As a parent, it can be very challenging to get the kids to do what you want them to do. It’s very easy to just start telling them over and over what you expect them to do, until they finally, slowly do it.

But sometimes telling them over and over is not the way to handle it.

We’ve been dealing with this with my 5 year old. She’s quite the feisty young lady at times, and often getting her ready for school in the morning is a stream of reminders to not dawdle, to keep eating her breakfast, not play with her toothbrush, etc.

This week we started something different. We told her that there would be no reminders. She would get up and get ready on her own. If she didn’t, we would do the minimum to make her presentable for school, and take her there.

She’s doing very well on her own now, and is speeding up in other areas that she tended to go slowly on.

Of course, it’s only been a few days, so this may not last, but I’ve generally found the more we expect of our kids, the better they perform, within reason for their ages. Nagging or doing the work for them just makes them slow down more.

This can feel very contrary to what you might expect to work. When you have a child who doesn’t work hard on something it’s easy to feel like you have to keep pushing to get things done. But sometimes that is counterproductive.

We had a discussion with our daughter before doing this, and she liked the idea. Nagging often does little more than frustrate everyone. It creates stress, and many kids react to that by slowing down still more.

But we expressed this new rule as confidence in her ability to handle things on her own, rather than as a consequence. It has consequences for not getting ready fast enough, but she feels more like we believe in her than when we keep reminding her to get moving. It’s a much more positive experience for everyone.

Easter eggs don’t all have to be dyed using those store bought kits. One of the things I want to try this year is a tie dye appearance for our eggs. I found these instructions for them on another site. We have some crayon shavings already, which I think we’ll use. They were going to be for a project making new crayons until I remembered this.

Boil the eggs as usual. As they boil, get out several paper plates (no plastic or styrofoam). Spread out the crayon shavings, with just a couple colors for each plate, according to the combinations you want on the eggs.

Do not cool the eggs. Instead, roll them in the crayon shavings and put back into the egg cartons to dry.

I love this idea since it means no need to buy an egg dye kit. The kids love to sharpen crayons, so crayon shavings are something we have plenty of. Obviously, you want the crayons to be of the non-toxic variety, which I think they generally are anyhow, if your kids will want to eat the eggs.

My poor daughter. She’s sick yet again. Poor kid threw up in the car last night.

We’ve decided that it must have to do with holidays. She was sick on Valentine’s Day too. Sick around Christmas, two different years.

Fortunately, she is getting better and the day is warm so we’re encouraging her to play just a little outside. The appetite is still way, way down so I know she isn’t well yet, but she’s doing better.

Easter is coming up really soon here, and with my husband still out of work, obviously we’re going to be pretty reluctant to spend a lot of money on fun stuff for the kids’ Easter baskets. Which will no doubt disappoint my daughter, as she already is talking about what she wants in it.

Candy, candy, candy, of course. Some things are just obvious.

I haven’t done my buying for them yet, but I have been out looking at prices and figuring out what we can do for cheap.

To start out with, save the baskets from year to year, somewhere that the kids can’t get them out and play with them. My kids’ Easter baskets are pretty sturdy, so they should keep going for a long time.

If you use the plastic grass, try to keep that from year to year too. I’m thinking that shredded paper could be an alternative to buying if you don’t have it – not as pretty, but if you have a shredder and lots of junk mail, well, that junk mail could finally come in handy.

One nice thing about little kids – they don’t care about the quality of the candy you buy for them. I can’t stand the taste of cheap chocolate, and to be Easter-specific, I loathe Palmer’s chocolates, but kids really don’t care. Jelly beans go over well, and you can get them pretty cheaply.

More ideas:

Use Plastic Eggs

Those plastic eggs you can get this time of year can be a pain, but if you want the basket to look like it has more than it does, put the candy and other small items in the eggs, and reuse them from year to year. I can tell you from experience that the eggs can be hard to reclaim after the holiday, but do your best. Better to reuse them than to have them end up broken in the trash after just one use.

Fresh Fruits

I buy fresh fruit for the kids anyhow, and switching some of the candy out for fruit means the basket is healthier and really contains things I would have bought holiday or no holiday. Just pay attention to each child’s favorite fruits, and this could be a hit.

Compare Prices

For some people, those preassembled Easter baskets can be a good deal. For others, they cost too much for what you’d get.

Take a calculator and figure out the total cost to buy everything you’d put in an Easter basket on your own. Then compare it to the preassembled ones and decide which way it makes the most sense to go. The preassembled ones can be in the $15 and up range in a lot of cases, which really adds up when you are buying for more than one child!

Toys That Will Actually Be Used

A couple toys can be nice, even on a budget, provided they aren’t the kind of thing that your child will be ignoring the next day.

Cheap toys can include sand toys for the kids still young enough to play with them, crayons, toy cars and so forth. Dollar stores can have some great finds if you get shopping early enough, but I always try to stick with the principle of “will it really be played with? Tomorrow? After that?”

You can also make play dough, slime and other fun things for the kids and put them in the Easter basket. Little kids of course love bubbles, and if you have old bubble wands around the house it’s pretty easy to make your own bubble mix from water and liquid dish soap.

Encourage Their Hobbies

Think about cheap art supplies, seeds and pots for a garden, and so forth. I love it when I can give my kids things that encourage them to follow their own interests.

Books

Always a good idea to encourage kids to read. It’s pretty easy to find books in the dollar range for younger children, but this does get more challenging as the kids get older.

Mmm… probably, yes. It is likely to be in trouble, especially if the current budget goes through.

California schools have frankly been facing some issues for a while. Despite that we used to have a great school system, according to a letter I got from my daughter’s school today, California currently spends about $1900 less per student than the national average, and they’re talking about a cut that would mean another $800 per student less.

Insanity! How do they expect teachers to work with so little?

My husband and I call it the continuing war against education in this state, because that’s what it feels like at times. We were both in college when huge cuts were made for the California State University system. One of my sisters had her entire major cut at the college she was at. And now things are looking that bad for our public schools too.

They’re talking 30 kids to one teacher in kindergarten classrooms, here. Up from 20:1.

If you’re a parent in California, or if something similar is happening in your own state, don’t just sit there and watch! The economy is rough all over, but there must be better ways for governments to handle their budget problems than this. Contact your State Senate and Assembly representatives, and let them know what you think.

And for those who say “Well, time to homeschool!” just remember that what happens to the public schools still matters. And if a recent court decision holds, homeschooling in California could be much harder to do anyhow. I don’t expect it to hold, especially since our governor is not so foolish as to agree with the judge, but it is a potential issue.

I love the school district we’re in now. It’s the best rated in the area, and my daughter has a wonderful teacher. But I don’t see how her school can keep up all the wonderful programs they have if this keeps up.

There’s still time for the state to work on this budget. Frankly, if they follow what is practically a California tradition, they’ll finish it late anyhow. But there needs to be better than this in it.