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Home Improvement Projects You Can Do With Your Kids

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It’s always a good idea to teach your children valuable new skills. Sometimes when you have some projects around the house that need doing, it’s a good idea to involve your kids. Of course, several projects that require heavy equipment or sharp instruments may not be the best place to start, but here are some home improvement projects that you can do with your kids to get them started.

Installing a New Doorknob

Whether you’re remodeling, upgrading, or just replacing a knob that’s giving you trouble, installing a new doorknob is a great DIY project for younger kids to gauge their interest. Typically, the only tools you need are screwdrivers that match the necessary screws and a little patience. This is an excellent project because it’s relatively low risk, and if your child makes a mistake, it’s easy to take the screws out and try again.

Measuring Home Skirting

If you live in a mobile home, your house probably has skirting to protect your pipes from external damage related to weather or temperature. Unfortunately, weather can beat up the skirting, and it eventually needs replacing. The full replacement may be a bit too much for small builders, but one way your kids can help with this project is in the preparation.

Many kids love playing with the tape measure. Before replacing your skirting, it’s a good idea to measure the length and width of the exterior of your home and put it into an online skirting calculator. Have your kid grab the tape measure and run it to the other side of the house, allowing you to get the correct numbers. The kids feel involved, and you save a bit of running.

Lawn Care

Maintaining a proper lawn or garden is a valuable step in home care. Depending on your kids’ age, you could show them how to use a lawnmower or focus on watering the grass to keep your yard looking fresh and clean. Learning how to care for a lawn or garden is a great home improvement project for your kids and gets them outside now and then. If you use a sprinkler to water the lawn, offering a bit of summertime fun running through it is a great motivator.

Important Car Maintenance Tips for Young Drivers To Know

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So, your teen just got their license and is eager to get on the road. But the worries are endless once they’re out of your sight and on their own. These important car maintenance tips for young drivers to know set them up for success should anything go wrong with their vehicle.

Learn Emergency Kit Essentials

You typically want to stay on top of ensuring your car is reliable enough for every drive. But accidents happen and can often be unpredictable. All it takes is one random nail to leave someone stranded on the side of the road. Teaching your kid how to change a tire with a jack and lug wrench prepares them for such unexpected circumstances and instills independence by letting them take care of themselves.

Emergency kits ease this process with additional tools like jumper cables, flashlights, gloves, and other valuable items needed for general car repairs. Adding in non-perishable food, blankets, and water is also a bonus, depending on where you live or travel.

Know the Dashboard

Hopefully, your new driver knows that the lights popping up on the dash don’t indicate a new achievement in their driving journey. Some important warning lights to keep in mind are:

  • Check Engine
  • Brake Warning
  • Tire Pressure
  • Air Bag
  • Battery Low

These are but a few of several warning signs to look out for on your car’s dash, and understanding what all of them mean prevents issues from getting worse in the future. If they have a suitable garage available to them, they may be able to fix certain parts on their own someday. These lights also help in pinpointing where specific problems lie in a car. For example, symptoms of a bad U-joint could link to a transmission light going off. Either way, being familiar with the problems and solutions only benefits them in the future.

Pedal Slightly To the Metal

Driving fast for the sake of it is already an unsafe habit that hopefully does not develop when on the road. Despite its dangers to the driver, the car also suffers if it is not in top condition. Accelerating too quickly in a vehicle forces the engine to run more rotations per minute. This results in wearing out the engine much faster and uses more fuel in the process than a gradual acceleration. Keeping this in mind prolongs the vehicle’s lifespan and ensures that it operates within its intended means.

It is scary letting your kid on the road for the first time. But watching them grow up and letting them go is just another part of the process. These important car maintenance tips for young drivers to know keep them safe while enjoying their newfound freedom, without putting too much stress on their shoulders from here on.

How To Make Your Teen More Comfortable With Braces

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Braces and other orthodontic procedures are often an inevitable fact of life, but that doesn’t mean the worries and concerns your teen may have about the prospect of braces should be dismissed. If your child is getting ready to get their own braces or is concerned about getting them in the future, then here’s how to make your teen more comfortable with braces.

Keep Them Informed

Because braces are so common, it’s easy to assume the process is just as common knowledge. In reality, your child may have no idea what to expect and may become more distressed as their imagination runs wild and they receive conflicting information from myths and misconceptions about braces. When your teen is preparing to receive braces, make sure you help walk them through the process and address any fears they may have. Your child’s orthodontist will be a powerful tool for you to make use of, as they’ll be able to clearly explain each step of the process and provide trustworthy information as to what your teen can expect.

