I completely agree with Joy Behar. The Ukraine's decision is baffling and wrong.

Labels: children, people of note, puzzles

Both of t2cgitw began kindergarten yesterday. I am at a complete loss to understand how time has flown so quickly that they are old enough to begin "real" school. As I've said before and will no doubt bore myself and others by saying many times again, I cannot remember life without them and yet paradoxically it also feels as if they were born mere moments ago. Anyway, email and photos attest to them taking it all completely in calm stride, riding their buses quite happily and altogether enjoying the day. Mothers and fathers made it through the day well, too. Can book reports and mid-terms and science fairs and all the rest be far behind?

Labels: children, events, school, t2cgitw

On the one hand I cannot conceive or even clearly remember life without t2cgitw. On the other hand it seems astonishing that over five years have gone by since they joined us and that they will begin Kindergarten in a mere three weeks.

Labels: children, family

A friend mentioned to me this morning that there is a tv show called Little Miss Perfect on WEtv. Its description says it "takes you on a journey into the world of children's pageants." As I wrote Sunday, reflecting on the Jon Benet Ramsey movie/story (here), I know there are many ways to grow up healthy and I'm truly sure that it's impossible to identify with any certainty which interests will or will not help develop healthy, wealthy and wise adulthood. On the other hand, it does seem creepy and feel wrong for little girls to hold all kids of sexy poses and get all dolled up . I very much hope and want to believe that girls who do pagents and become engrossed in these activities as post-toddlers really can and do grow into emotionally and intellectually strong women.

Labels: children, modern times

Little girls are innocent, open, interested, eager. They are often adorable and gorgeous. They are tons of fun to be with and play with. They're even fun to play with as if they're real live dolls that you can dress up and do their hair. Unfortunately there is a flip and ghastly side to all that in that they are also sometimes the targets of very sick, cruel, evil people.

While rearranging some furniture and doing some cleaning, I put the tv on for background noise and got lured into watching a movie on Jon Benet Ramsey. The actors are an impressive line-up and quite good (Kris Kristoffersen, Marg Helgenberger (far more appealing onscreen than Patsy herself was), Ronny Cox, Ken Howard, John Heard, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jane Powell (yes, that Jane Powell - she plays JB's dance instructor), Ann-Margaret (she plays Mrs Ramsey's mother), among others). And although the movie is uneven from a critical point of view, it effectively depicts the all-too-human errors of the investigation, some unavoidable and some due to odd quirks of the people involved. It has been bizarrely impossible to solve the case partly because many of the police and detectives were so convinced that the Ramsey's had murdered their daughter, despite how unlikely it was from all kinds of points of view, so that they refused to pursue any alternative evidentiary leads. Even after nearly thirteen years, the story remains both oddly fascinating and very disturbing.

I found the story even creepier than I remembered, perhaps because t2cgitw arrived during the intervening years. Probably because of them, what struck me now is how much Jon Benet and her mother were/are like other little girls and their mothers. All the dressing up and make-up and playing at being ten or more years older than they are and caring so much about being fairy tale/cliché cutesy/pretty/sexy is so familiar and so ordinary.

On the one hand, one has to wonder if there is something at all damaging or wrong with so much emphasis and focus on external and superficial frill. On the other hand, maybe not because maybe fantasy play of all kinds is good for the imagination - and goodness knows that a healthy imagination is vital for self-aware and contented growth and development. It's hard - perhaps impossible - to know where the line between healthy and sick is - or even if there is such a line. There are so many ways to get from birth to death and who are any of us to be sure we know which are valid and which are not?

But whatever else is not entirely evident (pun intended), it is certain that this is a sad and awful story. I only wish there were clear lessons to take to heart, learn and pass on.

Labels: children, modern times, movies, today's movie

What a fantastic project - Project Night Night - catchy name and a super way to do something for children in homeless shelters, the entirely inadvertent sufferers of some of the worst consequences of some of the worst difficulties of modern life.

The idea is to fill tote bags (theirs) with a security blanket, age appropriate books, and a stuffed animal. Knowing how much my children and T3CCITW loved/love all things stuffed and readable, I think this is a beyond-wonderful idea. Plus, what a great way to begin to open children's eyes to the world around them and to gently encourage empathy as they collect things for the bags. It's probably wise to refrain from discussing homelessness with very young children since they are can be good at worrying themselves into a tither without letting their adults in on it, but, done carefully, this could be a good way to start teaching about compassion, understanding, kindness and even the importance of offering thoughtful assistance.

Specific shelters involved with Project Night Night are in California, Florida, Michigan and Ohio but they encourage us to buy totes and fill them appropriately (read the website guidelines) and take them to shelters in our own areas. PNN will gladly provide guidance and, of course, gladly accept donations of funds or cuddly things and books if that feels more comfortable than doing the delivery ourselves.

Labels: children, daily life, ideas

Super egg hunt yesterday! When she arrived, the hunter waited calmly while the adults greeted and chattered. Even though she could see some of the brightly colored ovoids, she just smiled and waited patiently. Once she started, at first she methodically put them, unopened, in her basket. Her plan was to collect them all and then concentrate on opening them, but curiosity got to her after a while and she started opening them as she found them. It was so much fun to see how delighted she was by glittery hair clips and egg-shaped erasers, among other things! One thing I especially like is finding all sorts of little things other than candy - although candy is definitely part of it too, being *the* tradition, after all. Shoe clip-on flowers, a tiny purple bendable magnet-man, a stack-of-crayons, stickers, pipe cleaners. . . . I saw one or two too-perfect-for-Easter things that were irresistible and too big to fit into eggs - the small boxed set of fourteen miniature Peter Rabbit books being a case in point - so this year I added a scavenger-hunt element to a few of the eggs and put written notes with directions about where to look in a few eggs. It was so much fun to watch her read a hand-printed note and then go off to follow the directions. Next year there'll be a one-year-old, too, which will add an interesting twist to the excitement.

I heard about a neat way for when children are older and maybe don't get much of a kick out of magnets and bouncy balls. The Easter Bunny hides five or ten eggs per child and the eggs have candy and/or money in them. The children scurry around to find the eggs and the person who gets the most eggs has the satisfaction of finding the most eggs, and then the money and candy are distributed equally among the kids. Inventive, don't you think.

Happy spring and Easter to all!

Labels: anniversaries, children, games