Parenting is not rocket science, but this is one not-technical mama's experiment in raising curious, adventuresome explorers.
It's summer and school break is in full swing. Now it's time to learn in all the other ways. As much as the formal classroom has its place, I'm choosing to embrace all the wonderful ways to keep growing and learning in the summer! What do you do with your school age kids during these …
I think my favorite thing about this parenting gig is getting to experience the world through the eyes of a child. This manifests in a million different ways on any given day, but recently I've been enjoying it through my favorite 5-and-a-half-year-old's guesses. It was last spring when I first started noticing him use the …
Since it was just Easter, last weekend around this time I was sorting through the few things I'd gotten for our big boys getting ready to hide their Easter baskets Sunday morning. Jonathan was amused since I was insisting they must have Easter baskets, a tradition he didn't grow up with, so he wondered why …
Anyone else get stuck sometimes? The afternoon can sometimes seem so long. Anyone else's kid say things like, "Mo-om, what can I do?" Utterly bored, but then refuse all suggestions of fun activities? Here's the latest trick that's working for us: I start doing something. Maybe it's pulling out the train track and just starting …
Someone recently lamented to me how they've never had the glorious free time afforded by a maternity/paternity leave. First of all, HAH! While yes, 6 weeks without the daily grind of the nine to five sounds like nothing but time for all those extra tasks around the house or a nice vacation, the truth is …
Someone gave us one of those easy reader books, the ones with large print and simple sentences about subject matter which might appeal to a five or six year old learning to read. I'm all about encouraging kids to read, but the topics are what get me. Some of them are great. Then there are …
Funny story. The last day exploring Rome, last day of a long, full trip, we went to Aqueduct Park just outside Rome. We had a few hours to spend before our "big" adventure to the Vatican and Castel St. Angelo that afternoon, so it sounded like a low key adventure to spend the time wandering …
It's been a busy season around here. I'll spare the details, but suffice it to say, combined with my low energy/pregnant state, I'm sorry to say this little corner of everyday adventures has fallen a bit by the wayside. Don't get me wrong, things are still happening, but I miss chronicling them, documenting them, all …
If you're like me and tend toward conflict avoidance, you know, people's distress causes you serious stress, then can we just acknowledge for a minute how this makes parenting hard sometimes? Sure, I get it. I have to teach my kid good behavior. This includes, from time to time, reprimanding bad behavior or sticking to …
Eddie's school adventure is off to a great start! This week he went from nerves and apprehension Monday morning to the gushing report, "I like school!" when I picked him up that afternoon. He was eager to help me fill out the forms sent home by his teacher, insisted so adamantly in fact, I ended …
