Stuff Parents Need

My New Go-To Birthday Party Present: Three Little Piggies Logic Game

April 15, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to SmartGames for sending along a complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Do you have a gift closet in your home? We don’t have an entire closet full of gifts, but we do have dedicated space in one of our closets to gives we like that we want to share with others. It’s quite handy when birthday party invitations come our way, as well as when it’s time to make final gift decisions for all the cousins (10, so far!).

Sometimes I’ll stock up on something that my own kids particularly enjoyed playing with, and today I want to highlight our newest find. I’ll be buying multiple copies of Three Little Piggies in the near future because this logic game rocks in SO many ways. I really enjoy playing it as an adult, and it is also quite fun for both of my girls (almost 4 and 6 1/2). It’s hard to find something that can entertain young kids as well as adults, but Three Little Piggies does just that!

So the game comes with a blue board, some figurines, some houses with attached “grass” and a book with 44 different puzzles to solve. Half of the puzzles involve figuring out how to place the houses in such a way that the piggies are all outside of them. These are the day time puzzles. The night time puzzles involve the wolf and you have to figure out how to place the houses so that each pig is safe inside and the wolf is outside. Pigs and wolves cannot be moved. It’s quite a lot of fun, really!

And perhaps best of all, this game is intended for just one player. This is fantastic for only children, but it’s also nice for anyone who just wants to play alone for a spell. By playing Three Little Piggies, your child gets to practice working on logical reasoning, spatial perception, strategic planning and mental agility. Not bad for just one game, right?

I have also just found, through observation, that this game really can hold a child’s attention. This is especially true for my 6 1/2 year old, who will go through challenge after challenge after challenge, all in one sitting.

Overall, I give this game two very enthusiastic thumbs up! As I said, I plan to buy a few more copies to give as gifts because my whole family thinks it is a winner. You can purchase Three Little Piggies from SmartGames for $24.99.

7 Surefire Ways to Grow a Little Leader (Starting Now!)

April 14, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

When I was a college student, one of my mentors said to me, “You are a leader of tomorrow, only if you wait. Don’t wait.”

It was such a simple statement but it just about knocked me over on the spot. For all of my life up to that point I had been told (countless times) about how I (and the rest of my peers) were the future, that we were tomorrow, that we were going to be superstars later. It was always praise for who we would be at some unidentified point later in time, and because of that well-intended but rather misguided praise, I never felt the need to flex my leadership muscles too much, since it was obviously a task for later.

Thank goodness for the person who helped me realize that the waiting (or the not waiting) was entirely up to me. His words have never left me, and I think of them often as I’m raising two little humans who can be great global citizens with the right training and support, starting at home, and starting right now.

Today I want to share 7 ways that I’m trying to cultivate the leadership potential in my own young children. I hope they give you some great ideas you can implement with your kids, as well.

1. Give Your Child Choices

From as early on as possible, give your child the opportunity to have some degree of choice and to own the choices s/he makes. The choices should be things that the parent is ok with either way. In my home that might be the choice between 2 different outfits for the day or the choice between bed time stories to read, as examples. Kids need practice being in control of situations and practice making decisions. By providing these opportunities you are increasing confidence and independence.

2. Give Your Child the Opportunity to Challenge Him/Herself

My oldest child is in the first grade, and her class recently had the option to give presentations on a certain topic of interest. The presentation included research, creating a tri-board with information learned, and teaching what they learned to the class through an oral presentation. I thought about letting my child skip it, because that sounds like challenging work for a 6-year-old! But then I realized the leadership growth opportunity and let her go for it. I held back and let her put together the presentation her way and not my way, and I helped her practice sharing what she learned using her words, and not my own. It was a challenge for me to not take over, but Darah learned so much more this way and was immensely proud of what she accomplished because SHE did it, and not me.

Darah giving her first presentation (blurry photo courtesy of nervous mama!)

Darah giving her first presentation (blurry photo courtesy of mama being nervous for her!)

