3 Kids and Us

Family Stories and Successes: Tips and Tricks for Scrapbooking Your Past

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Victorian Child's Scrapbook.
Victorian Child’s Scrapbook.

Scrapbooking is big. Huge. So, here are some of the more fun ways to preserve your family’s stories, successes, and even unusual events.

What Kind Of Memories Do You Want Immortalized?

Think long and hard about the types of memories you want preserved. We all have painful memories that we’d rather not remember, but there’s more than just happy memories in our lives too.

It might be easy to come up with photos and keepsakes from times when we were having fun. Try to also come up with memories of challenging times – not necessarily negative, but challenging.

For example, have you, or any of your family members, ever competed in an event before? What was that like?

Do you have any photos that commemorate it? By including these in your scrapbook, you’ll not only be able to look back and laugh, you’ll be able to look back on all of your hard-won victories.

Getting Organized – What To Do And What To Avoid

Get organized. As you start accumulating photos and materials, try to work towards organization of life events, time periods, and “moments.”

You could also divide photos and keepsakes into groups – piles with people, places, or even by family and friends.

This will ultimately help you make sense of your scrapbook as well as help you find things when you need them. Most people choose themes for their book, which is another great way to organize your scrapbook.

What Themes Should You Pick?

Themes can be tricky because everyone has a different idea about what the best themes are. Even so, themes can make your scrapbook much more memorable. It can also help you relive specific memories.

For example, let’s say you want to relive a particular Christmas when you were young. Or, maybe you want to relive all of your Christmases. Making a scrapbook oriented around that theme will let you focus on just the things you want to remember or relive.

Getting Supplies

What kind of supplies will you need? That depends on your scrapbook. But, in general, you’ll need an album, adhesives, scissors, and journaling pens.

The album should contain acid-free pages or allow you the option to add them. It should also have PVC-free sheet protectors so that you can protect your pages and photos. As for the size of the book, it all depends on you and how big you want it. Most scrapbooks are either 8 ½ x 11” or 12” x 12”.

There are a variety of adhesives you can choose from too, but look for ones made specifically for scrapbooking.

Get straight-edge and decorative edge scissors so that you can cut photos into interesting shapes and crop out any unwanted areas.

Finally, get yourself some journaling pens – acid-free, permanent pens for writing down important names, family memories, dates, and even just for doodling and stick figures.

Printing Your Scrapbook

If you want a more formal scrapbook, download some templates from the Internet, stock up on ink from StinkyInk, and print your scrapbook after you’re finished scanning in all of your photos and keepsakes.

While it’s common to create a “live” scrapbook that’s not printed or made from copies photos, many people are finding that copying photos allows them to preserve the originals for future use, while also allowing for creative use of the copies.

John Sollars started Stinkyink.com in 2002, a printer cartridge supplier in the UK. He knows a thing or two about printing and he enjoys sharing his ideas and insights online through blogging.

How to Prevent Your Kids from Cold and Flu During Winter Season

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kids with flu

One of the hardest feelings for any parent is to see their child suffering from sickness including a common cold and flu. And during winter season, this is indeed one of the main worries of moms and dads too.

In this article, we will share some tips on how to protect your children and prevent them from having cold and flu this winter season:

Tip 1: Wash hands – teach your kids to make it a habit to wash their hands – before and after they eat and every time they use the bathroom. Kids are playful by nature – they love to run around, climb everywhere, and pick up whatever that calls their attention. And because of this playfulness, it is easy for them to pick up bacteria and viruses. Washing their hands will kill off germs and bacteria and prevent sickness like flu or cold. Rubbing hands with alcohol gel, commonly called hand sanitizer, will also keep bacteria and viruses away. These Custom Hand Sanitizer are available at your local store or pharmacy.

Tip 2: Flu vaccine – seasonal flu vaccine is also effective to prevent cold and flu. Children ages 2 to 9 need two doses of flu vaccine if it is their first time to receive it. The first dose improves their immune system while the second shot given 28 days or more after the first dose serves as their protection from flu.

Tip 3: Dress warm – Rhinovirus that causes common cold replicates better during cold weather. And since the body’s immune system weakens as the temperature drops, it is more common to catch cold during winter season. You should keep your kids warm by dressing them with appropriate, thick clothes that will keep them warm most especially when going out of the house.

