Category Archives: Age 5-7

Parenting Advice: How Do I Help My Child Who Has Night Terrors?

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, , ,

My daughter has had what her pediatrician calls ‘night terrors’ for years.

Ever since she was about two years old and about 2 hours after she falls asleep, she will start stirring and then begin whimpering, sometimes she’ll cry out, and sometimes she’ll scream.  She usually sits up and rocks back and forth while she’s sitting up during a night terror, which I have to admit, kind of freaks me out. There are usually no tears involved and she doesn’t remember it the next morning.

child bedroomThese are apparently signs of night terrors.  My question for the pediatrician was, what on earth could she be having night terrors about at such a young age?

Her answer.. she could be having night terrors about anything.

Dropping a cup, falling down the stairs, bumping into a wall, shutting her finger in a cabinet door, Tom & Jerry fighting, or Sponge Bob Square Pants.. in general.  I would have night terrors if I watched that show.  Sheesh.

What we tried:

My husband and I used to try to wake her up and comfort her but quickly learned that made it worse.  She would get angry and would shove us and things would escalate.   It was hard to let her go through a night terror alone but her pediatrician told us to not go in her room while she was having a night terror so we backed off.

What we do now:

These are just a few things that we do that we think helps her sleep comfortably at night.  Doing these things does not stop night terrors from happening.

  • We always keep the baby video monitor on at night so we can see her.
  • We do NOT go into her room.
    Her pediatrician told us that it is important to not go into her room while she’s having a night terror unless she is in danger of hurting herself by falling off of her bed or hitting her head on the bookshelf behind her bed.  We keep a close eye on the video baby monitor at night to make sure that during a night terror, she’s not about the fall off the bed or hurt herself.
  • We never try to wake her during a night terror.
  • Sometimes, the next morning, we’ll ask her if she remembers any dreams, to gauge how much of an impact the night terror had on her.   Every once in a while she’ll remember having a dream but has rarely remembered details of a bad dream.
  • We keep a sound machine on in her room to block all outside noises in hopes of keeping her in a deep sleep.
  • Up until very recently we had bed rails on both sides of her bed so she wouldn’t rock herself off the bed during a night terror.  We took the bed rails off about six months ago and she’s keeping herself on her bed just fine, so far.  Fingers crossed.
  • We use a light blocking shade on her window so if she does wake up in the middle of the night, the outside lights won’t disturb her.
According to WebMD, night terrors usually peak at around 3 1/2 years old. She’s 6-years-old and they are definitely slowing down but I feel terrible that she still experiences night terrors at all.  They also state that night terrors usually happen about 90 minutes after the child falls asleep.
If your child has night terrors you will find some valuable information on the whats and whys of night terrors here on WebMD.

Do you have any night terror tips you’d like to share with me?

My questions to you is did or does your child have night terrors?
 If so, how long did these night terrors go on and did you do anything to try to stop them?

Do you do something that you feel helps keep your child from having night terrors?

 

I am not affiliated with WedMD.  I found that WebMD provides good information about night terrors but I do not endorse WebMD nor am I compensated by WebMD.

The Learning Tower, Art Easel, and Toy Tower Review

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Education, New posts, , , , , , ,

Is your child so clingy that she pulls up a chair up to stand next to you while you’re cooking or fixing your hair?

Then you will love The Learning Tower.

The Learning Tower is a safe, sturdy, and fun platform inside a tower that your child can stand on safely.  When standing on the platform my daughter can help me cook, wash fruits and veggies, and if you have older kids, I’ve learned it’s a great place for a child to stand while playing hair stylist.  My daughter loves brushing my hair and playing hair stylist and she’s fallen off of the chair more than a handful of times.  We keep The Learning Tower in our kitchen now and the kids can move it from one area to another pretty easily.

The Learning Tower and Art Easel review

Before your child gets in The Learning Tower, adjust the platform to one of the four positions that your think is best for your child.  Pull The Learning Tower up to the location where you want it and your child can climb in using the foot holes on either side or crawl in through the open space on the sides. No matter which of the four heights the platform is on, your child is unlikely to fall out because there is at least a four-inch ledge around the entire platform.

The Learning Tower - Art Easel dry erase and chalk board
Dry erase and chalk board

The Art Easel

Little Partners also sells an Art Easel that hooks over the top of The Learning Tower.  The Art Easel is great for playing school or listing chores or recipe ingredients.  A white board on one side and a chalkboard on the other, there is plenty of room for a child to create a fantastic work of art or just doodle.

Here’s a helpful dry erase marker tip: If your child accidentally uses a regular marker on the dry erase board, just go over it again with a dry erase marker and wipe it clean.  It may not come 100% clean but it should help considerably.

The Art Easel is available in nine colors and is $59.99.

