Category Archives: Parenting- Littles

Stand Up Straight

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Certain women seem to embody the term of a “lady” perfectly…

Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy come to mind but there are many out there.

So I began thinking,

what makes these woman seem

more elegant and more lady-like?

One of the first things that popped into my mind was their statue, their posture. Yikes! This is an area I struggle with (I like to blame a slight case of scoliosis) and I began to wonder how others perceive me. Could my posture be sending un-ladylike vibes?

I decided this week, I’m going to work on my posture and I encourage you to notice yours as well.

Posture refers to the body’s natural alignment. Good posture means we are distributing our weight evenly and properly so that no one area is overwhelmed. Bad posture can lead to the obvious neck and back aches and headaches. I’ve also learned that poor posture can lead to problems with digestion, breathing, and issues with your muscles, joints and ligaments. And I was just worried that it looked bad…how vain am I?!

Ok, so my posture sucks and now I know it can lead to major trouble down the road. Here are a few strategies I’ve rounded up that I plan on implementing now.

Sitting~

  1. Align your back with the back of the chair.
  2. Avoid slouching or leaning forward.
  3. Make sure your neck, back, and heels are all aligned.
  4. Keep both feet flat on the floor (this is going to be very difficult for me!)

Standing~

  1. Stand with weight mostly on the balls of the feet, not with weight on the heels. Avoid locking your knees.
  2. Keep feet slightly apart, about shoulder-width.
  3. Let arms hang naturally down the sides of the body. (My arms are constantly crossed so we’ll see how this goes)
  4. Tuck the chin in a little to keep the head level. Stand straight and tall, with shoulders upright.

While sleeping~ (B says I have the absolute worst sleeping habits; I often find myself in the fetal position)

  1. Sleep on your back to help straighten your shoulders
  2. Put a rolled-up towel under the neck and a pillow under the knees to better support the spine.
  3. If  you must sleep on your the side, place a pillow between the legs to help keep the spine aligned and straight.

Strengthen Your Core

1. Stretch your back muscles.  (I found some great stretches here that I’m going to add to my morning routine)

2. Exercise. (I’m pretty good about remembering my back when working out but I think I need to revisit yoga, which I LOVE, not sure why I haven’t been going, and maybe try a Pilates class, which everyone raves about.

So that’s what I’m going to be working on this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a few changes now that will keep me healthy and feeling good way into the future.

And for my fellow moms out there, add one more thing to your list of things to nag your kids about. They’ll thank you one day!

Have a fabulous weekend and make every moment count,

Tanya

Plan a Trip With Your Children to Somplace You’ve Never Been

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I didn’t get to experience family vacations as a child. Money was tight and, understandably, traveling didn’t rank as high on the priority list as making sure the bills were paid. I’m not quite sure where I got the travel bug from but, for me, there’s nothing better than traveling to an unfamiliar place and experiencing new sights. I made this a priority and planned for it, using my yearly income tax return to pay for a family vacation. You can’t put a price on memories and experiences and I feel that money spent in this area is money well spent.

“5-4-3-2-1…New York, Here We Come!” I can still hear my oldest, then five years old, shout as we made our way through the mid-town tunnel. Our first trip was to New York. We left the little one at home because she was just a few months old. To this day, this remains the best trip I’ve ever taken. Seeing New York City for the first time and sharing that experience with my daughter, so young and curious about the world around her, has now become a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my days. Over the next few years we took a cruise, rented a beach house in Ft. Myers, and went skiing in Vermont (my first time seeing snow and getting on skis was another amazing experience I got to share with the girls), and took quite a few trips to Disney. Nowadays we are blessed to be in a situation where we do a whole lot of traveling sometimes more than we’d like. Even so, throughout the past year I felt I was missing out on that special bonding and excitement that the girls and I had shared so I decided to plan a weekend girls trip to Washington, D.C.

When planning a trip to an area I’ve never been, I make sure to do my homework. First and foremost, I ask my friends for advice on visiting the area and jot down their recommendations. I then check tripadvisor.com and look for travel blogs about the city that I’m visiting. I then take my list and think about my children. What will keep them engaged? What will be meaningful and what will they enjoy?

For this trip to D.C, I decided upon the Monuments by Moonlight tour which was amazing and served as a great way to see the monuments and memorials without a whole lot of walking. With so many museums to choose from, I had to really do my research and narrow it down to three that would be interesting for all and unique to Washington. I chose the American History Museum (The Spark Lab keep them busy for an hour+), the Holocaust Museum (the children’s exhibit only), and the Spy Museum (so, so cool!) We walked the streets of Georgetown and grabbed dinner and cupcakes (Sprinkles, not D.C Cupcakes~ the line was ri-dic-u-lous!) to enjoy later in our hotel room.

We were just there for the weekend and although I could have fit more in, I make it a point to leave a little down time on our trips. Day-to-day, the girls don’t spend a ton of time together and on these trips they just have each other. One of the highlights for me was when my younger one decided to take a bath in the “sick” tub (as in uber cool) and my older one went in to help her wash her hair. Hearing them talk about their life plans and their bucket lists at ages 12 and 7 put a smile on my lips as wide as the Potomac River.

Stop procrastinating and plan the trip you’ve always wanted to take with your children. Each stage passes with the blink of an eye so now is the time. If finances won’t allow for something this year, begin planning for next year. Enjoy the process~ the anticipation is to be cherished and appreciated as well!

Start a “Home Learning” Project With Your Kids This Summer

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So far this blog as been a little bit of everything that makes up my crazy life but it’s real objective is to motivate myself and possibly inspire others. Each summer I have the idea to start a Home Learning project with the girls but can’t seem to follow through. I’m making a commitment now, for the world to see! Read about our first project below.

It’s time to break out the colored pencils and watercolors! One of the things that saddens me about the state of education these days is the lack of time available to teach some of really interesting and important things such as history and art. To help close the gap in my daughters’ education as well as expand my own, I’ve decided to begin what I’m calling our “Home Learning” projects.

First up, Art!

I decided we would begin in the renaissance period, studying Michelangelo and Da Vinci. For the Michelangelo portion of the project, I had both girls work together on a PowerPoint presentation. My older one found the information and the younger one chose the pictures. My older one scoffed at first but quickly got into it and was very eager to share the completed project. To introduce Da Vinci, I found a cartoon video on youtube. We watched it together and then googled his most famous works of art.

Now mind you, the girls wouldn’t be happy about doing this if there wasn’t real art involved. After checking out the Crayola website, I found a really cool project that manages to encompass both artists. I also wanted to have the girls try sculpting because both artists did that as well. I made a trip to the art supply store and stocked up on clay, new colored pencils, small canvases, Crayola Texture It!, and watercolors. The first day we all tried sculpting and the girls quickly grew frustrated and bored. That’s ok~ at least they gave it a go! Yesterday, we worked on the second project and although my older one lost interest fairly quickly, my seven year old and I spent two hours drawing and painting together. Quality time like that is priceless.

To “cement” what they’ve learned, I bought them both composition books and they’re summarizing what their newly acquired knowledge. Nothing intensive~ just a few sentences. I think music during the renaissance period will be up next, following our upcoming weekend trip to D.C. (government/politics).

xo,

Tanya