Entrepreneurial Kids

Posted on May 4, 2012 by carrie

I love it when my kids show a tendency towards entrepreneurship. One of the things I hope to accomplish by homeschooling is helping them to think outside the box when it comes to making money (which seems essential this day and age).

 

 

Instead of the tired paradigm “If I want money I need to find someone who will hire me to do something they want me to do”, the entrepreneur thinks this way: “I need to figure out what people want and provide it – then bill ‘em!”

This shows itself up in our daily lives frequently around here.

One reason is because, since I pay them an allowance, I expect them to buy “extras” from their own money. Hunger Games trading cards? A Hello Kitty backpack when you already have 2 perfectly functional backpacks at home? I would no rather pay for those than I would buy a unicorn.

This creates motivation.

11 year old Julien has a lively eBay business. His inventory was initially clutter around his room. But now, he has figured out how to get stuff cheaply from China and resell it at a nice markup to US customers.

This kid also buys big bags of gumballs or chocolate at the grocery store on sale, and selling them off piecemeal to eager but not as creative customers (read: his 12 and 9 year old sisters!).

Just yesterday the oldest decided he wanted a Netflix account. He knew they offered a free one month trial, so he signed up using his debit card (he has a “MONEY” checking account just for teens from ING, and that’s how I pay his allowance). He intends to cancel before the month is out, but not before he saw an opportunity to earn some cash from his siblings who were eager to take advantage! I overheard him charging the younger ones a penny for a minute of use. 30 minutes of SpongeBob = .30 for him. Not bad considering he has no operating costs – and with several TV-starved siblings, this could add up quick!

These kids have a definite advantage going for them. The cuteness factor, for one. When we go to a yard sale, people give them stuff for free. Just last weekend, Sadie got a free umbrella (that she had been asking me to give her for months with no success), Julien got a free backpack and they get free toys and tchotchkes all the time. All they do is ask how much an item costs and they typically take it home for nothing.

My kids are quick to complain about the dark side of child labor laws. Caleb, who will be 14 in June, would love to work for a decent wage if there were opportunities to do so. This is something I regret about our modern society.

Sometimes when my kids are asking me for something a little frivolous or inconvenient, I remind them of my hourly wage and ask them if they would be willing to pay me for my time. That cuts out a lot of errands!

I want my kids to learn that at its essence, making money is less about trading time for dollars and more about good ideas.

What do you do to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship in your kids?

Posted in Mothering | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Good News About 27 Weeks

Posted on May 3, 2012 by carrie

Don’t you just love these “how your baby is doing” emails from places like BabyCenter.com?

I mean, aside from the fact that each week the fantasy mother drawn in the picture looks like she merely has bad gas or is pregnant with a food baby due to her small size.

Because this is what I looked like at about 12 weeks. Ahem.

 

Anyhoo.

I was feeling pretty darn good until a few days ago, when the 3rd trimester woes hit me like a truck. Hmm… roughly corresponding with that nasty fall I took? I did make it to the Chiropractor, at least.

So instead of feeling sorry for myself and complaining to the lovely, all too indulgent internets, I decided to flip things around and look at the positive side of all these annoyances.

And so I offer:

The good news about being 27 weeks pregnant…

  • … the good news about feeling tired by 9 AM (and then again at 8 PM!) is that I’m learning to re-prioritize to manage my energy. Things will only get better postpartum for me. I always feel instantly better once baby is delivered and the people around me typically have to sit on me to get me to rest.
  • … the good news about feeling suddenly fat and too big for the skin I’m in is that it’s motivating me to exercise every day despite the aforementioned fatigue.
  • … the good news about feeling hot in this humidity and heat is that it’s almost summer! And since baby is due in late July I’m taking this summer off instead of homeschooling through, as is our usual plan.
  • … the good news about having hip pain when I get up from a lying down position is that it reminds me not to lie about. I feel much better when I stay on my feet, keep moving and avoid sitting too much.
  • … the good news about my maternity shirts suddenly being immodestly low and tight is that… well, that one of my strategies for building a cute maternity wardrobe frugally is that I always buy for the trimester I’m in. that way, I don’t have a closetful of suddenly too tight maternity clothing. (Oh, and I got to get some new stuff last weekend!)
  • … the good news about swollen hands and feet despite drinking enough fluids is that my body is holding on to extra water so I don’t go into shock post-delivery.

Really, I can’t complain.

(Is that cheating?)

