5 Reasons Why Cooking and Kicking-It With Your Kids is Cool.

5 Reasons Why Cooking and Kicking-It With Your Kids is Cool.

     As Thanksgiving approaches, we are planning a small meal at our house.  My 3 year old and husband went grocery shopping with me and she informed us that she "is a great idea maker!"  It took about an hour longer than usual as my team was distracted by anything shiny or sweet.
     And apparently, somewhere along the line grocery stores have had an identity crisis and are trying to be toy stores.  Stop it with the Barbies on the chip aisle!!! But that's a whole other blog.
     Back to my daughter's Thanksgiving menu, which includes chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and eggs.  She recently has navigated new territory in the kitchen.  Thinking outside the bowl now, she is very concerned with recycling and cleaning up. It's too much fun to see her really grasp the ideas that show up in the kitchen.  She wants to watch as the food changes in the oven and is super into the transformation of textures in mixing ingredients.  I just love seeing her process what we are doing together and the pride she feels from creating a great meal.

1. Mathematical, Scientific and Creative properties of cooking.  
Measuring, adding, dividing, separating, mixing, blending, dissolving, thickening, changing.  This is all terminology that crosses over from math into cooking and into science.  When you have a running dialogue with your kids in the kitchen, teachable moments arise and are in every fiber of your recipe.  Some parents feel they can't let their children help because something is sharp or hot.  Search for ways they CAN help.  My best stress-busting trick is to give my 3 year old a safe work space that is her own.  Setting up a place at the kitchen table or letting her stand on a stool next to me in the actual work-space of the kitchen creates pure joy in the eyes of my little girl.  Teaching how to use a measuring cup is one of the most useful tricks.  With precut potatoes, have them count how many pieces.  They are great at tearing off sprigs of rosemary or sprinkling on cheese.  With very little effort, there are plenty of important jobs that can be gifted to the children.  Let them get creative with their jobs! With their input, you may just come up with a surprise twist in a traditional recipe.  Or mess it up royally.  Then you've cooked up a great story, so...nothing lost!

2. Cooking up Convos with Kids.
When you do an activity together, you are creating lasting memories.  Cooking together creates a common experience that causes more than the dough to arise.  Taking the opportunity of waiting for something to bake, cool, or congeal is the perfect time to ask you kids questions and watch conversation arise out of these moments.   When it's time to chow down, we pile up the cell phones and I-things and look to each other for news.

3. Social Responsibility.
When the children realize that everyone has a part in creating the meal, it teaches them to appreciate the hard work that goes into it.  Cleaning up is an integral part in teaching social responsibility too.  In appreciation for the great meal, we all do our part to clean up and make a great environment in our kitchen for cooking once again.  We don't just use it up and move on to a new clean kitchen.  We aren't doing our kids any favors by cleaning up after them totally EVERY time.  You may do most of the clean up on heavy homework or game days, but kids have an opportunity to feel pride in having a clean house by making it that way.  I mean, who am I kidding?  My 3 year old pushes around a sponge which just evenly disperses the crumbs and gunk, but A for Effort. Affort.

4.  Love your environment.
Recycle.  Everything.  Recycle everything.  Teaching kids to appreciate the environment begins with a dialogue at home which manifests out of actions observed.  When you make recycling a habit at your home and infuse it with purpose, you can change the world.  The earth and your kids will thank you for it.

5. Saving $ and Gaining Piece of Mind.  
Listen, I enjoy the magic of eating out just as much as the next person.  We have long bouts when we are traveling, where eating out isn't as much a choice, but more of the only option.  I really do enjoy this too sometimes.  The catch is the expense and not knowing exactly what you are getting in that gravy.
     Our meals are not fancy, but the quality lies in the company as much, if not more than, the food.  Let's be honest though, if you are making time for dinner with family, no matter where it is, you are already accomplishing something great!

Everyday Storytelling in Families to Empower the Child.

Everyday Storytelling in Families to Empower the Child.

