I’ve been blessed with having my stepdaughter for an entire summer! We’ve gone on many adventures and are having a wonderful family bonding experience. Here are a few things I’ve taught her while she’s been with me I wanted to share with my readers.
A girl should always have her hair nice and neat! Though having long hair requires maintenence, there’s no excuse to walk out the door with a matted nest on your head. Being that she has long, thick, wavy hair, conditioning, detangler, and a wet brush are a must. I’ve showed her how to section her hair in half, brush from the ends of her hair to the top of her head making it easier to detangle. For busier days, I’ve shown her an easy to do ponytail, loose bun, and how to pretty up these simple styles with hair accessories.
Exfoliation keeps your skin feeling smooth, soft and skin cells building up causing the skin to look a bit darker and feeling rough, specially your feet, elbows, and knees. At shower time, get a natural loofah nice and soapy and scrub scrub scrub! After using, put in a place where it can air dry to avoid bacteria growth.
With my stepdaughter being a bit on the diva side, she absolutely loves clothes, shoes, and accessories. I’m teaching her how to match up prints, solids, and mix and match to create her own style. To save time in the morning, getting her outfit of the day ready the night before has been working great. Not only does it save time in the morning, it’s something fun for her that we do together.
Growing up, TV and gaming wasn’t a big thing at home. Though nowadays technology seems to be the trend, I plan for non-techie related activities. In my opinion, there’s so much more to be learned with being hands on then sitting in front of an electronic gadget. On our days of bumming around the house, we play card games, draw, read, make crafts, cook together, have manicure night, and her favorite, playing dress up while listening to her favorite tunes. To be quite honest, the TV has rarely been on this summer, instead music is always on. I’ve introduced her to different genres of music and the family and I have even taught her a few dance moves.
With being early risers, the mornings being the busiest, and wanting to come home to a clean home after work, every night before bedtime (except when we’re out late) it’s clean up time. This means all toys, books, craft supplies, etc. are put away before choosing the outfit of the day, hair and teeth get brushed, and off to dreamland we go.
Every parent has their own routine that works for them. Being a summer mom and my time being limited with my stepdaughter, I try to show her things I learned growing up; one of them is how to make things easier for herself with a little routine (in a fun way of course), all while being hands on with her as much as possible. What I’ve learned from my parents growing up, is the better on track you are with everyday rituals, the more time you have for fun.
