Friday, August 28, 2009
Kid Picture of the Week
Have a great photo from this week? Post it on your blog and add a link in our comments! We are big into superheros right now. I love to indulge my boys in this sort of thing, so we made masks yesterday:
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thoughts on Thursday
Happy Thursday everyone! I'm up to my ears and eyeballs in boxes packing this week! We move house on Monday and it's been quite a challenge packing with two busy boys around (I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of their toys!).
Last week I talked about a situation when a child hurt my son at a public playplace. The parent was oblivious to this. I wondered how you all would handle it. The responses were varied (and I'm so pleased at how many people stopped by and took the time to respond!) The majority of you (60%) are a lot braver than I am and would speak to the parent about it. I'm just so bad with confrontation I guess. Good for you though! That really would be the appropriate thing I think. I am just scared of getting into something with people. That's just me though!
Onto this week's topic:
This is a 'hot topic' and I know can get some people's gears up. I was thinking about bed sharing with your kids. My husband and I didn't intend to share a bed with our children at all. It is something that happened out of necessity to sleep. Both our boys have crawled into our beds at one point or another. Our oldest has been out of our bed for a few years now and our youngest still will crawl in around 2 or 3 in the morning at times. It seems like this is North America's big no-no. Yet, many people swear by it (just like rocking their kids to sleep - guilty!). I read a post by an older parent recently who stated she rocked, cuddled and slept with all 5 of her now grown children and they all turned out well. Other people are turned off completely by this. They believe it is wrong. Babies sleep in cribs on their own and that is that. Where do you stand?
Last week I talked about a situation when a child hurt my son at a public playplace. The parent was oblivious to this. I wondered how you all would handle it. The responses were varied (and I'm so pleased at how many people stopped by and took the time to respond!) The majority of you (60%) are a lot braver than I am and would speak to the parent about it. I'm just so bad with confrontation I guess. Good for you though! That really would be the appropriate thing I think. I am just scared of getting into something with people. That's just me though!
Onto this week's topic:
This is a 'hot topic' and I know can get some people's gears up. I was thinking about bed sharing with your kids. My husband and I didn't intend to share a bed with our children at all. It is something that happened out of necessity to sleep. Both our boys have crawled into our beds at one point or another. Our oldest has been out of our bed for a few years now and our youngest still will crawl in around 2 or 3 in the morning at times. It seems like this is North America's big no-no. Yet, many people swear by it (just like rocking their kids to sleep - guilty!). I read a post by an older parent recently who stated she rocked, cuddled and slept with all 5 of her now grown children and they all turned out well. Other people are turned off completely by this. They believe it is wrong. Babies sleep in cribs on their own and that is that. Where do you stand?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Clever Thoughts -- Read Good Books to you Kids
Mama culture these days is big into nutrition. We are encouraged to watch what we eat while we are pregnant, breastfeed, serve whole foods to our toddlers and preschoolers, and avoid fast foods, hydrogenated fats and processed everything with our older children when ever possible. Ironically, food marketers have caught on to this push, and now offer "trans fat free" Coco Puffs and candy made with "real fruit juice". McDonalds reminds us that their chicken nuggets contain "protein". On a bad day, these processed, pretend healthy foods can be easy to give in to. We can say to ourselves, "Well, at least it contains real fruit" as we hand Jonny his third package of electric blue fruit snacks to keep him quiet during rush hour.
In a similar way, we are encouraged to do all kinds of strange things to boost our child's brain power and early literacy skills. Flashcards with giant photos of apples and red triangles are made of chunky cardboard so we can start using them with our 6 month old (does chewing a book count as an early literacy experience?). Books of computer generated, flat characters with badly rhymed couplets teach our toddlers about counting and opposites. Television characters of every description appear in "learn to read" books that are really just brief summaries of an episode of their show. Kids eat these books up as fast as the fruit snacks or fries, and we can think "Well, at least they're reading something."
