Amy LeForge

Let Me Tell You How I Handle Candy at Easter

So, Easter was just a few days ago.  Did the boys get much in the way of Easter candy on Sunday?

Nope.  I didn’t give them a thing.  Grandma gave them each a chocolate cross on Saturday, but that was it.

The great thing is, they didn’t complain at all! That happens when kids get older.  🙂

So, on Monday, the day AFTER Easter, I hit the store early. After all, candy is marked at half off! I spent a…

How do You Teach Kids to be Deliberate?

Sooooo, I got up early this morning, as is my practice these days.  (I have to tutor kids earrrrrrrly every morning).  And as usual, the light above the stove was on.

Again.

I have TOLD the boys over and over and OVER that I want all lights turned off every night.  I don’t see the wisdom of paying for the electricity that no one uses.  I hate waste.  You name it, I’ve come up with a variation of…

Prepare Your Pets for Disaster

This just in from Olivia, my buddy at the ASPCA.

September happens to be National Preparedness Month and it couldn’t be timelier. We at the ASPCA have teamed up with meteorologist Ginger Zee to ask that pet owners in all parts of the country prepare for their pets in the event of a natural disaster: ASPCA.org/PrepPledge. Keeping pets as part of a disaster plan is essential to their safety and…

Looking for Laundry in All the Wrong Places

So. A certain boy has apparently decided to be the death of me.

As a member of the soccer team, he was provided with blue shorts and socks, a blue jersey, and a white jersey. The blue jersey was worn one Sunday evening to conduct a soccer team fundraiser. By Wednesday morning when he needed to wear it to school, it was missing.

Heroes, we spent from Wednesday until the following Saturday…

I’ve Been Teaching Again!

Heroes, I’ve been doing something really neat for the last several months: teaching again! Specifically, I’m working for a company called VIPKID. I teach Chinese children how to speak English.

Do I speak Chinese myself? Nope. Not yet. I’m going to start learning Mandarin shortly though. (I have plans.) Because VIPKID is an immersion program, it’s not necessary for me to understand Chinese.

Underachievement Can Be SO Frustrating

So. I haven’t written here in…years. This is because of 2 reasons. One is administrative. Google didn’t like the way I had links structured and they de-listed the blog until I fixed it. Going through a thousand posts and fixing links? Not really fun. It took a good deal of the wind out of the sails for me.

Second reason: objections from sons. There was (and is) a good deal of concern that…

Monday Giveaway Linky – Back After an Extended Absence Edition

Sooooooo. Haven’t done the linky in….way too long. I apologize. Seems like things this summer just got too busy. I’ve had many articles in my head, things I wanted to share with you. But life got in the way, and I just haven’t been able to be at my keyboard the way I want to. Hopefully I’ll do a much better job, and you’ll have new things to read and linky items to click on.

A girl can…

Monday Giveaway Linky – Exhausted but Done Edition

Good Monday, Heroes! I’m pleased to report that we survived graduation season. The boys had their open house yesterday. If you live in a region that does not have open houses, I will explain. Basically it’s a party for the graduate. The parents clean and prepare and invest in far too much food and then people come and give the graduate gifts. It’s a nice way to finish out high school and touch…

Monday Giveaway Linky – End of a Grueling Week Edition

Howdy Heroes! I haven’t been as good with posting as I would like, and part of that is related to the week we just had.

Oy. It was not pleasant.

Basically, high school graduation was Friday night for the older boys. Only one of them wasn’t allowed to walk because he failed the last semester of a required course by the tiniest of margins.

The pain, it was tremendo

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Giveaway Linky – Getting Through to Them Edition

After years of repeating myself….a lot…I think I’ve made progress lately. We tore out a bathroom because it was starting to get moldy (boys take showers that are TOO long!) so now the boys have invaded the parental space as it were.

Translation: 3 times in as many weeks I have had to rush all the way downstairs to grab toilet paper because no one made sure the bathroom was stocked adequately.…

Happy Mother’s Day 2016!

Happy Mother’s Day, moms. I know I normally address readers as Heroes, (because if you’re a parent, you are one), but this wish is addressed specifically to moms. Don’t worry dads, I plan to address you next month.

So! Happy Mother’s Day. I hope you have a wonderful one. I already got to sleep in and my morning coffee was brewed and delivered. Upcoming highlights of the day should include…

Monday Giveaway Linky – Oh, The Aching Muscles Edition

I don’t know if I mentioned here last week that we’re renovating a bathroom here at Earnest Parenting.

And by “renovating” I mean: removing all fixtures, every scrap of drywall and flooring, and starting from scratch.

The demo part of the job started out like gangbusters. We were making great progress. The boys really enjoyed banging away at the walls and pulling down pieces of drywall. Then we…

Monday Giveaway Linky – Oh the Mess Edition

Heroes, I suppose you have been through a renovation before in your home. We’ve done a few projects over the years but most of them were new things…not actual renovation.

This weekend, we started a new project. An actual renovation. We are tearing out one of the bathrooms to redo it. Because the boys have taken loooooooong showers over the years, the drywall in there has actually gotten moldy.…

Monday Giveaway Linky – Catching Up On Email Edition

So, the order of the day is email. Lots and lots of email.

Lots.

I’ve already cleared out a thousand or more spam messages, hundreds of junk mail and unnecessary messages and have 840 left to go that are unread. Of course there are also quite a few that I read but haven’t responded to. But I’m making progress, and hope to finish the job in the next day or two.

If you’ve sent me a message and…

Benefits of Parents Reading to Children (Beyond the Child’s Performance)

Benefits of parents reading to their children beyond the child’s performance Every parent would like to see their children grow up as smart individuals with a good dose of common sense. Your choice of school and education route will reflect how much you support your child and want them to have the best start in life possible. However, it may surprise you to know that one of the most basic ways to…

I Got the Papers Done!

I did it! I conquered the mountain of paper waiting for me by my desk! It’s awesome.

Of course, now I have to pay some bills and do other work. But at least the giant pile of junk mail isn’t sitting there staring at me.

Making me feel guilty.

Now it’s just a small basket of guilt. That’s better than a mountain, right?

Trying to keep up with everything seems more and more difficult, and I will…

Monday Giveaway Linky – I Hate Paper Edition

Soooooo, I think I missed 2 weeks of the linky. In a row.

I’m so sorry!

I’ve been just drowning in work lately, especially paperwork. I hate paper. It’s such a lot of work to manage.

And I will admit, I’ve really let things stack up lately. So now I have a pile that is about 2 feet deep that needs my attention.

Ugh.

Well, it’s not 2 feet deep anymore. I’ve already made some progress.

I…