Everybody isn't looking completely normal and sane, but then, really, how exciting is a picture of a group of children when they are all smiling sweetly, doing photographic things... however they are all freshly washed.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
drama and diversion
The reason, I'm convinced, that God gave me kids is to stretch me - in all directions every day and sometimes more frequent than that. To help me acquire more creative distractions and diversions. To unglue me from my principles concerning things like sugar, occasionally.
After she awoke at 6 a.m. stuffed up but chipper AND successfully read through her little reader book this morning with Mark and finished two bowls of Life (yep, that would be sugar cereal I concede but it was on sale), Priya plummeted into drama that a high school one-act coach would smile at: she didn't want to go to school because all they do all day is work on addition and spelling workbooks plus she didn't want to learn to read. Therefore, she didn't want to get dressed or get her hair done.
What would she rather do: play at home. Right. My prediction: if she stayed at home, along about 9 a.m. she would start pining for school and what Ryder and Abel were doing and she would have burned through about 10 or 12 pages of kindergarten workbooks laying around here. At 9:10 a.m., she be looking for a project to do.
I honestly did not realize this drama was even possible for a five-year old child. And while I admit she honestly comes by it solely from her maternal side, this kid has exhibited this attitude from the moment she entered the world seven days late nearly six years ago.
As we were driving to school, she said Miss Buntjer had asked all the kids in her class what they would do with a pot of gold if they found it, in light of St. Patrick's Day yesterday. Priya would give hers for toys and food for the kids in Haiti and Chile, she informed me. Abel would want a house full of toys and Ryder a house full of costumes. Htoo would give her to her family. And Moo Bleh, who is still working on his English, didn't have an immediate answer.
And when I dropped her off at school, she jumped out of the vehicle ready for the half day of school, her backpack stuffed to bulging with her snowpants and only one leg of her pants tucked in her black and orange rubber farm boots.
What did Mary Poppins say about a spoon full of sugar? Oh yes, it's amazing what an organic vitamin C sucker can do to improve the disposition at 8 in the morning.
After she awoke at 6 a.m. stuffed up but chipper AND successfully read through her little reader book this morning with Mark and finished two bowls of Life (yep, that would be sugar cereal I concede but it was on sale), Priya plummeted into drama that a high school one-act coach would smile at: she didn't want to go to school because all they do all day is work on addition and spelling workbooks plus she didn't want to learn to read. Therefore, she didn't want to get dressed or get her hair done.
What would she rather do: play at home. Right. My prediction: if she stayed at home, along about 9 a.m. she would start pining for school and what Ryder and Abel were doing and she would have burned through about 10 or 12 pages of kindergarten workbooks laying around here. At 9:10 a.m., she be looking for a project to do.
I honestly did not realize this drama was even possible for a five-year old child. And while I admit she honestly comes by it solely from her maternal side, this kid has exhibited this attitude from the moment she entered the world seven days late nearly six years ago.
As we were driving to school, she said Miss Buntjer had asked all the kids in her class what they would do with a pot of gold if they found it, in light of St. Patrick's Day yesterday. Priya would give hers for toys and food for the kids in Haiti and Chile, she informed me. Abel would want a house full of toys and Ryder a house full of costumes. Htoo would give her to her family. And Moo Bleh, who is still working on his English, didn't have an immediate answer.
And when I dropped her off at school, she jumped out of the vehicle ready for the half day of school, her backpack stuffed to bulging with her snowpants and only one leg of her pants tucked in her black and orange rubber farm boots.
What did Mary Poppins say about a spoon full of sugar? Oh yes, it's amazing what an organic vitamin C sucker can do to improve the disposition at 8 in the morning.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
verse
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
This is the verse we've been trying to learn on the way to school for the past two weeks. It takes a mere 7 minutes to get to town but the 2.5 minutes (sometimes 2.5 seconds) in the middle of the trip is just long enough to learn about a verse every week (or so). At least Priya and I do.
Priya is very quick to learn verses. (Writing her name legibly and practicing sight words is a different story). And as I remember I could learn verses quickly when I was her age too. The key word being "when I was her age." Something happened to my learning abilities in the 26 years since then. The verses I still know today, the ones I can pop off and remember the references - all of those verses are ones I learned 25 years ago. Thus one of the reasons I thought it prudent to work on verses.
But the theory I've been contemplating is whether it is better to learn lots of verses young when the learning comes easy, even if the understanding of their meaning isn't clear OR learn a few verses and know how to interpret them. Once I heard someone sort of complain that the way AWANA learns verses, in mass quantity, misses the part of understanding what they mean. This person had decided to teach her boys a few verses and really explain their meaning.
I'm not so sure. The beautiful thing about the Bible is that is has something to say to any age. The same verse applies to a five-year-old kindergartner as well as a 60 year-old grandmother or a 25-year old doctoral student. So maybe my five year old doesn't understand all the Greek or Hebrew semantics, but she does understand that Jesus is changing her to be more like him. She does understand that He is in the process of taking off the part of her heart that is naughty and replacing it with a Jesus-like part. When she is 25 or 45, this verse will apply to her in a different way. She'll be at different place in life, probably.
