Off To Kindergarten...

My oldest, my daughter entered into a new phase of life today: Kindergarten. She was so excited and bursting with joy from the moment she woke up this morning. I tried my best to hide my apprehension and nervousness about this new phase. Unfortunately, I failed because as the bus pulled up to pick her up, she turned and said, "Mom, don't worry about me while I'm at school, I'll be FINE!"

Will she find nice friends? Will other kids make fun of her? Will she find anyone to sit with on the bus? How will she know what to do when she gets off of the bus? These were the questions(and more) flooding through my mind this morning in anticipation of her leaving.

I know in my heart, she will be fine and have a wonderful day full of new adventures and new friends. I'll just have to file this away with all the other "firsts". Like the first time I left her with a babysitter and the first time I dropped her off at preschool. Even though it is difficult for me to let go at times, I know she will probably not even miss me, just like she enjoyed the other "firsts" as well.

Over Scheduled, Micromanaged Kids

So after a barrage of birthday parties and play-dates this summer, I have come to the realization that a lot of kids are over scheduled and micromanaged by their parents.

Whatever happened to just letting kids play? Every child is different and some are better at imaginary play than others and may need some help and guidance in choosing an activity. However, this is not what I am referring to here. In the situations I observed, the kids were just fine on their own and were not looking for any direction or help from parents. They were not saying “I’m bored” or “I can’t find anything to do”, but were happily playing when the parents come in, take over and direct the play-time. Acting as if they did not trust the kids to pick out a game or appropriately manage that game.

The parties had a set time for around 2 hours and every minute of the party was planned and managed in 15 minute intervals. One party had a bouncy castle set up and the kids were allowed 15 minutes of free play and then on to the games. Most of the games required the 5 year olds (and a few 3 yr olds) to stand around and wait for their 1 minute turn, when all they really wanted to do was play. Some of the kids did wander back to the bouncy castle during these wait times, and were told “no” . When I asked my daughter what her favorite part of the party was she said, “When we were allowed to just play.”

The play-dates have been no different, and I think the other mom’s probably think I am insane. While they are running around setting up activities for the kids and interfering in their little arguments, I sit back and only get involved when absolutely necessary. Like if hitting or tears are involved. Some of my friends will spend 10 minutes setting up a game or activity only to find by the time they are done, the kids have moved onto something else. At that point then, the moms will go and spend another ten minutes setting that up and then continue this cycle for the entire play-date.

Kids today are exposed to more structured entertainment through television, computer and video games than ever before and at the expense of free-play. Don’t we all have fond memories of just playing the in the backyard, or basement or our rooms by ourselves? Playing dress up, school, house, superheroes, war or whatever you played as a child. If you do have such fond memories, would you not want the same for your kids?

Yesterday my five and three year old played in the backyard for 4 hours with zero interference from me. They just played and played and played. They made of games, held contests, put on shows and just had a great time. Kids can do much more than we ever will give them credit.

Creepy Baby Products

There are some really creepy baby products available for parents. Just the thought of using either of the following products make me cringe.

1. The Snot Sucker (yes, the real name)



This product from Nosefrida allows parents to manually suck the snot out of their kids nose. One end of the tube is inserted into the nose and the other end goes into the parents mouth and they suck out the snot. Don't forget to also buy your snot block:



The snot block is what stops the snot from going into your mouth, I imagine a very important part of the snot sucker.

2. The Babykeeper

Ever go into a public bathroom with your baby and not know what to do with them while you "do your business"? There's a hook for your purse, so why not a hook for your baby? Well, look no further here's the product for you:



The Babykeeper from Mommysentials will give you a new found freedom in the bathroom. Just hang up your purse, hang up the baby and viola!

Friday Night Date Night

Every Friday night, my husband and I take a little time for ourselves and have a date night. Nothing fancy or extravagant, but so simple sometimes I am amazed at how excited I get. We put the kids to bed order a pizza and watch a movie; we don’t even have to leave the house. It’s so nice because no matter how hectic our lives get, I know that Friday nights are ours and ours alone. We never miss a week and if for some reason, we have other plans that land on Friday night, we move our date-night to another day of the week.

I make something easy and fun that the kids like for dinner and they get excited because they have come to expect the leftover pizza as breakfast on Saturday mornings!

With all the craziness that comes with kids, sometimes we forget to take care of our marriages too. They need love and attention every once in a while. It doesn’t need to take a lot of planning with trying to find a babysitter weeks in advance or a lot of money either. On Demand has become our best friend with being able to rent movies right from our couch without planning in advance what we want to watch. So our whole date night, including movie, cost about $25 a week.

Capes

My son and daughter both received one of these capes as a gift recently. I must say they are awesome! They both love them and my son has been wearing his everyday. They make great gifts and are just fun, especially for boys. It's hard to find nice dress up clothes for little boys. You can buy one at Design 4 Generations

Preschool Electronically Monitoring Students

Here’s an interesting article from www.ktvu.com . A preschool in Contra Costa County California has implemented a new program where they give students a shirt to where during school hours that has a tracking device embedded in it.

The school states: “3,000 man hours could eventually be saved with this $50,000 system, which was paid for by a federal grant.”They say this will be accomplished by “saving teachers from hand filing attendance records required by the state.”

While I am not totally opposed to what they are trying to accomplish, the school district has taken extreme measures to save on some paperwork. If the problem is really the amount is paperwork, they would have been better off by just computerizing their files instead the actual children. I doubt it would have cost $50,000 to have the teachers fill out the needed forms electronically.

Because the problem in this situation doesn’t justify the solution, it makes me think there is another reason for this radical solution. If my children attended that school, I would be worried that the 3,000 man hours they are planning on saving, will be saved by less supervision of the children by relying on the technology too much. With this new technology they might think it is reasonable to allow children to walk to different classrooms or other parts of the building on their own because they are able to “see” their location on a computer screen.

At a preschool though, the children should never be left alone at anytime, so unless the school is planning on cutting out some teachers or classroom aides (which is where I think the true savings is going to come from), I cannot see the real value of tracking preschoolers. I guess, if the school district gave the reason for the tracking devices of safety or better control of the children, I might feel differently but as it stands, tracking children to save on paperwork does not make sense.

For all the Dads