2009 June | Mommy Points

June 30, 2009

Tips For Preventing Brain Drain This Summer

Filed under: Children, Ideas, parenting — Chris @ 9:03 am

I have read that when school starts in the fall that teachers spend a good month or so trying to get the children back to where they were academically when the school year ended. What can you do this summer to ensure that your children are on track when the school year starts.

1) Make your children read every day. If they are new readers, make them read to you. Model the behavior for them. At my house we all sit down and have some quiet reading time everyday. Mostly I do this for my own sanity and to stop the otherwise non-stop chatter.

2) Play board games. Most games require reading, counting, and addition of some kind. Monopoly, Scrabble, the kids won’t even know that they are using educational skills.

3) Take some educational field trips. Make time for the museums that you might ordinarily not go to. Most children are fascinated by art museums. A fun thing to do is a scavenger hunt at a museum. Stop by the gift shop and pick out a few postcards depicting items in the museum. Then go find them. This should excite even the most reluctant museum go-er.

4) Keep a family journal about your summer vacation. Not only will it encourage your children to write about the things that they are doing, it might also inspire them (and you!) to be more creative in your activities, to think outside of the box, and look at things in a new way.

5) Study your family tree. Have the kids make up a list of questions to ask Grandma the next time she calls. Or better yet, go to visit the elderly memebers of your family with a video camera in hand to capture the stories. Some of them might not be that interesting to the children right now, but one day they will cherish those memories. I know that my own parents stories of living during the Depression fascinate me now in a way that I could not appreciate when I was younger.

6) Your backyard is a big science experiment just waiting to be discovered. Give the kids some containers and a magnifying glass and set them loose.

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June 29, 2009

Scratching My Head

Filed under: Children, On The Web — Chris @ 8:43 am

Count this one as a marketing campaign gone bad. One of those things that causes you to scratch your head and wonder, “What in the world were they THINKING?”

Who thought that stuffing candy into pharmacy pill bottles and handing them out to children was a good way to promote the newly opened pharmacy? Was there not one person who thought it might not be a good idea to give the false impression to children that medicine equals candy? Apparently not at one Sam’s Club in Maryland.

This particular Sam’s Club handed out medicine bottles filled with candy to children as they entered the store. I think of all the time we spend as parents trying to instill in our children that medicine should never be played with, that it is not a treat. The time and efforts that have gone into making sure that medicine bottles are childproof. How we store them locked away from small children. This campaign at this store just flies in the face of all of that.

What’s next, handing children pretend lighters and matches?

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June 28, 2009

A Summer Pastime

Filed under: Ages 10-12 years, Children, Chores, Instilling Values, Kindness Of Spirit, parenting — Chris @ 1:10 am

What kids haven’t dreamed of setting up a lemonade stand on a hot summer day?

My children and some of their friends set one up this weekend.

They built the stand themselves with scrap wood and nails. My word, the number of nails they used. Let’s just say we should huddle under this should a tornado come through.

After sitting out there the entire afternoon they closed up shop. They had made $28. Divided by 7 children who were working the stand, they each left with $4. It probably works out to be less than 50 cents per hour for all of the time that they invested. They could not have been happier.

I love seeing their entrepenurial spirit. Remember last week they made flyers for a lawn service? One of our neighbors called them and they weedwhacked and used the leaf blower on his lawn. I’m not sure how many people are interested in hiring a trio of boys under 11, but even one customer thrills them to no end. They worked so hard on that lawn, so invested in their work, that the owner gave them a rather hefty tip. They accepted their money graciously and the moment they stepped off his front lawn and onto thesidewalk they began screaming, “WooooooHooooo Look at our money, Mom!”

I was reminded of the post I wrote a couple weeks ago about teenagers not getting traditional jobs this summers, instead carving out jjobs for themselves. Maybe this is where that entrepenurial spirit starts– lemonade stands and lawn mowing.

I wonder if Steve Jobs ever had a lemonade stand?