 

The Learning Tower Toy Tower
The Learning Tower - Toy Tower

The Toy Tower

Little girls love playing with dolls but that toy high chair you have might not be the easiest thing to carry to Grandma’s house.  That’s where the Toy Tower comes in handy.  It’s small and light weight and just the right size for any doll.  The platform is adjustable just like on The Learning Tower so your child’s doll can sit as high or low as needed.  Last night we took Mickey Mouse and The Toy Tower with us to my mom’s house for dinner and he enjoyed dinner with us.  On a normal day any number of baby dolls and Lalaloopsy dolls will sit in the Toy Tower wherever my daughter is.

The Toy Tower is $49.99 and is available in three colors.

Assembling the Art Easel
My daughter helps assemble the Art Easel

Assembling The Learning Tower and Art Easel

Assembling The Learning Tower takes about 30 minutes while the Art Easel takes just about 15 minutes to assemble.
If you have a little helper like my husband did then assembly time might be less.. or more.

Both require minimal tools for assembly.

 

 

Colors and Cost

The Learning Tower comes in nine colors and is $199.99.   It can be purchased online at www.littlepartners.com.

 

I was sent The Learning Tower, an Art Easel, and Toy Tower to facilitate this review.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Back-To-School Style With Tea Collection – Nordic Line Review

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Clothes - mom & dad, , , ,

We love travelling.. with Tea Collection.  So far we’ve experienced Bali and now we’re experiencing the fresh, clean, and modern look of Finland, Sweden, and Denmark through Tea Collection’s new Nordic Line.  You can learn more about Tea Collection’s destinations here.

My daughter started school this week and Tea Collection dominated her back-to-school wardrobe.  She loves her Tea Collection dresses of which she has several (because she loves them so much!) and now she has a couple of adorable t-shirts to pair with Tea’s whimsical Twirly Skirt and Skinny Stretch Leggings.

Tea Collection’s new Nordic line is made up of pieces with clean yet ‘fun-funky’ (a word my daughter made up) patterns.  My daughter’s favorite dress from the Noric Line is the Moderni Banded Dress while my favorite on her is the Life in the Trees Banded Dress.  I love the banded look on my daughter, although I think the Mod Colorblock a-line dress is very cute too.

Tea Collection Nordic Line
Top row: Mod Colorblock dress. Second row: Moderni Banded Dress

Her favorite play outfit is the Bluetail Robin Tee paired with the Twirly Skirt.  I could just go on and on with the pairings.  She wears the Mod Colorblock dress and the Moderni dress with the bouquet Skinny Stretch Leggings and the Bluetail Robin tee with the Twirly skirt, French Terry shorts, and Safari Paperback shorts.  There are so many possibilities with Tea Collection. The Nordic line is made up of pieces from the same color pallet so pieces are easily paired.

Fit and Comfort

Like most young kids, my daughter doesn’t like to wear anything snug around her waist.  No jeans or cordiroys yet.  I hope she’ll  get there sometime soon though.  That’s why Tea Collection’s peices are so great for kids. Most of their skirts, pants, and shorts are made of at least 70% cotton making them very soft and flexible which is exactly what kids love!

Tea Collection women's clothes
Tea Collection - Hassu Floral Exposed Zip Back blouse

Tea Collections offers clothes for boys and girls up to size 12 and they even have a women’s line!  We can’t leave out the moms!  Take a look at this beautiful blouse.  >

Follow Tea Collection on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to get inspired and get great deals!

I received product from Tea Collection to facilitate this review.  All opinions are 100% my own. I was not told what or when to write.

I Could Use Some Chore Ideas For My 6-Year-Old Who’s Trying To Earn $30

Age 5-7, New posts, , ,
Build-a-Bear Workshop pink bear
This is the bear my daughter wants

I need some parenting advice, please!

I am trying to figure out what ‘extra’ chores my 6-year-old daughter can do to earn extra money for a trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop to make her first bear. Most of the chores I’ve given her today; she starts then says it’s too hard.  Well, there’s another thing. I’ll be honest… a couple of the things I’ve asked her to do, I asked her to stop doing because I knew I would to have to go back and do it all over again.

Here are a few things that I’ve tried to get her to do so far today to earn money and what happened:

  • Clean the baseboards
    • Her thoughts on this chore – she apparently couldn’t rub hard enough to get the dirt off
    • My thoughts – She could if she tried harder but I didn’t want to deal with it and I didn’t want to have to go back and clean all the baseboards again so I gave up on that chore.
  • Wash spiderwebs off of the outside of the windows
    • Her thoughts on this chore – Using the hose to squirt the windows was fun
    • My thoughts – I had to help her aim at the spider webs and darn, those things are hard to squirt off with water!  It took her about 5 minutes to complete this chore, with my help.
  • Clean the front door
    • Her thoughts on this chore – “no, thanks”
    • My thoughts – “You love spraying stuff. Why don’t you want to clean the door?”
  • Dust the window sills
    • Her thoughts on this chore – fun and easy and she expected more than $1 for dusting just 3 windows (in about 2 minutes).
    • My thoughts – “Really, you’re fussing because I offered you 25¢ to dust 3 windows? in less than 2 minutes?”

