During the summer we tend to spend as much time as possible in the water.  We love swimming in our family.  I am a self-admitted “big kid”.  I like to play games and goof around.  Toys that  help you soak someone else with water are always fun!

Check this out:  I found a toy called Geyser Gushers at my local toy store.  That link is straigth to Amazon, where they are also available.  This toy reminds me of one of those orange construction pylons.  It is c0ne-shaped with a 1″ diameter hole at the top, and it has handles at the wide part of the cone so you can hold it.  If you learn how to use it properly, you can shoot a HUGE 1″ jet of water about 30 feet.  You’ll soak anyone around you.  What an awesome toy for the pool or the beach.

I’m thinking there *has* to be an easy way to make these at home using some kind of stiff plastic.  But I haven’t figured out how to do it quite yet.  If I can’t make my own, I’m going to buy these for the next time we take the kids away for a sunny vacation in the middle of winter.

Hey, I'm Chris Thompson. I help stressed-out parents deal with toddlers. Grab the free lesson I've prepared for you. You'll love it. Email:

I’ve heard plenty of parents complain, “My toddler won’t nap!”  What’s a parent to do in this situation?

I bet that when your toddler was an infant he did nap.  All infants nap.  So at some point the napping stopped.  If your toddler was napping regularly until about the age of 3, then it’s possible they’ve grown out of their need for a nap. Often it’s the parents who want the kids to continue napping so they get some extra child-free time. If that is your situation, I suggest you replace “nap time” with “quiet time”.  We did this in our house and it worked beautifully.  Just allow your toddler to play quietly or perhaps watch a children’s DVD while sitting on the couch with his comfort objects (blanket, stuffed animals, etc).  This will give your toddler a much needed rest.  It’s the next best thing to a nap for the parent also.

For those of you saying, “My toddler won’t nap and he still needs a nap!”, let’s analyze this scenario.  Most likely what has happened is your toddler has come to the conclusion that he’s missing out on something.  So nap time now has a negative association.  I highly recommend creating a new positive association to napping by discussing, with your toddler, what you’ll do after the nap is over.  Always schedule something fun that you can have your toddler look forward to.  This will re-build a positive association to the nap.  Remember, behavior is driven by emotion.  If your toddler has a new negative emotion regarding naps, he won’t want to nap.  So it’s your job to make turn the nap into something positive.  Giving your toddler something to look forward to after the nap is one way to accomplish this.

In my talking to toddlers audio course, I teach parents how to get their toddlers to cooperate by using language techniques.  Get your free audio lesson.

Enjoy your children,

Chris Thompson

When my wife and I take the kids for a day in the sun, we always put sunscreen on ourselves and on the kids.  We are not paranoid about the sun like some people.  We believe sun is entirely healthy.  But there are safe limits to everything, and the positive impact of Vitamin D production is easily offset if you burn your skin.

So how do you get sunscreen on your wiggle-worm kids?  Michelle has a fantastic idea.  She wrote about her idea on her blog. The concept is to put goggles on the kids first, and then spray them head to toe.  Awesome idea!  I’ll have to take her advice.

Enjoy your children,

Chris Thompson

It’s really not that strange to discover that your preschooler won’t listen to you when  you’re asking him or her to do something, or to stop doing something, or to simply pay attention to you.  So what’s the fundamental problem?  Usually it comes down to entering your child’s world.

If your preschooler won’t listen and you’d like to change this behavior, then you need to learn how to build instant rapport with your child.  Instead of barking orders, start with a question that you know will engage and interest your preschooler.  Then subtly shift the discussion towards your request.

Kids react to emotional states the same way adults do.  If your preschooler won’t listen to you when you ask him to clean up his toys, it’s probably because he associates the clean up ritual to the end of having fun, or to the start of something unpleasant (such as having to go to bed).  Parents need to replace the unpleasant association with something the child looks forward to.  If clean up time is always followed by bedtime, and your preschooler doesn’t like bedtime, then it’s no wonder your preschooler won’t listen to you!

For more detailed strategies to overcome this, sign up for a free audio lesson. You can also head on over to learn more about my Talking to Toddlers Audio Course.

I’ve always been a lover of juices.  Orange juice has long been my favorite, and I’m a huge fan of grape juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc.  When I was a kid I’d guzzle the stuff by the large glassful, and as a teenager and adult I never thought it was “bad”.  I knew it was a bad idea to drink soda, or “fruit drink”, which is fake juice, but I did not think that 100% natural fruit juice could be bad.

It turns out I was wrong.  Not because fruit juice is bad, but because drinking too much of it is bad. Even though the sugar in fruit juice is “natural”, it’s still sugar.  Too much sugar leads to obesity in children.

I’d like to offer you a few simple suggestions to reduce the amount of juice that your kids drink.

1. Keep lots of fresh fruit in the house, and eat fruit instead of drinking juice.  You’ll get more of the natural ingredients from the fruit and less total sugar.  An orange is refreshing.  A glass of orange juice is made from several oranges! Less is more here.
2. When your kids absolutely insist on juice and you can’t seem to talk them down, dilute it with water.  We often dilute our kids’ juice so it’s a 50/50 blend of water and juice.
3. Try this amazing and delicious replacement for juice.  I made this one day for myself and absolutely loved it, so I wanted to share.  Take a large glass and drop in a few ice cubes.  Then add orange juice so the glass is 1/4 full.  Now, squeeze in a good teaspoon of lemon juice.  This jazzes up the flavor a bit.  Finally, fill up the remaining space (3/4 of the glass) with water. Stir and enjoy. Tell your kids you are making them a special treat. You’ll be keeping the sugar away, and they will love it.

I’m not telling you that fruit juice is bad.  Instead, I’m simply saying too much of it is unhealthy.  We limit our kids to one glass of juice per day now, and they can eat an unlimited amount of fruit, drink as much water as they want, and I’ll offer up my own recipe of highly diluted juice (shared above).

That’s all I wanted to say for now.  Reducing sugar consumption is an important part of your family’s health.  Take it seriously.

Enjoy your children!