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Home organizing, Raise Responsible Kids

#24: Organizing School Supplies With Kids – An Easy Step By Step Plan

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This episode is like a mini training where I’m going to help guide you, step by step, into organizing school supplies, so that everything’s ready for the next school year. But here’s the thing, if you’ve been the one taking care of all the school supplies in the past, slowly organizing things over the summer, or nipping it in the bud at the start of summer, no no, not anymore. If you know me by now, follow me on social media and listen to a few episodes, you know I’m all about getting the kids involved when it comes to organizing our homes and lives.

So let’s go!

First off, if you’re wondering “Why do this now?” Let me paint a picture for you:

Say, we take the same scenario I just mentioned a minute ago where the school books and supplies are either still in your kids’ school bags somewhere in the house or scattered here and there in different piles. It’s clutter that’s not only taking up physical space but mental real estate too because, you know it needs to be dealt with. The thing is, it just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of your ever growing ‘to-do’ list and then sits in your mind all summer long.

And imagine it being close to another school year and you’re overwhelmed and scratching your head at all the extra supplies you need to get when you could have sworn you got new school supplies last year. So where is everything?

Or, it’s crunch time now and with the summer ending, fall activities to register for and plan your schedule around , along with doctors and dentist appointments to book….now you have to deal with organizing school supplies so they start the year off right: with everything they need. But time, as always, is running out!

I know there are so many more situations and scenarios similar to these in many households, but what do they all have in common? They all end up leaving parents frustrated, annoyed, not wanting to deal with it and then mentally depleted. ….. And the school year hasn’t even begun yet!

How can we avoid all those unnecessary feelings?

Nip it in the bud now.Today or give yourself a week to finish this simple and easy task and don’t do it alone. I know it could go a lot faster if it’s just you and it’s SOOO tempting to take it all and get it done and over with. I HEAR you! I’ve done this myself over the years. But now, I do things differently: I take every moment I could as a teaching moment . More importantly though, you’re here right now – following this podcast show – because deep down, you also don’t want things to always fall on you, right?

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it over and over again: Life stuff, household stuff, organizing it, maintaining it all and everything in between – doesn’t always have to fall all on you. It’s not why you’re here in this world. As parents, we are their first teachers so, teach what you know how to do. Your future self and your kids will thank you for it – I promise!

Now, could you imagine taking care of this task, EARLY in the summer: how much more good energy will be created from within you because you just ticked off another item off of your to-do list? And even MORE good feelings because you’re teaching and involving the kids to take care of their things! All the more reason to get started now with organizing school supplies!

Home organizing, Raise Responsible Kids

#21: Teach Kids How To Store Their Papers

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Recently a mom friend sent me a message out of the blue asking me about a very popular issue most parents with pre-school and school-aged children struggle with, myself included – until I had a strategy and action plan.

What I liked about how she framed it is that it wasn’t your TYPICAL Google search question. This went deeper in thought even though the results were the same: containing the clutter and giving the items a home.

I absolutely LOVED this question because it was about nipping the issue at the bud and addressing the behavior as opposed to finding organizing solutions using physical things like better furniture or using separators like bins or file folders. These are all great solutions to contain the clutter and chaos but it DOESN’T solve the ultimate problem: how we go about dealing with our things.

I get it, we’re all looking for quick fixes and solutions to deal with the chaos and disorganization in our home. With free shipping and next-day delivery, it’s so easy now to get our hands on things that will help solve our situation. But, is it REALLY solving the underlying issue?

If we don’t have strategies and plans set beforehand when new items come into our home or when we see a sale or deep discounted items, we’re SOOO tempted to take advantage of these hot deals that we buy more than we really need, or have space for. Our home, our space feels cramped and our minds become cluttered too: having to deal with organizing and managing the excess.

Well, in this case, it’s not about deals or sales but it is about items that keep coming in from the creative minds of our little ones…and they produce some REALLY beautiful, heartwarming, almost magical things… WE want to keep them all. And why not? They came from the most wonderful beings in the world – our children!

