Choosing the Right Size Parade

Matching the scope of the activity helps!
Parents may wish to share enjoyable activities with their children,
taking pleasure in the looks of amazement on their young faces.
Parents may go to considerable effort to avail themselves of
activities on a large scale.
This effort will go largely unrealized by toddlers. They do not
have the ability to grasp distance or amount of money.
At one point, we considered driving to the big city to see the
St. Patrick's Day parade. Instead, we opted for the St. Patrick's Day
parade in a neighboring town.
Took us just 15 minutes to get there.
Parking was easy and free.
We ran into some people we know.
Didn't have to find a bathroom.
Oh, and the bagpipers were just five feet away from us as
they went by!

SketchSwap: It's All About Give and Take

What a well designed system!
In my travels in del.icio.us, the social bookmarking site, I came
across a site that's beautiful in its simplicity. It's called SketchSwap.
You sketch something and submit it.
In return, you get a sketch back that someone else drew.
No one gets a grade.
No one keeps score.
You give something and you get something.
Nice, huh?

A Birthday Party Can Be Fun!

Tradition. Culture.
These things are sometimes referenced as though set in stone.
But it's just not so.
About 200 years ago, do you think people were hiring magicians
and fretting over whether their child's birthday party was splashy
enough? Nah. Little by little, things changed. To the point where
it's hard to find the fun in all the stress of pulling off one of those
mammoth events.
Some basic points:
. Find out what your child wants most and ask them to be flexible
about some of the lesser details.
. Even what they want most may be a reflection of fleeting
perceptions. Check in with them after a few days to see if
they still want that same content in their party.
. Take care of the basics. No matter where the party is, etc.
the birthday child and guests will tend to enjoy the party
more if their thirst is quenched and if they have enough room
to watch and participate.
A group of people have taken initiative to encourage parents to
make healthier birthday party choices. They have listed the
many reasons that birthday parties have taken on unmanageable
dimensions. No doubt you will recognize many of them. Explore
the alternatives! http://birthdayswithoutpressure.org/

Parents Can Gain Perspective!

As their children grow and develop, parents may find themselves
next to other parents with children of the same age - standing on the
sidelines of a soccer field, sitting in the bleachers of a baseball or
basketball game. During the half-time or in-between innings, parents
may take the opportunity to exchange updates on their offspring's
antics, tendencies, and inclinations. This exchange is valuable
for easing frustration.
What can also be valuable is to have conversations with parents
whose children are 3-5 years older. These conversations can
help parents have perspective on their children's behavior,
help them see what is typical of a developmental stage, even
when a behavior lasts for six months! These conversations
may be even more valuable to have in today's world of
computers and cell phones, so that parents can thoughtfully
develop their family's technology policies.
Parents may have to make some effort to create the opportunities
to speak with the parents with older children as they might not run
into them as readily. And then, parents can return the favor!

Mendelson Leads the Way in Career Planning

More than one hat could fit!
This post is about a book, Home Comforts The Art and Science of Keeping House , and its author, Cheryl Mendelson. While my attentiveness to home care is not as high as that of the author (you need only refer to the prior post to discern that) what I most appreciate is the author's courage to be multi-faceted. On reading the book's jacket I discovered that besides being a homemaking guru Mendelson "daylights" as a lawyer.
While classifications serve to give us speedy answers (searching by occupational codes, keywords, etc.) they make us vulnerable to missing the complexities and subtleties of human knowledge and experience. How wonderful for Mendelson that she has multiple channels through which to implement her skills!
Perhaps some of us really do have one passion, and pursuing that singularity in a positive manner benefits both the individual as well as others. Let's realize, too, that there is value in mental diversity. Some innovation comes from intensive pursuit in one field; some develops as a result of meshing together unique threads of thought.

One Good Shortcut Deserves Another!

We had made plans for another mother to bring her child
over to our house for a playdate. On that morning I quickly
went around, trying to get the most amount of improvement
in the appearance of the house for the amount of time at hand.
When I spotted the unwashed frying pan on the rangetop, I
decided to make like a magician and simply place it in the oven.
Unbeknownst to me, the other mom had also taken a shortcut
that morning, preparing a coffeecake which she figured could
very nicely be baked in..... my oven!
Have you had a shortcut backfire?

Take a Break at the Computer!

Some of us are spending more time in front of our home computers.

Keep some things nearby to help stay comfortable:

• a closed bottle of water to regularly hydrate.
• barbells (or equal-sized soup cans) for some light lifting.
  
• nailclippers to use while doing computer maintenance.

Crackers to the Rescue!

While artisan breads and fancy wraps may offer us variety in consumption,

the basic cracker can still command status with its versatility. Keeping a box
or two of these in your car can ward off hunger if you are unexpectedly delayed.
They can also play another role if you find your car stuck on ice or snow.
Dump some in front and behind the tire that has been spinning. The texture of
the crackers may create just enough traction for the tire to grip to get the car
moving. This worked for me when I somewhat casually had parked on a lawn.

Experts Find Yams to be a Healthy Choice

Yams show up on many tables on Thanksgiving,
and they are a good choice any day. Yams are:

• included as a "sidekick" in Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews' Superfoods,
  
• a main choice in Dana Jacobi's: 12 Best Foods Cookbook
  
• a regular in Dr.Michael Roizen and Dr. John LaPuma's Cooking the RealAge Way

Preparation:
Place 4-10 yams on a foil-lined, low-sided baking pan at 350 degrees.
Smaller ones will be soft in about 60 minutes, larger ones may take almost twice as long. Position and remove accordingly.
Not only are yams nutritious, they are convenient:
Baked yams freeze really well - for a month or more - in freezer bags, either individually or in groups.
In warm months, yams can be eaten as a cold snack.
In winter months, yams can be heated, even taken on an outing and used as a "handwarmer" until eaten!

Halloween Can Be More Than Candy

Everyone liked this idea!
Besides giving the traditional candy this past Halloween,
we placed used children's books in plastic bins near
the door. Both parents and children readily selected titles.
Tip: Books for readers can be in one bin and listener books
can be in another.