My Take on Organizing a Kid's Room

The goal is to make the kid's room kid-friendly so kids can find their stuff and enjoy spending time in it. Funny thing is kids don't just enjoy having lots of stuff. If they have so much stuff, they forget what they have or can't find what they have, it is time to purge! Kids can be happy with the simplest toys. All they need is a nice, clean area where they can play.

I prefer to clean clockwise through the room-- so you can see where you've actually cleaned and organized. If you haven't cleaned or organized in a long time, I would start with three big black trash bags. Just make sure you don't get them confused when you're working! I find it helps to keep them all in different corners of the room while you're working.

Bags:

1) To Keep
2) To Throw Away
3) To Give Away

If a toy is broken or missing pieces, I'm of the "throw away" mindset. However, I know some of you prefer to hold on to things- just in case. You may want to start a seperate smaller bag for these toys and the missing pieces when you find them. This bag should not be stored in the kid's room. I would keep it where you keep super glue, screwdrivers, etc. That's where you'll be fixing the toys.

Now the fun part--- ORGANIZE THE KEEPERS!

Store all the stuff like stickers, books, and crayons at the desk because that is where your child will use them. Store all of the jewelry, play make-up, and dress-up clothes together. Anything of like kind should go together. For example, all doll clothes, all Barbies & accessories, all purses and backpacks, and all shoes. It's important your child sees / helps you find good storage spaces because they are more inclined to have less questions later and pick up after themselves.

I have discovered that closets are often untapped areas. You can buy a hanging shoe organizer that is perfect for Barbies and other baby dolls. Anything that hangs and uses the space above the floor is excellent. Floor space is a hot commodity in a kid's room- even in the closet. Just like when you're organizing your kitchen-- use top shelves for things that are seldom used. Use floor space and easily accessible areas for things your kids need to be able to access on their own.

Collections can make you go nuts. If your child likes to collect stuffed animals, for example, encourage them to select a few favorites (3 - 5 max!) and store the remainder out of their room. Assure them that every so often, they can go to the collection and switch. That way all of their stuffed animals can be played with and no teddy bear gets lost or ignored for very long.

Another great way to highlight collections of smaller toys is by installing shelves around your child's room. They can customize what toys are stored on the shelves and they free up floor space.

Keep all art supplies together. I have a very young child, so I prefer to keep the art supplies in the kitchen on a super-high shelf. If you have an older child, they may be more mature and can handle the supplies being stored in their closet. However, I strongly warn against keeping anything that is not washable in your child's reach.

For those of you with lots of boxed puzzles and boardgames-- I have found it easiest to store them as if they were books with the titles all facing the same way. The logic in this storage technique is you never have to screw up a stack of games to access the one on the bottom.

Regarding those lovely papers that keep coming home from school... I tried the binder system (using page protectors and dividers to organize the priceless homework sheets and art projects.)However, I'm very sentimental and quickly discovered the entire floor of my closet was filled with plastic file boxes and binders overflowing. Now, I keep a scanner attached to my laptop in my kitchen. I hang the lovely papers up for about a week on the fridge or cabinets. After that, I scan them and throw them out! When I scan them, I have them organized in a file on my computer by month and year. After a year, I burn them to a CD and keep them in a CD Binder.

And this final bit of advice is from my Grandma-- She always told me that it's easier to keep it clean by doing a little bit at a time than waiting till it's totally a disaster and you have a time limit to get it immaculate. (I'm sure I paraphrased, but you get the drift.) So, I recommend getting the room tidy once a week, but encouraging your kids daily to put away their things before bedtime. (This is very logical, and can be explained to even a kindergartener.) What if you woke up in the middle of the night and had to run to the bathroom and you tripped and fell over all this stuff???? Honestly, this logic works with both of my kids.

Happy organizing! :-)

Healthy Eating

Lately, I've been doing a lot of research on this topic. I knew there were certain foods that were best suited for certain things (i.e. memory.) I decided to make a spreadsheet to see how many overlaps I could find in the most important categories that would benefit my family the most. I was searching for those "super foods." Here are my findings and recommendations for snacks and meals for your family.

These were the 9 categories that I researched: Brain Development and Memory, Skin, Hair & Nails, Heart, Energy, Smile, Eyes, Stress Reduction, and Intestinal and Bladder Health.

Out of a total of 79 foods, only 7 foods appeared in 4 or more categories. These "super foods" are: Soybeans, Kidney Beans, Low Fat Yogurt, Salmon, Blueberries, Turkey, and Spinach.

I also found some interesting information regarding brain functionality. There are two types of fats that our brains need. These create two categories of food and ideally, we should eat something from each category, rather than only one category. From what I can tell, the most kid-friendly snack that would accomplish this would be sunflower seeds and walnuts. I will be keeping a container of these in the fridge for little fingers. (And, unsalted is always best!) As for a super-brain meal, salmon and corn can't be beat!

For brain development, a snack of apples, grapes and low fat yogurt works wonders and is easy for even toddlers to eat. A breakfast of oatmeal and milk is perfect.

For skin, try green tea (drank or applied directly to the skin works) and a snack of blueberries, strawberries and walnuts.

To accomplish great results for hair and nails and work on the health of your heart, try a salad packed full of spinach, soybeans, flax seed, almond slivers, kidney beans and eggs- drizzled with olive oil. Every single item is very powerful and nothing is wasted or bad for you.

For a good energy boost, fresh orange slices are easy and fun with kids. Also, slice up an apple and dip in peanut butter. Peanut butter isn't just great tasting with the apples, it does its own job by providing excellent energy!

For eye health, a kiwi is just plain fun! What kid isn't intrigued by a hairy, green fruit that looks like it came from another planet??? Also, a snack of fresh broccoli and carrots drizzled in olive oil will greatly help your kids' eyes develop and improve. Believe it or not, dark chocolate works too! (in limited quantity though!)

To improve the health and beauty of your child's smile, give them some celery to chew on and some cheese cubes. Easy and yummy!

To reduce your own stress and calm your hyperactive toddler down, try a wonderful dinner of brown rice, turkey and sweet potatoes with a glass of milk. These items not only taste good together, they all provide terrific stress-busting, calming effects.

For intestinal health and bladder health, yogurt and whole wheat breads or muffins help keep things working right. Also, a snack of cranberries and bananas with some coconut is excellent.

A nibble tray for a toddler is an excellent way to keep them eating right. You can use an ice cube tray, muffin tray or compartmentalized plastic dish. This allows you to include small portions of healthy foods and several different types of dips (i.e. peanut butter or yogurt.) Encourage your child to sit and eat from the nibble tray throughout the day. Keeping blood sugar stable helps their behavior- so, yes, grazing is a good thing. :)

That's all for now- have fun eating!

Vacationing with Kids

I found two great books that suggest great places to take your kids vacationing. Almost all of these experiences can be turned into an educational experience for your kid. They can help plan the trip, follow the map while you drive there and many other things! Just click the image of the book to read more about it on Amazon.com!

Mini Frozen Watermelons

Okay- yes, I know it isn't summertime... but I found this recipe in my collection and wanted to get it uploaded before I forgot about it!

This is a terrific recipe to do with your kids. You take 1 cup frozen whole strawberries-thawed, 1/2 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt, and 2 cups orange juice. Blend them up good. Cut limes in half and scoop out their insides so they look like little green bowls. Pour the mixture in each one and drop about 4 semi-sweet chocolate morsels in each. Freeze them flat so they don't dump out everywhere. After they're frozen, pull them out and cut each half-a-lime in half again.... you'll have little mini watermelons! They look awesome and taste terrific!