Month: June 2015

Categories
family anecdotes Random thoughts

Raising kids #2

So I posted yesterday my Number One parenting tip: rewards first. The second however, follows closely behind…

Tip #2: stuff costs money.

We know this. We all know it. You get what you pay for in life. Want a new car? Or a house? A holiday? A meal at a nice restaurant? You can have them all – but you need to pay for them. If you’re in the market for a car, and you like Toyota Landcruisers but only have $10K to spend, it’s far more likely that the car you end up buying looks more like Mr Bean’s than you’d like it too.

Likewise, my kids understand the value of things. They understand… because they can be quick learners when they have the incentive to be!

I mentioned yesterday that my kids earn points (and therefore money) by ticking off chores on the app Choremonster. This gives them money to spend.

It also gives them money to lose, on taxes.

Yes, you read that right. Taxes.

Stuff costs money. Including stuff that kids should be responsible for, themselves.

My kids know that they need to pick up after themselves; put things away where they should go.

They also are aware that, when people move house, for example, they pay someone to help them move.

This is what I have in my house.

Mr 6 can’t be bothered moving his bike from where he left it, back to where it should live? That’s fine. I’ll move it for him, and he’ll pay me for the privilege. Moving tax. Miss7 continually leaves her Wii remote on the lounge? Fine, but if it’s still there when I need to sit down, I’ll need to move it and she’ll pay a moving tax. Miss 10, towel on the floor? Fine again – but it incurs a moving tax if she expects me to do it for her.

It’s brilliant; I love it. The kids know that they need to be responsibile, otherwise they’ll end up paying for the privilege of being lazy. And it’s not a set sum. Wii remotes are generally only 20 cents, but moving a bike can be up to $5 (we have a large property). And it adds up! When Miss7 takes off her school uniform and leaves it all on the floor, then that can be 20c for the left shoe, 20c for the right shoe, 20c per sock, 20c for the shirt, 20c for the shorts – that’s $1.20 just for the uniform! Watch out if she’s left her homework folder, school bag, lunchbox etc on the floor as well!

They only do it once.

And taxes don’t just apply to moving things. I have a ‘lights tax’ (for when they leave their bedroom light on) and also a ‘laundering clean clothes tax’ (this one is mainly for Miss10, I must admit). I’ve told her that if she lets her clean school shirt falls off the hanger and onto the floor of her wardrobe, and she then assumes that because it’s on the floor then it’s dirty, and she puts in the laundry ready to be washed again, then that’s fine. I’m happy to wash her perfectly clean shirt, and she needs to be happy to pay me $3 for the privilege. She’s been more careful since she tried that one!

It also applies to food. If my kids want to leave their sandwich crusts, they can. But they can also help me pay for the loaf of bread that they’re choosing to waste. 5 cents per crust is our going rate. And that way, it’s their choice. They can eat their food, or they can pay to leave it. It’s fair, and it cuts out arguments.

Right now, you’re probably thinking, ‘that’s tough’. Yes, possibly so. But my kids are learning that Mummy won’t always be there for them. They’re learning that stuff costs, and things have value.

So many kids today don’t understand that, I’ve noticed. My kids do.

And the way I see it, they’re going to have to learn it one day! May as well be now.

So anyway, that’s my tip #2.

And here’s hoping that you have a lovely rest-of-the-day, dear reader!

Yours,

KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes Life

Raising kids #1

I posted yesterday that my kids aren’t noisy ones. And I’ve been mulling over for a while now, a few posts with regard to this.

Quite regularly, I’m given compliments regarding the good behaviour of my children. And I love hearing these comments! So I thought I’d share what works for me. Disclaimer: this is only what’s been working for ME. I hope that it may work for you, too, but each and everyone’s situation is different, hey!

So, here goes. #1. Rewards first.

One of my favourite Bible verses is Proverbs 29:18, which talks about ‘where there is no vision, [the] people perish’. Meaning: you’ve got to have an end-goal in mind. Something to work for. A reward that you can see, that you want, that makes the doing of stuff-that-you-don’t-want-to-do, worthwhile. Call it a bribe, if you will, but honestly, who doesn’t work without one? Adults get paychecks, so why shouldn’t children?

With that in mind, I love the app ChoreMonster. It’s free, and it helps my children be responsible for their own ‘rewards’. Each child has their own profile, and there are dozens of different chores that you can load onto their profiles. I’d suggest just a few for starters, because you don’t want to overwhelm them! As each chore is done, the child send it to you for approval, and they get to spin a carnival-style prize wheel, which gives them either good prizes – monsters to collect (and there’s good reading practice for younger kids, showing what each monster likes) or kid-style bad prizes (warning: some toilet humour involved here!)

