Preteen

How to Deal with Your Daughter's Hair (and why)

tony — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:21:09 -0700

Most guys would rather do anything else than read about hair styling, but if you've got a daughter, hair can be an important issue. Hair is generally seen as a sign of beauty for females, and this is impressed upon girls at a very young age-whenever they get a new haircut or wear a cute barrette, everyone tells them how pretty they look, so they start caring about their hair pretty early on. Plus, girls usually wear their hair longer, so at a minimum, your daughter's hair needs to be brushed through and styled in a way that keeps it out of her face (and the fingerpaints). So before we get to the issue of styling, here are a few pointers on brushing and combing long hair.

Wet hair: Comb through her hair as soon as possible after you wash it (and use a comb, not a brush). Once the hair starts to air-dry, it's harder to comb out the tangles. For girls with thick or very long hair, avoid tears with using conditioner or some spray-on detangler-you can get it at most drugstores or kids' hair salons. Also, for thicker hair, a wide-tooth comb works best.
Dry hair: If you're facing a serious case of bedhead, you need to work through those tangles with care. Take a handful of hair and hold it at the top, near her scalp, then use a comb to pick through the snarls. (It may be tempting to just yank through the tangles, but that technique hurts. A lot.) When all the tangles are out, give her whole head a once-over with the comb or brush.

While a quick brush-through and a barrette are sometimes enough, especially when you're late for school, you will occasionally be called upon to perform a little more artistry. Here are a few basic hairstyles for little girls, from easiest to hardest, and how to create them. (Note: Be sure to use elastics made for use on hair-you can get small ones designed for kids. But NEVER use a regular rubber band, or it will take scissors to get it out.)
Ponytail: Scoop up all of her hair with one hand, and with the other, comb through the hair on the top and sides of her head to smooth it out. You can make a low ponytail at the back of her neck, a high ponytail up at the crown of her head, or something in between. Then wrap an elastic around the hair. Put a ribbon or scrunchie around the elastic if she wants to look fancy. Once you've mastered that, you can also do a partial ponytail, where you just use the hair on top of her head and pull it back.
Pigtails: Pigtails are just two ponytails, on either side of the head. Begin by parting the hair into two sections. You do this by taking a comb, placing the tip at the top of the back of her head, and drawing a straight line down to her neck; make sure the part is straight and centered. Wrap each section of hair in an elastic, a little bit behind the ear, at whatever height she likes. When you're done, look at her from the front to make sure the pigtails are at about the same place on each side.
Braids: Braiding seems hard at first, but after you've done it a few times, it gets easy-it's just a matter of getting the pattern down. Divide the hair into three even sections. Take the right section and cross it over the center section. Then take the left section and cross it over the center section (which was formerly the right section). Keep alternating, crossing the right and left sections over the center section, tightening the braid as you go until you're a couple inches from the end of the hair. Secure it with an elastic. Check out this video to see how it's done. You can also make braid pigtails, parting the hair as described above and braiding each section separately.
French braids: Don't even try this until you've got regular braiding down pat. French braiding is a little more difficult, and requires a degree of manual dexterity, but little girls just love to have their hair French braided because it looks so pretty. You start by gathering a small section of hair at the crown of her head, and dividing that section into three. Then criss-cross each side section over the center section as described above, but the trick is that before you cross a side section, you add a little more hair to that section. It's not easy at first, but it's also not as hard as it sounds-and probably easier to understand if you see it.

Please note that some girls may have hair that requires more specialized treatment; for example, for girls with very curly or kinky hair, it may not be necessary-or advisable-to comb it through. With these girls, you may just need to call in some female assistance. But once you learn how to do a few cute hairstyles for your little girl, she's going to think you're awesome (and the women in your life will be pretty impressed too).

How to Support Your Daughter When She Has Her First Period

tony — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:13:55 -0800

Ahh, springtime. Your daughter is growing up, climbing in height, softening around the edges and quickly discarding the child and baby you once knew. She is becoming a woman, and there's nothing you can do about it. She can't be your little girl forever.

As a father, it is understandably difficult, if not downright impossible, to understand what she's going through. Let's face it -- we're men. Puberty for us meant a deeper voice, a growth spurt and some hair. All pluses. Girls started to look a little cuter to us during puberty, as well. Another plus.

For girls, though, puberty is a universally different milestone. Society has placed the impetus on women to be beautiful -- not men -- and it is ironically during this time in their lives that girls begin to understand this more and more. As puberty progresses, young girls grow into the women they will become, and they learn to reconcile their body image with our cultural expectations of the "perfect woman." It is a tremendously fragile and self-conscious journey, and men are not equipped to understand or deal with it.

Your daughter will probably start to show signs of puberty at around 10 years old, although it can happen anywhere between the ages of 8 and 12, generally. The beginning of female puberty is known as thelarche, and it is characterized by the development of breasts. Around 18 months later she will begin to grow underarm and pubic hair, and then in another six months or so she'll begin menarche -- her first period.

Of course, as her father you won't know when she gets her first period unless she tells you. It's not necessarily apparent, although there may be some warning signs. All girls experience menstruation differently, and some girls take it harder than others. You daughter may experience flu-like symptoms, such as headache, backache, sore legs and nausea. The most common symptoms, of course, are cramping and discharge.

This is not something your daughter will want to discuss with her dad. Likewise, it's probably a decent bet that you're not really all that interested in discussing it with her, either. In situations like these, it's best to call in the wife. As a father you can certainly take a role in her development, but only if you're asked to. Otherwise, you can really only be supportive of her -- by understanding that she's changing, and by being sensitive to her moods and her needs. It's a strange job, and you may find yourself in over your head, but it's the easiest way for all involved.

For the single father, however, ducking out isn't always an option. With no wife to turn to, you may start to feel a little bit like a deer in the headlights. You haven't the slightest idea what you're going to do -- how can you even approach your daughter with something like this?

Find a woman -- Your best bet, in all honesty, is to find a woman who can help. Your mother is an easy first choice, as are any female relatives. In the absence of family, choose a close female friend to help. Even an ex-girlfriend who you are on good terms with would work. You can learn as much as you want about menstruation and cramping and pubic hair growth, but none of that is going to help you when your daughter needs to apply her first Tampax. You need a woman.
Brush up -- Where experience isn't possible, we can only rely on knowledge. That is to say, it's time for Menstruation 101. In all likelihood you won't even need this stuff, because your daughter will have already learned it in school or on the Internet. Even if you do need to tell her what it is, you'll probably be so nervous you can't finish. Still, it doesn't hurt to get to know your enemy. These two articles (here and here) will give you everything you need to know.
Point her in the right direction -- If your daughter inexplicably doesn't know the first thing about menstruation, it's going to fall on you to teach her. Rather than put yourself through the embarrassment of discussing it with her, you can help her find some information. Web sites like DotGirlProducts.com and Tampax.com have lots of information on puberty and menstruation, and some even have testimonials from other girls about their first times.
Don't make her feel weird -- Some websites discuss throwing menarche parties for your daughter's first period, with jewelry and dancing and female friends and other girl stuff. DO NOT DO THIS. This is the territory of the girl's mother or your chosen symbolic menstruation instructor -- not her father. In other departments, don't embarrass her in front of her friends, try to avoid making references to her being a child or otherwise underdeveloped, and don't make her feel ugly ... ever.
Take her out sometime -- Sometimes it's best to just go out and have fun and not worry about it. Let her know that you want to take her out and do something with her, whatever she likes. Make a daddy-daughter date out of it, with dinner and a movie, if you like. Talk about innocuous things and just generally enjoy your daughter's presence. She'll enjoy it, as well, and she'll appreciate the gesture.

You're in enemy territory here, and it's okay to be scared. If you've got a good wife on your side, however, you've got nothing to worry about. If you're stuck out here on your own, this may be more of a problem. Stick it out, however, and just keep one thing in mind: your daughter is becoming a woman. That means she's still part little girl, and you better enjoy it while it lasts.

Is football safe for kids?

Philmundo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:01:48 -0700

by Phil Stott

About a month ago, my brother-in-law sent me a video of his four-year-old son's first touchdown in a flag football game. It's remarkable in several ways: first, that my nephew seems to understand the purpose of the game at such a young age-when he gets the ball in his own half of the field his first instinct is to head for the opposition end zone. Second: he understood that once he crossed the end zone line, he could stop running. And, third, he threw a proper football pass to the referee when returning the ball. A couple of weeks later, as if to prove it was no fluke, he did it again, and my brother-in-law again captured the evidence on video. Clearly he's a boy who's going to grow up loving his sport, and perhaps even has a natural aptitude for it.

All well and good, I thought. As someone who loves sport myself (albeit the other kind of "football"), I can remember the point in my childhood where I became infatuated with it-and it's lasted to this day. Becoming obsessed by a sport is a pleasure that, while not unique to boys, certainly seems to be more common among them-at least in my experience. Seeing that bloom in my nephew is a heart-warming thing, and I was happy both for him and his Dad, who is perhaps the quintessential jock-one that, to be honest, I don't know would have been able to relate to a son that didn't play sports.

My happiness for them both lasted approximately a week-right up until I read this disturbing piece on pro football in the New Yorker. While the premise of the piece is to present a parallel between football and dogfighting-a case that rests on a link between "gameness" in fighting dogs that keep coming back for more to please their owners and the culture in football of playing through pain, even to the detriment of your long-term wellbeing-the most disturbing evidence it offers is on the prevalence of serious brain injuries among ex football players.

Sure, the piece mainly details autopsy results of guys who have made the pros, therefore subjecting themselves to many more hits to the head-and at greater speeds from bigger guys-than someone who only plays through high school, but the evidence is frightening nonetheless. Guys in their forties showing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease normally seen only in the very elderly-the likely cause: brain damage from too many hits. The brain of an eighteen year-old who had "been playing football for a couple of years" with the kind of damage not normally seen in someone at 50, much less his own age.

There's obviously a long way between a fledgling love affair with flag football and taking recurring hits with the force of a car crash, but nonetheless the article left me concerned about my nephew. After all, I became obsessed with soccer at a very young age, and am still playing the game over a quarter of a century later (and, yes, typing that does make me feel very, very old)-who's to say he's not going to do the same with football? Even if he doesn't, even if he only plays until the end of high school, the evidence in the New Yorker piece suggests he's still got a better than average chance of sustaining some sort of damage to his brain from all the collisions.

Given all of that, then, it makes me wonder: is there anyone out there who's happy that their kid's playing football? And if so, why?

Social Networking and Kids

Philmundo — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:58:23 -0700

by Phil Stott

How many reports of people over-exposing themselves on social networking sites and then coming to regret it do we need to hear before we start thinking before posting or tweeting? Take the recent case of Washington Redskins linebacker Robert Henson venting his rage at "dim-wit" fans who booed their team as an example. Here's a guy who doesn't even make the starting line-up in the team, and yet he somehow feels like he's earned the right to attack the team's fans via Twitter when they show their displeasure with the Redskins' performance. As with all things social network-ish, he started out expressing his feelings to a few followers only to see his comments (52 tweets in all) passed around the internet like wildfire.

Now, I don't much care about how the Redskins play, or the fate of Robert Henson, but what does interest me is how he seemed to forget-or more likely just didn't care-about airing his thoughts in a public format in the way he did. I know that, if I were to lose it like that and make similar comments either about my employer or our customers in such a public forum, I'd probably be embarking on a search for a new job in the not-too-distant future. Because I'm well aware of how powerful viral networking can be, I stay well away from discussing anything of the sort online (at least in a way that can be traced back to me!).

Unfortunately, for those with kids that are old enough to be tech-savvy, it's not enough to look after how you're representing yourself digitally; you need to be aware of what your kids are up to online as well. I know one guy (an ex-cop) who regularly logs into his teenage daughter's Facebook page to see what she and her friends have been up to, or are planning (she has no idea he knows the password). I'm not recommending that anyone go that far, but it certainly doesn't hurt to sit down with your kids, lay some ground rules, and make sure they're aware of the bigger picture when using social networking sites. Here, then, are three things every kid should know:

1)    If you don't want the "wrong" people to find out, don't put it on Twitter

It's difficult to imagine that Henson didn't know that his comments could spread like wildfire across the Twittersphere. But if a more-or-less grown adult can make that kind of mistake, a tween or teen can too. So if they've got something negative (or embarrassing) they need to say about a teacher, classmate or acquaintance, tell them to do it the old-fashioned way: face-to-face. That way, the possibility of viral spreading is all but eliminated; all you have to worry about is someone recording you!

2)    People aren't always who they say they are online

Case in point: Lori Drew, better known as the Missouri mom who is accused of taking part in a bullying campaign on MySpace that drove a 13 year old girl to commit suicide. Having been acquitted of all charges of computer hacking (see the full story in the link above), it seems that there's little police can do to try and bring her to justice, as there's no statute in Missouri against cyber-bullying. While that case is an extreme one, it's also one that starkly underlines the dangers of kids being suckered into believing that the people they're talking to online are who they claim to be. Good rule of thumb: If you don't talk to them in real life, don't talk to them online.

3)    Close your networks

Sure, there's a certain thrill to putting your thoughts and personality out there in cyberspace for all to see. Not restricting profiles on social networks to only people you know and trust, however, greatly increases the chance of all of the previous things going wrong: people misrepresenting themselves, and you, cyber-stalking, bullying, the works. In fact, as parents, it may be worth making this-and the agreement that you get to check in on their accounts every once in a while-part of any bargain with a kid who wants to get involved in social networking.

Getting Ready for Soccer

Philmundo — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:52:26 -0700

by Phil Stott

With the fall soccer season starting any day now (if it hasn't already), I thought I'd take the opportunity to offer a few words of wisdom on outfitting your child. Hopefully they're not too late and, even if they are for this year, there's always next season!

One of the benefits of soccer-and it's something that's struck me more than once in the 20+ years I've been playing the game-is that you don't need much in the way of equipment. Once you've got a ball, some cleats, and a pair of shin guards, you've got pretty much everything the pros have. Having said that, it's still possible to spend way more than you need when outfitting a child for the coming season. Part of the aim of this guide is to make sure you don't do that.

The ball

Those of us who have been playing the game for a while know the difference between a 32-panel stitched leather ball and the top-flight, seamless synthetic numbers the pros use (with this being the current holder of the "daddy-of-them-all" title). A 5-year old learning the game will not. A 12 year old who's been playing the game for a few years might know the theory, but it won't matter; the top-of-the-line technologies only benefit the best players in the world. How much truer do you want a shot that only travels 30 feet to fly?

Aside from the cost, the major thing you want to keep in mind when selecting a soccer ball for a child is size. Adult-sized balls (no giggling at the back!) are marked with a 5, with size 4's being appropriate for those between 8 and 12. Under 8's, meanwhile, will probably fare best with a size 3.

The cleats

It's difficult to know what to recommend with cleats, because once you achieve basic functionality, the rest is about personal style. The kids' models I've seen range as high as $80, but there are perfectly serviceable models out there for as little as $15. Just make sure they fit-a cleat that's too big will only impair your child's ability to control the ball (because they won't be able to feel it). Also, be sure to find out where they'll be playing the majority of their soccer-turf fields require a very different cleat than a soft grass field. But don't be pressured into buying a whole new pair of cleats for a single game on a different surface-turf shoes will work just fine on grass provided it isn't too slippy, while running shoes also work in a fix for turf.

Shin guards

The cheapest thing you'll have to buy, but essential for keeping your child's legs safe from all those other flailing limbs out there. There's really only one choice to make when picking a shin guard: ankle guards or no? As someone with a history of ankle problems, I like the extra feeling of security I get from the models that have an ankle guard attached to the shin portion. It also stops the shin guard from moving as much when you run. Best bet: get your kid to try a couple of pairs on and see what they like-some will be put off by the additional bulk around their ankle, or the strap on their foot.

Extras

Times have certainly changed from when I was learning to play the game. Back in the day, you took your cleats to games in a grocery bag inside your school backpack, and hoped you remembered your shin guards into the bargain. These days, there are specially-designed backpacks that even have carrying pouches for the ball-perhaps the only "must-have" additional item I've come across, if only to ease organizational headaches for parents. That's not to say, however, that there aren't other things that would be a good idea. A cheap ball-pump is a must, as are the thickest-soled socks you can find-in soccer cleats you need all the cushioning you can get. All the costly practice aids out there, however-the balls on strings, the boards to bounce a ball off, the goal for the back yard-can be replaced by one simple thing: the side of a house and a touch of imagination.

iTunes For My Kids

Philmundo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:26:48 -0700

by Phil Stott

There are certain things that it just seems kind of shameful to say. Here's one of them: I've never owned a single product manufactured by Apple. Here's another (arguably worse): until my mother-in-law threw an iTunes card my way at Christmas, I'd never even had so much as a cursory look at one of the biggest media providers on the planet. It's not that I dislike the company, or technology in general. It's just that, well, I'd always kind of got along well enough without it. (OK, I'll admit it, there is another reason: I kind of miss tapes, and get nostalgic from time to time for the Walkman I had in college, and Apple ruined all that. Sure, they brought convenience and portability and all the rest, but they destroyed the romance for me, and the concept of collecting music as a hobby. And the concept of bands putting out entire, well thought-out albums that you can listen to from start to finish, now that I think about it.)

Anyway, putting all of that aside, I've recently declared an amnesty-mostly because of the iTunes card-and have begun finding reasons to love the convenience of iTunes in general. And I've become addicted to podcasts; I honestly had no idea that there was just so much stuff out there and (here's the key part) much of it is free. Indeed, far from destroying my life as a music lover, podcasts such as NPR's All Songs Considered have led to me discover some cool new stuff.

As you might have guessed, the site has benefits for me as a parent that go well beyond taking the work out of finding new stuff to listen to on my commute. In fact, there are endless hours of entertainment on there for kids of all ages. As such, I've highlighted five of my favorite kid-friendly podcasts, in the (probably misguided) assumption that there are other people out there who maybe haven't been turned on to the full range of media available that doesn't cost a penny.

Spare the rock, spoil the child

That, believe it or not, is the title of a weekly podcast of better-than-normal music for kids. Featuring legit bands that have turned out a kids album or two (They Might Be Giants and Barenaked Ladies to name a couple), legit bands that have produced a kid-friendly song or two (White Stripes, anyone?), as well as music by dedicated child entertainers, the key feature for me is that I can listen to an episode without wanting to tear my ears off. Oh, and Maeve seems to like it as well!

"Can you tell me how to get..."

Admit it, you sang the end of the line and ended up in Sesame Street. The show's pretty much a childhood staple, and there's a "Word on the Street" section available on weekly podcast. Hosted by a giant orange monster called Murray, it regularly features celebrities (Larry King, Mariska Hargitay), other residents of Sesame Street (Elmo, Big Bird), and vocabulary items that run the gamut from "mail" to "predicament." And at around five minutes per episode, what's not to love-either as a quick distraction or a series of them back-to-back?

Stuff you should know

One for the older kids (not to mention their parents), this series is produced by the folks at howstuffworks and features a weekly presentation on, well, stuff you should know. Recent episodes have featured everything from how credit defaults work to whether animals have a sixth sense to the debate over whether local or organic food is better.

"Stick 'em up"

Old school sound effects and dialog. Over the top voice acting and detective schtick. Even if your kids don't get into the classics on Radio Detective Story Hour, there's no reason you can't listen and enjoy them yourself. To make them more appealing, though, you could always challenge your kids to write one, and make the sound effects themselves.

Turn the dial up to 11...

...for cuteness. For those with kids with an obsession with cute animals, UltraKawaii is the best and worst podcast out there, depending on your tolerance for ultra-cute animals and cartoons on nauseating pink and pastel backgrounds.

As mentioned above, all the stuff I've recommended is completely free. For those that just aren't into iTunes, they're available elsewhere as well (mostly by clicking the links provided)-although I don't know about subscription capabilities anywhere else, which has been the key selling point for me. Turns out I'm all about the Apple-tastic convenience after all!

5 Kid-Friendly Earth Day Ideas

Philmundo — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:12:51 -0700

by Phil Stott

Hands up if you woke up on Earth Day and didn't realize was upon you. I certainly did, and feel more than a tad ashamed for not having planned anything to do to mark it. Y'know, like planting a couple of trees, or making arrangements to cycle my commute for the day-that kind of thing. Still, starting out in a (shorter than usual) shower, the thought struck me: Earth Day's only a reminder of things we're supposed to be doing every day anyway. To that end, one of the best things we could do for the planet is to educate our kids about why it is we need to take care of what we've got. Here, then, are five suggestions (plus a bonus one) for ways to go about doing that. And most of them are extremely cheap, if not free.

1. Recycle

The oldest chestnut of them all, as far as environmentalism goes, and an ongoing challenge for us all. For those with kids old enough to take on the responsibility, putting them in charge of household recycling is one of the easiest ways to get them involved in thinking about the environment. It won't take a child too long to sort the paper from the plastics (although you'll need to keep an eye on them where glass is involved), or to lug it to the kerb.

2. Composting

Obviously this isn't something I'd recommend for those in a third-floor walkup with no garden, but composting is essentially the ultimate form of recycling. Not only that, it's a cheap source of nutrient-rich soil for those with gardens, as well as a great way to ease the guilt over all that food you'd otherwise be throwing away. It's also a good mechanism for teaching your kids about things like the carbon cycle, as well as the virtues of reducing waste. For those that feel especially handy, Stopwaste.org has some great plans to assist you in building your own composter, although ready-made units are also available at most hardware stores. Depending which type you choose, you can get your kids further involved by having them decorate it.