       Every parent tells the story of their child's birth through their perspective and that story is our evidence of the first impression we make on the world. My  mom's story for me was that she went to the hospital for a stress test and before she left to go home, she was in labor.  It was as if I said, "Welp, as long as your here...let's do this."  Thus me and , as my mother puts it, my cooperative nature were born.  I love this story and everyone's story of their children coming into the world.  It's  no accident that we start out the way we do.  Whether we remember it directly or not, surely the story has been told.  And whether it is the story in all it's gloriously simple reality or a broadened heightened version which serves as food for entertainment...the STORY itself surely shapes us.  Perspective has long been a potter of personality.  Being told we are something or did something has a lasting affect.  As adults, we discover that while it shapes us, it doesn't need to define us.  Interesting and complex, just when we have defined ourselves, along comes a new story, a new happening, a new experience that forces us to redefine ourselves.  

     With my own child, it becomes evident to me that she takes on stories we tell her and embodies traits defined by her past self in these stories.  We tell stories of her "great joke-telling abilities" to people and guess what?  This begets more jokes and increasing confidence as she tells them and tries new ones.  "A dinosaur rides in a car" is a Sophie original of her humorous imagery jokes followed by a slew of "Knock, knock" jokes.  Realizing the power we have in storytelling and the opportunity to encourage our children through positive reinforcement makes me absolutely tingle with gratefulness.  Knowing that power exists, we must use it wisely.  Telling certain stories around our children that we find particularly entertaining might not ALWAYS be the healthiest thing for their ego or growth as an interactive and social being.   It's important to weigh whether your humorous translation of "meltdown on isle 5" to an empathetic fellow mom is worth the laugh or if you child's radar on what's being said is going to make them feel embarrassment or a possible relegation to that behavior in the future because...after all,"This is just who she is or the way she acts."

     One of my daughter's favorite shows is "Super Why" on PBS.  The formula of each show has a character that "has the power to change the story."  She pretends to have this power as she makes up her own stories on the stage of our living room floor.  What a fantastic message to relay to our kids!

     Storytelling keeps traditions alive, families close, encourages positive experiences, provides tools for guidance, and broadens our experience by getting to know others by listening to stories.  So here's to encouraging friends and family to share their stories.  Give your child a culture through the storytelling experience...a culture and background to be proud of and to fill out in a positive way.   

      My family, like many of yours, is known for telling the same stories over and again.  This is a great tool to build character and relationships.   I love hearing stories about my grandfather picking cotton or running Morse code on a Navy ship, my dad training whales or serving as a small-town city councilman, my mom standing up for people and acting out compassion on a daily basis.  These stories weren't always told directly to me ,but were always floating around me.  They most definitely shaped how I viewed these family members.  Our little ones are all ears and very impressionable, so while storytelling might seem like it ends when you close the bedtime fairytale about "Jack and the Beanstalk", think again.  Stories are interwoven into our everyday life and become the fabric which defines us and holds us together.   

 

Parent Project: Magnetic Chalkboard

     At Sophie's dance studio, there is a chalkboard wall that calls to the children as they exit their class or wait for a sibling.  As I sat one day, watching the children play, I observed a young girl, who was barely 3 years old, take her chalk to the board and draw the letter A.  "You can do that at home," I heard her mother call from the exit,"Let's go."  She dropped the chalk and raced to her mom, leaving behind a bit of inspiration for me.  Hmm, I thought.  Where could I do a chalkboard wall?  The door seemed a perfect place for us, but you could really do this anywhere.   Just heed the warning from my friend who said, "Make sure your kids know that they are only allowed to draw on the chalkboard surface, otherwise you might end up with this..."

Hopefully you will end up with something more like this...

The items you will need to accomplish your goal are:

Sand paper.

Paint tray.

Small roller and two sponges to go on roller.

Painting tarp.

Two paint brushes for getting to the edge of the door precisely.

Magnetic Primer.

Chalkboard Paint (comes in many colors).

Chalk.

Eraser.

Directions.

Place tarp over floor.

Sand the surface.

Paint 3 thin layers of primer.  Each layer dries in 30 minutes.

Paint 2 layers of chalkboard paint.  Leave 4 hours between layers.

Once finished, leave to dry and set for 3 full days before using.

Do not forget to Treat Your New Chalkboard before using.

