My 9 year old has been on it about a year, he’s ADHD inattentive and dyslexic. We started out only giving it to him on school days but now give it to him nearly daily. On the weekends we talk through what he has going on and give him the choice. If he has a basketball game he usually wants to take it, he doesn’t mind skipping it for Sunday school. He started at 10mg, went up to 20mg, and now back at 10. It’s made a huge difference in his schoolwork. It’s also been nice to be able to give him two step instructions and he can actually remember the second step. I didn’t realize how often I was prompting him to ”focus” when it just wasn’t possible for him despite him really wanting to. Appetite suppression has been a big deal. He hasn’t lost any weight but he has grown 3” and only gained a pound. His doctor isn’t concerned about it, but as a mom I am mildly concerned. I started having him drink a protein shake with breakfast to try to get calories in him before the meds kick in. I have to remind him to eat a snack midday. He will think he’s not hungry, but will be grouchy, after eating something he is in a better mood. He usually eats OK for supper though. The reason he went back down to 10mg is that on 20mg he would crash hard right around supper time about when it wore off. He would cry or be super emotional. Also, in the afternoon, once his schoolwork was done, he would often just sit on the couch doing nothing. He lost interest in drawing or playing. If I gave him the suggestion he would sort of half heartedly do the things he used to love. At 10mg he can focus on school but isn’t a zombie the rest of the day. He sometimes still crashes when it wears off, but not as hard as he did on 20mg. I was hesitant to have him start meds but now that we have, I am so glad we did.

The list of how you want everything cut used to stress me out too, but I started keeping track of what we did and didn’t like. That made it easier to figure out the next time, the butcher should be able to help talk you through it too. We have used a couple different butchers and they call different cuts different things. I google recipes for xyz cut and that helps me figure out how to use it. This is one of my favorite chuck roast recipes. We typically get about 1/3 of a steer and family members get the rest. My in-laws prefer more steaks so we usually trade with them and take more of the ground beef. I’ve also learned through the years that I like my ground beef much leaner than how the butchers prepare it, so I will ask them to trim as much fat off as possible.

4/5 of our family have had it. I had it last February and gave it to my 13 year old who was asymptomatic. The 11 and 9 year had what we assume was the delta variant last July both were sick for a day. My husband has been tested 20ish times in the past 18 months and as far as we know has never had covid. He has been working in the office and going about life normally. We actually wonder if he had an asymptomatic case and gave it to me since I seemed to have gotten it out of no where.

One of the problems I’ve found with sport detergents is that the clothes smell clean right out of the wash, but the second you get a little sweaty, the smell comes back. I spray mine with hydrogen peroxide and then wash with my normal detergent, no softener. I always get asked if I have trouble with bleaching, I’ve tried this on Smartwool, polyester, cotton/poly blends, bamboo, cotton, and nylon, I’ve had no issues with bleaching.

I’m so glad you had a good adventure! I’m chuckling at you dressing for the arctic and telling your teenage son to go potty. It sounds like you found the perfect location for your first experience with hiking

