Children grow quickly and there’s often that struggle choosing between clothes and shoes that fit perfectly and those that have a little “give” so they last longer. It’s rare for a child to go through a school year with the same pair of shoes or the same outfit.

When buying children’s shoes and clothing, look at the fit carefully. It’s important not to buy anything too large as it will feel uncomfortable and not look right on your child. Shoe fit is very important for children because shoes that are too large or too small can cause blisters, pain and difficulty walking.

Remember back in the day when you’d go shopping for children’s shoes and there would be a salesperson to fit shoes? They knew exactly what to do. They ‘d measure, try on shoes and check the fit as you walked. I found a video that teaches you how to do your own fitting for boys school shoes. You can use this for girls shoes as well. You’ll learn how to check fit around the ankles, heels and the width of the foot.

You’ll be buying the right fitting shoes on your own after you watch this video.

Keeping her teeth healthy is a chore. It’s hard to clean her teeth because she has a small mouth, because her teeth are crowded and because she doesn’t make it a priority. My husband and I have done many things including using a reward system to help her brush her teeth, but nothing seems to work.

I dread if she’ll need more oral surgery or dental work that requires needles.  When she had an IV in the past, it was scary for all of us. We’re fortunate to have an oral surgeon and his staff that works well with our daughter. I understand that there’s a San Diego sedation dentist that does good work too. We live in Florida so traveling there is out of the question, but for anyone in that area take a look at what he does.

1. Planning The Cruise – When you’ve narrowed your choices down by what you can afford, let your tween in on the planning phase. Gather brochures, library books about the areas you’ll be visiting and visit the online cruise sites. Many of the online sites provide video tours. The brochures and sites include information on what is available for children, tweens and teens to do on board, which is plays a big role in the choice of your cruise.
2. Buy Clothes – Choosing cruise attire will help your tween get in the mood for the activities on board, the excursions, the pool, etc.
3. Countdown The Days: As your cruise gets closer, mark off the days on your calendar or use an online countdown calendar. This increases the fun!
4. Music Downloads: Find music from the places you’ll be visiting and download it for your tween. Let them get an idea of what to look forward to.
5. Attend A Formal Dinner: Either prepare one at home or go to a formal restaurant so your tween is ready for formal nights on your upcoming cruise. It will make you all comfortable not having to remind them what fork to use, etc. Although mistakes are overlooked on cruises, it’s nice to at least know some of the basic manners.
6. Visit The Cruise Forum: Almost every cruise line has their own forum now. Join and/or visit to learn about what regular cruisers are sharing. There’s usually up to date information about the tween clubs on board.
7. Choose Excursions: Involve your tween with deciding on what excursions to take. Read about the rules and regulations carefully to see if there is an age limit.
8. Earn Money: Give your tween extra chores so s/he can earn some extra money for the cruise. There’s souvenirs, tween club sleepovers and other extras that are tempting. Provide the opportunity for them to make money so they can pay what they want.
9. Camera: Let your tween have their own camera and be responsible for it during your cruise. Find an inexpensive one at a yard sale, online or give them your hand-me-down. Let them practice taking photos before the cruise so they’re ready to shoot lots of their own when you’re on board and sight seeing.
10. Motion Sickness Items: Just in case, talk to your tween’s doctor about what is recommended for motion sickness. Buy it and bring it along.

We’re off on a Carnival Cruise within the next few weeks. This will be the third cruise for my 11 year old daughter. She’s enjoyed every one.

Do you have any questions or suggestions for tweens traveling on a cruise? Please leave a comment.

Another thing that helps my daughter remain on track with her vitamins, is to take them when I take mine at breakfast time. I take vitamins, glucosamine and prescription medications every day. We eat a healthy breakfast, talk and both take our vitamins while we’re enjoying our meal.

I’ll continue to teach her about nutrition and provide healthy foods for her, but while this stage is going on, supplements are a way to get the things she needs to continue growing and be healthy.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

Here are some ideas for easy recipes for families with teens:

• Wraps – These are portable and can be filled with veggies as well as some meat if you like. You can use wheat tortillas and other healthy bread items as your “wrapping”.
• Smoothies – Make them with fresh or frozen fruits. Put them into a covered drink container to take along for practice or a day out with friends. Makes a healthy snack and helps your tween avoid soda.
• Homemade Trail Mix – Include raisins, nuts, dried fruit and less chocolate.
• Parfaits – Add fruit like blueberries, wheat germ or whole grain cereal to low fat yogurt for an on the go snack. Don’t forget the spoon!
• Fruit or Zucchini Muffins
• Wheat crackers, low fat cheese and fruit
• Frittatas and Casseroles with vegetables
• Sandwiches – same as wraps but use wheat bread and load up on the vegetables

Some suggestions to save time:

• Prepare a batch and freeze
• Have your children help with the cooking. They’re more likely to eat if they’ve cooked.
• Plan your meals and snacks in advance.
• Make a shopping list based on what you are going to cook.

Consider how the food looks:

• Color is important
• Make it fun! Put fruit or veggies on sticks, create a bowl of fruit around a bowl of peanut butter for dipping, etc.
• Disguise it. If your teen won’t eat celery for example, cut it up and add it to a soup. Then blend the broth.