 

So now I’m at a loss as to what chores to have her to do earn extra money.

Her regular chores that will not help her earn money toward a bear are:

  • Help with her laundry
  • Set and clear the table at each meal
  • Help dust
  • Make her bed
  • Clean her room
  • Help keep the kitchen clean

Do you have any suggestions for chores I can have my 6-year-old do to earn money?  She wants to earn $30.

Here is my wish list that I would pay her (or my son) really good money to do:

I have windows that need to be cleaned, dusty baseboards that need to be wiped down, wall corners that need to be touch-up painted, and kitchen cabinets that need to be organized.

Why doesn’t she want to do any of these FUN chores?  Seriously? They involve paint, spraying, and organizing Tupperware.. all things she LOVES!

I found a printable Goal Chart that I plan on using to track how much money she’s earned but I still need a list of ‘extra’ chores that are reasonable for a 6-year-old to do in order to get her started on a path of earning money.

Any ideas?  Please share them below! I really, really appreciate it!

I was not compensated in any way by KidPointz or Build-a-Bear Workshop for writing this post. Nor was I requested to write this post by either company. I just happened to mention them. This is 100% me. 🙂

SIGG Kid’s Water Bottle and Aluminum Lunch Box Giveaway! #BackToSchool with @SIGG_NA

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Contests, New posts, School, , , ,

 

SIGG water bottles
SIGG water bottles

I haven’t been very excited about shopping this back-to-school season. It was when my daughter, who’s entering first grade this year, told me that she wants a new backpack and my son mentioned that he needs a new USB stick that I finally got interested in the idea of back-to-school shopping. Is shopping for 3-ring binders, printer paper, and colored pencils really fun? Not so much.

Something that my kids use every day and need for school is a water bottle. Much more exciting to shop for than paper and pencils right?

We have dozens of water bottles between the four of us. Our SIGG water bottles are what we call our ‘special bottles’. We each have our ‘special bottles’ that we do not share. Both of my kids have a special SIGG water bottle that they’ve used for at least two years and my husband and I have several that we’ve used for that long. I use them for road trips and when I attend conferences. I even have a couple of personalized SIGG water bottles. My son uses his SIGG water bottles on camping trips, hikes and at school, my husband uses them for every day drinking (not that kind of drinking silly), and my daughter takes her SIGG to school with her in her lunch box.

SIGG’s new Rainbox collection offers kids a colorful way to enjoy water or their favorite juice while at school. The new collection features 12 vibrant hues inspired by the rainbow. Running the spectrum from neon yellow to cool coral to royal blue, you will undoubtedly find a shade that catches your child’s eye. The sleek, loop top style bottles are manufactured and quality checked in Switzerland and are BPA and phthalate free. Like all SIGG bottles, they are completely taste and odor neutral and are 100% recyclable at the end of their long lives. The nonporous interior lining in the bottles ensures that it remains taste and odor neutral so you can have juice on Monday, milk on Tuesday and water on Wednesday and there won’t be any residual taste. How great is that?

SIGG water bottles are sturdy. My son’s SIGGs have been dropped from trees and have rolled down the street plenty of times and boy will a SIGG bottle roll far and fast! My son has put SIGG water bottles to the test and they can withstand just about anything.

Who knows, maybe getting a new SIGG water bottle will become an annual back to school tradition? I can see it now..my son will have a line of SIGG water bottles on a bookshelf in his college dorm. That’s a few years from now but hey, they’ll last that long!

SIGG Aluminum Box Maxi Metallic Purple
SIGG Aluminum Box Metallic Purple

I also love SIGG’s metallic lunch/storage boxes. Available in colors fit for boys and girls, this lunch box is perfect for a snack or a sandwich. SIGG sleek boxes are available in fun bold colors and are perfect for containing your child’s lunch or snack items or for toting school or art supplies. Offered in hues of green, blue, fuchsia and silver, these boxes ward off moisture and mold with their aluminum composition and for that reason are also odor resistant. Light, durable with a slick appearance, this a multi-functional box your child will be excited to take to school. They also make for an easy canvas for children to decorate with stickers or puffy paint so they can customize their container.

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Win a SIGG ABC water bottle and aluminum lunch/storage box!

SIGG water bottle and lunch storage box giveawayOpen to U.S. residents ages 18+ only. No P.O. Boxes.

Entries accepted through 11:59pm EST August 22nd, 2012. Read our official contest rules here.

Follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Alicia Hagan, Editor

I am being compensated via product from SIGG, for this review. All opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way. I really do have and love SIGG water bottles!