I'm curious how other families limit TV and your reasoning behind limiting the time. We have one TV in our house, in general we don't turn it on when the kids are around. We don't have a specific limit to the amount of time our kids are allowed to watch TV. They watch a 30 minute kid show 2-3 times per week, shows my husband and I have DVRd or are on Amazon Prime and think are appropriate for their ages (6, 3, 1). They also watch a movie a couple times a month. If one of us is sick, my husband is out of town, or I'm pregnant the time is usually more, maybe a 30 minute show per day and a movie per week. Right now the kids pretty much agree on show choices. We limit the TV time mostly because we notice a behavior difference in our oldest son if he watches too much TV. We also prefer that they spend their time being more active, if the TV is on they tend to sit down in front of it, spaced out. Neither my husband nor I try to limit our TV watching, but we don't watch it much if the kids are around. My husband usually turns on the big college game on Saturday and NFL game Sunday, but doesn't usually watch the whole thing. Occasionally he'll watch a college basketball game on a weeknight. He rarely watches an entire game unless it's his team or a really good game. This is usually while the kids are napping/resting, but sometimes they'll sit with him. I have 3 shows I watch regularly, I DVR them and watch them when I'm doing something else like dishes. If my husband is gone in the evening, the TV is always on for background noise. I can see that as our kids get older we'll need a more formal plan, so what do you do in your family?

I haven't read all the responses. Since I'm not a huge sports fan, I try to view my husband wanting to watch a game as his hobby. When I think of it that way, I'm not as annoyed by him wanting to watch a game on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. He wouldn't give me a hard time about the time I spend on my hobbies unless I was neglecting my responsibilities, so I try to do the same for him. I wouldn't have a problem with him getting season tickets and going to a game every weekend, but am thankful he watches at home and saves us the money. As far as one kid watching with your husband but not the others, can you restructure how your family allots screen time? Can they get 1 hour a week (or whatever) but the game is bonus time. The other two may not think it's fair, but not everything is always fair. I think parents should get priority in picking what TV shows are watched and games are not something that can be appreciated if they are DVRd and watched a day or two later.

My 3 year old likes Tom's mint. My boys aren't too picky, but no one likes the strawberry flavor. Is it actually the taste of toothpaste or does she just not liking getting her teeth brushed? Maybe changing toothbrushes would help too, possibly to a fun electric one.

I don't have kids in the youth group yet but I do help with ours frequently and have been for several years. One of our best friends is the former youth minister at our church and we hired a new youth minister about a year ago. My friend is an awesome guy, he is execellent at building relationships with teens, but he is a terrible organizer and communicator. He also started the job as a 23 year old guy without kids. He just thought about things differently than parents do. One of the youth moms recognized this and worked with him. She became a liaison between him and the other parents. He would set up an event or a retreat, she would make sure the information the other parents needed got to them. This freed him up to focus on things he was good at. If he were starting as a youth minister now that he has kids, he would be much better at dealing with those things. Our new youth minister is also a young guy without kids. He is a better communicator than my friend was, he has parent meetings a couple times each year to talk about the youth calendar. He twice weekly sends emails to parents detailing what they are studying, suggestions for how parents can support that, and any upcoming deadlines. There are also Facebook and Twitter reminders about sign up and fee deadlines. For bigger events there is sometimes a church wide email or an announcement in the bulletin. There are still little details about events that he doesn't see but parents do, so he still has a parent liaison that helps him work through those. I think this works really well and I know as a frequent chaperone it helps me.