3. Foster a Love of Reading
Reading is such a powerful tool for the developing leader. The more you read, the more you are exposed to opportunities to think critically, to problem solve and to empathize. Darah recently set her own reading goal to get through 100 books on her own with a cookie cake as a sweet reward at the end. This, by the way, is another example of where I probably wouldn’t have made the total quite so high for that treat, so I’m glad I didn’t try to take charge of this idea! She is halfway to her goal and I have seen her vocabulary improve, her critical thinking skills sharpern, her confidence soar, and her love of reading grow day by day.

4. Teach Good Sportsmanship

We love to play board games as a family, and one rule we have that it so important is that we all congratulate the winner of the game. The winner, in turn, shakes everyone’s hand and says “Good game!” This keeps pouting and gloating to a minimum while still acknowledging the victor and the effort of all other players. I think this is a hugely important life skill and I hope we are setting a solid foundation for our kids to be good team players, gracious winners and gracious losers, as well.

5. Encourage Fundraising for a Cause
One of the most impactful things Darah did this year was learn about the American Heart Association and their Jump Rope for Heart campaign. She came home absolutely on fire about it and eager to contribute to the cause. She started with her own piggy bank and was disappointed to only find $5 there. So I presented the idea of fundraising to her and she decided that she wanted to put the work in to ask friends and family to contribute, and she wanted to put the physical work in to be ready to jump rope for 5 minutes straight as part of the fundraiser. She created a video about what she was doing and how others could help and within 24 hours had surpassed her goal of raising $100. It was a HUGE lesson to her on the power of a lot of people gathering together and each giving a little bit. And she felt thrilled to be able to donate so much money thanks to her willingness to get the word out and ask for help from others. I know she won’t be afraid to volunteer to help out the next time she hears of a cause that could use some fundraising help.

6. Let Your Child Set Ambitious Goals
In the fundraising example above, I was a little surprised that Darah wanted to go for $100. If she had asked me how much she should raise, I would have played it a bit safer and said $50. I’m so glad she didn’t ask my opinion before voicing her own, first! It was a good lesson to me to let kids try to set their own goals. They may reach higher than you would have guessed and meet that goal with their hard work.

7. Let Your Child Fail

Failure is something every human is going to experience, and the sooner, the better, so that you can learn how to benefit and grow from your failures, and so that you can learn not to fear them. If your child is raising money, for example, and sets a goal of $500 but only raises $200, they still raised quite a bit which is awesome and worthy of celebration, and there is an opportunity to go back and think about what they might want to do differently next time. The only true failures in life are the ones where nothing was learned.

4-H is an organization that believes we as adults have an important role to play in growing leaders. On April 4th this great organization launced the “Grow True Leaders” campaign in an effort to increase the number of American youth that are prepared to step into leaderhip roles. Every single child has the potential to be a leader, but that potential needs to be cultivated with experiences and life skills development. 4-H aims to do that through their programs, and they also aim to do it through encouraging parents and others to recognize the youth leaders in their communities.

Can you think of a young person who is already developing their leadership skills? Go ahead and encourage them more by giving them a shout out on social media with the hashtag #TrueLeaders. What a boost it will be to that child’s self-esteem to see that word of encouragement!

Additionally, you can pledge your support of this great campaign by signing up for the ThunderClap that will be happening on social media in May. Signing up is free, takes mere seconds and is a fantastic way to help spread the word about the imortance of encouraging our young ones to go ahead and be a leader today. No need to wait for tomorrow!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of 4-H. The opinions and text are all mine.

PBS KIDS Super Simple Crafts: Excellent Resource for Summer Break Activities

April 14, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included at no cost to you. I only promote what I love.

I’m already in “hunt and gather” mode for summer break plans. I’m looking at museums and other educational attractions within striking distance of where we live and planning a few day trips, I’ve got summer camps booked, and I’m restocking our shelves with games, art supplies, and activity books for at home enrichment.

