Blog like you mean it

various thoughts

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:06:16 +1300

OK, so my thoughts are not all that varied at the mo. Pretty darned focused on preparing for the little one (resting as much as I can, doing laundry, and keeping up my Hypbirth practice).

Of course, us mommas of school-agers are also v. busy preparing for THAT whole trip, with most kids in New Zealand headed back to school this week (mine: tomorrow). Baking, uniform organising, swim-bag locating, all that. Makes me crave a lie down.

A few other links for today: ONE is the blog that accompanies the Happiness Project book. I just read it and have enjoyed it a lot (although I do wonder how the author has so many hours away from her kids??). I’ve been appropriately inspired, and intend to re-read it when I’m not massively pregnant and kinda one-track-minded.

speaking of one track minds: OH my goodness ...hilarious perving for pregnant ladies (or anyone who’s ever BEEN pregnant) can be found here.

Also: here is a link to an abstract about some research dealing with the quality of sibling relationships in families, and the maternal role in keeping it all groovy. Of course, mommas show up everywhere in the research - like our relationships with our toddlers having implications for their levels of obesity in teenagehood. Speaking of teens, it would seem that they’re gettin’ the blues in record numbers.

And here are some deluxe pro-play resources for all y’all.

massive geek, more links

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:19:05 +1300

time to share some new links. Like everything I do at the moment, I’m aiming to not linger too long here. 35 weeks pregnant, friends, and BOY am I large’n’slow. And honestly? Fairly cantankerous. Better try to set unborn babe a better example ... s/he is already learning!

And y’all better check out these links before you feel my wrath! (it’s not all my fault: pregnancy changes our brains ...) First, behold this amazing collection of brainiac documentaries. Make yourself a cuppa, get comfy, and explore.

This abstract is a tantalising one ... those geeks out there who work with families know the challenge of getting engagement between services and people.

Check out this fab interview with one of my heroines, Ina May Gaskin, a legendary midwife from Tennessee. Meanwhile, infant sleep resources can be found here, as another incentive to learn options other than the whole ‘cry it out’ sadness. ‘Cos you know there is overwhelming evidence about how the early experiences with our babes shapes their future relationships.

A few interesting links relating to stress, now. This one deals with how stress in early pregnancy is associated with fewer baby boys (fascinating!), this is about low rates of stress in infancy being associated with fewer allergies, and this is another reminder about the risks of childhood stress in general.

new year ... new goals ... similar challenges!

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 21:20:45 +1300

hello everybody ... I do hope that everyone is finding time to play with their families. It’s so super good for us. P’raps easier for those of us on the South side of the planet, enjoying our summer hols.

Holidays RULE - not that school’s all bad, eh?

I’m also hopeful that everyone rounded out the ol’ year satisfactorily ... this is a collection of obvious scientific discoveries of 2011 that you might enjoy.

Be kind to one another - even if it’s just to be kind to yourself.

Big love from your Left-Handed Baby Geek, with a promise for more links ... SOON!

rivers, picnics & Christmas leftovers.

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:56:18 +1300

Good morning, fellow Geeks, and Merry Everything to you all!!
A quick post - the weather is due to pack in tomorrow so we’re claiming today as River Play Day. Gotta get down the road to my folks’ - meeting up with the cousins to play in the river I played in as a kid. Good times!

I have muffins in the oven to take as picnic items (I love you Alison Holst) and I am choosing other picnic items carefully: usually I’d be rockin’ the leftover Christmas turkey sandwiches, but of course us preggers women need to be uber careful with the listeria risky business over Christmas leftover season ... especially the summertime Christmas gals of the True South.

Speaking of the need for dietary care: LOVE this concept from the Guardian in the UK - whilst restauranting, if we can order gluten free or vegan or whatever, why can’t we order pregnant friendly?

But listen, before I head off to the River, I really wanted to share this delicious video clip that my hubby found. A little girl (I’d guess aged about four?) rails against the hideousness of toy marketers. LOVE IT.

festive fun on a Friday

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:52:45 +1300

HUZZAH! Roll on school holidays ... Today we’ve created this Christmas tree cake, and decorated it in glorious sugary style with help from the cousins.

I wish it was all fun and hilarity, though. We’re enduring (and preparing to fight) another flippin’ mite outbreak in the hen house. I could cry.

Instead, I’ll distract myself with the array of delicious links I can share with y’all this evening. First, here is a list of 12 ways to mess up your kids. Things to avoid, I s’pose (one being a caution against junky food, prompting a slight wave of guilt about said cake).

Here is a little something about the lack of physical discipline in Sweden, which makes them a lucky people. As we’ve said before, hitting kids doesn’t work.

This is a link to an excellent journal exploring child health, here’s another reinforcer for the value of reading to your children, and this is a juicy notion ... mothers’ brains may be bigger!

