Related Posts:

Why Every Child Should Have a Learning Tower

Surviving Dinner Podcast

Making Dinnertime Less Stressful for Everyone

Send Us a Question!

Products I Talked About:

Kids Aprons

Wavy Chopper with a Handle

Wavy Chopper without a Handle

Learning Tower

The post Cooking with Your Kids Without Going Insane appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Every parenting decision has a downside. As a Montessori parent, all of that independence can be a bit much! Listen to a lighthearted take on the downside to being a Montessori parent.

Send us a question or comment.

Related Posts:

What the Heck is Montessori?

Why It’s Hard to Be a Montessori Parents

The post The Downside to My Daughter’s Independence appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

In today’s podcast, Andrew and I discussed advice and tips we had for pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery. We even added in a few tips for dads. Take a listen, but I will warn you that we were both tired and went on some pretty goofy tangents!

Previous Advice Posts

7 Tips for All Pregnant Ladies

6 Things I Wish I Knew About Labor and Delivery

6 Ways to Make Postpartum Recovery Better

Send us a question or comment!

Click Here to Send a Question

The post Realistic Advice that All New Parents Should Know appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

One of the best things Andrew and I have done as parents is decide to make dinnertime a special time. Listen to how we survive, eat together, and even manage to have a fun dinnertime.

Other Posts about Dinnertime:

Don’t Make Food a Fight

Baby Led Weaning: Not As Scary As It Sounds

Making Dinnertime Less Stressful for Everyone

What to Do When Your Toddler is a Picky Eater

Eating Together When You Don’t Eat the Same Thing

The post Surviving Dinner Podcast appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.

Minimalism is still a relatively new concept for Andrew and I. Listen to us chat about striving to be minimalist parents and what inspired us in the first place.

Submit a Question

Books I Mentioned:

The More of Less by Joshua Becker

The Magical Art of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

More Posts to Read about Minimalism:

Minimalism Resources

The More of Less: A Great Minimalist Book

Tidying Up: Simplify to Keep the House in Order

The post Exploring Minimalism appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Andrew and I recorded a podcast all about our experience with cloth diapering and how cloth diapering has changed over time. It is just as convenient as disposibles, in our view. Give it a listen.

Previous Cloth Diapering Posts:

5 Reasons I Recommend Cloth Diapers

A Minimalist’s Guide to Cloth Diaper Accessories

Cloth Diaper Store:

All Things Diapers

What We Used (and Recommend):

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.

Diapers

Accessories:

The post Cloth Diapering 101 appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.

Every winter, parents struggle with how to keep their kids warm in the winter. As a parent, I understand the fear of your child getting cold. We always want to keep them warm and snuggly and unfortunately, that sometimes leads to parents not allowing their children to go outside at all during the winter months. But kids need to go outside in all kinds of weather. Here in Minnesota, we believe that there isn’t bad weather, only bad clothing. But what should you look for in kids winter clothes? And how do you get your kids to keep them on? Well, as a Minnesota mama, I feel like I have some great recommendations for kids winter clothes, some tips about getting them on and keeping them on, and my #1 trick for winter success.

(P.S. Make sure you listen to my podcast about surviving winter outdoors with children. It is at the end of this post!)

Mittens and Boots

I will go ahead and assume everyone knows to buy warm jackets and snow pants, but mittens and boots are a bit trickier. Kids will come to school with mittens or boots that are not warm enough or that, while super cute, are totally non-functional.

After spending four years working in a toddler room, I have found the answer to the mittens and boots conundrum. (Okay, I guess I should credit my amazing co-worker who had tried every sort of mitten and boot under the sun in the 20+ years she spent working with toddlers.) I bought each of these for Mac and they work splendidly.

As for mittens, there is a company called L-Bow that make mittens that extend all the way to the child’s elbow. They are supposed to be used over the coat sleeves, but in the toddler room, we found it much more useful to put them on under coat sleeves. That way children can’t pull them right off. The other great thing about these mittens is that the toddler sized ones don’t have specific hands that they go on. The thumb hole is in the center and can be used on either hand. So great when you are in a rush to get them out the door to go play.

There are lots of good boots, but one I can personally vouch for are Bogs. The toddler Bogs have big handles that are easy for toddlers to get on themselves. They come in tons of cute styles, but are still warm and comfy. Bogs are so durable that they will be sure to last all winter. The ones we bought for Mac are teal with penguins. Even though she was the one to pick them out, I love that she picked gender neutral ones that will also be worn by any future children.

