Pre-schoolers – Page 4

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Sayings, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

A New Kind of Countdown . . .

Posted on October 3, 2011October 7, 2011 by Katharine

Do you “count” you kids down?

You know, you tell them to do something and they don’t do it.

So you say, “One . . . ”

The implication is that you have told them once and you are keeping track, so you must really mean it. Or something.

Then you tell them again, and you say, “That’s two,” a bit more firmly.

Then you tell them again, and you say, “Don’t make me get out of this chair!” They yawn.

And the countdown begins again.

The children learn they do not have to do anything you say because what you say does not really mean anything at all, and your frustration level escalates.

Well, I was at a craft show this weekend and met a lady who “counts” her grandsons and it is all different. I liked it.

She has taught these two boys to repeat a chant with her. It goes like this:

–Grandmother: One.

–Grandsons: One–I am going a wrong way.

—Grandmother: Two.

—Grandsons: Two–I need to find a different way.

You may wonder where the expected “three” is. On “three” she gets out of her chair. That’s one reason this method works.

(However, as a child, I am sure I would have been saying inside myself, “Three–I need to get OUT of the way!”)

As I observed these boys I marvelled. They had been without Mom for a week and were at a boring craft fair where it was not appropriate for them to do anything. They shared one toy truck and played on the ground with it.

When one boy decided to drive the truck on the sidewalk, Grandmother perceived he was causing a tripping hazard for the shoppers. So she told him to stop and return to the grassy places where her tent was.

He did this only briefly, then strayed to the sidewalk again.

Then she said, “One.”

He replied, “One–I am going a wrong way,” and he sighed, returning to the grass.

In less than a minute his toy truck had strayed again. And Grandmother said, “Two.”

He answered, “Two–I need to find a different way.” Then my jaw dropped, I am sure, as he calmly walked over to his brother, handed him the toy, and wryly said, “See if you can keep this thing off the sidewalk. I can’t.”

I imagine these two little guys, someday at age 35 or so, filling out a tax form or zipping down a highway, temped to “forget” some benefit or accelerate too much, and hearing Grandmother say to them, through the ages, “One . . . “

Believe it or not!, Home School, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Wisdom, Womanhood

Missing Children Found!

Posted on August 24, 2011November 10, 2018 by Katharine

How many children would you guess are homeschooling in the US, today?

Two Million.

That’s one in every 25 kids of school age.

empty desk What this means is that in every classroom that holds 25 children, one is missing. And it’s because of homeschool.

The schools don’t like us home educators very much because of it.

They feel they are losing too much money because of it.

But they forget two things.

They forget we don’t get that money. Their argument is with their own bought-and-paid-for legislators, not with us, if anything is amiss or missing in public education.
They forget abortion.

Abortion has killed far beyond 55,000,000 since Roe vs. Wade.

That is more than EVERY child in EVERY classroom currently in America.

Missing.

Dead.

We’ve killed that many.

Look around you.

Every child ages 5 – 18 has at least one counterpart who is missing. because he or she was aborted.

They could have doubled their money, had they thought about it.

Believe it or not!, Health, Herbs, Photos, Pre-schoolers, Recipes, Who's the mom here?

Just Like B’sketti! – A Recipe of Sorts

Posted on August 17, 2011March 17, 2016 by Katharine

Homemade spaghetti How to cook. How to cook. How to cook for little ones who may not like my cooking . . .

Part of me felt like the character in No Reservations played by Catherine Zeta Jones, who was accustomed to satisfying finicky eaters by scrounging for ever more obscure ingredients, and faced with the dilemma of feeding a small child who did not feel like eating at all.

And part of me felt like just doing my thing and if there was a problem, they would eat once they got hungry. That part of me won out.

The children had expressed curiosity when we were shopping. I selected mushrooms, and they had not ever noticed raw ones before so asked what they were. When I told them, they made faces.

My turn.

