People fall into two categories—those who can keep a secret and those who can’t.
The first category—those who can—can also be divided into two categories. Those who can keep a secret at all costs and those who can be bribed. There is also the third, smaller group of those who can keep a secret so long as they tell just one other person.
I fall into the “can keep a secret” category. When I’m told a secret my lips are sealed. I keep it on the downlow. The vault is sealed. There is no letting the cat out of the bag and I won’t crack under the pressure.
We’ve teamed up with Pizza Hut to give away an amazing family vacation and a pizza party for the whole family. The catch is we can’t tell you where you’re going.
What I can tell you is it’s one of our best prizes ever and it’s valued at $10,000. Oh, and you can take the vacation anytime you want until the end of next March, which means you won’t have to try to fit it in before the kids go back to school.
While I can’t tell you what it is, I’m allowed to give you a little clue so I thought I’d write a poem:
You’re going on a vacay but don’t know where it is. Is it a place with high humidity that will cause your hair to frizz?
The trip promises to be a huge amount of fun. Be sure to pack your sunscreen for playing in the sun.
When it comes to packing footwear we don’t think you should choose. Bring flip flops for the beach and some comfy walking shoes.
You’ll have lots of time to sit back and lounge beside the pool but still enjoy some active play while on this magical dream come true.
Last but not least bring your camera to document your trip. When your kids find out what you've won them, they’re truly going to flip.
So put on your thinking cap to figure out these clues. Then go and enter the contest. What have you got to lose?
Helpful Hint: Don't bother trying to steam open the envelope. When I was a teen I got a letter sent home from school for having so many lates. I attempted to steam open the envelope so I could read the letter before giving it to my parents. Not only did I get in trouble for being late so many times, I got busted for steaming open the envelope because the paper gets all wrinkly and the glue won't re-stick. It doesn't work like it does in the movies AT ALL.
p.s. While bribes have not worked on me to date, I’m all for seeing if I have a price.
Enter our contest to win a $10,000 family vacation! Simply tell us where you think it is and why you think you should WIN!
While you’re trying to figure out the vacation destination, Pizza Hut wants to know if you can resist the temptation of a secret prize. Until September 3rd when you add a Pepsi beverage to your dine-in order, you’ll be given an envelope.
The catch is you can’t open it. Bring the envelope back to a Pizza Hut Dine-in restaurant between September 4th and October 31st to be opened and you’re guaranteed a prize.
So get yourself into a Pizza Hut Dine-in restaurant today! Check out full details here.
This is proudly sponsored by our friends at Pizza Hut.
www.pizzahut.ca
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We leave our children with teachers for a large portion of the day but more goes on in the classroom than you know—sensitive issues crop up in classrooms all the time. I found one teacher who was willing to spill the beans on what some teachers really want you to know, as long as he or she remained anonymous.
Keep Your Kids Clean
We notice when your child is not clean. Whether it is nails, teeth, hair or clothing, these things are noted in our cache of information we collect on your child. We spend eight hours a day with your child, we know when he or she needs a bath. Truth be told, in my classroom I keep an extra hair brush, new tooth brush, wash cloth, and soap because kids know when they are dirty and they are embarrassed as well.
Send In Better Lunches
Lunches are a huge issue. We all have that kid in our class who brings a junk-filled lunch—pop, chips, chocolate bars. How is that feeding your child’s brain? It’s not and your child's behaviour will match the nutritional value of their lunches. Lunchables are not an acceptable lunch. Kool-aid and Sunny D are crap. We notice what your kids are eating and it affects how they learn. So during the parent interview when you are wondering why your child has behaviour issues and how it could not be their fault, someone else must be to blame, I am looking directly at you thinking, “Are you kidding me?”
Also, don't put smelly stuff in your kid’s lunch, it embarrasses them, makes the class smell horrible, and no one wants to sit next to someone who smells like garlic or fish.
Field Trips
Field trips are a lot of work to organize and for the most part, we love our parent volunteers—we couldn’t do a field trip without you. But, if you give everyone in your group gum or take them to the gift shop after you have been told not to, you are blackballed. You will never be asked to come back again. What you will get is a cute little note saying, “Thank you for volunteering again but we would like to give all parents a turn,” or “Sorry, it was first come first serve and all of our volunteer positions are filled for this trip.”
This also applies if you are a pain in the ass volunteer who would rather have a mini-interview about your child as I try to organize 20 other students, or if you wear to much perfume, or if you act like one of kids rather than a parent, or tell me last minute you are not coming...I think you get the picture.
Manners
Talk to your kids about manners...it is your job to teach your child manners, it is my job to enforce them at school. Simply put, children who have manners have an easier time in school than those who do not.
We Hear It All
Are you divorced? Too bad your child is not. Don't act like an ass around the other parent. Don't bad mouth the other parent in front of me, I don't care. Seriously, I care about your kid, not that your husband cheated on you. It's called too much information and I don’t want to know.
When I call you and your ex for a meeting, yes you have to man-up and attend a meeting together because you created this little person, you are responsible. If the two of you bicker and make the other out to be the bad guy all I will be thinking the entire time is, “Poor kid, thank god he can come to school and get away from the fighting at home.”
Your baggage is your own, leave your child out of it.
You can learn even more ways to get organized and transition from summer to school on our Back-To-School 2014 page.
Once upon a time there was a mom whose favourite present in the whole world was a gift card to a book store. Birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, her eyes would light up with excitement when she opened the credit-card-sized-card. She would spend hours at the book store perusing the shelves trying to decide which stories she would bring home.
But all too soon the money on the gift card would be gone, the books read and her mind would drift to all the tales that remained on the shelves. In a perfect world she would have enough money to buy every single book she ever wanted but things like "eating" and "paying the mortgage" got in the way.
So what's a book-lovin' mom on a budget to do? She decided used tech to her advantage.
Once every few weeks she would take her kids to the book store and as they wandered about she would use her smart phone to snap pictures of all the books she wanted to read. In the past she would write the titles and authors on pieces of paper she found in her purse, mostly written with eyeliner becasue she didn't have a pen. But, alas, the pieces of paper would get lost and because she had ten kajillion things going on in her mind, she would forget which books she had wanted to read.
She would also snap pictures of books from reviews in magazines and newspapers and sometimes even from reviews she found on the internet (although screenshots work much better). Then she would go through all her photos and put those books on hold at the library, one by one. By combining tech, frugality, and the long forgotten library system, she never again missed a book she wanted to read.
And her family still got to eat.
Don't you love a happy ending?
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