Lesson 5.....Cocoa Puffs Aren't Just for Breakfast Anymore

Ahhh dinner time. The time when the whole family sits down for a fabulous meal and interesting conversation. Yea, right! John found out why there are times I used to make frozen waffles for dinner. When basketball practice and drama started, he learned just how hectic life with children could become. The 11 year old had to be picked up at 4:30 from drama, and then the 8 year old at 5:00 from Girl Scouts. This wouldn’t have been too bad, except the 11 year old had basketball practice at 6:30. This meant that he had to drive 20 minutes home, get dinner ready, and leave by 6:10 to get her back to the school. Now, if we were to have lived in the city, there would be a plethora of choices for a nice dinner at a restaurant, but we don’t. When he got home, the 2 year old tripped over his own two feet and skinned his knee. Ten minutes gone. When he finally got everybody settled down so he could start making dinner, it was 5:40. Everyone had to be done eating in a half hour. He took out steaks for the grill that morning, but realized that that wasn’t going to happen, so he asked the three kids what they wanted for dinner.

“Cereal!” they all shouted in unison.

“We can’t have cereal for dinner, it’s a breakfast food,” was John’s reply.

“Waffles like Mommy makes then,” the 8 year old said.

John went to the freezer and pulled out the waffles, and popped two into the toaster. He went to get the butter and syrup.

“Where does Mommy keep the syrup?”

“I used the last of the bottle Saturday,” the 11 year old said to him, “didn’t you get more when you went shopping?”

The next thing John did, was to set four bowls and four spoons on the table. He went back to the kitchen and brought out milk and Cocoa Puffs.

“Dinners ready!”

Lesson five…..Sometimes Cocoa Puffs are our best friend, and waffles are not too shabby either.

Next Lesson…..Why you don’t take a toddler Christmas shopping.

Lesson 4 ..... Monsters in the Closet

Young children will be afraid of the monsters in their room at one time or another. Trying to show them they are not there will not work. You can turn the closet light on, and look under their beds, but when you leave, they will be back. John found there is a better way to get rid of the 2 year olds fear.

“Daddy, there’s a monster!” The two year old yelled as John was walking out of the room again for the third time of monster hunting.

“No buddy we just checked, remember? There was nothing there,” John reassured him.

“They are good hiders,” was our son’s reply.

John really needed to get the older two children to bed, but every time he went to leave panic struck the two year old. It was then that he came up with something that worked that day and every day since.

“THAT’S IT! ALL MONSTERS OUT OF THE ROOM OR YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE! I’M THE DADDY AND I’M COUNTING TO THREE…..ONE…, TWO…, THREE!” John said in a stern voice.

“They’re all gone, buddy. They didn’t want to get a time out.”

“Thank you Daddy,” the two year old said to John.

“Good night buddy.”

“Night night Daddy.”

Every night after that, we have used this tactic and it has worked every time.


Lesson 4 ….. Sometimes we can’t show kids that there is nothing to be afraid of. Sometimes we have to kiss the boo-boos and scare away the monsters.

Next Lesson …… Coco Puffs aren’t just for breakfast anymore.