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10 Unexpected Ways to Use the VTech Digital Audio Monitor

August 29, 2016 by The Motherhood

For new moms, there is no shortage of places to turn for advice on must-have baby gear. Recommendations on the best-of-the-best products for eating, sleeping and diaper changes are plentiful!

However, there is one product traditionally thought of as a baby must-have we’re deeming essential for parents of toddlers through pre-teens (and pet parents as well): the VTech Digital Audio Monitor. We armed a group of social media moms with this awesome new product and told them to put it to use in their homes. The results? Some very unexpected, very helpful ways to use the VTech Digital Audio Monitor!

VTech Digital Audio Monitor: What is it?

The VTech Safe&Sound® DM271-110 DECT 6.0 Digital Audio Baby Monitor with Open/Closed & Motion Sensors, the latest addition to VTech’s award-winning baby monitor line, has brought families of brand-new way to stay connected. The VTech Digital Audio Monitor comes equipped with some very cool features (hello, smart home sensors!) that give parents the peace of mind they deserve anytime, anywhere. Both the open/closed sensors and motion sensors offer parents added safety and security through all phases of childhood.

VTech Digital Audio Monitor: A Must-Have for Toddler Parents — Image courtesy of Stephanie, Olive and Tate

Don’t take our word for it! Read on for some of our favorite ways to put the VTech Digital Audio Monitor to use.

Mom-Sourced Tips to Use the VTech Digital Audio Monitor Beyond Babies

1. Toddler-proof a vacation rental:

“First things first we busted out the VTech Digital Monitor and set about toddler proofing that exterior door. What makes the VTech Digital Monitor my travel go to are two things: one is the ultra low energy Open/Closed Door Sensor and the other is the Smart Home Motion Sensor. We set the Open/Closed smart sensor up on the exterior door (using the mounting tape provided so we didn’t damage the rental house) and programed the hand held parent unit to alert us if the baby somehow managed the get the door open and make a break for it.”

Stephanie, Olive and Tate

2. Feel secure with a sleepwalker:

“I don’t think I’ve ever talked about my 13 year old’s sleepwalking adventures. I never thought about it being an issue while traveling, but it has come up a few times, so I have some steps that I take to feel that he’s safer and so that I get better sleep when we’re away. I bring removable mounting tape for the sensors (or find a spot it can go if I don’t want it on the wall) and turn it on at night. I put the “baby” unit on a console or table near the sensor so that if he does make the sensor go off I can just talk to him from the parent unit and tell him to go back to bed! I can’t tell you how much this helps me to know that he’s safe and get a good night’s sleep while we’re away.”

Allison, All for the Boys

3. Help kids learn to sleep in their own room…:

“Be prepared for multiple interruptions during the night. Your kiddo is going to want to use the bathroom, get a drink of water, check their closet for monsters, and call out for you until the neighbors can hear. Before you dart out of the room with one eye open, answer every whim from a distance. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your bed. The VTech Safe&Sound DM271-110 Digital Audio Baby Monitor with Open/Closed & Motion Sensors features a two-way talk back intercom that allows you to communicate with your child from up to 1,000 feet in range.”

Jessica, Young at Heart Mommy

4. ….and make sure they stay in bed until morning:

“We have a summer rule that no one is allowed up before 7 a.m. Otherwise he’d be awake playing video games at the crack of dawn. I honestly have no way to know when he’s getting up. Now I do! If he sets off the motion sensor in the living room before 7 a.m., I can head down and send him back to his bed.”

Camille, Growing Up Gabel

5. Host safe, secure playdates:

“I don’t like to hover over my kids – I like to give them a sense of independence. But I also like to know what is going on, especially when friends are over, and I like to do that as unobtrusively as possible to ensure they have fun and safe play dates. A cool feature of the VTech Digital Audio Monitor is its two ULE (Ultra Low Energy) smart home sensors. You can use them to put open/closed and motion sensor alerts on doors, cabinets and open spaces. So you’ll know if your child is getting into something they shouldn’t be. It’s a great way to enforce off-limit zones for play dates.”

Chrystal, Happy Mothering

6. Instill independence in babysitters-in-training:

“I set everything up in my daughter’s room or, as she calls it when she is working, ‘Babysitting Headquarters.’ I was able to show my daughter how everything works and also how I will be just a monitor away to keep an eye on things and also help her if ever needed. We can talk to one another through the monitor, adjust the volume when we put it to the sleep mode to help get little ones to sleep, and when needed, my daughter can page me to get my attention if she needs me.”