But are they reading something that will encourage a healthy enjoyment of literature in the future? Will it help them develop an awareness of word and language play? Will it give them an appreciation of plot devices, character development and story structure? Will the pictures encourage their enjoyment of colour, line, form, movement and expression in art? Will the book feed their minds and souls, or will it simply fill up their empty tank of literacy experience with garbage?
You might be thinking, "There are no picture books that can do all that!". I beg to differ. If you look at many perennial favorites -- the books our parents read to us and our grandparents read to them -- you will find books that develop more than just early literacy skills. They develop an enjoyment of playful language, vivid characters and fast moving, interesting plots.
Take a Dr. Seuss classic like Green Eggs and Ham for example. It contains two quickly drawn but distinct characters - the grumpy, pessimistic naysayer and the ever hopeful and enthusiastic Sam-I-Am. It contains all kinds of repetition, rhyme, and language play. Its plot is basic but contains a conflict (will he eat the eggs and ham or not?), a rising action (the various animals and vehicles are added to the words and pictures), a climax (the train careening into the boat and everything crashing), a reversal (he likes the eggs and ham) and a conclusion. Seuss' simple line drawings contain all kinds of expression and action and silly sight jokes to be found by the attentive viewer. This book introduces children not only to literacy (the ability to read words on a page), but to language play, plot structure and simple comic devices.
I love reading books like these to my boys. They giggle and laugh at the same places every time. They repeat the phrases over and over. They insist that I read these books to them for weeks at a time. They sit and look at the pictures and point out subtle details of expression and action to me. It feels good to read them to my children again and again, just like it feels good when you can sit down and serve your family a home cooked meal.
So do yourself and your children a favour. Don't buy into the hype of prepackaged, processed reading materials. Search out good books for your kids. And read them together whenever you can. And if they occasionally want to snack on a horrible summary of the latest Spiderman movie, let them indulge. You know that generally, most of the time, their minds are well fed.
There is a great list of Twaddle free books over at Simple Mom. Check out her top ten favorites, and then scroll through the comments for a huge list of authours other people (including me) love.
What is your favorite Good Book to read to your child?
In a similar way, we are encouraged to do all kinds of strange things to boost our child's brain power and early literacy skills. Flashcards with giant photos of apples and red triangles are made of chunky cardboard so we can start using them with our 6 month old (does chewing a book count as an early literacy experience?). Books of computer generated, flat characters with badly rhymed couplets teach our toddlers about counting and opposites. Television characters of every description appear in "learn to read" books that are really just brief summaries of an episode of their show. Kids eat these books up as fast as the fruit snacks or fries, and we can think "Well, at least they're reading something."
But are they reading something that will encourage a healthy enjoyment of literature in the future? Will it help them develop an awareness of word and language play? Will it give them an appreciation of plot devices, character development and story structure? Will the pictures encourage their enjoyment of colour, line, form, movement and expression in art? Will the book feed their minds and souls, or will it simply fill up their empty tank of literacy experience with garbage?
You might be thinking, "There are no picture books that can do all that!". I beg to differ. If you look at many perennial favorites -- the books our parents read to us and our grandparents read to them -- you will find books that develop more than just early literacy skills. They develop an enjoyment of playful language, vivid characters and fast moving, interesting plots.
Take a Dr. Seuss classic like Green Eggs and Ham for example. It contains two quickly drawn but distinct characters - the grumpy, pessimistic naysayer and the ever hopeful and enthusiastic Sam-I-Am. It contains all kinds of repetition, rhyme, and language play. Its plot is basic but contains a conflict (will he eat the eggs and ham or not?), a rising action (the various animals and vehicles are added to the words and pictures), a climax (the train careening into the boat and everything crashing), a reversal (he likes the eggs and ham) and a conclusion. Seuss' simple line drawings contain all kinds of expression and action and silly sight jokes to be found by the attentive viewer. This book introduces children not only to literacy (the ability to read words on a page), but to language play, plot structure and simple comic devices.
