The Secret In the Sauce

Homework has become the bain of my existence. Literally. If ever there was child adverse to doing homework, it would be Preston . If he could, I’m sure he would claim that he is allergic to it. He does actually rub his head and start complaining about being stressed which I have unfortunately not given enough weight to in the past. It does stress him out and he’s already had a long day of having to sit still, focus and do classwork assignments. It has taken me from the time he gets home to the time he goes to bed and chasing him around the house to get him to sit down and do his homework at times. He also flat out tells me that he just isn't going to do it. Oooo, that one makes my blood boil. Let me tell you, by the end of the night I’m done! I asked the psychologist about what to do as duct-taping or tying him to the chair didn’t seem like the greatest option (although I really did consider it one night!). He suggested that I continue to re-direct his focus. I stated that...

Life Truth #1: There will be moments of good and moments of bad. Moments of absolute bliss and moments that I will wonder how I will survive. As frustrating a process as it is, it is the only way to grow. If we were never challenged or tested, how would we know what we are truly capable of? Hence the most likely reason that when it rains it pours because it is when everything happens at once that we are forced to dig deep and keep moving forward or give up and stay where we are if not fall backwards. I am grateful for the newly acquired knowledge that I have gained after the storms despite the despair I felt in the midst of it, but it is strength and knowledge I will pull on when challenged again. Life Truth #2: As humans, we are pre-wired for struggle and with imperfections. We make mistakes over and over again, even after you'd think we'd learned our lesson. Even as adults. Yet I find myself all too often thinking or saying to my kids, "When are you going to learn?...

A quick salad I can throw together is key for my evening meals. I have one, myabe two store-bought dressings, but I use them minimally as my favorite, tastiest and easiest salads are ones I make from ingredients on hand. Here are a few simple salad recipes that your whole family will be excited to add to the dinner table. My Easisest and Tastiest Dinner Salad Pour about 2 T olive oil in a bowl. Add some balsamic vinegar. Add about 2 tsp-ish seedy Dijon Mustard. Sprinkle some garlic salt into the bowl. Mix together with a fork. Throw in some lettuce, grape tomatoes, and 1 T feta cheese. Toss/stir to coat the salad. Grate some fresh parmesan cheese and freshly cracked pepper over the top. Sometimes I add avacado slices to this and it is fast, fresh, easy and good! Salsa Salad Mix about 1 T of Marzetti Ranch Dressing (most natural ranch I've found) and 1 1/2 T Chipotle Sauce. Add to lettuce along with desired amount of salsa and...

I recently learned the art of the ‘precision request’ to get your kiddos moving when you are asking something of them (also referred to in 1-2-3 Magic as 'start behavior'). I don't get it - I really don't - but labeling my request as a 'precision request' to Preston not only gets his attention but also gets him moving. I have to play a stellar poker face when I whip this tool out and it actually works (kids sense parental victory and kick against it when they know what is going down). The way this works is that you have a chat with your kiddo and mention that when you ask something of them, you will only ask twice, third strike they are out to time-out. The format is that on request number one you use the word 'please.' Keeping mind in the proactive ways to improve compliance (two posts ago), you use a clear directive such as, “ Preston , please set the table.” *Note, don't leave wiggle room and throw the word 'can' or something similar ...

I'm feeling pretty mighty in the kitchen right now with how swirly-pretty I made my truffles! And they are good for you! My inspiration you ask? Well... I made the 'No Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Truffles' (from lovesveggiesandyoga.com) for the Easter holiday and they were a huge success. I added a touch of almond extract to the chocolate and that was just the little umphh it needed (for me) to be fabulous. I realized that throughout the week as I was craving these truffles, it wasn't the truffle per say that I wanted, more that crunch factor of the chocolate shell (I stored them in the fridge and oh how I love that slightly hard chocolate shell). As I'm sure we would all agree, craving cake-batter truffles will do nothing for our waist lines and fitting in our skinny jeans so I decided to come up with a healthy truffle alternative. The shell will be the naughtiest part of these, but they will satisfy my texture-craving and be good for my body at the same time. Dark ...

After our last visit to the psychologist (where I was feeling totally exasperated and confused and hopeless) and I expressed my frustration, he had the thought that one major breakdown in what I was doing was that I was giving Preston twelve chances. In that time I get worked up, Preston gets worked up and then we both become explosive. The Dr. gave me a print out from a book called “ The TOUGH Kid Parent Book ” (56) in which it lists out proactive ways to improve compliance. They have actually been incredibly helpful and surprisingly they do get Preston to work and be more compliant. Enjoy and employ! Say “Start” instead of “Stop.” Tell your child to start an appropriate behavior such as “Please start your homework” and make fewer stop demands, such as “Don’t argue with me!” Decide what you want to see and build on that! Encourage an appropriate substitute.   Use a clear directive, not a question. Asking, “Would you stop teasing? or “Will you take out the trash?” reduce...

I want to first say that my goal has always been to post three times a week. With that being said, although my blog is a partial outlet for me, it does come last on my 'to do' list. Anyone with kids with ADHD knows that time and energy are quickly zapped in raising these unique spirits and if I'm not up to it blogging that day, I'm not up to it. There's also the matter of expecting the 'unexpected' with my little guy. The ability to be able to adapt is all I've got to say about that. We've got to do what is best for us which is the whole mantra of this blog - you can only take care of yourself. So know what that means for you! I also want to say that my big lesson from last week is to ration your internal resources. We are all different with our own tolerance, stress, fatigue and emotional thresholds. I read up and research tools to help me be a more effective parent and person. I learn coping strategies, parenting technqiues, healthy eating habits...