Yogurt is a staple in our family – so much so that I often think it must be it’s own food group! While universally accepted as a breakfast or snack choice, I will admit that there have been times when yoghurt became lunch or dinner after the kids begged. When hungry little tummies are growling and moods are rapidly down-spiraling, a few spoonfuls of protein-rich yogurt goes a long way to getting them through until mealtime. We have recently become huge fans of iögo yogurt, and in particular the new large-sized pouches.
If you want your children to be skilled and creative problem solvers, consider preparing outdoor play spaces for imaginative play! Fantasy play and imaginative role playing, in spaces like fairy gardens, are well established pre-cursers to divergent and original problem solving later in life; skills that are well recognized in highly effective students! Fairy Gardens are a great way to encourage imaginative play and they are perfect for taking advantage of the magical thinking young children bring to their everyday play.
Lice. Just saying the word makes me scratch my head. Once you have seen a few creatures crawling in your kid’s head, you will never rid yourself of the itchy-head feeling when you hear, say or write the word lice.
There are more than a few reasons I am happy I waited until my mid-30’s to have a baby (and a few reasons I am not, but that’s for another post), and when I did give birth at 37 and decided to hit some of the mom-and-baby library groups, it became abundantly clear what exactly had made waiting right for me.
Being a people watcher and an armchair psychologist, I had a good look around. The moms were all younger than me; I wasn’t the oldest, thankfully, due to the grandmother unsuccessfully wrangling her grandchildren to the circle and the elderly librarian trying to grab their attention.
I have never been into the “earth mother” aesthetic. Do not buy me a fertility goddess statue with mammoth breasts and the planet earth painted onto its belly. Because both times I was pregnant that is exactly what I looked like.
When I first found out my Wife was pregnant with our son, I was over-the-moon excited. I had always wanted to be a parent for as long as I can remember and while we were actively trying to get pregnant I couldn’t help but be excited as if it were a complete surprise to me. I had always had these grand ideas of how I was going to be a great parent, mostly because my parents were such poor examples. I would simply do everything opposite of them. How could I fail?
I’ll never forget traveling from Rome to Toronto in executive class with a one year-old who didn’t sleep a wink. (I’m quite certain the airline had to appease many of our fellow travelers!) Every parent has a ‘bag of tricks’ and we’d love for you to add your own ideas to our 15 ways to entertain kids on an airplane. Having their full attention for so long is a great way to bond and can reveal amazing teaching moments. Even looking at the maps in the airline magazine is an opportunity!
How do you keep date night from becoming stale? Dinner and a show just aren’t cutting it anymore, and you’re wondering how to change the fizzle back to sizzle? Here are a few ideas to reignite your relationship and reinvent date night:
One of my favourite cities in the world is NOLA, the beignet capital of the world. While you can get different flavours and spice mixes in just about every restaurant, jambalaya universally contains okra. We planted okra in our garden last summer, and very quickly, New Orleans jambalaya became a mealtime favourite.
Cabin Girl and Mr. Monkey have birthdays 4 days apart. Awesome planning on my end. We decided that this year, to make things simpler (HA!), we would do a combined birthday party for them. But, how to combine a birthday for a 7 year old girly-girl and a 2 year old rough and tumble toddler boy?
The answer, my friends, is in Never Neverland.