by Whitney
Nataly, the CEO and co-founder of Workitmom.com, an online community for working moms, sent me this one.
Oh, the big plans many of us make before having kids:
- I’m going to make my own baby food.
- I’m never letting my child sleep in a swing or drive her around in a car to make her stop crying.
- I’m never going to raise my voice at my child, let her watch TV so that I can get a break, or let her play with her food at the restaurant so I can finish my meal.
Right. Find us a mom who sticks to all her big plans and we’ll have to put her in a museum–you know it doesn’t happen. What happens is reality hits and we all realize that we will do a whole lot of things to maintain our sanity that we thought we’d never do.
So how about turning this into a fun activity by keeping a list of Things I Swore I’d Never Do as a Parent? Every time you do something that wasn’t part of your big pre-baby plans, give yourself kudos for being a real mom and write it down. Keep your list going as your baby gets older and if you’re really crafty, you can even add photos (say, of your ultra-happy baby eating fast food or sleeping in a swing?)
Be a good friend and share the fun with a few of your mom friends. Bring your list to your next get-together and encourage them to create their own. Then you can all share your real-mom moments and some laughs.
[Photo from rebellin.net]
by Heather
Your baby has now been on the outside longer than she was on the inside… so it’s time to celebrate!
Unless you’re currently knocked up, I suggest doing all those things you weren’t allowed to do (in good conscience) while pregnant, stuff like:
- Drink wine
- Eat soft cheese
- Luxuriate in a hot-tub
- Ride an ostrich or mechanical bull
- And go bungee jumping
These are just my own ideas… maybe you’re dying to burn a duraflame log or indulge in some other activity that has us wondering if it’s so bad for the pregnants, why do we do these things to ourselves at all… Have at it!
by Whitney
For those of you not in the business world, this expression, “Eat your own dogfood” means that you should be willing to use the product you’re selling. You know, like “I’m not just the President of the Hair Club for Men… I’m also a member.” Or in this case: Take your own advice.
Heather and I frequently call one another after work and say “What is there to do this afternoon?” What?! We, the authors of hundreds of activities, cannot ourselves think of something to do today? “We should eat our own dogfood,” Heather might say, meaning that we should check the posts on our very own web site for an idea we might not have tried recently.
Even though I know the Zoo is awesome, I’m often too lazy to pack up the diaper bag, or too fearful that traffic is going to stick me in a small space with a whining toddler for longer than I can handle. But I need to get over my fears, and get on with my dog-food-eating.
Do you find that you’re such a genius giving other people care, compassion, and good advice but not so good at taking it? Your challenge for today is to do an activity you may have found yourself recommending to someone else.
And if we haven’t thought of it ourselves… tell us about it using the comments!
by Whitney
If you are a new parent and don’t know about parenthacks.com, get on over there. It offers tons of suggestions from readers with kids of all ages.
My recent favorite post on parenthacks was “Pass secret messages on diapers.”
The parent/hacker wrote:
The other day after “school” I was surprised at changing time with a message on J’s diaper: “My Last Diaper!” — a message from one of her teachers that we needed to bring in another batch of diapers. The next day we sent her to school with her replacement diapers and with a response “Have a good day!” — we kept up the message passing day after day — “I [heart] Mommy and Daddy”, and an homage to Miss J’s winter coat: “I am the cutest purple marshmallow in the world.” Her Dad and I even carried it into the weekend and wrote short love notes to each other. [We do what we must to keep the spark alive. - Ed.]
I’m not sure about the more practical applications of this hack — use it to remind your spouse or caregiver of a medicine dose or doctor’s appointment, perhaps? — but I highly recommend it for plain, old, lighthearted fun.
Today’s naptime activity: write messages to your partner on four or five diapers, hide them, and use them througout the week to strategically deliver messages. In my house, Daddy usually does the first diaper of the morning and the last diaper of the evening, so it will have to be a pre-dinner diaper change. Since my son is really into touching his privates right now, I might write “Please take this off so I can access my penis”.