How to Treat Your New Chalkboard...kindly.  Ba, dum, ching!  

After the paint has set for 3 days, use the side of a piece of chalk and cover the entire board with a thin layer of chalk.  Then, wipe it down with a wet soft cloth. Create, draw, and play!

The Ballad of the Ballerina

The Ballad of the Ballerina.
A Sophie Petersen original work of live theatrical art, as depicted by her mommy, Lisa Morabito Petersen.

       My 3 year old and I have a weekly tradition of going to ballet class on Tuesday morning, followed by a trip to a neighborhood coffee shop.  Soph loves it because they have pink macaroons, bistro tables for two and a shop.
       My ballerina gracefully prances her way into the shop, which has an intimacy that recalls a French cafe.  In it, she looks like a living Degas portrait.  Her pink leotard and tutu bounce playfully and her giant round eyes bob with laughter and seem exceptionally large and beautiful today, as her hair sits in a perfect ballerina bun on top of her head.  The look is completed by a bedazzled mini tiara.
     We choose our snack and grab a table.  A steady stream of admirers pass by and remind Sophie how adorable she looks and inquire about her ballerina costume.  After we enjoy our pink and green macaroons, Sophie enjoys the freedom of choosing a children's book from a magazine rack at the front of the store..."All by her self." As Mommy, I love this feature to the shop because not only does it encourage us to bring our children to the quant shop, but to sit, read, and even stay a while.  Their selection for children are mostly books with heavy themes of being environmentally friendly and scientifically minded.  Oh, it makes me feel so smart and intellectual, I could squeak like a baby dolphin.  The book about invention is followed by a book about how aliens destroyed the world because they used all the resources irresponsibly.  Now that I have patted myself on the back for being such a great guiding mommy, we peruse the store.
     The store is filled with beautiful things...trinkets, candles, paintings, etc.  Deep in the store, one table is an oasis of children's books and toys.  Sophie is relieved when I give her the "ok" to touch the items on that table.  After she thumbs through a few books, she spots a notebook shaped tin with a picture of a ballerina on the front, containing (40+!!!!) magnets to design the dancer's scene.  She turns to me, with the tin hugged to her body. "Dress ups, Mommy!!! Can I take this home with me?  Please?" she says straddling a line of begging and sensibility just perfectly.  "We have so many toys at home Soph.  We just got some things yesterday at the store," I counter.  "But I want to play with this," she argues.  By this point, I am at the cashier prepared to pay for a friend's gift.
      As I turn to look at my daughter, she transports me into her tragedy.  All of the sudden, she becomes aware of the sad French song that is playing throughout the store.  She turns from me, defeated.  Her arms slump, her head hangs forward, and she drags her feet as she forces herself to return the toy to the table. As she gets a few feet from me, the music swells, she turns to me and holds out the toy with both hands, her eyes begging me to love her by buying her this.  She knows I have made up my mind, as she hugs the toy to her chest and dramatically turns toward the table.  She holds her position, as the singer quietly explains something in French.  To the beat of the ballad, Sophie does a trudge, trudge, trudge, trudge all the way to the table.  I laugh to myself, as I think that it almost worked on me. 
       As she lifts the tin, the singer and Sophie have clearly conspired against me.  She glides the tin over it's place on the table, spins to the neighboring table and places it down, with her mournful head on top. Sophie looks up, at just the right angle that might make you mistake her for a lost puppy.  She says nothing and although I don't speak French....I'm prrrrrrtetty sure the singer was narrating Sophie's dance with a "Why don't you love me.  If you loved me, you would buy me this."  Sophie continues her dance with the tin, to the French song.  I turn away, as I can feel my resolve melting by the soft ember burn of her perfectly executed ballet.
       "Bring it to the counter," I say still facing away.
       "What?" says a little voice infused with disbelief.
       "Well," I thought, "If she can't win a Tony for that performance, she should at least get a toy."
        In all seriousness, we, as parents, are constantly caught between the idea of wanting to give them the world and wanting to teach them how to deal with not getting everything they want.  It's a road well traveled and we all do our best.  Today, she showed me she had some real artistic determination and that...I just have to appreciate.  There's a lot of nuance in parenting...and apparently that is not lost on our children.  Enjoy it because, as they say, "It will all be over too soon."


