Kristen at We Are That Family is hosting my favorite themed edition of Works for Me Wednesday. It is the Backwards Edition, where instead of me offering a practical tip for my readers, I solicit a tip from you. Ohhhh,  do I need tips.

For those of you who are blessed to be parents of teens, help! My babies are now at the edge of their teen years at 12 and 13. In my opinion, the cusp of the teen years is very similar to becoming a new mom, full of unknowns, uncertainties and a few doubts and fears.

For those who have been through the teen years, do you have ANY tips you can give this mom of new teens?

Anything that worked well in your home?

Lessons you learned?

Things you wish you had done differently?

I’m looking forward to learning from you!

This post has been linked to Works for Me Wednesday by We Are That Family

We do not watch or rent videos often, but when we do, it’s a special occasion. Whenever we have a household project we need to tackle or want to reward the children, I go either to our local library or Blockbuster for a bargain.

Because we rarely bring new videos home, they are extra special and the provide necessary time my guy and I need for either our own downtime or to occupy the children so we can focus on a project. Yes, read that as a using “videos as a babysitter” but since they are so rare, the children consider it special.

The library provides the movies for free and our local Blockbuster offers a free family rental with the rental of a new release. Check with your local Blockbuster to see if they have the same offer. Though not as predictable, sometimes you can find a code for a free movie with Red Box. A quick search in Swagbucks (you are earning gift cards with Swagbucks, right??) or a search on your favorite deals blog should yield a code, if there is one.

Do you have any money saving secrets for movie rentals?

You will need:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup salt
Food coloring

In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Add hot water and food color to the flour mixture and combine thoroughly. This will make a small amount so you may want to make a batch for each child. (The picture above shows two batches.)  The playdough will keep in the fridge about a week.

Have fun and consider creating alongside your child!

This post has been linked to:

Ultimate Recipe Swap hosted by Life As Mom

Have you heard of the rare Magical Sliced Banana from South America? My children had not, so I presented them with the special unpeeled banana for an afternoon snack. When my daughter peeled it, she noticed it was already sliced. With wide eyes, she examined the banana and looked for clarification that I had not pre-peeled the banana. I had not.

The gig went on for a few minutes until she found my print-out from Enchanted Learning that listed the magical instructions. I was caught.

Simply insert a toothpick into a ripened banana and wiggle from side to side to score the fruit. Do this a few places on the banana and then present it, unpeeled, to your children.

Have fun!

If you are trying to fit in a last road trip before school starts or need a creative way to keep children quiet and occupied while outside the home, chenille stems are perfect. They involve no mess, no noise and lots of imagination.

Fill a zippered gallon bag with chenille stems of various colors and sizes and watch what your children create. Young children can make simple shapes and practice forming the alphabet while older children or pre-teens can create 3-dimensional figures and words.

This is one of our favorite travel activities. What quiet activities do your children enjoy?

A while back I found a book called Kidchat Too! and fell in love with it. This book is intended to spark conversations by offering fun and unusual questions. We have had some enlightening and funny discussions that also taught me things about my children (and husband) that I never knew. Some of the questions are lighthearted while others are a little deeper. One example that we used is, “What do you think will be the hardest part of being an adult one day?” Another question children enjoy is, “If a soda company asked you to come up with a new flavor of soda, what would it be?”

I also found a great printable list of questions at Listplanit.com. At a restaurant recently, I asked one of the questions from the Listplanit.com list and the children had so much fun with it that they asked if I had anymore questions!

Since this week I am discussing Spring, I should mention that this dinner conversation idea can be even better by pulling your patio set out of storage taking dinner outside. Have fun!

Whimsical conversation starters work for our family and you can find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We Are That Family.

One of the things I attempt when we are seated around the dinner table is to ask the children about their high and low points of the day. So far, they have been quite receptive to answering these questions. When I ask about the high point of their day, I think that it teaches them to keep things in perspective when times are tough and to look for the things that are worthy of our happiness and gratitude. When I ask about their low point, it often initiates conversations about problems that otherwise may not have been discovered as quickly as they were. This will be a time that I watch their expression and reaction to see if there may be an issue bothering them that they do not want to discuss at the table and I make a mental note to approach the issue at a more private time. Because the “highs and lows” are discussed routinely though, talking about the tough situations seems to be less intimidating.

Asking about the highs and lows of the day works for our family. Do you have a favorite way you touch base each day with your children? I have another dinner conversation idea to share with you next week, so if you are interested, you might want to save Just Doing My Best’s home page as a favorite or subscribe to the RSS feed in the upper right corner.

You can find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We Are THAT Family.

As soon as I heard it was a Backwards Edition, I knew exactly what I wanted to ask you.

Our grocery bill has been steadily rising lately. My son is almost 13, and as those of you with pre-teen or teen boys know, boys this age cannot get enough to eat. I hear their appetites get even more insatiable when they are in their mid-teens.

So, here are my questions for you:

1. If you have/ had a pre-teen or teen boy, please share with me your experience with their appetite and food requirements. He is my oldest and this is uncharted territory, so I’m feeling clueless.
2. What ideas do you have for healthy, but frugal snack ideas to hold him over to the next meal? I’m talking VERY filling here…certain snacks, like cereal bars, don’t even make a dent in his bottomless pit of a stomach.

I’m looking forward to reading your experiences and ideas. For the sake of our grocery budget and my son’s belly, I hope you have lots of ideas for me. Thanks!!

You can read other blogger’s dilemmas and their reader’s solutions at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by We Are THAT Family.