Parents’ Choice does a wonderful job of reviewing family media of all kinds (and is a foundation for which I have written quite a bit, so I’m a little biased). For the summer traveling season, they’ve reviewed toys, music, videos, and games for ages infant on up. In “Portable Picks for Traveling With Kids,” some of the highlights among the 50 (!) reviews include the Car Valet, Road Trip Trivia, Cranium Silly Stories, and music from some of my favorite artists, including Gunnar Madsen. Read the article for a wide array of new and classic products to entertain your kids on the road, on the water, or in the air. Also, post your own suggestions for trip playthings by hitting the comments button below.
I found myself stuck to this enlightening video clip because of the reference to marshmallows. I admit to adoring ’smores, Rice Krispy treats (especially the ones with milk chocolate and almonds my wife makes). I’ve also won a family camp marshmallow eating contest (yes, it was disgusting).
Then I watched this piece featuring Dr. Joachim de Posada, an author, speaker, and adjunct professor at the University of Miami. He talks about an experiment in which a Stanford psychology professor put one four-year-old kid at a time into a room alone with a marshmallow and told them to not eat it. Each kid approached the puffy treat differently, with some eating it immediately, some waiting a bit, and a couple refraining altogether. What Dr. de Posada points out is that the experiment determines a child’s ability to delay gratification and may very well suggest the child’s long-term self-discipline.
I’m going to try the experiment on my kids and see what happens. Chances are, they’ll delay gratification longer than I could.
“Let the Sunshine In” is a concert in San Francisco to be held this Monday (May 25) that exhibits the power of a community to help young people in need. The musical extravaganza honors Christopher (Chris) Rodriguez, an 11-year-old Oakland boy who was in the midst of a piano lesson when he was hit by a stray bullet and paralyzed from the waist down. Produced by musician-producer extraordinaire Narada Michael Walden, the event will feature Sting, Bob Weir, the Narada Michael Walden Band, and other new and established musicians. Proceeds from the concert will go to the Narada Michael Walden Foundation, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music scholarship fund, and music education programs in the Bay Area. If you live in the Bay Area or happen to be visiting San Francisco, check out this benefit concert to be held in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall.
Thank God for kids. In all the doom and gloom of the flu, the economy, and general cynicism, children break through with perspectives that — at the very least — make us laugh. Simply click over to this kid drawing of her mother at work and read the mom’s very sober clarification. Has anything like this happened to you? Just last week, my four-year-old announced to his carpool that, “I have the meanest mommy.” “Why?” asked the mom who was driving that day. “She won’t let us roast marshmallows in our fireplace.” Ah, the injustice perpetrated on the young.
As a parent, I’m trying not to give in to the panic that could result from reading and watching too many updates on the increasing number of people affected by the swine flu. The good thing is that plenty of experts and leaders are taking a serious but calm approach to be as cautious and safe as possible. Parenting magazine has a thorough rundown of how to approach the situation in its article, “Swine Flu: A Guide for Parents.” The number one suggestion is more frequent hand washing to prevent the spread of germs.
For this week’s Family Matters with Tracey Serebin, Tracey asked me about 5 tips dads might like to have before they have a baby. Listen in and hear about planning for paternity leave, managing all those well-meaning friends and family members who want to visit your exhausted household, and avoiding spontaneous expenditures that come from your overjoyed but non-budget-conscious state of mind. Tracey’s interview with me on her Internet radio program runs 30 minutes, following her segment with a mom expert. Log on to the new installment and click “Listen Now” or “Podcast.”
Bruce Kluger has long written about parenting and politics, though usually in separate situations. But the 2008 Presidential Election inspired him and his co-author, David Tabatsky, to reveal what kids see in the new president. Their new book is Dear President Obama: Letters of Hope From Children Across America, which contains almost 200 letters and drawings from kids in 29 states, of all walks of life, and from every region of the country.
The collection of letters began when Kluger and Tabatsky e-mailed friends with children, who then forwarded the e-mail to others. Within six weeks, the authors had received nearly 1000 letters. The final group of messages show how much children want to be a part of making a difference in the world, from easing poverty at home to helping those suffering in Sudan. Their voices reflect their dreams as well as the values they are taught by their parents. Learn more about this extraordinary volume of hope at the Web site, which features sample letters and videos from children.
To keep the messages going, please comment on this posting with thoughts your own children may have for our president.
With Spring Break upon us, I am a first-hand observer of all the chaos that breaks out when my boys have nothing better to do than pound each other in the head and see whose shoes can get most full of sand. So I’m ready for April 10, which is National Siblings Day!
If you’d like a bit of great advice on making siblings more harmonious, or at least occupied, you have a chance to win a signed copy of the awarding-winning The Siblings Busy Book: 200 Fun Activities for Kids of Different Ages. Simply email hkempskie@comcast.net with the subject line “siblings” by May 1. A winner will be chosen at random. In the meantime, visit the Busy Siblings blog for more tips and advice on sibling fun!
One of my favorite sci-fi movies of the last 15 years or so is one called Gattaca, a 1997 film (starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Gore Vidal) that imagines a society in which those who are genetically inferior are relegated to the underclass. In this futuristic world, information on the life expectancy and potential diseases of children are registered and used to determine genetic superiority. It’s a creepy premise, but given history’s track record of giving us people who believe in genetic purity, it would be wise for us to be aware of the slippery slope we could head down.
It’s an extremely complicated issue, this topic of genetic examinations. I’m all for prenatal testing (such as the CVS) and newborn screening done on infants that can gauge whether they can get any number of harmful if not fatal conditions. However, I am strongly against picking eye color and other traits that have nothing to do with health. This choice is apparently a current possibility for parents who go to a fertility doctor, who has offices in New York and Los Angeles. The physician, who has been very successful in helping moms and dads select the gender of their children, claims with “80% certainty” that he can help parents choose the eye color of their babies.
Where will all this go? Will we be making custom kids, as if we were playing on a computer game? Are we heading toward a future in which there will be discrimination against those who are considered less perfectly determined by human intervention? What do you all think? What, if any, physical characteristics would you want to pick for your child? Again, my feeling is that once we move beyond the topic of health, we’re going too far.
And where’s the fun in knowing everything about your child before he or she is born? I’m still hoping the make some money on the bet I have with my wife that our only fair-haired son will stay that way through adolescence.
This blog posting is for no other reason than to vent. This Saturday was going perfectly well, parenting-wise. Wendy split the duties with the kids to get them all to sports practice and two games. Ari got dragged along as the youngest. After 6 hours of car shuttling, snacks, lunches (during which I ate too quickly and indulgently at Fatburger), finding missing mouth guards, yelling advice from the sidelines, and setting the kids up with activities at home, I wanted an hour or so to write. Sure. An hour. Is it asking too much (a question I ask at least several times a week)? It didn’t happen of course. Poor Wendy needed a nap after a sleepless night after a bad week at work. The younger boys violently practiced karate on each other (what did I expect after screening The Karate Kid for them the previous night). Benjamin finally started practicing piano, hitting more than a few errant notes that went straight to my nerves.
I’m trying to figure out my perspective here and I just can’t do it. I love this crazy life, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I’m so frustrated, I scream at the kids, pound the keyboard that can’t seem to help me focus, and dream of life as a college student. Sure, I’ll regain my composure eventually and gather a few of my considerable life rosebuds, but right now, I’m trampling all over them.
