommy

My girls had their yearly well-child visit with the doctor today. Everything went just fine as far as health goes. But while the doctor was talking to my 5 year old, I found out that I was neglecting something pretty important in my parenting. Something I always swore to myself that I would be pro-active on. Safety.
First the doctor asked, where do you live? My daughter correctly answered the name of our town. I smiled with pride that she knew this much. Then, the doctor asked what her address was. I tried to hide the blush as I knew she didn't know that. Next, the doctor asked if she knew what happened if she dialed 911 on the phone. At this, I just cringed. She gave my daughter a second chance, asking "who comes if you dial 911?" My daughter just shrugged and the Dr looked at me. Not necessarily disapproving but more like, "does she really not know these things?" I thought, ask her phone number, this is something we have worked on. No she moved onto something else. She asked if my daughter knows the rules about playing in the street. I thought, she has to know this, we don't even allow her to go past the sidewalk at the end of the driveway. Nope. She answered, "sometimes, if I'm careful." Wrong! I felt like I was failing a test. The doctor finally asked her about swimming. "Do you go swimming alone?" The 5 year old answered, "no, but sometimes when I can touch I go by myself." I thought, no way!! This is the one thing that I was confident she knew. She went on to explain that I was on the side of the pool and I breathed a small sigh of relief. Two out of six. Not a good score.

So, I need work on a few things. We have 14 days left until kindergarten. She WILL know these things before kindergarten, so help me!

Some research brought me to these web sources:
Safe Kids: Focused on accidental injury has printable activities for teaching
Safe Kids Club: This is an organization that I heard about at MOPS one year I bought their workbooks even though I had a 3 month old at the time, it covers personal safety
McGruff: Games and other resources

Why moms should tweet on Twitter.

I'm all atwitter about Twitter. It would be even more fun if my mom friends were on twitter too. If you don't know what I am talking about, that's totally understandable. Mom's are much too busy to keep up on the latest web-based social networking applications. Some of us are just getting into email. ( I have one mom friend who STILL doesn't have an email account, love her, but I can't ever send her a quick email so we don't keep in touch much.)
So Twitter is the next thing. For those of you who have skipped the Myspace and Facebook revolution because you don't have time to set up a fancy profile or to keep checking your friends' profiles, Twitter is perfect. Twitter allows you to send a message (tweets) to all of your followers (tweeps, instead of peeps, get it?) at once, and to receive your friends' tweets as well. You can even set it up to text your cell phone when your friends tweet if you like. There are lots of options and it is growing more each day. It is a quick way to tell friends, family and followers what you are doing or thinking at any given moment. As moms, Twitter can give us a social outlet and connection even when we don't have time for it. Did you ever wish that you could share the crazy mommy things that happen like "My two year old just pooped on my leg?" (I only say this because a friend recently experienced just that and said it would be nice to just vent in a twitter). Twitter gives you a place to share the fun, crazy and sometimes mundane events of life. It's fun, not time consuming and becoming a part of our culture. Here is a blog article by Cynthia Ware that demonstrates just how Twitter is changing the speed of news. Parent Hacks is on board too (see sidebar for Parent Hacks link).
So sign up and follow me!! I would love to follow you too.

More on Plastic Bottles

A couple of months ago I wrote about my worries over plastic bottles and how they might be poisoning our children. I started on this rant because of a segment on the Martha Stewart TV show on which she spoke to a women who warned that Canada had banned #7 plastic bottles and stores in the US were taking them off of the shelves (not any of the stores I frequent). So fear set in and thus the previous post. (Find it here)
Since then, a friend of mine brought to my attention a Snopes.com article on the subject. Find the article here. Snopes is a great resource for finding the fact or fiction in those forwards that you get from time to time. I never thought of using it to verify this information.
For the most part, the article dispels worries about heating and freezing the disposable water bottles that we get when we buy bottled water. The article stops short of declaring all plastic bottles safe, however. Saying that the debate is still open on bottles containing bisphenol A. While there is still some concern over the levels of bisphenol A, many feel that the amount that passes to the water is of no concern. They also say that many times one's position in the plastic bottle debate coincides with their political views.
So draw your own conclusions. I will probably go out and buy replacement bottles for the ones I threw out (they were old anyway) and I won't even look at the bottom.