Onward and upward!

Thank you for being part of our journey these 3 years! We've so appreciated all your kind words and visits. Onward and upward with our journey!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Smoothing Summer Transitions


Dear My Toy Garden friend,
     Every mom feels their breath quicken a bit at the idea of major changes coming up for their family?  Summer is full of transitions for families to roll through. From a break in school to vacations things may be a bit different.  My Toy Garden is here to help with some proven ideas to help!  Glance at these ideas below, choose one or two that will fit your family and then forward this newsletter along to another friend you can help.  (Next week, we'll talk about transitions in a day.  Have great tips on this?  Email or post on Facebook and you could be a star next week!)

1.  Bend a bit more - As a teacher for many years, it never failed that my very best students were normally quite challanging the last few weeks of school. After the first few years of this, I came to realize it was their subconscious way to make saying goodbye easier.  It's easier to say goodbye when you are at odds with each other a bit than if you are big fans of each other.  Once I understood this, a few extra hugs, sincere eye contact, kind words and a bit of extra patience helped smooth this transition.  If your normally wonderful child gets a bit testy at the end of the school year, bend a bit with them, and help them say goodbye.

2.  Chains - Paper chains are great time trackers to answer those, "How many days until...?" questions.  Make a paper chain for the summer.  Mark appropriate ones with what days are vacation days, camp days, etc.  Sprinkle in a few surprises along the way on some random links and it'll make the changes easier for your child to see coming and fun to anticipate.  Hint - write the day on them so you'll know if you're on the right link.

3.  Photos are your friends - Are you planning to see friends or family your child has never or seldom seen?  Pull together some photos of the soon to be visited special ones and share them with your child.  Tell them names and a little about them.   This will make them more like friends and less like strangers when they arrive to visit.

4.  YouTube Sneak Peeks - Is an airplane ride coming up a new experience? You Tube has videos that can help your child prepare.  Here is a tour of the Indy airport.   Take off can be scary for first timers especially if they have no idea what to expect.  Fly along on this You Tube video  to get a sneak peek of what it's like.  

5.  Drive Bys - Will you child be going to camp this summer in a new place?  Drive by and pop in to visit a few days before to make the new space more familiar.  This will ease jitters on the first day when chaos is most likely.  Talk about what the experience will be like for several days ahead of time to help them visualize it.

Playfully,
Toylady Janet

Tricks for Daily Transitions


Dear My Toy Garden friend,
   Hands up!  Count, if you well please, how many transitions does your child go through in a day?  One of Newton's laws is an object in motion, stays in motion.  This is so true of your child isn't it?  Once they are in motion, they want to continue on their path and the energy required to guide them to a new path can be a challenge.  Here are a few ideas to help make those transition times a bit easier.   If you like these ideas, please share with others.   Do you have other ideas? Please join in the conversation on our Facebook page!

#1 - Routines are your friend - THE most important advice I can offer is to have routines and stick to them as much as possible.  Routines give a child comfort and security. They know what to expect and when.  Have a routine for the morning, for meals, for bedtime and a "This is what we do" mantra.  Using a visual planner like our Easy Dayies Daily Planners help the visual and tactile child know the plan.  On the left, you put the agenda for the day using magnetic labels and, as they are completed, the child moves them to the right.

#2 - Quack! Quack!  -  A common practice in my house is to set the timer on my Iphone for transitions.  "Let's see if we can pick these toys up before my phone quacks."  Picking a silly sound is motivating for the child.  "You can play for 3 more minutes until..."  This way the timer is the bad guy and not you.  :-)  We have a great oversized timer at My Toy Garden perfect for this idea!

#3 - Pile it on - When transitioning from play to something else, make clean up a snap by gathering all the stray items into piles.  Say, "I'll pick up everything in this pile and you can pick up this pile. Let's see who can do it first."  This gives them a clear picture of what "clean up" means and a race is always more fun!

#4 - Red, blue, yellow - Another clean up transition trick that works for us is to focus on one color or another.  "You pick up the red ones and I'll pick up the blue ones."  It makes the task at hand less overwhelming.

#5 - What's that?! - Distraction can be your best friend.  When battling a child with getting dressed or any of the many tasks that need to be done in a day, think outside the box.  Pretend you found a cat in their shirt and they need to look inside to help you find it...put a sock on your hand and let a puppet smooth the way...start singing something silly.  Doing something unexpected breaks the "I don't want to!" cycle and makes it more fun for all.

#6 - Choices, choices -  We all like to feel in control. Give your child the feeling of control over things he/she can have a say in.  Do you want to brush your teeth first or get your jammies on first?  Do you want to wear the blue shirt of the green one?  They pick, they feel empowered, you get to move on to the next thing...everyone wins!