Archive for February, 2013

Well this gives you one hint as to what I took to the urgent care center. Walsh was pretty brave even in a lot of pain.

So we were on top of our day yesterday. The school projects were done. We had been to the conferences. We had bought party supplies for Lilina’s party so I said let’s go to the park and get some exercise.

Walsh rode ahead of me on his bike and headed to his favorite bike trail toward the back of the park. The trail is of course a big windy hill. I was walking behind with the girls. Long story short, he fell and hurt his leg.

Luckily we had several friends at the park who could help me. So one school friend’s dad stayed with Walsh at the bottom of the hill, another friend stayed with the girls on the playground while I ran to get the car. I called the pediatrician while going to get the car and the doctors were all gone but the nurse answered and told me which urgent care place they liked. It was very close, affiliated with the local hospital and they …

Continue reading What would you take to the ER with you? »

There is an advice column on Slate.com known as “Dear Prudence” where people can obviously write in for advice. Well, a newly married woman has written in wanting to know if it’s OK that her Southern-born husband frequently calls other women sweetheart or sweetie – whether it be friends, co-workers or waitresses.

The wife if bothered by the use of this term of endearment used on other women, especially because he hasn’t even come up with a different pet name for her.

The man claims that term is ingrained in him and he just can’t break the habit.

I do think that it is very hard to stop saying things that are part of your culture’s vernacular. I say a heck of a lot of sweeties and babies myself. I also say a lot of “might coulds” and “might woulds.”  When I help at the elementary school, every child is sweetie, honey or baby.

When my brother was in the ICU at Emory several years ago, all the nurses used the same Southern honey and sweetie. We wondered what …

Continue reading Can husbands from the South get away with calling other women sweetheart? »

My 9-year-old has been working hard on three school research projects due all within about two weeks of each other. For one step, he was supposed to take notes and then put them on note cards to organize the notes to write the paper.

And the whole time I’m think it’s called a computer. You can type in your notes and then cut and paste and reorganize them over and over again however your little heart pleases.

The kids are allowed to type. So instead of handwriting notes on the note cards based on his typed notes we printed the page and he cut and taped each “note” to the note cards.

So he has fulfilled the requirement but I don’t necessarily think he’s learned how to organize a paper through the note card method.

So what is happening at your school? Are they still organizing papers through note cards? Are they just letting kids “virtually” organize on the word processor? Should the note card step just be eliminated from the process kids are learning?

Continue reading Are note cards still a necessary step for kids’ projects? »

I’m sorry I didn’t get a post up on Monday and I do have one popping up today at 11. However, I just wanted to tell you that I’m having a crazy week.

This week: I have three school conferences. I’m cooking two nights for our neighbor. I’m taking another neighbor’s kids to school two days this week. I’m planning and buying all the stuff for Lilina’s birthday party this weekend and I’m trying to decide if I have time to bake her cake myself. Plus, doing all my regular stuff – teaching two days, volunteering at the school, taking care of the kids, and supposedly writing for you guys.  Oh, I’m also taking the dog to the groomer.

I don’t mind doing any of this stuff. I’m happy to do it. It’s just all hitting in one week.

I was feeling so overwhelmed that I had to print out my Google calendar to see everything spatially. I couldn’t grasp it all just seeing it scroll by in my phone.

So I will do my best to get topics up but you’ll know why if there’s …

Continue reading Just FYI — I’m having a crazy week! »

The Associated Press is reporting that a 10-year-old boy called 911 because he didn’t want to go to bed.  Here’s the story:

From The AP:

“BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — Police in Massachusetts say a 10-year-old boy called 911 because he didn’t want to go to bed.

“Brockton police say the boy made the emergency call just after 8 p.m. Wednesday and told the dispatcher he was calling to report his mother because he did not want to go to bed.

“There was no emergency.

“The Enterprise ( http://bit.ly/YoKmJZ ) reports that according to the police log, an officer went to the boy’s home and explained to him when it’s appropriate – and when it’s not – to call 911.

“No one was charged.”

Per our discussion the other day about schools over-reacting and over-punishing, I am glad the police used it as a teaching moment and not as a punishment moment. I am actually kind of surprised no one was charged with anything.

What do you think: Should the boy have been charged or was a firm …

Continue reading Boy calls 911 to delay bedtime: How do your kids put off bedtime? »

Raising chickens in your backyard was trendy a few years back, and it seems to have become more and more mainstream. I am surprised by the number of my friends in Georgia who are regularly discussing their chickens online.

