Review: Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think Video

When she was younger (and much less wiser!), Raine told me, out of the blue, “What if I had two moms? I’d have a fun mom…and you.” And while I found it hilarious, it was also heartbreaking. I know I’m not the silly/funny parent (guess who is), but I was a fun person. At least I […]

Lemon Bars, Child Labor, and Tough Love

This is really a recipe post. The girls baked a scrumptious batch of lemon bars this afternoon. But I have a longish intro; scroll down if you want to skip it and go straight to the recipe. Raine, who turned 9 a couple of months ago, decided that she was old enough to bake on […]

Our Battle Against TV Part 3: Taming the TV Monster

I knew I had to come up with better strategies to keep Raine from being sucked in by the TV. I got a reprieve of sorts when our senior citizen of a TV finally kicked the bucket (or the picture tube, as the case may be). We just told Raine that it was broken and […]

Our Battle Against TV Part 2: Effects of TV

Aside from Raine’s devotion to the TV, and her diminished desire to think of things to do on her own, numerous studies too, have shown the ill effects of TV on children, such as: Obesity. Did you know that you use less energy watching TV than sitting down doing nothing (that’s not a call to […]

Our Battle Against TV Part 1: Falling into the TV Trap

She would perfunctorily perform the tasks I’d ask her to do—eat breakfast, change into play clothes, water her plants, fix up, do arts and crafts projects, read books, play with her other toys—and then she’d say, “I’m done. Can I watch now?” The entire day revolved around watching TV…I admit that it was partly my fault. TV had become a convenient, very effective babysitter.