Tag: Holidays

Trick, Treat, or Teaching Opportunity

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Halloween can be a scary time for more reasons than the goblins and spooky ghosts. Halloween seems to kick-off the season of treats beginning with the tempting sweets that line the grocery store aisles. Many parents dread Halloween due to the amount of candy that their child drags home after a long night of trick-or-treating.  However, I am looking forward to this teaching opportunity.

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Many of you know that food, nutrition and overall wellness are near and dear to my heart. I love equipping and empowering people in their health pursuits… especially my children. Trick-or-treating is a great time to teach moderation. There is a growing body of research that encourages families to mark no food as forbidden. Ellyn Satter encourages parents to help their children to, “Learn to manage sweets and to keep sweets in proportion to the other food [they] eat.” Moderation can be a difficult concept to grasp, but it is a lesson worth learning. According to research, treat-deprived children often end up weighing more later in life due to hoarding forbidden foods. I appreciate these findings but also recognize that these lessons need to be age-appropriate.

At three years young, my kiddos still are led by their frontal lobes (aka Impulsivity) therefore, we have tailored the moderation conversation to one of “wants” versus “needs” and “wants” have a time and a place. Since candy and sweets are unnecessary “wants,” my children have never had any. We don’t have any in the home so, if they encountered a candy bar on the street they wouldn’t know what it is. This is intentional because I know the power of sugar and I also know the consequences. Sugar is a sweet and silent killer that is a great contributor of morbidity and mortality around the world. Because of this I often associate excess sugar with excess alcohol or even smoking. As parents, we are guides and guardians for our children. We are blessed with the opportunity to guard their hearts, minds, bodies and souls until they are able to “digest” the media and message and then tasked with helping to guide them through this muddy world.

This does not mean my children will never have the pleasure of candy; recall those that are deprived often become the secret hoarders. Instead, we will continue to be intentional about when, where, why and how we introduce these types of foods and experiences. I also feel led to set others up for success that is why we will continue to be the weirdo house on the street that does not handout candy, but rather an allergen free snack. There are also a host of other food and non-food alternatives including…

Non-Food Alternatives:

  • Stickers
  • Glow sticks
  • Play dough
  • Rings
  • Toothpaste/Floss/Toothbrush
  • Pencil/Erasers
  • Seasonal Post-it’s
  • Bubbles

Food Alternatives:

  • Gum
  • Granola Bars
  • Pretzels/Crackers
  • Popcorn or Puffed Corn

So, with moderation in mind may the force be with you as we forge into the season of sweets and continue to guard and guide our children in the days to come!

The V5’s Vows for 2016

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The holiday commotion has settled and now the only flurry is the typical day-to-day of having five two-year-olds. This Christmas season was very special because it was the first time we got to see the holiday through a child’s eyes.

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The wonder and amazement of gift giving, reindeer, snowflakes and Frosty, as well as, jolly Old St. Nick adds another element to Christmas.

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We enjoyed our first Christmas in our new home, travelled to Lake Villa to enjoy our traditional family dinner, and even had our first sleepover with Papa T and Holly.

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Christmas Eve Morning and a Very Vanderwall Family Christmas Video 

The holiday flew by, and the New Year is upon us. What’s on the docket for 2016? Well, the V5’s vows for 2016 are to…

Learn how to Count to 20

Our munchkins can easily recognize numbers 1-10, but counting (in order) is a skill to-be-mastered. Theo has got 1-11 and a few of the girls can get to 10. One goal is to be able to count to 20 by the end of the year, as well as, count items all the way up to 20. Their new puzzle from Aunt Debbie and the girls will be a key to their success.

Sing the ABC Song

Letter recognition has come easy for the quints, since they have been exposed to so many names since birth. The letters T, I, B, L, K, M and E are hands down the easiest to recognize. Everyone also can recognize all of the upper case letters in the alphabet and most know the lower case, too. Since the V5 are really into singing now, we are hoping to capitalize and teach them the ABC song. If they can sing Frosty the Snowman and Rockabye Baby verse-by-verse, I’m confident we will get the ABC’s before 2017.

Theo’s rendition of Rockabye Baby

 

Spell and Write Their Names

Our bunch love to practice writing their names. We enjoy teaching them how to spell along with fun stories. For example, Theo learned how to spell and write his name by first learning that his names starts with “T,” and Mr. T is a line who always wear a hat, “H” comes after “T” and doesn’t leave home without his belt. “E” is third in line and wears shoes, a belt and a hat. Finally, “O” who looks like a circle.

Use the Potty

Our potty training adventures have ebbed and flowed throughout 2015. However, since everyone asked Santa for underwear this Christmas, potty training is a must in 2016. I must note that this was an unassisted request which was publically declared to the mall Santa.

Mall Santa Pic

Everyone now has the motor skills to use the potty. We are now working through recognition. Bella has mastered number “1” and “2;” she will be the first in her new purple undies. Ellie has “1” down, but often finds she is too busy to take potty breaks. K-Mae also is a “potty-going” superstar for “1” but “2” continues to sneak up on her. Theo is interested but isn’t there just, yet. And Lily, Lily gets an “A” for attempts. She sits and sits and tries and tries, but the poor-thing is still trying to figure out the difference between “1,” “2” and her perpetual gas… toots, toots, toots.

Mind their P’s & Q’s

This is, honestly, the number one priority. Teaching our children manners and respect is a lifelong priority. For now, we’re working on “please,” “thank you,” and “no thank you.” When they are polite to us and one another, the tone of the day is entirely different; dare I say it is easy? However, the majority of the time (nearly all of the time) they are quite the demanding bunch. We’ll get there, one P&Q at a time.

Time continues to fly by and we continue to try our best to savor each moment and stage, as well as, plan and prepare for the next. Childhood is truly a phenomenon; the days can seem so long, but they grow up in the blink of an eye, but don’t dare to blink because you’ll miss them. Here’s to a healthy, happy and fruitful New Year!