No, I don’t mean parking ON the sidewalk… that’s just silly.  I mean parking NEAR the sidewalk and for good reason.  Two young children getting out of the car in a crowded parking lot or on a busy street can be a very scary thing indeed. (to the mom… the children usually don’t care at all)  Sidewalk parking is my attempt at safety.  Most places have at least a few spots in front of the sidewalk.  Sometimes these parking spaces are not obvious.  They may be far from the door or even around the corner from your destination.  To me it doesn’t matter.  I park, remind the children to “go to the sidewalk”, then it’s a free-for all to see who can get there first.  Okay, not really.  Sister gets out and waits on the sidewalk while I help Brother.  Once we are all together again I let them run ahead to a specified point (you can go to the lightpole, or that red line, or the second bush or the door with the blue letters).  Not only do I not have to worry about them running out into the street; they get to release some extra energy before we enter a store.  This is especially helpful on days with many errands.  Sometimes it takes a little longer but overall there is less stress and that works for me.

Categories: parent hacks, sanity savers, WFMW | 3 Comments »

CAR

EDITION

When Sister was an infant she hated having her diaper changed in store bathrooms. Even when the facilites were nice and clean (which they mostly weren’t) the random loud flushing and hand drying of the other patrons bothered her.  So we tried to be at home for changes as much as possible and just did the best we could while out and about.  When Brother came along I was determined not have the same hassles so I created a diaper changing station in the trunk of my car and made a habit of changing him before we went into a store. This obviously did not work so well for the winter months or when it was raining but it was GREAT the rest of the time. To make it easy to switch vehicles and to keep everything from scattering all over the trunk, I kept my supplies (a stack of diapers, a box of pop-up wipes, rash cream & a single onesie) in a small open-topped canvas bag with handles. My changing mat was simply a folded blanket covered with a waterproof mattress pad.  Many a time we took the blanket out for a picnic and the mattress pad was handy to put under children in wet swimsuits. Another plus about changing in the trunk – the light fascinated Brother such that he would actually stay still for the change.

I know it may seem a bit odd and I got more than one inquiring stare from well-meaning bystanders but it worked for me.

Categories: parent hacks, sanity savers, WFMW | 4 Comments »