Katie, Mommy Katie

7. Care for an ill parent:

“My mom’s health has been on the decline over the last six months. It’s not news to any of you that I am her caretaker and as such, I need to be ‘there’ for her as much as possible. Without physically sleeping in her room, it was hard to get to her in time. Acquiring the VTech Safe&Sound® DM271-110 DECT 6.0 Digital Audio Baby Monitor with Open/Closed & Motion Sensors came at the best timing ever. The VTech Digital Audio Monitor has been a literal lifesaver for the past three weeks.”

Maria, Adventures of the Mommy Homemaker

8. Manage dogs’ outdoor time:

“I’ve been using the motion sensor that comes with the VTech Digital Audio Monitor to keep track of where my dogs are in the house. Specifically when they walk to the front door so I know when they need to go outside. This helps me to prevent nasty accidents in our home and also keeps me aware of where my dogs are. I mounted the motion sensor on the side of the wall near the bottom of our front door and it has been working perfectly to alert me when the dogs need to go outside.”

Andrea, Honestly Andrea

9. Keep cat away from off-limits spots:

“Cats are pretty famous for hanging out on routers. I think there’s probably a whole site dedicated to pictures of cats on routers out there somewhere! Obviously, putting a baby monitor back there isn’t the best idea. The fewer things that interfere with my already not-so-stellar internet connection, the better. Here’s where the VTech Digital Audio Monitor gets really cool. It comes with two ULE (Ultra Low Energy) smart home sensors. One is an open/closed sensor and one is a motion sensor. All I have to do is put the motion sensor in areas that are off limits to Fuzz. Then, when he tries to hunker down in one of those spots, I’ll know.”

Nicole, Pretty Opinionated

10. Enforce rules from a distance:

“Cooper is always trying to steal the cat food. No matter how many times we tell him ‘no’ he still does it. If he hears our voice, though, he stops in his tracks! So here’s what I do: I put the baby unit part of my VTech Digital Audio Monitor in the places that I want to keep Cooper away from. When I hear him digging around in the cat food boxes, I use the two-way intercom feature and firmly say ‘Coop, get away from that cat food!’ Cooper hears my voice and thinks I’m watching him, and he quickly backs away!”

Bonus tip from Nicole!

This post is created in proud partnership with VTech. All opinions are our own.

Featured image at the top of this post courtesy of Stephanie, Olive and Tate.

Summer DIY Never Looked So Good with Olympic Paints and Stains

July 14, 2016 by The Motherhood

For many of us, we kick off the summer with a list of projects we want to finish before the fall. By July, we may have lost our motivation to make it through the whole list. Most often, these projects include things we’ve been thinking about since spring, if not longer, so what we really need is a little inspiration just to get us started!

Earlier this year, we partnered with some incredibly creative, DIY-inspiring bloggers on behalf of Olympic Paints and Stains and challenged them to put their project ideas into action through beautiful, thoughtful mood boards that reflected projects they hoped to complete. We then armed them with their favorite Olympic Paints and asked them to document the process.

The results are AMAZING.

OFFICE, LAUNDRY ROOM AND BATHROOM MAKEOVERS

Kenda of Remaking June blew us away with her office makeover, taking a standard-looking home office and turning it into a dreamy, chic, streamlined space that we all want to work in!

Katie of Mom’s Favorites also revamped her office space with a modern accent wall that’s so beautiful it could double as art.

Christy of Thrifty and Thriving transformed her laundry room into a space where we want to hang out (and maybe even do some laundry)!

Vanessa of See Vanessa Craft lived up to her crafty name and reputation with a striking before-and-after.

DIY Furniture

Jenn of Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog turned four simple wood crates into a rustic yet polished-looking coffee table that would easily be a focal point of any room.

Sia of Thrifty Northwest Mom delivered this hugely impressive transformation of a simple bookshelf when she incorporated candelabras from her wedding and brought the whole thing together with a fresh coat of paint. We’re in love!

Olympic Paint understands the thought process and the preparation that goes into home projects, and it’s with this in mind that they designed and launched the new Olympic Paints and Stains Color Center at Lowe’s, which each of our bloggers visited and utilized as they planned out their projects.

The Center allows people to browse paints and stains in one place, where colors are organized to make finding and comparing shades easier than ever. You can shop in three different ways, depending on what works for your creative style, whether it’s by color (through the chips), lifestyle (through the lifestyle brochures) or project (using room and project brochures). If you want to see how a paint color will look before you head to Lowe’s, you can upload a photo of your room to the Olympic Paint Visualizer Tool.

