This flu is made for reading

For a moment there, I thought I had a heart attack. My fear was fueled by propaganda from the recent February Women’s Heart month. Women frequently miss the signs of heart attacks. Those red dress pins and symptoms listed on grocery bags make me concerned. And then, I was feeling achy from the flu virus that has brought down everyone in the house to lethargic, coughing, and complaining creatures. Or maybe it was just my computer arm muscles upset from over use. Thank goodness I did not have a heart attack, but just the flu aches and pains. However, now everyone is laughing mildly about my moment of worry; the new in joke is about my weirdness during sickness. At least we can all laugh together!

I am posting yesterday’s photo of our garden frog. Two weeks ago it was covered in snow, and a week later it was poking its head out. Now it looks like spring.

While in this fog of illness, I have been thinking of ideas to blog. I am trying to focus on just writing about parenting, kids culture & stuff, and how these intersect with technology

The only book I have been interested in while sick is How Children Learn to Write. [see link on side list] Perhaps this flu is a good thing: it makes one read informative books! I am trying to figure out how learning writing works. It is more difficult than reading. Speaking comes relatively naturally to all children. Reading is a about deciphering codes, and quite difficult as well. But writing also involves eye-hand coordination, hand movement, and a very structured way of communication. In order to write, writers must have an idea and then be able to organize their thoughts coherently, rather than the loose way of speaking. (The only person I knew who deliberately spoke in complete sentences was a high school English teacher and I found it annoying.) More on writing later.

Intersecting writing with technology, I find it interesting that my son is trying to learn keyboarding, sort of bypassing one kind of hand movement for another. I think many children must be doing this. He’s taking a keyboarding short class in school, so we’ll see how this goes.
One tech issue that bugs me is that my Bluetooth mouse from Rad Technology doesn’t work as well as I thought. It does not connect consistently and I have to keep reinstalling the software. My brother said he had some problem with his Bluetooth mouse. So I am wondering if Bluetooth technology is more buggy than I thought.

And, hello to my brother out in Microsoft land who emailed that he’s read this blog, which is great! But now I can’t say anything bad about the xBox he gave to his nephew for his birthday last summer! Actually, the xBox is a lot of fun, but a little addicting. It has made our son rather popular among his friends. I particularly like how the hard drive saves games. That has made playing Lego Star Wars II, with characters from the earlier game, more fun.

Finally, on technology…does anyone know of a good sponge mop for cleaning floors? I have yet to find one that doesn’t fall apart in some way. Or, when I want to purchase sponge replacements, they’re not available because the mop model is outdated.

Engineering Open house

Once again we have had a great time at the University of Illinois's Engineering Open House. If you want your children to be engineers, take them to such an event. When I was growing up, I thought engineers were good, kind men. But engineering didn't seem the kind of profession I wanted to enter. When we go to the UofI's engineering events, the college students make all their practical application experiments seem fun and interesting. These students are enthusiastic about showing everyone, whether young or old, what they're doing. What's pleasing is the cheerfulness seems to run through the wide diversity of students, men and women.

The photo is of concrete balls that float. There's a floating concrete boat contest every year that engineering students enter. They have to figure out how to make concrete lightweight, using special light material, and then make a canoe that is fast enough to win the race. The American Society of Civil Engineers is holding the 20th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition.


Clearly engineers like to compete. We cheered on the computerized robot competition. We saw a small remote-controlled plane for another competition.

We saw computer games using the new Wii controller, which was harder to use than we thought. We built a small rocket and shot it off. We made lipgloss, cement coaster, a kind of silly putty, and glow-in-the-dark bracelets. We learned about differences in brain sizes, shape and uses from the Beckman Institute's Center for Healthy Minds. (what a great name for a place to work). There were lots of ideas for science projects. Of course, I loved the computer geeky stuff and seeing all the Macs in use.


We have all had a weird flu virus that has mostly made us lethargic and complaining. So we were thrilled to get out to the open house in warmer weather!

Where would we be without Star Wars?

For several years, our son was into pirates. This was before Pirates of the Caribbean. We played with Playmobil pirate guys and pirate ships. He had several pirate costumes, including a great one from Gymboree. Pirate books. Pirate toys from Imaginext. Pirate maps. Pirate activity books. A pirate bath mit, to keep you clean. Pirate jokes.

