The Mom Connection - How do you prepare for the Holidays with your children?






I am teaming up this week with Naptime Review and Two in Diapers for this exciting series about motherhood.


 We are always wondering how other moms handle certain issues or dilemmas,
so each week we are going to tackle the questions of motherhood.
Coming on December 8th, we will discuss:

Fun holiday projects to do with your kids.

If you have some thoughts or advice on next week's topic please email
We would love for you to be part of The Mom Connection!


Now on to this week's topic!
How do you prepare for the holidays with your children?
Here is what a few of us had to say:

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Welcome! I'm Julie over at Naptime Review. I am a mom of 2 wild, crazy and beautiful girls. My oldest turns 4 on Christmas Eve and my baby is 15 months old. This is how I prepare my children for the holidays:

This Christmas will be the best yet! My girls are at a fun age. I have a lot of memorable things planned for the month of December. I am really trying to instill the sense of tradition with my children. I want them to look forward to family events and special fun activities each holiday season. I also want to make sure they understand why we celebrate Christmas and to have giving hearts.

This year, I have prepared and organized 2 special advent events for my children. I have purchased the goodies for my Pottery Barn wall calendar and I have also organized the craft supplies for the daily ornaments. Each day my daughter and I are going to make an ornament and discuss the "true meaning" of Christmas. We are then going to hang it on her little tree. I can't wait to get started. Click here if you'd like to learn more about The Truth in Tinsel curriculum.

I have seen a lot of great advent resources out there on Pinterest and other blogs. Find what works best for your family and have fun!  My goal is to be organized and to start traditions that hopefully my girls will carry on.

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Hi! I'm Cassie
from Two In Diapers, and I'm a mommy to three sweet babies, ages 4, 3, and 18 months. This is how I prepare for the holidays with my children:

 
In my family growing up we had so many traditions and the holidays were such a special time for us! I really hope that carry that on with my little family!

My littles are just now reaching the age where Christmas is really exciting for them, so we're sort of newbies at this. We have definitely already established the tradition of getting our Christmas tree {real, of course!} the morning after Thanksgiving and decorating it that night or the the following night. Last year, we also packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child {our church contributes}, and I think we will try to do this, or something similar, every year.  

We definitely talk to our children about the meaning of Christmas but we also allow some Santa fun, including gifts from Santa, photos with Santa, etc. We make it clear to them that Santa is just a daddy dressed in a costume and that we celebrate Santa for fun, but also that they are not allowed to tell the other kids this, as that is their parents' job. This seems to have worked for us so far!

This will be the first year that we celebrate Advent with our children, and it should be so fun! My family always read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever {a couple chapters per week} after advent, and I definitely hope to start a fun tradition like that!

Amidst all the holiday spirit and the family traditions, our main goal is to teach our precious babies about Jesus' birth, as well as to show them that Christmas is a time of sharing and giving with family and friends.

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My name is Pamela from Pamela's Heavenly Treats. I am a mom of 6 kids, 5 boys and 1 baby girl - ages 15, twins 13, 9, 6 and 2. I love having a big family. For a person who didn't want kids, the Lord really socked it to me! I love being a mama, wouldn't change that for anything in the world, to see my boys be gentleman and my little girl learning the first stages of modesty. This is how I prepare for the holidays with my children: 

We always put God first in everything that we do, especially for the holidays! Christmas is a special time in our family. My kids write a letter to teh Lord with their wish list and put it on the Christmas tree. I have had so many people tell me that they wished they would have done that with their children. 

They also know the reason for the season. It's not about gifts and more gifts because we already have the ultimate gift: God. On Christmas morning we all gather around the tree and sing Happy Birthday Jesus and pray, and then it's gift time! By doing this since we had our first child (who is now 15), they love everything that they receive. They're not looking or asking WHY they didn't get something. I hope they will keep that tradition going when they become parents.   

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My name is Diana
from Nanny 2 Mommy
.
I am a mom of a beautiful toddler girl but also take care of my friend's daughter, who is a month younger than mine almost to the day. This is how I prepare for the holidays with my children:


Preparing for the holidays is an overwhelming chore in our house. Once everything is up, I love it and never want to take them down, but my daughter's birthday is December 9th and she has always been a little sensitive to change of environment. PLUS, we have tons of decorations and such.

The first thing I do is, a few weeks before Thanksgiving I start making lists of events - what we are supposed to bring, map of where I want the decorations to go, etc. Then I start shopping. As a couponing mom, I want to make sure I catch products at the best price. About a week before Thanksgiving, I start bringing in the Christmas Decorations. I don't want my poor little one overwhelmed when her birthday arrives. Since my hubby only gets the weekend of her birthday off work to help me, I bring in all the little stuff and then he does lights and we do the tree together while watching Elf the day before her party. This worked wonderfully last year and I'm hoping for it to work out again this year.  

