The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Yes, I am calling myself a dinosaur, as I’m sure many young mothers will view me as such. The thing is, being a dinosaur has taught me lots of things. Scientists learn many things from studying dinosaurs. Study my dinosaur ideas and see if you learn something new!. In the movie “ A Boy’s Life,” “ I know a thing or two about a thing or two!” I couldn’t have said it better.

I will make some things plain at the beginning. I loved raising my children; I had a great time. Of course, there were down days, but I look back on those being the best of days for the most part. I had four boys and one girl. They were spread out. In some ways, this was good, and in others not. There are fifteen years between my oldest and youngest. Things that worked for me might not work for you, but on the other hand, sometimes an idea needs a tweak to work for your situation.

Canvas drawstring bags were my savior. I found a store that personalized them. I checked online, and there are still some as cheap as $2.63 that will personalize. Of course, many ladies here could likely do their own. I call them the magical traveling bags! Each child had their own--no fighting--the name clarified whose for a day to the beach--great for towels, swimsuits, and any small toy. I used them for swim lessons too. Everyone carried their own. Sleepover? Put the pj’s in with a toothbrush etc., and ready to go. Camping? I used them for pj’s and small personal items each child wanted. Small toy cars, stuffed animals, etc., each child was responsible for their own. Day trip? Shove in a change of clothes or shoes.

I took my children to church each Sunday. We sat in the balcony where we weren’t under everyone’s eyes--but I had everyone sit beside me for the first twenty minutes.No runnings and no loud voices. Then they went to Sunday school. I utilized bags then also. Not the canvas drawstrings but a small duffel bag for me. In it, I kept a plastic bag labeled with each child’s name. This held crayons and coloring books and, for younger ones, some small toys they only saw when in church. I also packed crackers and small cookies in the duffel. As soon as we sat down, the bags were handed around, and everyone got busy. Time to go to Sunday school? They were responsible for putting everything back in their bag and handing it to me to put in the duffel. These particular coloring books etc., were only used in the church, making them special. Of course, as some got older, puzzle books were popular too.

I acquired reading glasses at 42 and was constantly losing them. We lived in a large two-story house, and I could waste countless minutes hunting. So I’d yell --”a dollar for who finds my glasses!’. The troops were mobilized! I stood in one spot, and those glasses were found pretty darn fast. Like most mothers, I put on a lot of miles in a day and enjoyed a foot massage. So I kept a supply of peppermint foot cream, and the kids gave me foot massages. In this case, no monetary reward but extensive praise from me. So competitive!!! They would criticize each other’s techniques, but I would adroitly avoid comparisons and praise each for something in particular. As they got older, they got good at it!

I invented The Friday Night Club. This was to make something special out of what was sometimes a humdrum week. We would order pizza for supper or burgers, whatever the majority wanted. It was always a festive meal. Then we would go to the nearest 7:11, and each would get a Slurpee or Big Gulp. Back home, we’d go. I’d make popcorn, and we’d settle down for movies or board games. My grown kids are now having the Friday Night Club with their children! My oldest has no children, but he has informed me he still does the Friday night Club--only he watches sports after his pizza!! ( But he still gets a Big Gulp!)

I’m sure you can imagine the amount of laundry accumulated in a week. My laundry room was in the basement, and the bedrooms were on the second floor. Each child had a room with a dresser. So you can see a lot of up and down and in and outputting clothes away. I decided there must be an easier way, and so there was. Some would say it was child labor. I called it a chance for a prize! The rules were thus----during Friday Night Club (if I was behind in putting laundry away ), I would announce there was a contest tonight--lucky them--with a prize to be won.! Everyone, after supper, would assemble in the basement. (Say “ go” at the top of the stairs would’ve resulted in injuries.) Each child then had to find all their washed clothes, run up to their room and neatly put them away. I would be upstairs monitoring, and the child that finished first and neatly was the prize winner!!! When we got to 7: 11, the lucky winner also got to pick a chocolate bar!!!! I made sure the same child did not win all the time. Mothers are devious, and some might get more clothes some weeks.

Of course, we loved the summer holidays and wanted to make the most of them. We had a trailer before we got our cottage, but we only took that out on the weekends. So, I devised our Summer Bucket List. On the last day of school, we sat down and made a list of things everyone wanted to do during the summer. Picnics at different parks, the zoo at Moose Jaw( 35 miles away), The Natural Museum were always on the list as there were so many neat displays and a room where they could create art. There were free library programs I would suggest—Beach day trips, days at the swimming pool, and movies. Everyone had ideas. The annual exhibition was, of course, included! I would intersperse these outings with just being around the home and playing with friends. I also allowed a friend per child who could go with us to the beach or for a picnic. As each item on the list was done, it would be checked off. Of course, some things like the pool happened many times. We had wonderful summers.

Meals would be tedious to make (as they still are), so I had two menus I would utilize when I had had enough. One was called Make Your Own Pizza. Our bakery had pizza shells about a ten-inch size --several to a bag. Out would come a bowl of tomato sauce, bowls with toppings, and everyone would make their own pizza. Shish kebobs were popular. I would cut and marinate the meat early in the day. I’d get a bag of inexpensive wood skewers and put out bowls of cherry tomatoes, pepper strips, onion cubes, mushrooms, and beef cubes. Everyone got to do their skewer, and I’d broil them in the oven. My daughter recently confessed she only chose the meat. Of course, I knew that but” frankly my dear-” (as Rhett Butler said in Gone With the Wind)----I would do a baked potato for each to round out the meal. Easy meals for me and popular with the kids.

We had neighbors who also had five children who lived in a much more, shall I say, disorganized household. The girls one day were overplaying and asked what we were having for supper. They were obviously anxious for an invitation. However, I had a rule; each child could have one friend for one meal a week. We had reached that week’s quota.”Well, what do you have tonight?” I asked. “ Oh, it’s SOS night, the one replied.” What might that be, I asked?”. Well, it stood for search or starve. My understanding was that there were some strange meals consumed on those days. See, all mothers have hacks!

For anyone reading this who is raising children now, I hope you got a usable idea to help you. If you are also a dinosaur, I hope you got a good laugh from one dinosaur to another. The best thing about mother dinosaurs is that we aren’t extinct and constantly evolving!!!