Joyful Joy

Have you noticed that if you are grumpy,
everyone is grumpy?

Seems a little unfair sometimes,
but mum does seem to set the tone for the family.

Try having a happy song to start each day.
A special wake up ritual of hugs or tickles.
Cheerful words to head the day in the right direction.

Deliberately choose a happy, contented,
joyful outlook throughout your day.
Watch your little ones follow your lead.

The Valley of Vision

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
Where I live in the depths but see the heights.

Let me learn that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells,
And the deeper the wells, the brighter the stars shine.

Let me find Thy in my darkness, Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

Only Once

I have had the joy recently of catching up with a couple of people from different areas of my life 20 years ago. It is so lovely to revive sweet memories and share stories of our life journeys.

It has also made me reflect on the fact that we only get one chance to live
this day,
this week ,
this year.

I loved the toddler years with my children. I loved being with them each day and teaching and guiding their precious little hearts. They are only toddlers once.

Enjoy each moment and make wise choices to maximise this special "only-once" stage.

Zip and Zap

Zip and Zap. Okay, yes, I was stuggling to come up with some words starting with Z!!

However these words can relate to speed.

Do you hear yourself saying "Hurry Up" to your toddler as you are trying to get out of the door?
What does "hurry Up" mean to your toddler? Probably not a great deal. They are concrete thinkers at this age. They need to SEE, FEEL or DO to understand.

Practice packing up quickly (at a time when you are NOT rushing out the door). We would ask our toddler to press his speed button, on his tummy, and then pack up his toys fast. We would do this with him for the first few weeks to show exactly what 'fast' looked like, It was noisy and fun and quick.

Then when we were in a hurry, we could press our speed buttons and zip and zap out the door!!

Limitless Learning

Almost every activity in your day can be used as an opportuninty for learning.

Academic teaching of ABC's, 123's, seasons, nursery rhymes, weather, colours, shapes, animals, etc, etc can be taught directly, as you talk to your toddler or concretely through play.

Nature walks are a wonderful way to slow down and enjoy your toddler. I would walk around the block with them, with no agenda in mind. We would stop and examine the flowers, the bugs on the ground, the cars going past, the animals in the yards and just chat about each one.

Virtue teaching can be part of each activity too. Model manners at meal times, sing cheerfulness songs at bath time, talk about being a busy helper during chores time, role play kindness with dolls or trucks during play time and so on.

Being a toddler teacher is an all day, every day job with awesome, long-lasting rewards!!

Toy Tidiness

Have a system for your toys.

We had ten litre, blue and red, rectangular tubs for most of the toys.
This made starting play time super quick as I could just grab one tub and knew they could play.
It made pack up wonderfully easy too, as right from the start we would pack up one tub before we pulled out the next one. So I never ended the day with a mountain of toys to sort and put away.
We had a tub each for Duplo, trains, cars, wooden blocks, dolls, tea set, animals, instruments, craft, puzzles, card games, and a 'bits' box filled with odds and ends toys that were not a set.
If the 'bits' tub was getting too full, then it was time to have a quick sort through and start a bag of toys to pop into a charity bin, to share with others.

Pieces were rarely lost or broken, and dad came home to a clean house too - mostly!!

Kitchen Kindness

Most household injuries involving small children occur in the bathroom and kitchen.

By never allowing my toddlers into the kitchen we avoided any kitchen incidents.
As they began to crawl, I would calmly and consistently turn then away from the entrance to the kitchen with a quiet but firm"That's a no". I would simply pick them up and return them to the other side of the lounge room that contained their toys. One child needed three reminders, another three days worth, and another about three weeks of patient training before they understood that the kitchen was off limits.

As they grew, they enjoyed special baking, mixing and creating times with mum in the kitchen, never alone.

As they grew a little more, they enjoyed learning how to put simple meals together and how to manage basic chores.

Now every week they each cook a whole family meal - and clean up!!