The Motherhood worked with these bloggers as part of a sponsored campaign on behalf of Olympic Paints and Stains.

Hack the Summer: Tips and Tricks for Family Fun in Pittsburgh

July 11, 2016 by The Motherhood

In collaboration with Chick-fil-A Pittsburgh, The Motherhood teamed up with Brown Mamas, Pgh Momtourage and Sugar Aunts — and their friends, families and communities of readers — to create the ultimate list of tips, tricks and places to visit for family fun in Pittsburgh.

The curated list of “summer hacks” includes many free and low-cost activities that will appeal to family members of all ages and are located all across the region. The best part? Even the most in-the-know Pittsburghers may find a few hidden gems that have escaped their knowledge!

Which one will you visit first?

Family Fun in Pittsburgh Starts with Food

The inspiration for curating these tips for family fun in Pittsburgh is the launch of Chick-fil-A One — a digital app that brings together mobile ordering, mobile payment and surprise giveaways!

As the tastiest of all summer hacks, Chick-fil-A One offers families benefits including a super-easy way to customize each person’s order and the ability to pay in advance and skip the line at the cash register. What parent wouldn’t love that benefit, especially during busy lunch or dinner times? We’re guessing the 82 percent of parents who responded to our survey to say they’d do almost anything to avoid long lines when they have their children in tow will be heading straight to iTunes or Google Play to download Chick-fil-A One.

Bonus hack: for an easy and fun way to get in on the Chick-fil-A One action, just tweet #CFAOne with the horizontal cow emoji ???? to receive a prompt to download the app from Twitter directly.

Chick-fil-A is about to make all of your chicken sandwich dreams come true just by ordering with your phone. Chick-fil-A will thank customers who order using Chick-fil-A One with free food offers for their favorite menu items. Sign. Us. Up.

Share your Hacks

We’d love to hear your ideas for creating family fun in Pittsburgh — and other cities across the country! Comment below with your tips, tricks and places to visit in your own hometown.

Hack the summer ART created by alison mckown, graphic designer for the motherhood.

Simple Actions Make a Difference in the Fight Against Child Hunger in America

May 19, 2016 by The Motherhood

Since 2013, The Motherhood has been a very proud supporter of the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign by ConAgra, which aims to empower a community of people to take on the fight against child hunger in America, changing the realities of hunger one meal at a time.

This year, YouTube sensation Kid President (aka Robby Novak) partnered with ConAgra to help bring awareness to this critical issue. Working with ConAgra, The Motherhood mobilized our network of bloggers to share Kid President’s video, helping trigger meal donations from ConAgra to Feeding America (with one view, like or share of the video equaling one donation). We were thrilled to hear we surpassed the goal of 100,000 meals in less than one week – amazing!

Kid President helps fight child hunger — Credit: Jon Morgan/AP Images for ConAgra

Over the past several years, in partnership with ConAgra, its agencies, retail partners and celebrity ambassadors, The Motherhood has engaged 136 bloggers as advocates for the Child Hunger Ends Here program, generating more than 1.2 billion overall impressions during that time. By taking simple yet impactful actions themselves, and encouraging their communities to do the same, these bloggers alone have triggered an estimated half a million meal donations!

That group includes a number of bloggers who have lent their voices, support and influence to more than one Child Hunger Ends Here campaign over the years, helping to make a continued impact on the fight against child hunger in America. In their words, here is why the program strikes a chord with them:

Anne, Upstate Ramblings
“Kids love helping others, and it is important to teach them compassion when they are young so it becomes a lifelong habit. My son helps out with a huge food drive run by the scouts every year, but we also make sure to drop off smaller amounts of food every month. Food pantries always need more supplies, and every donation, no matter how small, will be appreciated.”

Getting involved in the fight against child hunger in America — Image credit: Anne, Upstate Ramblings

Crystal, Cinnamon Hollow
“You know the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’? Well that saying comes from somewhere. We are a nation that is built to take care of one another. If the children of our future are suffering, guess what? We’re all suffering. It’s not too difficult to reach out and make sure everyone has enough food on their table. Actually, it’s REALLY easy. And all you have to do is shop for your own regular products. ConAgra, Kroger and P&G do the rest.”