One great find recently came to my doorstep, courtesy of PBS KIDS, who sent me their new release called PBS KIDS Super Simple Crafts: Sticks & Stones.
This is a book of simple nature-based activities for kids ages 4 and up, packaged together with many of the supplies you will need to complete the crafts. In addition to the book, which has over 50 creative project ideas, you receive

• 6 sheet of felt in different colors

• nontoxic, clear-drying craft glue

• 24 googly eyes

• 7 pots of paint

• 2 paintbrushes

As someone who gets overwhelmed the second she steps into Michael’s or other craft stores, I really appreciate seeing all the materials you need ready to go with the book. I was also impressed with how simple the activities were, such that little ones could take the lead on the projects without a parent, if needed.

We gave the kit a test run during our Spring Break and I was quickly reminded of how much kids really can enjoy very simple things, like going on a stick hunt in the backyard, and then getting to decorate sticks with colorful paint. This kept Layah engaged for at least half an hour, and I was able to sit right next to her while she worked and get through some emails that were languishing in my inbox. Everyone accomplished something and even though we were working on different projects, we were still together with each other. It was great!

I’ve put the book and craft supplies away to save for summer break projects, and I’ll absolutely be reaching for this kit again, as it has ideas that will entertain both of my girls, and that encourage a little outdoor fun before craft time begins. I highly recommend that you add it to your stash of summer fun projects!

PBS KIDS Super Simple Crafts: Sticks & Stones is available at retailers nationwide, including Amazon, and is very nicely priced at under $15.

Creating a Red and Blue Bedroom for Girls: Big Reveal!

April 13, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included at no cost to you. All thoughts, opinions, successes and failures of this red and blue bedroom are my own!

If you are new to my site then you might not know that I’m a mother of two little girls. Preparing the nursery for the second child was a breeze, since we already had everything we needed from girl #1. We moved into a new house 2 weeks before the second child was born (I do NOT recommend moving in your 9th month of pregnancy, but that’s another story). We were super pressed for time, and oh yeah, I was also on bed rest, so we opted out of painting baby’s room and just lef it that unfortunate tan color that was on every wall in the house.

I figured we’d paint her room when she was ready for a big girl room makeover.

Well, Layah is turning 4 in just a few weeks, and for the first time in her life, she now has a room that was thoughtfully put together with her in mind. I have felt guilty that her room has always been sort of thrown together and without any direction up until this point. Maybe that’s Pinterest’s fault. Maybe it’s just item #1,334 that mothers tend to feel guilt about when it comes to the second child and all the ways that you didn’t do things as perfectly with #2 as you had the time and energy to do with #1.

Still, I was glad to have the chance to remedy the situation and give her a bedroom all her style. When I asked her what she wanted, she enthusiastically responded, “A red and blue room!”

Not gonna lie, I immediately envisioned her room as a permanent ode to the Fourth of July, and I was less than thrilled. But then I remembered that this wasn’t about me, but about her, and I dug in and began to try to figure out how to put blue and red together in a way that wouldn’t cause people to start reciting the Pledge of Allegiance the moment they stepped in the room.

I think what I came up with, in the end, is pretty cool. It’s definitely red and blue (and white!) but I played a bit more with the tones to find something less jarring and more relaxing and playful.

Let’s start with the wall color. I actually have this exact same shade in my kitchen, and I liked eliminating option fatigue from the list right off the bat. I knew this color (Benjamin Moore Timber Wolf Gray) wouldn’t clash with the rest of the house, and I also knew that despite being gray on the color swatch, it’s blue on the walls. A soothing blue, which just felt right.

Layah was insistent that her bed be red, which really threw me for a bit. Honestly, most of the beds that come in red are $$$. Then I found this red metal framed bed on Walmart for a very reasonable price. It was one of my very first purchases for her room. She loved it and I love the playful nature of the frame.

I really had a lot of fun pulling together the bedding. I knew I wanted it to be rich with texture, so I didn’t even try to find a red and blue bedding set, but instead put it together piece by piece. The super soft blue blanket was a Dollar General find (I know!), the plush red blanket and the furry red pillow were both snagged at Home Goods on clearance, and the blue pillow with tassels was scooped up on a trip to Pier 1. Isn’t it fun to have all those great textures combined?

