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Archive for June, 2006
Road Trips With Kids
It’s officially here! The first day of summer was this week, and now it’s time to find ways to entertain our kids. One true and tested form of fun for families has been the road trip. Be it to Disneyland, or even covering mulitple states, parents have packed up the kids and the car (or these days probably the SUV or minivan) since the invention of the automobile.
Below you will find some tips on how to make your road trip fun for everyone. Happy travels!!
Vacation Plus: On the Road with Children
Unless we enjoy the benefit of living in a walking city or have access to quality mass transit, most of us spend a great deal of time in our cars – commuting, running errands, and transporting our children. A chauffer may be on the wish list of many busy parents. With all the supplies we carry in the car, the snacks we munch, and the quick changes from school clothes to soccer cleats, our cars have become our home away from home. So what about summer vacations on the road? Can traveling in our car for hundreds of miles with our children really be a vacation? Sure, if we’re up for adventure. There are plenty of family destinations in every community, whether for a day trip, a week vacation, or even a cross-country adventure.
How do we fend off boredom, restlessness, and car sickness on the road? Here are a few tips to make the ride a little smoother. So pack up the car and buckle your seat belts. Even car travel can be great family fun.
Keep Your Hands Off My Piggy Bank
Say it isn’t so. Are Australian parents that hard up for cash that they sneak around and “borrow” from their kids?
Who’s to say this only happens down under, I wonder what a similar study would show right here in the US? At least they admit to spending it on necessities for the family.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - One in four Australian parents regularly “borrow” money from their children’s piggy banks to pay for anything from bread to luxury holidays, a survey said Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENTMums are more than twice as likely to raid their children’s savings than dad, with 35 percent of mothers confessing to the crime compared with 16 percent of fathers.
But almost 9 out of 10 still believed they were setting a good example of financial management for their tiny tycoons.
More School Food in the News
This is kind of a follow up to the previous article posted regarding school lunches. This article reports that most states fail at providing healthy food for their students. They did not include the actual meals for the students, but something tells me that wouldn’t have helped at all.
At some point, parents are going to have to play a more active role in what their kids are eating at school.
Believe it or not, Kentucky leads the nation with the healthiest vending machines! We should all take note.
By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nearly half of all states received a failing grade in a school foods report card issued Tuesday by a nonprofit group that evaluated school nutrition policies.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, D.C., gave an F to 23 states and a D to eight others after evaluating school policies regarding foods and beverages sold in campus vending machines, school stores and school fundraisers.
The evaluation excluded school meal programs.
The nation’s highest grade, an A-, was awarded to Kentucky, where school vending machines are filled with bottled water and dried fruit instead of soda and snack cakes.
Disco Baby San Francisco
I’m kind of bummed we missed this. I had no idea it was even happening in SF this past weekend. For all of those parents who feel like they now miss out on the life they used to enjoy so much, here is an idea to at least experience one aspect — with your kids in tow! Sounds like moms, dads and kids enjoyed the day and it was a huge hit..
They were fighting in the lobby, peeing in the hallway and nodding off on the dance floor.
It wasn’t the kind of behavior the burly bouncers standing watch over the velvet rope at Ruby Skye, a sleek nightclub in downtown San Francisco, usually tolerate. On Saturday, however, they were simply outnumbered.
Baby Loves Disco, the monthly traveling dance party for swivel-hipped toddlers and their culturally deprived parents, had rolled into town. Shortly after the doors opened at 2 p.m., the place was so packed that Sarah Mallace, who was working the list, had to get tough.
Happy Father’s Day!
After all the hoopla surrounding Mother’s Day, one of my favorite black intellectuals Chris Rock puts the appreciation of fathers in the proper perspective…
Everybody takes Daddy for granted. Everything’s Mama. Dear Mama. Always loved my Mama. What’s the Daddy song? “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone.” Nobody appreciates Daddy.
Now, Mama’s got the roughest job. l ain’t gonna front. But at least people appreciate Mama. Every time Mama do something right, Mama gets a compliment… ’cause women need to hear compliments all the time.
Women need food, water, and compliments. That’s right. And an occasional pair of shoes. That’s right. Women got to hear it all the time, or they lose their minds.
And get Daddy to make sure you thank your Mama for everything. Tell your Mama how good the food is. Tell her how nice the house looks. Tell your Mama how nice her hair looks.
“Did you tell your Mama? You better go in there and tell your Mama!” That’s right. Tell your Mama! Tell your Mama! Tell your Mama!
Nobody ever tells Daddy sh*t. Read more »
The Joys of 10-12 Months
Since we are just entering this age range, I thought it might be fun to share what the “experts” have to say about babies between 10-12 months. It is a really fun time, although it probably also marks the end of an immobile child.
There are also some good tips on how to help your baby’s development along. Of course, they all do things at different times. Sometimes it’s hard not to compete with the other babies, but I’ve realized, they all get there eventually.
Infant development: What happens from 10 to 12 months?
Provided by: MayoClinic.com
Your baby continually scrambles out of your range of vision. Nothing makes him or her happier than dropping a spoon from the highchair over and over again. As for you — if you aren’t stifling the urge to say “No!” chances are you’ve already said it for the 10th time in the last hour. Welcome to life with a 10- to 12-month-old!
Always One Step Ahead
Hard to really believe, but according to this article. Our kids are finding a new way to facilitate communication with their cell phones. Just when we thought we could prevent them from using their phones in school, some genious figures out how to create a ring tone that the teachers apparently can’t hear. Go figure, will they ever stop outsmarting us? Let’s hope not 
NEW YORK - Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class, and many teachers can’t even hear the ring.
Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.
Healthy Food In Schools?
Am I reading this correctly, kids are chosing a salad bar over pizza?? Kids have never had much of a choice when it comes to school lunches. Fried, processed, sugary foods without much nutritional value are the staples in most schools. But not in Berkeley. The Chronicle ran this story today in the Food Section (my favorite!).
School lunch lightens up
Chef is changing the way Berkeley students eat, one salad bar at a time
Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
It’s 7:30 a.m. in the Berkeley High School kitchen, and Ann Cooper is jumping up and down, shrieking like a kid on a sugar high — all because of four day-old pizzas.
“When I came seven months ago, we were making 40 pizzas a day. Yesterday, we made 28 — and four are left over!” Cooper just about yells, happy that kids are steering themselves away from the refined-flour-and-fat slices. “And there’s a line at the salad bar!”