Works For Me Wednesday: Growing Pains - Testing Boundaries

By MAD21

We've had a stressful week or two in our house. I'll call it growing pains. You know the kind, -- when your kids decide to start testing the boundaries and rules. I have to say that I think this is one of the most difficult things to deal with as a parent. I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling like a bully or having an authoritarian household. But there comes a time when our kids need to learn that they don't always get a say, and they need to get their sense of entitlement under control.

It's bad enough when your kids misbehave at home, but when the disrespect starts to show up in other places like school, there needs to be some serious action to get them under control.

We feel, as most parents do, that it's important our children do their best at school. Here are some things we do to help our kids prepare for their day:

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Works For Me Wednesday: Make Time For What Is Important

By MAD21

I've always had the philosophy that if something is important, you will make time for it. And while I still very much believe that, I'm finding it harder to live by as I get older with two young kids and our lives getting busier and busier.

Two things that are important to me are my health (running, eating right), and my time alone with God. Unfortunately for some reason these things seem to always be put off. The only thing that has worked to keep these things part of my daily life is to get up early and do them first.

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Works For Me Wednesday: Is Your To-Do List Working For You?

By Alan

It seems funny that the inspiration to write a blog post about writing things down came from another blog post about writing things down. Lifehacker included a reference to It Didn't Happen If You Didn't Write It Down.

One of my favorite productivity blogs is 43folders. Merlin Mann has been writing a blog about productivity and getting things done for over five years, and has wonderful insight into why people do terrible things to themselves in the name of productivity. But, he does it with such humor and funny insight into people's behavior, that it's fun to read.

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Works For Me Wednesday: Game Storage

By MAD21

We've been looking for ideas regarding storage/functionality while creating a playroom in our house. I've written before about the fight to keep our house from turning into a giant toy box. I'm always looking for good ideas regarding how to make toys accessible but also easily storable.

We came across an idea that totally fits within those needs, but is also an awesome idea regarding decorating the playroom itself.

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Works For Me Wednesday: A Sav For Anything

By MAD21

As I was growing up, if anyone in our family had any kind of injury to our skin (burn, scrape, dry skin, hang nail, blisters, etc.), my parents pulled out this green can of very stinky ointment called Bag Balm. I did not like smell, but I never had a problem with my parents using it on me for two reasons... One: It didn't sting or hurt, and Two: It worked! It made whatever was wrong heal very vast. Two very important things to a kid (and a grown-up).

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