November 2017 - EASTERN OREGON PARENT - 7
Parent-to-parent tips Mom may not have told you
By VIRGINIA JUSTICE
Every family has that one child
– the one who always has their
clothes off almost as soon as you
put them on. My particular child
would take pajamas off and be
stark naked in her crib in
the morning. I was con-
cerned that she would
freeze at night as we
had our thermostat set
for 62 degrees to save
energy. At my wits end, I
called my mother.
Once done laugh-
ing, she told me to be
thankful not to find the
walls painted with the
contents of her diaper,
as my younger brother
had once done. Then
she suggested I put her
in footed pajamas that zip up the
front – but backwards so she could
not reach the zipper. Typically these
pajamas are roomy enough that
you can reverse them with the foot-
ies pointed the wrong direction.
This trick works like a charm.
My children were pacifier ba-
bies; our doctor once said he
thought a pacifier was a much
easier habit to break than thumb
sucking. But, inevitably, a pacifier
drops and gets dirty. I
have seen mothers pick
their child’s up wipe it
or lick it off then give it
back to the child. I am
not a germaphobe, but
– ICK! I decided to al-
ways carry spares with
me. I wanted the extras
to be clean so I put two
(or more) into a zip-
per bag that I dropped
into my purse. I kept
another bag marked
“dirty” for any dropped
pacifiers so I could wash
them later.
For teething babies, Mom sug-
gested wetting one half of a clean
washcloth, putting it in a plastic
bag and allowing it to freeze. Once
frozen, the baby can teethe on the
frozen cloth, the combination of
the rough fabric and cold soothes
sore gums.
Hungry children in a car can be
extremely distracting. Cheerios are
an awesome snack for little ones,
but a dumped bag or bowl all over
the floor of the car is no fun. One
day I was working on a sewing
project using elastic cord when a
thought struck me. Why not string
the Cheerios into a necklace, tie the
ends and let the girls wear them
around their necks and eat at their
leisure. This trick did not complete-
ly eliminate crumbs on the car floor,
but certainly reduced the mess.
Mixing Fruit Loops with Cheerios
can be an extra treat. Elastic cord
breaks easily when tugged so I did
Parenting
Tip
not have to worry that it would
catch on something and strangle
my child.
I found we all were less stressed
if I planned for outings. If we were
going somewhere where they
would need to play quietly I would
put crayons or washable markers
coloring books, small puzzles and
other quiet toys in zip bags and
carry them all in a tote bag wher-
ever we were going. Our church
did something similar by creating
“quiet bags” stored in the pews,
with crayons, coloring pages and
other activities to keep children
occupied during services. One thing
I do not recommend putting into
quiet bags are stickers, as I found
they end up stuck to windows, car
seats and siblings.
Zipper plastic disposable bags
were a lifesaver for our family; I
kept empty ones in the glove box
for our child who got carsick on
winding roads. I used them to store
a set of clean clothes in the trunk in
case of accidents and, when need-
ed, swapped them for the dirty
clothes, which I sealed up in the
same bag. Zip bags come in handy
for snacks, crayons and more. Food
service stores like Cash and Carry
sell two-gallon sized zip bags, which
I found fit most large wood puzzles
and books. Bagged items can be
loaded into plastic boxes with lids
for easy, organized storage.
________
Pendleton home economist Virginia
Justice and her husband have two
college-aged daughters.