Tip 4: Drink lots of fluids –it is also a good practice to drink lots of fluids especially water everyday. Drinking water will flush out the toxins in the body.

Tip 5: Drink vitamins – make sure to give them vitamins every day to boost their immune system. In case they’ve already caught the virus, be sure to give them medicine immediately. Codral cold and flu capsules or tablets are perfect for adults and children 12 years old and above.

Tip 6: Avoid sharing cups and utensils – you should prevent your kids from sharing cups and other utensils even with family members. Colds can easily spread through shared cups, towels, and other things so it is best to be safe and use their own set of things.

Tip 7: Cover mouth and nose – instruct them to cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze or cough. This is both to prevent spreading and acquiring the virus.

Tip 8: Avoid crowded places – during the cold and flu season, it is advisable to stay away from crowded places like public playgrounds, malls, and parks where viruses and bacteria are rampant.

Tip 9: Eat healthy – you should also make sure to prepare healthy meals for your kids so they get enough nutrients to strengthen their immune system. Avoid junk foods and fast food meals.

Tip 10: Rest – lastly, you should make sure the kids get enough sleep and rest to keep their bodies strong and healthy so they don’t get sick or infected easily.

Protect your kids from symptoms of cold and flu. Follow the tips discussed in this article so you can feel at ease knowing that your kids are protected. Also, be sure to take care of your own health so you do not catch cold and flu virus and infect anyone in your household especially your children.

Pocket money, Making it Work for Your Family.

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Pocket money is a great way to reward your children, teach them about the value of money and can give them a sense of pride in their possessions when they’ve bought something with their own money. Problems can arise with pocket money however, such as how much do you give? How often? And when to increase it or take it away. Having been through this with my 3 I want to give you a few tips on how best to manage pocket money.

Set Out the Ground Rules

  

When you first start giving pocket money to the kids it is important that you sit down with them and lay out some rules about how it will work. Firstly, I wanted to remind my kids that this is not free money just because you’re my child, the money must be earned, chores, good behaviour, good grades, a kind act, whatever it is that you want to see from your child, let them know that as long as you see it, the money will be there. Let your kids know that you will also refuse to give them pocket money if you see bad behaviour or an unwillingness to pay attention to the rules that you have set out. Even more important is that once you’ve established the rules, you must enforce them, this way your child will fully understand what they have to do to get the money and teaches them that hard work has its rewards.

Another important part of setting out the rules is giving your child guidelines on what the money is to be spent on. Now, there is no need to be draconian with this but remember that the purpose of pocket money is not only a reward but a way to educate your child in learning the value of money. With this being said I always felt it was important that my children didn’t waste their money. What I did with my 3 was ask them to tell me what they were going to buy with it before they spent it, I very rarely told them that they couldn’t buy what they told me but I would always have a conversation with them about it. Doing this just gives your child the opportunity to think again about their purchase and means that they are less likely to make rash purchases.

When to Increase

  

If you are like me and have more than one child then it is important that the pocket money situation remains fair between, in my case, between all 3 children. I began giving them money at the same ages and increased pocket money at the same ages as well. My 13 year old would hit the roof if he thought he was only receiving the same as my 11 year old. Keep it fair and you won’t have any worries. Something that also worked better than I imagined was my savings bonus scheme. I told all of my children that for every penny or pound that they had saved by the end of the month, that I would match it for them. I honestly didn’t think any of them would really save much but for them it became a sort of game, they would battle it out for who could save the most. I strongly believe that this will help them in the future in saving money when they begin to earn.
I know some parents who don’t like to give pocket money and prefer to just buy things for their children when they have been well behaved. I don’t disagree with this strategy but for me I think that pocket money not only rewards your child but truly teaches them the value of money and how to manage their money for the future.

Educational Video Games/Consoles Which Include The Whole Family

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Unlike when I was growing up and us kids made our own fun and games, today’s children and the fun they have is centred around technology. Most children have a console of some sort or a tablet or a phone, or all of the above and it can be a tough thing to manage for a parent. With my 3 I’ve given the usual time limits on consoles so that my kids aren’t stuck to it, I also use tech-time as a reward as opposed to a given and as many games that they play are online, I restrict their wi-fi time as well.

Now, until a couple of years ago, it was my understanding that these games were just frivolous activities for my kids to wile away the hours either playing football or shooting bad guys. I have however, since realised that there is a whole host of video games that are fun, educational and can include the whole family and now we try at least once or twice a week to have a family hour or 2 on one of our favourite games.