My other favorite part of her room is this little play nook (which I imagine will become a reading nook in a few years). Big sister has a reading nook called Butterfly Cove with netting that is wildly popular with both girls, so I wanted something similar for Layah, but different enough to be her own. She named it Waterfall Wishes once she saw it, which I thought was adorable. The key piece to this little nook is that absolutely GORGEOUS floor pillow Minted.com sent our way. Did you know that they offer pillows, now? They have hundreds of stunning prints and patterns that you simply won’t find anywhere else and a nice selection of different sizes. I searched for red and blue (you can search by color or colors…love that!) and had quite a few choices, but knew this one was right once I saw it. We went with Wildflowers.

Isn’t it just darling? And soft, too! Oh it’s like sitting on a cloud. Both of the girls really enjoy playing in here, and I for one am super pumped about how easy it was to get the cover on the pillow that it came with, and therefore how easy it will be to remove it later and wash it.

The canopy above the floor pillow is something we already owned, and the color isn’t spot on for the room, as it is more of a turquoise. But Layah seems to like it so we’ll keep it like this for now. I’m contemplating dyeing it a color closer to the lighter blue you see in the floor pillow, but that will be a project for down the line.

For now, if the little one is happy, then I’m happy!

I mentioned the idea of dyeing the canopy, which brings me to one of my projects for the room that really got me to venture out of my comfort zone (Who am I kidding? Redecorating a room is already outside of my comfort zone!). Another request Layah had was for a bright red rug. Online searches quickly confirmed what I already knew: rugs are pricey! She had a pale pink rug in her room already that definitely wouldn’t work, but I was sad to see it go. It had been in both of my girls’ rooms when they were younger, and it was super soft. I hated to part ways with it simply because the color was wrong.

And that’s when inspiration hit! I did a little internet research and discovered that it is, in fact, possible to dye a rug. The fact that my rug was very pale to start worked in my favor. I can post a separate tutorial on how I dyed the rug if that’s of interest, but here’s the before and after.

Let me tell you, buying two container of Scarlet Rit dye is much more friendly on your wallet than buying a new rug!

Additionally, I purchased a can of red paint so that I could overhaul a few other items to give the room more pops of that fun red color. First, I painted over a mirror that I purchased on clearance at a home decor store in town (it was down to $10!). It had a stain on it already, and I fully admit that I did a poor job of sanding it off before painting it apple red. So the final product isn’t perfect by a long shot, but for now, it totally works. I made sure to put the mirror near her closet and at a lower level so it’s actually of use to her.

And I used the same can of paint to give a colorful makeover to some shelving that Layah already had in her room. This is something I found at my favorite thrift store maybe a year ago for $12. It wasn’t already painted or stained, so adding paint to it was a breeze. Layah immediately displayed her light sabers once we had it up. 🙂

One other piece I reworked in her room was a standing lamp. It was a yard sale purchase from years ago (before I had kids and had time/energy to go to yard sales). See what I mean about this kid having a room full of random stuff? Anyway, I painted the base white and found a cute lampshade on Walmart.com. Professional decorators will likely tell me that I picked the wrong shape lampshade for a tall floor lamp. But I decided that I like it, and Layah decided that she likes it, so we’re sticking with it!

Now I want to talk about 2 projects I did for the room that sort of failed. I say “sort of” because they still passed the final test and are in her room. But they didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. The good news is that I can tell you why they failed so that if you attempt something similar, you can have different results.

“Sort of” failure #1: the dyed tent

Santa brought Layah a play tent that was beige with bubble gum pink stripes on it a few Christmas’s ago. It is such a fun item to have, but it clashed so badly in her new room that I just couldn’t stand it. After I finished successfully dyeing her pale pink rug I thought to myself, “Why not throw in the tent next?” So I used the same batch of dye and threw in her canvas print. The result was more of a deep pink, and unfortunately, the dye turned out very splotchy. I’m honestly not sure if canvas just has more trouble dyeing evenly, so that may just be part of the deal. But one thing I am sure of is that if you dye something that has already been used to dye other things, and if the water isn’t super hot like it is supposed to be, you just aren’t going to get as rich of a color as you were hoping for. If I were a perfectionist, I’d have purchased another bottle of Rit dye and give the tent a second dyeing session. But you see, I’m not a perfectionist, and after putting the tent up in her room, it looks like it belongs just fine (definitley much more so than it used to).