Crystal, Simply Being Mommy
“Companies like ConAgra make it easy to help and get involved in the fight against hunger in the United States. I’ve been a huge supporter of the Child Hunger Ends Here program for the last few years and I invite you to be a supporter as well. I can’t think of a better cause to support than hungry children within our own communities.”

getting kids involved in the fight against child hunger in America — Image credit: Crystal, Simply Being Mommy

Donna, Blog By Donna
“It truly is inexcusable to me that here in the United States, the land of the free, the land of the plenty, the land where many of us waste food on a daily basis… we have children hungry. And children who experience even intermittent struggles with hunger may suffer serious, long-term consequences to their health, well-being and educational achievement. What’s more, being hungry robs kids of the promise of childhood – the ability to play, grow and learn. It’s easy for us to help end child hunger. Seriously… EASY! ConAgra Foods is partnering with P&G to build a community of people to make a difference …. this is a cause I will gladly support.”

Jennifer, Double Duty Mommy
“While I was [on the site] I also signed up to make a monthly donation. I feel good about donating because at least my family is helping our community every month even if we can’t always bring food directly into the food banks.”

Volunteers helping the fight against child hunger in America — Credit: Jon Morgan/AP Images for ConAgra

Kathy, A Mom’s Impression
“Ending child hunger is going to take a lot of people taking little steps. One of the easiest steps is helping ConAgra Foods by entering a code to supply a meal for a child. Join me today, and help end this epidemic in America!”

Lending Support in the Fight Against Child Hunger in America

The Child Hunger Ends Here program has set a goal to donate one million meals to food insecure kids in 2016, and everyone can easily participate by going to their favorite retailer and looking for the red pushpin and code on specially marked packages of ConAgra’s food, like Marie Callender’s® and Hunt’s®. For each eight-digit code entered at www.childhungerendshere.com from January 2016 through January 2017, ConAgra will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to Feeding America, up to one million meals.

To learn more about the issue of child hunger and ways to get involved, visit www.childhungerendshere.com and click on the “How You Can Help” tab.

This post on the fight against child hunger in America is published in proud partnership with Child Hunger Ends Here. All opinions are our own.

Featured image courtesy of the Child Hunger Ends Here program.

STEM Activities for Kids: Five Ways to Get Them Excited this Summer

April 21, 2016 by The Motherhood

“One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.”
— President Barack Obama, February 2013

Today, in an age in which nearly half of all primary breadwinners are women, and women’s labor has expanded the economy by $2 trillion dollars, the fact is that females are still underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field.

As Reshma Saujani – an education activist who has the goal of getting one million women in computer science by 2020 – stated in her Ted talk, we must encourage a culture in which girls learn bravery and find a sense of comfort in imperfection. Part of nurturing a girl who can innovate and change the world with her talents is helping her develop the confidence in her skills to show what she can do, without fear of failure.

With summer break approaching, these next few months are a prime time to nurture a sense of creativity, innovation, problem-solving and invention in both girls and boys.

STEM Activities for Kids: Five Ideas for a Summer of Exploration

1. Create a question jar

The first week of summer break, sit down with your child and brainstorm all of the questions that are on their mind.

Why is the sky blue?
Why do lightning bugs glow?
How does an airplane fly?
How many iPhones do you have to stack end-to-end to reach the moon?

Write each question down on a note card or piece of paper, fold them up and put them in a jar. Each day or week of vacation, have your child draw a question and brainstorm ways to find the answer. Field trips, research, a library visit or science experiments are all great ways to encourage curiosity and discovery.

2. Get growing

Help your child plan and plant a backyard garden. They can research the kinds of seeds that are likely to thrive in your climate, the optimal levels of sun, shade and water necessary to grow, the impact of insects and other animals.

Encourage trial and error! They don’t need to have the greenest thumb on the block the first time around. Have your child keep a journal with notes on the growth and harvest schedule, and at the end of the summer, have them develop a plan for the next season, using the key learnings from their first garden.

3. Host an at-home science fair

Whether you tackle the classic egg drop challenge, build a toothpick bridge or research a different problem to solve, work with your child to tackle a feat of engineering. Have your child gather some friends and neighbors to display their creations, explain their thought process and test them out to prove or disprove their theories.

To drive home the importance of trial and error and the iterative process, make the focus of each child’s presentation to share their best “lessons learned,” recognizing that there is a lot to be learned by examining unsuccessful attempts at creating a solution.

4. Crack the code

One of the amazing benefits of the proliferation of smartphones and tablets is the ability to learn the back-end functions of computing with the touch of the screen. While parents want kids to put down their electronic devices and spend the summer outside, a possible exception to this rule could be for coding apps.

We like this list of eight of the best apps that help kids learn to code, but be sure to research your choices thoroughly to ensure they’re safe, reliable, educational and fun!

