I Told You We Weren't Wild!

My daughter saw a few friends at church today. There were not too many people at church because of the holiday weekend so I let them sit together. They did a nice job, for the most part, of staying quiet and appropriate during the service. As the hour progressed the chatter progressed as well....as I left the pew to go to the altar for communion I told my daughter to stay quiet and not get wild while I was gone. My daughter, along with her two friends, looked at me oddly and said that animals are wild not people. I decided that the list of people I had met in my life that could possibly be considered on the "animalish" side was not a discussion for church (or a 7 year old). There would be plenty of time to discuss such things as she grows up. Anyway....I did not hear any voices that I knew while at the altar so I was happy that the animals stayed low key while I was gone. As I returned to the pew I was greeted with my daughter saying to me in her best loud whisper..."I told you we weren't wild Mom"!.

Michele Borba Blog: Studies find play helps kids focus…& 11 other surprising benefits of letting kids get messy

Michele Borba Blog: Studies find play helps kids focus…& 11 other surprising benefits of letting kids get messy

Mom Did You Hear My Footsteps?

Just a few short months ago I could not get my daughter out of bed in the morning to get ready for school. We were the classic family running out of the house late. The drive to school included breakfast in the car, complaints about said breakfast in the car, remembering that it was show-n-tell day and having nothing to show or tell, and the blame game. The blame game started with my daughter asking me, "Mom did I make us late today"? I always responded honestly and 4 out of 5 days a week the culbret was my 7 year old. Then the game really started....the 7 year old always responded with a litany of reasons why it was really my fault that we are late. I did not lay her clothes out, I gave her the wrong socks, I would not do her hair, I made her brush her teeth and make her bed, I wouldn't let her watch a show, and on and on. If that did not work she would turn the reasoning to the sympathetic....she went to bed too late and is tired (which any mother knows is Mom's fault), she was very hungry, I let her have too many playdates, she had too much homework last night (keep in mind we're talking 1st grade homework here), and on and on. At first I would try to defend my cause but realized I needed to show more self respect than that! In summary, every day we were rushing out of the house was really my fault (why would I think that getting to school on time would be any different than the other things that are a mom's fault I don't know!) and this lasted three quarters of the school year. Fast forward to today - my 7 year old gets up way before my alarm goes off, gets dressed, makes bed, brushes teeth and hair and comes into my room with way too much energy and wakes me with the question, "Mom wake up - didn't you hear my footsteps"!? I say, "no honey I didn't. The alarm hasn't even gone off yet". My daughter says as she skips out of my room to go make her own breakfast, "hurry up Mom or you are going to make us late". And now everyday when we are rushing out of the house late...it is my fault.

Help Your Kids Make New Friends - FamilyEducation.com

Help Your Kids Make New Friends - FamilyEducation.com

What Movies are Okay for my Child!?

If you are unsure of a movie your child wants to go to..check out this website called Kids-in-Mind. http://www.kids-in-mind.com/a/index.htm

How Much is Too Much for Your Child?

This article gives some simple tips on how to manage your child's time. A happy child is a child that is not overscheduled! Click on the title to read the article.

Ouch

This morning after a fairly sleepness night (for me that is) my daughter asks me what I dreamed last night. I told her I had a dream that a little 7 year old girl came into my room last night and said, "Momma I can't sleep". What did you dream about I ask....."I dreamed someone snored all night long". Ouch

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I am always looking for fun things for my daughter and I to do on the weekend. Sometimes that is really difficult because there are so many "social events" for a 7 year old to participate in......birthday parties (sometimes two a weekend), sports games or practices, play dates with a friend that you are not in school with...and the list goes on and on. It is my job as parent to manage her social calender and more importantly make sure she is not so over-scheduled that she can't just be a kid. The security of home, playing with your toys, building a fort, playing make-believe are all activities that I think are crucial to developing a sense of self for a child. The balance of deciding to skip a social function can sometimes be hard because all the classmates are talking with excitement about the upcoming event. Sometimes my daughter is not happy with my decision but she always ends up having a good time with her "unscheduled" time at home. There is one thing that I believe is important to add to her schedule and that is taking advantage of local events and activities that are educational for my daughter but she clearly sees them as just plain fun. I have attached a video of my daughter enjoying a rowing machine at our community children's museum. She learned so much about the power her body has to be active and got to row a boat down the Christina River at the same time. Way cool for both of us!

Fit the Bike to the Kid!

