Bright Light Mama

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5 Ways to Get Your Kids to Do Their Chores (Even When they Don’t Want To!)

“But Mom, I don’t waaaaant to take out the trash. Nobody else in my whole class has to chores. JUST me. It’s not fair!”

Get Kids to Do Chores: 5 things to try when they don't want to clean up

I’m sure you’ve never heard these delightful refrains when you try to get your kids to do chores. ๐Ÿ˜‰ But if your kid ever did say something like that, well… Here’s where to start.

Honestly, whining and resistance are big reasons that in some seasons I give up and just let the house fall apart for a few days. But since chores are part of the growing-up curriculum in our home, I’ve found a handful of ways to get my kids a little more on-board with fulfilling their daily responsibilities. Today I’m going to share five ideas to help you defuse chore battles with your kids.

[Read more…]

Deep Hurts and Swimsuits

This is a strange thing to admit, but this summer–the first summer I was heavy enough to qualify as medically overweight, with a BMI of 30 and an honest-to-goodness spare tire tummy–is the first time I have ever felt comfortable in a swimsuit in public.

Overweight for the first time, but with the best body image ever. How is that possible?

As a healthy, vibrant teenager, I remember feeling self-conscious about my stomach all the time. And my thighs. Sometimes even my neck, which a kid in 6th grade had told me was “fat.” (True or not, those words stung for a good ten years at least.)

As a brand new mom, I fussed about the change in my body shape and dreaded swimsuit season.

But this year, 32 years old and honestly overweight, with stretch marks that prove I’ve given birth to four not-so-small babies, I was able to walk across the concrete at our community pool without thinking about what I looked like or who might be silently judging me.

So, what changed? [Read more…]

How to Create a Self-Lead Morning Routine for Kids

Full disclosure: I fully dread the nagging and frustration that comes with micromanaging the morning routineย for my kids. (I don’t know about you, but trying to direct school-prep and breakfast traffic while I’m trying to feed a baby–and myself!–is not my favorite way to start the day.)

This dread (and a little bit of exhaustion) is the honest to goodness reason that I worked out a way to get my kids doing more for themselves in the mornings. To my relief, I discovered thatย a little work up front could give my kids more independence, and me the freedom get dressed (alone!) before we pile into the car.

Before school routine for kids.

Over the years our morning routines have become so engrained in our family culture, that even when I overslept my alarm in a foggy newborn-baby-nursing-haze last year, the kids were still dressed and ready to go on timeย without needing my supervision.

I know it sounds to good to be true, but I promise–if you put in the time, you can get your kiddos running a little more independently, too. Let’s get started! [Read more…]

Am I Parenting Right?

For the first few years of motherhood I felt like I had no idea how to parent. Raising my kids was moment-to-moment, day-to-day guesswork. I didn’t know how to parent long-term, or even where to start. All my choices were based on a combination of my own instinct and copycatting what my friends were doing.ย But… was I doing it right?

How to Parent With Purpose

Should we be doing more playdates? Sensory bins? Time outs? Chores charts?

What was the best way to deal with tantrums, sleep problems, and my sneaky toddler who really wanted to eat Old Spice deodorant?

What exactly was I supposed to do between now and empty-nesting that would get my littles where they needed to go??? [Read more…]

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