There are whole discussions on Facebook about chicken health, chicken vets, chicken coops, chicken feed and chicken illnesses. Moms are asking advice about their chicken’s health just like they do about their own kid’s health. They are looking for recommendations for doctors, the best feed and the best preschools. (OK I made that last part up about the preschools but they are asking lots of advice.)

(Here is a whole website about backyard chickens.)

And there are lots and lots of chicken photos. I actually enjoy seeing the chickens and reading about the ups and downs of raising chickens. If I had the space in my backyard, I would be interested in raising chickens. I would love the fresh eggs. I would love for my kids to have that experience of feeding and …

Continue reading Are you or your friends raising backyard chickens? »

Should 5-year-olds be suspended from school for using their fingers as pretend guns? Should little kids be suspended for making noises that sound like guns?

The Associated Press took a good look at schools suspending some of the youngest students for actions that used to just be seen as play and imagination. Is is because of Sandy Hook? Is it because of zero tolerance rules or both? See what you think. Here’s the story.

From The Associated Press:

“Waiting in line for the bus, a Pennsylvania kindergartener tells her pals she’s going to shoot them with a Hello Kitty toy that makes soap bubbles. In Maryland, two 6-year-old boys pretend their fingers are guns during a playground game of cops and robbers. In Massachusetts, a 5-year-old boy attending an after-school program makes a gun out of Legos and points it at other students while “simulating the sound of gunfire,” as one school official put it.

“Kids with active imaginations? Or potential threats to school safety?

“Some school …

Continue reading Little kids being suspended renews debate over zero tolerance »

The New York Times reports that school administrators in New York City are struggling to find ways to differentiate between true giftedness in children and children who have just had lots of prepping by private tutors and their parents.

From The New York Times:

“…The city’s leading private schools are even considering doing away with the test they have used for decades, popularly known as the E.R.B., after the Educational Records Bureau, the organization that administers the exam, which is written by Pearson.

“ ‘It’s something the schools know has been corrupted,” said Dr. Samuel J. Meisels, an early-childhood education expert who gave a presentation in the fall to private school officials, encouraging them to abandon the test. Excessive test preparation, he said, “invalidates inferences that can be drawn” about children’s “learning potential and intellect and achievement.”  …

“Scores had been soaring. For the 2012-13 school year, nearly 5,000 …

Continue reading When are kids gifted or just well prepared for the test? »

We didn’t get a chance to talk about this story last Friday but I thought we should. New details are emerging about the man accused of slapping a toddler on a Delta flight and the incident itself. (This story is from late Sunday. I will update on Monday.) So check it out and let me know what you think.

From The Associated Press:

“MINNEAPOLIS — A man charged with slapping a toddler on a Minneapolis-to-Atlanta flight is out of a job, his former employer said Sunday.

“Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, of Hayden, Idaho, is no longer an employee of AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composites Group, Daniel Keeney of DPK Public Relations confirmed Sunday night.

“Al Haase, president and CEO of AGC, issued a statement early Sunday that, while not referring to Hundley by name, called reports of behavior by one of its executives on recent personal travel “offensive and disturbing” and said he “is no longer employed with the company.” Keeney would not say whether Hundley was fired or resigned. …

Continue reading Man charged with slapping toddler fired, more details emerge »

Authorities in Mexico have discovered that the girl who gave birth two weeks ago is between 12 to 13, and not actually 9 as her parents said.

Also, the Jalisco state prosecutors say the girl was impregnated by her stepfather and not her alleged 17-year-old boyfriend.

From The Associated Press:

…“Authorities announced last week that a 9-year-old had given birth to a baby girl and that they were looking for her boyfriend.

“But prosecutors said Wednesday that DNA tests revealed the baby’s father is the girl’s 44-year-old stepfather and that he is under arrest.

“They said an anthropological study of the girl showed she is between 12 and 13. The girls’ parents didn’t have a birth certificate for her and initially told authorities she was 9.”

ABC News had more details.

“The girl, identified as Dafne, was impregnated by her 44-year-old stepfather, according to Lino Gonzalez Corona, a spokesman for the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office. The stepfather is under arrest …

Continue reading AP: 9-year-old who gave birth actually 12 or 13, more twists »