Questionable Choices in Parenting

Laughing at life as a parent so they don't commit me

Get Ready for Preschool with Disney Junior

by

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBias

Get Ready For Preschool with Disney Junior #Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBias

Friends, I’m not doing so well. I’m preparing myself for an empty nest. OK, that’s a bit dramatic. I’m not really going to have an empty nest, but I’m going to have two kids in preschool this fall. So while they aren’t really flying the nest, it feels like an empty nest to me.  With my son headed off for five day Pre-K and my daughter two days for preschool, I’ll miss them like crazy, but I’ve been assured I’ll find plenty to do while they’re at school (the piles of laundry that have overtaken our house, perhaps). But to be honest with you, I’m a bit nervous and I’ve started to panic a bit with the idea of my daughter heading off to preschool. Is she ready? Does she know all of  her colors? What about her shapes? Oh no, does she even know her letters? Yikes! You know, the whole second kid thing where we just hope they learn from osmosis from the first kid? So when I came across the Disney Junior preschool learning activities at Walmart’s Back to School aisle, I knew I could make sure my gal was up on her preschool basics with a little help from her Disney Junior favorites.

This week we’ve been at the beach with my family and I brought the Disney Junior Preschool Learning Activities along. I used some of our down time to try out the Learning Schoolhouse Activity with my gal and my niece, who is also making the leap into preschool in the fall.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBiasThey loved playing school and they got LOTS and LOTS of practice sharing while taking turns putting up the magnets and using the dry erase markers. Sharing, now I know that’s a skill she needs at preschool.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBiasFrom telling time, letter recognition, and site words, we were able to create little learning centers for the girls to try and then move on to the next activity.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBias

The smaller learning activity packs were actually perfect for travel because they come in a resealable bag. These are definitely going into our car for long commutes. Since you can write and wipe off your answers, both kids will get a lot of use out of these activity packs

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBiasAnd my heart almost exploded when my daughter started working on her letters. Big sigh of relief, she does know her ABCs! See, I’ve been doing something right!

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBiasSince my son is a typical boy, he likes to be on the go ALL THE TIME. Getting him to sit still long enough to write his letters is torture for him. So we’ve learned to be creative, and I was thrilled to see he really liked the First Words Learning Activity packet. He picked out site words and copied the letters with dry erase markers, and I liked how everything could go right back into the packet until we were ready to play with it again.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBiasWe found our Disney Junior learning activities in the Back to School aisle at Walmart.  Not only do they feature some of our Disney Junior favorites like Jake, Sofia, Mickey and Doc, some of the learning activities were under $5! Mamma really likes that!

In store photo #Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBias Here are the Disney Junior learning activities you’ll find at Walmart:

  • Learning Schoolhouse Activity
  • Counting Learning Activity
  • First Words Learning Activity
  • Rhyming Learning Activity
  • Alphabet Learning Activity
  • Numbers Learning Activity
  • Colors & Shapes Learning Activity

Preschool  ready? Well, my kids are, but I’m a different story!

Crime and Punishment: Please Don’t Take the iPad Away

by

If the bags under my eyes weren’t a clear indicator of my need for more sleep, the kitchen full of empty Diet Coke cans and coffee that has been reheated in the microwave one too many times should tell you that this Mamma is TIRED!

c and d

Because Hubby works late and usually misses out on the torture joy that is bath and bedtime, I devised an evil plan that allows me to get a few more zzzzzzzs, him some quality time with the kids, and a little payback for “oh, the metro broke down again” —he has to get up in the morning with the kids. (Insert evil laugh here).

The other morning I couldn’t be sure if I was dreaming, no, no, no having a nightmare, or if Hubby was actually trying to ruin my life. Monkey must have been throwing a temper tantrum over who knows what (again, I wasn’t on duty and don’t really care about the specifics), but I distinctly heard Hubby say “That’s enough, you have lost the iPad for the rest of the day.” Why would he say such a thing? My sweet slumber was immediately ruined! I jumped out of bed and raced down the stairs trying to stop him from making a terrible mistake.

I get that parents need to be on the same page with discipline and you can’t undermine the other parent when they are laying down the law, but I had to stop this nonsense because if Monkey was banned from the iPad for the day, it was ME that was being punished.

ipad

I am not ashamed to say that I use the iPad and iPhones in this house to entertain, bribe, and calm wild beasts. Without them my Mommy Bag ‘O Tricks would be pretty shallow.

Now that he doesn’t nap and I need to get work done in this house, Monkey happily skips off with the iPad while Mommy gets the first shower of the week without an audience, maybe I tackle the laundry pile that has engulfed half of the house, or maybe I just sit on my arse drink a Diet Coke and watch Dr. Phil. Either way, he is happy, maybe learning something, maybe not, and I am happy.  The iPad even forces the kids to share. It’s a magical little unicorn and I REFUSE to give it up!

Sharing

If we need to run to the grocery store and someone is tempted the throw themselves into the shelves of cereal, don’t fear! Quickly toss them the phone and let them play the Bubble Guppies game.

At the doctor’s office for more than five minutes with a toddler that is ready to make it “rain up in there” with tongue depressors? No worries, we’ve got an app for that. Actually we have dozens of apps for that, and right now the Disney Junior app is on and she can watch Little Einsteins. Boom! She is happy and the tongue depressors are safe.

Trying to cook dinner but have two kids pushing you, standing on your feet, and requesting the 100th cheesestick of the day? Take the iPad and beat it, kids. Now they are blissfully happy while you chop, saute, and bake a yummy dinner they probably won’t eat, but hey, you tried.

It’s like Steve Jobs saw the frazzled Mom and worked feverishly with the Apple geniuses to create something so wonderful, so mind consuming, and so addictive that he should have been given a Nobel Peace Prize.

When I see an articles written about kids too connected to technology and we are creating mini zombies when they have too much iPad/iPhone time, I just have to say shut up, seriously. While pregnant I never drank, smoke, or did Crystal Meth (well to be honest, I never did Crystal Meth). I nursed both kids long enough to watch the slow demise of my perky breasts, and I engage them with all sorts of educational and meaningful activities every day. I will not apologize for their overuse of the iPad and I if you need an excuse, I am sure we have an app for that.

.