I love reading books like these to my boys. They giggle and laugh at the same places every time. They repeat the phrases over and over. They insist that I read these books to them for weeks at a time. They sit and look at the pictures and point out subtle details of expression and action to me. It feels good to read them to my children again and again, just like it feels good when you can sit down and serve your family a home cooked meal.
So do yourself and your children a favour. Don't buy into the hype of prepackaged, processed reading materials. Search out good books for your kids. And read them together whenever you can. And if they occasionally want to snack on a horrible summary of the latest Spiderman movie, let them indulge. You know that generally, most of the time, their minds are well fed.
There is a great list of Twaddle free books over at Simple Mom. Check out her top ten favorites, and then scroll through the comments for a huge list of authours other people (including me) love.
What is your favorite Good Book to read to your child?
Everyone Loves A Giveaway
I found a great giveaway on one of my favorite mommy sites today! So good I almost don't want to share the news with you :o) Raising my 4 Sons is offering a giveaway of See Kai Run shoes. These are fantastic shoes for little ones (http://seekairun.com). Entries need to be in by 1st of September so don't miss out!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Not Me Monday
I did not let stress get to me this week. I certainly did not let a certain 4 letter word slip out in front of my 2 year old, when just one more thing went wrong. He certainly did not immediately repeat said word. Because I very carefully guard my mouth at all times so only kind and loving things emit from it :o)
Friday, August 21, 2009
Kid Picture of the Week - new weekly meme!
I know it's a cliche - "A picture is worth a thousand words". If you don't believe it, take a look at the one below. It's my son, last Saturday. Do you have pictures like these hanging around your photo albums? If so, we invite you to participate in our new Friday feature - Kid Picture of the week. While I'm still trying to figure out Mr. Linky, please leave your link in our comments box. I'm looking forward to seeing what treasures you have :o)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thoughts for Thursday
So it appears that I am in the minority according to last week's poll. Most people (76%) do find out the sex of their babies before they are born, the rest are people like me. Very interesting, I think.
So onto today's topic and it is another one of those what do you do with other parent's type poll. It is based on a real life situation that happened to us last weekend. Our boys were playing in the McDonald's playplace. Yes, we keep an eye on them in there and it's a good thing too. Our oldest (he's 5) started crying in pain. We called him down and sure enough another boy had grabbed him on the face and pinched and pulled (leaving large scratch marks down his cheek). I guess my son had been playing with one of the cranks up there and the other boy wanted it now and wouldn't wait his turn so he reacted physically. My son was pretty good about it considering and calmed down fairly quickly. He then went to tell the boy that he didn't want him to do that and that he was hurt.
I could see my husband go through those emotions that all of us go through when something like this happens which is anger and wanting to confront the parent (who was oblivious and continued to let her child play), but he maintained his cool and worried about our son.
So what would you do? This isn't the first time I've seen parents be completely oblivious to the behaviour of their child in a public play space. Do you say something. Lose your cool with them? Speak to the child yourself? Let it go? Something else completely? I'm interested, let us know!
So onto today's topic and it is another one of those what do you do with other parent's type poll. It is based on a real life situation that happened to us last weekend. Our boys were playing in the McDonald's playplace. Yes, we keep an eye on them in there and it's a good thing too. Our oldest (he's 5) started crying in pain. We called him down and sure enough another boy had grabbed him on the face and pinched and pulled (leaving large scratch marks down his cheek). I guess my son had been playing with one of the cranks up there and the other boy wanted it now and wouldn't wait his turn so he reacted physically. My son was pretty good about it considering and calmed down fairly quickly. He then went to tell the boy that he didn't want him to do that and that he was hurt.
I could see my husband go through those emotions that all of us go through when something like this happens which is anger and wanting to confront the parent (who was oblivious and continued to let her child play), but he maintained his cool and worried about our son.
So what would you do? This isn't the first time I've seen parents be completely oblivious to the behaviour of their child in a public play space. Do you say something. Lose your cool with them? Speak to the child yourself? Let it go? Something else completely? I'm interested, let us know!
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