Quick Insights for Busy Parents
Today we meet up with my father-in-law WL and his wife AL at the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. They came in from Daytona and we came up from Sarasota, FL. The zoo was a good choice because it was outdoors, active, they have rides and we could use our home zoo pass to get in.
The best of the best—we got to feed the giraffes. No kidding. They have big heads and long tongs and like the crackers that they were selling.
Who knew giraffes liked crackers so much?
We also go to pet sting rays that had their barbs removed. We rode on camels, ponies and a sky tram. The old pars of the zoo were more cramped. The new parts were very spacious. Lot of animals from all over the world and local too.
Insight:
Close and personal interactions with real animals help to create a relationship that will hopefully lead to stronger conservation efforts and better stewardship in the future.
- Tags: animals, rides, zoo
- No Comments
We went to the beach today. Lots of fun. Played in the sand. Walked along the waters edge and collected rocks. Applied sun screen. Took some chairs for the adults. Ended up having to go back to my mom’s house for forgotten items—drink and snackies. The water was too cold to swim. But the sand is very fine and soft on the Golf side of Florida. We are near Satasota, FL.
Having some fun in the sun and sand.
Insight:
Some really good things in life ARE free.
- Tags: beach, sand, shells, water
- No Comments
For the sunset today we headed down to Siesta Public Beach to watch the drum circle playing to the setting sun. Every Sunday a crown gathers to play drum, listen to drums, dance, play, and watch the setting sun.
Drummers in the sunset on the beach.
Grammy made some drums with old paper and plastic food containers. We brought some munchies, chairs, and some warm clothes.
I took the kids over to the drumming area and they played on the home made drums. One lady was dancing and brought over two bells to shake and another lady brought over a self playing drum. You spin it back and forth to make it play.
Dancing to the beat of drums with sand in your toes.
After the sun set we started to pack up while the kids played in the sand. Adira made a sand angel. The sand is extra fine so it is soft and smooth.
Insight:
People are friendly everywhere, especially when they are happy.
- Tags: drum circle, sand, sunset
- No Comments
I am a stay at home dad about 60% of the time and a business owner about 30% of the time. My first priority is my kids and my family. I am fortunate that Dina is the primary bread winner and so that afford me the opportunity to align my priorities that way.
Once in a while, my work commitments require some juggling of my normal routine schedule. And this week was such a week. On Tuesday night I presented in to the Junior League of Rockford 8 Ways to be More Creative without Breaking a Sweat. And the following morning I conducted a workshop for Dr. Dina Dental practice (read Dina Lunken, my wife) on Optimizing the Office and Managing Efficiently.
The kid’s school is one hour south, Rockford is two hours north and Dina’s office is 30 minutes east. To manage this I called on four helpers. Tuesday, I drove the girls to school and after Ilan’s tumbling class we headed to Grandma Shiela. She is not our grandmother, but his usual Monday sitter. I worked out at the YMCA in Peru and then headed up to Rockford for my presentation. After school Donna picked up the girls, took Adira to violin lesson and then home. After work Dina drove to Peoria picked up the girls and then Ilan at Grandma Shiela’s house. Home and bed. I finished presenting at 8 and was home about 10.
Wednesday morning. Dina meets up with Diane in Henry about 15 minutes from our house and transferred all the kids to Diane who took them all to school. After pre-school at 11:30 Becky picked Ilan up and kept him for the afternoon. I conducted the workshop at Dina’s office until 1 and then headed to Peoria to pick up the girls and get Ilan from Becky. We then headed to Tumbling class for the girls and then home.
Is your head spinning? We know that life with kids is complicated even when it is easy and running smoothly. Add in an extra event or program or random work schedule and it just gets worse. I am luck to have a wife that is easy and doesn’t mind driving and a large pool of friends that I can call on to help me out.
Insight:
Know that the logistics of life with kids is crazy and have lots of friend and family that you can call on and count on to help you out.
I have some cousins in Connecticut that have twin girls that are about 6 years older than Adira. We have a special connection with them. They send us boxes about twice a year jammed full of clothes that they no longer need. My girls spend the evening ooing and ahing about the clothes and sometime trying on the oversize outfits.
There are many items in the girl’s current wardrobe that arrived years ago and that fit now. One of the biggest hits is the tumbling leotards. This week Adira wore her cousin’s coat for several days despite the fact that it was several sizes too big.
Once we received a duck outfit—bright orange with a duck hood and quack box. It was a favorite pajama. Only a year later did we find out that it was for dress up. But by then it was well entrenched as a favorite set of pajamas.
