Month: June 2015

woohoo and hip hip hooray! I can’t believe it, I am so so so so happy and relieved… and absolutely EXHAUSTED! I feel like I could sleep for a month… 

So I dreamed again last night. Maybe it’s the training, and that I’m more tired than normal. But last night, I dreamed that I was getting my house rendered while I was at work. And by the time I got home, they’d rendered it. Including the  doors, the windows and the whole of the roof. I felt as though I was suffocating.

It was weird.

I used to be interested in the meaning of dreams / where dreams came from and why. Then I got busy…

But I’m wondering now… Is it that I’m worried about this morning’s grading?

I wonder…

– KRidwyn 

I’m not a big sports fan. In fact, I’m not a fan at all. Sorry!

I realised that the second State of Origin was on tonight because of what colours people had worn to work today, but promptly forgot again after. Later tonight, when violin teaching, my student was also wearing the maroon jersey and was incensed that I wasn’t following the series.

I told him that I knew who would win. “Oh yeh, you think the Blues will win tonight, to set it up for the third game being the decider,” he said.

I said maybe, maybe not. “But NSW will win the 2015 series,” I said. 

He almost fell over. 

But, I reasoned, they have to. If QLD won 8 years in a row, then NSW won in 2014, and QLD wins again in 2015, the whole State of Origin event will start to  lose sponsorship, I reckon. I mean, who will want to keep on shell out the big dollars when the outcome is going to be pretty much predictable? There’s no way the organisers would want QLD to win the series this year. As much as they may say otherwise.

I then compared it to ‘King of the Mountain’, which again, I don’t follow, but have heard many people say, “Don’t bother. You know that it’s either going to be Ford or Holden” and I think that the State of Origin is in danger of going the same way.

So, my prediction for the night? Yes, NSW may indeed win. ‘Set it up for a decider’. And I also believe that it’s more than likely they’ll win the series. Because really, they’re pretty much going to have to.

Anyway, that’s my tuppence for you. In case you were interested…

KRidwyn

Good morning, dear reader!

So this is the last of my five parenting tips; hopefully you’re found the last few to be helpful. My final one: make milestones memorable!

(I’ve decided that the alliteration in the titles of these tips is fun! Can you tell?)

So. Milestones. I got this idea from a friend of mine, who celebrates each of each children’s “big” birthdays with a memory, not an event. So, this is what I’ve come up with:

When the child turns 10, they get to spend from early morning through to 5pm doing something special with a parent. Earlier this year, I took Miss10 to SeaWorld – it was her first time at a theme park and she absolutely loved it! 

For 13, the ‘day’ will go from early morning through to 9pm. For 15, the ‘day’ will finish at midnight. For 18, we’ll spend a night in a ritzy hotel somewhere. And any activities done on the day are the child’s choice. No interruptions from work, school, or other children. Just total “Mummy and me” hanging out time. Or, when it’s Mr7’s turn, it might be special time with Daddy. I know my friend’s husband did a shooting trip with their son for one of his ‘big’ birthdays. They both loved it.

And that’s the way my kids feel, too. They love the idea! Miss10 had been looking forward to her special day for over 2 years, and now she’s already starting to think about what we could do when she turns 13. I think a morning walk on the beach has been mentioned, as well as massages, a movie, dinner at her favourite restaurant… you get the idea. And why not? They’ll only turn that age once. It’s a special day, a day for making special memories. 

That’s what I think, anyway. Milestones should be memorable. So that’s what we’re doing. 

And that’s it. My five tips for having kids who are happy, responsible, well-behaved, respectful, etc etc etc.

I’d love to hear what you think about it all! Do you agree? Disagree? Have other suggestions?

And, as always, thanks for stopping by, dear reader. Here’s wishing you a lovely day today! 

🙂

– KRidwyn

So over the past three days, I’ve posted a few principles I use (live by, actually) which has made the raising of my kids a little easier for me.

Tip #1, rewards first. #2 stuff has value. #3 make expectations clear. 

And now, tip #4. Consistency is key.

It’s kind of a no-brainer, really. If you want kids who don’t whinge at the drop of a hat, be as fair as possible. And the only way to be fair is to be consistent. For as long as you can.

Me? I hate whinging! Especially the whole “it’s not fair!” one. As a middle child, the girl between two brothers, I feel like I know all about unfairness. And I decided that I would always have an even number of children to kind of combat some of that ‘lack of attention’ that is inevitable in a three child family… but unfortunately, life didn’t happen like that.

Luckily, when I was pregnant with my eldest, a work colleague told me how, when she was pregnant, she sat down and wrote out a list of rights and responsibilities; goalposts that she felt were important ones, so that these would be unchanging; constants in a changing world. Simple stuff, like bed times for various ages, to when they’d be allowed a mobile phone, or what age they could pierce their ears, and so on and so on. I thought it was a good idea, so I did the same.

My kids all know about it. They call it ‘the list’ and they’ve helped add to it, from time to time. We’ve been able to negotiate things which have been important to them, such as “when I’m six years old, I can go into the chicken pen by myself”, “when I’m ten years old, I’m allowed to use a steak knife like a grown up”, things like what age they can clean their own ears / cut their own toenails, all of these go onto ‘the list’ and we all get kept accountable by it. It’s a good system; it helps to maintain consistency. And because they ‘big stuff’ was parent-determined, and the ‘smaller but important stuff’ that they’ve thought of, has all been negotiated as its come up, the kids have a sense of ownership over the decisions as well – and they’re more likely to stick to the decisions! Fine with me!!! ( I’ll have to tell you a story related to ‘the list’, but it’ll make this post too long, so another time. But soon! I promise!)

Anyway, Hubby and I have found that keeping it consistent, as much as possible, helps maintain a calm household. And that makes everybody happy.

Tomorrow: the fifth and final tip. Remembering that disclaimer at the start of the week too: these are MY tips; they work for me. If they work for you too, fantastic. If not, find other tips that do, because raising well-behaved kids is so TOTALLY worth it. I love my kids to bits!

Here’s wishing you a lovely day, dear reader!