Ok ladies, let’s face it.  Anything that helps us to be better moms is a good thing, right?  Right.  And advice comes from everywhere (whether we like it or not).  It’s hard to sort through the garbage to get to the gems.  Today, I’ve done the work for you.  Here are 4 tips that I learned from the wonderful web that have helped me be a better mom.  As a bonus, I’m throwing in a link to the most amazing what-do-I-do-with-all-this-freaking-zucchini recipe ever.  So good that I made some to “freeze for when school starts” and have eaten every last one.  Okay, I think Honey and the girls each had one.

Sharing

My daughters have been home together all summer long and for the most part have played together beautifully.  This is all starting to unravel now that we are a few weeks out from the start of school.  Seriously.  Aren’t we all starting to unravel with a few weeks out from the start of school?  This tip has been helping with the endless squabbles over toys.  Sadly I have no idea where I learned this tip so if it’s yours, give me a shout out so I can give you credit.

The next time your kids are fighting over anything give them two choices:  1) offer a trade (I’ll give you the pink My Little Pony for the blue one) or (2) Ask “How many minutes until I get a turn?”  The response must be a number between 2 and 5.  Younger children might need assistance with this.

This trick has worked wonders in my house and both girls often come to me asking to set a timer because they’ve already settled on how many minutes there are before the trade occurs.

Arguing

I just stumbled on this gem last week while reading one of my favorite blogs, The Mom Edit (previously called Aint’ No Mom Jeans).  This post has tons of great ideas, but the best tip is at the bottom:

Finally, we try to stay out of the kids’ business as much as possible.  Dispute over a truck?  Yeah, I’ll empathize.  That stinks.  How frustrating!!  Or I’ll employ a trick from Raines’ amazing preschool teacher, Lauren*:  “Are you telling me because you want me to do something, or because you just want me to know?”  You’d be surprised at how often kids just want to be heard.  Many times the kids respond with “I want you to know!!” and then run off to play.  In the event that they are looking for some action, Lauren suggests coming back with:  “What have you tried?”  At this point, they’re totally bored and typically will go work it out themselves.

This idea seems so OBVIOUS but yet I’d never tried it.  So…one of the many car squabbles ensued and I asked Kitten this question.  It took her aback and she thought for a minute before she said she wanted help.  I asked her what she’d tried and she said “nothing”.  So I offered that perhaps she should tell her sister how she was feeling.  Guess what?  It totally worked.  I’m definitely adding this to my arsenal of mommy phrases.

Swim Diapers

Again, I have no idea where I learned this trick so if you know, let me know.  Credit where credit is due.  This tip is going to blow your mind, but trust me, it works.  I used it for two years.  Ladies, swim diapers are washable.  And by washable I mean reusable.  (I’ll wait while you let that sink in for a minute.)  Stop buying swim diapers.  If your kid doesn’t make a mess of the diaper (no need for further explanation) just throw the dipe into the wash with the suits and towels.  It’ll be good as new to use on your next trip to the pool.  I haven’t tried this trick on a dipe that has been to the beach.  I’m guessing it might not work as well because…sand.  In two years I used the same swim diaper on repeat and never had an issue.  Buy a bag with friends and divvy them up and you’ve just saved yourself a ton o’ cash.

Shoe Tying

Have you seen this video?

Life changing.  I spent the summer encouraging Lovey to try to practice shoe tying to no avail.  And then this.  I’ll admit we haven’t tried this trick yet because her sneakers were so small that I told her she could throw them away when camp was over, but I know other moms who have tried this and have successfully won the shoe tying battle.  I’ll try it next week and report back.

Speaking of reporting back…I’m promised an update on the harem pants.  In a word: awesome.  So comfy.  Might not be the most flattering thing ever but neither are sweatpants, so there.

The recipe

It’s gluten free, egg free, dairy free but you could easily use regular flour and milk.  Or try it gluten free (I used just white rice flour because it’s what I had and they came out great) and save it in your bag of tricks for the next time you need an allergy friendly treat.

Gluten free vegan double chocolate chip zucchini muffins