And if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, well you better believe your kids will also want to keep every masterpiece that they’ve created.

So….how do we nip things at the bud, or address the root cause? Well, the title of this episode gives it all away: Teach Kids How To Store Their Papers

Lead together, Raise Responsible Kids

Podcast  #20: 5 Ways To Get Kids To Listen – Part 2

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It just happened one morning, as I write this episode out: during the morning rush… well I shouldn’t say rush because the kids weren’t rushing.  We were doing great in time.  We were just in the middle of making their breakfast and putting their lunches together. I was there assisting, cutting up veggies and just making sure they had what they needed and…there it was, in the middle of the kitchen floor: a rag.

People were talking and kicking it around and just not saying anything. And it’s not like they couldn’t feel it or anything, they were barefoot!  They just weren’t aware that there was something on the floor that someone could’ve just stopped to pick up.

But no.

So, as much as I was burning inside to say something, I waited.  I waited to see if someone, ANYONE would  notice. Nothing. So, I ended up doing it myself.

Oftentimes, it feels like the ONLY person who realizes the house is a mess, realizes that things aren’t where they should be, or realizes that other stuff has been sitting THERE for days or even weeks, and finally stops to do something about it?…It’s YOU!

Lead together, Raise Responsible Kids

Podcast #19: 5 ways to get kids to listen – Part 1

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How do you get your kids to listen?

Well, let me be clear: they DO listen…. Sometimes, just not consistently. And one mom even said:  “sometimes, it’s as though he CHOOSES NOT to listen!”

Now, I’m talking about the boring stuff. The stuff that needs to get done around the house: picking up after themselves, cleaning their room, helping their brother or sister  out, bringing some toilet paper upstairs since they’re coming this way, or having to apologize to their sibling for whatever reason.

…. You know, regular life stuff !

Ahhh ! The frustration when they just don’t want to listen!  I see it all the time: With my own family, kids at the mall, the kids at the school…

So it got me thinking after we left our makeshift support group thing we had going on at the park. I decided to text them a list of what I usually say to get my kids to listen in hopes that it will help them with their challenges and roadblocks.

So my hope for you today, dear listener, is that while you’re listening to this episode, keep an open mind.  Listen to understand where I’m coming from and then take what you need. Tweak what resonates and makes sense for you, so that it applies to your family. I hope this helps!

Home organizing

Podcast #10: 3 Tips To Making Bathroom Cleaning So Easy, The Kids Will Want To Do It

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The bathroom is either a place of chaos, comfort, a quiet zone or all of the above and everything else in between.  It’s a busy common area that if we equip ourselves and set the space up, we can totally achieve that ideal space that we resort to from time to time, or every night to escape into the World Wide Web, where most ideas and inspiration are not the only things being formed, but one of the only spaces where we can lock ourselves in from those once-cute, and now, grubby hands and constant questions: “What are you doing?” and “Can I have a snack?”

So in today’s episode I’m going to give you 3 tips to help make your bathroom easy to clean for you and the kids.  Grab a paper and pen my friend, a yummy coffee or take this all in as you go out and about.  These tips are some you may want to try, test out and, oh man, reap the benefits of easy cleaning that’s not only done by you!

Raise Responsible Kids

Podcast #9: My Secret Sauce to Setting Up The Kids For Success!

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The topic I chose to talk about, in today’s episode, is the basis of how I approach things with my kids. Call it the BLUEPRINT on how to teach my kids and get them to be more and more independent, feel confident and empowered so that I, myself, feel comfortable and confident; and that they’ve got the basics, or foundations in place for the next level that will eventually all add up to THEM becoming self-sufficient, capable, responsible adults. 

This is the foundation of what we do to Set our Kids up For Success!  

In this episode, I unveil how we started and what got the ball rolling for us to have this mindset; the logic behind our thinking that benefits all of us, and the one thing you can do to make your life easier!

I’ve had TONS and TONS of conversations and discussions over the last…. 10+ years about this with my sisters, friends, other parents as well as with clients.  Basically – everyone! But these conversations were always snippets of what I’m about to talk with you about today. 

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