High Maintenance Mom

With two kids of different ages and skill sets, I was having trouble finding games/activities I could play with both kids at the same time. I went online and found The Siblings Busy Book-200 fun activities for kids of different ages by sisters Lisa Hanson & Heather Kempskie. I read the book and tried many of the activities with my own kids. I love the section Rainy Day fun and found all of the suggestions helpful. I contacted Meadowbrook Press (www.meadowbrookpress.com) and they helped me set up an interview with the authors...

What inspired you specifically to create this book (is there a good story?).

Lisa: The idea came to us on a very typical day. We were upstairs in my youngest son's bedroom - holding our newborns in one arm and trying to coral our toddlers in the other. We had a few baby books open and a few toddler ones, too, looking for ways to entertain and educate the kids. I simply turned to Heather and asked, "Wouldn't it be great if there was one activity book for all ages?" "Yeah, we should write it," was all she replied.

Heather: The interesting backdrop to this exchange is that we had recently built homes next to each other. The idea being – to raise our children in a village setting. Our husbands were totally on board! Prior to that, we had lived about an hour away from each other. This “cool” set-up allowed us to work during naptimes or late nights without having to leave home!

How did you come up with so many ideas and how did you think of ways to incorporate different ages?

Lisa: Playing. It was a tough job, but we did it! A lot of the ideas came from just interacting with our own children. We attended classes, poured over books, talked to colleagues, friends, and other parents. Inspiration arrived everyday!

Heather: Our professional experience was key as well. I'm the editor of Parents and Kids magazine in greater Boston and Lisa has a Master's in Creative Arts in Education. We're very familiar with developmental phases of children and were able to adjust each activity so children at various ages could have fun. Finding a way for babies to take part in the fun was sometimes a challenge. We borrowed lots of babies to try stuff with. All the activities are mom tested and kid approved!

Do your kids like to play these games?

Lisa: This was the best part of writing this sort of book – we got to play with our children often. In fact, some of the activities they actually created and we followed their lead!

Heather: My kids are crazy about arts & crafts – the portable sea activity is a fave!

Ideas for others books?

Heather: We're looking forward to adding onto the very popular Busy Book line with Meadowbrook Press with another activity book. Also, Lisa and I have always thought about writing a book on fostering healthy relationships between twins. I think we definitely have some experience on that front!

How long did it take you to put this all together?

Heather: We had a serious system set up. As siblings ourselves, much of the process was very natural. Lisa took on collecting and trying out ideas and I researched the current book market. We had our weekly recap, our monthly review, our "test" days, and we had incredible support from Meadowbrook Press. The entire process was a lot of fun!

Lisa: From the morning of our idea to the day the truck pulled up with the first copies of The Siblings’ Busy Book was exactly three years!

Thank you to the authors and Meadowbrook Press for the interview and enjoying this wonderful book. Check out their blog at www.busysiblings.com. I now bring it on vacations in case we get stuck indoors!!