For supper, I fixed the best marinara I could imagine and used some of those mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in olive oil, along with a large clove of wild garlic from our field, also sliced. We still have tiny onions left from our overheated garden, and I included a few of them, sliced. As all these paper-thin slices were beginning to brown, I added small chunks of a bell pepper a friend had brought me, along with one of her jalapenos, whole.

While some of the oil in the pan was still available, I tossed in freshly-crushed basil and oregano, and stripped a few leaves off a fresh stem of rosemary. All was sizzling along nicely when I remembered the soup base. I actually made soup base this year, which is merely whole tomatoes, washed and cored, and tossed into a blender, skins, seeds, and all, to be liquefied for a thicker sauce than we can obtain from just juice. I prefer the muskier taste the seeds lend and the redder coloring the skins contribute. It is the only way I will deal with only a gallon of tomatoes. Cleaning out my Victorio tomato strainer just kills me, if it’s for only a few quarts of juice.

Once the fresh rosemary had softened a bit, I tossed in a quart of the soup base. It sizzled just a bit, as it landed in the pan. Perfect. Since one of us cannot eat many foods without some Worcestershire sauce, I dolloped some of that in, too. And a bit of catsup for sweetening.

I slowly brought it to a boil.

Lastly, I added a whole bag of Great Value frozen 5-cheese ravioli. Yep. You may cringe at that, but I have read labels, and it has nothing in it but foodstuffs, all pronounceable. Probably not very organic, though.

Once it returned to simmering, I turned down the heat and covered it. Then I prepared a small lettuce, tomato, and carrot salad. The children had been impressed that the grape tomatoes I had bought had come “all the way from MISSOURI!” That seemed so exotic to them. I figured they’d at least eat the tomatoes.

After all was dished out and cut to bite-size, the littlest one sampled the ravioli and looked up at me so sweetly to comment:

“It tastes just like b’sketti.”

Kudos to the cook, I suppose.

Believe it or not!, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

Abnormal Children

Posted on August 14, 2011January 29, 2019 by Katharine

flirt, girl, pink I watched her as she sashayed down the aisle between rows of dining tables. She had just come from church, no doubt, from the appearance and timing of her family’s entrance. She couldn’t have been over five years old.

But from head to toe, and not just the exterior but somehow even the aura emanating from her, all was advertisement.

Her hair, held in a side-saddle pony tail with a frou-frou clip composed of fuchsia feathers, probably was naturally palest blonde, but crease marks from a hasty curling iron had been sprayed to stay in place during the normal cavorting of a five-year-old. The ear on the un-pony-tailed side offered a pink, diamond-looking, pierced earring.

She did not cavort; she swayed in a dreamy sort of notice-me way. Even her tiny fingers posed. And she flirted fake embarrassment from behind the frou-frou near her cheek while fuchsia-manicured fingers clumsily retrieved an escaping shoulder strap. That’s when I noticed it: the batting eyelids carried a heavy load: blue eyeshadow and brown mascara, to top off pink blusher, and an overload of pink lip-gloss.

Her dress, also hottest of pinks, shimmered as it clung, draped closely to her thin child figure, revealing the bone of her structure, the ripple of her musculature, the absence of pantyline. Ebb and flow of glowing fabric blared unmistakably: temptress.

The dress was far too short, as was Mama’s, but at least Mama knew how to walk like a lady. And Mama didn’t shimmer.

Actually, Daughter’s included a wrap application of an attempt at an empire style skirt that was not full enough to allow room for walking, so each step she took opened the skirt and revealed one long, tanned, and muscular leg and hinted at much more. When one fuchsia-tipped toe pushed against silver, strippy, demi-heel sandals as she struggled her little self onto the adult dining chair, an older man across the dining room dropped his fork on the floor and picked it up.

And looked.

And she noticed. And tried, not-enough, to conceal a knowing smile.