I learned how using one topic that appeals to your child, and hopefully you, the educational appeal is endless. We are still somewhat fascinated by pirates. The pirates of childhood are more silly than mean, altho they do have disagreements.

Currently, we are in a Star Wars phase. My husband has realized that he has to read more of the Star Wars books that our son reads just so we can keep up. Boba Fett rules. If that Lego guy gets lost, the whole house is turned upside.

We are also enjoying playing Lego Star Wars I and II on xBox. Thanks to my brother for the xBox, which has made his nephew really popular among certain friends. These two xbox games are some of the best that we have played. The second one is a vast improvement over the first, which was great. The second one has even more little puzzles, games, and character switches to make it more fun. One of the great aspects to the xBox is that it has a hard drive, so we can bring in characters from the first game into the second. It's cool to watch Darth Vadar battle his younger self.

Check out Gamer Dad, in the Media list on the side, for reviews of games with a sense of what's appropriate for family members.

Praise and where it takes you

I have been mulling over the ideas in a recent cover article in New York magazine, by Po Bronson, titled "How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise." This is a rather long article, but the gist of it is that children seem to respond a lot better to praise that is specific. They want to know exactly not what they have done correct, not that they are good kids. Because, the research thinking goes, if they think they're good and smart then 1) they can't figure out the exact effort that got them to that point and 2) if they're so good why should they try harder. Sincerity of praise is also important.

Bronson admits at the end that he's a praise junkie and that it's harder for him to stop abstractly praising than he thought it would be. He writes, "I’d thought “praise junkie” was just an expression—but suddenly, it seemed as if I could be setting up my son’s brain for an actual chemical need for constant reward." Earlier in the article he writes, "After reading Carol Dweck’s research, I began to alter how I praised him, but not completely. I suppose my hesitation was that the mind-set Dweck wants students to have—a firm belief that the way to bounce back from failure is to work harder—sounds awfully clichéd: Try, try again.But it turns out that the ability to repeatedly respond to failure by exerting more effort—instead of simply giving up—is a trait well studied in psychology. People with this trait, persistence, rebound well and can sustain their motivation through long periods of delayed gratification."

Researchers learned that kids who were taught that the brain is a muscle and that the more you worked it, like any muscle, the better it performed, performed better in school and in homework than those who were not taught how the brain worked. They could understand the logic of the idea of keeping trying to get their brain at its peak performance levels. They could see a reason for homework and did it better.

Self-esteem by itself is not as great as it's been proposed. Failure leads to the abililty to figure out how to not fail and then how to succeed. A recent study shows that college students are quite narcissistic. There has been some commentary and some research about the current group of people who are in their twenties who even admit to being coddled too much. We'll see. One thing is for sure...parenting makes you realize that you can make mistakes, but you have to keep trying.

Thankfully, we have the humor of British writers to have developed the genre of Bad Mothers Club literature. Unlike Americans who take things far too seriously, the British are usually able to swallow their pride and publish self-deprecating, but funny, realizations in slightly smart books. Check out the Bad Mothers Club (incorporate Bad Dads) website.

iPod accessories

I've owned an iPod for more than a year and am still figuring out which accessories I need, like, or simply desire. We love our iDog because it's cute and trendy. But the speakers are not very loud. I have a lot of trouble using a tiny Phillips screwdriver to open up the battery section, which I seem to need to do more often than I like. We ooh and awww over the latest variations: iCat, iFish, etc. But if you get it, don't be suprised that it's not as functional as you hoped. Also, the dog keeps barking on its own even though it's not cute five minutes later. I want it to stop barking sooner than it does. Very annoying to hear the electronic dog barking in the kitchen while we're eating. Still, the design is spiffy.

Recently, I bought an iLive speaker set from Kohl's. Okay, it's somewhat embarrassing to buy electronics from Kohl's, but I had noticed it was on sale before Christmas and then never saw that price again until before Valentine's Day, when I bought it. The speakers are small, but pack a lot of punch. They don't sound distorted and have a nice range. I can also hook up my tiny radio for AM/FM listening. (I could hook up the speakers and iPod to the TV, but haven't.) The iLive also recharges the iPod. I bought it for kitchen listening and have found it serves that purpose quite well. I'm glad that I didn't miss the sale. And now I can listen to my podcasts, including Creative Mom Podcast, while cooking and cleaning and dancing around.