Once the parent has approved the chore, they also receive points towards a reward of their own choosing – again, there are dozens to choose from. So there’s Maths skills involved there as well, where my kids add up exactly how many points they need to get to their wanted reward. And the best thing about these rewards – they’re completely earned, so there’s no subjectivity and ‘it’s not fair’ cries from little mouths. Parents can also give ‘boost points’ if they want, for good behaviour, doing well in a spelling test at school, helping with the gardening, etc etc.

But what I like the most? It’s fully customisable. I don’t actually use the default chores, or the default rewards. I use their program, and have tailored it completely to our own household and my own expectations. So ‘chores’ for my kids include ‘pack schoolbag’ and ‘brush teeth’ and ‘unpack the dishwasher’ but I also have ‘child-specific homework’ (eg. readers for Mr6 but Maths Mentals for Miss10) and ‘violin practice’ (three different reward options for three different lengths of practice) on there too, for example.

With the rewards side of things, I use a point = one cent system. So if a child wants to exchange ChoreMonster points for cash to spend at the shops, they know that 200 points equals a $2 coin. Or if they want me to treat them to McDonald’s, then they need 500 ChoreMonster points (for each child for wants to go). But generally, they use it for in-app purchases for their favourite games. So they can buy gems for DragonVale, for example. On Sunday just gone, both Miss10 and Mr6 bought diamonds for the app SingingMonsters because the app was having a currency sale. They were pretty stoked – Miss 10 bought 100 diamonds, Mr 6 bought 50. Miss7 was a little put out, but then again she *had* bought gems for the MyLittlePony app just a few weeks earlier!

So – that’s my Tip #1. Rewards first. Give them a vision, something to work towards, and make sure it’s something that THEY want.

And all the best with it!

Have a lovely day, dear reader 🙂

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Random thoughts Review

Grateful

Thanks, readers, for all the birthday love yesterday! I might be sick and sore from coughing, and voiceless due to the pesky nodule on my vocal cords that’s decided to act up again at the moment, but I am incredibly grateful for friends online and IRL who have blessed me with their wishes and honoured me with their thoughts and prayers for my birthday. I even spent the good part of an hour with my older brother in New York, yesterday morning! He was talking, I was wheezing and coughing -but it was brilliant!

I also finished Stephen King’s On Writing last night, and now am more determined than ever to work at this craft of writing. It was inspirational stuff. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do. The clarity and conciseness with which he explains concepts and describes processes (and passages of prose, of course) is unparalleled, in my research on this topic to date. 

And now, today. I’m feeling better, my head is less fuzzy and I’ve done some much- needed housework. It’s Monday, but a public holiday. It’s sunny. And not particularly windy. So Hubby’s taken two of the three cherubs out fishing, meaning it’s quieter than normal at home – not that they’re noisy kids anyway, for which I’m very happy.

But the rest of today awaits. So I might just go embrace it with all the energy I can muster. 

Have a great one yourselves today, folks!

— KRidwyn

Categories
momentous events my novel-in-progress

Smiling – while sick

Hip hip hooray, it’s my birthday today!

It’s 4.30am. The house is dark and quiet and I’m sitting at the dining table at my computer. I am happy.

I am also sick. I’m guessing that, by the way my body feels, I have a case of pretty much full-blown flu. The tissues keep being moved from their original box on my right, to the bin on my left, getting soggy on the way and making my nose red and more sore in the journey (Note to self: Hubby needs to buy a couple of boxes of Aloe Vera ones today. Maybe a couple of hundred boxes.) My throat is sore, and I think I’m coughing at a rate of twice per minute. Less now that I’m sitting upright, and closer to our very-warm fireplace. But my back and the muscles in my diaphragm are aching in sympathy with each cough. And don’t get me started on the head uncomfy-ness!

But I am happy. Because I set myself a deadline, and today was it. Today, I turn 41. And I desperately wanted to be able to say “I finished my first book at the age of 40”. Finishing it today, or at any other point in the future, would have been too late. Because I can no longer say “I am 40”.

But that’s okay. I made my deadline – weeks ago, actually! In fact, I’m most-of-the-way through editing it, as well! Stoked!!!

So, on a practical note, I’ve updated my ‘About’ page. I’ve also added another short story to my ‘Short stories’ page, for anyone who’s interested.

And have a happy day, dear reader – I know that I’m planning to!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Random thoughts

So it happened again.

