May is the new December

A friend of mine declared recently that "May is the new December."

Boy, she is NOT kidding.  If you are at all involved in your children's life, and if they are at all involved with any activities beyond eating, drinking, bathing, sleeping, going to school and coming home, then your weeks leading up to the close of the school year are just as busy as those leading up to the holidays.

Recitals and performances, tournaments, bees, competitions, concerts, and countless other exhibitions of the talents that your children have been honing throughout the fleeting school year, must be attended.

Loose ends must be tied up.  Missing books must be found and returned.  Gifts must be purchased or made for teachers in appreciation for their efforts to help shape our "young breed."

This is the time that the weekends become crowded with First Communion and prom and graduation celebrations.  You know they are coming. You just don't often know when or how many until you've already got multiple balls in the air and you've abandoned the ink pen on your calendar and resorted to pencil instead.

In the midst of all this, winter clothes must be purged and replaced with summer wardrobes. 

Those of us who wear all the hats of running a small business or work away from the home must still find time to keep those initiatives moving forward.  The good news is, I decide when and where and who I work with on most days.  But what I want to get done and what is humanly possible are two different things in May. 

And just like the Winter holiday season, those who enjoy it most are the ones who simplify and prioritize.  The ones who trade in at least some of the "nice-to-haves-but-not-necessary-for-happiness" in exchange for "this-must-be-done-to-preserve-sanity" tasks wind up getting to June with a sense of sentimental accomplishment, traditions and memories that their children will cherish.

I'm working on that.  But it's a feeble attempt at best.  What do you think?  Is May the new December at your house?


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The Moral Lesson in a Crust of Bread

I don't spend a whole lot of time yet engaging my children in thoughtful discussion about global issues. They're just too young. Their "universe" consists of home, school, church, the park, etc. But I know that the time to begin the foundation of moral grounding is now. This is the time to prepare them in the little moments that hold big lessons. This is the time to equip them with the compass to navigate the bigger issues of our world so that when the time comes, they'll know what to do.

And so, we consider the little things - like the crust on a peanut butter sandwich. I know a lot of children insist the crusts be cut off the sandwich. Many parents do it because they feel it is a small nurturing gesture. Some think it's cute. Others do it out of habit because their mother did it for them. Probably most do it as a desperate attempt to get their picky child to eat something - anything. The picky eater is a discussion for another post.

For me, removing the crusts is not an option. It's one thing if my child gets to the end of his sandwich and becomes full and cannot finish part of the crust. For the child to grow up, believing that the crust is not worth eating and disposable, is a seemingly small, but no less tragic, mistake in the parental task of moral teaching.

Empathy and compassion for those in need begins in childhood. It is critical we teach our children not to waste the blessings they are given. Use care and make sure to spread the peanut butter and jelly all the way to the edge of the bread. Then teach your children that the crust is valuable and worthy of eating.

Talk to your children about those children in this world who dig through garbage every day for the prize of a crust of bread.

It's a good Monday

The sun is shining, it's warm. I took the baby outside to play in the grass. Little guy knows what's good for him - fresh air and sunshine - you could tell he was in heaven and so grateful to be out of the house!

My middle child puked in the car this morning on the way to school - which created a reason for me to haul out the shampoo-er and clean the carpet, seats and floormats in the car. Then, since I had to air the car out anyway so it all could dry, I went ahead and Windex-ed the insides of the windows - something that NEVER gets done! So nice to be able to see out the windows now and scrape off all the stickers that my sons have plastered all over them next to their seats!

My phone rang 3 times already today. First was a friend I've been missing, second was a prospective client asking for additional information - sounds promising!!! Third was a reporter saying she wants to interview me for a story.

So, let's see : sunshine, happy baby, clean car, friend, money, publicity. And middle child is feeling better too....

It's a good Monday.

Where can a boy climb a tree in Newport Kentucky?

In our urban neighborhood, there are very small yards. Many homes have no yard.

We have a lot of young couples who moved here and are now starting families. Some move away to the suburbs when the baby comes. More are beginning to stay and raise their families in the city.

Luckily for us, there are a couple of small parks nearby. There's a nice fenced playground next to the Montessori school down the street. It's good for little ones, but no dogs allowed and no balls allowed.

So where can the older children play?

There's an open grassy field next to the highway at the end of our street. It has become the unofficial "dog park" for the many dog owners in the neighborhood. The city has added benches and trash cans and planted some trees. It's perfect for the dogs to run and chase a stick or ball. The older children can kick a soccer ball here - if there aren't too many landmines. Most dog owners seem conscientious about that and pick up.

There are some trees along the edge of this park that my sons have taken for their own. They love to play and then stop and rest - up in a tree. When my son is sitting up there, in the branches, he is calm and peaceful - drawing energy from the living structure that suspends him above the ground.

These trees are the perfect size for climbing. Not too tall, but big enough to withstand the rigors of a boy's climb and weight. The leaves are dense - just enough for a boy to hide, but still be able to survey his kingdom.

The state wants to take out this dog park and all the trees that go with it and build a new exit ramp to accomodate the new high rise buildings going up along the river.

While I understand that we must find a way to accomodate the traffic that "progress" brings, I ask: If we take this space away, where can a boy climb a tree in Newport?

Whew! Saved by the System Restore Wizard....

I left the laptop up and running this morning. Problem is DS #3 has become very interested in the mysterious thing that has me so occupied these days. He has taken to furtively sneaking into the office when we are otherwise indisposed and climbs into my chair and proceeds to poke and bang on buttons with delight.

Today, I came back to a desktop on my screen that was situated horizontally - sideways! The START menu, all the icons - even the mouse pointer was all oriented sideways across the screen. I had a pain in my neck trying to look and read the help menus to figure out how to fix this!

After about 2 hours of futile attempts to reset the desktop display, I finally discovered the System Restore Wizard - which would revert my settings to what they were last night when I stopped working.....thank GOD!

Note to self......shut the thing down when I walk away and keep an eye on that little bugger!!