How to Keep Kids Winter Clothes On

Okay, so once you buy good kids winter clothes, how do you get them to keep them on? I don’t mean getting elementary aged kids to wear it when they don’t want to, I mean how to get toddlers who don’t know better from ripping off all of their winter gear as soon as they get outside?

My #1 Trick to Winter Success

The secret to my outdoor success is something so simple that each and every one of you probably have at least a few at home. My trick is using plain old safety pins. I use them to keep on coats, mittens, and even boots!

Hats

Hats are a tricky one. You can’t glue it on, so what else can you do? The best thing I have found is to find a hat they like. Mac was a winter baby, so we had people give us tons of different winter hats. Nowadays, we let her pick which hat to wear outside. Most of the time, she keeps it on without any trouble. (For real, giving toddlers (limited) choices will save you from so many fights. If you’d like to learn more about giving a toddler choices, check out my ebook about the best way to give a toddler choices.)

Sometimes it is about the style of hat also. If the hat has velcro for under the chin, make sure it actually fits under the chin. If it is too big, the hat will tend to fall over there face and if the velcro straps are too small, it will be uncomfortable.

Coat

Once kids learn to unzip, they will want to unzip everything, including their jacket. So if your child keeps unzipping their jacket, use a safety pin to stop them. Just pin over the zipper right at the top of the jacket and the child won’t be able to open it up.

Boots

The biggest way to get kids to keep boots on is to make sure they fit properly. When you buy boots, don’t have the child just try them on, have them try them on with snow pants and walk around a bit. Sometimes the wrong combination of boots and snow pants can push on each other, which means the boots will pop off.

Some boots can also be safety pinned to the child’s pants legs. This works more for softer winter boots for younger children.

Mittens

Sometimes getting a child to keep their mittens on is a learning experience. That means if it isn’t that cold outside, let your child experience how cold their hands get without mittens. Most children will eventually get the idea that mittens will warm their hands up and that it is much more pleasant to keep them on.

Obviously, sometimes it is too cold to let your child take their mittens off. In that case, safety pins come to the rescue again. With the L-Bow mittens on, we would pin them to the child’s shirt before putting their jacket on. It isn’t foolproof, but sometimes you just need an obstacle.

Getting Kids Winter Clothes On Without a Fight

Sometimes, getting kids outside isn’t a matter of getting the right clothes, but of actually getting them on without tears for the kids or mom. So how do you wrestle kids into their winter gear and keep everyone smiling?

Self-Sufficiency

I’m all about kids doing things for themselves. Even toddlers can get themselves dressed in their winter clothes, it just may take some extra time and coaching. Snow pants are pretty easy as long as they are laid out for toddlers. I’ve found most toddlers can get on at least one of their L-Bow mittens. Some boots are easy to step in.

I’ve also written about doing up-and-over with a toddler’s coat. Even with mittens on, toddlers can manage to put on their own jacket. The more things your child does, the less you will have to do.

Work With Them, Don’t Fight Them

The absolute easiest way to put mittens on a toddler is to have them stand in front of you, facing the same direction you are. That way you can pull the mitten on while they push, which means you are working together instead of against each other, like mittens normally are. I even use this with the 3-6 year olds I work with because it is just so much easier!

Don’t Over-Think It

Toddlers don’t care if their thumbs are in the thumb holes of their mittens. Until they get to the point where they do care, don’t stress yourself out trying to get it on their hand perfectly. Take a look at the picture below. Mac could care less that her thumbs aren’t in the holes. She has even figured out how to pick up snow without her thumbs. The same goes for boots. If your kid puts their boots on the wrong feet, why switch them? It won’t stop them from being warm or having fun, so just let it go.

Getting Kids Outside in the Winter Podcast

Are there any tips and tricks I don’t know about getting kids outside in the winter? Let me know in the comments!

The post Kids Winter Clothes: Winter Tips from a Minnesota Mom appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

I have been all about Christmas and non-toy gift guides here for about a month and now I finally get to share with you our podcast episode all about it!

If you missed my gift guide posts, make sure you check out my gift guides for:

• Babies
• Toddlers
• Preschoolers
• Elementary Kids and
• Families

Also check out why I don’t put toys on Mac’s wish list.

The post Holiday Gift Guide Podcast appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Surprise! Remember when I talked about working on something big? My husband (Andrew) and I decided to start a podcast together. I will admit, I was super nervous when we were recording because it was something I had never done before, but the episodes actually turned out well. I’m so excited to keep recording them. So here is our introduction. Check out the posts for each of our podcast episodes. Make sure you join my e-mail list for a reminder each time we release a new episode.