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June 26, 2009

How Much Milk Does Your Family Drink in a Week?

Filed under: Children, cooking, parenting — Chris @ 6:01 pm

That is one of the most oft asked questions I get when people find out that I have a larger than normal family. The next most popular questions are about the amount of bread and whether we have a television. Ahem.

The actual answer to the question is that we drink none. I am allergic to milk and so when I cook I use substitutes. From when my children were young I have given them soymilk. They have come to prefer it over regular milk when they are given the choice. Soymilk is fortified with calcium, but it still amazes me the number of people who are shocked by it.

Milk has somehow become synonymous with calcium. There are many other things that are chock-full of calcium. Collards and other greens have as much or more calcium cup for cup as milk. They also have way, WAY less calories and fat than milk. Of course chocolate collard greens are not nearly as tasty as chocolate milk.

Yogurts and cheeses are also easier for most people to digest than straight milk.

Maybe people should start asking me how many packages of string cheese we go through in a week. That would surely shock and impress them.

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June 25, 2009

The Most Dangerous Sport

Filed under: Children — Chris @ 3:27 pm

What comes to mind when you hear those words? Football? Hockey? Soccer? Nope, none of these. It isn’t even boys who are the ones getting injured.

Move over football, hockey, soccer… the most dangerous sport is cheerleading. Cheerleading causes more serious and fatal injuries than any other high school sport.

Consider the new numbers for the 26-year period from the fall of 1982 through the spring of 2008:

* There were 1,116 direct catastrophic injuries in high school (905) and college sports (211).

* High school sports were associated with 152 fatalities, 379 non-fatal injuries and 374 serious injuries. College sports accounted for 22 fatalities, 63 non-fatal injuries and 126 serious injuries.

* Cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college catastrophic injuries among all female sports.

This surprised me until I saw what sorts of moves cheerleaders were doing. The tossing in the air and flips. I inwardly cringed at the thought of one the girls being dropped. Luckily, new safety protocol has been put in place and the injuries are have seen a steady decline.

So while accidental injuries are on the decline due to improved safety regulations and equipment, physicians are reporting, that across the board– throughout all different sports– an increase in preventable overuse injuries. Children who are being pressured to keep performing even though they have an injury. I see this all the time with teams that my sons’ play on. Parents who don’t take their child’s complaints seriously, and also children (I am mostly talking about older kids and teens here) who refuse to stop playing.

I had a conversation with a mother whose son has a shoulder injury and was told by the doctor to rest it and do *nothing* for 8 weeks, essentially ending the season for him. Then the doctor would re-evaluate and possibly prescribe some physical therapy. Do you think the son stopped playing? Nope, he did not. When I asked the mother she said he didn’t want to stop. He was worried he would get kicked off the team. When I asked why she was allowing him to continue playing with an injury she sort of shrugged and said, “Well what am I going to do.”

Hmmmmm, I wanted to introduce her to this little word I use. ”No.”

Sometimes it isn’t being fun being the parent and having to be the so-called “bad guy.” But you are supposed to do it anyway, right?

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June 20, 2009

Don’t Swallow Your Gum!

Filed under: Children, On The Web, parenting — Chris @ 11:39 am

That is the title of a new book that is out covering health myths that most of us have grown up hearing.

Things like gum takes 7 years to digest! Going outside with wet hair in the winter will make you sick!

Taking a cue from this book, the New York Times recently ran an article presenting 11 Health Myths That May Surprise You.

Who among us has not told our children not to swallow their gum. I am not certain that it takes 7 years to digest (that seems a little crazy), but it certainly can not be good for your system, right? But mostly it is one of those things you say as a parent simply because your own parents said it to you. Along with other gems such as “Your face is going to stick like that!” “Carrots help you see at night!” or “Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis.”

Those little myths and sayings are part of our collective parenting conciousness. I know that there are more that just don’t come to mind right now.