*The picture is from last week's class, but it gives you an idea of what I'm working with here.  Pure cuteness.

Why This Mommy Decided To Get Schooled.

Why This Mommy Decided To Get Schooled.  
     Okay.  Now what?!  I read all the books on development during pregnancy, sleep training, and the anecdotal "make-me-laugh" books by celebrities with babies.   The What to Expect i-phone App gives you a little glimpse of Word Pictures, a track of where your child should be on average, but that just wasn't cutting it for me.  Baby Center offers their weekly advice and is a gathering of the minds and a cyber group where we can compare and contrast thoughts on what we are going through as parents.  I found that with each article I read, I was bogged down with different voices and many times these mommy cyber-hubs become stomping grounds for a virtual yelling match.
     As my search into educational programs for my little girl became more serious, I decided to take things to a whole. 'mother. level.   When it comes to life forms, there are always a number of scientific theories on developmental growth.  It will always be a study and never a definitive because there are so many variables with children that differ among the individual and environment.  Having taken my daughter to a number of classes offering different styles of learning, I was most intrigued by those programs that were yielding, what I observed to have the greatest impact on her social and cognitive growth.
     There was a program in New York City that had a great indoor playground space where we had an experience that made my question clock start ticking.  The lack of any structure at all and a teacher who waited for children to approach her resulted in many children being left behind.  I watched as my daughter tried to make a connection with another child using baby dolls.  The teacher rinsed brushes and then turned and sang a song with zero participation from her class.  As I watched the teacher with her stained apron and a vaguely absent look on her face sing from the corner, behind a desk, to a room full of 2.5 year olds, I wondered...how much glue did she sniff this morning?  We decided not to have Sophie continue in Ms. Sniff's class, but instead found an eclectic blend of classes and play spaces for our 6 months in NYC.
     The question that this experience caused me to raise to myself was, "What am I looking for in an educational environment for my daughter?"  The answer was...I don't know.  I was actually quite embarrassed by the fact that I wasn't privy to the new sciences or developments on education or school preparedness.  Well, I wasn't going to waste anymore time wallowing in my embarrassment.  There's no time like the present to start finding answers.
     Of course, there is the checklist of top schools or "feeder" schools (for those in a big city private school market).  This list only yielded more questions for me.  Why?!  Why are these the best schools or programs?  Is it because some celebrity kids went there?  Is it because it was a great school 20 years ago?  Is there something in the water?
     I had to go deeper.  I reflected on my own childhood.  30 years ago, there just weren't the options that we have today.  The social skills and cognitive learning that we acquired in preschool was often times a happy accident and less a calculated journey to what we now call school-readiness.  I was grateful that it was easy enough to acquire information about milestones from popular parenting websites, but I felt that there was much more to this nut.  I was merely scratching at the shell.
   I'm not sure how many times I read it before it really sank in, but here is the idea that sent me on my newest and most empowering journey yet.  I, as her parent, was her first and greatest teacher.  A while ago, a friend who works at a school in CA had asked if I would be interested in subbing.  I brushed off the idea because I thought I wasn't interested.  All of the sudden, I realized that maybe I needed to be. Maybe I don't need to make a career out of it, but I realized as we began to walk home from Ms. Sniff's disaster that I could acquire this knowledge simply to improve the quality of life and education for myself and my child.  I found a program with some classes that interested me through the UCLA Extension program and before I could blink, I had enrolled.
     What was this strange sensation?  My heart beat quickened.  My palms were sweaty.  This isn't what empowerment was supposed to feel like.  Ahhh.  Self-doubt, my old-nemises.  Long time no see.  What am I doing, I thought?  I've already graduated college.  I'm going to make a fool of myself.  How do you even attend a class online?  This is a joke.  I'm not going to really learn anything.  Arghhh.  I'm just wasting money and time.
     Log In.  As I signed in for my first classes, I began reading from the textbooks about Early Childhood Development and understanding the science of cell make-up, the forming of the child and the various theories and practices that have become widely used and appreciated in the world of Early Childhood Development.  Old Pouty Self-doubty had to retreat to some untapped recess of my now fully engaged mind.  The new information was exciting and I found that it wasn't simply acquiring the information that brought me enjoyment, but rather the fact that I could now, with life experience, bring something special to that information.  Nothing is more empowering than literally feeling yourself blossom from that Miracle-Gro blend of information and experience.
     Since beginning the continuing education classes, I have been able to help our family better define what is right for us in regards to school choice and we have an approach to "at-home" learning that works in tandem with what they do at the program where Sophie is now.  In September, I will have completed my Teaching Certificate through the UCLA Extension.  You don't have to become a teacher to access the information that I found so helpful through my continued education, but there is a world beyond what can be attained through "gut-parenting."  In this article, I mean to champion those who are out there who want more for your kids and are paralyzed or suffocating under a wealth of to-do lists and shoulds.  You don't need someone to tell you what you should do with your child in every circumstance and situation.  There is no perfect playbook.  What we can do is know our kid, know ourselves and teach them to reach...for greatness.