Selecting the right bike for your child is so important when teaching your child how to ride. If the bike fits it is a lot easier for a child to pick up the balance and steering skills needed for riding. If you are looking for a bike for a 1 - 5 year old consider a "no-pedal running bike". It teaches balance and coordination first making the transition to a "big kid" bike simple. http://www.mykidsactive.com/strider_running_bike.html

Grampy Park

My Dad is 79 years old so for him to have a 7 year old granddaughter (he has four other granddaughters ranging from 14 - 22 years old) has been really fun. My daughter called him Grammy Daddy when she was younger so she could differentiate him from Grammy Mommy. She has recently started to call him Grampy because she is grown up as she tells me. Anyway, he and I try to come up with activities that he can do with my daughter so she can have a special relationship with him. She has hammered a lot of nails and "sawed" a lot of wood at his workbench (as my nieces and my siblings and I did before her) but we really wanted to find some activities that we could do outside with him. Hiking with Grampy has been a lot of fun. The most important component of a good hike as Grampy tells us is the walking stick that each person selects before the hike actually begins. Can I tell you how many "walking sticks" I have had in my house, in the car, in the basement, in my daughter's room, and on the porch?....no I can't because it must be somewhere in the hundreds! And I would like to add that I always find really cool ones but have to give them to my daughter - another Mom thing no one warned me about. Since Dad is getting older we decided to try some other less strenuous activities. Turns out that flying a kite fits nicely into the less strenuous category. We found this big open grass field near Grampy's house to try out our beautiful (I use that term very very loosely)Dora kite. It was indeed windy enough for a kite to fly but for some reason I completely forgot how to make a kite get up and stay up. Not Grampy though - he counseled us through every step - when the wind was right, how long the tail needed to be, the fact that you really don't need to run to get the kite in the air you just need "to read the wind correctly". You can imagine how a 7 year old and her Mom took that little tidbit while running aimlessly all over that field trying to get Dora in the air. With Grampy's direction we did get Dora to fly but not to the moon just maybe to the couple of trees that she fell into....The best part of the experience happened a few days later. As my daughter and I drove past the field on the way to visit my parents she said, "look Mom there's Grampy Park"! The memories I was trying to create for my daughter with my Dad were right there as simple as Grampy Park.

How Come Carnivals are so Expensive?

We have a local carnival every year at Mother's Day called the Flower Market. You can buy great flowers for your Mom and also enjoy rides, games, and craft shopping. I used to always buy flowers for my front porch steps and a little something for my Mom. Lately though (like maybe the last three years or so) I don't seem to come home with any flowers or cool things for my home but I spend a lot of money anyway......wonder why? Could this picture give a clue to the reason? I think so......pay special attention to product in hands - not flowers!

My Kid's Active!: We love play tents and tunnels at My Kids Active!

My Kid's Active!: We love play tents and tunnels at My Kids Active!

We love play tents and tunnels at My Kids Active!

Hula Hooping 101

Don't expect to see me hula hooping anytime soon. I was one of those kids that tried and tried to get that hoop spinning around my waist...and although I can honestly say "I can/could hula hoop", I never perfected my form. I have nightmares of the hoop slowly leaving my waist, my hips, down my legs, and to the ground. My daughter on the other hand is a PRO. I have spent at least a couple of hours of my precious time counting how many rotations my daughter and niece could do at one time. I admit that I might have had some involvement in them losing their rhythm because I just couldn't stand to count and watch anymore....it brought back painful memories but more importantly I had many other things to do! Anyway, I am attaching a video that shows the "how to" of hula hooping with a little interview added in...enjoy.

Cuz I Like the Word Fat

Doing homework with a first grader entails quite a bit of patience. You may think "how much homework can a first grader have"? My thoughts exactly...the fact is that there is not really alot...it is just that a 7 year old can not sit calmly and complete an assignment in the way we as parents would expect or should I say hope for. Anyway, today we only had two math worksheets, and a simple reading assignment. The first thing I learned when "helping" with homework is that my daughter's best skill is getting me to give her the answer "because she doesn't understand" what she is supposed to do. I need to clarify that she is not really fooling me with this strategy I just want her to get it done so badly that I help a little too much (I know the teacher would think so). She seems to breeze through the math worksheets with the exception of a couple "Mom I need your help" and I would go to her desk and see what was needed. I finally learned to tell her to come to me with her questions instead of me going to her and surprise, surprise she didn't seem to need my help anymore. Once the math is done it is on to the reading assignment. My daughter can read but she would prefer not to - she loves the stories that are told and is proud when she is done a chapter, book, or story....but getting her there is painful to say the least. Tonight, for instance, we had to read a story in her school reader and then answer some comprehension questions. This is how it went: I'm too tired to read, I don't like to read about bears, you are not helping me, this word is too hard, I am too hot, don't hold the book for me - whoever is reading is supposed to hold the book, I don't like this story, I don't have enough room on this chair, you are squishing me, don't help me I am sounding out the word, off the chair, on the couch, and some whining in between (mind you the story was only 20 pages long!!!). The story was about the brown bears in Alaska and how they ate all spring and summer to get fat to survive winter hibernation. We finally finished and then came the comprehension questions. She did fine on them - better than I would have - I was so distracted by her antics that I had no idea what was going on. The last question of the night - "What did you like best about this story and why"? My daughter's response - "I liked the cubs and I liked that the bears got fat". Why, I asked did you like that....pause....."cuz I like the word fat". Good answer - homework done!