For unknown reasons, Continental gave away all of our assigned seating on our first flight out of Denver. The only two seats together that they could give us were in the last row of the airplane. So Jacob and I sat in the last row and played Uno and checkers. As anyone who has watched kids not sit still would understand, some how all of the (magnetic) checkers ended up spilling off the table and onto the floor. After collecting all the ones we could see, we were still missing one, so Jacob crawled behind the seats with his wind up flashlight, and found the missing checker stuck to one of the seat legs. I’m sure Jacob would tell you that his windup flashlight is an indispensible tool on any trip!
Jacob’s first travel crisis
Remember what I said about getting behind children in line
in security? Well, I was wrong. On our way to the British Virgin Islands last week our six year old, Jacob, caught the attention of the TSA security agents. In his Scooby Doo backpack he was carrying, in addition to the normal
treasures, a metal box of travel games, a metal Bob the Builder box to
collect treasures in and a wind up flashlight – oh, and a metal bell without
the clapper. When his
backpack hit the scanner’s screen the TSA agent stopped the conveyer belt, stared at the image for a while and
then waved over one of her associates. The second guy stared for a while and then pulled out his radio and
called for a third person! The third
person collected Jacob’s backpack and took it over to the explosive testing machine. By this time, Jacob was starting to look really worried. The agent took eveything out of the backpack, much to Jacob’s concern, examined it all, tested it for explosives and then took all the contents and the backpack back to the scanner. Jacob bravely fought back tears and asked why were they taking his backpack? We got it back shortly after that and the agent explained they had never seen a wind up flashlight or a metal travel games box before. Jacob is now sure he does not like security and that they take things from you!
What color eyes will your baby have?
As many of you know, I’m waiting impatiently to find out what color hair and what eyes Caleb will have. In trying to figure it out I’ve discovered that eye color and hair color is not the simple "Bb" vs "bb" they taught us in elementary school science. Now they think eye color is primarily determined by how one gene interacts with three other genes! At least that’s what I got out of the article. I did learn one really interesting fact:
Green eyes
probably represent the interaction of multiple variants […] including perhaps the red-hair gene.
So green eyes and red-hair are related!
Photo by myrtepeert.
What do baby’s blankets have in common with murder’s gloves?
Children become attached to a blankie or a toy for much the same reason that most of us don’t want to own or touch anything belonging to a murderer. Somehow, we (and the children) believe that there’s an essence that belongs to people or things that can rub off. At least that’s what scientists are saying. Personally, I think they’ve established that children love their blankies but they haven’t really figured out why yet.
They did a study where they had a machine that magically copied objects. (Really a researcher slid out a second object.) Children were ok with the copies of all objects except the copy of their blankie. Then only the original would do. The only other exception they found was when the object was special because it belonged to someone special:
This unique property also applied to objects belonging to famous
people. Hood and Bloom placed a metal goblet in the copying machine and
told 6-year-olds that the object was special either because it was made
of a precious metal or because it once belonged to the Queen.When
shown the original and a copy, children thought the duplicate silver
goblet was worth the same as the original, but a goblet that once
belonged to royalty was worth more than any copy.
So the next time you are getting frustrated with your child for wanting to carry their blankie or favorite stuffed animal into the swimming pool, ask yourself, would you want to wear a murderer’s gloves?
Photo by frogmuseum2.
Would you save 2500 kids?
I sit around and wonder what to do with my life. What’s my purpose in life? And then I read about someone like Irena Sendler. This amazing woman saved the lives of 2500 children! Can you imagine? She helped 2500 Jewish children in Poland find homes with Catholic families so they would escape the concentration camp. She herself was tortured but she didn’t give away any information about the children.
I’m sure she didn’t go out looking for ways to save the world but when the opportunity presented itself, she stepped up to the plate. She saw a need and stepped in to help at great cost and expense to herself.
How do we make sure that if the opportunity presents itself to us, that we recognize it? And how do we find these opportunities? My first response is "well, we all won’t get the opportunity to save children from the Nazis" but then my next thought is "no, but there’s probably even bigger opportunities today."
Irena Sendler is now 97 years old and her only regret is that she didn’t do more.
What’s causing our kids to become autistic, fat, near-sighted and sleep deprived?
TV! This latest study found
that watching TV lowers melatonin levels which can create all sorts of
nasty side effects in children. This study (as others) linked TV
watching in kids to:
- autism
- obesity
- trouble sleeping
- eye problems
- lower melatonin levels
- early puberty
In adults, "the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease
increases with each extra daily hour of television viewing among people
aged 20 to 60."
Watching TV must give people immense pleasure … otherwise I can’t
imagine why they would expose themselves and their kids to so much of
it. We spend nine months of pregnancy trying to eat right, drink
no alcohol, get all sorts of prenatal tests and then we plop our
toddlers down in front of another round of SpongeBob or Thomas the Tank
Engine without a second thought.
Getting wealthy might not be good for your kids
Pursuing wealth may not be good for your kids says Pyschology Today:
the pursuit of status and material wealth by high-earning families
(say, $120,000 and above) tends to leave skid marks on the kids, but in
ways you might not have expected. Affluent suburban high schoolers not
only smoke more, drink more and use more hard drugs than typical high
schoolers do—they do so more than a comparison group of inner-city
kids. In addition, they have much higher rates of anxiety and, in
general, higher rates of depression.
Although once again, one of the strongest predictors of success was family dinners together!
The Secret of How to Talk to Your Kids
New York Magazine’s How Not to Talk to Your Kids is scary! According to the author (and many studies) when we tell kids they are smart, they are more likely to care about looking smart and will only pick tasks they are sure to succeed in. If we tell them they did really well because they worked really hard, they are more likely to keep trying hard.
“When we praise children for their intelligence,†Dweck wrote in her
study summary, “we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look
smart, don’t risk making mistakes.â€
In one study teachers said that students who were taught that they could work at being smart improved their study habits and grades. Those that had been told they did well because they were smart, didn’t improve.
Children are also dismissing compliments because they are getting too many insincere ones, "a teacher who praises a child may be unwittingly sending the message
that the student reached the limit of his innate ability, while a
teacher who criticizes a pupil conveys the message that he can improve
his performance even further."
Another point they made is a random reward is better than a reward everytime. I remember this from college psychology and dog training. A treat once in a while for a good "sit" is better than a treat for each sit. If it’s for each sit, the dog expects a reward everytime, does it just for the reward and may not do it if they don’t want a treat. If you only treat sometimes, they’ll do it everytime because they want to make sure they get the treat when it shows up!
My takeaways were:
- Make sure your praise is specific. "That catch was great" instead of "you played great."
- Praise effort as well as just ability.
Dogs are Good for Babies’ Health
Babies Gagged in Russia
Having just spent three days in the hospital with my own 5 month old son, this article hit a nerve, Russian Shock at Gagged Babies. The babies were gagged with plaster and tape because their crying was disturbing the nurses. A woman who happened to be in the hospital with her own children heard the babies and took a video with her cell phone.
All of the gagged children were orphans. It definitely made me understand why people want to adopt! Everytime Caleb cried in the hospital I talked to him or held him. The thought of those babies being gagged instead of comforted just made my heart hurt.