Mommy Survival Gear

It’s exhausting to keep up with a toddler. All stay-at-home moms know this very well. I have to constantly come up with ways to entertain my son so that I can get some work done. After a year of taking care of him, I managed to get a routine going and have my own survival gear for my day to day “combat”.

First, batteries.

IMG_8752


My son has a lot of toys that need batteries so I stock up on them. I don’t want to be caught without them when a toy breaks down because the batteries are used up. He enjoys playing with his interactive toys and those few minutes can give me some sanity.

Next are stickers.

IMG_9875

My son enjoys them a lot! We call them “awards”.  Every time he does something good, he will be rewarded with a sticker which I stick on his shirt. He likes playing with them and sticking them to his toys. When he is bored and I am exhausted, I whip out a sheet of stickers and start sticking them to him. They’re cheap and they’re good entertainment. I am lucky because I have a ton of stickers from my childhood. I am a sticker freak so I think we are covered for a couple of years or more. The ones you see in the photo only cost me 10 pesos each…more than 20 years ago!


IMG_9877


I also have a stash of cheap toys. I peruse the aisles of bookstores every week to find cheap toys that my son will enjoy.

The one on top is Monkey from the movie Kung Fu Panda. This is a Happy Meal toy. My husband got this for him. The sunglasses are actually glow glasses. I put glow sticks into the rims… which reminds me. I need to buy a bunch of glow sticks. Finally, this dragonfly hand puppet from Ikea which I got for only 35 cents.

Lady E’s Tip: I collect Happy Meal toys and keep them for when we go out. The new toys help my son to be behaved while waiting for the food. You can collect cheap toys too and pull them out when you need them.

IMG_9878

My son is crazy about trains so I make sure that this train is within reach. He can easily climb down the bed and get it from his Read and Play Station which I will share with you soon.

IMG_9880

My son loves books. He has a nice collection already. I started buying them when I was still pregnant with him. I make sure to rotate the books we read because he gets bored easily.

Finally, reward toys for when he is a good boy or when he learns something new.

IMG_9881

They don’t need to be expensive. They can be stickers as well. Browse the sale bins of toy stores and you will surely get ideas. This Toy Story car was a bit special because it was his monthly “birthday” so I decided to give him something special but he only got it after performing one task I assigned to him.

I have many more tricks up my sleeve and I’m excited to share them with you so stay tuned!

Comments

Popular Posts