“Sort of” failure #2: painting a fabric storage box

One other random item Layah had in her room was a fabric storage box from Target that I bought 2 or 3 years ago to store toys in (big shocker: it was on clearance). The color of this box was flourescent pink. Oh it was the ugliest thing! But it held her Calico Critters and the top had enough of a cushion that a child could also sit on it, so it had a purpose. Since I was painting or dyeing everything else I could think of, why not paint this bench? I looked up tutorials about how to paint fabric, and it was suggested to buy fabric medium, as that helps ensure that the fabric doesn’t stiffen too much. The problem? Fabric medium is white. When you mix red and white, you get pink. So the box looked almost the same after two coats as it did before I started. The final coat I did was without the fabric medium. It’s now red in color now, but it’s a bit stiff. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably research how to spray paint fabric instead. But again, for now, it works. Layah uses it as a night stand and continues to use it as storage.

So that’s how her red and blue bedroom turned out. What do you think? Any questions for me? Happy to help however I can! I hope I inspired you to look at any items you already have in a new way, because you just might be able to paint or dye them, and I hope I helped you get some fun ideas for simple ways to add pops of fun to your child’s room.

Small Home Stockpiling: Two Things I Purchase in Larger Quantities (When the Price is Right!)

April 11, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

This is a sponsored conversation for Walmart/SheSpeaks. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Several years ago I got a lot of joy out of finding super good deals on products and stockpiling them. It is worth noting that at this time in my life I had no kids to contend with, so we were a family of just 2, and we also lived in a home that was close to twice the size as the home we live in now as a family of 4.

In short, I had the time and definitely the space to buy whatever the heck I wanted to stockpile.

I have neither of those things, now, though perhaps I have more of a need for the actual items because my family has doubled in size and we go through products at a faster clip. But in this small home (around 1,300 square feet) I absolutely have to make choices about what to stockpile when the price is great and what to purchase on demand, even if I won’t save as much.

stockpiling in small house

I recently had to make that very choice when I learned about the April Stock Up & Save Event at Walmart. I very quickly knew which products were the best choice for me to scoop up right now, and I knew the best way for me to buy them, too. I did my shopping online, friends, as that is such a great time saver. Since I didn’t have to have any of the products right this instant, I could wait a few days for them to arrive. They were slated to arrive on April 15th and I was pleasantly surprised to see them actually arrive on April 9th. Way to delight the customer, Walmart.com!

Are you curious to see which items made this cut in our small space? Here they are!

For me, two things to make space for in our home are extra toilet paper and extra razors.

I wonder if you are surprised that toilet paper is something I buy large packages of since it does take up quite a bit of space? My kids are 6 and 3, though, and we are still working hard on learning just how much toilet paper we actually need per bathroom session. The littlest one, in particular, seems to think that 1/4 of a roll is sufficient. So…yeah….we go through A LOT of toilet paper these days, and running out of toilet paper is pretty much the worst.

I have also learned that one great thing about toilet paper is that if you buy just one brand at a time in a large amount, it will stack for you like Tetris pieces. This is 36 rolls of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper. It’s taking up just over half a shelf in a tiny little linen closet. Totally worth that space allocation to not have to think about toilet paper for a while.

As for the razors, they fit perfectly in a shoe caddy, which is something that hangs on the inside of the door of this linen closet to allow for extra toiletry storage space. That’s 18 Gillette and Venus razors taking up just one of the pockets. If you take them out of their packaging as soon as you buy them, the amount of space they require is next to nothing, and I won’t have to borrow my husband’s razor in pinch for quite some time, now. 😉

If you’ve got plenty of storage space in your home, then now certainly is a great time to get your everyday essentials for less at Walmart or Walmart.com. But even if you are in a small house, like me, that doesn’t mean that you can’t strategically stock up on something right now, too! I hope I gave you some good ideas to help you save more without having to let go of too much storage space!

