mcmama's comments

Overweight in Alabama

28 Aug 2008 11:24 AM

I now live in the part of Florida which is called "LA" - meaning lower Alabama. I recently drove through, stopping at rest stops and cracker barrel on my way to Atlanta.

Honestly, I have never seen so many fat people in my life. And I'm fat, losing weight.

I found in Atlanta I was very frustrated with food choices. The breakfast at hotels - all sugar cereals, and no healthy choices at all. Plus muffins, high cholesterol. No choices for me. Same with the coffee place outside the office where I had some meetings. Grits were the healthiest choice on the breakfast menu.

For dinner, I stayed in my room and ate fruit, or sent out for chinese. Nothing within walking distance of the hotel except grease and sugar. And salt. The one lunch I had out was a turkey sandwich with a side of greens. Guess what. The greens were cooked in salt with a heavy lacing of pulled pork.

It isn't just southern cooking. Restaurants, hotels, caterers, and fast food give you NO healthy choices. And it seems particularly bad down here.

Why I Don't Believe in Early Childhood Education

23 Aug 2008 09:26 AM

You raise some good points, samual. A lot of why parents here don't want to send kids to preschool is because some of them are so developmentally inappropriate. There is a lot of sit down and open your books and color, and do the prefab project so you can take it home to mommy and daddy and they will have "results".

A good preschool experience allows for learning in a developmentally appropriate structure. Drove me nuts that when I was doing Family child care, I was "teaching" science to mixed age groups with the youngest participants being 2 and the oldest 7 - and I taught other daycare providers how to do this - but in preschool "science" was just too much to do in a day that was very structured, other than planting flowers for mothers day or having a butterfly tent or class pet as a project. Too "messy". But there was always time to scribble, and careful attention given to critical evaluation of whether or not a 4 year old was showing "readiness" for kindergarten - ie cuts with scissors, writes own name, and knows the most important "letterscolorsnumbersshapes".

Most of my family daycare kids went to full day prek programs at daycare centers at age 4, or Montessori kindergarten already knowing how to write, and some were doing reading and basic calculations based on real life experience and reasoning. But they didn't always show it off too well on worksheets. So there was some question by the public schools if they were "ready".

They are all in college now, and most have excelled at selective schools.

Reports of Homeschooling are Greatly Exaggerated

23 Aug 2008 09:15 AM

Good article. Wouldn't it be better for the public schools to actually solve the problems that lead some parents to home school? And wouldn't it be better to make the resources that all children in a district have a right to have available to them without a lot of static and interference? Sheesh. You couldn't get my private school educated kids to enter a public school guidance office to pick up community scholarship applications for local awards that in theory were available to all residents, whether they attended public, private, or homeschool. Even though they were entitled. Or to inquire about testing.

Rather than "help" they should just work on making existing resources more open and available.

Something from Nothing

20 Aug 2008 12:40 PM

It's the title of one of my favorite children's stories: Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman. Even the cute little mice under the floorboards can use scraps of cloth for things.

Are Reborn Babies Scary and Harmful? Continued

16 Aug 2008 04:16 PM

I collect dolls, but not these. They are just beautiful! But they are dolls.

Mothers Determine How Well Father Takes Care of Baby

16 Aug 2008 04:14 PM

Depends on what "involved" means.

Overheard a comment today on the beach from a frazzled mom of a boy who looked to be about 7 who was cavorting in rough surf as they were packing to leave. Dad was no where in sight, mom and friend were packing and carrying stuff, kids were running on ahead, and mom said "ask a grown man to watch a child in THAT SURF and he's more interested in looking for seashells...."

I had seen the boy in the surf, and while he was ok, I did wonder where the grown up with him was. No one seened connected - because mom was not there, thinking that dad was watching.

Maybe we "accept" if things are not done just so, but sometimes it is just not safe to let go if a guy really cannot handle the responsibility. So we need to be giving him responsibility while they are young, so he gets a clue!!!

China's Most Popular Export Milking the Olympics

16 Aug 2008 10:17 AM

I have seen nothing of jackie chan on the NBC coverage. And I just love everything he does.

Good for China to get smart about the value of him and this genre of films.

Donald Trump Saves Ed McMahon from the Streets

15 Aug 2008 02:21 PM

I doubt McMahon was destined for the streets. But I am sure that it was a tremendous burden to him at his age. Money seems to dissappear awful fast when you get older.

"Dallas" Returning to Primetime

13 Aug 2008 07:14 PM

I loved Dallas. Those people were so good at being so bad.

The Perils of Pornography - Part Two

11 Aug 2008 03:30 PM

Very good about the effect on families. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!