5. Sign up for an “epic” summer camp experience

For students entering grades one through six, sign them up for Camp Invention, a weeklong adventure that will turn the summer from ordinary to extraordinary through hands-on problem solving. Camp Invention is the only nationally recognized summer program focused on creativity, innovation, real-world problem solving and the spirit of invention.

Camp Invention provides an opportunity for inventive young minds to exercise their creativity and use their imagination in ways they don’t normally get to in the classroom. Campers have so much fun they barely realize they are learning and developing new skills as they build prototypes, take things apart, explore different types of technology and so much more.

This year’s Camp Invention curriculum is called Epic™, inspired by some of our nation’s most brilliant minds, including experienced educators, Inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and members of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Campers will construct a DIY solar-powered cricket, design an eco-adventure park, brainstorm product ideas and build original prototypes using real tools and components found in everyday devices, and much more! Learn more about this year’s curriculum by clicking the link.

Camp Invention serves more than 94,000 students every year through nearly 1,400 camps across the nation. For additional information or to find the nearest location for registration, visit www.campinvention.org.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwaaxwG8SvM

This post about STEM activities for kids is brought to you in partnership with Camp Invention. All opinions are our own.

Images courtesy of Camp Invention.

Work-Life Balance for Moms: Elusive or Achievable?

February 29, 2016 by The Motherhood

Work-life balance for moms: the debate on if and how this exists is one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Women in the workforce – those who work from their home and out of the home – often face challenges in devoting adequate time to both their careers and their families, not to mention their outside interests. As entrepreneur and mother Randi Zuckerberg stated: work, sleep, family, fitness or friends – pick any three.

A global survey from EY reported that one-third of full-time employees say achieving work-life balance has become more difficult in the past several years. Not surprisingly, parents and millennials are among the groups who face the most pressure in this area.

Flexibility is Key for Moms

Working parents say that flexibility is of critical importance to their satisfaction and success in finding this delicate balance. The survey revealed that that having a boss and colleagues who support their flexible work arrangements is one of the top factors working parents seek in a job – and millennial parents are the most likely group to take a pay cut to have more flexibility.

For companies looking to protect profitability and morale by retaining valuable employees and reducing turnover, a policy of flexibility shouldn’t come with strings attached. The survey reported that the “flexibility stigma” and lack of telecommuting options are two of the top reasons employees quit a job.

Facing the “Flexibility Stigma”

The struggle to achieve work-life balance is multi-faceted: flexibility should not just be a policy on paper; it should also be ingrained in the culture and fabric of the organization so employees feel empowered to use that benefit. In many workplaces, there can often be an unspoken rule that even though the policy exists, employees may be perceived unfavorably for using it.

Consider the situation of a working mother whose daughter has a school play in the middle of the day: if she chooses to attend, there can be a feeling of guilt stemming from the judgment from her colleagues; if she prioritizes work, she’ll feel guilty for letting her child down. It can feel like a lose/lose situation.

Finding a Career with Work-Life Balance for Moms

As part of our partnership with Northwood Realty Services, The Motherhood had the chance to learn how real estate is a career that provides some much-needed work-life balance for moms. As one of the primary benefits of this career, real estate agents manage their own schedule and can work around their family’s needs. If you have to stay home with a sick child or want to chaperone a field trip – Northwood Realty Services empowers moms to make it happen.

Northwood Realty Services values the unique skills that working mothers bring to both their families and their careers. The company is always looking for a few good moms, and here are some reasons why:

Multi-Tasking: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” As many moms know, there is only one of you, so you have to figure out a way to get everything done. With real estate, agents have to juggle many balls at the same time – an open house and a closing on the same day, for example. Moms have a ton on their plate, and they’re some of the best time managers and multi-taskers out there.
Empathy and Understanding: Buying and selling a home is a huge decision that greatly impacts a person’s life and finances. Clients appreciate when someone is able to listen to their concerns, understand their needs and keep them calm throughout the home-buying process. Who better to practice patience and grace under pressure than moms?
Connectedness: Besides family and friends from before they had kids, many moms participate in playgroups, “mommy and me” classes, go to playdates, etc. This is a great way to get connected to new friends and build or expand a network of potential clients.
Passionate: Mothers are passionate for what they care about and will fight for things that matter. Northwood Realty Services seeks out people who advocate for their clients and who are passionate about what they are doing and helping people.

Visit NorthwoodForMoms.com to learn more about real estate as a family-friendly, flexible career choice that welcomes moms.

This post on work-life balance for moms was created in partnership with Northwood Realty Services. All opinions are our own.

Featured image courtesy of GotCredit.