Things I Wish I Had Thought of Earlier

1) Problem:

Every morning, my kids would go to put their shoes on from the communal shoe basket.  

Shoes would go flying, kids would be screaming, and it was a disaster every morning.  

Solution:

I bought four small baskets so each child has their own place to put their shoes.  No more shoes all over the place or elbowing each other trying to get to theirs.

2) Problem:

Since we only let the kids watch one tv show each weeknight, it is a pretty big deal which show gets chosen.  Of course it's almost impossible for a 9, 7, 5, and 4 year old to agree on which show to watch.  Every night would lead to someone being disappointed or Phil and I just picking a show nobody liked because they were all being unreasonable.

Solution:

One night I wrote down their four names and told them the first one got to pick the show, the next one picked the next night, and so on.  Done, no more arguments, they just take their turn and pick their show and that's it.

3) Problem:

The kids have a chance to buy snacks at the snack counter after school.  They were always begging us for a dollar, but one dollar each for every school day is $20 per week.  Too much for us to dole out.

Solution:

Every day at school that they are well-behaved and don't get "spoken to" or a check, or whatever is equivalent of getting in trouble, they earn a quarter.  On Friday morning, if they've been good all week, they get $1.00.  If they had one bad day, they get 75 cents, etc.  Now they have an incentive to be good all week and look forward to their snack money on Fridays.

4) Problem:

Maggie is scared of the night (no idea where she gets that from...) and will sometimes start to cry that she is going to have bad dreams at night.

Solution:

I took a bottle of an old Victoria's Secret perfume, and told her it was "Good Dream Spray" and spritzed a little in her room one night.  The next morning she said it worked and asks for it every night now.  

Now I know these are not wicked smaht said in my Boston accent ideas, but they are common sense solutions that I wish I had thought of sooner.  And I'm thinking all you wicked smaht ladies out there have way more solutions like this that you could share with me...so start spilling....please!!