I continue to be mystified by all the accessories for the iPod, as some make a lot of sense and some don't. The iPod seems so much designed to be listened to individually that listening to it without headphones seems to be an afterthought.

I have found a lot of help and reviews for iPod paraphenalia at iLounge.com, but it's almost too detailed.

Nature vs. Nurture?

The Washington Post parenting blog has a relatively civil exchange about the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. Are boys really more likely to be interested in guns? Are girls more likely to be girly and wear fluffy clothes? It's an intriguing question. Before my life with children, I thought it was a lot more nature. I couldn't really fathom how boys could be so filled with a certain kind of energy and curiosity that they would be continually fascinated by guns, destruction, and, well, fart sounds using their arms. I have now rethought this.

I remember reading Dr. Dobson comment on this within the last several years. He wrote that even if you don't give boys guns, they'll make them out of peanut butter sandwiches. I am not really a fan of Dobson, although I am thankful he has mellowed with age and the influence of his adult children. But that image has stuck in my mind.

My husband asks "What about life before guns?" My answer was that boys would still have that impulse for destruction, for curiosity, for those fart sounds. That's what the anthropologist seemed to conclude in the comments. It's more nature.

Well, I'm going to stop this because we're watching Buckaroo Banzai again. Wherever you go, there you are.

Handwriting and typing help

My son has been enjoying learning how to type with the SpongeBob Typing CD. I bought this several months ago and he liked it, but then found it frustrating. Now he is motivated to learn how to type because he is using the computer more at home and school, so he wants to use the keyboard. And he has better hand-eye coordination after piano lessons. So much seems to be having things in the house ready for him when he's ready...and I'm not always sure when that is.

He is quite intrigued by anything SpongeBob and this CD is very much in the upbeat, slightly silly SpongeBob style. There's a keyboard on the screen that he uses to help him find the keys as he types the words on the screen. He is up to 8 words a minute. (Edited later: He eventually clocked in at 11 words at minute and now must type even faster on his own while typing on Club Penguin.) We have tried other typing programs for younger kids, but this one seems both better and more sophisticated. Definitely worth checking out for a high tech parent.

(Additional: Check out this review chart of Top Ten Typing Programs for Kids: http://typing-for-kids-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ ) We use MacBooks at home, so our options were somewhat limited on which typing software to purchase. Still, I think that the SpongeBob works.

Another benefit to consider for those debating about their child learning to type: Typing using both hands. This is a good way to develop both sides of the brain and to get muscles going for playing the piano or other musical instruments. I am pretty sure that because I played the piano and learned to type in sixth grade, that I have more ambidextrous confidence.

After examining numerous workbooks and ideas on handwriting, we have found that the handwriting program that worked best for him is Handwriting without Tears. This program using an up-and-down, rather than slanted, style. The style is not filled with lavish curliques that make little sense for today's handwriters. Still, it flows together nicely and the results are pleasant and easy to read.

The workbooks are relatively inexpensive, nicely designed, and kid friendly. The program starts with activities for kindergartners and moves on up. I like that there are workbooks for printing and cursive improvement in fourth and fifth grade levels.

We found that going through the books was easily manageable in one to three pages at at time. We also bought the lined paper, which is different than the standard, three-lined learning tablets. The two-line paper is innovative but quite helpful. I would highly recommend the entire program.

Before we got into the HWT program, he practiced cursive handwriting using School-Rite's handwriting instruction guides. I bought these on sale at Kid's Palette (noted on side list) and was skeptical. But they seem to be working for him as he needs to feel the movement of cursive handwriting. The guides make letters that fit into paper lines that are about one inch, so this is large. Every letter has arrow directing the writer. We have both the uppercase and lowercase instruction guides, which I would recommend. The guides are heavy plastic that seem quite sturdy.

Edited in later: The guides don't follow the HWT modified style. In retrospect, the guides seemed like a good idea. But the HWT workbooks are the best and proved better in the long run.