Here is a link to a piece about social-emotional learning, did I share this play/Steve Jobs thing yet? AND it’s gratifying to confirm that Dads embrace fatherhood as cause to improve bad habits!

Now, some fuel for the growing argument to get babies into beds with their parents, and research to suggest that performance-based pay bonuses for teachers DO NOT WORK!

Rock on, baby geeks.

splendid links

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:55:09 +1300

today’s photograph shows the speedy crossing of the finish line by my sprint-winning daughter at our local tri-schools athletics day last week. Where does one strike that balance between being super proud of a child and being a weirdo “living through your kid” sort of parent? How to simultaneously honour the “just do your best!” rubric whilst acknowledging “it feels great to win, eh?!”. Sometimes nothing feels straightforward. Tell you what though, I’m gonna embrace the joy of watching my fast daughter run with determination.

Other things to embrace this week:
If the Christmas season is feeling like more pressure than delight, check out this excellent “simplify the holidays” challenge, and keep your determination by enjoying this well-crafted video about the perils of materialism. Silliness, when we know that it is human connection that creates happiness.

FOR REAL: when the powers of corporate marketers are turned on children we must wonder if it is a form of child abuse. Speaking of which: this is the winner of the worst toy of the year award (and for comparison: enjoy this list of the 5 best toys ever. It’s from Tech-geek magazine “Wired” and I think you will share my joy in seeing how deliciously low-tech they all are).

Also, a week or two back, the baby geeks of the world mourned the loss of the great Fraser Mustard, a child advocate and researcher from Canada. If you’re not familiar with his Early Years Study, here is a link to go and explore. You will be richly rewarded.

Also worth a look: the brain biodiversity bank ... amazing images and good times await you here. AND if it’s been a while since you visited the Center for the Developing Child over @ Harvard, there’s new stuff recently been added and you will have a great time!

Here is an abstract for some new research about the adolescent brain, some more evidence for striving for quality relationships with our offspring right from the start (avoid the messy adolescent brain!) and in unrelated news, I am enjoying this beautiful blog and can’t wait to have a crack at making these bagels once school holidays commence. Big bagel phase in my house right now and a shout out to Ms Talia for making this more affordable!

last week it was thanksgiving

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:41:32 +1300

my family are half Kiwi and half American, and one of the way we honour Dad’s home culture is to have a big Thanksgiving celebration at the end of November. Being many months pregnant made the whole experience rather exhausting ... the act of basting a 9kg turkey was almost more than my good humour could take.
 Luckily this poem made it all OK:
"Life itself is a gift.
It's a compliment just being born:
to feel, breathe, think, play, dance, sing,
work, make love, for this particular lifetime.
Today, let's give thanks for life.
For life itself. For simply being born!"

Daphne Rose Kingma
Author and Teacher

And I have such juicy, groovy things to share with y’all today! Like OH MY GOODNESS this link will take you to the most un-flippin-believable footage of conception through to birth. Will only take 5 minutes and will blow your mind! Promise!

It’s been a while since I linked to this excellent Positive Parenting website from the UK. Here ‘tis.... and here is something new and yummy - a brief online course designed to improve your life in various ways! Dig in.

This is the website for a child protection organisation from here in NZ - if you don’t know CPS, perhaps you oughta. Speaking of protecting our children, did you all see that fantastic documentary about child poverty a week or 2 back? Here is a link to the online version for those who missed it. Compulsory viewing for all baby geeks. And Kiwi child advocates will be well served by this newly launched clearinghouse for research into family violence.

And this is some Families Commission research into sharing meals with your family. Go on. Even if it’s just jam on toast.

More soon, promise. I have heaps of links (and a pressing appointment that is firing me out the door RIGHT NOW ...)

even invigorating late nights make me sleepy

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:54:19 +1300

So ... last night was AWESOME. I got to present with a colleague I admire wildly, who I am lucky enough to count as a dear friend. We had an engaged group, juicy content and an all round great vibe. But I tell you what, I’m an early-night Nana at the best of times, and with a whole other human being sharing my body right now ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Today’s links begin with a couple of annual favourites: YUP, it’s time to cast your vote for the Worst Toy of The Year. The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood are running their excellent “Toady” campaign again. Get in there!

And as a contrast, my friends, here is a link to the most splendid TRUCE toy guide. In fact, that link will take you to an abundance of fantastic, reliable, low-cost, low-tech, delicious toy & play resources. (TRUCE = Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment. I think I’ve gotten that right.)

For more good stuff: North Canterbury locals may wish to attend this session on at home child care.pdf, being hosted by what I believe to be a reputable and reliable new home based care organisation on November 23rd.

And here are a smattering of brainiac links: we got one talking about early influences, something about the happenings in the teen brain, and even the power of the aging brain. Gives us all hope, right?

