When I wrote my first post in January 2008, I had no idea how long I would stick it at it. I have had my fair share of fads that I have started and left unfinished as I lost interest.

I loved blogging from the minute I started and right now am more excited about blogging and its potential than I have ever been. Blogging is now my part time job and but rarely does it feel like work. I love sharing things I have learnt which have made my life easier and love reading your tips and ideas you share with me.

Over the few months there will be some changes to Planning With Kids. I received almost 600 responses to the survey before Christmas and it has given me a wealth of information on how I can improve PWK. Thanks so much to everyone who completed the survey and a very big thank you for all the lovely words and positive feedback you wrote.

To celebrate PWK turning 4, I thought I would delve into the archives and collate some of my favourite posts over this time.

From 2008

• Tea Cup Biscuits – This post was the first post was really shared widely. It still receives search engine traffic every day and has been shared on facebook 493 times.
• Family Meetings – I love family meetings and parents I know who have persevered with having them as part of their family communication strategy all find them a fantastic way to discuss issues and celebrate successes.
• My Typical Day – This post was an answer to a readers email. She asked “I guess I was kind of hoping that you might be able to find the time to sort of throw me together a schedule for an average day for you as a mother of four.” My daily routine has changes slightly now 3 years down the track, but it is still has a similar base routine that I stick to.

From 2009

• Characteristics of Two (and a half) Year Old Behavior – I wrote this post when our fourth child was two and a half and going through a challenging stage. What I loved most about this post was the way it resonated with other parents. I still receive emails from readers (I close off comments after a month to reduce annoying spam) who find this post from search engines and are so relieved to realise that they are not alone in finding this stage in their child’s development challenging.
• Coping With A Baby That Catnaps – 4 out of 5 of our babies went through stages of catnapping. It can be exhausting and drive you slightly crazy as a parent. As with the above post, I loved how this post made readers feel – it was okay if their baby cat napped.
• Creating A Children’s Timetable – Having a time table or schedule for the kids that they help create has been a key strategy of mine to help the kids become responsible for getting themselves ready for school and kinder in the mornings.

From 2010

• Children’s Routines – This post was inspired by a couple of lovely readers Gin and Sarah. They were interested in routines that I have for kids and any charts that I use.
• 10 Things To Do Before You Go To Bed – I have had such lovely feedback from readers about how using the tips in this post has made their mornings with kids more organised and less stressful.
• Getting Organised At Home – I created this post to act as an introductory guide for Planning With Kids. It takes you through they key tips, templates and processes that we have used to help simplify and add fun to our family life. It is the page you land on when you click on the “Where To Start” tab in the navigation bar. It is one of the most popular pages on the blog.

From 2011

• Budget Basics – Boring topic, but many readers have successful used our budgeting system, or tweaked it and created their own and it has helped them regain control of their finances.
• Challenging Behaviour – This post was also answering a question from a reader. As I note in the post, I am not a child behaviour specialist. My suggestions come from the reading I have done and the practical experience of being a parent over the last 12 years.
• Our Big Family Story – This is not my big family story, but the big family story from a wonderful family I know. Katie kindly shared her journey as a mother of eight beautiful kids.

Thanks for reading Planning With Kids and for the ongoing support of the blog. If you have a particular post from the blog that you like or would like to share the post that you found this blog through I would love to read about it! Feel free to leave a comment below, this will also help new readers find some older posts they may not have read yet.

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