Today I’m sharing how to make storytime more fun for you and your kids.

I’m guessing your bedtime routine with your kids involves storytime. Am I right?

If you’re saying no, maybe it’s because you think your kids are “too old” for bedtime stories, right? Wrong. Even when your child can read well, it’s important to still read together aloud. It helps with pronunciation and getting words into their brain, it also associates reading with pleasure and together-time, and allows you to talk about and analyze the story together.

You should be incorporating more stories into your child’s life, not less and not just at bedtime.

Here’s 3 reasons why:

1.  You are literally teaching your child to THINK when you are telling stories.

All conceptual thought depends on us creating or remembering pictures in our head of what we are thinking of.

When you are thinking of a dog, you have in your...

   Click on the photo to watch the video version 

Now that our youngest has turned five-years-old, I finally have time to read again! So many great books to choose from, here are my favorites from last year that have helped with my parenting:

Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

When we dreamed of having kids and a family, most of us had visions and dreams of us all sitting around laughing and enjoying family time together. The reality is, our daily lives disconnect us from these moments because there’s too much of everything. Too much stuff, too much information, too much speed, too many activities scheduled, and too many choices. This book is a reminder of the importance of creating calm and rhythm into our children’s lives.

It actually became a goal of mine for 2019: to create a calm, soothing environment for our family.

How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims

I agreed with most of the reminders of this book, it’s basically stop...

Don't you love setting goals? I'm inspired all the time by leaders who explain how wonderful it is to have goals and how much more successful people are when they make them. Did you know not many of us actually take the time to write them down?

Shortly after the birth of our second child, my husband and I went out on a date night and he started asking me all sorts of questions, like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and "What's next for you?" I remember being so frustrated he would ask me questions like that when I was in survival mode with the kids. Of course, he didn't understand, but for a few years, I didn't have time to think about anything other than the kids or food or how to care for them. I was either with them or trying to stay awake. Sleep was so precious and I wasn't getting enough.

After that brief time, I got back to goal-setting and it's always served me well. Lots of my friends would tell me they created vision boars. I remember thinking they were kind...

A couple of years ago, my husband traveled a ton and I was in charge of bringing all three kids out in 100-degree weather for soccer games on Saturday mornings. That first year, it was all about the snacks. I think I ended up feeding all the younger siblings at the same time as my own kids, so I brought lots of snacks, chairs, the soccer stuff and all three kids in the wagon after parking a third of a mile away.

As the kids have gotten older and I’ve gotten more practice, we have streamlined these outings to make them much easier and more fun!

Dad is in charge of taking all three of our kids to soccer practice on his own this weekend, so I’m supplying him with everything he needs for a successful outing.

Keeping little ones busy in the hot sun all morning isn’t easy! Here’s what to stock up on to make sure you are set up for success.

First off, of course, each child should be dressed in their soccer uniform, socks, shinguards,...

Watch the video HERE.

You made it through the early years of either sleep training or lying in your child’s room until they fell asleep, right? So why is your big kid constantly coming down or lying in bed awake until all hours of the night?

When our oldest started preschool, it was like as soon as he got into bed his brain became alive. He built his best creations our of Duplo Lego or Zoobs when he was supposed to be sleeping, asked many intriguing questions and would even cry because he couldn’t get tired enough to fall asleep. The fact was, he was overtired and we tried everything to correct it - switching up the bedtime, creating a more soothing routine, we even got our the essential oils and massagers.

When he was in 1st grade, I found this great book and we read it together. It has helped him understand it is his job to help his body relax and there are many ways to do it. There’s also a game in the book that really helped our 3-year-old...