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My name is Christine
from A Fly On Our (Chicken Coup) Wall.
I am a mother of five boys and one girl, whose ages range from 14 to 3.  This is how I prepare for the holidays with my children: 


With the ages of our kids, preparing for the holidays means preparing in three different ways: with the little kids, with the big kids, and all together.  Preparing with the little ones involves bringing out our stack of Christmas picture books and reading them many, many times over the four weeks of Advent.  We also do plenty of crafts while the big kids are at school, the highlight being the “gingerbread” houses we make with our friends. 

As the kids get older we focus more on really preparing for Jesus’ birth.  Each morning before school, as they eat their breakfast, we read the Scripture for the day and have a short meditation/prayer time.  We also do some extra volunteer work during Advent.  We especially like volunteering at the local charity’s Christmas Store, where we help organize donated gifts and walk customers through as they shop.

Finally, we prepare together. We turn the Christmas music up nice and loud, so we can get our Christmas groove on while we decorate the tree. The carols are also blaring while we wrap gifts, bake cookies, play games, and simply enjoy being together. 

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Your Turn:
How do YOU prepare for the holidays with your children?
Do you have any tips or advice?
Leave us a comment.
Love to hear from you!


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The Mom Connection



I am teaming up this week with Naptime Review and Two in Diapers for this exciting NEW series about motherhood.

We are always wondering how other moms handle certain issues or dilemmas,
so each week we are going to tackle the questions of motherhood.

Next week we will discuss
Siblings and sharing: Where do you draw the line between requiring sharing and allowing for personal space with certain toys?

If you have some thoughts or advice on next week's topic please email
We would love for you to be part of The Mom Connection!

 Now on to this week's topic!
How do you get your children to clean up and pick up thier toys? 

Here is what a few of us had to say:

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Welcome! I'm Julie
over at Naptime Review. I am a mom of 2 wild, crazy and beautiful girls. My oldest is almost 4 and my baby just turned 1. This is how I handle cleaning up with my kiddos:

I am really looking forward to hearing all the other comments and tips. I really struggle with this issue and I constantly feel like a drill sergeant with my oldest daughter. I have a Type A personality and I am OCD when it comes to cleaning and messes. I really think God blessed me with free spirited, creative and MESSY girls to teach me a lesson.

Here are some tips that have helped me alleviate the craziness that clutter brings. I only clean my daughter's room on Sunday. I try not to let the mess that fills the room the minute after “we” pick up her toys consume me. I also purchased large organization tubs at Target. I just toss everything in and wheel into her closet and shut the door. We also pick up our toys in the playroom every night before bed. If she is stalling, which she does, I set a timer.  If her toys aren't picked up when the timer goes off, she loses TV after bath. Thankfully, the timer seems to motivate her.

 I also constantly remind my oldest that God gives us things and it's our responsibility to take care of them. I am trying to teach her appreciation for all the blessings in her life. So far, it seems to be in one ear and out the other, but that's why I have 2 children right? All I have to do is sing the "clean up" song and the baby puts toys away... for now. I am trying to train her young!

So what works for us is to not "stress the mess" and to purchase organizational tubs!

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Hi! I'm Cassie
from Two In Diapers, and I'm a mommy to three sweet babies, ages 4, 3, and 18 months.


 Getting the kids to clean up toys is actually a very recent topic of concern for me. In 2008, I gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl named Emily, and then our lives turned into a whirlwind of activity that included two more babies and before I knew it, four years later, I was grudgingly cleaning up roomfuls of toys during nap time while wistfully daydreaming about sitting on the couch reading a novel. One day my mom snapped me back to reality by pointing out that my littles were well old enough to be cleaning up after themselves. Oh yeah, that one thing I'm supposed to be teaching them.

My first method of getting the kids to clean up included some yelling, a bit of bribing and lots of threatening. Fail. This left me with a messy house, three cranky kids and lots of frustration.

I decided it was time to get creative. Lately we've been finding many more ways to clean up that are much more fun and exciting. For example, when cleaning up the blocks, we pick them up by color. I let the kids pick which colors in what order. First, we might put all of the red blocks into the basket, then the yellow and so on. Sometimes I let them each pick a type of toy to be responsible for - such as Emily picking up the books and Bentley picking up the toy cars. One of our very favorites, however, is pulling out each basket in our family room and lining them up in the middle of the floor. We then pick up each toy and try to toss it into the correct basket. This usually results in lots of giggles, but you can bet the toys get cleaned up!