If you are worried about the amount of time your child spends on their console then try out one of these games and you’ll be able to not only get some much needed family time, but educate your children at the same time.

Scribblenauts

  

This game features a character called Maxwell, it is your job to guide him through a series of levels. Each of these levels is a puzzle, you may have to take him across crocodile infested waters or over uncertain terrain. The key to this game is that it is up to you and your children to use your imagination to help Maxwell out. You aren’t given options for how to help him, what you do is write down the thing that you think will help him so if you were to write stegosaurus then it would appear and you would try to complete the level, perhaps he needs a ladder, type it in and it appears. This is such fun to do with kids as their imagination can really run wild whilst at the same time teaching them problem solving.

Professor Layton

The Professor Layton series has been a favourite in our family for years now, the game centres around the professor and you must help him solve puzzles and challenges. The challenges come  in the form of maths, science, nature, space and they are not only educational but they are genuinely fun for the kids. Half the time I don’t think that the kids realise how much they are learning because they’re having so much fun. You meet plenty of interesting characters along the way who present various puzzles and challenges and the storyline that runs through the game really keeps the kids’ concentration. Only available on Nintendo but if you have one then definitely pick this gem up.

Big Brain Academy

  

I find this one better with my 2 eldest than the younger one but we all have fun playing this, us parents included. The game is similar to Professor Layton with it’s challenges but this game splits the areas of learning into 5 categories, think, memorise, compute, analyse and identify. There isn’t as much emphasis on silly characters in this game but the idea is to make your brain heavier through practice. The challenges are fun enough to entertain the kids and the real challenge comes when you take the big test and find out how much your brain weighs. We set up a little chart and wrote down who had the heaviest brain, then each time we played we we would all try and beat our previous score. The kids all bought into the competition and practiced relentlessly to try and win. All the time they were improving their knowledge and having fun too. A great game for everyone but I will offer a word of warning, us parents aren’t always as smart as we thought we were, be careful, your kids may cause you some embarrassment!

Winter Fashion Tips For Your Toddlers

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Winter can be a tricky time to clothe your toddlers and through the years I’ve managed to learn from the many, many mistakes that I’ve made. Whether it is snow, rain or freezing temperatures that you are contending with, there are pitfalls all over the place when it comes to your delicate and excitable child. Soaking clothes, cold feet, runny noses and crying children due to the cold, I’ve had it all so here are a couple of tips to keep the kids warm, dry and still looking good.

Boots With a Drawstring

  

Wellies and insulated boots are perfect for this time of year but the only downside I’ve experience is the boots coming off, resulting in wet feet and wet stuff getting in. My advice would to be buy boots with a drawstring at the top, not only will it keep them from coming off during play, it will stop water and snow getting in and it also keeps their feet warmer by insulating them. Most clothes shops offer these style boots in some cool designs and for me they are a must.

A 2-Layered Coat

It may be cold when they go outside, but after running about for an hour your toddlers temperature will rise. Inevitably they want to discard their coat. Buying a 2 layered coat means that they can take off the top layer and still be protected. These coats are also great if the weather is cold but not freezing, simply remove the inner layer and let them go out with the top layer on. Problem solved. It does however give them more things to lose but it’s a chance worth taking.

Give Them a Choice

  
Involving your kids in the decision making process for winter clothes, especially scarves and gloves, will be fun and hopefully give them a little more pride in what they wear. Now, I don’t suggest giving them carte blanche over the process but a good idea is to pick 3 or 4 designs out and let them decide between them. Fashionably speaking, scarves, hats and gloves look really cool on toddlers and can really help their outfit too whilst being very, very functional.

Gloves That Attach

I can’t even begin to count the amount of pairs of gloves that have ‘disappeared’ mysteriously over the years and so gloves that are attached are vital. You can buy gloves that either attach with a cord to each other, running around the back of your child. Alternatively, and my preference, is to try and pick a coat that has gloves attached at the bottom of the sleeves. This way, when they take their gloves off, they are still with them and are convenient to put back on again. The only worry then is that they don’t lose their coat…

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We left our home in Sydney, Australia many moons ago in May 2012 and, other than a brief stint back in Perth for Christmas and a wedding in early 2014, we have been travelling the world nomadically ever since, running a business from our laptops and we’re here to show you how to do it!