Mom Tip Monday: Music

February 21, 2011

I quite by accident came across a lesson about kids and music I’d love to share from experience. I read early on that music significantly influences brain development in young children, going so far as improving memory. Like any loving mother, I wanted to offer my kids the best opportunities and music was definitely one. […]

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Go, Dog. Go!

February 19, 2011

I remember the first time I saw a play. I was a little girl, about 8 years old, and my mom suddenly started taking me to these plays aimed at adults in the posh Fifth Avenue Theater in downtown Seattle. A two hour drive from our mountain home on the North Cascades Highway, the theater […]

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Wordless Wednesday: Initiative

February 16, 2011

When I went in to get sweetness yesterday morning, this is what met me. A fully made bed with all her bed buddies tucked in. Yeah, they do learn in time! Tweet

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Mom Tip Monday: Talking About Differences

February 14, 2011

Children can begin to notice difference in gender and skin color as early as six months of age. By age 3, they can place a photo of themselves in their own racial/ethnic group and begin to ask questions about differences. By the time they enter kindergarten, they have a core sense of their racial identity […]

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Confessions: I’m failing

February 12, 2011

I can’t do it. I’m trying my hardest, but I’m starting to realize I just can’t do it. Stay at home mom life is not for me. If you’ve been following the drama here, you know I lost my job the beginning of the year and had to quickly transition into a life of stay […]

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Mom Tip Monday: Social Skills

February 7, 2011

Last week I wrote about a very frustrating experience when I observed a preschool for Sweetness. I got a lot of feedback, both in the form of comments as well as e-mails from local folks who recognized which school I visited. This got me thinking. I learned something fascinating about parental expectations in that experience. […]

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Mom Tip Monday: Encouragement Part 3

January 31, 2011

The last two weeks I’ve been running a three-part series on encouraging our kids, using techniques aimed at their specific developmental stages. I started by talking about how to encourage children from birth to 6 then went on the last week to discuss specific child development and encouragement techniques for kids from 6 to 12 […]

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Preschool Letdown

January 27, 2011

Today I took Sweetness to a new preschool. It was a disaster. At least in my mind. I’ve been researching some different preschool options now that I’m unemployed and unable to afford childcare for one while I’m with the other in co-op preschool. It makes more sense to spend the money on the school. I […]

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