Steady Mom

Interview with a 30 Day Vegan (That's Me!)

Today I'm over at Simple Bites talking about what it was like to be a vegan for 30 days in March.

Want to find out if I really kept to the rules...or did I cheat just a little?

Want to know what the kids missed most from their regular food repertoire?

Want to know how I felt after I finished my cleanse and how I'm feeling now?

Come on over to visit and chat with me and Aimee at Simple Bites!

 

Positive Discipline: The Toddler Years

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

Written by Steady Mom contributor Megan of SortaCrunchy

When Jamie shared Positive Discipline: 5 Gentle (Yet Effective) Tips, I found myself nodding furiously in agreement.  So many of her approaches to positive discipline closely mirror what we do!  It's always encouraging to hear what other like-minded families are implementing in the realm of discipline.

I'm certainly no parenting expert (our oldest child is only six), but one thing I have heard from others and found to be true is that implementing positive discipline is the most difficult in the toddler years.  Actually, I think no matter what approach to discipline you take, the toddler years can be the most difficult!  Yet I've discovered that consistent, intentional teaching during this stage of life yields wonderful rewards as those little ones grow into Big Kids. 

Thinking back on the strategies that I found to be the most helpful, I'm reminded of a concept I learned long ago in some mostly-forgotten pedagogy class in college: Young children think and operate in the world of the concrete; their brains are not mature enough to process that which is abstract. 

This is crucial to teaching toddlers!  Instructions such as "please behave" and "be nice" are lost on them.  They take in the world through the five senses, and their understanding of the world around them is often filtered through what they see modeled for them, rather than what is said to them.

When my daughters were toddlers, this concept translated to positive discipline in ways that looked like this:

Exponential Growth

Written by Steady Mom contributor Eren of Vintage Chica

Sometimes I feel like my boys grow right before my eyes.  There are nights I put them to bed in pajamas that fit them perfectly, only to realize the next morning as they walk into the kitchen, that now they are entirely too short.

I really think there are times we can truly see them grow.

This week, I watched another of those growth spurts.  And this time I realized they weren’t the only ones growing exponentially.



This week is spring break for my boys, and a good friend invited us to spend a few days at her family’s lake cabin.  It would be her and her three children and me and my three – that’s two mamas, six children.  I have to admit, I was thankful for the invitation, but I immediately thought of the planning that go into making the trip. 

It has been an especially crazy week with my husband’s schedule, my youngest’s sixth birthday party and house projects.  And all of it had left me a bit worn out.

Earth Day Giveaway: 3 Pandas Planting (4 Winners!)

This giveaway has ended--thanks for entering!

In honor of Earth Day this week, I'm here to share with you this sweet children's book, 3 Pandas Planting by Megan Halsey.

This delightful book provides the perfect introduction to conservation for preschoolers and early elementary aged children. I've been reading it with my three this week, and we've had some good conversations as a result.

My kids also went wild over these cool coloring sheets and games available for free download from Megan--an excellent Earth Day activity for your little ones.

From the 3 Pandas Planting website: