Grasshopper New Media Presents...

There were only a few submissions to this week’s Festival, but I was actually quite happy with that fact. I happened to be hosting two blog carnivals this week, each being published a day apart. The other was the first, and possibly last :oops:, edition of the Carnival of Gadget Hacks - check it out!. So as much as I truly enjoy reading the submissions and sharing them with you, I was also relieved.
__________

I am so glad that Chara of Zero to Gourmet submits to the Festival every week, ever since the beginning! We think about food so often, don’t we? I agreed with her as I read Here’s To Staying Blue Jean Ready, though I don’t cry nearly as much as she does. Um, you’ll have to read her post to know what crying has to do with it all. After reading her post, I’m wondering if her selection will work for getting blue jean ready because I certainly haven’t stayed blue jean ready. I wanna be like the mom in the commercial, and if it’ll work, I’m up for it (with raisins, please). __________

My four and a half year old daughter has something in common with the son of another Festival regular - Michelle: she likes to “make up stories”. Though my daughter is telling them only to me, unlike David, as Michelle explains in The Things You Learn at Parent-Teacher Conferences. Which brings up a point I’ve been wondering lately: when does “making up stories” become “lying”, and when should we do something about it? I do encourage a very active imagination in my children, but I also want to be able to trust them.
Oh, and what exactly are we to do? I’m wondering what Michelle did that made

taking the matter up after dinner when there would be no witnesses to what awaited him

necessary. __________

Sandra, who writes at iBlogged.net’s Parenting Blog wrote an interesting piece about how our kids learn from our behaviors at Are You Passing On Your Quirks To Your Kids? I could definitely see this in my kids - both good and bad - in the movements they make, the phrases they use, the way they talk to each other. Even down to the inflections they use in their speech. But I couldn’t help but hope that Sarah would expand on this:

Remember, not being exposed to any other family’s behavior can make it appear normal.

because I didn’t quite understand what she was saying. I mean, children will eventually spend time with other families, and they will see that people in families have behaviors in common, and which are different than their own family’s behaviors. But what is there that makes something not normal?

And when she said:

It is important from the outset, to resist the temptation to expose your kids to anything but civil and proper behavior.

my thought was that the only way to do that was to never expose your kids to anything outside the family (including other families and TV). But I realize that’s not what she meant because immediately afterwards she warns that our quirks might become our kids’ own embarrassing behaviors as adults.

Forgive me if it’s all very clear - I’ve been reading it while attending to my own kids’ needs and wants - but even after spending some time turning it around in my mind, I don’t think I’m quite getting her point.
__________

Ah well. Being muddled is how I have to end this edition of the Festival, ‘cuz I need to get the kids in the bath (they’ve actually been begging). Hopefully you’ll all clear it up for me in the comments. Or maybe it’s something a good night of sleep and a cup of Mocha (fair trade, 6 pump please) in the morning can clear up for me.

[tags]humor, food, crying, mothers, daughters, stories, parenting, generations, learning[/tags]