Buy some unusual containers:

• Get a lunch box with separate compartments for hot and cold and a unique design
• What about a bento box?
• There’s no need for plastic sandwich bags any more, get fabric ones that are washable.

Share with friends, search on the web and ask your tween to help you come up with easy recipes for your family.

Here’s some ideas to make your mother and daughter sleepover party fun for the both of you:

Pajamas and Clothing

Let your daughter wear your women’s pajamas. Dress up in some weird outfits. Do makeovers.

Junk Food

Get out the junk food, like popcorn, candy and potato chips. See what creations the two of you can come up with. What about pickles and potato chips?

Play Games

Board games, story telling games, and charades are just some examples of games you can play together. Go online and shop, but not for real. Choose the most expensive and stylish clothing, toys, furniture and even pretend to buy women’s pajamas and girls pajamas for the next party.

Sleep In

Stay up late and sleep in the next day. Have a huge breakfast and eat a yummy brunch. And don’t forget to stay in your womens pajamas while you’re eating!

Maybe this will turn out to be a family tradition you’ll enjoy for years to come. Let me know some other party ideas for your mother and daughter sleepover party.

This is a sponsored post.

Social Skills Readiness

In middle school, children will be meeting new students from other schools and from home school. This is a time of making new friend.  For some children, this is something they can handle easily, for others it is one of the most frightening events in their lives. Our daughter is in between. She’s not shy, but doesn’t make friends easily.

We’re preparing her by registering her for summer activities where she doesn’t know anyone. When we travel, she’ll go off to the children’s events on her own. She’s been reading books about friendship and I’ve bought one for her as a surprise to read over the summer – Fab Friends And Best Buds: Real Girls On Making Forever Friends

Getting Organized

We’ve already started helping our daughter get better organized during the end of this school year,  but will work on it more over the summer. She’s going to be responsible for getting herself ready in the morning. When we go out for the day she’s going to be in charge of bringing her belongings. When we travel, she’s going to pack for herself. We’ll be buying school supplies that she can use to help in this area too. She’ll be using her calendar and the one on her computer to remember important dates.

She’ll be rewarded for her accomplishments over the summer and of course when school begins again. She wants more time on the computer, to see movies and to have friends over the house. All fine with us.

More Focus on Academics

When we went to the middle school open house, we were given a list of  the Florida Sunshine State books, which are recommended reading for students based on their grade level. The principal stated in his speech to us that this was not required reading, but since our daughter enjoys reading, she’ll be going through the list. To keep her focused on math, one of problem subjects, we’ll be using math in our daily lives. We’ll have her choose the lowest price items when we shop, figure out the tip when we eat out, help with measuring when we cook, etc. She’ll also play math games online.

She enjoys meteorology so she’ll track the weather for our trips, keep track of the tropical storms and hurricanes and play with a new weather device she received as a gift. None of these are things that she doesn’t enjoy. We plan on making them fun and exciting for her.

Keeping Communication Open

We have worked at keeping communication open between us and our daughter, but this summer we are going to work extra hard at this. We want her to voice any concerns she has about starting middle school.

Visiting The School

There are a few opportunities to visit the middle school over the summer and we’ll take advantage of them. We need to fill out forms when she decides what sport she’s interested in. I signed up for the PTSA so I’ll go to any meetings or see if there’s any volunteer events where we can help. There’s also another open house right before school starts which we’ll attend.

Book Recommendation

We already purchased this book and highly recommend it – Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, The: Middle School (Worst Case Scenario Junior Editions).  It covers everything from what to do if you’re bullied to how to cope with pimples.

Are you more concerned about moving on to middle school than your child? What did you do to prepare your child for middle school?

• Original Victory Cookie – the signature chocolate chip cookie
• Shuggah Browns – a sugar cookie made with brown sugar
• Mr. Wonderful – oatmeal raisin
• Beach Bum – made with pineapple chunks and macadamia nuts

My favorites were the Original and Shuggah Browns which tasted like they came fresh out of the oven. In fact, I put mine in the microwave for just a few seconds to warm up and dunked in milk to get the best out of them. A box would make a nice gift to bring along to a dinner party or as a treat for a play group.

Purchase from Victory Cookies online. You can also get a free sample cookie to taste. I’m sure you’ll be buying them after!

Disclosure: I received a box of cookies free of charge.

Of course it’s better to focus on the good, but I do have to prepare for what’s coming in the future. My parents took care of  their will and burial plans a long time ago. She and my Dad bought Funeral Insurance and when my Dad passed all the plans were made and as hard as it was, there was a lot of things we didn’t have to worry about.

Life Insurance is a big issue for us. When my husband was in the military we both had Life Insurance, but we ended up letting the plans lapse when my husband was medically retired. Since I have lots of health problems it is very costly to get Life Insurance for me.  We do need to consider it though as it would be costly to replace me. That sounds funny, but it’s true. While Shawn works, I’m the main caregiver for Sammi. I think it’s time for us to start getting Life Insurance Quotes to see if we can afford it vs. what it would be like without it and something happens to me. Another part of thinking of the future.

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