See also: 29 Weeks Pregnant

Posted in Mothering | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Natural Moms Podcast #151

Posted on April 30, 2012 by carrie

My guest on this show is Geraldine O’Keefe of Escape To Sleep, an all-natural sleep aid made from organic aloe, herbs and flowers used traditionally for insomnia to help you relax and even aid in easing gastrointestinal problems.

Geraldine is an Aromatherapist and Certified Herbalist who is talking to us about how to get a good night’s sleep. Some points discussed on this show:

  • Why so many struggle with sleep these days.
  • Side effects of poor sleep habits
  • What is a sleep routine?
  • Why women in particular suffer from poor sleep.
  • What women can do during pregnancy and the postpartum period to sleep restfully.
  • Tips everyone can implement to improve their sleep quality tonight.

Be sure to check out Geraldine’s sleep tonic at Escape to Sleep if you need help in this area.

Note: The audio was a little low on this recording, so please turn up your speakers or use earphones!

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Books That Changed My Life

Posted on April 28, 2012 by carrie

 

Modern Mrs. Darcy is hosting “The Book That Changed My Life” blog carnival and I couldn’t not participate. I’m a huge reader, almost exclusively of non-fiction. One of the reasons I enjoy reading non-fiction so much is because of what I learn. Here are a few of the books that changed my life, organized by topic.

Birth

From the time I became pregnant with my first child, I never considered not having a natural birth. There were probably two reasons for this: one is because I had heard my mom tell the story of my birth so many times. She had a quick, easy delivery and the first words out of her mouth once she pushed me into the world (to my Dad) were: “Oh honey, when can we do it again!?” The second was because I experienced my sister giving birth to 4 sons naturally. It was just normal to me.

Late in my pregnancy with the oldest, I took Bradley childbirth classes, read Husband Coached Childbirth and lots of other books about birth. Caleb came after a 30 hour labor that included 4 hours of pushing, in a hospital. I had no IV, no monitoring, I ate and drank and moved around when I wanted. I had no pitocin, and no drugs of any kind.

When he was a newborn, I began devouring every book I could get on the topics of breastfeeding, birth, vaccinations, and parenting. One of those was Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin.

Reading it was a life changing event. I decided right there that any more children I brought into the world would be born at home. I’m glad I overcome my initial hesitation about picking this book up – it was the title that threw me off a bit. What exactly was “spiritual” midwifery? I was expecting something like the 5th definition down on this page. But the book was more about the first definition: “of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit.”

In other words, the book acknowledges that a woman’s birth affects her spirit, and that the spirit or attitude of her birth attendants also deeply impact her, which is absolutely the truth.

Parenting

I’ve read many parenting books in the last 14 years, most of which have at least some value. The Continuum Concept  was another paradigm changer for me, however. It described a parenting style that my newborn so obviously needed from me, and gave me permission to embrace it.

How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor is another child care manual that is an absolute Bible for me. I will never be without this book! Dr. Robert Mendelsohn is a rebel rock star as far as I’m concerned because of his no nonsense style and approach to childhood illnesses and issues. (I also love his other book, MalEpractice – about how women’s health care has been such a sham for decades.) This book encourages you to trust your instincts, don’t panic and that most things are better in a day or two. Dr. Mendelsohn is for home birth, opposes vaccines, and is a breath of fresh air among allopathic physicians who want to overmedicalize and overmedicate everything – to the detriment of the patient. I consult this book every time one of my kids gets sick.

Homeschooling

Life Learning: Lessons from the Educational Frontier is a book I can’t seem to part with. At this moment it’s literally the only book about homeschooling I own. The stories of young people who had been mostly unschooled their whole lives, and the fascinating choices they were making as young adults, was like catnip for me. Life Learning is a series of essays compiled by Wendy Priesnitz of Natural Life magazine. You can listen to an interview I did with her here.

Nutrition

Whole Foods for the Whole Family was a cookbook I had for years, until it literally fell apart (and a mouse infestation a couple of years ago took care of what was left). It’s more than a cookbook really, it’s a wonderful introduction to real, whole foods nutrition. It doesn’t espouse any one eating philosophy, and most of the recipes are quite easy to change depending on your preference or tolerance. It’s also a frugal cooking guide since everything is made from scratch. There are lots of instructions on how to do back to basics cooking to replace store bought, inferior products.

I just recommended this old favorite to a friend the other day!

 

Productivity and Goal Setting

168 Hours is the most recent book I’ve read on this topic, but it’s probably the one that has helped me make real changes to my thinking and routine. Again, this is a genre I’ve read many books in, and most of the ideas I abandoned quickly (GTD anyone?). The principles in 168 Hours are sticking. I plan on writing a review for this book on my new, soon to be announced blog.

