Bumps and boo-boos

I would never have been a good doctor. Not because I can't tell the difference between my metacarpus and metatarsal bones, but because I simply do not have a very good 'bedside manner'.

While I'm happy to complain about my own aches and pains, I squirm at the thought of having to listen to someone else's medical woes. This is especially true when it comes to my Darling girls.

Lately there seems to be a never ending supply of scratches, paper cuts, carpet burns, and green to purple bruises. Each injury is announced with an outpouring of tears and wailing, followed by a quick recount of their boo-boo tally.

My typical response is to glance over the injury and pronounce, "You'll live." If they happen to catch me at a weak moment, I evaluate the damage, unlock the medicine cabinet and decide if the injury requires a Barbie band aid or a Winnie the Pooh band aid (they are remarkably different treatments you know).

Thankfully we have never had a major injury here at Fussy Farm. The Fussy Eater walked into the corner of a table once and she got a stitch and Darling No.2 got a blood nose when her sister head butted her (we're a dainty lot). But nothing requiring my meager first aid skills. So I really shouldn't complain.

But why has there been a recent increase in these barely visible to the human eye scratches? Why all the drama? Could it be that it is not a cry for attention, but rather a developing interest in their bodies? Perhaps they have reached an age where a bruise or a cut is a badge of honour for having taken on a new challenge and they want me to know about it?

I should be grateful that I have girls who are trying to climb the tree in our yard and who are attempting to do wheelies on their bikes (Mr Fussy is so proud). 

Here I was thinking that by taking a relaxed approach to these injuries was discouraging attention seeking behavior. Instead I should be making a fuss, telling them how brave they are and encouraging them to do more. Right?

How do you handle bumps and boo-boos?

I'm thinking of resorting to bribery

When it comes to teaching your children good habits, you basically have to keep on top of them until they are old enough to vote (and even then you probably still have to remind them to pick up their shoes).

My Darlings know that good oral hygiene requires them to brush their teeth twice a day, but if I'm not standing over them barking orders reminding them, it won't get done.

The same goes for using their HealthyChart. As great a product it is for engaging children, if I don't remind them to fill it in then they will happily continue to run around the house like wild horses until bed time.

Any incentive chart, reward chart, or motivational chart requires a parent to be involved, so I'm not alone here on this one. But until now, I've never considered using our HealthyChart as a reward chart. Bribery is not in my nature.

The Fussy Eater is into her 3rd year of using the chart and overall she has been going really well. Recently, however, I've been on a bad run in the kitchen and the Darlings are lucky to get anything edible let alone something worth recording on their chart. So regular use of our HealthyChart has slipped a little.

But when I recently tried to get the troops back in line, I was faced with the blossoming attitude of my 7 year old daughter. Arms folded across her chest, The Fussy Eater asked me what I was willing to give her in return for her compliance and then promptly handed me a toy catalogue.

You can imagine my reaction.

While I have always said that a HealthyChart can be used as a reward chart, I personally do not feel comfortable with the concept of rewarding healthy eating - something we should all be doing every day - with toys. It's never going to happen.

I decided, however, that I needed to rise to The Fussy Eater's challenge. A reward does not have to be a physical object and that is what I need to teach her. So with some quick thinking I made this reply, "Mummy and Daddy don't buy toys for eating healthy food, but if you choose to eat well and you can show me on your chart that you are, then how about we bake whatever cookies you choose on Sunday so you'll have them in your lunch box all week?"

Now this might not seem special in your house, but I rarely let the Darlings into my kitchen (I regret I don't have the patience to pick egg shell out of batter), so this response worked a treat. She knew that cooking with Mummy is a treat and that she would have the chance to choose something made with chocolate.

I still don't feel that comfortable about resorting to bribery when it comes to eating, but perhaps I need to just ease up a bit and learn to be a bit more flexible about how I get the job done.

Have you resorted to bribery with your fussy eaters?

Fundraising without the sugar

At Easter I wrote about why I object to confectionery fundraising. I admitted in that post that while I don't like the pressure to participate in an unhealthy activity, I don't think that I have a right to complain if I'm not willing to suggest any alternatives. So I thought of an alternative and I'm giving it a test run.

To come up with this idea I looked at The Parent's Jury website to get better informed on the subject. Not only do they have some good ideas for healthy fundraising, they also have the results of a survey* they did, which is great information when I am ready to approach our local school.

*Did you know that only 14% of the schools surveyed that had implemented their state or territory government's school nutrition guidelines had chose not to hold confectionery fundraisers. Only 14%!

The problem with confectionery fundraising is that it works. My mission in organising this fundraising event is to find something that is easy to organise, fun and raises money without raising blood sugar levels.

Choosing a charity

My first step was to choose a charity. The two most important issues in my life right now are cancer and the health of my children. So I narrowed my choice of charities down to Cancer Council of WA, Royal Flying Doctors, or the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation.

In the end I decided on the PMH Foundation because a number of mums in our community have recently had to take their children with life threatening emergencies to PMH. So even though I haven't had to attend PMH myself, I knew I would get a lot of support for them in my community.

Choosing a method of fundraising

Taking ideas from the Parent's Jury website and from other fundraising sites, I made a list of possible activities. I had to pick an event that I could actually manage to pull off and was something that local mums would want to participate in.


I decided that a White Elephant Sale was the easiest event for me to organise. Everyone has something in their closet that has never been used but is too nice to toss out. So getting people to donate a white elephant would be easier than asking people to bake a cake (even in the country).


Already I've had a huge response and some lovely things have been donated. So my challenge will be to get people to buy other people's white elephants, because that's how the money will be raised.

As it happens, the 25th of May is also the PMH Foundation's Wear a Bear Day, an event that they host around the state. So this means that in addition to there being a lot of elephants in the room, I'll also have super cute bear items to sell.

How cute are those ears?

Choosing where to host the event

Even though I know that most of the people I have invited will attend the event, I also want as much foot traffic as possible to get tourists and others to stop in and have a look. I discovered that there was an empty shop next to the local coffee shop. Brilliant!

I decided that the best time to host this type of event is the morning through to just after lunch. This way I'll get mums post the school drop off and all the morning coffee shop customers.

Advertising the event

Luckily I was able to convince our local paper to print two articles on the event during the weeks preceding the event. I also created a sign and posted it around town. Then I did an email to my friends and lastly, I created a  Facebook Event Page to attract interest.

The event page has been great because people are able to upload photos of the items they are donating to get people excited about the event.

Evaluating the success 

People will have the option to price their donated goods, but basically I want people to pay what they think is an honest value for the goods they take. After all it is a donation and is meant to be a fun event.

The event is this Friday, so wish me luck. I'll post the results on my Facebook page.