I’ve dabbled with Yoga for a few years, but now that I have my daughter, I find myself needing it regularly. I need an outlet to center myself and re-energize my spirit. What I love is that my daughter loves to do it with me and it’s fun to do it together. Yoga is such a wonderful practice to incorporate into a child’s life. Why should your child do yoga you ask? Well, there are lots of reasons!

• It will help them develop strong, limber and healthy bodies
• Helps them focus and be aware
• Relaxes and balances their emotions and helps them sleep better.
• Harmonizes their brains to help them learn
• Helps develop coordination
• It increases focus, concentration and their attention spans
• Helps them cope with life stressors more effectively

Teresa Anne Power has been practicing yoga for 25 years and teaching yoga to preschoolers and kindergartners for 7 years. She created The ABCs of Yoga for Kids with adorable illustrations (by Kathleen Rietz) with rhyming vignettes and real yoga poses such as frog, swan and shark. The moves are easy to learn and her rhymes help walk you through the poses.

My daughter wanted to hang her yoga poster on the back of her door and tries to copy the poses she sees on the door every time she plays in her room. The book is fun and colorful, she has such a wonderful time reading through it while mimicking the illustrations as I read to her. She’s having fun while learning and that’s exactly how it should be. Teresa makes each pose easy to understand and with 56 different yoga techniques  your child will always learn something new as they read through the letters of the alphabet.

Head over to Teresa’s site The ABCs of Yoga for Kids  here where you can read more about her, learn some helpful tips and purchase her book, poster and coloring book. Make sure you use code ITKM for free shipping on ALL The ABCs of Yoga for Kids items when purchased directly from her site.

Special thank you to The ABCs of Yoga for Kids for providing samples for review purposes.

The sun is out and the weather is warm.  People across the country are leaving their hibernation caves and racing to the parks, beaches, and pools.  One must-have staple for any child of the sun is flip flops of course.  We brought Planet Flops to you previously, highlighting their adult sizes for women and men.  Now we are bringing the child selection to your attention.  Planets Flops are special because they are made with natural rubber, making them extremely environmentally friendly.  The rubber trees are not harmed in the making of these shoes.  Instead they are “tapped” into and the rubber comes out much like a sap.  These flops are manufactured in Brazil, taking advantage of their large population of Brazilian rubber trees.  The flops come in a huge selection of colors and are super comfy.  I wear mine everywhere, and now so does my daughter! Even though they were her first pair, she learned quickly to walk in them.  She now romps all around, jumping, twirling, and skipping in her Planet Flops.  Purchase your own pair(s) (4 ship for free) here at Planet Flops.

Erin: You all probably know about my flip flop love by now.  It’s sad, but I am who I am. What’s even funnier is that we’ve turned into a Planet Flop family. My husband has a few pairs, I have my beloved pair and now my daughter has her own set. She thinks it’s the cutest thing when we all match and loves pointing it out. Here’s what impresses me. These are her first flip flops and even though she’s a small size 9, she fits into the smallest Planet Flops size, with a little room to grow. Normally I’d have a heart attack putting her in shoes a little big, especially sandals because she usually trips on her feet all day long, but these form so nicely to her feet that she’s never stumbled in them. It took her a short while to learn how to walk in flip flops, so at first she walked around like a soldier for with her knees real high. But she soon figured it out and these are now her favorite shoes to wear out.  I’m happy that they’re good to her feet and offer her the support she needs.

Thank you to Planet Flops for providing samples.

Bath time.  I don’t know if I love it or hate it.  I love it because I can get things done while she’s bathing, organize the bathroom, clean the bathroom, do my facials, nails, etc.  But on the other hand, it can be so aggravating to wash their hair.  Getting my daughter to tip her head back while rinsing shampoo out is, well, difficult.  She often likes to tilt her head forward creating a soapslide down her eyes, nose, and mouth.  Out come the screams, “SOAP EYE, SOAP EYE!”  This turns bath time into a stressful event as then I’m running around grabbing a towel while she rubs more and more soap into her eyes.

Luckily, I came across a super cool invention from Australia called Drieyes.  These super handy contraptions give your child the control over the rinsing.  They can hold the shield themselves, giving you two free hands to do the rinsing.  This makes the job pain and tear-free, but also quicker, which you know I love.  The soft and flexible seal, which they hold to their forehead, stops the water flow from coming over their face.  The water is channeled down the sides and away from the ears.  Note: this is not to be held like a visor!   They come in 5 cool colors (green, orange, blue, pink, and yellow).

My 3 year old loved Drieyes before she even knew what it’s purpose was.  The fun bright green color, with the goofy eyes thrilled her.  I told her it was for the bath so she proceeded to get every bath toy in the house and dump them in the tub.  That was my signal for bath time.  We practiced a couple times, and the third time she really got it!  It’s up to them to really hold it properly so I would recommend this product for 3 year olds and up at least.

lather, rinse, dry eyes.

To purchase a Drieyes for your pre-schooler, click here.

Thank you to Drieyes for providing a sample product.

I love this modern children’s rocking chair from Thorsten Van Elten made from solid European Oak with a natural rubber seat inlay. Creator Alexandor Taylor made this adorable rock in color choices of red, green, blue, yellow and pink. Such an adorable accent to any child’s room.

So my daughters daycare announced the last Friday would be “Picnic At School” day and all the parents had to supply a sack lunch for the kids to eat on a blanket in their rooms with the other kids. I actually felt myself go into a slight panic thinking about what I’d be scrimmaging around the house to use as a bag for her. Now mind you, a two year old doesn’t care what her lunch sack looks like….only what type of goodies are in it so that she can avoid the main meal as much as possible. This is all about me, not my daughter, and we all know it. Back to my point….I resorted to putting her lunch in a plastic grocery bag like all the other mommy’s, but also made it a point to research all the reusable lunch bags until I found the best. Three options depending on your needs. No more plastic grocery bags in this household!

Kids Konserve Lunch Kits

BPA-free and eco-friendly storage containers. For $39.95, it comes with:

• Recycled cotton sack
• Cloth napkin
• 16 oz. stainless steel beverage bottle
• Food kozy
• Two stainless steel food containers

For $23.99, it comes in several patterns and features include:

Built NY Fugu Lunch Tote $22

Same features as the Getaway pictured above, but this one separates your drink from the lunch!