For the record: Going out with wet hair will NOT make you sick. Your face will NOT stick like that, even if someone does hit you on the back. Carrots, while good for you, do nothing to improve your night vision. And arthritis is NOT caused by cracking your knuckles.

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Father’s Day

Filed under: Children, parenting — Chris @ 1:11 am

President Obama’s message for Father’s Day was for men to step up an be involved in their children’s lives. He spoke of the pain he felt in being abandoned by his own father as a toddler. I especially love how he said being a father is not an obligation, it is a privilege.

Read what he had to say in Parade Magazine.

I think that no matter what our political affiliation, we can all agree that fatherhood is an important job. One that is well worth celebrating.

Happy Father’s Day.

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June 18, 2009

A Little Worse Than Lost Luggage

Filed under: Children, On The Web, parenting — Chris @ 1:52 pm

How would you feel if you put your child on an airplane to go see their grandparents and discovered that the airline had messed up and sent the child to the wrong city?

That is just what happened to one family. Jonathan Kamas put his 10 year old daughter on an airplane in Boston to go visit with her grandparents in Ohio. When the child failed to show up at her destination, the grandparents called Mr. Kamas wondering where she was. And the airline had no idea. For almost an hour Mr Kamas did not know the whereabouts of his daughter, until HE figured out that maybe she had been put on the wrong plane because the gates were right next to each other. His daughter was in Newark, NJ.

And proving that this is not an isolated event, the very next day an 8 yr old was put on the wrong flight.

How do these things happen? You would think that airline workers wouldbe hypervigilant in the case of unaccompanied minors. Parents must pay extra fees for this service and trust that a system is in place that works.

My 10 yr old son was supposed to go visit a friend of his out of state this summer, but I think this latest news put the proverbial nail in the coffin on that trip. I just don’t feel comfortable sending him unescorted any longer.

What about you? Have you sent your child on an airplane alone? Is there a minimum age that you would consider allowing your child to fly unescorted? Or are you like me, a fence sitter who was just pushed over to one side by this latest news?

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June 12, 2009

How (Not)to Discipline Tweens and Teens

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chris @ 11:41 am

We all want to have good relationships with our children, especially as they grow older. Most of us who have older children would agree that parenting and disciplining toddlers was more straight forward. I think it is this desire that leads to the number one mistake that parents make with their older children:

1) Being a friend and not a parent.

Studies have shown that kids want to have their parents act like their parents. They want direction and guidance. They want boundaries. They have enough friends.

2) Not being consistent with rules or consequences for breaking them.

If you overlook your child breaking a rule repeatedly you can not suddenly decide to enforce the rule and expect them to understand why. By not reacting the first time the rule is broken you are setting them up to test you. I mean, why not? Sometimes they get away with it and for tweens and teens that is good enough.

3) Not making the punishment fit the crime

Your child breaks curfew, an appropriate punishment would be not being able to go out the next weekend.

Failure to do a school assignment might mean staying home on a Saturday night to complete the work.

Not doing their chores properly, or at all, might mean waking up extra early to complete them before school.

You can be creative. And sometimes it will feel like it is just as much of a punishment for you.

4) Not being respectful.

Treat you tweens and teens the way that you want them to treat you. Model good behavior. Don’t rant, rave and slam doors. Unless you want them to do the same. Listen to them when they speak to you. Let them know that their opinion, thoughts and desires matter to you.

5) Losing your sense of humor.

My motto is: You might as well laugh. A sense of humor can diffuse the most tense of situations.

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Free Family Movies

Filed under: Children, Just For Fun — Chris @ 8:23 am

Summer vacation is here. Time to start thinking of ways to kill the daylight hours and beat the heat. Many of us are feeling the pinch from the economy downturn and taking our family out to see a movie at $7 (or more!) per ticket is out of the question.

Regal Theaters once again are running their Free Family Film Festival. Two or three mornings a week, depending on your location, they show a free G and PG rated movie. The film festival runs for 9 weeks, so in theory you could go see 18 different family friendly movies.

Bring on the popcorn!

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