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Parenting Press®News for Parents — March
Dear Friends of Parenting Press,
Welcome to the March issue of our electronic newsletter for parents. Our goal is to provide you with interesting and useful information in a format that’s quick and easy to read—and FREE. We welcome your comments, both about the newsletter content and its format. To get the newsletter delivered, you can sign up for an e-mail subscription.
March 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
- WHAT’S NEW?
- FEATURES
- POTPOURRI
- COMING ATTRACTIONS
- Creating Cross-Generation Conversations
- Why Women Quit Work
- Supporting Families of Deployed Military
I. WHAT’S NEW?
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Monsters in the Woods: Backpacking with Children
Now, as it warms up and many of us are ready to take off—or at least ready to plan a trip, a new University of Nevada Press book has recommendations and gentle humor for those of us considering a trip into the wilds with our children.
Professional wilderness guide Tim Hauserman is such an evangelist for backpacking with kids that reading his Monsters in the Woods: Backpacking with Children (2007) is like listening to him extol the benefits of getting out on the trail.
It’s an escape from the structured life of school, sports and lessons that most modern kids have, he points out, and then quotes a 10-year-old whose backpacking experiences started as an infant: “It keeps your brain from turning to mush from watching TV and you meet a lot of new people.”
The key to backpacking with kids is to select a destination that they’ll enjoy, one that is reached with a reasonable length hike.
“Try to put yourself in your kids’ shoes, and figure out what they would find interesting,” he advises. “Sure, the huge granite peaks and dramatic views are great. . ., but a child will be equally mesmerized by a frog squirting through the mud.”
Most 7- to 9-year-olds can hike three to five miles a day if the trail isn’t too steep, Hauserman said. Although hiking stamina will vary by terrain, weather, child and pack weight, he estimates that by age 10, most kids can handle a 5 to 8-mile trip, and by 12, 7 to 10 miles. By age 15, an experienced hiker should be able to tackle 10 miles a day.
Experienced hikers who want to make backpacking a family activity will benefit from Hauserman’s advice about trip length, what to put in a child’s pack, and whether to take Fido along. For novice hikers, he provides straightforward recommendations on gear, first aid supplies, attire and food. There are also lists of the things that a bandana can replace, and what you can use duct tape for. Even those of us with experience can learn something from his comments on emergencies (everything from altitude sickness and bears to frostbite and sunstroke) and handling new gear (take a picture of the assembled tent with you so you know which pole goes where). He’s not afraid to describe the mistakes that he or other hikers have made, or the fears that are normal.
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25 Words or Less
Remember the old contest entry forms that started out, “In 25 words or less, tell us why you like. . .”? A group in Kentucky recently combined that with the phrase Edward Bulwer-Lytton used in a 1830 novel, and cartoonist Charles M. Schultz made famous, “It was a dark and stormy night. . .” Guests were asked to add 25 to 50 words to a sentence that began, “It was a dark and stormy night in Louisville and the room was filled with. . .”
You can do something similar with your family as a party game, when you’re stuck in the car or whiling away a rainy afternoon. If everyone writes, pass out scratch paper so people can jot down their sentences; if the kids are young, set the word limit lower and talk your way through the sentence completions. And what do you start with? Whatever you want: use the “dark and stormy night,” create a starting sentence that you use every time your family play, or make up new starting sentences appropriate to what you’re doing or where you’re going. Be sure the prompt suggests action. For example:
“It was a warm and sunny day, and the Redfields were gathered for their annual reunion, when suddenly. . .”
“It was a miserable rainy night as the Browns struggled through traffic, when without warning. . .”
“The children’s playground was full of kids playing on swings and slides, and then. . .”
If you’re doing this as part of an extended family gathering or a kids’ party, you may want to put each “contestant” on a makeshift stage and videotape his or her “story.” Compile them into something you can share with those not attending—or at future events.
P.S. Want to see more examples of “dark and stormy night” writing? San Jose State University sponsors an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest to “celebrate” the worst extremes in this style. The contest’s humorous web site is full of other trivia, including the fact that Lytton also originated the phrases “the pen is mightier than the sword,” “the great unwashed,” and “the almighty dollar.” His ancestral home in England is now the site of rock concerts, movie productions and even Corvette shows!
Introducing the Editor
“I enjoy ‘News for Parents’ soooo much,” said a recent visitor to the Parenting Press office, “and I feel as if I know all about Fred Crary just from what he writes every month.”