Rumpled and stale-haired, he approached their table and asked Dad if they didn’t know each other, occasionally glancing at Mama’s low-slung necklace. Dad searched his memory, clueless, finally blushing at not knowing, rose to shake hands and share a bit of social info. No, we live over in Dovegate Addition . . . don’t recall meeting you, but then, I stay gone on the road; field work, you know . . . the kids go to Dovegate schools so maybe we’ve passed during a PTA meeting? Oh . . . so sorry . . . I didn’t mean . . . well here’s our waitress; nice to meet you.

And as the older man turned to go, he patted Daughter’s shoulder ever so lightly, accidentally brushing a strap with one finger, saying, “Nice children.” And her shoulder straps really did fall down a lot whenever she was sitting . . .

____________

Of course it would have been highly unlikely to have found a photo that was exactly like this true life situation, but this one captures the sauce pretty well.

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

You CAN Can – Help!

Posted on July 21, 2011November 25, 2013 by Katharine

Canning, Gardening, and Kids – Oh, MY!

Since we’ve been on the subject of canning all week, let’s talk about canning and children.

Children who are old enough ought to help. Little ones ought to stay away. Too much is going on for you to trust yourself to watch them carefully. All that blanching and lugging jars adds a safety factor with which they are too young to cooperate, and one act of confusion or disobedience could be disastrous.

So draw a line and make it stick. This is a time when high chairs, play pens, door gates, etc., are proper for the safety of precious little ones.

Let me tell you how we enlisted our children’s help in the garden when the days were blistering hot. We woke them at daylight, and had them dress quickly and go directly to the garden with us. Everyone had an assignment, only 30 – 45 minutes worth of work.

Each one managed his own row, which he kept weeded and proudly displayed to guests. Really, the garden looked good.

The youngest one’s work was to play nearby without walking on garden plants or eating dirt.

Then it was back to the house for our reward. On these days we would have treat-type breakfasts such as cantaloupe and ice-cream, oatmeal raisin cookies, fruit juice popsicles, strawberries on cereal, frozen chocolate-dipped bananas, cheesecake with blackberry sauce—whatever they considered rare and delightful. They loved it! They knew how hot the world would be by 10:00, and they seemed to appreciate my organizing things this way.

Then if we HAD to work in the heat, we would take quart jars of ice water with us and drink straight from the jar. They loved this, too. When such hot work was done, their daddy would throw them squealing into our large stock tank (which was kept for the children, only, and was un-licked-upon by any livestock) and they had water play in their work clothes.

These types of rewards were the heartbeat of our children’s summer gardening memories. They are adults, now, and still remember it with smiles, still do gardening, themselves.

Sometimes they fussed a little or grew competitive, but often the sweet sounds coming from the early morning garden rivaled those of the birds.

Tomorrow: recipes for the surplus!

Blessings of Habit, Health, Home School, Homemaking, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

How to Take Care of Your Eyes – Rest!

Posted on June 4, 2011May 21, 2015 by Katharine

This is my favorite treatment for every problem–just close your eyes! Maybe it will go away!

In the case of eye health, this is definitely true.

But no one tells us.

Study this set of posts. Link to them. Copy-paste them for your fridge. Someone you know needs this information!

Resting

When we do not get enough sleep, eye health breaks down. Do not let this happen to you.

1. The only time your eyes get a rest or a chance to self-heal at all is when you close them. Open your eyes and they are on the job. Just as never resting would weaken a soldier, so never sleeping could weaken the two guards you call your eyes. A good nightly amount is eight hours. If you cannot get that for some reason (sick children, etc.) then pay more attention to daily resting.

2. You may need a timer for this one, at first. Every time you work for 50 minutes, rest your eyes for ten. This includes computer work, yes, but any reading or crafting is work for your eyes, no matter how fun it is. Give them a break.

3. You know how tired eyes feel to you, When your eyes feel overly tired, try this: lie down and cover your eyelids with cool cucumber slices. Chamomile tea bags, boiled, cooled, and squeezed out, work too. Let the soothing compresses take you away!

So now you have it: Four ways to make for better eye health: nutrition, exercise, detoxify, and rest. Let’s all get going on taking care!

