Photo Courtesy: Flickr- SanJoseLibrary 

I am always vary about recommending other websites to you guys. It has to be a fun and educational website that makes a Mama’s job easier. If they’re selling something, I’d rather not recommend a site featuring products that cost as much as the salary of an office worker in a Third World country. Seriously, there’s a lot of stuff available out there for free, and we don’t need to pay though our noses for access to great resources.

This one, I thought, is a great website that all you preschool mamas will love! It’s called Ziggity Zoom and it’s designed - I love this part - primarily for preschoolers. It’s still under construction, so you’ll probably find some of the activities are a little basic, but they’re constantly adding new stuff, so check them out often.

What I really like is that it doesn’t focus only on art, activities, games and the other stuff we as parents seem to be preoccupied with. Check out the Parenting Tips and Strategies and Go Green sections for advice on how to raise kids who can be balanced, well adjusted adults in the real world. There are tips on how to teach them to save money, recycle, donate to others, get them to help around the house, and lots of other useful stuff.

Check out Ziggity Zoom, and add it to your list of preschool sites to visit.  After all, we can never have too many free resources when it comes to raising the kiddies.

I am not sure how many of you have come across this, but I just found a browser tool exclusively for mommies. It’s called Mommybar, and it’s pretty cool.  Some of my fave blogs are on there, and there are new blogs to visit too.  I haven’t checked out the Coupons, Websites, Shopping and other features yet, but for those of you in the US, this should prove a nifty tool.

I like that I am going to be able to run through the Mommy blogosphere instantly! Plus, there’s a bonus Kids Bar, full of activity sites, educational and coloring pages sites, puzzles, games and lots of other stuff for the kids. I can tell this is going to be very useful during vacation time.

If you’d like one for your blog or site (and I have absolutely no affiliations with the people who run this. Promise.), scroll down, and click on the “I’m on Mommybar” button on the right hand side of your screen.  I use Firefox, and installation went off super smooth.

Talk about preschool teachers from hell. I came across this story via Mommy Life, and it left me first shocked, then sad, and now simply furious.

If you haven’t come across the story yet, 5-year-old Alex underwent what one website very accurately described as “psychological lynching.” The boy who is undergoing a process that will confirm autism - was voted out by his class, rooted on by the teacher! Wendy Portillo asked each child in the class to spell out what they didn’t like about Alex - in front of the boy - and the reasons to vote him apparently included the words “annoying” and “disgusting.” When his mother Melissa arrived to take him home, he was shaken up, and told her her felt “very sad.” He has also reportedly told her since the incident, that he feels he is “not special.”

This is a five year old boy, for crying out loud! I don’t care what Ms Portillo’s excuse is. I don’t care whether she was PMSing that day, or whether she had man troubles - this women deserves to be kicked out of the system for what she did. Shockingly enough, the school still hasn’t taken any action against her!

Barbara at Mommy Life has organized a special card campaign for Alex. Just click on his picture above, and you can access a page with a postal address on it. Please send this beautiful boy a card telling him he’ s special. Tell your kids to do the same. Barbara intends to collect all cards, and hand them over to his mother, so Alex will know what a special boy he is, regardless of what his imbecile teacher says.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!  Hug your kiddies a little longer today, and enjoy your special 24 hours!

Photo Courtesy: Flickr- Adwriter

Some cheery news to end the week with.

A Harvard researcher has conducted a study on married couples and happiness,  and he’s come up with the conclusion that married couples are happy - only as long as long as they don’t have kids!  Once kids enter the picture, all happiness, according to his distinguished brain, flies out the window to return home only when the brats have left home.   Here’s the article.

He says, and I quote…

…parents’ desire to get a return on the time and money they have invested in their children is part of the reason they persuade themselves that their offspring are enhancing their lives.

There’s more enlightening wisdom.

Money was part of the reason couples believed their children brought them happiness.    Psychological studies have shown that people appreciate products more if they pay more for them.

And, yet more words from the Buddha…

“We pay for (children) in time, attention, blood, sweat and tears - what kind of idiots would we be to devote all of that to the rearing of our young if they’d didn’t bring us some happiness?”

Gee, I didn’t know I was that miserable.  And here I was thinking my child enriched my life in ways money couldn’t measure.  I think I should go shoot myself.

Am I over reacting?  Do any of you feel this way?  Of course, being a parent isn’t always  a bed of roses, and as adolescence looms on the horizon, there are doubtless many more tear-your-hair-out moments ahead,  but to say that having kids decreases your happiness…?!!

Keep a Game and Art Box on hand for your preschooler to entertain himself. Fill a shoe box, or other cardboard box with art materials, puzzles and other games, and keep it away for a rainy day - literally! When the weather is too bad to play outside, simply drag the box out, and let your child explore. These boxes are also great to send with your kids when they go to visit their grandparents.

Here are some of the things you can include:

• Picture puzzles
• Humpty Dumpty puzzles. Cut out an egg shape from cardboard, and paint on a pair of eyes, and a big brown belt in the middle. Cut into pieces - the younger the child, the fewer the number of pieces. Drop the pieces in a small ziploc bag, and into the box.
• Wash and cut out pairs of juice box fronts - pair up different flavors, and mix all these up in a ziploc bag. Drop this into the box too.
• Cover bottle lids with stars and hearts stickers on each, and put these into another bag. She can match these in pairs.

