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Mother’s Day Gifts that Won’t Break the Piggy Bank

My Dollar Store finds. Minus the gloves; those got used.

“Do dollar stores offer gifts for Mother’s Day that won’t end up in the Goodwill pile the moment Junior forgets he gave that thing to you?”

This is the question that ran through my brain the other day while I was coasting up and down the aisles of my local dollar store buying paper towels, cleaning supplies and some plastic forks.

I’m not saying I don’t appreciate every handmade card, half-painted frame, noodle necklace, etc., that my kids have given me in the past. I have most of those either displayed or packed away where I can stumble on them and tear up with motherly pride! Except for maybe the noodle necklaces. Those fell prey to the beagle…

But now that they’re getting older, they like to buy things for me (sweet kiddos). And aside from plastic flower decorations that will get dusty in a week and bath stuff that may or may not make one smell like one of those plastic roses, what can consumer-minded kids buy for mom that won’t break their piggy banks?

With some creative aisle cruising, I found two pretty cool Mom Day gifts!

For the Mom who’s a “Cooking Crackerjack”

A quick stroll through the kitchen gadget aisle scored these treasures:

  • Dry-measuring cups
  • Measuring spoons
  • 3-quart mixing bowl with “no-skid” bottom, handle and pouring spout
  • Wooden spoons
  • Rubber spatula
  • Muffin tin (6-muffin capacity)

All the tools mother and son/daughter will need to whip up some delicious breakfast muffins together on Mother’s Day. The grand total: $6.00 (plus applicable sales tax).

For the Mom who’s a “Gardening Guru”

Tucked away in the “Summer Fun” section of the Dollar store, with all of the beach toys and outdoor fun supplies I found:

  • Plant seeds
  • Pretty gardening gloves
  • Plastic beach shovels and rakes
  • Small ceramic pots
  • Plastic pots (to use as a liner for the ceramic ones)

Toss in some soil, sunshine and water and Mom and child can start a pretty window or patio garden for less than this week’s allowance.

The bonus hidden in these inexpensive gift ideas is they’re also activities that kids can engage in with their moms. Celebrating and spending time with Mom is, after all, the best part of Mother’s Day!

Do you have a favorite Mother’s Day gift? Mine are two tiles. One has my youngest’s hand prints on them, the other, my eldest carved a bird into it. They are on permanent display.

Photo credit: Karen Bristow

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Christmas Memories

My favorite part of Christmas has always been family gatherings. The bigger the gathering, the better in my book. I think this stems from the fact that Christmas was a huge affair when I was little.

We spent Christmas with my dad’s family. He’s one of five children, so holidays at my grandmother’s house were loud; full of love, laughter and food. (And I’ll never figure out how she managed to cook all of that food in her tiny kitchen.)

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve. After a delicious fish dinner prepared by my grandmother, the whole family piled into the living-room to exchange gifts. (My gifts usually involved the two most important “B’s” in my little girl life: Barbies and Books.) Then we’d head home where my parents probably had a heck of a time getting my sister and I tucked into bed.

Christmas day brought gifts from Santa (and occasionally, Rudolph) and a morning of church. Then, back to grandma’s for what can only be described as a feast: Soups, salads, pasta, meat, veggies, cookies, pies and cool whip.

Then the family spent the rest of the day there playing, napping, eating again, watching t.v. and just enjoying being together.

When I think of Christmas, these memories of family gatherings are what come to mind first. When I first moved away from Rhode Island, I missed those gatherings terribly. But I started creating other, new memories in my new home. And now that I have kids, I get to help them create great memories of Family and Christmas.

Feel free to share your favorite Christmas (or the holiday of your religion) memories!

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Raising the Borg

Please bear with me as I give you a little back-story for this post.

My youngest son (Codename: Alan) is ADHD. When his first grade teacher first mentioned the possibility, I admit I just smiled and nodded politely. At the time, I believed that too many kids were needlessly diagnosed as ADHD and medicated. Then, when his second grade teacher brought up the possibility, I thought maybe there might be something to it.

Fast-forward past his primary care physician and two different child psychologists and he’s officially diagnosed as ADHD. Between his doctor, a therapist, and his teachers and I working very closely with each other and Alan, he’s managed to overcome most of the issues with impulse control, focusing, and listening that made school so hard for him in the beginning.

But there’s one, big problem that remains: Homework.

Homework has been a constant struggle since the first “Learn your ABC’s” homework sheet came home. In the beginning, he just wouldn’t do it. He’d sit at the table for the entire night getting distracted by the wood grain in his chair, the crayon wrappers, the popcorn ceiling or anything else that snagged his eye. Nights usually ended with both of us crying and the homework barely done.

And if he did finish it, he’d forget to turn it in.

That hasn’t changed a whole lot. He gets his homework done without (many) tears and distractions, but more often than not, he won’t turn it in. I’ll get progress reports home that look like this:

Test Average: 103
Homework Average: 37

Through the years, we’ve come up with many tricks* to help him remember, on his own, to turn in his homework or complete tasks. Unfortunately, Alan is rather like the Borg. His personal homework shields adapt quickly to a new process. Once he’s assimilated that process, it stops working. I’m then back at square one, frantically trying to adjust the settings on my “remember to hand your homework in, dangit!” phaser to hit him with a new one.

His teachers, bless them, help me as much as they can. By virtue of their professions, they have more ideas in their bag of tricks than I do, which they freely pass along. Ultimately though, it’s my job to get Alan responsible enough to remember to do what he needs to do.

And already I’m seeing signs that the homework shields are once again adapting.

Look for future posts as I discuss new ideas and how well they worked.

*If anyone, parent or not, has any homework help ideas, I will gladly hear them! Feel free to pass along your wisdom in the comments.