Okay, now comes the part we have to say in this lawsuit-happy world: This post is meant to inform and to satisfy curiosity, only, and is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your doctor for information concerning your conditions. Much effort has been made to assure this information is accurate, however, medical research is always changing the facts, and new findings may supersede currently accepted data. I am NOT a doctor, only quoting several of them.

Blessings of Habit, Health, Home School, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

How to Take Care of Your Eyes – Eliminate the Toxic!

Posted on June 3, 2011March 13, 2015 by Katharine

I knew it! I just knew it! We have more eye troubles these days because more facets of our environment are bothering our eyes. I just knew it.

And, oh boy! It is politically incorrect to admit this.

Is that why this is not on billboards, nationwide?

Study this set of posts. Link to them. Copy-paste them for your fridge. Someone you know needs this information!

Poison to Your Eyes

The eyes are physical parts of our physical bodies. Since they are so sensitive that they can communicate thoughts and emotions, we might think of them as ephemeral. But they are physical, influenced by light, something Einstein would be first to tell us we do NOT fully understand. And they have a few things to communicate to us about their preferences, too.

If you are in charge of children, you hold the keys to their continued eye health. You are duty-bound to make good eye health happen for them. Teach this to them and make it a permanent part of their overall health.

Lighting. Lighting is toxic? Yes, some lighting is toxic to several parts of the body, but we will concentrate on the effects to the eye. Flourescent, computer, and TV light is totally stressing to the eye and can even lead to glaucoma. We take for granted the accuracy of our eyes, but the truth is, they have to re-focus and re-compute every time a flourescent blinks, every time the stripe goes past on a screen, even if they are not looking directly at the screen or lightbulb. For this reason, many people, and most children, do poorer work when in the presence of these types of light. Eliminate them.

The best light for working is reflected or filtered sunlight. Halogen is next, if carefully filtered. Then comes incandescent, also very workable. The rest are bad. Period.

However, never look AT the sun, and always have sunglasses ready, should you be outdoors very long, especially on overcast days, when more sunlight can beam directly into the eye. A little reflected sunlight actually can do good, adding vitamin D, but don’t overdo.

Allergens. Although you may not have a classic allergic reaction to them, the fumes from new carpet, new paint, overheated cars, etc., harm more than your lungs. If you must install these things in your home, open the windows and use a fan to draw in real air. Ditto for tobacco smoke. If your favorite shopping place installs them there, shop elsewhere, or AT LEAST leave the children behind for a while until the fumes subside.

Also, when you turn on the tap, first thing in the morning, does it smell to the skies of chlorine? It quite likely is chlorine gas. Time for the fan and the open window, again. Let the water run and leave the room until it smells like–water.

Swimming pools and spas. Usually these either have chlorine, bromine, or bacteria in them. Wearing goggles is a good solution for those who have to swim in chemicals and bacteria, although removing them and doing yesterday’s massages every half hour is a good idea.

Heating and air conditioning. Dry air is not really a toxin, but harms the eyes as if it were. Use a humidifier and saline drops made for the eye when you are in these environments. Spend more time outdoors: you were made for it.

Dim lighting. Doing visual work without proper lighting is like moving bricks without gloves, or hiking barefoot. Body parts wear out, and unlike a cut hand or foot, the eye does not self-repair well. Always use a good light when you work. When you are reading or writing, the light should fall over your less dominant shoulder. (Left for righties; right for lefties.) Require this of your children, too.

Rubbing the eyes. A little goes a long way with this habit. Unlike the eye massage from yesterday’s post, rubbing the eye squashes the eyeball. Not so good. It also can introduce bacteria. Not so good. And, horrors!, if you have a foreign object in the eye, rubbing can worsen your plight. Just don’t go there and don’t allow the children to, either.

Use a warm wash cloth to remove crust or mattering, not a fingernail. Use a folded corner of tissue and/or sterile eye drops to remove foreign objects from the eye. Or go to a doctor, WITHOUT RUBBING, PLEASE.

Coming tomorrow, Lord willing: Resting–Resting–1,2,3, Resting!