~~~ I’m so glad I’m not a politician or a football player. I would hate having things I say taken out of context, and I would hate being blamed for losing the Super Bowl.
~~~ I see families that go out to eat in restaurants, and the parents just let their kids totally trash the table, the floor, and then they leave. Yes, it’s nice to go out to eat and let someone else cook and do the dishes, but it’s hideously rude to create a huge, gross mess for someone else to clean up, just because you can. Do the people that let their children open all the sugar packets and dump the sugar (or artificial sweeteners) in a pile on the table allow this same behavior at home? Or do they save that for special occasions?
~~~ Sometimes trying to be vigilant about only buying organic, and only buying meat from animals that were raised humanely and only fed good stuff, and not buying anything genetically modified, or anything with fake stuff in it…sometimes it gets exhausting. But it’s worth the battle. And I’m teaching my kids to be vigilant as well. It’s hard, because sometimes the bad stuff tastes so yummy. But I am talking to Alex about how to read ingredient labels, and how, if you can’t pronounce it, it probably isn’t something you need to eat. I’m just glad the kids like most vegetables and fruits. And that they’re open to trying new things. And that they know where food comes from. I think I’m giving them a good start.
~~~ It’s February (really?) and do you know what that means? No, not Groundhog Day. No, not Valentine’s Day. It’s Time To Plant!! We’ll be starting onions and leeks this week – perhaps even today! YAY!!! It’s SPRING!!! Well, in my world it is.
~~~ Julia likes to demonstrate her maturity by remembering to put her cereal bowl and spoon in the dishwasher without being asked. I like it. I like it a lot.
~~~ Alex is saving his money. He wants to buy a cell phone. I’m on the fence about him having one at this age. He says some of his friends have them. Anyone out there care to weigh in on this? Pros and cons? If I did put him on our plan, it would be very limited. But do I really need to or want to at this point in time? I really try (or WE, Bill and I, really try) to limit the amount of “plugged in” time for our kids. I’d rather they run around outside and rip new holes in their jeans playing football or kickball than get carpel tunnel syndrome before they’re teens because they play too many DS games. In fact, my kids don’t own those hand-held games. The closest they can come is playing Frogger on my husband’s cell phone, which they haven’t done since I don’t remember when. We have a Wii, and they play with that, but not constantly. We don’t have any angry birds in our home. (Just outside, when the squirrels eat all the food.) Instead, I tell them to read a book. Or practice guitar. And, in Alex’s case, violin. Or draw. Or play with the zillions of toys they have. (Zillions may be too high a number, now that we’re planning a yard sale when the warm weather arrives.) Julia asked for a DS for Christmas, but Santa chose not to grant that request. And really, Julia wasn’t the least bit upset about it. She got really cool boots, after all!
~~~ I’m going to make another batch of frozen yogurt today. Strawberry. Maybe Alex will like this one – I used 2% milk instead of whole. So maybe it won’t taste as “yogurty” to him. Whatever that means. I’m just bound and determined to create a yogurt or frozen yogurt that he’ll like. I don’t know why. I’m just…stubborn. Or stupid. Take your pick.
~~~ That’s it for now. Have a fascinating day!
We have totally quit going out. It's either poor service, high prices for horrible or poorly prepared food, or bad atmosphere and patrons that are rude to the people trying to bend over backwards to serve them. We have to be more aware of our food, just say no to letting the big GMO food maker poisoning us in our own homes in the name of nutrition. I'm sure you thank Julia for her little acts of thoughtfulness, your kids are awesome. I applaud Alex at saving money for something he wants, and you and Bill for not breaking down and getting him a phone just because every other friend has one. I work in an Elementary School where about 1/3 of the kids from Kdg. to 6th grade have phones. A large amount of them get lost or stolen every year. Is he prepared for that? My kids didn't have phones until they had a job and could pay for it themselves, the phone service too. After all... if the President doesn't need one, how bad does a child?
Posted by: judith | February 07, 2012 at 07:15 PM
At our house, when the kids have a job and can afford to buy a phone and pay for a monthly plan, then they may have a phone. We're not going to get tied into a monthly plan for them. We think that this is a personal responsibility. We have a land line phone at home for them to use. If they go out with a friend and we want them to have a phone for safety, we let them borrow one of our cell phones - just for phone calls.
My 14-y.o. daughter keeps asking for a cell phone. We keep asking her when she'll be able to afford the plan. "But all of my friends have one," is the most common argument we hear. Then we tell her, good, she can use their phone to call us if she needs to.
My kids did get iPods from my parents for Christmas. My daughter's able to text on it, which drives me nuts, but it has stopped her from asking us for a cell phone.
I think that since phones and iPods can do so much more than make calls or play music, kids think that they need one. I admit that I could care less about what my smart phone can do. As long as it can store phone numbers and make phone calls, it's smart enough for me. So, I don't easily fall into the hype of streaming movies on my phone.
Posted by: kathi | February 12, 2012 at 12:01 PM