Hot Tips
With adult supervision, there's a cheap, fun way to get
through the sweltering summer afternoons. A spray bottle! They
can be purchased at florist shops or a less expensive option
is to use old spray bottles that have been cleaned out well.
(Never throw these away.) Many cleaning products come in spray
bottles; their contents can be transfered to a different
container. Clean out the spray bottle well and voila.
(By the way, window cleaner is one of these products, and
there is no reason why kids can't be put to cleaning windows!
That's a fine fun summer activity. Best for wiping down is
newspaper.)
Fill your bottle with regular tap water or cold water from the
fridge. The kids will have a wonderful time shpritzing the air
and/or each other. The whole house cools off and everyone has
fun, plus, since it's only water, it dries within minutes,
even seconds. So does clothing.
(Some mothers with active boys may like the idea of investing
in cheap water pistols. I don't. I never allow pistols of any
kind in the house, even before Purim.)
HOME BOWLING
A great summer game that costs only the price of one ball
(inflatable beach balls are very cheap now). Take empty soda
bottles, fill halfway with water, position them in a triangle
of four, three, two and one. Mark off a starting line where
the child stands to roll the ball and try knocking down the
bottles. Keep score. The back row, which is harder, could
score for four points per bottle, if you like. A fun game for
indoors when it is too hot to go out. Excellent for hand/eye
coordination plus sportsmanship in learning to wait one's
turn.
MORE TOO-HOT-TO-GO-OUT ACTIVITIES
Snowflakes. Take a regular piece of paper or bristol
(construction paper). Fold in half, then again in half. On the
folded edge, cut small shapes: crescents, triangles, half
hearts, rectangles, half stars or whatever else you like. Open
carefully and you have a snowflake! For a lovely continuation,
when you have time and energy, glue or tape pieces of
different colored papers or cellophane behind the different
designs or sections. Tape to the window. Not only is it
beautiful by itself, but it makes beautiful designs on the
floor when the sun is behind it.
AT HOME, ON SHABBOS OR WHILE TRAVELING
1) A shoebox, paper, cutter, and two sticks are enough to
create a home- movie story. Cut out the `screen, make holes
for the sticks close to either end. Then have the kids draw or
paste up a story in scenes. Tape the `film' together and paste
to the sticks so that they scroll from one side to the other.
Insert in box and show the movie.
2) Popsicle sticks make wonderful puppets. Faces can be drawn
directly onto the cleaned stick. Cotton, scraps of material,
small beads or pebbles etc. can be used to make clothing,
beards, accessories.
The fun of making the characters is only outdone by the fun of
putting on a skit! This can be done on Shabbos. Stories can be
chosen beforehand: R' Akiva and the rooster, donkey, candle,
and other (Koh Osu Chachomeinu) favorites.
3) Carbon paper is a very fun experience for children to use.
Inexpensive at any office supply store. Make sure the kids are
not wearing good clothing, as the carbon paper can cause
stains.
4) Make a chopstick meal. Have your children pick up different
items with chopsticks. Straws, unsharpened pencils work just
fine. Grapes, pieces of apple, even rice.
HEALTHY NOSH
Whenever I take my children out to the park or any other short
outing, I bring lots of water and raw vegetables: sliced
peppers, carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, fruit. When the
children become hungry or thirsty, that's what they
have to eat or drink. It's so healthy and filling. And there
are never any arguments since that's all that I bring. The
kids get used to it when it's done consistently.
BE ALARMED!
To ensure that the food you're cooking never gets burned --
use an alarm clock! If I have to leave the house, I even slip
it into my pocket so that no matter how many distractions from
neighbors or who-knows-what, when the alarm goes off, I run
home to turn off the st/ove/n. This is also good to remind you
to send your child off to his organ lesson or to remember to
call Mrs. Plony at exactly 8:00 p.m. and so on.
BLOODY MIRIAM?
Tried and tested, a segula for bloody noses.
If the victim is a boy and the nosebleed is on the right
nostril, have him take his tzitzis fringes and wrap
them tightly around his left pinky, and, of course, vice
versa.
If it's Miriam, and she doesn't happen to have a brother
handy, this segula will probably work as well with some
string wound tightly around the pinky of the opposite side.
This works since this spot is apparently a pressure point. And
don't forget to release it after the bleeding has stopped.
SMALL TREASURES
Save all the beads and pieces from broken jewelry. With a bit
of glue or a stitch, pearls and colored stones add a lot to
Purim costumes and crowns. Also, younger children can make
their own creative necklaces and bracelets. You've got a whole
winter to collect the pieces from those stretchy party favor
bracelets that come apart too quickly.
