mommy hacks Archives - Mommy Ginger

I usually start preparing everything that my child needs for school during the month of May, early May to be exact. There are a lot of benefits to being ready early. One benefit is that you avoid the rush that happens, and you can get to choose from the various items that are available. My 4 year old daughter is one who loves choosing stuff by herself, and having a toddler amidst a huge crowd will be dangerous and chaotic. But I’m not here to share with you the usual tips that I assume you already know about. I’m here to share with you the personal strategies that I have; I’ll share with you some mommy hacks that I personally do — my very own back to school tips.

1. Have lots of labels with the name of your child and your name on them (as guardian) with an emergency contact number. We normally just have the name of our daughter / son printed with the grade level, but I think there is a need to place the parents name and the contact details as emergency contact. Place this on all personal belongings of the child.

2. Have a drawer/s with all of the “possible” school supplies that your child might need. If there is one thing that being in events has taught me, it was being ready for anything with everything. I have stock of folders (different sizes, a few color), art materials, all kinds of paper (from short/ling bond, construction, board, etc. and in different colours, too), glue gun, glue sticks, ordinary glue, scissors in all sizes, punchers, staplers, all kinds of colouring pens, permanent and whiteboard markers, oil pastels, crayons, index cards, illustration boards, etc. I practically have everything in the SM Stationery Department of SM. I truly have it all, too!

3. As parents, school means just thinking about your child’s “school”. In my case, I also look for after school activities where I can enrol her. As early as May, I already think of extra-after school fun activities that she can do. She has math lessons after school and I’m already waiting for the schedule of the art school where I inquired with a month ago. With this, I can fill her days already with activities, so she makes full use of her time enjoying learning. My daughter loves going out, so the activities that we prepare for her to do at home, isn’t enough 🙁 So for this mommy hack or back to school tip, it really depends on what you think your child needs. If you want them to do a few activities at home after school, for toddlers, there are sticker book activities, fun workbooks that are available at SM Stationery (got mine in SM Stationery Bacolod).

4. Get a head start on creating the meal plan and the activity schedule for your child before school starts. I always want to have it all ready to be seen by everyone in the household one month in advance, so that I will always have a guide one or two months before. With the meal guide, I will know what ingredients or food to buy from the grocery. With the activity guide, it will tell everyone in the house what my daughter is up to every single moment.

5. In choosing school materials and even in choosing activities, I always involve my child. I have noticed that she is more engaged when she is part of the decision making process. Check out our fun trip to SM Stationery in Megamall. Do you know that they have ready-made back to school packs for each level. Check this out! It’s only at Php 399 each.

So these are my own personal hacks and tips. I hope that this article was useful in anyway to you. Oh, btw, if you want a copy of the cute labels that I have mentioned above, please leave me a message in the comment section below so that I can email a copy of it to you! The printables are lovingly made by LD Design and Creative Pursuits.

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You can then have them printed at Alfox Printing.

Share with me your fun trip to SM Stationery, too, or some other tips that you want to share with other moms using #MadeforSchool! Talk to you soon!

For more information, check out these links:

http://www.facebook.com/smstationeryph
http://www.instagram.com/smstationeryph
http://www.twitter.com/smstationeryph
http://www.smstationery.com.ph

I think when I became part of the Wilkins Circle of Trust, I feel like I became a more “intentional” mom. When I became a mom, I was so careful with every thing. I would see to it that she only uses clean “everything’. I exclusively breastfed her. I saw to it that she she slept, crawled and walked was clean and safe.

Then the time came when I got used to bumps here and there, insect bites here and there. I thought to myself, this isn’t so bad. Then I sort of just let go. Being in this circle of trust made me realize that there can be balance between being so paranoid and being so lax. We can actually keep our children safe while still enjoying motherhood. During the Wilkins Circle of Trust brunch that we had a few weeks back, the ladies and I got to talk about some mommy hacks that we can do to keep our children safe.

It helps to know some Safety Hacks!

Let me share with you some of my personal favorites from the Mommy Safety Hack tips that were shared. Some of these hacks are things that I really do:

Toddlers love running around already and sometimes, they won’t take off their socks. What I do is that if she wants to keep it on, she needs to wear her “special socks”. Her special pair has her initials written below it using fabric paint that feels like rubber when it dries up.

We bought those soft cushion edges for sharp corners. They sell it in hardware stores. What I learned from the brunch from other moms is that you can us foam pipe insulation also.
Our curtains are the ones with those long cords. I noticed that my daughter loves pulling it, and so what I did is that I tie it into a knot so that she isn’t able to reach it.
We also bought those plastic covers for the outlets. Ours came with plastic keys also so that you get to take it out of the outlet — and it’s the only way to take it out. If you have duct tape at home, this would be an alternative too.

Moms sharing their hacks at the Wilkins Circle of Trust Brunch

She loves opening the refrigerator so I always check the refrigerator and keep the things that I don’t want her to reach out for. What is accessible to her are the bottle of Wilkins that she can reach out for and food like bread and fruits. Also, all breakable things in the kitchen are kept from her.
I post a list of emergency numbers on the fridge, so that everyone in the house will have access to it. Part of the list are also people whom I trust (my own Circle of Trust) which includes her grandparents, her titas and titos, yaya, pediatricians, OB/GYNS and teachers.