Did you know that the American Academy of Pediatrics announced today that children should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases?  What does this mean?  Millions children will need to take vitamin D supplements to reach the new recommendation of 400 units daily (up from 200).

I know there are parents all around who are wondering how to get this additional amount of Vitamin D now into their children.  The best source of vitamin D is sunlight because the body makes vitamin D when sunshine hits the skin.  However, if you like in a state like me (Illinois), we don’t often go out in the winter, because it is way too cold.  The only way most children are going to be able to get this much vitamin D is too supplement it.

I luck out that my daughter takes vitamins without a problem.  However, my cousin’s daughter will not take anything.  An easy way to get the vitamins into your kids is to use Emergen-C Kidz Complete Multi Vitamin and Multi Mineral Supplements.  For kids 4 and older, all you do is add a packet of Emergen-C Kidz to 4 - 6 ounces of water and stir.  For kids 2-3, use a half a packet with 2-4 oz of water.  Emergen-C Kidz has 24 essential nutrients including choline, 500 mg of vitamin C, and 400 IU of vitamin D.  It also has beta carotene, vitamin E, zinc, iron, and phosphorus (there are several more vitamins too!).  If you notice, Emergen-C Kidz offers more health boosting vitamin C than the leading brand to help support their immune systems.  It is available in major grocery stores and drug chains and in health food stores.

This passed the kid test in my house.  We tried the orange pineapple explosion, and Madison drank it in one sitting.  She like the flavor and wanted more after she was finished.  If that flavor doesn’t sound like something you’d be interested in, this also comes in Strawnana Berry and Cherry Yumberry (ok, I can’t even type that without giggling a little.  Your kids will love those name as much as I do.

Your kids will like their fizzy drink and think they are getting a treat, and you, as a mom, will know that they are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need.  I promise, I’ll keep it our little secret.

Don’t you wish your kids came with a handbook?  I know I wish mine did.  I luck out that my children are still young.  We don’t have the out of control tweens or tweenagers here.  I don’t having challenging behaviors to deal except for 4 year old energy.  However, I don’t want my kids to turn into those kids!  That is why I decided to look at The Total Transformation Program.  I also read on so many moms blogs about their children treating them poorly — calling them names, being violent, not listening, etc.  What always floors me is that they would not put up from that behavior from a stranger, but it is okay for their children to behave in that matter.

Now, I wasn’t expecting much.  Instead, I got 7 CDs, 1 DVD and a workbook.  The first thing I do have to tell you:  this program will NOT work if you don’t put the time into it.  This isn’t read the book, and you have a magic pill to make everything good again.  There is work involved here.  Now, if you have younger children like mine, you may have to do some modification on this program.  (Then again I don’t have a lot of the problems either so I just am modifying it for my own needs).  I’ll be honest, if you don’t want to do the work, then don’t buy this.  Otherwise it will just end up being a bookend in your house.

What I have learned so far?  First, I learned that some of my parental methods are not the right ones (which I knew already).  You are able to find out what you fall under for your ineffective parenting roles.  Personally, I am the screamer.  I know, I shouldn’t but I do.  However, I never realized what I was teaching my children.  When I get into a yelling match with Madison, I am showing her that we are emotional peers.  I have come down to her level and just undermined my own authority (this was my duh! moment).  I also am showing her that no one is in control.  Now, this seems like common sense, but you don’t even realize this is what is going on. (All of this is in the workbook).  You have to assume parental control.  You need to give simple directions and quit asking your kids to do things.  You tell them to do their homework versus asking them.  You have to disconnect when disrespect occurs.  When the scream starts, you walk away.  There is no reasoning with your children.  You are the boss (and there are scripts in the workbook that you can use).  You need to lessen the stimulation in their lives.  Give positive feedback when appropriate.  If they do good, tell them.  You can’t just be on their butts about all the negative behavior.  You need to show them that good behavior gets them a much better response.

This is how The Total Transformation Program works.  First, get the workbook.  The workbook has a pretest for each lesson which is your introduction for the lesson.  Next, you listen to the audio CD.  These are long (I’d say maybe an hour or so), so make sure you have the time to listen.  Then after the CD is over, you go back to the workbook.  There is a summary of what you should have gotten from the lesson, exercises for you to do, and an action plan for you.  Then do it again with the next lesson.  They recommend one CD a week, so this is pretty easy to schedule somewhere in your life.

Now, this isn’t going to work with every single kids out there.  There is no way I can say it will.  The part I like about this program is that you can work it according to your schedule, your pace, and your family.  They have a 30 day trial, so you can try this out with your family.  If it is not working, send it back!  They also have a parental support line.  They can clarify lessons for you and even direct you to the correct response to incidents occurring in your house.   This isn’t a program that leaves you high and dry after you get the stuff in the mail.  They are with you every step of the way.

If you are at your wits end with your children, I definitely think this is program you should try out.  I’ve seen little changes I have made with my daughter (like it keeping it simple) already working with her.  I’d love to hear from any of you who have tried this program and tell me your thoughts!

My family and l luck out.  We have plenty of credit cards at our disposal when I want to do some online shopping.  However, not everyone can get a credit card, or if they have one, it is only for emergency purposes.  What do you do when you want to shop and not use a credit card?

EBillMe comes to the rescue and allows you to pay cash online by using the bill pay portion of your checking account. I personally tried out this service yesterday, and it is super easy to use. First, I went to Tiger Direct to order a Wii game.  You click on the add to cart just like you normally would.  Then click on proceed to secure check out.  Fill in all your information and where it says “submit order” pick eBillMe.  That’s it!  You now have ordered using your checking account!  Now, on the screen you will have what you need to set up payment through your bank.  You also will get an email too!  Everybody’s bill pay is different, so I won’t go through how to set that up, but they make it super easy by giving you everything you need.  I didn’t take me any longer to buy my game  this way verses using a credit card (that is because it usually takes me a while to find my purse and wallet that has my credit card).

If you prefer not to shop online using your credit card, I highly recommend EBillMe.  This is also a great way to shop if you don’t want to be handing out your credit card number too!

Summer heat in Chicago has been so hot lately (yes, I am complaining about those 90 degree days with 90% humidity).  With our newly remodeled basement and the Wii we just bought, we are definitely have some fun down there.  Since we have no games for our newly acquired Wii, we headed over to the nearest game store.  I luck out that we live less than five minutes from mall.  I also luck out that we have two Gamestops in our mall (one on each end).  We checked them both out.  One did seem to have more kid games; the other more adult games.  We are not sure if this was on purpose or just happened to be that way when we were there.  I liked that we got to check out the Wii there before buying it.  Madison immediately picked up a controller and started playing a Sonic game, so we knew she would adapt quickly.  The other thing I really liked about Gamestop was that you can buy used games.  You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on games then.  We don’t care how old the games are as long as they are fun.  I was afraid that they wouldn’t work, but we were assured that they were guaranteed to play.  We were also told that we could bring in some of our old games and get credit to buy some new ones (and we have a stack of games nobody ever plays!).  I found that the workers behind the counter at both stores were extrememly helpful, and they didn’t mind too much that my four year was picking out ten games she wanted us to buy (we settled on Wall-E).  I would highly recommend Gamestop as your one stop game shop (they also have gaming systems and accessories, so you can get those there too!).