Explore All Their Options

A good way to make your teen more comfortable with braces is to thoroughly explore and make available all your child’s options. This will help them feel less “trapped” by the inevitable need for braces and potentially help them find an alternative that they are more comfortable with. For example, clear aligners are becoming a more viable alternative to traditional wire and bracket braces and may be worth considering if your child desires something more subtle and less intrusive.

Focus on the End Goal

Because braces are such an immediate change in one’s lifestyle, it’s easy for teens to get caught up in the moment of how uncomfortable and even painful their braces can be. Help your teen keep their eyes on the prize by ensuring their focus remains on the end goal of the process—a healthy and attractive smile. While braces may not seem worth the trouble now, crooked and unhealthy teeth often lead to difficulties like self-esteem issues or pain and infection later in life. Going through the process of braces will lead to a permanent improvement of their lifestyle and future, so it is well worth enduring for the relatively short period of time their teeth need to be treated.

How Cars Can Connect You With Your Kids

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If you’re looking for a way to better connect with your kids, consider the many ways your car can bring you together. Along with transportation, cars can be excellent opportunities to teach kids lessons they can carry through life, as well as happy memories they can share with their children in turn. Pull the car out of the garage and get ready to have fun and several wonderful family moments. Here’s a variety of ways how cars can connect you with your kids.

Take Them on Trips

For getting out and having one on one time with your progeny, nothing beats a road trip. Not only does the time on the road allow for great conversations, travelling games, and lots of delicious road food meals together, but it’s also truly an experience you can all share and enjoy. Find a central destination like the Grand Canyon or Washington, DC, and plot a trip, looking for sites and sights of interest to everyone. Work together to prepare the car for the trip, pack, and plan the snack options and entertainment for the ride. When the day comes to hit the road, it will truly feel like a family trip.

Wash the Car

Washing the car is one of the few vehicular activities any age can enjoy. Appoint duties according to age group. Little ones will have a blast wetting down and rinsing the car with the garden hose and can even man a sponge while washing the car’s exterior. Tweens can be trusted to wash the exterior and parts of the interior and can be the official vacuum operators for the entire car-washing operation. Teenagers, of course, can learn the importance of detailing and treating specific parts like tires, car seat covers, floor mats, dashboards, and the like with special solutions and tools for getting that deep-down clean. With proper supervision, you can save on a car wash while having a silly and fun time with the children.

Teach Basic Maintenance

Every generation should learn the basics of car maintenance. Little ones will love a look under the hood, where you can point out the different parts of the engine and their functions. Do it when the engine is turned off and cool in case little fingers accidentally touch a hot part. Your teens might be fascinated by the steps to take during minor jobs like changing the oil, removing and replacing filters, filling up the wipe fluid tank, and more. If you have the time, explain the importance of tires and keeping them inflated and show how to change one.

Learning To Drive

Restrict this one to teenagers with driver’s permits! When considering how cars can connect you with your kids, don’t forget this timeless interaction between parent and child. Taking your child on periodic test drives to sharpen their skills, remind them about road safety, and make them feel more confident in their abilities is a rite of passage for you both. Just remember to keep your cool!

Parenting Tips on Smartphone Usage

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It’s a smartphone world today, so what does that mean for your kids? If you’re like many parents, you appreciate the idea of being able to reach your children in an emergency. However, you also worry about the risks of letting them go online alone.

How soon is too soon to buy your kids a phone? How do you know if your children can handle the responsibility? Have you thought through the risks? If you do buy a phone, what steps can you take to monitor and protect your children while they are using it?

To help you answer these questions, the following slideshow showcases some helpful information about kids and smartphone use. Learn more about safe and responsible smartphone use for adolescents — and kids — in this resource.

Ten Things Kids do to Remind Us We’re Getting Old

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It’s funny how kids can bring back such vivid memories of your own childhood.

The rampant imaginations, the simple joy. Even their smiles have the ability to take us back.

You have to admit…they can do wonders to invigorate your life.

They also have the uncanny ability to do something else. Like make you feel as though you need a walker and some Depends.

And no, this has nothing to do with their youthful complexion or their wrinkle-free appearance.

It’s all about the little things they “do” that serve to remind us of the decades between us.