To take care of art supplies, throw in(in separate ziploc bags)

• wrapping paper pieces
• craft foam pieces
• pieces of felt
• paints and crayons
• glue,
• glitter gel
• stickers
• satin ribbons
• craft shells

You probably can’t have messy crafts supplies to occupy your child on a long drive, but you can have crayons, marker pens etc.. Stick a piece of clear plastic on the inside of a blank paged book, to form a pocket. Throw in a few crayons and markers in there, and keep the book in the dashboard. Pull out when you need a break from that non stop chatter.

Enjoy!

Three days of computer problems, and I am finally getting back on track.

Make your kids’ birthdays even more memorable by adding birthday traditions to them. A tradition is something that you will repeat every year on her birthday, making for a lifetime of memories. Here are a few ideas:

1. Begin the day with a special breakfast for your birthday boy or girl, with all their favorite foods. Yes, ice-cream and pizza in the morning. Why not?
2. Write a letter to your child on each birthday. These will become wonderful keepsakes to give when she leaves home. Write down all the things that you’re so proud of. You’ll find the list grows as she gets older.
3. Save a copy of the newspaper on her birthday – this collection will make an interesting gift to give when she turns an adult knowing what was happening on her birthday each year. My Birthday in History.
4. Have guests at her party write their names or scribble them into a white tablecloth. Preserve it.
5. Make a donation to a children’s’ charity in her name. It can be as small as you can afford. Let her know about it, that some one less privileged somewhere will be a little better off on her birthday. We do this every year for my son – our way of showing how grateful we are for him.
6. Plant a sapling on each birthday.
7. Each year, take a picture of her at the party standing by the cake holding a balloon with her age on it.
8. After the party, make a special photo album to send to grandparents. Stick the pictures, let her decorate and write messages to them. On one page, make a hand print. They’ll love seeing how she’s growing.

Do you do anything extra special that you follow every year?

I found this Telegraph story through Esmon, and wanted to share. The writer confesses not many of his friends take his child care advice too seriously, but he does put across a few interesting points.

For one, he has what he calls the “Manifesto of the Idle Parent,” and it reads like this:

• We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
• We pledge to leave our children alone
• That should mean that they leave us alone, too
• We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
• We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
• We drink alcohol without guilt
• We reject the inner Puritan
• We fill the house with music and laughter
• We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
• We lie in bed for as long as possible
• We try not to interfere
• We push them into the garden and shut the door so that we can clean the house
• We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
• Time is more important than money
• Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
• Down with school
• We fill the house with music and merriment

I disagree with the very first sentence of the manifesto. I’ve never met a parent who feels parenting is not hard work, and if you know anyone else who believes otherwise, please let me know.

Having said that, he’s very right on a few counts. We all agree over-regulating a child’s life is no good, like those etiquette classes for kids we talked about a few days back.

And he’s right about consumerism too.

And every house should be filled with music and merriment.

But I am not sure if I’d let my child run completely wild, either.

I think balance is important in everything. I think this is one of those cases where you take a few points from his manifesto, and apply them to your own life as you see fit.

What do you think? Could you be an idle parent?

Playing dress up and role play are the most important things you could encourage in your preschooler – probably even more important than teaching her the alphabet or numbers.  It helps those little minds blossom, and imagine a world full of possibilities. 

Finding costumes can be tricky though. Here are some ideas to create costumes for your kids:

• Check out thrift stores, and dollar stores for shiny paper garlands, flower necklaces and bracelets, feather boas, tiaras, hula skirts, boys’ suits, jackets, and retro clothing.  The gaudier the clothes, the more chances your child will actually like wearing these!
• Adjust older clothes she has to provide some dramatic flair.  Glue colored pom poms to a black beret, or to the edges of a scarf or muffler.
• Paste sequins, satin flowers, and rhinestones on hats, scarves and skirt hems.
• Recycle. Hand down your old handbags and purses to your daughter to use as accessories when she’s all dressed up for an evening out. If you have short dresses from your pre-baby days that you’ve given hope of ever fitting into, they can be used as elegant full length gowns for your daughter. Use pins to adjust.
• Use appliqués to decorate T-shirts
• If you need to play animal characters for a story time session, make your own animal smocks. Take a large paper bag, and cut open the side panels and remove them .Cut a large hole in the bottom of the bag, enough to slip over her head.  Use black marker to draw eyes, teeth and whiskers on the bag.  Slip your child’s head through the hole, so the bag is hanging like a smock on her, with the animal’s face in front.
• If you’re playing shop, cut out small pieces of sponge, and stick them on an empty shoe box.  Write down numerals on each sponge. Voila! You have a cash register!

 
Do your kids ever raid your closet?  It’s probably a girly thing, because I don’t see my boy interested  in hubby’s wardrobe…

Scouting the blogosphere for some of the best resources for preschool mamas. Sit back, and read on:

First, check out 25 ways to simplify your life with kids. I am beginning to think my son could do a better job of picking up after himself than he’s doing now.

The creative Planning Queen has great ideas to plan your next kiddie’s birthday party. Definitely bookmarkable.

Lisa at Workout Mommy advises you busy mamas to combine some fitness time for yourself with quality time with your kids. Tip: Combine with learning - plenty of things to “spy” and point out along the way.

It’s scorching here, and I love these fun and cheap ways to entertain the kids during summer.

If like me, you’re a fan of the Montessori method and are homeschooling your child, you’ll find Montessori Free Fall very useful. Steph has pictorial accounts of educating her child using Montessori materials.

Finally, here are two posts from bloggers I follow regularly. They bought some things into focus for me the past week. Lis at Woolgatherings wrote about separation pangs, and it made me realize that sooner or later, my baby is going to leave, and there will be a huge empty void. Made me run off to hug him.

Alison at Three Times Kewl posted about getting through a rough week as a single mom. Inspiring, and very moving.