Kolackys

For the Cultural Fair at my son's school, we decided to make kolackys to celebrate his Slovak heritage. My mom, who's not Slovak, used to make these frequently as well. The tiny cookies are made with a cream cheese dough and filled with a jam (usually apricot), poppyseed (using a can of Solo), walnut mix, or cheese.

To find a recipe, first I explored the 50-year-old Slovak cookbook from my husband's grandparents' Slovak Lutheran church. It had a whole chapter on kolackys and I discovered that the sweet little cookie treats I loved are only one version of kolackys. The other is more of a small, fruit-filled bun made with a yeast recipe. I also found my mother-in-law's recipe in my 3-ring notebook collection of recipes. It was the non-yeast version. She made them thumbprint style.

I decided to check out kolacky recipes on the Internet, which is where I've been going more often for recipes. I am even bringing my laptop into the kitchen these days.

I love the little hints I found for kolackys. The best was to use a baby spoon to dollop the filling into smaller cookies. My son thought it was funny using his old babyspoons. Another was to roll the dough into a log to easily cut rounds. Another good idea was to use powdered sugar instead of flour.

Some of my favorite recipe sites:
Recipezaar
Epicurious (the site of Gourmet and Bon Appetit)
All Recipes (sometimes not particularly sophisticated, but often quite good.)
This is the link to the kolacky recipe that most resembled the one I ended up using.

I am so glad to be able to have this high-tech recipe source.

Moms Organizing Online

The New York Times article about Moms Organizing Online is intriguing. Last year I began checking out the Moms Rising web site. I was somewhat dubious about exactly what they're trying to organize for and about. Maybe it's a good thing. There certainly are numerous issues about motherhood and parenting that feminists have refused to even acknowledge that they exist.


I used to prefer to identify myself as a feminist in that I thought equal-pay-for-equal-work was right and vital. I supported feminists causes. But I have felt betrayed that many so-called feminists have turned a blind eye to issues related to motherhood.

I still try to support some feminist issues. But I would hope that the dichotomy between mothers and non-mothers would someday end. I am tired of being called a breeder by feminists.

Thoughts on Newbery Award

The high tech part about the latest controversy over the 2007 Newbery Award is that it began through librarians and then children's literature experts discussing this online. Would the controversy have arisen if librarians only communicated to a few others online? Would Publishers Weekly, The New York Times and other media taken it as seriously if a school librarian from Kentucky called a NYT reporter to say that she had problems with words in the latest Newbery winner? I doubt it.

But because librarians and academics could discuss this on the internet the issue unfolded in a different way. Different aspects of the issue were aired in a somewhat sensible way. Yet, as usual it seems that those who are noisiest seem to want to win more and often end up doing so.

I am coming close to an end of a six-year-term as an elected board member of our local library, so I have come to see library issues from several perspectives: reader, parent, taxpayer, board member, free speech advocate. Librarians are not obligated to purchase a book just because it won a Newbery Award, or any other award. This is especially true for school libraries who serve a very select audience and who have a limited budget. Even so, the Newbery is not so much as about the best book of the year per se. Instead, it is an award more about consumerism and selling books. Why should people be upset that librarians have brains and have decided not to bring a book into the library that they don't think works for its constituents? Librarians select books. That's what they're paid to do, among other things.

Libraries have limited budgets. I am always asking for more money to be spent on books. I do want more ideas into our community. I am glad that our library is now using a national program that seems to be bringing in a wider range of books. And I am frustrated when our library doesn't have a book I think it should have. That happens all the time. If any patron asks specifically for a book that a library doesn't have, libraries can either inter-library loan it or decide to purchase it. And that is what may happen for some of the libraries that don't initially purchase a book. But don't scream at librarians for falling into the award-business with eyes wide shut.

And, I am very curious why the people that selected the Newbery even chose this book in the first place. They must have known it would cause controversy. Would they have felt differently if the body part being bitten was a girl's? Why aren't the names of the committee ever revealed in public anyway?

The writer's defense of the controversial word is particularly lame, especially since her day job is a librarian in LA. She likes the sound of this word as she thinks it's sounds 'delicious.' The word sounds 'delicious' which seems to be why she wrote a whole book around it. 'Delicious'?

