#kids-plan

#kids-plan

Busy bags are like secret weapons for moms who need a few moments of peace without turning to screens. They're fun, easy to put together, and full of creative play that toddlers and preschoolers will actually enjoy.

In case you managed to miss it, 6-7 is a slang term - spoken aloud as "six seven" - accompanied by an arm gesture that mimics someone weighing something in their hands. It has no real meaning, but it spawned countless videos across various platforms and infiltrated schools and homes across the globe. Shouts of "6-7" disrupted classrooms and rained down at sporting events.

"Beckham was being bossy and said that he's the leader of everyone even though he's not." "Samantha said, 'Scram!' to Maverick." "Evan has two erasers in his pencil pouch." Teacher Laurel Bates loves to hear every word her kids tell her ... as long as they do it via her tattlephone, of course. "They feel seen and I stay sane," Bates tells TODAY.com.

Parents tell me this all the time, often with a mix of frustration and worry: My child just can't focus the way I could at their age. School feels harder. Emotions escalate faster. Distraction seems constant. But attention isn't a moral trait. It isn't a virtue some children have and others lack. Attention is a cognitive capacity-and it is deeply shaped by the conditions surrounding a child: sleep, stress, sensory overload, and the environment in which we're asking focus to happen.

You need to raise the children you have-not the ones you would have liked to have. This statement captures the essence of effective parenting: accepting your children's inherent nature rather than imposing your idealized vision upon them.

Like most Americans, my view of homeschooling was framed through the lens of abnormality. My own public-school education was my only frame of reference. Although my own experience wasn't great, it was familiar. It was the system I knew. As a college professor, I regularly saw the academic gaps my students carried with them from their public-school education. Yet even then, I struggled to imagine an alternative. My instinct was always to fix the existing system, not step outside of it.

We sit down for dinner. Declan (5) whines, 'You didn't get me my milk!' Not, 'Thank you so much for this delicious meal you have made after a long workday, Mommy. Can I please have some milk?' We get to the playground, and he complains, 'You didn't bring the right pail!' We read three books at bedtime, he accuses, 'We didn't get to read my favorite book about the pandas (because he hadn't chosen it!) The whining is out of control and driving us mad.

As a parent myself, I know what I'm mostly looking for when buying another toy is that it'll ACTUALLY keep my kids engaged long enough to bring a sliver of peace to my home (a tough task, to say the least!). From Magna-Tiles and the new Toniebox 2 to colorful sensory tubes and a LeapFrog Touch and Learn eReader, my kids have tried out enough of these items to lead you in the right shopping direction!

What makes me even crazier is that I know they can listen. I know this because they do all the time, mostly when they aren't supposed to. I can't tell you how many times I've been having an adult conversation with my husband and/or friends and my two children-who haven't listened to a word I've said all day-suddenly have very thoughtful and detailed questions