Hiking with my kids is one of my favorite activities. We go just about every week. Since you asked, I consider it hiking when we are out in nature. We just call it “going for a walk” when we are in the neighborhood or on the paved path at park. There’s a whole lot of people that go for long walks in cities and call it urban hiking and that can be a lot of fun. If you aren’t outdoorsy, don’t put pressure on yourself, do what you are comfortable doing. Most popular trails under 3 miles are going to be fine for your child. There’s a whole lot of longer trails she may enjoy as well, but you know the limits for your family. I suggest just picking a local trail that you have heard of and go in the next couple weeks. Wear appropriate clothes for the weather, take some snacks, and have fun. If you are scared to go with just your family, see if there is a local hiking group or Facebook page to connect you with other people. You can use the bathroom ahead of time and most athletic shoes will work just fine as long as the trail isn’t muddy, snowy, or especially rocky. People always use to wear heavy duty hiking boots but lots of backpackers now wear trail runners (running shoes with a grippier sole). Bugs and other fears can be dealt with. As you get more experienced you can upgrade gear if you want. Hiking poles are awesome, but not required. Hiking out west in the mountains is going to look a lot different than in the Midwest. Familiarize yourself with the risks in your area whether it’s certain wildlife or pop-up storms. In all likelihood nothing major is going to happen, but it’s good to be aware. In my area on most trails my biggest concern would be lack of a cell signal if I get hurt. I’ve coached my kids in what to do if that happens An app like AllTrails will give you an overview of particular trails, read a few recent reviews. I still like a paper map and a local guidebook. As far as hiking with kids, it can be challenging, but also a lot of fun. At first my kids and I hiked all the local trails considered kid friendly. I use to stop at our dollar store on the way out of town to let the kids pick out a hiking treat. If they didn’t complain, they got it when we were halfway done or had reached a good spot for a break. Yes, I bribed my kids! We would do nature bingo, or see who could find the most birds, or sometimes take a notebook to draw when we took a break. Especially when my kids were younger I tried to pick trails that had a creek they could wade in, a waterfall, a cool arch, just something that felt like a destination. I think 2-3 miles is a good length of hike to start with for your child and then start going a little farther. A 5 year old completed the entire Appalachian Trail this year. Young kids are definitely capable of doing a lot, but not all would want to do that. My kids are now 14, 12, and 9 and I think nothing of going on a 10 mile hike with them, but it didn’t start that way. We built that up over many, many years. Not all hikes were great but overall we have enjoyed them. There is a book by a homeschooling mom Greta Eskridge, “Adventuring Together”, that may be helpful.

I just mailed Fritos to my grandma in Texas! At Thanksgiving she was lamenting that she couldn’t find the original style. I found them at my Kroger, fully stocked, so I got her some. I was wondering if they are baked by a different plant or sold through a different distributor in my part of the country. The thing I can’t get here are pretzels. We always dip pretzel rods in white chocolate as a Christmas tradition. This year I’m not being picky about shape or brand and can’t find them at all. Fortunately my kids will be happy making something else.

The Cascade Mountain carbon fiber poles (mentioned above, also at Amazon)are a good set. I used mine about 4 years and have several hundred miles on them before my husband surprised me with an upgrade this summer. I bought my kids the Cascade Mountain aluminum versions a couple years ago and they seem durable as well. I’ve only personally used them on a couple short hikes when I didn’t have poles and a kid got tired of using theirs. They are a little heavier than the carbon fiber, but not drastically heavier. This would likely be most noticeable on all day hikes vs an afternoon hike. Watch a video on how to properly use them, I see lots of people with poles but not using them to maximize their potential. Leki has a good video on YouTube. I use to hike with a single pole but have found I like 2 much better, but it’s probably personal preference. It definitely helps propel me up long hills and helps save my knees on down hills. It also makes creek crossings or rocky trails easier to handle.

The ladies above give wise advice, pay attention to their posts. I always tried to “fill the bucket” for my youngest before doing one on one work with my older kids. This usually meant reading books geared toward him or playing a game together. Before he was school aged, he usually sat in on morning times with us. Then he would either play in the room where we were, sit at the table with us, or go to his room to play. At ages 3-5ish, he liked having activities that were for him such as Kumon maze books, Highlights Hidden Pictures, cutting activities, art supplies. Sometimes my youngest just needed one on one attention, so while I did math with one child, the other child played or read with youngest, then I switched. Routines are definitely helpful. I will say that personality plays a big role in this, and we had periods where things went very smoothly, and periods where days were quite challenging. You slowly learn to tweak and adjust so that most days go relatively smoothly.

@Monayes, what I’m finding for kids seems way too young. I’ll check my library, that’s what I used when I got into quilting years ago. I’m not opposed to some video instruction, I’ll definitely check craftsy.