This gave the Parenting Press crew a chuckle, because webmaster Crary does indeed format and distribute the newsletter each month, and he’s the high-tech guru who solves any problems you may have with your subscription—but the newsletter text is written by someone completely different.
That someone else is Linda Carlson, who for almost eight years has been handling the Press’s marketing communications and the quarterly newsletter published for parent educators and early childhood professionals.
Since 2003, when “News for Parents” was initiated, she has created each of its issues, often pursuing topics suggested by other staff members and by her own family. Like Shari Steelsmith, whose children are occasionally mentioned in the Tips that she writes each week for this newsletter and ParentingPress.com, Carlson sometimes refers to her parenting experiences in the articles you see here. For example, it was her daughter’s Camp Fire troop sewing project that led to an article on kids’ needing more small motor activities, and her son’s Eagle Scout project that provided a detailed knowledge of worm bins. Now projects for her two preschooler great-nephews also prompt newsletter stories.
The author of eleven books and a speaker for the Humanities Washington speakers bureau, Carlson lives in Seattle with her family, which is involved in such community service projects as constructing Habitat for Humanity houses and creating baby layettes for refugee camps.
II. FEATURES
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Tips for the month
Each Saturday, Parenting Press posts a new parenting tip and the previous week’s tip is moved to the archive. The topics planned for March are:
March 1 — Helping Your Child After a Nightmare
March 8 — Recognizing “Stop” Signals from Others
March 15 — Guilt—Useful or Not?
March 22 — Avoiding Shame
March 29 — The Child Who is Terrified of Shots
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Family Fun Ideas — Make An Activity Book as a Family Activity
You can buy all sorts of books for teaching toddlers their numbers and colors but why not make your own? And it’s twice the fun (maybe triple!) if you do it as a family activity. As a gift for the youngest in the family, adults (parents or grandparents) can make up pages with older kids, or all of you can help with pages that become as much of a family album as a activity book. It can be a long-term project, with you all brainstorming where and how to get images for each letter and number. Whether you’re creating a book for your own children or for a relative or friend, here are some suggestions from readers Nola Beeler, a retired cooperative preschool teacher and parent educator in Edmonds, Wash., and Beth Jones, a retired fifth grade teacher in Seattle, who are both making A-B-C books for their young grandchildren.
Use pictures of places, people and items familiar to the children to illustrate each letter. For example, Beeler used a picture of an apple for A rather than “alligator.” A variation for your family if you’re making a gift for someone: have a group photo of everyone biting into a different kind of apple, or grouped around a giant cut-out of an apple. Jones, who believes kids relate especially well to the names of people, illustrated A with a snapshot of her daughter Amy, the children’s mother.
Include pictures of the child for whom the book is made. For H, tuck in a snapshot of the child in his or her Halloween costume, or for P, holding a pumpkin. If you’re making the book as a continuing project, you can talk to your kids about what you need, and ask them to pose for certain letters. At bedtime, remind the children that you need to illustrate Q, and ask them to cuddle up with a quilt while you shoot pictures. Or for Z, snap a photo as a child is zipped into a snowsuit.
Allow for additions to the book. Beeler is using a three-ring album with plastic sleeves that will accommodate more pages for each letter as her grandson grows. Jones found a similar baby book in a thrift store, so she can change the page inserts when it’s time to add more sophisticated vocabulary.
If the book will be two-dimensional, consider using plastic sleeves like Beeler and Jones did, or laminate the pages so they are easy to wipe clean.
You may have more fun making a 3-D book, though! At least, that’s what the “News for Parents” crew thinks. We’d like to combine an alphabet book with numbers and activities. One page can be pictures and the facing page a sheet of card stock with things that illustrate the letter or number. Some examples:
B: pieces of cloth to button and buckle together (and ribbon to tie into a bow)
C: an outline of a cat with whiskers (perhaps made with fishline) and a furry body
D: a poodle shape made with pom pons and a hidden sound chip that barks when pressed
E: an envelope that holds a simple message such as, “We love Natalia.”
F: an artificial flower blossom
K: a kite with a real string tail and a key on a key ring.
M: an unbreakable plastic mirror glued to the page
P: a finger puppet on a string that can be played with
click for larger view to see textureQ: a picture of one of you in bed, with a tiny patchwork quilt to Velcro on
S: a metal spoon and a picture of the beach, with sandpaper substituting for the sand.
