Kids & Company Blog: Parenting

Posted on: Tuesday September 4th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

One question I’m often asked is, “do you love playing with children?” Although this may come as a surprise to most, my answer to that question is “no.” I do have a special love for babies, nursing, cuddling and playing with them, but I have never had much of an interest in “getting down on the ground,” or playing house, cars, school, etc. I have always felt more of a pull in the direction of nurturing and loving them and I’ve left their playing and learning to be developed through each other and school.

Posted on: Wednesday August 22nd, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Most of our parents have babies or small children, and sleep is a huge part of the entire family’s daily routine. If we haven’t slept well as a family then life is so much more difficult.
I have lots to share in future blogs about babies sleeping, toddlers and moving to “big beds”. I even have stories about baby number eight sleeping with us until he was close to five! This was not a good thing and is one of my parenting regrets.

Posted on: Wednesday August 15th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

In the child care world, we often talk about “transitioning” from one part of the daily schedule to the next. Children might be playing on the carpet and then need to come to the table to have their snack. Most children manage this transition well and when told that it is “snack time” they jump up from their play and run happily to the table.
Some children have a harder time with this and need to be told a few times, “soon it will be snack time”, “a few more minutes”, “start to get ready” and other reminders like these. We find this makes things much easier.

Posted on: Friday August 3rd, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Let’s talk about siblings. As mentioned in previous posts, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s Nurtureshock discusses several topics that are of interest to most parents. Chapter 6 of the book dispels the idea that being an only child has detrimental effects on the development of social skills.

Posted on: Wednesday August 1st, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

I do consider myself somewhat of a “parenting expert” and this is not just because I have 8 children, but also because many years ago (26 to be exact), I attended a 2-year parenting course called “Children the Challenge”. Since then, I have continued with reading and taking courses every year. While I do not always agree with what I read, I feel that the answer for parents is to read/learn and decide what makes sense for you.

Posted on: Wednesday July 25th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Many people ask me if I know “where babies come from?” They ask me this because they are curious as to whether my husband and I actually planned to have 8 children.

The true answer is that I really wanted 10 children (and if you would like proof of this you can look at my West Hill Collegiate High School Yearbook, where it says that I want to have 10 children and become a lawyer). The lawyer part is another story…but for some amazing reason, I have always been baby crazy!

So my poor husband (we were very young and in love) married me anyway, knowing that I really did want to have 10 babies.

Posted on: Thursday May 10th, 2012

Posted by: Julie Cole

Mother’s Day is around the corner and everyone is asking the moms what we want. I’m a simple gal and not particularly high maintenance in the gifts department. I don’t want flowers or jewelry for Mother’s Day or any other occasion really.

In fact, my perfect Mother’s Day gift would be doing without some things. For example, there are certain comments made by the general public that we mamas could do without. Mamas of biggie-sized families prefer not to be asked if we own a TV or suggestions that we should take up a hobby. Contrary to popular belief, we are not actually spending the majority of our time participating in baby-making activities. Another classic one – when I go out alone in the evening, I’d like people to stop asking who is taking care of the kids. There is this guy in their lives called their “father”. And no, he’s not “babysitting”. I checked in with Daddy-o and he has never been asked this question when out for the evening, yet I hear it constantly.

Posted on: Wednesday May 2nd, 2012

Posted by: Julie Cole

My kids are far from spoiled, and I myself had a wonderful upbringing, but every once in a while I look at their lives and say to myself “In my next life, I want to come back as one of MY OWN kids”.
It happened last week. We had cousins visiting from overseas and it was all kinds of crazy fun. After several late nights, I allowed them to sleep in and be late for school one morning. This is something I’ve never done before and certainly something my mother never allowed. If we wanted to stay up and party like it’s 1999, I can assure you my mother had us up bright and early to greet that first sunrise of 2000. That makes sense to me – why protect them from natural consequences? But I let them sleep in last week. That one time.

Posted on: Tuesday April 10th, 2012

Posted by: Julie Cole

A while ago, my friend Louise relayed that she was horrified to learn that a woman she knows “unfriends” people on Facebook who brag about their kids a lot. Louise explained that she loves sharing news about her children and also hearing about other people’s kiddos. While I couldn’t agree more, I completely get where her friend is coming from.

Posted on: Thursday March 29th, 2012

Posted by: Julie Cole

Parents often wonder what the appropriate age is to get a kid a cell phone. Some kids beg for one, claiming all their friends at school have them. Some parents feel it’s a safety thing – kids can get hold of them when necessary.
My three “biggies” are nine, eleven and twelve years old. While I can certainly think of times it would have been convenient for them to have cell phones, we haven’t gone there yet.