Kid Scoop
My artistic duplication of Candyland. (I know, I should be drawing for a living.)
We have an ongoing game of Candyland over here at our house. Except it’s not the board game where you pick the only strategically bent card, which is the ice cream cone, and then win the game. This one is on our fridge and there is money involved.
I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I saw something similar hanging in a friend’s house and made up my own version.
It’s magic. I’m telling you, it’s just as good as the “Jar Game” that we play when we need to get things done or when kids are bored. Sometimes, resorting to gimmicks is just the thing to help kids change a behavior or get excited to help. I love this Candyland game because it’s a positive approach to getting kids to make good choices. I’ll do anything to bypass yelling and threats!
Here’s how we play Candyland at our house.
My son, anxiously waiting to pounce on the soccer ball
My son’s first word was ball. The only toy that has ever REALLY satisfied him is a ball. It doesn’t matter what kind of ball it is, it just has to be a ball. He was born with natural talent. (Here’s where I totally brag about how awesome he is, but can’t take any credit for it.)
He is athletic and has an intense drive to master whatever sport he plays. His daddy is athletic, so he can take some of the credit. We are heavily involved in extra-curricular and sporting activities (which I talk about in this post.) My son works hard all day with a ball in hand, whether he’s kicking it around the house or throwing it a hundred times against the wall. He does this with ZERO encouragement from me. If anything, I have to ask him to stop so he can do his other work. He sleeps with a baseball glove and a basketball hoop over his bed. His closet is lined with golf balls and we have a basket just for soccer balls.
I’m new to all this sports stuff. I grew up with 3 sisters surrounding me. My brothers are much older and weren’t heavily involved in sports. It’s safe to say…I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!
Winter is over! Ahhhh! (That was a big sigh of relief.) As much as I love the change in seasons, and gladly welcome winter when it comes, nothing gets me more excited than Spring. The kids play outside, fresh air permeates throughout the house, the trees are covered in blossoms and I get to hear lawn mowers running early in the morning. I love it. That means the grass is growing and all will be green soon.
Neighbor kids start knocking on doors, laughter fills the streets and dirt lines my kitchen floor from little shoes coming in and out the revolving door. I’m okay with the dirt when it means my kids are outside having a good time.
I have to apologize. I lied. In this post about kids and phobias, I mentioned that I’m not afraid of a whole lot. But then I got to thinking and yeah, that was a lie. You see, if I were to be anywhere near a snake (and that means in the same 100-yard vicinity), I’d start running like Forrest Gump and there is no way anyone could stop me until I reached the freaking Great Wall of China. (Run, Mandy, Run!) I’d cry the whole way too. Ew. I can’t even think about those slithery little things without trembling. They are sneaky little buggers. I know that will rub you snake owners the wrong way. My apologies.
(Click through to see what 20 things other parents are afraid of. We’re not all as tough as we appear!)
Anything that can go wrong...will
We had a bathroom in the home I grew up in that was wallpapered in Murphy’s Law sayings. The previous owners had torn out THOUSANDS of little calendar pages that sported all the different Murphy’s Law sayings they could find and literally pasted them to every inch of the room. I lived in that house 10+ years and my parents never bothered to change the wallpaper. You could say that I’m well versed in Murphy’s Law. If only there were a diploma for that!
Some of you may not be familiar with Murphy’s Law. Wikipedia can help us with that:
Murphy’s law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.
I believe that as a parent, I could plaster an entire gymnasium with Murphy’s Law sayings regarding parenting. Now, since I’m pretty sure there would be no takers on that, I won’t go into the wallpaper business just yet.
For the past few days I’ve been brushing up on my Murphy’s Law bathroom education and paying extra attention to all the funny and crazy ways my life resembles Murphy and his laws.
Click through to read 10 of my own sayings…
It was a beautiful Easter weekend over here at our house. We’ve been swimming in chocolate, basking in sunshine and doing all kinds of springy things. The best part is we got to spend a whole lot of time together. That’s what Easter break is all about, isn’t it?
My kids are on the tail-end now of their super-long school break. I’m definitely not ready to send them back (but I’m definitely not ready to home-school them). So, off they’ll go. It makes me sad to say that. I’m going to have to set my alarm again. Oh. My. Goodness. I’m not ready to do that.
So, we get grouchy. And we all do our own funny (or not-so-funny) things when our grouch-meter spikes (like these funny things). Being tired and other factors may set us off (like these 21 things), and ROAR….watch out people!
Our families know when the grouch comes and they know whether or not they should mess with us in a particular moment. My husband knows when to intervene and save my poor children from my irrational wrath. He also knows when NOT to intervene and try to talk me out of it. I have to de-grouch on my own. I have my own ways of de-grouching…and I’d love to know what yours are!
(Click through to see the 10 ways I ditch the grouch)
Kacy Faulconer 
Marinka 
DadCAMP 
Jen at PIWTPITT 
Mandy Cheney 
Stacie Haight Connerty 
Devan McGuinness 
Lori Garcia 
Meghan Gesswein 
Amber Doty 
Casey Mullins 
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