Parenting
To Read or To Unplug?
Do you let your kids completely unplug over the summer, or do you keep them reading?
If so, what books are your kids enjoying? Please include the age and gender of your child.
And for even more fun, tell me what books you enjoyed reading as a kid and what you remember liking about them….
Let 'Em Quit or Make 'Em Play?
When I was in the third grade, I totally wanted to play the drums. But back in the 1970s, girls were not encouraged to play percussion instruments. Nay, the “banging” instruments” were reserved for the boys. I was, however, presented with a shiny, slim flute and told that if I was ever good enough that, one day, I would be able to play the piccolo. Whoop dee doo.
Years went by, and while I may have played well enough, I just never felt anything for the flute. In fact, at one point, we were robbed and I actually prayed that the robbers had taken my flute. They did not. In middle school, on band days, I used to look back at our strawberry-blond haired drummer, Kevin Eastman, with a kind of longing and wish I was the one be doing the boom-tap, boom-boom tap thing. …
Kids and Guns
With which are you more comfortable and why?
Your 11-year old child having a Facebook account? (Note: According to Facebook policy: “In order to be eligible to sign up for Facebook, users must be thirteen (13) years of age or older.) Or that same 11-year old owning and using an air-soft gun?
Do you find the question ridiculous? Do these things concern you at all?…
Big Bucks, No Whammies: Lessons on Gambling
When my boy was very young – maybe four or five years old – we had just completed our grocery shopping when he noticed a man in a green coat feeding dollar bills into a machine that then shot out shiny tickets. He asked me what the man was doing and what the machines were for and I thought, Aha! Now this is a teachable moment if I have ever seen one! I licked my lips, certain that this would be, without a doubt, the lesson on gambling that my son would never forget.
I explained to my littlun that the man in the green coat was buying scrach-off tickets. That each ticket had a different price, and that the man had a chance of winning a little money (as in the same amount as the cost of the ticket), a lot of money (in this case, up to $500 smackers) or he could lose everything….
Lessons in Losing Things
I said to my boy: “And just so you know, assuming you live a long time – and I hope you do – you are going to lose stuff. A lot. It happens. I lose things all the time. I write notes to myself on slips of paper and they disappear. I don’t know where they go. I lose bills and receipts. Bottom line is, you have to know that you are going to lose shit, and you have to know it’s not worth losing your shit when you lose something.”
He giggled.
“What?” I asked.
“You said the ‘s-word’ a lot.”
He’s 10….
The Perils and Delights of Raw Meat
My immediate family knows I am a carnivore. To this day, I have a taste for raw, red meat, and I totally gross out my husband. People delight in telling me that I am going to get E.coli or trichinosis or salmonella or staphylococcus or some other creepy bacteria that I can’t see or smell.
I can’t even disagree with the people who tell me this. I know that E. coli 0157:H7 are like super-bacteria and have managed to mutate so that they survive refrigeration and freezer temperatures and, once in food, they can multiply quickly. People tell me I am being stupid and stubborn, and if I would only agree to cooking my meat just a little more, the bacteria would be killed….
When Should You Give You Child a Cell Phone?
At what age is it appropriate to give a child a cell phone, and what are the responsibilities and expectations that come along with having one? Do you get the least expensive “pay as you go” plan? Include text? Or go full-blown Internet access? …
Those Crazy Tics (& I'm Not Talking About the Ones That Bite)
I know a bunch of 10-12 year old kids who, for whatever reason, have developed these funky, little quirks. One friend’s daughter mashes her teeth together in an oddly rhythmic way: three light taps and a grind-slide that, to my ears, sounds about as delightful as fingernails on the chalkboard. Another friend’s daughter developed this nervous throat-clearing thing which then morphed into a full-blown frequent cough. For a while, my son was making this bizarre “blooping” sound. I don’t even know how he discovered that he could make such a sound, but he began to do it so suddenly one night that I actually got up to check to see if the kitchen tap was dripping….
In Fear of Lice
My fear of lice is partially irrational because I have never had them, but I have known many families who have been afflicted, and I am smart enough to know that I never want to meet a dirty, blood-sucking louse. I have heard the tales of woe: how the damn things keep coming back even after people used creams and picked-nits and bagged favorite pillows, washed towels and linens, even threw out hair brushes, combs and expensive hair accessories. I have long, thick, curly hair and it seems like clippers would be inevitable. Like Samson, I am nothing without my hair, so every time that damn letter comes home saying someone in my child’s class has contracted lice, I feel a little sick inside. …
What Are Your Pet Peeves?
Clearly, we are fortunate to live in the United States where we have access to clean water and an abundance of food, but sometimes I wonder if we aren’t on the fast track to the fall of Western Civilization. Has the United States become the most “uncivilized, civilized” country?…