Category Archives: Motherhood

Sep17

Cooking With Kids; ChopChop Invites You To The #BigPicnic

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Cooking With Kids; ChopChop Invites You To The #BigPicnic

ChopChop Big PicnicParsnip and Dill, I tell my kids. Those are my secret ingredients for delicious chicken soup. Well not my recipe I confess, but passed on to me by Grandma Nettie, Auntie Kimbo’s grandmother. They know that “Auntie” Kimbo is not really their aunt, and that her name is Kim (Kimberly but don’t tell her I told you!).  They also know that Kim and I have been friends since we were six, and somewhere Kim turned into Kimbo, as those things go with longtime childhood friends.

In any case, my kids and I love to cook together and it has been fun as they grow to watch them conquer more and more complex cooking tasks on their own. And by complex I mean my 10-year-old is up to the cracking the eggs into a bowl without bits of shell getting in. One of the most rewarding moments of motherhood so far was the birthday morning that I woke up to heart-shaped pancakes made for me by my 13-year-old daughter. My child had cooked for me , and that felt revolutionary.

I like to cook with them for the same reason that I like to keep a small (o.k. weed infested) garden in our backyard. I like for them to know where their food comes from. To understand the process of how what we put into our body is made, and that they can make food for themselves, it does not have to come in a package or be bought off a shelf. We had been big fans of the quarterly publication ChopChop Magazine for years, loving to try the healthful recipes and snack suggestions within its colorful pages. ChopChop is a non-profit  with the mission to inspire and teach kids to cook and eat real food with their families.

Currently, 1 out of 400 children under 18 in the U.S. has diabetes, and nearly 1 in 3 is obese. ChopChop’s goal is to reverse this trend by teaching kids and their parents how to create healthy, delicious meals that are easy to prepare and use fresh, nutritious ingredients. ChopChop doesn’t demonize particular foods or use scare tactics. They just offer simple, healthy, and affordable recipes for children and parents to make together.

When we found out ChopChop had come out with a  ChopChop cookbook  we were thrilled.   We were sent a copy as a lead up to our participation in The Big Picnic, and when we received our copy of the cookbook  I had the kids pick out a recipe for us to try.  With four kids coming to a consensus can be challenging to say the least, this time somehow they all enthusiastically agreed that they wanted to make Matzo Balls to add to Grandma Nettie’s Chicken Soup.

The ChopChop Cookbook is made for kids so it is easy for them to read and follow the well explained simple recipes. Personally I never knew I could make Matzo balls, so to find them so easy to make surprised me. Of course the kids all wanted to crack the eggs so I was grateful that the recipe they chose called for 6! Of course rolling the Matzo balls was the most fun, but watching them fluff up as they cooked came pretty close.

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Inspired by National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September, The Big Picnic is being hosted on September 22nd by ChopChop and partner organizations including The White House as a virtual community picnic in which families across the country will cook and eat together at their own picnics. It will be a fun event with a serious goal: preventing childhood obesity.  Who doesn’t love a picnic!?! They are a great way to remind us that cooking and eating healthy food together is lots of fun—a time to share and enjoy. This event is all about good food and good company!

You can join The Big Picnic however you like, spread out a blanket , eat at a picnic table – outside or in. Invite friends, family,  neighbors, and make it as simple or as elaborate as you want. Take pictures or video and share with the hashtag #bigpicnic, and as a participant you will be eligible to win prizes like subscriptions to the magazine, a copy of the  ChopChop cookbook or other fun surprises. We’ll be there, eating our Matzo Ball Soup!

You can also Enter to Win a ChopChop cookbook and a one-year ChopChop Magazine subscription Below!
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This is an original post written by me as part of a program with The Mission List. I received a ChopChop cookbook + magazine subscription for culinary inspiration; as always all opinions are my own.

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Jul11

How The Kids See Me

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How The Kids See Me

Portrait of me by my daughter “yelling about the messy playroom”

This is re-posted from a year ago. It’s one of my favorites.

I think of myself as a pretty laid back mom, and by nature I’m not a yeller, so years back when my oldest daughter returned from art class with a portrait of  me looking like a screaming maniac, I was sure there must have been a mistake.  She took the class with three friends, and there was some confusion over whose portrait was whose.  Three were of serene smiling mothers, and then there was this.  One of the other moms actually was a yeller, so I knowingly looked around the group and told them I though there was a mix up.    My daughter cleared the air by confirming that it was in fact her portrait of me yelling about the messy playroom.  Of course as I slunk away I told her I loved it, and commended her on her originality.  I sincerely meant both compliments, but a part of me caught the first glimpse of how she saw me through her child’s lens, and I had to laugh.  Sure I am a laid back person, and I swear am not a yeller, but many a mom has caught herself losing her cool at her kids about something, and then thinking “who is this raving lunatic the kids are turning me into? This is so not me!”  This portrait just may be my favorite piece of artwork that hangs in our home; it forces me to laugh at myself every time I see it.

I was harder hit a year later when in the same week my daughter brought home a family crest where I was represented by a mop and pail, and my son brought home a cute Mother’s Day card where he finished the sentence “My mother loves to…..” with “wash the dishes“.

