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In today’s edition of the Daily Mail UK there is an article that has me laughing. It’s titled You thought work was bad? Spouses cause ‘more stress than our bosses’.  After spending lots of money and time, researchers have learned what married people have known forever, having a spouse is stressful. Seriously, who does these studies? Obviously people who are not married. I love my husband but let’s face it, living with someone day in and day out, keeping a house together, raising kids, dealing with inlaws (did I actually write that)… it’s the type of stress you can’t leave at the office.

I’m lucky because even with all of that, there are way more good points than bad

What do you think?  Which one stresses you out more?

Today my friend and I sat down and planned activities for every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer. We did this last year too and really enjoyed having a schedule (she’s a teacher so she’s all about the schedule!) This year we’ll be meeting up with our mom friends and their little ones at the local zoo, a beach, the firehall, a wading pool, for bowling and for LOTS of nature walks. One of the activities I am most looking forward to is having the kids decorate their bikes and then go riding in their own parade. We’re lucky to have a great park with a paved trail that runs through it. If you have a neighborhood with a good spot to ride this could be a fun activity to get everyone on your street involved in. With Canada Day and Independence Day both coming up this week this would be a great addition to your holiday celebrations.

Our plan is to have all of the supplies out and give the kids half an hour to do the decorating. The supplies we’ll be using are:

• Paper triangles and poles so they can make their own flags
• Cardboard rectangles with holes that they can turn in to license plates
• Foam stickers (letters are fun so they can personalize their bikes or helmets with their names)
• Streamers and garland
• Playing cards with clothespins (to create an engine sound)
• Large artificial flowers
• Tinfoil (because you can create so many neat things with tinfoil)
• Small balloons
• Chenille straws (growing up we always called them pipe cleaners)

For some other ideas, I found these fun suggestions for bike decorations:

• Handle bar bling
• Instant engine (more advanced than the playing card and clothespin)
• Spirited bike spinner
• Personalized number plates

All of these items are available at the dollar store so it won’t be expensive.  If you’re going to do this don’t forget several rolls of tape (masking tape works best), kid friendly scissors and twist ties or zip ties to attach flags, license plates and tinfoil creations.

At then end of the parade route we will be putting up bunches of balloons so they know when it’s time to turn around.

This is a great summer time activity whether you’re entertaining just your own kids, or including their friends.

Hope you have fun with it!

My son is starting Junior Kindergarten in September so I am becoming very familiar with the school system. I live in Canada so I don’t know if you are having the same issue in other parts of the world, but something that is REALLY bothering me is the emphasis on learning and testing. Yes, yes I know school is all about learning.  I get that. But when I was in school we didn’t start learning how to read until grade 1. Now they want kids to start in Junior Kindergarten (when they are 4!!!) and they give them homework (WHEN THEY ARE 4!!!). I’m sorry, but this just seems to be getting out of hand. How smart do we need our kids to be? I would never proclaim to be a genius, but I graduated with a business degree from a prestigous business school and have managed a successful career for the last 10 years.

And I *gasp* did not learn to read until grade 1.

How much smarter than me do I really expect my kids to be?  Are all kids today expected to be NASA rocket scientists?

One thing I do know though is that my good friend who is a resource teacher has told me many times about the alarming rise in stress among children.  I am sorry but a 4 year old should not have anything to be stressed about.  If it is coming to that we are going too far.

Am I missing something?

Friday marked the end of nursery school for my kids and although at 2 1/2 and 4 they don’t yet whine “mommy I’m bored”, I want to make sure I have lots of activities to keep them busy this summer.

So I’m adding a new feature to Parents Only Zone. Every Sunday during the summer I’ll post a new activity we’ll be trying that week.

The first activity has me so excited. My new friend Janet who has an awesome parenting blog at JanetLansbury.com made this suggestion that I LOVE:

I knew my kids would have a great time with this idea so I got more details from Janet and drew up a set of cards for our scavenger hunt. You can get creative and draw your own or download and print these ones.

One word of warning from Janet, be prepared that their “something that smells bad” may be a little piece of dog poop!  Oh well, at least they’re having fun.

Be sure to visit Janet’s parenting resource blog for informative articles on how to elevate your children.

Thanks so much Janet for a great idea and for being the inspiration behind this post.

The other day I got together with my cousin who I haven’t seen in a couple of months.  Right away she commented that I was looking thinner (yay!) but that my butt was looking flatter (boo!). As you may have read in my previous post In Pursuit of a Flat Belly I am following the Prevention Magazine’s Flat Belly Diet.  As the name suggests it doesn’t really focus much on the butt.   But they didn’t tell me my butt would disappear. This is not what I signed up for.

So I went in search of a great “butt building” routine to get my derriere looking shapely again.  After trying a couple the one I like best is 10-Minute Routine: Butt Toning Exercises from Kaboose.com.  Since it only takes 10 minutes I should be able to squeeze it in to my hectic schedule.

Don’t worry, there will not be any before and after pictures posted.  No one wants to see that.

I love picnics, and since having kids I find every summer we seem to picnic more and more.  The kids love eating finger foods outside and I love not having a huge mess to clean up at home!

With the warm weather here I’ve been thinking of ways to make picnics even better.  Today’s list is of great ideas to make having a picnic easy, fun and safe.

1.   This is such a cute and clever idea, turn a six pack container into a convenient condiment holder for summer picnics.
2.  This is a great project to waterproof your picnic blanket.  Now, you can enjoy your picnic (even if it rained the night before) and not worry about getting your bottom wet.
3.  Add a little bit of extra fun and whimsy to your picnic by customizing the picnic plates.  This website offers templates for a beach themed picnic, but the possibilities are endless.  Personally, I like the idea of a teddy bear picnic.
4.  Sometimes food can get squished when you are trying to fit all your goodies into the picnic basket.  That’s why I love this pressed picnic sandwich, which actually tastes better when it is pressed.
5.  With the beautiful summer weather, it is nice to be able to spend more time outdoors.  But it can be difficult to indulge in a spontaneous picnic if you are not prepared.  Here is a list of all the non-food essentials that you can have ready to go in your picnic container of choice.
6.  Picnics are fun, getting sick afterwards isn’t.  Here is a great site to keep your picnic safe and sanitary.
7.  Space is usually a precious commodity in your picnic container.  Freeze some of your picnic drinks so they can also keep your food cool.
8.  As much as I love ice cream, it is not the ideal picnic food.  Fruit cones are a great dessert alternative that be assembled at a picnic with all your favourite fruits.  Ideal for kids and adults.
9.  Eating outside means fresh air, sunshine and bugs!  Keep uninvited guests off your food with these simple and ingenious food guards.
10.  These adorable bird sandwiches would be great at any meal, but I think they are perfect for picnics.  Have fun with your food and create some edible animals.
11.  I think kids will eat anything as long as it is on a stick.  This cool idea for a sandwich on a stick is a great way to add some veggies (that your kids will actually eat) to your picnic.
12.  You may remember this from your own childhood; using twizzlers as drinking straws.  This classic idea is a great way to have fun and reduce waste at your picnic.

My oldest niece turned seven in May and constantly has us in stitches with the grown up things she says.

The other day my sister-in-law was telling me a story about how she was getting dressed to go out and my niece came in the room and insisted she try on one of her mom’s frilly bras.  When she had it on my sister-in-law thought it was so funny to see her parading around that she told her to go and show her dad.

“No way” was the immediate response.

My sister-in-law didn’t understand why she wouldn’t do her little fashion show for her dad.  When she asked her, my niece said very seriously, “would you want your father to see you in your bra?”

Good point.