So if she can learn as many verses now when her mind most retains and memorizes, how can it be anything but a good thing. We certainly aren't learning verses at a rapid rate by any means and I do think it is important that I try to explain (as inept as my explanations might be) what the big words mean.
Priya is very quick to learn verses. (Writing her name legibly and practicing sight words is a different story). And as I remember I could learn verses quickly when I was her age too. The key word being "when I was her age." Something happened to my learning abilities in the 26 years since then. The verses I still know today, the ones I can pop off and remember the references - all of those verses are ones I learned 25 years ago. Thus one of the reasons I thought it prudent to work on verses.
But the theory I've been contemplating is whether it is better to learn lots of verses young when the learning comes easy, even if the understanding of their meaning isn't clear OR learn a few verses and know how to interpret them. Once I heard someone sort of complain that the way AWANA learns verses, in mass quantity, misses the part of understanding what they mean. This person had decided to teach her boys a few verses and really explain their meaning.
I'm not so sure. The beautiful thing about the Bible is that is has something to say to any age. The same verse applies to a five-year-old kindergartner as well as a 60 year-old grandmother or a 25-year old doctoral student. So maybe my five year old doesn't understand all the Greek or Hebrew semantics, but she does understand that Jesus is changing her to be more like him. She does understand that He is in the process of taking off the part of her heart that is naughty and replacing it with a Jesus-like part. When she is 25 or 45, this verse will apply to her in a different way. She'll be at different place in life, probably.
So if she can learn as many verses now when her mind most retains and memorizes, how can it be anything but a good thing. We certainly aren't learning verses at a rapid rate by any means and I do think it is important that I try to explain (as inept as my explanations might be) what the big words mean.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
sugar
On the event of being responsible for snacks this week for Priya's class, some thoughts:
It's interesting that people have peanut butter allergies and milk allergies, but I've never heard of a person with a sugar allergy.
Maybe these folks exist.
How does one determine a sugar allergy? What if hives or sneezing or itching are only some external indications of allergies? Whose to say that inability to concentrate, inability to obey instructions or general disrespect aren't indications of too much sugar in ones diet?
Oh no, I know what it is: those problems in many more children that we should admit, falls under the category of behavior issues and drugs with bad side effects are administered.
Don't read me wrong: I'll be the first one in line for sugar: coffee cake, coffee with cream AND sugar, cookies, brownies and there are, I am sure, some children who need drugs to help their behavior. My kids eat more sugar than they should and are very fond of sugar.
I do have a problem however with the FACT that children are fed sugar in cupfuls because things with sugar are easy to feed them. Fruit snacks not only come in fun little crinkly packets, they come in fun little shapes too. Oatmeal raisin cookies and grainy crackers only come in tones of gray and brown. But where did we miss the new flash that fruit snacks are simply chewy candies with ascorbic acid added so the distributor can advertise 100% DV of vitamin C on the front of the box. Never mind that a little body may or may not be able to use any of that and that the ascorbic acid is only one of several parts of the vitamin C complex that helps the body heal and fight off sickness and whatever else it does.
That and the fact that small childrens tastes change like junior high crushes.
Last time we were responsible for snacks, clementines were responsible for causing some kids to choke (supposedly). On Monday after I sent clementines again, Priya announced at least three times that she needed to take at least 10 more for the next day because everyone loved them.
Like someone once said and like I tell the kids regularly: it takes at least 20 or 30 times of trying something before you can develop a like or dislike.
In other words, you can't say what you like or dislike until you are big like daddy.
(that's my soapbox for today and I'm sticking by it)
It's interesting that people have peanut butter allergies and milk allergies, but I've never heard of a person with a sugar allergy.
Maybe these folks exist.
How does one determine a sugar allergy? What if hives or sneezing or itching are only some external indications of allergies? Whose to say that inability to concentrate, inability to obey instructions or general disrespect aren't indications of too much sugar in ones diet?
Oh no, I know what it is: those problems in many more children that we should admit, falls under the category of behavior issues and drugs with bad side effects are administered.
Don't read me wrong: I'll be the first one in line for sugar: coffee cake, coffee with cream AND sugar, cookies, brownies and there are, I am sure, some children who need drugs to help their behavior. My kids eat more sugar than they should and are very fond of sugar.
I do have a problem however with the FACT that children are fed sugar in cupfuls because things with sugar are easy to feed them. Fruit snacks not only come in fun little crinkly packets, they come in fun little shapes too. Oatmeal raisin cookies and grainy crackers only come in tones of gray and brown. But where did we miss the new flash that fruit snacks are simply chewy candies with ascorbic acid added so the distributor can advertise 100% DV of vitamin C on the front of the box. Never mind that a little body may or may not be able to use any of that and that the ascorbic acid is only one of several parts of the vitamin C complex that helps the body heal and fight off sickness and whatever else it does.
That and the fact that small childrens tastes change like junior high crushes.
Last time we were responsible for snacks, clementines were responsible for causing some kids to choke (supposedly). On Monday after I sent clementines again, Priya announced at least three times that she needed to take at least 10 more for the next day because everyone loved them.
Like someone once said and like I tell the kids regularly: it takes at least 20 or 30 times of trying something before you can develop a like or dislike.
In other words, you can't say what you like or dislike until you are big like daddy.
(that's my soapbox for today and I'm sticking by it)
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