Friday, January 25, 2013
A Patch blogger's post about not helping her children on the slide is being debated across the country.
A Patch blog from Alameda, CA, called “Please Don’t Help My Kids” has struck a nerve with readers across the country. Posted in September, the blog has taken off over the past few weeks as it has found a second life through social media sharing. The blog has 124,000 Facebook recommendations and 833 people have tweeted the blog. The blog is an open letter to other parents at the playground. The blogger Kate Bassford Baker’s basic request is for parents to not help her daughters on the slide. She wrote that she wants her daughters to do things and learn things on their own. Learning to walk up the slide’s ladder is the first step to learning new things and overcoming obstacles, she wrote. “Because, as they grow up, the ladders will only get…
Friday, September 28, 2012
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Every Sunday is a challenge for our family. As we’ve mentioned before, the days of us lazily spending our Sundays at home, perhaps vegging out in front of the television, are long gone. We have a responsibility now, to Muffin and Squeaker, to give them a stimulating Sunday every week. This past Sunday, we were trying to decide what to do for the day to amuse them. One of the families with whom we have had a number of play dates this summer said they were not available because they were attending Brookline Day at Larz Anderson Park. We hadn't been thinking of going, due to us not having a car and Larz Anderson not being particularly accessible by public transit. However, the town was running shuttle buses from various locations, including …
Friday, June 8, 2012
The First Cut is the Deepest--at least with hair.
When Muffin and Squeaker were infants, people often commented on one specific feature--their hair. They were born with full heads of hair, and almost everyone who commented assured us that the hair they were born with would fall out. "It won't last," they said. "Infant hair never stays." As the girls got taller, their hair got longer. The infant hair, in fact, never did fall out, and, rather quickly, each girl's hair began to resemble Michael's or mine. Muffin's slightly wavy, lightweight hair resembled Michael's from when he was younger. Squeaker's thick, curly-bordering-on-frizzy hair was almost identical to mine. And as their hair grew, we learned the plusses and minuses of having little girls with long hair. I quickly learned that the …
Friday, May 25, 2012
Are We Having Fun Yet?
When Muffin and Squeaker were born, Nomi and I were delighted that they were twins. Yes, those first few months were rough, especially when it came to getting enough sleep. (Nomi noted the frustration of having one baby fall asleep while the other one keeps you awake for hours.) But having twin girls means that for their entire childhood, Muffin and Squeaker will have a constant playmate in their lives—each other. Both Nomi and I have siblings, and we always intended to have more than one child. We felt that it was important for any child of ours not to be alone. Personally, I always wanted two, as I grew up as a middle child. (Interpret that as you will.) By having two children at once, we felt that the kids could avoid the issues that …
Friday, May 11, 2012
Curious children Giving George a run for his monkey
Ever since Muffin was about a year and a half old, her favorite word has been "why." She wants to know why things are the way they are. This desire to know extends to almost everything in her universe. Questions she has asked include, "Why does rain fall?" (prompting a brief explanation of the water cycle from Michael); "Why does Mommy have to go to work?" (prompting a short explanation of what parents do during the day); and "Why is it breakfast time?" (prompting a terse response regarding scheduling and having to get to playgroup on time). Squeaker, on the other hand, wants to know how things work. She intently watches everything I do, whether it is folding laundry, hammering nails, or making dinner. She wants to know how her clothing …
Friday, March 30, 2012
Fears, Real and Imagined
Like many kids their age, Muffin and Squeaker frequently resist being put to bed when it’s time to go to sleep. They’ve built up a whole library of delaying tactics they use to get one more precious moment outside of their cribs, tactics that usually appeal to our sensibilities. After all, who could object to reading one “last” book to their kids, even if you’re already up to their third “last” book? But a few weeks ago, Squeaker initiated a new tactic to put off going to sleep, one that she used after she had been placed into her crib already. She started to tell us that there were snakes in her crib and that she had to be taken out. Nomi compromised with her by reaching into her crib and removing the imaginary snakes. That seemed to work…
Monday, March 5, 2012
Or at least it used to be.
This column originally appeared on Brookline Patch in March 21, 2011. It has been updated and is running again in response to a recent push by local educators to get parents involved in math initiatives. I used to do well in math. I have an (unfortunately) very distant memory of getting A's in elementary school math. But that was a long time ago, before two plus two stopped equaling four. It starts out innocently enough. I’ll be making dinner, screeching James Taylor into the spatula, minding my own off-tuned business, when I hear IT. The eight words that bring instant alarm and dread to my gut. “Mom, I need help with my math homework.” How hard can sixth grade math be? I was eleven when I graduated that particular grade. I can do this. I…
Friday, March 2, 2012
Toddlers and TV: What’s Not to Like
Years ago, a friend of ours invited us over to watch a movie at his Brookline apartment. While we were there, he also invited us to watch his daughter, then two years old, watch an episode of the TV show "Teletubbies." (Yes, there was a lot of watching of watching that night.) I was fascinated by her intensity in watching. I had never seen an episode of "Teletubbies" before, and I found it excessively repetitive and slightly insipid. One segment of the program had the Teletubbies characters watch a short video and then insist on seeing it again. As I didn’t have a lot of experience taking care of two-year-olds, I was unaware of how much toddlers enjoy and appreciate repetition and how it can actually help with them learn. But at the same …
Monday, February 27, 2012
Moms Talk looks at what a mother does.
Last week I wrote about how a mother does. She does a lot. Some of my favorite Moms Talkers immediately wrote in adding some of the very special things they do, contributing to a list long enough to wrap itself around the world in a hug. Here are their voices: Kristi G. Reads the same book over, and over, and over... Trying to do it with enthusiasm each time no matter how tired she is of that “Sam I Am,” hoping it will encourage her child's budding love of reading. Rosemarie Harper erin o Stands in line for 7 hours in the wee hours of the morning with her son to get him the latest Harry Potter book. JP I remember staying up at night with my daughter after she had night terrors ... just holding her and singing to her and telling her stories…
Monday, February 20, 2012
A mother is as a mother does ...
While web surfing the other day I came across a poll that asked, “What is a mother?” As the writer of a column entitled Moms Talk, I’d like to think I could answer that question lickety-split. Then the poll continued, “What encompasses the parameters of a mother?” Huh? First of all, I don’t think a mother has any parameters. No boundaries, no limits, nothing to confine her, or her love. Second of all, I’m not sure the most accurate way to phrase the initial question is to ask what a mother is. I think the truer question would be to ask what a mother does. That I can answer … A mother, If you're a mother, then you can continue this list for miles. Tell me what you do in the comment section below. I’ll post your responses in next week’s …
Matthew
4:52 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
This is ridiculous. Parents today are equally ridiculous. With so many issues facing kids and parents nowadays, I hardly think PLAYGROUNDS are the most important issue we should be dealing with. We're so into micro managing every aspect of kids' lives that we've now arrived in the land of the asinine. P.S. i livd in the Bay Area for years. This is the kind of ridiculous crap they preoccupy … more ›