Relationships and Personal Development

Boundaries is a book that seems to frequently disappear from my shelf because I keep lending it to friends who need it! Learning good boundaries is probably the single most important thing any person can do to grow up and have a healthy emotional and spiritual life. I use principles I learned from this book every single day.

What about you? What books have changed your life?

 

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Occupational Hazards of Motherhood

Posted on April 27, 2012 by carrie

The other day I did something that looked a little like this:

 

Except, with a third trimester belly. And a skirt. And a toddler flying through the air. 

Here’s the setup.

Ruby loves to ride on her 3 wheeled tricycle. She doesn’t actually push the pedals, but her legs are long enough that she can easily scoot herself along and she’s quite adept at steering.

My back yard is sloped, and at the bottom of the hill there is a huge gully that’s full of growth – bushes, briars, fallen trees, trash, you name it – everything ends up there. You can’t really see what’s down there or how deep the ravine is, so we generally just avoid that area. There are also several large trees along the line of the “cliff”.

So Ruby is happily pushing herself along and feeling like a big girl. I have my hand on the back of her dress, gripping it just in case she starts picking up too much speed – which, at some point is exactly what happened. Still holding on to her dress, I break out into a RUN.

Images flashed in my mind of her crashing into a tree or landing in the gully – since I can’t exactly see what’s down there due to all the brush, I didn’t know if something would stop her or she would fall – or how far.

Before I knew it, I saw myself grab her off the trike. She was in the air then somehow on top of me – meantime I felt something hard hit me right around the rib cage and then I fell, hard on my butt/hip – hard enough to knock the wind out of me. I sat there clinging to her, stunned and unable to breathe for a moment.

She cried for about 5 seconds, mostly protesting the end of her fun. I inspected her and didn’t see any scratches or bruises. But me? My knees were skinned and bloodied at this point and a bruise was growing on my right hip and left arm. I’ve felt sore and stiff ever since.

I asked hubby to please hide that tricycle until we move, which is sooner rather than later. Largely due to the fact that our yard is a death trap for toddlers.

So what’s new and exciting with you?

Posted in Mothering | 5 Comments

Letting Go Of What Doesn’t Work

Posted on April 24, 2012 by carrie

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I made the decision to not plant a garden this year. We’ve done so two years in a row, and both years it was more or less a total flop. (Incidentally my husband had success in his former home growing tomatoes and jalapenos. Go figure.)

 

There were a few reasons for this decision. First, my husband has been experiencing some of the worst allergy symptoms he’s had in years. The poor man was miserable for weeks until the weather turned cool recently, smack dab in the middle of the time we should have been turning soil and planting. I couldn’t ask  him to help me with yard work when simply walking to his car brought on a sneezing fit and itchy, watery eyes that swell and look (and feel) painfully raw. He gets rashes and fevers and blocked up ears. I didn’t want to take it all on myself either.

Secondly, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Laura Vanderkam (author of All The Money in the World) writes in her book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (review forthcoming!). She introduced to me the concept of Core Competencies. A core competency is basically something that you do better than anyone else (or can’t outsource, like exercise or nurturing your marriage).

Turns out, gardening is not one of my core competencies.

And, I am perfectly happy to write a check every week to the lovely man who supports a family pursuing HIS core competency of gardening and farming: the farmer who provides us with raw milk, free range eggs and grass fed meat. I can do the same with the fine folks at the farmer’s market.

At our couples meeting I told hubby that I felt we should skip planting a garden this year. It could possibly be an investment in time, money and energy that provided no benefit. I had been stressing about it for weeks and at this particular time in our lives, it wasn’t a good idea. When I decided to let it go I felt a psychic burden lift off of my shoulders.

He appeared visibly relieved and immediately agreed with me.

Interestingly my oldest son planted a few flowers and tomatoes and they’re coming up!  A week ago when we went to Starbucks he requested a bag of grounds, took them home and spread them on the garden. He waters it every few days. Maybe HE will be the one with the green thumb. That would be lovely.

I’ve also let go of a few things in our homeschool. (And not just things like shoulds and expectations.)

At the beginning of the year the then 10 and 8 year old were doing Beyond Five in a Row. I think it’s a wonderful program, but the kids weren’t really enjoying the unit study approach. What they (and I) did love? Simply reading the books aloud together. So we let go of BFIAR and just used the book list as a recommendation for daily read alouds. And we’re happier as a result.

