I’ve got two winners to announce this morning. First of all, it was extremely hard for me to pick the winner of the Golden Keyboard for the best sibling advice because there was so much good advice. I’ve tried Kristine’s advice to have kids say nice things about each other, and she’s right– it works. Several people commented on the way sharing a room with a sibling will help that relationship, and again, I nodded in agreement. I’ve seen this with my own kids. But the comment that gave me the biggest ‘Aha!’ moment came from Cathy:
I try to say “Yes” to them when it’s an activity that will promote friendship. For example…my kids (ages 8, 6, 3) love having sleepovers in each other’s rooms. It’s a pain for me, because I’m the one that has to drag out the blankets and sheets and sleeping bags, and it takes them FOREVER to fall asleep, but when I hear them giggling in their rooms and talking about fun things they want to do together this summer, it’s priceless. Or it might be to have a water fight–or dig a huge hole in our yard–or have a lemonade stand–or make a dinosaur out of paper machie, etc. Whatever it is, it usually requires some work on my part (read: huge clean up!!!) but it’s a small price to pay if it gets my kids working together, building memories, and playing well.
This was a good reminder to me. Sometimes I can get tired of messes, and say no in a knee-jerk way, without thinking of the benefits of going along with kids’ ideas. Cathy, email me (owlhaven at aol dot com) and I will give you the code to put the Golden Keyboard Award in your sidebar.
Now for the free 6 month Netflix membership (3 movies at a time)! It goes to the lucky Tina at The Way I See It. Tina, email me your full name and snail mail address and I will pass it on to Netflix.
And if you’re bummed that YOU didn’t win, remember: I’ll be giving away one of these memberships every week for the next month. You can get another shot at winning by commenting on my Opinion Saturday questions!
Hiya, nice blog!!!
I linked ya’ll on my blog. I hope that’s OK. If not, just let me know, OK? Thanks!
Congratulations… those were wonderful ideas!!