Going Nuts !?!

A few months ago my kids asked me if they could make a volcano. I tried to procrastinate this activity given the fact I knew it would take days to complete. However, given the fact I’m a science geek, I decided why the heck not! So over the course of 3 days, we made our own exploding volcano. Although it wasn’t perfect the kids had a “blast”!

Day 1: gathering supplies and molding the volcano

Since I wanted to find a way to make a volcano that contain the messiness, I decided to pick up the following supplies:

• 1 large tub
• 1 soda bottle
• vinegar
• baking soda
• supplies for salt dough ( 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, 3/4 cup water)

Steps:

1. Make the salt dough by mixing the flour and salt together. Then add water. I mixed mine in a food processor. My 1st batch was too runny so started over and slowly mixed the water until it was dough like consistency.
2. Once the dough is made, layer the dough on top of the soda bottle until it forms a cone. Be careful you don’t add any inside of the soda bottle. What helped was to keep the lid on the bottle until I was ready to work on the sides. This process can take some time depending upon the size of your bottle

Day 2: Uh Oh, there’s cracks in the side. Let’s decorate anyway

1. Since I did not have enough salt dough, overnight it formed cracks and gaps where you could see the bottle. I decided to leave it for effect.
2. The kids and I painted our creations. I let them paint it different colors, use plastic dinosaurs, rocks from outside, sticks from the trees and plants to make a prehistoric scenery. Since the dough was not completely dry, they were able to place their decorations on and around the volcano.

Day 3: Exploding our volcanoes!

1. I placed 2 tablespoons of baking soda, liquid soap, and a few drops of red food coloring inside the volcano.
2. Then with a gravy cup measure (it has a perfect spout), I filled the volcano with vinegar.
3. Viola! Our volcanoes erupted with a nice consistent flow of red lava. Since the dough was not completely dry, it appeared to “melt” the sides. The kids were able to see the change of before and after. We were able to talk about what molten lava does to rock.

The cracks on the side? Well, once the volcanoes stopped erupting, the kids were able to see the red liquid inside the volcano. We discussed the difference between an active, dominate and extinct volcano. Ironically, our flawed volcano became a teaching tool!

This weekend my family and I enjoyed our traditional Easter festivities. We attended my son’s church for a traditional Easter egg hunt.  Since the eggs were filled with candy and my kids had a bag filled with eggs, I knew  they had more than enough to make themselves sick.

So for our own hunt, I didn’t want more candy considering they already will be getting their chocolate bunnies and peeps.  I could have filled the eggs with money but I had limited time to fill tons of eggs  and  had a small budget.  However, I was determined to do something fun despite it all. I decided instead filled eggs,  we would have our own scavenger egg hunt!

How you do it:

1. Pick a starter egg. Write a clue or direction and place it inside the egg.

2. In the next egg, place another clue or direction to a different place around the house.

3. Keep repeating until you get to the end prize. Their basket filled with goodies!

 Optional:  For older kids you could make it more challenging. Instead of giving them exact clues, you could give them a riddle or tell them to find a certain color egg in a particular part of the house. 

At first my kids saw the eggs around the yard and was jumping up and down wanting to pick them up. When I told them it was a “different type of hunt” they were a bit confused. Once I explained the rules, they got it immediately.  They were excited about the  hunt and just wanted to start! 

Although we didn’t have as many eggs as you would with a regular egg hunt, once they found their big prize at the end, they didn’t even care.  All they cared about was the fact they went hunting. What I realized this Easter is sometime less really is more!

A few weeks ago, I attended a teacher’s training as I work with special needs children. They covered an interesting parenting and classroom management technique called 1-2-3 Magic by Dr. Phelan.

The principle from what I understood: When children misbehave they do it to push our buttons on purpose. They are testing us and they know what they are doing. Kids need boundaries to see how little or much they can get away with. The problem happens we as parents/teachers “buy” take the bait. Tempers flair and discipline is not reinforced. What happens in result is diversion from the issue and confusion on both sides.

How it works: When a child misbehaves, argues, or whines all you need to do is simply say “ok that’s 1″ and hold up 1 finger. If they push it again, 5 seconds later “ok that’s 2″ and hold up 2 fingers. If they still push your buttons, say “Ok that’s  3. Go take 10″ (which means time out, go to their room or face the wall depending upon your preference). Over time the kids will understand and stop even before you get to 3. In addition, you will eventually be able to “train” your children and during outings all you have to do is raise your finger.

The 2 key points the trainer told us to remember is the following:

• Don’t talk
• Be emotionless

According to the training, the problem with parents is we overly talk to our kids when disciplining. Then if the don’t understand, we get mad. We think they should think like us when in fact they think like children.

When children are determined, no matter what we say, nothing will get though to them. They have tunnel vision. They will will beg, plead or throw fits to get what they want or attention even if it’s negative reinforcement. In return, we get even more frustrated and angry. If we stop a child as quickly as possible before they reach that state of elevation, it will save us from lengthy tantrums and the children will eventually learn self control.

In addition, special needs children need the same types of reinforcement. If they aren’t verbal, have downs syndrome or a learning delay, children will be able to understand the simple numbers and hand gestures over time with enough consistent reinforcement. It’s less complicated for them to understand and you to implement.

Skeptical - I decided to implement this process at home. To my surprise - my kids got the concept immediately. I explained to them what I was going to do and what it meant. They understood when mom got to 3 it meant trouble.

However, the problem wasn’t them, but ME! i realized that I was afraid of being a bit “firm” on them and used too much logic and discussion. I talked too much! I gave too many chances vs just sticking to 1-2-3 (your out!)

Now, trying to convince a 4 year old he couldn’t have cereal at bed time seems like a silly discussion, but I found myself trying to talk him down when he said “please please please…” (he’s 4… what was I thinking!) I also found myself frustrated when my daughter of 9 whining over TV or computer. It seemed like when I showed her “my emotions’ she only returned by being more emotional… as any girl would. So if anything, the training was useful as it made me more attentive and aware of my own discipline tactics and consistency.

1-2-3 magic is starting to work but just like I am training my children, I have to train myself to keep my logical and emotional side behind when dealing with an illogical child.

To learn more about 1-2-3 magic visit http://www.parentmagic.com/