I'm not sure about flying from Mexico, but you may find a better flight through an online service like Kayak or Travelocity than by calling the airline and asking about the bereavement discount. When my grandfather died it was much cheaper purchasing the ticket that way. $1000 is a lot of money, but maybe you can find a flight for less. I know that I missed both a great-grandfather's and a great-grandmother's funeral and really regretted not going. I never felt like I got closure with either of them and their passings were not unexpected. My family didn't put an emphasis on attending and no one's feelings were hurt that I wasn't there. My grandfather passed away after a long illness when my daughter was a couple months old. I had seen him a few months before he passed and they held the phone up to his ear so I could talk to him a last time a few hours before he passed. My grandmother, parents, and siblings had been with him over those last months and kept me up to date on my grandfather's health. I debated about whether to travel up there for the funeral or not, my brother was getting married a few weeks later and we would see the family then. I don't remember what I paid for a plane ticket, but it did stretch our budget some. I ended up going to the funeral and did not regret it at all, partly because we were able to grieve my grandfather together, partly because of being able to support my mom. I think I needed to see my mom in order to better understand what she was going through. It wasn't really the actual funeral I felt like I needed to be present for, but for everything surrounding it. If your husband feels strongly about going and there is a way you can afford to send him, I think he needs to go and he needs your support. If you really can't afford for him to go, then maybe the funeral home or church has a way he can observe the ceremony online. If not, maybe a relative could Facetime or Skype the funeral for him. I just met a girl from Brasil who was married in the US. Her extended family wasn't able to attend the ceremony so the church used video conferencing and family in 4 countries were able to observe.

We sold a smaller, same age house last fall. It was a slow market and supposed to be a bad time of year to sell. We had two offers in a week, for more than we were expecting to get. We interviewed 3 realtors. 1 was a friend who helped us buy the house we were selling, one was a realtor who had sold a house down the street in a month (most houses in our neighborhood were taking 8-9 months to sell), and 3rd was recommended by a friend and happened to be the top realtor in our region (she had been #1 or #2 for the last several years). It was difficult not using the friend, but he had some family issues that he was focused on and with 3 small kids we wanted a quick sale. We went with the last one and have recommended her to everyone we know who is even remotely interested in selling their house. All 3 realtors brought comparables and made a recommendation on price. They all walked through our home and made suggestions for what we could do to prepare our house to sell, their ideas were similar, none of them advocated spending a ton of money since our house was going to be selling at the lower end of the market. We painted 2 bedrooms, kitchen, hall, and living room before we interviewed the realtors. All three said painting was not necessary even though we had navy blue walls, I think this depends on individual markets and a realtor in your area will know best. Definitely talk to a realtor before you spend any money on fixing up the house. They will be able to help you make the changes that need to be made in your market. We thought we were done decluttering before we hired our realtor, afterward she had us declutter even more. Her biggest thing was making the house spotless and having no signs of pets. We had a storage shed so she had us store every piece of furniture that wasn't necessary, we had a small eat in kitchen so we replaced our table that you could barely walk around with a small 4 person table from IKEA. She wanted all of our closets only half full, all personal photos packed away, book shelf half full, no toys in view, only one item on the kitchen counter. The house was super clean, linoleum & baseboards were scrubbed, grout in the tile in the bathroom super clean. We ended up paying someone to clean all our windows which with the double panes and storm windows was well worth the money. Inside the house all the doors had different knobs, some were silver, some were brass, all were in bad shape. We ended up replacing all of them with inexpensive knobs which made a big difference to me. I'm not sure the new owners ever noticed all the knobs were new but they would have noticed the hodgepodge of old ones since all the doors were in the hall. We had dark curtains in our bedroom, she had us take them down and replace them with sheers. It let a lot more light in the room and made it look much better. I had a laundry basket for showings that I threw paperwork and random things in when we left the house. It made it easier to keep the appearance of our house being decluttered. We too contemplated temporary more modern furniture for selling our house, but our realtor advised against it. Outside we put a fresh coat of paint on our shutters and door (both were faded), put new mulch out front, trimmed the hedges, and put fresh potted mums on the front steps. We spent less than $75 freshening up the front since we did all the work ourselves. For the listing pictures, our realtor had a professional photographer take the pictures. The pictures looked so good we almost didn't want to sell the house. The first week the listing went live we had several people walk through and got two offers. We closed 6 weeks from the date we listed it (we needed time to find a place to move). We priced the house a little higher than the realtor recommended and got about $2K less than asking price. We actually made money on our house, which given when we purchased the house and sold it, we shouldn't have. When we were house hunting during that same time period I'm not sure how many houses we went through but it was a lot (40 maybe). The biggest thing I noticed is how cluttered some houses were and the smells (please don't use a candle to make your house smell better, bake something instead, oh how the different scents gave me a headache). We went to one house that had 4 coffee tables in the living room, making it difficult to get to the hallway. Another had a huge sectional that took up almost all the space and blocked a closet, it felt so crowded it was hard to imagine how our furniture would fit. People will be opening your closets so if toys come tumbling out they are just going to think the closet isn't going to be big enough instead of noticing the nice shelving inside. One garage was so packed full my husband wasn't sure both our cars would fit until he measured it, it turned out it was bigger than the garage down the street he liked, it just felt way smaller. The houses that were really clean and depersonalized were much easier to imagine living in. If you are in a neighborhood with a lot of similar houses for sale that can make a big difference between someone buying your house and the one down the street. Good luck!

