Week in Review from Parenting in the Loop

Here are my pick reads for the week.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

🙂

Many of us want to have it all…but let’s be real…is it possible? My guess is, it depends on what “all” means to each one of us. Our definition of “all” may also change and morph over time just as we ourselves do. Marissa Mayer is the new, young, mother-to-be, CEO of Yahoo. This week she is causing a stir and is a trending topic among moms. It seems, she plans to work right through her maternity leave…does she not have a clue how becoming a parent changes your perspective. That is not to say that her plans are not “realistic” for her. What it seems to say is, she has no experience to reference her wishes as to how she will handle motherhood and a high profile job.

What does a beach day look like from Mom’s lens?  This is a wonderful version of a summer day of fun and frolic.

Does it sound like something that you have experienced as a Mom or Dad?

“Mothers feel so overwhelmed by the sexualizing messages their daughters are receiving from the media that they feel they can do nothing to help,” she said. “Our studys findings indicate otherwise — we found that in actuality, mothers are key players in whether or not their daughters sexualize themselves. Moms can help their daughters navigate a sexualizing world by instructing their daughters about their values and by not demonstrating objectified and sexualized behaviors themselves.”

Toast Tuesday

“Toast Tuesday”

I am going to recommend a blog that I thoroughly enjoy…”MommasGoneCity“by Jessica Shyba. I had the pleasure of meeting Jessica at a conference and she is just as nice in person as she is on her blog.

Jessica shares moments in NYC and in her beloved Bay Area outside of San Francisco that are all about what life is like with 3 young children. In a fresh and honest way, Jessica expresses her joys as  a mom along with her moments of frustration.

Personally, I love her photos, especially the ones of my “home” town New York. She brings me back to a time in my life when I was experiencing similar days with my own children some 30+ years ago.

However, unlike Jessica, for me there was no internet nor digital photography. I would like to think that I would have used social media in the same way as “MommasGoneCity” has, to keep in touch and share my life as a mother with my family when I moved away from them so many years ago.

Jessica, you are one of my favorite bloggers…I look forward to following your blog as it continues to evolve.

🙂

http://www.babble.com/mom/work-family/the-top-50-mom-bloggers-of-2010-2/mommas-gone-city/

Toast Tuesday!

I know it is a little late but here is my “toast” today.

iGame Mom is a wonderful blog for parents looking for good Apps for children. I have downloaded many Apps that have been suggested on this site…most were free or at special pricing.

Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

A place for the busy parents to discover the good educational Apps for kids, and learn what they can do to stay engaged with the kids in the new games world.

via About — iGameMom.

“Week in Review” from Parenting in the Loop

Here are my picks for weekend reading…

It is blistering hot here in Chicagoland so we will be mostly indoors until the heat breaks which is expected on Saturday night.

Try to stay cool and hydrated everyone.

“Week in Review”….ParentingintheLoop

My choices for good worthwhile reads….
  • Tackling Distress Tantrums with Brain ResearchThe following article is an excerpt from the excellent book, The Science of Parenting: How todays brain research can help you raise happy, emotionally balanced children by Margot Sunderland

via peaceful parenting: Tackling Distress Tantrums with Brain Research.

  • I’m very much a “back in my day” type of mom in that I always tell kids what things were like during that time, so very long ago, before they were born. I tell them about life without the Internet, cellphones, and how I walked to school up a hill in a snowstorm backwards without shoes.

via 10 Things My Kids Think I Did in the Good Old Days | Kid Scoop.

  • A team of German scientists has just released the first ever video footage of a live birth with magnetic resonance imaging, MRI.

via Amazing Footage of Mom Giving Birth in an MRI Machine | Being Pregnant.

Have a wonderful summer weekend!

Essentials of a good education in today’s world…

I have been a fan of Leo Babauta for several years since my husband introduced his blog to me. He is very relaxing to read and he speaks to my inner soul much of the time.

Yesterday…while looking through some of my Facebook updates, I came upon this post of Leo’s that I missed on his feed.

Although, I have never been a fan of homeschooling, I can definitely appreciate Leo’s comments on how we are educating or not educating our children to meet the challenges of the world in which they will live.

I hope that you enjoy this piece from Leo…please read his bio…it is impressive.

Let me know what you think…I would love to hear your feelings about home schooling…would love to have tried homeschooling but do not think I have or ever had the patience to undertake such a challenge.

How then to prepare our kids for a world that is unpredictable, unknown? By teaching them to adapt, to deal with change, to be prepared for anything by not preparing them for anything specific.This requires an entirely different approach to child-rearing and education. It means leaving our old ideas at the door, and reinventing everything.

via 9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn, by Leo Babauta.

Week in Review….ParentingintheLoop!

Summer Solstice… NYC

 

Healthy Child Healthy World is one of my favorite sites for excellent information…this week has been a long one for me but I would love to share these wonderful articles that as so apropos for summer.

Have a great weekend!

See you all next week…hopefully!

  • The dog days of summer have arrived early at Chez Sorensen and my girls are practically living in the pool. I love that they’re spending oodles of time outdoors, but we’re going through copious amounts of sunscreen and my kids aren’t exactly fond of the laborious effort it takes to slather their bodies repeatedly throughout the day.

via 3 Sunscreen Safety Tips You Probably Don’t Know, But Definitely Should | Healthy Child Healthy World.

  • Dr. Harvey Karp is a legend at Healthy Child Healthy World. Dr. Karp is a founding board member and a driving force behind the work we do every day.

via Dr. Harvey Karp, America’s #1 Pediatrician, Makes a Housecall | Healthy Child Healthy World.

  • Vegetarian PestoFresh and flavorful! Check out this recipe for a versatile and vegetarian pesto that you can use all summer!

via Vegetarian Pesto | Healthy Child Healthy World.

Chicago Bean at Sunrise

Photos of “my two Cities”… via Flickr…

 

“Food for Thought”….Kids Food in a Pouch!

via Plum Organics on Pinterest

I have been wondering about these “pouches”of organic pureed foods for kids and how parents are using them. When I go to our village grocer or Whole Foods, I am always looking for healthy snacks for my grandchild and have seen these options near the jarred baby food. I even purchased a couple of varieties, but they were not a hit with my little one.

Now, after just reading this NYTimes article, I definitely have “more food for thought” about an organic version of convenience “foods”, that are essentially healthy but allow us to feed our kids on the run. Will these pouches actually help to do away with learning how to sit down and enjoy a meal the way it was meant to be enjoyed?

Sometimes, I feel that sitting down in a McDonalds now and then with a Kids Meal and a salad for myself is far better than pulling out something from my purse that might be healthier but does not permit any “down time”…to just sit, talk and connect.

Seriously…do any of you use these “pouches” to feed your children nourishment on the run?

Have you ever tasted any of them?

What do you think of this whole idea???

Excerpted from the NYTimes:

Watching her jump and eat, I was struck by several thoughts simultaneously. One, kids aren’t supposed to move and eat, are they? Two, if my children don’t sit at the table, how will they ever learn manners? Will they be cast out of polite society, like pirates or hoofed animals? And three, aren’t meals part of the glue that’s supposed to hold a family together? Are we in such a hurry to do things efficiently that we’re expediting the transition to the can-I-have-the-car-keys diaspora?…….

At last, I realized the source of my nagging discomfort. The pouch may help us negotiate the age-old battle of wills at the table, not to mention relieving me of my vaudeville act. But it also creates children in our own frenetic image: energetic, vitamin-fueled, moving frantically from one thing to the next.

I wonder if that’s a good thing.

via Food Pouches Let Little Ones Serve Themselves – NYTimes.com.