My daughter 11yo, would like to learn to sew better. I used to sew a whole lot more than I do now but do consider myself an intermediate sewist. However, I’ve been doing it so long that sewing just comes naturally to me. She has done some small projects with my assistance, but I’m looking for something that is laid out that will help me take her logically through threading a machine, choosing fabric, needle types, etc. It doesn’t necessarily need to be for middle schoolers. Any recommendations? I would prefer a book over blogs and YouTube.

See if her university police department offers a self defense class. My local one offers it for free to the community, for women only. It was very helpful!

Covid testing is free in my state, unless it’s a specific test for travel. For what it’s worth my SIL is an out of state resident and had to pay $150 for testing at the walk in clinic in my state. When I took my niece along with my kids to the drive up testing, it was free, but I didn’t volunteer that she was an out of state resident.

I’m so sorry, it’s always hard to lose a pet!

I’ve never served at a shelter but I prepare dinner for the Ronald McDonald house and the Cancer Society house a few times every year. It seems weird as a side but applesauce, especially at the Cancer Society house is appreciated. We get so many comments that it’s nice to have something easy to swallow, apparently chemo makes it hard to swallow. With dental problems being common in shelters, maybe applesauce would be appreciated there too.

Given how much more contagious this delta variant is, I strongly encourage getting tested, especially because you have a sore throat. Please. Two of my kids, my niece, and our best family friends all have Covid because of someone thinking it was “just a cold”. My daughter tested negative on her first pcr test despite showing symptoms and having a known exposure. Thankfully we kept her away from people she was retested again the next day. She only had symptoms for a total of 2 days and was still positive 8 days later. Her Covid looked completely different than mine did. It also looked different than her brother’s currently does.

Side note, quarantine is much more difficult when kids are feeling well and they see their friends outside.

I would assume she has Covid. That is pretty much exactly what my 11 year old did last week, right down to the negative test. When we took her for a strep test the next day, they retested for Covid and she was positive. Her symptoms were completely different than mine back in February. Also, she is still positive on day 8 despite no symptoms in 6 days. She never lost smell but did smell burnt toast all one afternoon. Our friend’s daughter had the exact same symptoms on the same day, with the exception of testing positive when tested. In this family all 5 got Covid. Mom was partially vaccinated (second dose day daughter was exposed), dad fully. The two older kids never ran a fever and only had 24 hours of mild symptoms. Mom and Dad are both pretty run down both have lost smell although mom’s seems to be coming back. Local health department is sending dad’s sample off to verify it is delta but everyone is assuming it is. On the plus side both girls were really only sick for about 36 hours and then acting normal again. I hope it’s the same for your daughter!

Don’t you love it when kids are super into something and you want to support them, but you kind of don’t? What ages do you think the Freedom Center is appropriate for? It’s been on my to do list for awhile, but we haven’t made it up there yet. Specifically I’m thinking of my 9 year old.

If he’s at all interested there is a Gap Clearance center in Hebron, KY. It’s super hit or miss but on a good day it’s totally worth it. They sell all the Gap brands, some is overstocks, some are returns.

I haven’t been to Cincinatti since Covid started but Jungle Jim’s is quirky and fun. Cincinatti Museum Center was the inspiration for the Hall of Justice. My husband and I enjoy Trio Bistro near Kenwood and also a Lebanese restaurant near IKEA in West Chester I’m having difficulty finding it on the map so it may have been a casualty of Covid. In northern KY, across the river you might enjoy Rabbit Hash. Full disclosure, I’ve never been here but supposedly you can kayak to it. I would look to see if you can find more recent info: Ghost Ship. This is also in northern KY Have a good trip!

Yay! I’m glad you had a great trip. Yes, get Gaia, you do still want a paper map because electronics fail, but apps make things so handy.

Have fun!

I’ve never seen that! I can see that it eliminates the problem of a sleeping bag slipping around on a pad. The flexibility seems nice too. Honestly for a pad and down bag the price isn’t so bad.

Sounds like a great deal on the tent! I haven’t tried a quilt. I think in the winter I would get too cold, even though down compresses, being inside the bag at least holds in my body heat. I know people seem to either love or hate them.