Unstuffed: On Learning that the Stuff Parents Need = Not All That Much

April 8, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Affiliate links may be included at no cost to you. I only share what rocks!

A question I get asked fairly often is about what big takeaways I have learned as a parent, but particularly as a parent who is chronicaling the journey publicly through my blog, Stuff Parents Need. And the answer I give is usually surprising to people. I say, “Stuff Parents Need has taught me that you don’t actually need all that much stuff to rock this mom or dad gig.”

It’s true, friends. A HUGE percentage of the requests for collaboration I receive from brands get a polite but firm, “no thank you” from me (a fact that surprises folks since I regularly enjoy highlighting cool products). And of the collaborations I take on, a fair chunk of them actually don’t turn into content after I give the product or service a trial run.

Why? Because most of it is wildly unnecessary and even burdomsome, in the end. I’ve learned that through lots and lots of experience testing gizmos and gadgets and clothes and toys and beauty products, and well, you name it.

Most of it is just clutter that takes up space in your house, and sucks time away from you day after day, week after week, as you spend what feels like all of your time trying to organize it.

Perhaps I sound a bit melodramatic, and perhaps my own journey with stuff doesn’t seem as relatable since many of the things that come into my home are a direct result of my business. But if you dig a little deeper, our stories likely aren’t so different. Many of us are trading our time for money, and our money for stuff. And then we spend that small amount of free time we have trying to manage the stuff we’ve accumulated, and that management of stuff feels like its own part-time job. At least it does for me, sometimes.

Enter my friend Ruth’s great (and titled-spot-on-for-yours-truly) book, Unstuffed. I ripped through the advanced copy Ruth sent to me in just a few days, feeling SO very relieved to hear this very successful individual get really real, and share about her own struggles with her relationship to stuff.

It was a quick read, and one that I would recommend to anyone who is feeling buried in their own home and unsure about how you got there. You see, this book isn’t so much about the specifics of how to get your house in order, though Ruth does offer some advice in that area. Instead, it’s a book about trying to uncover exactly how you got where you are. By sharing her own story, she touches on a lot of issues that will ring true with others (inheriting households after loved ones pass on, overly generous relatives, the thrill of the bargain, etc.). And I think her focus is a really good one because I can speak from experience when I say that if you don’t address the issues that got you into your mess, you’ll find yourself right back where you started 6 months from now, no matter how ruthlessly you purge today. Understanding WHY chaos is ruling in your home can help you find the solution much better than understanding which under-the-bed storage boxes are the best.

Unstuffed is currently a best-seller on Amazon and I expect it to become a NY Times bestseller, as well (it won’t be Ruth’s first!). It’s doing well for a reason, friends. I very highly recommend it! Oh, and if you have an e-reader, go for the Kindle version and save yourself from having one more book in your house. 😉

And if you are looking for a more practical “walk me through how to get rid of my clutter” type book, definitely check out Becky Mansfield’s Freed from Clutter. She can help you unload the stuff that’s weighing you down throughout your house in 30 days.

5 Secrets to a Great Morning (Even on the Busiest of Days)

April 7, 2016 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Jimmy POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Jimmy Dean Delights, all opinions are my own.

Most parents that I know confess to having mornings that are varying degrees of stressful. In our house, for example, you can find us scrambling to finish last night’s homework, making lunches and trying to get ourselves ready while getting our kids ready, too. And if we opted to sleep in a little bit on top of it all, heaven help us. We are in TROUBLE.

We usually get all the necessities covered, but one thing is often left undone: getting myself ready. Yes, I have on pants when I take my girls to school, but it’s rare for me to have on makeup, and it’s almost unheard of for me to actually have my hair styled (a ponytail, sadly, doesn’t count as a style). I work from home, so looking put together is a good idea, but not absolutely necessary. And so, many times it just never happens.

Can you relate to the crazy morning cycle that leaves you without any self-care? If so, I want to share 5 tricks I have worked into my morning routine that take up precious little time and give me some serious mileage for those few minutes spent.