mama genius

Lest that title give the wrong impression, I am NOT a genius.  I am regularly beaten by my children in just about every board and card game.  The calculator is my best friend and it takes me forever to read a book.

But every mama is a kind of genius.  I realized this when my oldest was a newborn and I devoured the parenting books.  Sometimes he did just like they said, but many times the situation they described just didnt apply to us.  It was then that I realized there was a parenting manual inside of me, not necessarily a voice, but a strong knowing of what my baby needed.  That internal guide was right almost all the time.

The powerful thing about the internet, about this connecting of isolated mamas is that I can glean from the genius of many other mamas.  I can see an organization system that is the answer to my overflowing pantry.  I can find a jedi costume that requires just one bedsheet.  I can read a blog of a mom who has been where I am and come out on the other side. 

So here is a little piece of genius that maybe will help someone out there. 

A couple weeks ago we had hit a wall in math.  It was adding two digit numbers and it just got too confusing.  There were tears in math almost everyday.

I decided we needed to put aside the workbook and do math in a totally different way.  I pulled out one of the several change jars that take up space in our home.  (Seriously, does anyone else's husband have a change jar in their nightstand, on their dresser, on their desk and TWO on the hallway bookshelf? )  I told my son if he could count all the change in the jar, he could keep 10% of what he counted.  It was a game changer.  He now eagerly sorts, organizes and counts change.  We got some of those paper wrappers from the bank and he has gone through two of the jars already.  He loves it and it is helping me declutter.  Yay!  Ironically, it is doing all the same math skills we were doing in the workbook and he is writing down his work so I can check it and doing lots of adding in his head. 

What's your  latest mama genius idea?