The Newbery Award doesn't always recognize the best children's book of the year. Look at what won the year that Charlotte's Web was published. It is an award that reflects the time, culture, and values of the committee. It tends to reflect what many librarians think should be appropriate, think should be read about. It is also an award that was specifically designed to sell books.

Link to The New York Times article

Returning to High Tech Parent blog.

Well, I decided to come back and try this again. I am still interested in parenting, children, and related high-tech gadgets.

And we are still into Legos. But this time my son is now 7 and able to put together the Star Wars Lego sets pretty much on his own. I showed him how to sort out the pices into bowls and am convincing him that it's easier to work on a table than on the floor.

He also recently put together a SpongeBob Lego set from his cousins, as shown above. You can see the Lego versions of Spongebob, Patrick, and the snail, Gary. This was harder to put together than I thought because of the roundness of its shape and so many pieces are orange. Oh, the thing we assembled is SpongeBob's pineapple home. We like all interior decorating inside. He even has a basketball hoop.

What is it about SpongeBob that seems so attractive to kids? Is it his eternal optimism? The brightness of the colors? The bigness of his face? (studies show that children respond to large faces, which is why Scooby-Do and many others have bigger heads than their bodies, proportionately.) I think some of the jokes are still kind of funny.

toys

As it's Christmas time and holiday time, it's also the major toy time. One thing I wanted to be sure to do on this blog was to post ideas about toys.

I went to the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio page and found this interesting info on its web site, Five Myths About Toys
http://www.toyportfolio.com/TVArchives/ToyStoreBan/ToyStoreBan.asp

If you're a high tech parent, you probably find high tech related toys hard to resist. Your cool factor among your children may also rise if they see you fondling the latest Game Boy game or figuring out how some kind of talking toy works. I love many of these toys, too. But I am already becoming tired of some of them. And I am wondering how many batteries are leaking all over our house.

If you want to know which toys (high tech or not) from last season didn't sell well, go to a garage sale. That talking ewok-yoda doll is at a lot of garage sales. People find it creepy and it doesn't seem to work very well. It's supposed to tell stories and interact with children. I think a lot of well meaning aunts and uncles bought it. Parents often have told me they and their children just can't stand it. I have found many of once hot interactive-type toys at garage sales. They seem to loose their luster fast and kids often outgrow these. On the other hand, you can almost always make something out of blocks, Play-doh and Legos.

Another major offering at garage sales are the zillions of toys from fast food kids' meals. They're fun, but kids seem to loose interest quickly. Still, I find them often quite innovative. Did you see those hand-held games McDonald's had early in the fall? I saw a lot of parents play with them. As toys, I like the meal toys sometimes more than the ones I pay a lot more for. Well, that's another post.

We are debating about buying a Leap Pad in our house. I think it's cool. My child is fascinated for moments in a store. But I purchased an earlier Leap Pad brand product and was disappointed that it broke after not a lot of use and that my child really wasn't as keen about it as I thought. My mother, who was a teacher, is reluctant to buy a Leap Pad because she thinks it encourages children to think that all books are interactive, that there are buttons on all books. Books aren't like that, she says. It's not the price that bothers her, but the principle. I don't know. Stay tuned.

assembling toys, deconstructing them

I talked with a friend about his son's birthday toys. He said he's constantly coming up to him and asking him to fix a Transformer Dinosaur toy. As I mentioned earlier in a post about Legos, many toys seem sturdier than they really are. The toys purchased at the dollar-type stores are often of such poor quality they're only good for an afternoon. But the books and workbooks you can buy there are often much higher quality.

Parents are always fixing toys these days. But as the dad and I agreed, we could use an electronics or engineer degree just to get some of these things working properly.

We have a large selection of Playmobils in our house. Still, for small fingers they are sometimes difficult to put together. But most of them have smiling faces, even though they may be "bad guys." We like that there's more imagination involved in these. Playmobil characters also have a weird sensibility when it comes to U.S. history. It's filtered through a German lens, so sometimes it's odd. But in general, Playmobils are a lot of fun to have in the house. Everything except the space toys have been very sturdy. They lead to imaginative play for girls and boys. Check the shopping links for my favorite online site to buy Playmobil. Puffins is a cute store in Madison, Wisconsin. The online site has many other of the educational-type toys.

a science & art fair

Last week we went to our school's arts and science fair. We had fun looking at the exhibits the students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade had created. I particularly liked the idea that children could submit artwork or stories as well as the traditional science fair-type project. You have to admire the kids' and the parents' involvement in these things.

