Do your children beg for products emblazoned with their favorite characters? I know my children do, and it makes me crazy! The same yogurt can cost up to two dollars more because it has some kind of cartoon character on it. What I have taken to doing is going to my local Dollar store and buying several large package of stickers bearing my children's favorite characters. One dollar will usually garner me four sheets bearing about 15 stickers each.
I then will buy the lowest price brand of cereal, yogurt, body wash, shampoo, what have you, and place character stickers on the products. Voila, my sons are suddenly thrilled to be eating/ using the lower priced product! This probably wouldn't work for older kids, but it works usually for the preschool through early elementary set that whines/ begs for the "Scooby" yogurt, the "Shrek" yogurt, etc., anyway. Hope this helps!
Get a cup, mug, or glass, place the stickers, and letters spelling out the child's name,cover with adhesive tape, personalised container will take many washings;; children learn to recoghnise name too. And they won't mind it if they see you pouring the yoghurt fromanothercontainer into "their" mug, and they can choose to add nuts, adding protein and fibre.
you can go even further; if you get a glass or glass or cup and stick the stickers (!!!) on it and then covcer with adhesive tape, it will take several washings, and you can cut out letters frommagazines to spell the child's name so it will be David's Scooby Mug... and just pour the youghurt (home-made works out even cheaper),and no one pinches someone else's glass,and the kids learn to recognise their name early.
I agree with you Karen .. sometimes it's just not worth the fight .. Plus NO has to mean something, if you're always saying NO kids don't know when it's serious! Plus it IS fun to give them something they like without spending alot of extra money. We do the same thing with pudding cups and fruit cups .. I got a bunch of the small "take and toss" cups and fill them with pudding and we painted them with stencils of Disney Princesses! They're great and washable! Plus it's great if it gets kids to eat more healthy snacks like yogurt and the like! The stickers are a great idea too for shampoos and stuff .. I'll have to look for some next time we're out!
And I say no when it matters. I do not let them have whatever they want (toys, dvds, etc.), but no one wants to be the bad guy all the time. I don't really believe it hurts them to place one little sticker on their yogurt to make them more eager to eat it. My sons may whine sometimes (and what child doesn't now and then?), but they know better than to argue with me when I say no. It just makes me happy to be able to give them something they like (and save money while I am at it).
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