Here is an American publication’s perspective about the new UNICEF report about the state of the world’s mothers, these are 30 habits that promise to change your life, and here is a school in Silicon Valley that prefers chalk & books to computers.

Finally, this is a BEAUTIFUL video clip from Zero to Three highlighting the emerging competence and confidence of a toddler.

the giant inflatable fun ride they call life

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:12:28 +1300

hello friends & geeks. You know, I was going to use a whole different quote to start today’s post, but then I found this traditional African prayer, and it spoke to my very cells:

Let us take care of the children,
for they have a long way to go.
Let us take care of the elders,
for they have come a long way.
Let us take care of those in between,
for they are doing the work."

Kind of makes me long for a nap. But then who would post your lovely links du jour?

The first is a fantastic collection of Play links from Attachment Parenting International. Just luscious. Another great Play link can be found round about here. Be inspired!

Also from API, a couple of links to empower us Mommas, about the power of our love & nurture to buffer the negative effects of poverty on the development of our kids. Keeps ‘em healthy. Let us never underestimate the magic of Daddies, though.

Awright: it’s been a while since I linked to the good people at the Promising Practices Network, and they’re always worth a look... compiling evidence-based information on a host of topics of interest to us baby & family geeks. Speaking of evidence-based, check this out: from Scientific American - it seems that children’s natural scientific ability diminishes throughout life. Ick.

Here is a fantastic article about the AMAZING placenta and this is a blog post putting a bit of an attachment slant on the independence/interdependence conversation.

And we’ll end today with yet another warning about the nonsense that is consumerism in the family (oh, the damage it does to our kids ...) and if you’re feeling riled up afterward, you might enjoy supporting this advocacy & lobby group.

HEY: I hope to attend MINDFUL PARENT-1.pdf(almost full!) presented by the wise and lovely Lauren Porter, and I will be presenting at some of these special public post-quake sessions hosted by Brainwave. THANKS! Rock on, geeks.

school holidays, spring break

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:19:25 +1300

today’s picture is me holding the biggest worm I’ve ever seen, dug from my veggie garden. There is also a random bit of string in my hand, but that’s nothing to do with it. Can you believe it?

I do so love playing in the dirt - I know some folks see gardening as arduous, but I see it as joy. Claim your pockets of play, friends, and fight for your children’s right to play. Here are a couple of great play resources ... the excellent Alliance for Childhood in the USA, and a wonderful group from the UK with a similar agenda, called Play England. LOVE ‘EM.

Another reason to turn off the TV, eh? Or at least be super limited in the way we engage with screens (she said as she typed on a computer and stared at a screen). I intend to write a reply to this worrying article by an otherwise super smart writer. I mean ... seriously ... a one year old? AAAAARGH!

I need to remember my writing skills, then drop the anger, and be kind. Because kindness is super important ... and it spreads easily and effectively. Not feeling very kind today? Try getting connected with somebody you care about. That’ll do the trick.

OH! Check out this fantastic conference in Wellington NZ, in February. Organised by our friends at the Infant Mental Health Association for Aotearoa/New Zealand. God willing, I’ll be at home with a brand new baby at that stage, so I won’t be joining this time. But all you kiwi baby geeks oughta get there!!

Some more yummy stuff ... about how happiness - not money - is the real measure of success, about how our children need us to hang out with them rather than buy them more.

Thanks to the awesome Action for Happiness for sharing those links ... and if you want to be happier this very day, try these 10 steps that they recommend. Or go here to lift your mood!

I’ll close with a yummy post about simplifying life. I can hear my daughter returning from her outing to the vet with her grandmother, and my window of computer time is over!! I shall return soon(ish) with links to the article that I wrote that’s just been published by ohBaby! Hope you enjoy.

love that spring time rain

Tue, 4 Oct 2011 17:09:26 +1300

Geeks! How’s the family?

I have sheets in the dryer, pumpkin on the stove, and (thanks to my excellent chef-friend and her canceled cooking class!) tuna steak in the fridge for dinner!

Firstly: I’ve been meaning to recommend this for ages ... anyone in or near Christchurch or Auckland will be richly rewarded by attending these fantastic workshops with the uber-wise Lauren Porter from the Centre for Attachment.

Links, eh ... here is an interesting bit of research about our Ums and Ahs and how they help toddlers to learn language, and this is a useful resource for families in NZ about post natal depression and other related topics.

This is a link to an excellent report by British organisation the Centre for Social Justice - download it, read it, and make use of its butt-kicking reference list.

This is a little something for those of us parenting an older child (mine is almost eight years old. EIGHT! How’d that happen?) ... it’s about ways of saying No. Do you feel like you need to do that a whole lot, tooski? It’ll wear a momma out, right?

And I can’t decide whether I’m inspired or depressed to learn that my life lesson of “LIVE IN THE MOMENT!” might be made more difficult by functions at work deep in my brain.