Advices That You Think are Obvious But Some Kids Just Need to Hear

Life Hacks You Won't Find in Textbooks 

The Small Talk Six sounded so interesting when I heard about it last week! I actually wrote a similar post beforehand, so I couldn't participate then. This week totally slipped my mind yesterday, but better late than never, right? Here I am!

The topic for this week is 6 Pieces of Advice that you Think are Obvious, But Some People Just Need to Hear. So here you go. This is the advice that I find myself often dispensing to my children. Day after day. Week after week.

children

The Grown-Up Handbook: Essential 

1. “You cannot eat food that has just fallen on the floor” I hear you! I tell my kids this all the time too. The “Five Second Rule” seems to go out the window the moment food hits the floor. They just look at it, then grab it anyway! Guess it's one of those things we have to keep reminding them about. advice for kids

2. “It is not ok just to pee in the bath.” Maybe some of you feel differently but I am little grossed out when one of my kids pees in the bath or shower. I forgot to mention that they all still bathe together so when one goes, there are two members of the audience that are affected as well. Yuck. Just yuck.

3. “Honesty is always the best policy but only if you check with mommy first.” This kind of goes without saying yet I find myself saying it over and over again. Then repeating myself when one child has been a little too honest with some unsuspecting victim. I know that I am getting through to my kids though because just last week my son came to me first before sharing some information that he wanted to share. “Mama” he said “I want to tell Oma [my mother who lives with us] that she has floppy boobies. Can I do that?” See, score one for my fabulous parenting. He did not tell Oma but he did make Mommy speechless. I mean what woman does not know when her boobies are floppy?

 Pieces of Advice that you Think are Obvious, But Some Kids Just Need to Hear

4. “Just because the clothes that you have been wearing for two days don't look dirty, they are dirty.” Yeah…about that…well never mind.

5. “If your going to lie, at least put a little thought into your back story and wipe your face a bit.” As I sat there staring at my four year old daughter giving me her best angelic cherub look complete with a few slow, eye blinks, I thought that she was close, really close to almost convincing me. But to really convince me that she did not eat all of the doughnuts that her daddy just bought, I was thinking that she should have really wiped the doughnut off of her face first and maybe moved the princess brush, comb, mirror set away from the counter which was laying right next to the doughnut box. Other than that, it was pretty convincing. advice for kids

6. “Dessert is not your God given right!” The other night, a tiny finger tapping on my forehead jolted me awake. Was I dreaming? Nope. Another insistent tap-tap-tap confirmed it. Groggily opening one eye, I saw the same four-year-old from the doughnut incident standing there, brow furrowed with worry. The clock displayed a mocking 3:22 AM, courtesy of the cable company's unhelpful blinking. “What is it, angel?” I sighed, instantly feeling like a villain for disrupting her sleep. Tears welling up, she mumbled, “I didn't have no bessert today.” Sure, “bessert” was adorable for “dessert,” but at 3 AM, cuteness loses its charm. This is where the nightly struggle to establish healthy boundaries and realistic expectations begins…again.