Outdoor Fun

We all have them. Those toys we thought were fantastic ideas at the time, but ones we've grown to despise once they are in our house. Most of these toys provide an excellent opportunity to develop physical or cognitive skills, or simply provide hours of entertainment. For that we love them. But for all those times we've stepped on a Lego piece or found a puzzle piece in our purse, we loathe them. Here's our top toys we love and hate: 1. Puzzles When the kids are quietly occupied putting together a puzzle it's bliss. After their masterpiece sits on the coffee table for a few days, getting all of those pieces back into the box is like herding cats. 2. Stickers They are...

Fearless parenting. I know it isn't really a thing. When I'm panicking on the inside every time my daughter climbs on the back of the couch that sits on very hard concrete floors, I'm anything but fearless. Fearing for the health and welfare of our children is just biology. But at some point, that fear is no longer productive. We are forced to decide, consciously or otherwise, exactly where that point is. We are constantly bombarded by reasons to be afraid. From the news, from social media, from politicians. Some days, when we hear about another tragedy or a freak accident, it takes all we have to keep from holding our babies tightly and never letting go. I've spent too...

He can’t wait to get home. To pull on his boots. No time to change out of the already stained and spotted school uniform. I get to slip his polo off occasionally. If I can even beat him to the door. Out he runs in his undershirt. “Mommy, let’s go!” he yells as he shoves his styrofoam sword down the back of his shirt. He runs to the backyard. The stray kitten that showed up under our porch this summer, Batman, tags along. There’s nothing else on his mind. No room to be an adult now. Only room to be a kid. Absolutely zero awareness (and that’s what’s wonderful) that the car is still loaded down with the morning’s breakfast, his...

In The Secret Place, behind the row of azalea bushes next to the property line fence and under the shade of the magnolia tree, anything can happen. Stuffed animals, favorite babies, small blankets, and toy food have all made their way outside to The Secret place, carried there by tiny dirty hands. Today the owners of The Secret Place are on a rescue mission. They bravely come out from behind the azalea bushes to save animals from the "dangerous giant storm that is going around the world". Each time one leaves to attempt a rescue, they hug each other. As one runs off barefoot through the grass, the other yells, "Be careful sister!" The owners have invited me to join...

Computer screens, Netflix, iPads and iPhones. It’s all too much! It’s too much for an adult, much less a small child. One day, I suggested the kids go outside to play and I was met with whining. “I’m working on my Minecraft World!” “I’m watching Little Mermaid!” “I don’t waaaaant to!” It’s happened. I tried my best for this day not to come. We haven’t had cable/satellite in our home for 6 years. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want my children to be screen zombies. We don’t have endless channels on our TV, I boasted. But I allowed them each to have their own computer. (In the family room, with strict filters; of course.) I allowed...