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Working Mom's 411 is your one-stop resource guide for navigating through the often choppy waters of managing kids, career and home. With extensive experience as a credentialed nanny, household manager and as a working mom herself, Michelle is sure to make you laugh out loud as she shares her expert take on the common dilemmas that working mothers face.
At your fingertips, you will find expert advice, up to date information and tried-and-true tips on everything from choosing childcare to streamlining housework, homework and more. You'll discover super solutions to problems big and small from learning how to let go of that all-too-familiar working moms guilt to dealing with family and friends who have different ideas about home moms and careers should mix. Buy Now!
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America's nanny offers a large dose of healthy parenting advice with secrets for raising happy, secure, and well-balanced babies and toddlers.
Babies don't come with instructions. And since today's parents are so overwhelmed with schedules and demands, they have little time to bone up on their parenting skills. Often removed from grandparents and relatives who in times past lived next door or just down the street, they have no one to guide them through the disorienting world of raising children. Enter Nanny to the Rescue! Michelle LaRowe, 2004 International Nanny Association "Nanny of the Year," gives her tried and true solutions to childcare. Her expertise with chapters titled "Who's the boss?" and "Discipline is not a four letter word" gives confidence to parents who need specific ideas for real day-to-day problems. A proud member of Christian Nannies, Michelle offers foundational truths sure to help encourage moms and dads.
Nanny To the Rescue Again
Faced with multiple choices regarding school, friends, and activities coupled with the ever-widening influence of the outside world, parents of 6-12 year olds need help. America's nanny is back to offer a large dose of healthy parenting advice with secrets for raising happy, secure, and well-balanced children.
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Dealing with Siblings at Sleep Time
At the end of a long and exhausting day of dealing with your darling duo, the last thing you want to do is encounter an intense struggle as you prepare for sibling sleep time.
Almost as dreaded as mealtime, bedtime can be one of the most stressful events that a parent of two or more encounter during their day.
So what can you possibly do to end the struggle once and for all and help your siblings successfully snooze off?
Have a Routine
A basic bedtime routine should include cleaning up for the night (I suggest a warm bath or shower every evening followed by a thorough time of tooth brushing), getting into cozy sleepwear, reading a book or watching a bedtime appropriate DVD, taking a trip to the bathroom and finally heading off to bed. If you have a consistent bedtime and routine that you implement each night, your kids will come to learn and look forward to getting ready for bed.
Stagger Sleep Time When Kids Share a Room
When you have two or more stagger the time they hit they hay. This gives you valuable one on one time with each child and usually makes it easier for the kids to fall asleep- especially since they'll have no one to mess around with.
Make the Bedroom a Sleep Zone
Reserve the bedroom for sleeping only. This eliminates any confusion as to what's going to happen once you enter their bedroom. This is especially helpful when you have two or more bunking together.
Have Clear Rules
Set clear guidelines for what is acceptable and unacceptable at bedtime. Limiting the number of drinks, books and bathroom trips gives your children a better understanding of what is and is not okay.
Be Consistent
Consistency determines how successful any routines, rules or guidelines will work. Kids learn by testing and when they see through the eyes of experience that they can't get away with breaking the rules, and that no amount of whining will change the routine, they begin to understand that the rules and routines don't change- and that there are set consequences for their actions and set activities for the night.
Separate When Needed
If your siblings share a room and they just won't wind down, separate them. When you notice your kids are keeping each other up, calmly but firmly enter the room and give one warning. The second time, enter the room and remove the offending sibling.
So if you've been struggling with bedtime, try these tips and I'm sure you'll see your chaos turn to calm in no time!
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Michelle LaRowe is the 2004 International Nanny Association Nanny of the Year. A career nanny specializing in caring for twins, Michelle has over a decade of nanny experience. Although she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, she has found her true calling, working as a professional nanny.
Michelle is an active member of the nanny community. She is the founder and president of Boston Area Nannies, Inc., a local non profit educational organization and has served on the International Nanny Association Board of Directors for the past five years. During that time she has also served as the associations 1st Vice President. Michelle is also a proud member of Christian Nannies.
She is called on by the media as a nanny and parenting expert, and has been affectionately dubbed America's Nanny. Michelle has appeared on television and has been featured in print. She is the author of the new parenting series, Nanny to the Rescue!, a contributing writer in the Experts' Guide to the Baby Years and a regular columnist in several parenting publications, including Twins Magazine.
To learn more about Michelle and to get your parenting tip of the day, please visit www.michellelarowe.com.
Parenting Advice Article Archive
Family Organizer Keeping It Together
Separation Anxiety
Toddler Temper Tantrums
How to Hire a Babysitter
Doing It All
Are bedtime battles with your children getting you down?
Dinner Time Miracles!
Child Discipline OR Punishment
Child Allowance for Chores: To Pay or Not To Pay… That Is the Question!
Sibling Rivarly When Your Kids Don't Get Along
Dealing With A Strong Willed Child
Parenting During the Holiday Season Managing the Hustle and Bustle -- Real Advice for Real Life from the American Nanny
A New Year's Resolution Worth Keeping
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