The dirty truth - 3 ways to get kids to reuse their bath towels



Photo courtesy:  www.snapsandbits.com

Have you ever experienced a time where it felt like you had mounds of laundry, especially towels to clean and put away? In my house I feel like there needs to be a towel rationing system.

When I walked into my teen sons’ room it looked like a towel parade. There were towels in varying sizes and colors. Some in a heap on the floor. Others thrown over the back of the head board of his bed.

On any given day my son can be seen strutting to his room with one towel around his waist and another around his neck. When I look in the bathroom, none of the towels have made it back to the towel bar. However there is a towel on the bathroom floor. When I asked why the towel was on the floor, my son responded with, “I needed to put my wet feet on something.”

What’s a parent to do? Do you put a limit on the number of towels your child uses each week?

The dirty truth…you may have to trick become very creative to get kids to reuse their towels. So where do you start? Below are a few suggestions to get you started:

1.      Teach the kids to do laundry - Assign one child to wash all of the family towels for two weeks. Remind him that it’s not a punishment, just a learning experience.

2.      Use a little ingenuity – One mom decided to hang her kids used towels across a laundry basket to dry. Once the towels dried, she refolded them and placed them back in the closet. The kids never caught on.

3.      Set house rules for towel usage – identify a set number of towels each child can use each week. Have consequences for over usage – child would have to complete one additional chore during the week. By the same token you can offer rewards for compliance - Child can choose the dinner menu for one night.

What do you do when you feel like you’re ready to “throw in the towel”? What are your suggestions for controlling the over usage of towels?

Wordless Wednesday – Daddy Day Care - creating family memories

What happens when dad takes care of the kids? Pure entertainment.

 

 

How do you create family memories?

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Giggle Poetry



Photo Credit: motownwriters.wordpress.com

April is here, it’s time to celebrate National Poetry Month. I told my teen son it’s poetry month and we should create a fun poem. He looked at me, paused and with a shine in his eye said, “Roses are Red Violets are Blue, I’m on spring break and should be too.”

So, I ventured out on my own in search for fun stuff for poetry month. I found a website called Giggle Poetry. If you have young children (younger than teens), you might find a few fun ideas to share with them. There were poetry race tongue twisters, fill in the blank poems and Rhyme Time Riddles.

Below are samples from the website (gigglepoetry).

What would you call a top-notch detective?
A super snooper

Poetry Race – How fast can you say the tongue twister?

Betty Botter bought some butter.
"But," she said, "the butter's bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter.
And she put it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.

So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter!

How good a tongue twister are you?

40 seconds and over:
Too slow. Your grandparents could say the poem faster.
30 to 40 seconds:
Not bad. You're probably a faster talker than the President.

20 to 30 seconds:
Pretty good. You've been gifted with a fast pair of lips.

15 to 20 seconds:
Excellent. You can out talk anyone around.

14 seconds or less:
You are a tongue tying champion!

If you prefer something other than riddles and tongue twisters here are four other ways to celebrate poetry month:

1.      Put a poem on the pavement – write a poem in chalk on your sidewalk.

2.      Put poetry in an unexpected place – a poem about dirty clothes can go in the laundry room.

3.      Play hangman with poetry terms for older kids.

4.      Host a “poetry slam” invite other kids or adults to read poems aloud.

For more ways to celebrate poetry month visit www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/94.

How will you celebrate National Poetry Month?