April 16, 2009

Creative Parenting

I like this post by Kate over at An Exercise in Frugality. She's a single mom with two daughters, and she had the older daughter make an audio book for the younger daughter. Some books they loved weren't available as audio books, so they made them! Now they can listen to them anytime- when mom's busy, or tired, or just doesn't have the patience to read the same book AGAIN. And it will be big sister's voice.

I don't have kids, but I think this is great parenting. It's teaching children to be creative and resourceful, and that sometimes it's more fun if everything isn't just dropped into your lap.

It's a great idea, and she's got other great ideas about parenting, saving more, and spending less. Please share your creative parenting tips in the Comments section.

3 comments:

Kate Sommers said...

I did the same thing for my daughter when she was 5 years old.(I was also a single mom)I read her favorite stories aloud and recorded it.That way when I was too tired to read to her before bed I would play the tape.She loved it because it was different.Another thing I did for my kids was write down the alphabet and numbers in dots so they could trace them and learn.I usually would do this while we were somewhere they needed to be quiet to keep them busy.
And one affordable way to make playdough is to mix 2 cups flour,1 cup salt and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar with enough water to make a nice dough.I added various flavors of koolaid to maket he different colors.(this was the only time we had koolaid!)It smells good enough to eat and be careful because some kids will try it!

Angela said...

Hey Katie-
Thanks for the great ideas!
And I can see how you wouldn't be able to leave the kids alone with that dough...

calimama@compactbydesign said...

I love this idea! Maybe I will have the husband do some readings now and when our first gets old enough he can pass on the tradition.
At less than two years I don't know that I have much in parenting tips at this point, but I love reading the ideas of others!