Megan Bayliss's commentsComments On: Everything Articles Blogs Journals Photos created by: EveryoneMegan Preserving Newspaper Clippings26 Jul 2006 04:40 AM That Homemade Solution is a great tip Nicole. Thank you. I'm going to try it. I do a lot of retrospective scrapping in life story work with kids in care and I value the aged look of some documents to procure a sense of forward movement for the child. Given that kids in care often have little familial information recorded I always begin their life story books with a page printed from "What happened on this day (their date of birth)." I print the page on acid free paper and then dunk a wet tea bag around the edges. The tea produces a lovel golden, aged, look. Obviously this only works with laser print because inkjet would run. Top Ten Most Fun Parts Of Being A Mom24 Jul 2006 04:42 AM This made me laugh Christina. It's so true. I have four kids and I am the biggest reader of kids books amongst us all. When we go to book shops the kids get embarrassed and walk away from me because I sit on the floor, in the aisle, with enchanting books spread all around me. If I get caught out reading aloud I simply look up into the alarmed eyes of the giraffed strange adult towering down upon me, smile, and say, "Oh sorry, I thought you were my daughter." The giraffes generally stare down dissaprovingly and then race off to chew out their cud and ensure they not dare touch any of the books, let alone sit on the floor and read them. Oh dear, how sad that kids can't be kids in book shops and that us Mum's can't quickly infect the constipators with a good dose of literary diarrhea. My kids may feign embarrassment but gee they love telling their friends about how their Mum chooses the books. When I grow up, I want to work in a book shop but for now I love being a mum. Teaching Teenagers About The Danger Of Internet Predators24 Jul 2006 02:02 AM Oh Teresa....have you been looking through our longe room window? We have been having an ongoing discussion with our youngest child about this for the last couple of weeks. Because of the type of work I do I am paranoid about this subject anyway and I have worried that maybe I'm the odd one out and am well behind the techo age of communication. I have printed out this page and will be giving it to my son as evidence that there is at least one other parent in the world that worries about this. He views America as being a super special (we're in Australia) so the fact that this page is from an American site will act as an added bonus. I now do spot checks on the internet games he is playing to check that instant messaging is off but I sure find it difficult to remember to walk through and become interested in what level he's now on!!! What ever happened to board games? Perhaps the name of them (board) creates negative images in kids minds. We play cards a lot with our kids but the pull of the computer is MUCH stronger. Bribery as a Study Motivator?24 Jul 2006 01:41 AM My second and forth children (both boys) hated/hate homework. With child number 2 I flatly refused to enter into conflict (after about 3 years of awful fighting, bribery, and cajouling). I went to talk to his teacher about my decisions and she supported me. However, she made it clear to both of us that he would still need to complete homework and that he would be kept in at lunch time to complete it. This didn't work with him either. He would sit in the room for the entire lunch hour, with his arms folded and his bottom lip dragging on the ground. He is now 21, didn't finish his final year of school, and bitterly REGRETS not having paid attention to stufy habits. Child 4 has the benefits of guinea pig parenting - oh how we have learned!!!!! We use contracts all the time and they work well for us with him. He understands the importance of consequence: negative and positive. It is interesting that currently in Queensland (I'm in Australia) there is a state debate surrounding the eradication of homework. It is looking like there is huge support for a no-homework bill. We do not support this and believe that creative, contingent and individulaised parenting is the answer to the dreaded homework battles. Every child is different and creative skills are required to engage the child in reaching an outcome. What has worked with our boys, hasn't worked with the girls. And what worked with child 2 would never work with child 4. I support contracts but they need to be tailored to the child's likes, abilities and internal motivators. And thank goodness for fridges where the contracts can be magnet stuck to!!!!!!!!! My fridge has become my disiplinary clone....if only it would vaccume and do the mum's taxi thing! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 |
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