3. Plant your own garden:

What better to do with all that freshly-generated soil than to plant your own garden? Even if you don't go down the composting route, there's no reason not to allocate a little patch of your garden (or a window-box, or even some empty yogurt pots) for planting a few seeds to allow your kids to experience the wonder of growing something. While the feeling of pride they'll get from seeing the family eating any vegetables they've grown is immense, even those pushed for space or completely lacking a green thumb should be able to handle the light/water ratios required to raise a few shoots of grass in a pot.

4. Make your own bird feeder

Who with children doesn't have an empty milk carton in their near future? Allfreecrafts.com has a very simple plan for turning one into a bird feeder. Easy to do, and the possibilities for decoration are almost limitless (although I'd think twice about letting your child use a montage of cat pictures!).

5. The "use less" challenge

Have your kids brainstorm all the ways in which they use different resources (water, electricity, packaged goods, etc). Then, challenge them to think of ways in which they could use less of them-shorter showers, less T.V. time, things like that. Those with slightly older kids could even challenge them to go for a set period of time (anything from an hour to a full day), without using any resources that aren't absolutely necessary. Hint: send them to play outside, and when they come in, encourage tap water rather than soda.

5 + 1. Talk to your kids

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to explain why concepts such as reduce, reuse, recycle are more than just slogans or marketing gimmicks, and should be thought about and put into action for the 364 days that fall between each Earth Day as well. For further suggestion and resources on ways to do that, the EPA's Environmental Kids Club is a great place to start.

Kids and cell phones

Toby — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:31:34 -0700

This is a piece I found in the Boston Globe Magazine this morning and loved. Enjoy the read!

No Cell for You
She's 11. She can wait.

By Thomas O'Rourke | March 29, 2009

Our 11-year-old daughter enjoys researching her favorite cellphone styles and colors on the Internet. She actually believes (incorrectly) that she will soon be the proud owner of a pink Razr phone, which according to Overstock.com, is more than just a communications device. It's a statement about who you are.

Here's a statement about who she is.

She's a kid with no job and no ability to pay a phone bill. She's also a safe, hovered-over kid, with no emergencies to communicate. My reluctance to support this purchase is not just about the money, though I am cheap. Nor is it just about my annoyance at having my own phone. It has more to do with the trouble kids can get into with texting, surfing the Internet, taking and sharing photos, and generally walking through life with a phone permanently affixed to their ears.

It's not necessary and can only lead to requests for more. It's a slippery slope that follows the logic immortalized in Laura Joffe Numeroff's classic children's book If You Give a Moose a Muffin.

Here's my version. Give a girl a cellphone, she'll lose it and want an iPhone. Give her the iPhone, she'll want a matching iMac. Give her the iMac, she'll want a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren ($495,000).

This also holds true for other requests, such as: If you tell your daughter she can pierce her ears when she's 12, she'll talk you down to 11. When the ears get pierced at 11, younger sis will bargain for 10. The 11-year-old will want to pierce other body parts, get a tattoo, wear Apple Bottom jeans and the boots with the fur, and have the whole bar looking at her. Soon, she'll be dancing around a pole at a gentleman's club. It's just a bad idea.

So no, my dear, you will not be getting a cellphone soon. But I'd be happy to read you If You Give a Pig a Pancake. And if you are ever in an emergency, just ask to borrow the cellphone of anyone around you. Everyone has one. As you frequently remind me, you are the only person on the planet who doesn't.

Trekaroo: New site for parents traveling with kids

tony — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:14:22 -0800

My friend Esther has started a wonderful new website for parents traveling with kids, called Trekaroo. While Nick's GoCityKids is good for local events, this site focuses specifically on helping parents overcome the stress of traveling with kids. Definitely a unique twist with cool travel-booking tools. Check it out for your next trek, share your insights with other parents on previous treks, and let me know what you think!

Wonderful Cookbooks to Share

Toby — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:31:43 -0800

Greetings dads,
I have found 2 cookbooks that are not only fun for the kids, but the eats are good for us too. Check out: "Betty Crocker, Kids CooK!" I know, seeing Betty's name on here threw me off at first, but it has been a winner in my house (Yah smoothies), and I my Goddaughter raves as well. The 2nd is "DK Children's Cook Book, Quick and tasty recipes for young chefs." The Noodle soup with shrimp is a favorite! Betty Crocker is better for the littler ones in your fam and Children's Cook Book works for 8 and up.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Toby

PS
Let me know if you would like some heads up on other cook books

Chef Dads