Things like:

  1. Talking in tones that reach decibels capable of creating long-term hearing loss. This often invokes the “Daddy’s right here, why are you yelling”, response.
  2. Their ability to make your phone do things you didn’t know was possible. Normally this results in a throbbing headache and a consultation of the owner’s manual.
  3. Talking in a language that can only be deciphered by their siblings. It’s definitely English, but to you it sounds like something you heard off of Lord of the Rings.
  4. The ability to watch the same movie over…and over…and over…and over. This is painful, but it does give you several theme songs to hum when you’ve got nothing better to do.
  5. Performing displays of flexibility that instinctively make you clench your privates. Enough said.
  6. Drawing on energy that’s powered solely by cheerios and sunshine. It’s not scientifically possible…but I’ve seen it happen.
  7. Developing a tolerance to repetitive, annoying noises. Tapping, clapping, humming, clicking, crunching…their all included.
  8. Self imposed memory loss. This is for your benefit really. Without this you would have never developed the investigative talent of finding sippy cups, baby dolls, or the hamster.
  9. A complete lack of discretion. The kind of discretion that would normally hinder a comment like “Dad, why is that man’s belly so big”…and all from three feet away.
  10. A perfectly naive awareness of style. The younger ones will wear anything, regardless of color, fit, label, or smell. Come to think of it…I think this one may actually come back around.

In truth, our kids deserve a lot of credit. They tell us when we’ve succeeded, when we’ve failed, and when we’ve officially lost sight of our youth.

But don’t fret! It may be a vicious circle, but the truth will be revealed to them one day as well.

So slap those dentures in and keep moving…hurry, before you doze off again.

A Parenting Vacation; Why Time Away is Good for You and Your Kids

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Let’s face it, kids take a lot of time…and even more energy. That reality means that we can get ourselves in to a serious mode of depletion.

Just think about your typical week.

On top of working, there’s sports practice and games. Maybe even church events and dance lessons.

Then you add in school activities, homework, family outings…and you begin to see the potential for a nervous breakdown.

Are you there?

If you’re not sure then take this little test.

Think about the last time that you and your wife (or friends if you’re single) had an uninterrupted meal. Was it weeks ago? Months? Years?

If you have small children you are probably on the verge of tears having just contemplated the previous question. If your kids are grown, then you need to wipe that evil grin off of your face…right now!

A Little Advice in Action

Having just come down from a 5-day, kid-free, just me and the wife, vacation high…I know a little something about “parental vacationing.”

At the significant sacrifice of Grandma and Papa, my wife and I attended a marriage conference in a small city about an hour and a half from our home.

Let’s just say that on this side of heaven, it was the closest thing to perfection you can get.

Even with a scorching sunburn on my ghostly white legs, it’s hard to communicate just how restorative it was.

We lounged by the pool and had food brought to us. We slept in as long as we wanted. We even got some really great advice that will help us in our marriage.

I actually unplugged from the digital part of my life…no Twitter, no Facebook, and no blogging. And all this without any heroin-style withdraws!

But most of all, we had some time to talk about our relationship…and the one with our kids.

Now, in order to avoid any hateful emails, let me clarify a few things.

I realize that not everyone has the ability to get away for five days. This is especially true for those of you that don’t have family just around the corner.

However, you still need to make time away a priority. Even if it means sending the kids to a friend’s house overnight…or a nice evening away for dinner and a movie.

The Rest Effect

So you think time away sounds nice…and maybe you have even put some plans in place to get away.

But what can you expect from your time of freedom? Better yet, what can your kids expect?

I would say that with all likelihood the expectation would be:

  • A chance to slow down and actually reflect on your marriage, friendships, and kids.
  • The opportunity to assess your effectiveness as a dad and a husband.
  • The chance to talk with your spouse (if you’re married) and weed out activities that push you apart instead of bringing you together.
  • To actually get some sleep.
  • For your kids to appreciate the stability and support you bring to the family.
  • A chance to create, tweak, or overhaul your parenting strategy.
  • To regain the calm, collected, patient, non-vein popping, non-red faced persona you used to have.
  • To appreciate the joy and satisfaction that kids have added to your life.
  • A chance to eat a meal without kids perched next to you with their mouths gaping wide…like little scavengers awaiting their next bite.
  • A chance to put it all in perspective.

This may sound like a lot to contemplate. And it probably is if you’re simply heading out for a nice dinner.

But at times, even a nice dinner can allow you to regain your composure.

Save the headier topics for your next over-night trip or weekend excursion.

Just make sure that you are purposeful about your time away.

Your kids will love the person you become when you’re willing to take a “time-out” for yourself now and then.