Parenting Toddlers

I was reading the news today, and everything was about rising gas prices and food prices and heating oil prices and everything prices. It makes me anxious, especiallly having a child and one on the way. I’m sure there are a lot of people in the same position. The good thing about kids, though, is that you can do a great job raising them no matter what your money situation is like.

When I was pregnant with Peanut, I was kind of sad that I couldn’t afford to get all the things that I had pictured for her nursery - and in the apartment we lived in then, she wouldn’t have her own room anyway. Then I realized how ridiculous I was. Babies don’t care how their rooms are decorated. They don’t care if they sleep in their parents’ room (which she did even when we moved to a larger apartment and had her own room). They don’t care if their crib sheets match the curtains. All of those things are about the adults anyway. A baby needs love, food, and safety. Period. That’s it.

When babies grow up, their needs change of course. They need more. They need toys that will stimulate them, they need more books, they need art supplies. I grew up with five siblings and our mom was a teacher. We never had a lot of money, but we had things we needed. The rest we either made or pretended we had. We made kites out of plastic store bags and footballs out of milk jugs. I definately think we’re all creative because of this!

You may not be in that extreme a situation, but does your child need every new toy that comes along? Do her toys need to be expensive? My daughter loves these little puppies that come in the machines in front of stores. For fifty cents, she gets a toy and is thrilled. Plus, she has quite a collection for only a few bucks. I bought my daughter a little computer for Christmas, but that’s not the only way your child will learn. Books, which are so easy to find free or cheap, are awesome learning tools. Listening to the radio, talking about what you see at the store or the post office, going to the park, taking a walk…these are all free and things your children will enjoy. Where we live, we have to travel quite a ways to get anywhere. If we want to get dish soap and laundry detergent, it’s like a day trip. I’ve been feeling bad that there isn’t a zoo around to take Peanut to - the nearest one is literally in a different country. But, you know, she’d have just as much fun if I took her to a farm to see cows, horses, and sheep. We have expectations of how we want our children’s childhoods to be, but our kids will grow up strong and healthy and happy if we just spend time with them.

As parents of toddlers, we’re lucky. Our kids still want to spend time with us. That’s really what they need. They will not love you more if you buy them more. Definately not. To tell you the truth, I haven’t bought Peanut more than a few presents for big things like Christmas and birthdays. First, because she gets a lot from her relatives. Second, because she gets overwhelmed with a lot of stuff thrown at her at once. Third, she’ll open her presents and then go back to playing with her old, third-hand stuffed dog that she’s had since she was a few months old. And honestly, it is much better for us to use our money to save, pay bills, buy essentials, than it is to buy her new, expensive toys that she’ll use once or twice.

Plus, there are a lot of toys that are cheap and not so flashy. Crayons, paper, play dough, paint - all of these are affordable and let your child be creative. They’re fun too. Peanut was excited for spring so she could play in the mud puddles…they don’t expect expensive things.

I apologize if this is stuff you already do or know, but seeing the price of everything go up makes me think that raising children is getting harder and harder to do. One thing that you can stress less about, though, is their quality of life and their love for you. That doesn’t have a monetary value, and you can raise the best kid with very little money.

A few years ago my husband was begging me to get a game for our son. It was a little thing called Whac-A-Mole. I used to LOVE the real whac-a-mole at the fair, and it was impossible for me to see how they would be able to make a good version for a child that fit into a box.

This Whac-A-Mole is a bit different than the carnival style. It doesn’t pop all the way back in the hole (which still kinda bugs me). It is, however, the PERFECT game to play with a toddler. You pick a color mole, and whenever the light flashes on that mole, you whack it. The first to get to 100 points wins! The moles make funny sounds, and there are quite a few variations. If, for instance, your mole makes the “woo hoo” sound, it will make that sound the entire round. The next round, however, it may make the “woof woof” sound.

I’ve only seen one toddler who didn’t have the patience for this, which made me appreciate it all the more. She was one of those “run around and never stop moving” types of kids, and I think that our son may have been that way if we wouldn’t have made it a point to sit down with him every once in awhile and play games like this. Whac-A-Mole teaches patience, recognition, and even helps with reaction timing. Best of all? It’s under $20!! If you’re looking for a great game to play with the whole family, check out Whac-A-Mole!

It is very early as I write this. Connor had a rough night, and about 5:00 this morning he decided that bed was simply no longer an option. While he was visiting family yesterday he spent quite a bit of time outside, and he picked up a stellar collection of bug bites. (Stellar as in “I think we could draw lines between them to form Orion and his belt,” not stellar as in “great.”) We gave him children’s Benadryl and applied calamine lotion, but he woke up every three hours as the Benadryl wore off. This morning is not kind to us, folks.

As an exhausted-mom cop out, I’m just going to give y’all a collection of links this morning. Eventually, some of these may make it to the blogroll or the links sidebar, but for now they’ll have to do as an entry. Let’s just pretend I wrote something insightful around the links, okay?

Like most of you, I enjoy reading mommyblogs. This is actually a holdover from long before I had a kid; I just like reading about children and parents. I’m pretty sure the entire internet knows about Dooce and Mighty Girl, but do y’all know about Mimi Smartypants? All three of these women are pretty hilarious, and thankfully, all three of them find the time to update regularly and the brainpower to do so with style.

Here’s a little something for those of you who have trouble with meals: Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan. Some — okay, most — of the information in the article will be pretty familiar. (Prepare meals ahead of time! Learn to make a few quick and easy staple meals!) Still, it’s never a bad idea to reiterate this stuff. This link may require you to register with the New York Times.

If you find that article interesting, try hitting up Living Behind the Curve and check out their SRSLY plan. It’s a nice take on pre-prepared meals, and all it requires is that you own a CrockPot. Actually, it doesn’t really even require that — if you don’t own a slow-cooker, a nifty trick is to throw your CrockPot meal into a stockpot and pop it in the oven at 200 while you get on with life.

My, that was food-centric, wasn’t it? As a silly subject change, Baby Gift UK offers exactly what the title implies — baby gifts for you Brits. (It also has offerings for new parents.) The site’s got a nice variety of items for sale, although they seem to be a bit pricey. These are for when you really want to impress someone or you really want to give something nice. Don’t waste them on your snotty sister-in-law!

Mighty Goods offers a smaller version of the same thing for those of you in the US. Smaller… but much more funny. This site is run by Maggie of Mighty Girl, so using it makes you win twice.

All right, kids. I’m checking out. I’ll be back tomorrow with something insightful, witty, and heartwarming.