T: another picture, this time with one of you stepping out of the bathtub, and a scrap of terrycloth glued where the towel should be
W: an old watch face
Z: a real zipper to pull shut and then open again and a tiny Zip Lock bag with a surprise inside
Making number pages can be just as much fun! A few we can imagine:
A single candle glued to the top of a picture of cake or cupcake
Two buttons attached to a fabric cutout of a shirt
A picture of the child’s house turned into a lift-the-flap page, with three cut-outs of windows or doors (add pictures of family members or pets behind the flaps)
A tiny glove with numbers on each finger so that the “reader” can slip his hand in
A picture of a sign post indicating number of miles
House numbers from the hardware store, either at random or spelling out the child’s address
An image of a telephone (perhaps transferred to sturdy fabric), with sound chips or squeakers under each number “pad”
If you’re like us, you’ll have so much fun planning the book and tracking down pictures and pieces that it’ll be hard to stop. (So do plan for additions as the recipient’s vocabulary increases.) For images other than snapshots, look in magazines or cut out shapes from coloring books. Clip art and magazines are other resources. You can add words with your computer’s word processing program, dry transfer (rub on) letters or stencils.
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Community Service — Benefit Peep Show
Our goal with this column is to suggest ways that you can model the concept of sharing and giving back to your community. There are other practical advantages to community service, too. Kids can use these projects to meet school or youth group requirements for community service and to start building resumes that they’ll use when applying for first jobs or college.
Now that the Easter candy displays are almost everywhere, here’s a seasonal idea for a benefit that’s sticky, sticky fun! Ever seen a Peeps decorating contest? It’s the perfect excuse to play with candy! Many organizations and media across the country sponsor contests using what the manufacturer calls “America’s favorite marshmallow candy.” In Seattle, for example, one of the daily newspapers is currently inviting readers to decorate a Peep or two, or place them in a diorama, and then send in a photo. Your family could create its own Peeps contest as a means of raising funds for a favorite charity; perhaps because so many Peeps are molded in bunny shapes, you’ll want to benefit a rabbit sanctuary or other pet shelter.
Here are some contest options:
Invite friends and neighbors of all ages to create scenes with a theme such as a favorite fairy tale or vehicles.
Have different age categories and a schedule for when entries must be delivered to your house (or wherever they will be judged and displayed).
Charge a modest fee for each entry, with all proceeds going to your charity.
Select judges, preferably people from another neighborhood. Have entries judged “blind,” without entrants’ names attached. Create a variety of prizes: “Most artistic,” “Best portrayal of theme,” “Most marshallows,” “Most appetizing,” and even “Messiest.” Encourage the judges to create additional categories.
Or, rather than have a panel of judges, let those visiting the display select winners by vote. Put a box with a slit in the top by each entrant and encourage visitors to put pennies, nickels, and dimes in the box by their favorite creations. All the money collected will also go to the charity.
If you display the creations in a location where you can welcome the public, send a press release to your local newspaper and announcements to youth groups, and put up posters around the neighborhood.
Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
Dress up Peep bunnies as dancers at Cinderella’s ball (paper doilies might make lovely gowns for the women), or turn one into Rapunzel with a long braid of Silly String hair and put her in a tower built of marshmallows or sugar cubes.
Create a diorama of a scene from “Make Way for Ducklings” using marshmallow chicks.
Put Peeps in toy cars on a street complete with sidewalks (Peeps pushing strollers and walking dogs) or on a highway with traffic signs and billboards. If you want to make lots of motorists, you can create gridlock!
For more ideas, see www.marshmallowpeeps.com
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Raise funds with a Parenting Press Book Fair
Would your school or group like a new fund-raiser?
For years Parenting Press has been offering its carefully written books on child guidance, problem-solving and dealing with feelings through preschool Book Fairs. Now our Book Fairs are being expanded to schools, churches, child-care programs, parenting groups—any organization that can use parenting and children’s books.
More information about our Book Fairs is posted online. We have posted a copy of the brochure, an explanation of how much you can earn with a Book Fair, a step-by-step guide to make Book Fairs easy and fun to organize and downloadable promotional materials.
III. POTPOURRI
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Special of the month—Two Great Development Books
This special has expired.
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