 

As disheartening as these depictions of me were I knew that they were completely honest, innocent assessments.  I thought back to how I viewed my own mother as a kid, and from what I remember,  I was only vaguely aware of her as a woman outside of her role as my mom. The first time I recall feeling deep pride and admiration for her accomplishments was when we were writing the text for our wedding invitations, and I realized that as a Ph.D. her proper title was “Dr.” not “Mom”. I guess it took me a while, and still it wasn’t until after I had my own children that I could truly appreciate her in full.   I can’t expect my kids to see me other than through the paradigm of their childish inner world.  Most kids by nature are egocentric creatures.   Most of the time my kids perceptions of me serve as moments of humility, but they can just as easily put me on a pedestal like no one else can.   I have to laugh at the truth in their observations, because no commentary is as candid as a child’s.  This recent portrait of me by my youngest son is a new favorite.  Here he managed to capture the essence of me in the morning with perfection. Certainly this is how I feel before that first cup of coffee.  The funny ones are my favorites, but every now and then a piece of art comes home that just melts my mommy heart into a puddle, and that is the power of kids art.

 

 

(I had to throw in this one where I am listed as 6′ tall and 100 pounds)

Jun28

The 5 Most Important Summer Safety Tips For Kids

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The 5 Most Important Summer Safety Tips For Kids

After hearing the story the other night of a friend’s child whose life was saved by wearing a helmet, I decided to re-post this as we head into the fun of summer. Let’s make it a safe one! 

A few years back, sitting by the side of a neighbor’s pool, as the kids frolicked with their friends, I learned a little something about drowning.  Other moms were standing by the edge; some with their feet on the top step in the water.  We were all right there, alternately chatting and watching the kids.  One of the older girls in the pool grabbed what she thought was the hair of the life size Barbie doll they had been playing with moments before, and pulled her up from the bottom.  She was shocked to find one of her little neighbors instead.  The little girl coughed, and reached for her mother as she started to cry.  Apparently she had just walked right into the pool, past all the chatting moms, not realizing she couldn’t swim, and had SILENTLY sank to the bottom. No splashing, no screams; not like in the movies.  It was eerily silent, and we all had been right there.  The whole scene took place in an instant.  We had just witnessed what a real drowning would look like. We were in shock, and acutely aware of the serendipity that the older girl had decided to play with the doll at that instant, in doing so she had unwittingly saved a life.

Summer is a magical time of year for children, and filled with opportunities for amusement. By knowing what to watch out for as we head into school vacation we can help to keep our children safe while they enjoy their summertime fun. Between the months of May and August unintentional injury deaths peak for children under 14 years old.  Below are the top five culprits that parents need to be aware of, and the proper precautions to take to protect kids, and enjoy summer safely.

1.Prevent Drowning:

Nearly 9 out of 10 fatal events occur during a brief lapse in supervision.  A child can drown in a matter of seconds, as I learned in the frightening lesson above.  My kids spent their years learning to swim looking like little Michelin men in their floatation devises.  At least I knew they wouldn’t sink!

2.Avoid Bicycle Injuries.

The most common injuries are broken bones, but head injuries can be life threatening.  A helmet is the single most effective safety device for reducing the severity of head injuries and the likelihood of death following a bicycle crash.  Even if your kid falls and hits their head in your own driveway it can be serious.

3. Avoid Falls.

Falls are the most common summertime injury to send kids to the hospital, trampolines and playground equipment are top culprits.  Toddlers are most at risk for falls from windows.

4.Safety For Motorized Vehicle Accidents.

Although the summer is generally a more relaxed time of year, car safety should be followed in the same way as the rest of the year.  Teenagers are responsible for a large percentage of all motor vehicle accidents.

5.Stay Clear Of Burns.

In younger kids these are usually cooking burns or water burns, in older kids campfires and fireworks.

I would love to still be able to dress my kids in those protective floating bubble suits as I did when they were little, but  I’m pretty sure they would not stand for it now.  As parents if we make sure kids are actively supervised when in or around water, and keep them protected with appropriate safety gear we can give them the best odds at a safe and enjoyable summer!

 

 

 

 

May12

The Parenting Book For Global Moms

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The Parenting Book For Global Moms

I wish Christine Gross-Loh had written this book about 14 years ago when I was first becoming a mother.  I’m pretty sure it would have been my parenting bible.  There were plenty of  parenting books around back then when I had my first child, but I quickly realized that the philosophies often contradicted each other, and  I would end up following common sense, and ditching the structured advice more often than not anyways. By the time I had my second child I had stopped reading parenting books altogether.  What I like about Christine Gross-Loh’s new book Parenting Without Borders is that it looks at the results, the way kids behave as an outcome of cultural child rearing practices that point to real success in various areas of development.  The author became aware of differing international parenting styles after living in Japan with her small children and then moving back to the U.S.. Suddenly what she would have previously taken as normal parenting, stood out to her as distinctively American parenting, and she realized it wasn’t always the best way to do things. This set off years of international research on parenting styles around the world for her. Eventually it informed her ultimate international patchwork of parenting style with her own kids.

It  makes so much sense, we share best practices in many ways cross-culturally, why not parenting?    Sure, I had done a ton of traveling before having kids myself,  but as a single young woman for most of the time, I can’t say that I was absorbing much parenting advice along the way.  Along with Documama, I write and Edit for World Moms Blog,  a community of bloggers and moms from around the world.  We learn so much, and gain such understanding from each other by sharing our experiences, and advice as technology is making the world a smaller place.

The book illustrates how other cultures can show us how to bring our children up to expect less stuff  like the kids in Japan, be more healthful eaters as in France and Italy, or more independent thinkers like the kids in Sweden. There aspects in which the author believes our American parenting style is superior too.  The point of this book is that we can pull together lessons from around the world for the most balanced possible outcome. Our children, the children of this upcoming generation, will inevitably  be global citizens weather brought up that way or not. We might as well get started!

*I received a free copy of Parenting Without Borders for the purpose of this book review, as always my opinions are honest and my own, and are never swayed by outside influences.