Have you let go of something recently that isn’t working? Did it free up energy, money and time to pursue what you really wanted?

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Put The Radio Back in NaturalMomsTalkRadio

Posted on April 23, 2012 by carrie

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had a guest on the show.

 

Can you help?

Let’s put the “radio” back in Natural Moms Talk Radio, shall we?

If you have an idea for a guest you’d love to hear from, please contact me at clauth at gmail dot com – or leave a comment. Read a great book lately and like to hear from the author? Have a favorite blogger you’d like to know more about? Learned of an awesome product and want to learn more about it?

It can be you, by the way. If you have an idea for a show topic, I’m all ears!

Posted in Misc | 1 Comment

Meal Plan April 23

Posted on April 23, 2012 by carrie

Remember when I talked about filling my freezer with dinners to make things easier postpartum? My freezer is currently stuffed to the gills, so I need to make room in there. I challenged myself to use up as much as possible what I have on hand in this week’s meal plan. The only things I bought at the store for this menu were the salmon, romaine and avocados!
First I made a freezer inventory. I wrote down everything on a piece of paper, grouped by categories. Then I began brainstorming what I could cook from those ingredients. For example, a few leftover meatballs, chicken broth, red onion, spinach and white beans = minestrone! (I love minestrone because the recipe is open to interpretation and it always turns out tasty.) And so forth.

This menu plan uses up all the chicken broth, white beans, frozen broccoli, spinach, onions, meatballs, zucchini, cauliflower, corn and red peppers in my freezer which should clean off at least two shelves. :-)
Turns out we’ll be eating meatless most nights this week but I’m fine with that. Here’s what I came up with:

- Meatball Minestrone with Baguette

- Cheesy Broccoli Quiche with Tomato, Avocado, Cucumber Salad

- Green Bean Casserole (I’m using the recipe from Pioneer Woman’s new cookbook, it’s made from scratch and there’s no cream of mushroom soup in it) with Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes

- Blackened Salmon with Roasted Mashed Cauliflower and Broccoli Balls

- Vegetable Pizza with Green Salad

- Corn and Potato Chowder with Cheesy Toast

Speaking of Pioneer Woman’s newest cookbook, Sadie and I made the Fried Mozzarella Sticks recipe for lunch today and they were sooooo good!

She’s been asking me to make these for her ever since she tried them at a restaurant, and I was pickled tink to find the recipe.

Come… to…. momma!
These were so good, I had to stand at the kitchen door with a flyswatter to keep the kids from eating them all before hubby got some!

Linked to: Org Junkie

Posted in Food | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Bits and Pieces

Posted on April 21, 2012 by carrie

Here is a smattering of interesting things I’ve found across the internet this week. Enjoy!

- The Frugal Girl wrote a wonderful article about How to Wisely Choose Frugal Activities, and I agree with her points. If you don’t enjoy it or it doesn’t really add to your bottom line, feel free to skip it!

- Oh my. These German bunk beds have me drooling! If I ever had to squeeze 3 or 4 kids in a bedroom this would be the way to go. Don’t they look like so much fun?

- This is an amazing article from The Common Room on the “Hidden Costs of Public School“. As big of a proponent of homeschooling as I am, I honestly had not thought about all of these ways that homeschooling actually saves a parent money! I’ll never again grumble about my Amazon.com visits.

- I wrote an article for Tiffany at NatureMoms on Minimalist Parenting and the New Baby. So far hubby and I have only purchased 3 things for our new little one.

- Leslie Truex interviewed me on the topic of blogging for her Profit Blog Blueprint. It was a lot of fun and there was some great information shared between the two of us about earning income with your blog, finding time to write and promoting yourself online.

 

Posted in Misc | 2 Comments

Help This Reader: Breastfeeding and Potty Training

Posted on April 18, 2012 by carrie

Occasionally I get questions from readers. Instead of answering directly with just my thoughts, I like to get the mom’s permission to post here and get your wisdom. What advice or tips would you give? Leave them in the comments below. :-)

Source: google.com via Charlene on Pinterest

 

Hi Carrie,

I have a 5 month old who has been giving me trouble with breastfeeding since he was 3 months old. I feel like he hates the breast and even when I bring him NEAR me he’ll scream.

For one entire month I would rock him to sleep and then feed him in his sleep. That doesn’t work anymore. The doctors have said that he is losing weight because he is not taking enough milk- but how do I feed him if he refuses to latch on??

He does not take the bottle AT ALL and is exclusively breastfed.

I have tried more skin to skin contact, different positions, letting him get more hungry, feeding ON TIME before he seems hungry, singing to him, rocking him, anything you can think of.