Insight:
Spread joy by packing up your clothes or toys and sending them to cousins in another area of the country.
- Tags: clothes, hand me downs, package
- No Comments
Tonight we went to the community Blue Grass Jam. Once a month some friends use the club house to host a Blue Grass Jam. They set up a sound system and musicians’ novices to expert bring their instruments, sign up for a slot and play some songs. People bring pot luck to share too.
It officially runs from 6-10. But Denny gets there about two hours earlier to set up the sound system. Adira pushed us to get out the door early so that we could get there early and sign up for a slot. We got there about 5:30 and jammed with Denny and Ron from 5:45 until 6:15. Ilan received his newly rented violin this week and Adira brought it. Adira had her newly purchased on ebay violin. And I had my violin.
Denny, Ilan, Adira, Yona and Ron jamming out a tune.
Well it turned out that there were not many musicians there tonight so there were plenty of slots. But the kids were off playing with the other kids.
Several people came up to me to tell me how impressed they were with Ilan and watching him play. Mike commented that, “He was bowing to the beat.”
Ilan fiddling on his new fiddle.
Insight:
Use community events to encourage your kids to engage in music.
- Tags: jam, music, violin
- No Comments
Arctic Freeze becomes teeth cleaning party
Category: Bad Weather Activities| Family Activities
15 Jan2009
At around 3 pm, yesterday, we received a call from the school that they were canceling school tomorrow on account of the arctic freeze that was ascending upon us the next day. In fact, the entire city was basically shutdown because of the cold.
It was minus 12 F in the morning. Yes quite chilly, bone chilling chilly. I had to go to a meeting in Peoria so Dina took the kids to work. It turned out to be a “bring your kids to work” day. All the parents (moms) brought their kids and they had a dental cleaning party. All the kids got their teeth cleaned and one child got two fillings.
Dina was happy, the kids were due for their cleanings and it is hard to get them to the office during the school year. Adira and Ronit were good patients and Ilan screamed the entire time during his cleaning.
Comment of the day was made by Adira at breakfast, “We don’t have to brush our teeth today. We can get them as dirty as me want. We are getting them cleaned later.”
Insight:
Turn lemons into lemonade. Think opportunity.
It was coming down this morning and even with plowing the streets were still bad. We got out of our neighborhood and onto the main street and the roads were still bad. So I turned around and came home. It was snowing big puffy flakes, the kind of powder that skiers happy.
So we spent the day at home, me and the three kids. First doing our home school routine—music lessons, Hebrew speed reading, reading, making our beds and such. Then we ate lunch and then went out side to play in the snow. Dina said that we even got PE (Physical Education) in. We did discuss dressing appropriately for cold weather.
Dressed warm enough to play in the snow.
There was a foot of luscious powder. It was cold. So we walked on the frozen lake for a while. We pulled out the kayak and it was too heavy to pull around for rides. So after walking around and playing around for a while we came home.
Snow Day - Kayak Ride (attempt)
We opened the rainy day present left over from Chanukah and it was a large bag of bold Magic Nuudles. These are little logs made of corn starch. Dab them in water and they stick to paper or each other so you can build a creation. Ilan build small towers and an arch, Ronit build an abstract design and Adira built her version of the Great Wall of China.
The project kept them busy for about an hour and gave me time to make dinner.
I was called this afternoon and we have tomorrow off as well. It is supposed to be bitter cold -17 F.
Insight:
Be prepared for a snow day or two. Have a routine and a project in the ready.
We have music lessons on Tuesdays, today, after school. Adira and I started together taking violin and this year Ilan 3 y.o. started. The lessons run from 3:30 to 4:30 and then we pack up, use the bathroom and load up the car. It was 4:50 as we pulled out of the parking lot.
We drove to and stopped at Subway for dinner. It was a get and go. The get took a real long time. I was tired and hungry. The kids were tired and hungry too. Ilan was having a hard day and had been trying to take a nap since 11:00. But a play date and music lessons got in his way.
So I was trying to be accommodating and the kids were loud and not cooperating and I was losing my mind. The kids were not cooperating. They were changing their mind. They were running all over the place. They were not listening.
With head pounding and anger growing, I focused and got us out of there with dinner. Loaded up the car and got them food. Ilan did not what his food and Ronit dropped her food on the floor and Adira did not want the sandwich that she had asked for. ARGH!!!
The ride home got worse and it took two hours to go the usually 50-minute drive with six stops for punishment, food and organizing. It was too much for me. My head was exploding.
When I got home Dina took over and immediately the pressure and stress dissipated.
Insight
There will be bad times. And they will pass.
- Tags: anger, food
- No Comments