PILLOWCASES
Pillowcases have multiple uses.
First of all, you can renew ugly looking pillows with a newer
looking pillowcase. Just sew on, and this becomes the pillow,
to be dressed with another changeable pillowcase.
They can also be used to:
1) make a doll happy in her sleeping bag 2) take clothing to
sleep overnight by a friend 3) store dirty laundry in a
yeshiva without it getting mildewed since the material
pillowcase `breathes' as compared to plastic, which doesn't.
(You may want to run some rope through the double edge to be
used as a drawstring). 4) as a carriage sheet for a newborn.
The pillowcase hugs the mattress much better and the reverse
side can also be used after Baby spits up. The more colorful,
the better.
ATHLETE'S FEET
In the summer, there is an especially intense surge of
athlete's foot, a fungal condition. Rather than putting on
creams (Undecyl is an excellent one) morning and night, which
we usually forget to do regularly, I have had personal success
with soaking my children's feet in plain vinegar, which is
anathema to fungi. If there is any open, cracked skin, use a
half-and-half water dilution the first day. Three evenings
in a row and the fungus is gone!
Another thing I have found helpful is washing ALL the socks in
a separate load. Half load settings save water. Then I wash
them a second time round, white with white, colored with
colored. The first wash gets out most of fungus, smell, sweat
and the second one completes the cleaning. My son hasn't
gotten any fungus back in months. But if it does come back, do
it again -- it's 100% natural, very cheap, works well, and it
is only once a day for three days, rather than weeks of pain
and bother. (Also, cotton socks are better than synthetic
ones).
ORGANIZE YOUR CLOSETS
When? Wait until after Rosh Chodesh or after Chol Hamoed or
the Nine Days when the closets are emptier, anyway. Make
order, eliminate, rearrange, then put all the freshly
laundered clothing away. It's half the work.
IRON YOUR CARES AWAY
Does your ironing-board cover get ripped up or burned? I have
found that a quilt cover, folded in fourths, works even
better. It's smooth to iron on, heavy enough to be weighed
down by itself and when I'm done with my weekly ironing, I
slip it onto one of the children's blankets and fold it and
put it away.
COVER THE SCHOOLBOOKS
A practical, inexpensive way to cover books is to use garbage
bags. Slit the side open, tape one edge of the plastic bag
onto the inside of the school book, close the book (if you've
forgotten, a closed book takes more covering than an open
one), trim the edges about one-and-a-half inches all the way
around, then carefully tape the edges of the plastic to the
inside of the book.
Near the binding, you can cut out a small triangle in the
plastic edge so that it doesn't pull. This method has the
advantage that it's waterproof, it fits ALL size books, is
uniform and cheap and available. Easily recognizable for the
child. A label on the front of the plastic will identify the
book and its owner.
(One very original and enterprising way is to use old `kosher'
newspapers, Yated is fine. Looks strange at first, but can be
very interesting.)
WRITE NOTES
All those times that I wanted to say thank you, to say how
much it meant to me that my seven-year-old surprised me by
washing the dishes without being asked, or the hug I meant to
give my daughter when she swept up, or my son who ran out to
the grocer for another milk or bread -- but the phone rang or
a neighbor came over or the baby started crying.
So, when I have a quiet moment before everyone wakes up or
after everyone's in bed, or sometimes even in the middle of
the day, I take a few minutes to focus on one particular
member of the family and what s/he has done recently that I
didn't properly acknowledge. Or someone whom I would like to
reinforce. I sit down and write a simple note, perhaps on half
a piece of nice stationery. Taped to the inside of my son's
closet door or put into my daughter's box of hair ribbons or
clipped to my husband's favorite coffee mug. The results are
amazing. You'll see how effective they are when you
begin getting them!
SHOO STORE!
Rather than taking rambunctious children into a shoe store
where there are ceiling-high precarious stacks of shoeboxes, I
simply have my children, one at a time, step onto a thick
piece of paper barefooted.
I outline the shape of the child's foot, which is best if s/he
stands with both feet even on the floor, with weight evenly
distributed. Then I cut out the shape, write the child's name
on it and slip it into my purse for when I get to the shoe
store. There, I pick out a prospective pair (of pickled
peppers...) and press the cutout into the shoe. I feel the
outline and can judge if it is not too narrow or tight in the
toes.
In fourteen years, I've had to exchange only two pairs of
shoes.
(We welcome all your tips, even 1-2 at a time. Send to
Weinbach, Panim Meirot 1, Jerusalem, or fax at 02-5387998.)