Please help me and tell me what to do.

I’m sorry you’re having trouble. It’s so hard when baby seems to be rejecting you! But rest assured that babies always have a good reason for this behavior, and it can be solved quickly- it just takes a little detective work on mom’s part.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the possibility that your baby is having some pain or soreness when being held in the breastfeeding position. This can be due to a mild injury that takes place at birth (quite common actually!). I would especially suspect this if you had a long or difficult birth, but it can happen even with a very short or more uneventful birth.

You may want to take him to a Chiropractor or Osteopath for an adjustment. These aren’t painful for babies, and you may notice a difference immediately. Incidentally I have experience with this issue. My second child had no problems nursing at first, but he began fussing and crying when I tried to nurse him on one side. I took him to a Chiropractor who did a quick adjustment. That next feeding was no problem, and he had no trouble again after that. Apparently he had some tightness in his neck and shoulders from either the position he was in before he was born, or from strain that happened during his birth.

Secondly, get in touch with a La Leche League leader in your area who can observe you latching baby on. Some LLL leaders make house calls, and they are volunteers so there is no charge. You may even want to do this first, before spending the money on a health care provider. You can find an LLL leader via the website. Time is of the essence here. If baby is losing weight, you need to find help immediately. It’s possible that your milk supply could downshift in response, so be sure to pump when baby misses a feeding.

Another possibility is that your baby has thrush. Have you had a vaginal yeast infection? Does your baby have white patches inside his mouth? If you have any burning, pain, discomfort in your nipples this would be a giveaway, but sometimes mom doesn’t present with symptoms even when her baby has thrush. I wrote an article on breastfeeding and yeast infection that will help you diagnose and treat this common problem. Babies with thrush will sometimes reject the breast because sucking is painful for them.

Some other things to rule out: an allergy that baby may have to something on your clothing or body. Some sensitive babies will cry if mom uses perfume or fragrance, a new deodorant, detergent or fabric softener in her clothing.

One final tip: I don’t know if you have tried nursing baby while skin to skin in the bathtub. Some babies will latch on in the tub when they have trouble at any other time. Definitely take the steps mentioned above, but try this right away.

I wish you all the best! Likely you’ll be able to overcome this hurdle and continue to breastfeed. Get some help from an LLL leader. :-)

 

Hi Carrie,

I read your article on how to potty train in 2 days and I did everything you said, but my son seemed to think it was one big joke and would pee on purpose everywhere.

He just turned 2 and we have other kids in the house so when they saw him peeing on the floor they squealed and he seemed to think it was funny and has been doing it since.

I had to put the pamper back on. He used to be potty trained (would tell me when he had to go #2) but now does it in the pamper and THEN tells me.

I really want to train him before he’s 2.5 and I’ve heard you’re quite the genius so any advise would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

I’m not sure I deserve the title of genius but thanks for the compliment! You wouldn’t be the first mom who found her efforts to train her toddler towards a certain behavior to be foiled by older siblings! It looks like they accidentally trained your little guy to repeat this behavior. Don’t ask me how my 20 month old knows the word “fart”, by the way. ;-)

First I would start by having a discussion with the older kids. Tell them you need their help in getting the little man potty trained. Tell them to totally ignore it when he pees anywhere but the potty, but congratulate him and make a big deal out of when he succeeds in using the potty. Have them talk up the fact that they use the toilet. Younger siblings naturally try to imitate the older ones.

Since your son has used the potty successfully in the past, this may just be a temporary setback. Sometimes it’s “two steps forward, one step back”. That’s ok. All kids are different and there is no deadline. But one very important component is mom’s determination. If I were you, I would get rid of all the diapers. No diapers in the house, period (except for the younger baby). This move tells him you mean business.

Yes, you’ll likely have some more messes to clean up – but you can have HIM help with this. Not in a punitive, shameful way. Act just the same as you would if he spilled his milk on the floor. Say something like, “Oh, goodness. There’s peepee on the floor. Peepee goes in the potty. Well, here’s a towel. Please clean it up, then we will play“. He can also take his soiled underwear to the hamper.

Toddlers can change overnight. He’s almost there, just give it a little more time. :-)

Those were my thoughts.

Do you have any other advice, “been there done thats” or encouragement?

Disclosure: This information is not to be construed as medical advice. Carrie is not a doctor. It’s wise to consult a health care practitioner you trust before taking action on any health information you read on the internet.

Posted in Misc, Mothering | Tagged , | 10 Comments