Wednesday, January 16, 2013
It seems like teaching children manners has taken a back seat to almost everything but the eye rolling ends today.
I am a fun Mom. Really, ask anyone. Ask my kids, my husband and my friends. I love having fun, pushing the routine from time to time and a good belly laugh makes my day. But when it comes down to manners even a fun Mom has to be shown a little respect. I think it hit me when my kids started karate a few weeks ago and even Sensei Diana demanded a little respect. She would not accept yeah as a child’s answer when asked a question. She requested eye contact, a calm body and a proper hello and goodbye. I like Sensei Diana! Boy those kids listened, and listened happily. I decided then, and after a brief Facebook conversation I had with a few fellow Moms, to renew my quest for good manners. It’s always been important to me but somehow I had …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Getting paid for doing everyday tasks around the house has become the norm but shouldn’t kids do these things as part of their daily responsibilities?
I’m old school. I’m stubborn and I don’t follow trends when it comes to parenting. We don’t watch TV during the school week, we don’t sit on the computer and play mindless games and there are no hats, cell phones or bad manners at our dinner table. So when my friends started asking me how much allowance I give my elementary school aged children I laughed, out loud. Why in the world would I pay my children to do the things needed to sustain the house they live in? I did some research on the topic and it turns out, much to my surprise that there are a host of “professionals” that believe children should be paid, for example, 50 cents per week for each year of age. In this scenario my 7-year-old would get $3.50 per week. Others have suggested…
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The New Year brings new hopes and challenges but a host of resolutions we don’t usually keep.
Let’s just put it out there shall we? We don’t keep our New Year’s resolutions. We mean well but those grand thoughts of ditching the holiday weight and curbing our TV watching usually fall by the way side just weeks into the first month. Not this year! I am making resolutions that I can actually keep. What’s my secret you ask, simplicity. No need to set yourself up for failure. Make some resolutions that are actually attainable. Here are some off my parenting list: So that is where I am this first week of the New Year. I am trying to make more realistic plans for the next year and with some adjustments along the way and think I can make them stick. Now that my parenting goals are done it is time to move on to my personal goals. That list …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Keeping children focused on the real meaning of the holiday season can be hard but it’s worth the effort.
If I hear my children ask when they can open the gifts already under our tree one more time I promise you mine will be the house you pass with all of their gifts thrown on the front yard. Oh and crying children standing on the front porch. No, no, I wouldn’t really do that but some days I day dream about it. Some days I want to ban presents all together and just stand around the piano as my daughter plays Christmas carols and my son dances about. Keeping children focused on the real meaning of Christmas is hard. Thankfully I am determined and after watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas at least 45 times, my kids can now recite the end when that green cat like creature with a heart two sizes too small declares, “Christmas doesn't come …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Being an interfaith family has its challenges but in the end the rewards outweigh them all.
This is the time of year that I get the most questions about life as an interfaith family. They are all good, honest questions so I never mind sharing how we do things. To be honest, when I met my husband over ten years ago our different faith backgrounds didn’t cause us to skip a beat. One reason may be that we have both experienced “the other side” so we were no strangers to each other’s holidays, traditions and culture. One of my dearest friends and neighbor growing up is Jewish and I swear I spent as much time at her Temple as I did at my church. I loved the rituals, the stories, the kind Rabbi’s who always welcomed me. And to be clear, my husband jokes that he is “Jew-ish” and I don’t pretend to be a role model for the Presbyterian …
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A timeless family tradition has made its way back into the family room but do board games make kids smarter?
I haven’t always liked board games but now that I am older and wiser I know it is because my three older brothers always been the pants off me at most any game we played. My Dad was about the only one who “let” me win from time to time. Now that I have kids we have really gotten into the spirit of board games, I look for games that teach them something no matter how small. Recently I discovered that with a little coaxing most any board game can be a learning experience for kids. Very quickly I saw how board games helped both kids learn about taking turns. My youngest was about three when we started playing after dinner each night and he wanted to go first all of the time. We told him if he wanted to play we would rotate who goes first. …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Election Day is a great opportunity to teach your kids about the importance of the voting process.
I would love to rename Election Day "Freedom Day." I think more people would vote if they could remember or in some cases even know what it took and what we lost in order to secure our democracy. I guess you can tell by my tone that I have always been fascinated by politics. Yes, it can get ugly—especially in a presidential race—but cut through all of that nonsense and you get to the core of what Election Day is really about: our freedom to decide who runs our country. My gather was born in Germany and never ever took his right to vote in the United States for granted. He was incredibly proud to be an American citizen and passionate about his right to vote. We all learned at a very young age what a privilege it is to vote. I went to the …
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Getting to know your neighbors is as easy as throwing a party.
When we moved into our new home a year ago, I was thrilled. Great town, great schools, great next-door neighbors. Life was good. I did, however, begin to miss living in a traditional neighborhood. We live on a busy street, and while I do like the constant hustle and bustle of that, I worried we wouldn’t get to know our extended neighbors. I chalked it up to one of the few things I would have to give up to live in our new house. It could be worse. Life was moving along fairly well and we had a great relationship with our next-door neighbors from day one. Soon, new neighbors moved in behind us and we started enjoying playing with their son, sharing a glass of wine and just hanging out. Then I was introduced to another family on the other …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Getting kids to practice anything isn’t an easy job but it’s the hallmark of any accomplishment.
I love driving around town this time of year. I love seeing kids of all ages outside enjoying their youth, having fun and practicing their sport. My kids have noticed it, too. We drive by many open fields and schools on the way home from my youngest child’s school, and that gives me ample time to chat about the benefits of practice. The key word being chat, not lecture. “What are those kids doing, Mom?” asks my son. I answer with one short sentence and let it stick for a moment. “They are practicing their skills.” I can almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he pictures himself “playing” soccer with his dad not even realizing that he too is practicing. My daughter quickly chimes in with, “Just like I practice piano every day so I can…
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
It’s a decade-old question that frustrates students, parents, schools and our government.
I have never been a fan of lunch. Maybe it is because what passed as lunch at school when I was growing up was inedible, and many say not much has changed. When my daughter began kindergarten last year, I decided to pack her lunches until I got a lay of the land. I studied the school lunch menu, asked other parents their opinions and finally allowed my daughter to buy lunch on the rare occasion she liked what was on the menu, which wasn’t often. Then I asked her what she thought. Aside from the thrill of standing in the lunch line and buying lunch, there was not much to report. The pizza was too salty, the mac and cheese too dry and the pasta didn’t have enough sauce. Last year was a bust. I didn’t fare much better at home. Her lunch boxes…
Heather
11:53 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
In our home, allowance wasn't for doing the chores. It was so that the kids didn't have to rely on my whims when begging for gum, etc. and it got rid of the "gimmes" at the store. I gave my kids five dollars a week (three to spend, one for charity and one to save for long-term things like gifts to each other). They could spend the $3 on incidental things like gum, nail polish, ice cream treat, … more ›