From our November 2012 issue, a selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting facts and quotes from the web and the world of parenting.
| The Sacrosanct Subject of Soccer Snacks
—Denise Schipani (@deniseschipani), Long Island mom of two boys and author of “Mean Moms Rule: Why Doing the Hard Stuff Now Creates Good Kids Later“, on her blog of the same name at deniseschipani.com |
“I’m doubling down on limiting crappy food this year. It’s an uphill battle, in the circles in which we run, to not encounter junk food at every turn….My dear husband got the ball rolling, in his position as soccer coach, to tell parents that the snack roster would be going around, and that what he’d like is fruit for half time, and…that’s it. I ask you—what’s wrong with that? When did it become necessary to have a treat after the game? Especially considering how many of these kids are woefully de-conditioned. Why shouldn’t they get the benefit of running around on a field for an hour, without clogging it up with Munchkins or ice cream after?”| “It means the world to me that my girls are evolving in the very same place where I spent my own childhood.”
—Aidan Donnelley Rowley, whose personal cocktail party pitch is “I write books and raise girls in the wildness of NYC,” (she also describes herself as a “recovering lawyer” @ADonnRowley) on her blog ivyleagueinsecurities.com—check it our for her wonderful observations, her interesting wit, and her beautiful maternal pride, a combo one reader calls “good for my soul” |
| “When exactly does baby weight become just weight?” —Nellie A., a Brooklyn mom of two boys who blogs about her love of fitness, her growing cupcake business, family life, and more at brooklynactivemama.com |
 “No.” Ella said. “I don’t want a phone yet. I just want my family back. I want things to be like they were before you all got so plugged in.”
—from the new grade-school book “Unplugged: Ella Gets Her Family Back” by Laura Pedersen, who lives in NYC and teaches at Booker T. Washington Learning Center in East Harlem, illustrated by Long Islander Penny Weber; go to nymetroparents.com/unplug for ways to get your family offline and back to the dinner table |
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Tuned Out? “Even if you don’t do family dinner, you should still expect your kids to talk to you….Dinner may be overrated, but attention isn’t: Parents who rarely slow down enough to actually listen, or are chronically distracted when they’re at home, send a message to kids that they’re not a high priority.” —Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D. (@DrKoplewicz), president of NYC’s Child Mind Institute, in a blog post entitled “Family Dinner: How Much Does It Matter?” at childmind.org, which gets our vote for most informative and up-on-hot-topics site for families of children with special needs |