Have you ever thought about going back to school?
   

   

Spyglass Party Craft for Your Pirate Crew!

Mermaids and Pirates!
     That was the theme for Sophie's 3rd birthday party this weekend.  I'm a big fan of having a craft available for the kids to create at birthday parties.  Last year, we did mini canvas paintings for Sophie's Rapunzel themed party.  This year we decided on a spyglass craft for treas-arghhh hunting.  I, for one, think they turned out pretty darn cute.  They were a hit with our crew of 3 year old pirates too!  Here's how we did it.

Supplies

Toilet paper rolls

Paper coffee cups

Knife

Medium brown spray paint

Dark brown spray paint

Yellow 1inch wide ribbon

Hot glue gun

Glue

Tons of your favorite stickers

Directions For Parents.

1.  Cut a hole (smaller than that of the diameter of the toilet paper roll) in the bottom of the paper cup.

2.  Hot glue toilet paper roll to bottom of cup.

3.  Spray paint with Medium brown first, then with dark brown to add textured look.

4.  Hot glue ribbon in 3 places around either end of craft and in the middle.

Directions For Kids.

5.  Use letter stickers and other favorite picture stickers for to decorate the craft.  We suggest spelling your name with stickers first and then follow up with your favorite stickers.  Happy treasure hunting!

Tell us your favorite craft experience.  There are many more birthdays to use all your wonderful ideas!

Turbo: Family Summer Movie Must-See

     Race, Race, Mooove.   Turbo opens today and is the perfect afternoon activity.   And if your first question, like mine, is what age of child should watch this...the answer is 1 to 100.  The content is funny, driving and an ultimately positive message for kids.

     We saw a screening the night before Sophie's 3rd birthday and the message of "Don't give up" obviously resonated with her.  At the end of the night, she looked at Daddy and me and said with a gravely serious expression "My birthday is over, but there will be another one.  I'm not givin' up!"

     That universal truth sank in with a 3 year old because this movie encourages freedom in imagination and gives us a license to dream.  There are sweet truths brought forward by our unlikely hero following his heart and we all need to be reminded that success is in the colorful journey, not just the ending.  

     The characters are more bright and distinctive than anything you will find on MMC.  The crew of snails have a humanity...an ability to move you and make you laugh. During one of the touching scenes where two brothers journey to understand each other, the reflection in the eyes of one brother, layered with the glistening of emotion you would see in an Oscar winning Streep performance, gives uexpected weight to these characters.  

     One thing is absolutely for sure.  You. Must. Have. This. Soundtrack.  As I looked in front of me, I saw little heads bobbing up and down to the driving music of this racing movie.  The music is infectious.  How can you not feel cool when Snoop is chanting his lyrics and the beats are crazy good.  I will be using this as my summer anthem now, thank you.  So when you see a Chrysler Town and Country Touring Van roll up next to you, with a car seat in the back, and Snoop on my speaks...you'll know it's this mommy feelin' oh so fly.

     Don't take it from me though.  My 3 year old is the real expert and she says seeing Turbo in the theatre is "so so much fun!"

     www.turbomovie.com

What is your favorite family summer movie?