Maybe you need an orienteering class or to go with someone more experienced a few times. The only times I've been back country hiking I was with my dad and he is a master with a terrain map and compass. I'm not comfortable enough with my skills to try that type of hiking without him yet. I have a hand held GPS, but I generally just use the mapmyrun app on my phone, unless we are geocaching too. I'm not doing back country hiking though.

I'm not sure but I'm curious too. I'd like to keep track of which read alouds I've done with each kid. Right now I use different shelves in Goodreads, but as far as I know I can only store one "date completed" per book.

I run on my toes when I sprint, it is not uncommon for sprinters. I don't have advice about whether she should be evaluated, but my high school track coach did encourage me to run that way. Now that I run longer distances I have learned how to run with a more normal toe strike.

Our town passed a special library tax in the last few years, which is probably why our library is really good for a small town. Now I can better appreciate that extra tax, knowing that it's paying for my ILL. I just did a quick google search and it looks like the average ILL costs a library $28, I had no idea. I've borrowed books from all over the country using it, all at no cost to me.

As a mom of young children, I like being able to reserve and renew books online. I like being able to return books after hours (the library in my new town doesn't have that option). I like the library being open in the evenings, even it if isn't every evening. My old branch had a wonderful children's area, adults do not have to walk through it to get to the adult sections. It has plenty of kid sized tables and chairs to make reading more comfortable, a family bathroom, shorter shelves with many books facing out. I don't mind the play areas, it has saved my sanity on some rainy days. I don't think they have to dominate the children's area though. I understand that a library can't possibly have every single book I would ever want, so I like being able to request books that a branch doesn't have, the inter-library loan system should be well advertised. I really like not having to walk past the adult computer terminals, especially if I have my children with me. I love being able to check out digital books for my Kindle, but the selection isn't great at my library. I think that's a bonus though, not required. I like programs that our geared toward families, I think that whether this is needed in a community varies greatly. Our library was given a large sum for art programs, they have used that to bring in the children's theater and professional puppeteers about once a quarter. We live in a smallish town (8K) so there is not a lot of opportunities for that type of thing without having to drive. We moved to this town about a year ago, one thing I see lacking at this library is knowledgeable staff. There is plenty of staff (I'm not sure if they are all librarians or assistants, or what) but only a couple of really knowledgeable staff members.

I hike with my 5,3, and 1 year old. It's great exercise and it wears my kids out. I generally stick to state park trails and nature sanctuary trails. I carry the baby and let the other two walk, they can handle a 4 mile hike pretty well, and we can do that in under 2 hours. These are not super challenging trails, but not boring either. I generally have cell service since they aren't too far out of town. I always let my husband know where we are headed and generally there is a sign in at the trailhead. We have many nature preserves in our state, the trails in some are not heavily used or maintained, I am not as comfortable taking my kids on those trails by myself. They are in more isolated areas and may get hiked only a few times a month. I think when they are a but older it will be fine though. I do always carry water, a snack, flashlight, and whistle. I also bring hats and mittens for the kids in cooler weather just in case something happens. If you have a local outdoor store, you could get advice about good trails. They may also offer some type of first aid class or be able to point you to one.

I really like the Make and Do books from Childcraft. They are no longer in print, but you can find used copies on ebay or Amazon. Some of the projects will require some planning ahead, but for the most part you only need things from around the house.

Lori D, thanks for grouping them out like that! You gave me some new ideas for my nearly 6 year old.