Nothing, however, seemed extraordinary which is kind of reassuring. Even in this day of great technological advances and connections to more science than ever before via the web, students still have to learn the basic science project stuff. That appeals to me and it must to kids. There's still something amazing about making your own volcano, explaining how levers and pulleys work, observing bread mold, and finding out the differences among products such as soaps, diapers, and nail polishes.

I also think it's great that the creativeness of art projects is also included in the school's fair. Both science and art require you to think ahead, build on an idea, and see it through to the finish. The thinking and visualization before art is created is tremendously under-estimated. People seem to think that anybody should be able to make great sculptures with Play-doh. This, of course, is untrue. But the myth persists. Instead, art is about asking a question, considering how to carry it out, and then doing so. It's a lot about having the skills, which means practice. This seems most obvious for classical music and dance. It seems less obvious for design, painting, some types of dance and music, and writing. Intrinsic talent is a plus, but so is hard work and a discerning mind.

Another important part is knowing when to quit a project, knowing when it's done, when it's time to perform, to exhibit, to publish, to show others. A current vogue in teaching writing is to having students constantly re-write. Teachers have told me that a student can always re-write again and again. This is not true. Eventually, you have to know when to stop. Scientists probably have it easier, perhaps too easy sometimes. They know when to stop when they have answered their hypothesis. But the question becomes: was it the right hypothesis?

It's good to see children's art and science projects mingle together and the school support both equally. It will be a better day when the U.S. culture supports both equally, too.

more on those tattoo bandages

We were using a Toy Story bandage today which is supposed to be waterproof. They are really rather awkward to work with. You peel the top so the bottom sticks to your body. This goes against every other kind of bandage you've ever used. They can be waterproof as long as they stay on. But they don't always stay on so well. Maybe they are really more of a tattoo style thing.

What does seem to work, if and when you need it, is that new bandage-less goop. Great on finger cuts! Older adults and children like it. But the advanced medicine does stain white furniture purple. However, I am not great at getting out bad stains. Perhaps another aspect of high tech parenting -- figuring out what cleaners work, which ones are dangerous, which ones are just superfluous.

Legos

I am putting together a Legos Star Wars toy this morning. Legos used to be about creativity -- take these little blocks and make them into something interesting. Now they are about following directions. It's more like model-making. That's a fine skill, but it's not as creative. It's harder these days to find a set of simple Lego blocks not associated with some kind of model or pop culture tie-in.

The Star Wars toys are particularly appealing to kids younger than the box stated age of 6 and above. But that forces parents to put together these rather complicated sets. We lost the directions, too, so I had to look at the box. I am getting better at this. I am not sure if these model-style Legos are a case of good high tech toys. Yes, there is inherent value in learning how to put together small pieces and follow directions. But they also tend to fall apart very easily. Legos used to seem like a sturdy toy to me. Now they seem to be a toy ready to fall apart. Maybe that's the appeal -- kids are always putting them back together.

MegaBlocks are an interesting variation. They tend to be more on castles and adventure stories. They also have intricate little blocks.

I am looking forward to the day when I get to play with my child's Lego director's set. Of course, I haven't bought this yet. But it looks like a cool way to try to be a film director.

Well, it's back to Luke's adventures with the drones.

Starting out

I have been wanting to put together a High Tech Parent place for awhile and now finally have a moment to do so. One thing's for sure, if you're a high tech parent you don't have as much free time as you did before kids.
But technology and new media in all its forms still fascinates me. For instance, consider the weirdness of bandages. Remember when they were just that dull brown color which matched no one's skin color? Now you can get your favorite cartoon character to plaster all over your wounds. Some children think of them as stickers. The packages refer to them as tattoos. Is it right to encourage children to have tattoos at such a young age, in any form? What about all the temporary tattoos which usually last for several days? It's weird enough that my child is wearing a lizard sticker on its hand all day while shopping in the mall or at church.