You know how your grandma told you that all of her children were potty trained by 13 months? And you know how although you don’t believe her for a minute, somewhere in the back of your head you hope that it’s actually true? Because it gives you some delusional hope that maybe your baby will be out of diapers before they can talk. Well, it’s … Continue reading My potty training baby
Sorry for the light blogging. I just finished writing an article for something else, my kids have been extra clingy and I’m a bit brain tired. But I’ll be back soon. 🙂 Continue reading What you do with naughty children . . .
This was the sort of week I had last week: I was helping my 3 year old do puzzles downstairs while my 22 month old, Sophia was upstairs in my room watching TV. I went to check on her and found that she had pulled open the (thankfully empty) bottom drawer on the entertainment center and pooped in it. She won’t keep her diaper on, … Continue reading Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House
My 3 year old daughter has been advocating for everyone in the house to play something she is calling “kissing tag”. I guess she wants us to chase each other around and try to kiss each other. I have no idea where she is getting this from, but obviously, as the person charged with ensuring that we have a safe learning environment I should implement … Continue reading Someone should notify the authorities!
I have become convinced over the last couple of years that we are facing a crisis of bad parenting in this country. By which I don’t necessarily mean the usual complaints of overly indulgent parents or abusive parents, although these can certainly be a problem. What I find particularly problematic is a lack of knowledge about normal human development and appropriate interaction with children. It’s … Continue reading This is fantastic!
My daughter Michaela is just over 3 years old. It’s funny how quickly you forget what a 3 year old (or 4 year old or 5 year old) is like. The other day she was taking forever to wash her hands after going to the bathroom. When I went in to check on her she was very carefully washing her elbows. “I’m washing my elbows … Continue reading Michaela Rose
Over the last couple of weeks my two boys have tried emailing various people to express their opinions, ask questions or offer suggestions. They wanted to contact Cartoon Network with a suggestion for a storyline for one of their favorite cartoons. Then my 8 year old decided that he wanted to ask Highlights for advice on dealing with his big brother. Just now my 12 … Continue reading Is this normal?
Many moons back, we had our oldest son, and for one year, our younger son enrolled in Montessori schools. When I began homeschooling, the first books I bought were the Teaching Montessori at Home books by Elizabeth Hainstock and Lee Davis. (There is one for preschool and another for grade school. I think I lent my preschool one to someone, but I have no idea who. If I lent it to you, could you let me know? Thanks 🙂 )
Anyhow, as I went through the preschool edition, I was struck by some of the activities. In particular, the ones involving pouring activities hit me as very odd. Continue reading “Spilled Kool-aid and Montessori Education”
I love Dr. Sears. When my oldest son was a couple of months old I found a copy of his The Baby Book and felt like I had found a kindred spirit in parenting. I remember reading a part in his book about how unnatural it was for us to put our babies in carriers, swings and strollers. He spoke of babies cuddled by plastic … Continue reading Infant “Container Syndrome”
This afternoon my 8 year old was annoying me so I suggested that he play his zoo tycoon game on another computer. This is one of those games where you have to set up a business and run it well to make more money to re-invest into the business and grow it, etc. Part of the game format is that if you screw it up, … Continue reading So does this mean they’re going to grow up to be terrorists?
The Upside Down World 