I have 5 siblings, all are adults, 4 are married. Growing up my parents would intervene when we fought, no physical fighting was allowed. We got along ok but not great. Since I moved out of the house my parents have never intervened in my relationships with my siblings. Now I'm close with 2 siblings and have ok relationships with the other 3, we live in 4 different states. Only once was I encouraged to go visit a sibling at a holiday, my mom was kind of upset with me when I chose not to go, it's a long story, but that's the closest my parents have ever been to intervening in our adult relationships. My husband and I stood our ground and she's minded her own business since. I also once unknowing offended a sister, when I commented to my dad several months later that she seemed distant, he told me what had happened, I would have appreciated a heads up. One brother has had some financial issues, 2 of us have chosen to help him on our own, he didn't ask for help and our parents didn't request we help him. We just saw a need and a way we could help, much like we would help others. I can't imagine my in-laws ever intervening between my husband and his sister. They didn't when they were kids and I could never see them doing it as adults. I especially can't see my parents or in-laws asking us to give our children's things to our nieces/nephews to even things out.

I've been struggling with this for going on 2 years. It started out once a week or so during pregnancy. After my son was in the NICU, selling our house, moving, husband traveling, etc. it worked up to every night. The last two weeks I have finally gotten a good nights sleep all but one night. I didn't think it was stress related (because relatively we have been under less stress the last few months) but I started sleeping better when my husband finished a project that was stressing him. In the month or so leading up to finally getting good sleep I also cut caffiene after about noon, started exercising more, and started going to bed at a consistent time (10:30) even if I'm not tired. I also quit trying to take naps during the day and started getting up at 7, even if I don't feel rested. I've had one sleepless night since then and it was a night my husband was out of town. I hope you find some relief!

I'm sensitive to that too. I don't recall name calling in the Mercy Watson or Flat Stanley books. There is a Christian book series that may work for you, The Cul-de-Sac Kids, the main character is a girl so my son kind of dismissed them without giving it a fair shot. I haven't read them myself, just skimmed them, but they were recommended to me by a friend with similar views.

We have the stainless tub, I don't think I would pay extra if I could get the exact quality without it.

I have a Whirlpool with silverware in the door. I'm not a huge fan of the silverware basket, forks tend to slide down through a hole between sections. It's annoying but not a huge deal, it is nice to have a lot more space for plates though. The cycles are much longer than our 20 year old basic model we had before, but there is a quick wash. It is super quiet, I sometimes have to check to make sure it's running. I also no longer prewash my dishes, even oatmeal in our glass bowls. We eat 3 meals a day at home so we do typically run it every night. I've been very pleased with it. I don't know the model number, it was purchased at Lowes last fall.

Cotillion is very active in my area, no hoop dresses though :). There is even a hierarchy to which cotillion you get invited to, apparently certain ones are better than others. Junior league is also quite popular, it varies widely town by town.

A couple months ago I returned all our library books, but we didn't have time to check out anything new. Later that night my son picked a random parenting book off our shelf and started reading it. He read a couple chapters before it registered what he was reading. Since then I've been better about not returning all the "kid" books at once.

It showed up today. USPS still shows it as being delivered to the wrong state.

The Mo Willems books were perfect for my son when he was at that stage.

Good point about average kids. My middle child is 3, I don't know yet if she will be advanced. She does like to show off on certain things and brag, so far it is just cute, but I could easily see it becoming a problem if we don't try to keep it in check. Off topic, but at what age did you start your kids playing piano? My son is interested in playing both the piano and the trumpet. He will be 6 at the end of the month. A friend will be giving us her keyboard when they remodel their office, eventually we would like to get a piano. I started piano at age 7 but didn't stick to it for more than a couple years then played clarinet up through college.

Thanks for all your responses. I think we are on the right track and perhaps my worry is a bit misplaced. We do try to challenge him in other areas that do not come as naturally. I do present him with reading material that he finds challenging, while trying to balance out the appropriateness of material for a kindergartner. We do talk about how some people are better at certain things than others and some things come more easily to others. We also talk about how some people have to work really hard to get better at certain things. Yes, I have seen that thread, I need to read through it again. In my original post by "evening out" I meant more along the lines that other kindergartners will start reading too and there won't be such a gap of him reading several grade levels ahead while they aren't reading at all. Strangers won't be as shocked by his reading ability in a couple years simply because they won't think it's weird that a 2nd grader is reading certain signs or headlines like they are when a kindergartner does.