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Summer Math and Travel With Tweens
This summer I am trying my hardest to trick my brain into forgetting summer math. June plus July plus August equals my three favourite months. Summer is fleeting, especially in Canada. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it-kind-of-season. Time flies, but summer time well that’s like a Concord whipping by at breakneck speed. how many more weeks do we get to enjoy this beautiful weather? How much more time off school? How many more summers with my kids at home? Only 6 more years and one will be in college or university. That’s tween Mom math. Summer math. In my experience, the only way to put an end to that kind of crazy math…
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Helping Your Daughter Prepare for her Period
If you are the parent of a daughter over the age of 9 then you need to be having some period conversations regularly so she knows what to expect. Now there’s a product that can help facilitate the talk, and prepare your daughter for menstruation. If you are the parent of a tween girl, chances are good you know this familiar scene. One minute she’s the sweet little girl you know and love and the next minute she’s consumed by mood swings, dramatic shrieks and slamming doors. It’s enough to make your head spin. I’ve come to view these tempestuous mood swings as nature’s warning signs on the path of growing…
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The Day Facebook Ate My Tween – Facebook Lies
This is a story about Facebook lies, the story of the day that Facebook ate my tween. Or the day I discovered she’d set up Facebook without listening to the rules. Facebook is 13 in this house, as per Facebook rules. I don’t take social media lightly and want my children to understand it is a serious privilege and responsibility. There are rules to all social media use and tweens are often too young to understand some of the hazards involved. This is the story of the day Facebook ate my child. Or Facebook lies your daughter tried to tell you when she didn’t want to get caught going against…
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How I Started and Continue the Period Talk With My Daughter
How we tackle tough topics in my family is something I often talk about here. Period talk is no different. It’s just part of being a parent. Periods are as natural as showering, eating and sleeping here. So why shy away from period talk? Starting and continuing the period conversation is an important part of parenting and a vital part of development for young girls too. This post is part of the YummyMummyClub.ca and Always Tampax sponsored program. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This post reflects my personal opinion about the information provided by the sponsors. Do you remember the book Are you There…
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When is it Okay to Start Wearing Makeup?
Mom, when can I wear makeup? My oldest daughter started asking about wearing makeup when she was ten. In my head I call her my breadcrumb daughter. She always leaves me little clues as to what she has been up to, almost as if she wants to be caught when she does something out of character or defiant. And around that time, my tubes of mascara went missing. Without much detective work, I could quietly find them in her desk drawer, or in her backpack. I mostly chalked that one up to curiosity. But the questions started then – at ten years old. When do I get to wear makeup?…
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American Girl’s First Ever Blogger Event #BittyBaby
The years are brief, in which girls play with dolls. Blink your eyes and they are almost done. Even shorter, if you have a sporty girl who had no interest in anything girly until very recently. So colour me happy and a wee bit shocked too when this one – who has been christened sporty spice, bug, two foot tornado and Hurricane Ainsley at various points in her short nine years – decided she was a doll girl. She is prone to these whiplash about turn moments now as a young almost tween. So, when I was invited to an American Girl event this year I was thrilled to take…
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Five Fast Wake Up Ideas for Tweens #YOP #BTS and a Coupon
They sure are sweet when they are sleeping. But try to get them to wake up and watch the fun! I am taking tweens and teens of course. And they rarely jump for joy when the alarm goes off. But here are a few ways I help wake up my tween and teen. Oh, we all joke that when they are sleeping they are angels, right? But, wake up time? Well, that’s a whole other ball game. My youngest daughter has always been the kind that springs out of bed bouncing with so much energy I wish I could market that. But my oldest girl, well let’s just say that…
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Navigating Adoption and the Tween Years
Just 11 short years ago, my oldest daughter could be picked up and carried around. Sigh. Now she’s a tween. Let me just say the tween years are clearly preparation for the teen years ahead. But adoption and the tween years, well that’s just a special planet in the parenting journey. And me with Payton last summer at a Dove event. My kids are all sorts of awesome. Except when they are not. Sound familiar? I’m not complaining, because I love them, all the time, even when they are not particularly loving. Anyways I slept very poorly last night which is unusual because I am always exhausted when I finally…
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This is Who She Will Be #tweens
I am always proud of my kids. Every day from the second they joined our home, their tiny hearts beating in sync with mine. I love them beyond measure, like many Moms the world over, and yet, sometimes parenting is dull. It is magical – ephemeral – a little unbelievable – and then it is exhausting. Draining. Bone weary hard work. The older they get, the further and faster they speed away from you. Daily. You can see it when they wake up and walk down to make their own cereal. And it is good and welcome and even a positive force most days and then, comes a day when…
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Saving Money at the Dentist with DentalPlans
No secret that dentistry, planned or unplanned, can leave the average person out of pocket for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars. If you don’t have insurance, what’s a family to do? Luckily DentalPlans has some answers to your dental needs. With plans that start at $79.95 a year, you can help your family save. I am all about the savings here, so this is one service that caught my eye. Plans start at the low price of $79.95 for single patients and $129.95 for families. That’s a good deal less than many dental insurance plans. As a mom of two girls who have both needed costly dental work this…