One last thing, I have to say on this topic is that the more organized your play area is, the better. Our small toy area is very organized {you can view it here}. There is one clearly-marked basket for each type of toy, and one basket for miscellaneous toys. Everything has a home. The more confusing and chaotic a toy space is, the more overwhelming it is for kids {and parents!} to clean up.

So I supposed my advice is - get organized and have fun!

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My name is Casey Wiegand and I blog over at CaseyLeigh.  I am the mama of three kids. Aiden (3), Ainsleigh (2) and Apple (2 months).

Even though I am an artist and free spirit...I like things to be organized, clean and in some type of order. The most helpful thing to control the "mess" with the kiddos is shelves with baskets for all of the toys. That way they can play all day and at the end of each day my two toddlers know that we put everything back into the baskets. It gives a bit of "system" to the chaos.

Another thing that helped was putting all of the toys in our family room/office. Taking the toys out of their bedrooms and putting them all in one spot with the basket system has been amazing for our family organization.

Lastly, I love having a family calendar and a meal plan calendar. I like to be able to hand write on them both and keep them on my work desk. Both of these help me immensely!


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Hello! My name is Diana from Nanny2Mommy. I was a nanny for five years (thus the name) before I became a mom. During that time when it was just their older son, I would clean up after him and never encourage him to clean. I didn't because it was a job that I got paid to do it. 

When their daughter was born and as she got older, I was out numbered and needed help with the disasters they created. So I encouraged them to help me clean up. The older one was so used to me doing everything that he just wouldn't help. I had to say things like, "Oh your baby sister is doing such a good job cleaning up, could you help her?" or "Let's see who can clean up the most" or "the fastest" etc. Cleaning eventually became a part of his routine. 

My suggestion? Get them started early where they are used to it and it is just habit. My daughter knows what to do when I say let's clean up now and, although I have to go behind her, I feel I am setting her up for good habits in the future. And she likes it because we try to make it a game. She is even learning how to organize her toys now as well.

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Hello! My name is Janine
and I blog over at True Aim. I am a Mother of 3 under the age of 5. I also have a Home Preschool and teach 3 other children.

Here are 3 techniques that I use to get my little ones to clean up their toys.

1. A Manageable Mess: Once a mess becomes too large, no one wants to clean it, including me. So, I have all of our toys and books divided up into containers. The rule is that each child may play with one container at a time. When they are done, they must put everything back before moving on to the next container. This method is great because at no point is the mess so large that it is unmanageable and our house is always moderately clean – just in case the neighbors pop in! 

2: Off to the Races! Often, my kids would drag the cleaning of large messes out all day. As long as I was watching they would clean, but the moment I left they would lose focus and begin playing. Also, they all cleaned at a snail's pass, hoping that if they waited it out, one of their sibling would eventually finish the job without them. That is why, instead of "cleaning a mess," we head "off to the races!" I set a timer and give everyone an area to clean up. Whoever cleans up their mess first wins the race

3: Repossession or Reward? When my children forget to put away their toys, I simply repossess them. Once a toy is repossessed, my children must buy it back with Popsicle sticks or by doing an extra chore. On the other hand, if they do keep their toys tidy, I reward them with Popsicle sticks or an occasional treat!

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Hi my name's Rachel from the blog, Lines Across. I am a mom of two kids, Benjamin (3) and Lyla (23 months). You can follow me on Facebook here.

As a crafty person living in a small house with two young kids, two cats, and a husband, it's definitely a struggle to keep things clean. I almost always have some sort of project out on a desk or tabletop. In fact, right now, I have a handful of balloons hanging from the shutters in our kitchen.

That being said, I think that it is so important to help teach your kids to clean up and be organized. We have made a point of keeping the kids' rooms clean and organized, and we want them to be a part of it. For me, the most important part of this is having good storage for toys. We got these bins from IKEA, and we love them. Every toy has a place in one of these colorful bins. My son, Benjamin, knows what toys go where, and he always wants to make sure that everything is in the right place.

We try to encourage him to clean up the toys he was playing with before he moves on to another room or another activity, but sometimes we are in a hurry or forget to remind Benjamin. That's why we have made clean-up time a consistent part of bedtime... after brushing teeth and right before we curl up and read a book together. It works well because my little 3 year old is of course looking for ways to stall going to bed and is always happy to help clean up his toys. Sometimes we even come up with games like lego basketball, color sorting, counting, or a reenactment of an episode of Thomas. Even though our house is never perfect, and there is always some chore that needs to be done, it feels so good to tuck my kids in at night in clean and organized rooms.

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Your Turn:

 How do YOU get YOUR children to clean up?
Do you have any tips or advice?
Love to hear from you!


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