Episode 0 – Intro to the podcast

The post Presenting Quirky Parenting Podcast appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.

Only weirdos use Montessori for their kids, right? At least, that is what I thought initially. Several years ago, I was a nanny for two children who attended a Montessori school. I totally internally judged them, because the only things I had heard was that they didn’t have any rules so the kids ran wild and that the kids were unprepared for the “real world” of the conventional classroom.

Long story short, I was offered a position in the toddler room at the Montessori school they attended and four years later I have found my fit. I love what I do, I love the school, and I love Montessori. And I have determined that the world is sorely lacking in knowledge about Montessori. When I was an education major in school, I believe we read exactly one paragraph about the Montessori philosophy. But the world needs to know, so I am shouting it from the rooftops!

If you’re looking for ideas for your home, check out this ebook I wrote with 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. The ebook is available on Amazon and it is also available as a pdf on Gumroad.

Now before I go on, let me just say that I am not a trained Montessori teacher. Everything I have learned is from experience working in a Montessori school and books and articles I have read. I am in no way an expert. I am also not going to delve into everything because we could have a conversation that lasted for hours about Montessori.

What is Montessori?

So when I think of Montessori, I think of a child-led learning environment where students are given the means to succeed while also given a safe place to make mistakes. Doesn’t that sound great? Especially when you think of the lecture based, standardized test environment that seems to consume the conventional education classroom today.

I’m not going to get into the history of Montessori education, but it was started by a doctor named Maria Montessori who studied underprivileged children and was inspired by her findings. If you are interested in the history of it, I would encourage you to look into it. But I am going to talk more about what the Montessori method is and how it works.

Focus on the Student

A Montessori environment is child-led. That means that if the child needs to move around, they can. They are not chained to a desk all day. They can sit on the floor or stand at a counter. Sometimes if a child shows an intense need to be physical, we can go for walks around the property or do physical work like snow shoveling, raking leaves, or plant watering.

Child-led learning also means that things can be somewhat tailored to them. Children can follow their interests and passions and learn naturally along the way. At my school, I have seen children make timelines about the history of football, build replicas of famous structures like Stonehenge, and go on field trips to the pet store to research what fish they could add to the class aquarium.

Montessori does have a set of educational materials called didactic materials. These are things like the pink tower and the binomial cube. These materials will be found in any Montessori classroom you walk into. A child could move across the country, but still be able to use the same work they did before.

Child-led learning also means that the student can choose what they are learning. The guide may give them a choice about what presentation they receive next. If a child continually chooses math but neglects reading, the guide will find a way to make reading more attractive to the child.

Prepared Environments

A prepared environment is what a Montessori classroom strives to be. That means that activities are completely ready to be used. In the toddler room, every morning we put everything back where it goes before the children arrive. We make sure every activity has all of the pieces, we make sure there are an appropriate amount of paper for things like coloring, scissor cutting work, or newspaper ripping, and we straighten the shelves so that everything looks inviting.

Children are given the tools for success, but are encouraged to continue trying when they fail. Everyone fails in one way or another, so it is important to show that failing doesn’t mean you should give up. One of the things I say the most in the toddler room is “Try again.” Perseverance is a great quality to nurture in children.

That’s nice, but what about babies and toddlers?

I worked in the toddler room for 4 years, so I have a lot of experience with toddlers and Montessori.

From birth until age 3, children have what is called an absorbent mind. That means that like a sponge, they soak up information. They learn naturally from the things around them. I’ve definitely had toddlers who out of nowhere would (mostly successfully) do an activity I know they had never tried before. They learned how to do it by watching. Amazing!

One important thing to note is that most adults are inclined to call what children are doing “play,” but we call it “work.” Toddlers are working on learning about the world. Calling it work gives it legitimacy instead of brushing it off as just “play.”

How do you use it at home then?

There are so many ways to use it at home. I have made my living room more Montessori friendly. We tried to be Montessori friendly even when Mac was a baby. I’ve done activities like a bean tub and stickers. I have written about what my Montessori toddler plays with and what a Montessori toddler should read. I’ve even written about my toddler helping feed the dog.

There are ways to have a Montessori home without going crazy. If you are interested, check out 3 ways to make your home more Montessori.

If you are really gung-ho about incorporating Montessori at home, I wrote an ebook with 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. It is available as an ebook on Amazon and as a pdf on Gumroad.

What the Heck is Montessori Podcast

So tell me, what else confuses you about Montessori? Let me know in the comments so I can clear up any misunderstandings.

The post What the Heck is Montessori? appeared first on Quirky and the Nerd.