Polls and Tips for Raising Kids

What did the shark say when it ate the clown fish? Tastes funny.

Why does a duck have feathers? To cover his butt quack

Pick up things with kitchen tongs. Our kids have so much fun using tongs to pick up socks on the floor, toys, or anything else that needs tidying up!

An OT told me this one: use small writing utensils such as golf pencils and broken crayons. This helps prevent children from grabbing the utensil with a fist and encourages the correct pencil grasp.

Pass the Parcel! We'd never heard of this one until we saw the Bluey episode about Lucky's Dad's Rules (best. episode. ever.), and now my kids want to play it ALL the time. Similar to Hot Potato, kids pass around a wrapped gift while music is playing. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift gets to unwrap it. According to the Bluey episode, the original way to play is to wrap a single gift in various layers of wrapping paper, so you go through several rounds before a child actually opens the gift, which they get to keep. Another version of the game includes small prizes within each layer of paper, and strategically stopping the music to make sure every child gets a prize.

Hot potato. We just had a birthday party for a five-year-old, and ended up playing hot potato along with pass the parcel. Though I’ve loved pass the parcel since we discovered it on Bluey, think the kids enjoyed hot potato even more, as they were able to toss the “potato” (we used a small plushy) to each other out of order, which made the game more active and the kids more engaged. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the plushy got out, and the last person in got the prize. This kept the kids from slow passing, too, since the goal was NOT to get caught with the plushy!

I put together little gifts (think Dollar bin) wrapped up in bags with a time on them. My kids look forward to these gifts and it helps to pass the time on long trips!

It's always a good idea to keep a spare "barf bag" or two in the car. Make sure you know where they are and can access them quickly. My kids don't get car sick, but we've had the occasional stomach bug pop up while on the road...and the end result is the same! I've seen blue bags specifically for this purpose on Amazon.

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle pees from its mouth.

Belugas are the only whales that can turn their heads.

If you could have any super power, what would it be, and why?

If you were an Olympic gold-medal athlete, which sporting event would you want it to be in?

If there are six apples and you take away four, how many apples do you have? Four.

The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I? A hole.

First day of school photos on our front steps, and couple more in front of the school too.

My husband and I will usually take the day off work (when we can) so we can be there for drop off and pick up on the first day, which makes it feel extra special for all of us.

My 6 year old loves his running program and I see a fair number of kids who don't love team sports there. They do individual activities, like quick sprints and longer jogs, and the coaches have them work together and build team spirit in other ways.

Ninja Warrior/ Boot Camp/ Kick Boxing/ Cardio Classes. Unique kids schedules are often found at specialized, local adult gyms now.

Swimming lessons

Cooking class for kids

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~ Dalai Lama

"When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing." – Frozen 2

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?" – Pirates of the Caribbean