It’s early morning. 1.57am, to be precise. June 6. And my house is now vomit free- again.

I’ve blogged before about how the first week of #blogJune has weirdly been marked by kids vomiting. And I was congratulating myself, late last night, on the fact that I’d almost made it through the week, and perhaps it wouldn’t happen again this year… whoops.

So I’ve just spent the best part of an hour cleaning up Miss7. Cleaning up her pyjamas (and singlet and socks). Cleaning her hair. Cleaning the toilet seat and the toilet floor, the hallway (of course, her bedroom is the farthest away, so I mean the *whole* hallway,) and cleaning the carpet in her room. Thank God she’s now 7, otherwise I’d still be cleaning her bedding and her huge collection of stuffed toys… Lucky she’s  now clever enough to know to move, and move fast!

But still, I don’t like cleaning vomit at 1 o’clock in the morning. Especially when I thought that I was going to get out of it this year. But oh well. That’s life, I guess. And hopefully there’ll be no more vomit-cleaning now, until the first week of June next year. (Please, Lord, please!)

Weird how they only vomit this week. But perhaps I shouldn’t say that. I’ll jinx it.

And now that I think about it, maybe cleaning and mopping my floors on Thursday afternoon was perhaps pushing my luck just a little bit??!

Note to self: don’t clean the house until June 8th next year.

Categories
Life momentous events University studies

Ask me why I’m happy…

You may or may not know that I graduated with my Masters at the end of last year. I’d started studying in July of 2010, took a year’s absence in 2013 due to starting a second job, and finally finished the 12th course, and the 100 hours prac requirement, in November. And was pretty stoked about that!

But I don’t think that I’ve ever blogged about my husband’s studies. He’s also been studying part time, since January of 2011. It was a requirement of his position, that he study for, and receive, his CPA qualification.

So, this morning at 6.05am when he checked his latest result online? His results said, “Course completed”!

Ask me again, why am I happy?

I’ve got my husband back!!!

Categories
Life

So I succumbed.

I have laryngitis. Didn’t make it through the three days of teaching. I’m thinking that perhaps It was the two choir rehearsals yesterday was the clincher. But that’s okay, I’ll live.

 I’m remembering all the things you can’t do when you have no voice. Like make phone calls to the doctors office to make appointments. Like be heard by others when they call out to you from another room – you need to walk up beside them and whisper or write your answer. I’m even unable to ‘read the manuscript aloud, to hear it’ so there goes that stage of the editing process that I was hoping to get done today! (Whispering is one of the worst things you can do when you have laryngitis, did you know? Because it dries out the vocal cords, and they need to be moist. So even though it’s tempting to whisper everything – at least, people can hear you – it’s actually best to rest the voice completely and drink lots of water.)

So anyway, I have no voice. For the next little while, at least. Oh well. I guess it’s lucky I have a blog and #blogjune – there’s more than one way to be heard!

Have a great day, dear reader!

KRidwyn

Categories
Life

Looking backwards, looking forwards

A child cried at 12.23am. I got up – each first week of #blogjune has been a time when at least one of my children has caught a vomiting bug – but it was a bad dream cry, and Mr6 fell back into a deeper sleep without waking up again.

But I was awake, and so was my brain. Not so good for someone who’s prone to regular episodes of insomnia.

So I thought about my day yesterday. I thought about my plans for it – not lose my voice, edit another ten chapters,  do some more research – and how they went down the crapper when lazy Ceridwyn sat on the couch with the TV remote during the cherubs’ dinner time. (In my defense, I still have some voice. – Thank you @stitchsarah for your protip yesterday, it worked! – And I was exhausted. And sick. I didn’t even do my workout that I try to do each Tuesday evening.)

But that means that I’m not yet where I wanted to be. And that makes me not as happy as I’d like. But then I remembered that it’s Wednesday today. And I love Wednesdays!!!

Why? Because at 8pm, I’ll be racing. Just me on my computer, together with 20 or so other writers around Australia on their computers, in the weekly Writing Race, hosted through Facebook by the Australian Writers Marketplace Online. We each do completely our own thing, and use Facebook to keep tabs on each other, spur each other on and encourage one another both during and after the race. It’s fantastic. The writing highlight of my week. I’d encourage anyone who’s a writer to join in. (And yes, I’m looking at you right now, @LibrarianCat!)

I also thought about #blogjune, and how happy I was to be blogging regularly again – and I realised that this blogging challenge is just like a Wednesday night #WritingRace – just longer, and with more people. We do exactly the same thing: start together; finish together; do our own thing in the meantime; and use social media to keep tabs on each other, spur us all on, and encourage one another. I love it! Yesterday, I was inspired by posts such as Kim’s on Library leadership, and found Andrew’s take on the religious demographics in Europe’s newest international city both interesting and informative, just two examples of the many that intrigue me, encourage me, and broaden my mind each day during June. Thanks, my friends, for being such interesting people – and for sharing your lives with me and others!

So, back in bed again, warm and cozy, and wondering just how many chapters I can get edited in one hour, I fell asleep again. Oh, and also, I’d planned this post. Good use of time, hey!

Well, have a great day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune my novel-in-progress Reading teaching

Keeping it at bay…

The laryngitis, that is. Well, so far. But I’m teaching for the rest of the week, so let’s just see how that goes, huh? I find that the constant swapping from speaking to singing voice (that’s an integral part of classroom music teaching in a Primary school) is such a strain on it; far more than it ever was in a High school. But maybe that’s just me.

But anyway, on to yesterday. So I edited the first 12 chapters of my book – now the first 11 chapters. And I was pretty happy with that. 30 chapters to go.

I also found some research that I was doing over 10 years ago. For my first ever historical novel. And there’s HEAPS of it – five folders full, in fact! So I’ve been thinking that I might start that piece again. See how it goes, you know? So I read it all through, and that inspired me to continue the research last night. Head back to original sources, back to the Latin versions, etc etc etc. Supremely interesting stuff!

So the plan for today is: not lose my voice. Edit 10 more chapters. And maybe dig some more into the history of Autun. Because I can 🙂

Have a great day, reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune family anecdotes my novel-in-progress teaching

On the relationship between libraries, teaching, and vocal nodules

I’ve been teaching ever since I can remember. Well, not when I was 4, or 5, or thereabouts. Of course. But since my early teens, I’ve been earning money teaching. Back then, it was teaching violin to children who’d just started learning, and whose parents wanted private lessons. It was easy enough – I knew how to play, and passed this knowledge on. At 21, I got formal qualifications in the field, and went on to teach kids as young as four, to students older than me, in subjects that varied from English and Music to Drama, Geography, Christian Studies, History, Dance – and there was also a Sex. Ed. semester long unit in the late 1990’s – to a class of Year Ten boys!

My younger brother commented once, “You’re such a born teacher!” He’d been staying with Hubby and I, and all of us were in our late twenties. I’d just finished teaching a private violin student, and was helping her to count out change from the money she’d paid me. Rather than just giving her the money (4 or 5 coins), I had asked her to count it as I put the coins, one by one, into her hand. My brother watched this, laughed and shook his head, and made the comment – which has stuck with me ever since. I realised that, ‘Yes, I am. Teaching is something that I love doing. Imparting knowledge, helping children develop skills, watch them develop attitudes – hopefully positive ones! That’s what I love.’

Back in 2010, I decided to qualify myself as a Librarian. So that, when my children were old enough to go to school, I could return to full-time work as a Teacher Librarian.

Life didn’t work out quite like that. I’m back at work, on a 7-day fortnight, in a permanent teaching role. And my kids are all at school. Those Library qualifications, earned last December, are just that. Qualifications. At the moment.

But the good thing is that I’m only working a 7-day fortnight. Which means that, every Monday for a while now, I’ve been able to volunteer in a Library for a few hours. And I love it!!! In fact, I would love to be heading there this morning. That’s what I was planning to do. And I was planning to blog this afternoon about it.

But again, life intervened. This morning, it was in the form of that annoying nodule on my vocal cords which sometimes decides to make its presence known. I developed it about six years ago, when I lost my voice for over three months. It was pretty bad. Speech therapy worked wonders though – however, at certain points in time, when I’m sick, it must feel neglected or something, and so it flares up. And that’s what has happened today.

I know that if I don’t rest it, it’ll get angrier and angrier, and I’ll lose my voice for longer than just a few days. So, unfortunately, home is the only place I’ll be at today. Home, and quiet. No Library time for me. And that makes me sad. But it can’t be helped.

On the upside though, I guess, I’ll be able to get stuck into that children’s book that I finished some weeks back. The one that I’ve been procrastinating editing. Because all the advice that I’ve read says: ‘leave it for a month’; ‘wait, let it rest’; ‘return to it with fresh eyes’. Or maybe it’s just because I’m scared. I don’t want to edit it! I’ve never edited a full work of mine before… because I’ve never written a full work before! But today’s lack-of-voice provides a perfect opportunity, so I’d best not waste it.

Hold me to it, dear reader! And have a great day yourself!

— KRidwyn