Hiccups NewsOK.com Blogging Community

My husband keeps saying we’re in a recession, we need to save money, we’re heading toward a depression.

I hear him. I hear the news. I see the effects of the financial crisis around me. People are worried.

Our children are aware, too. They listen to us talk, and I don’t want to scare them, but it’s good they know what’s going on … why Mommy might be a little hesitant to buy a spur-of-the-moment trinket.

Our youngest daughter, after hearing this topic discussed, selected a cheaper party favor for her birthday party. “Is this one OK, Mommy? It’s cheaper.” It kind of broke my heart, but it also made me proud that she is trying to help.

It’s not that our family has made major cutbacks yet. But we are considering our purchases more and thinking, “Do we really need this.”

I had told the girls I would shop for a new dining room table - we’ve used a card table with folding chairs for more than three years. (Some people are shocked by this, but I didn’t want to buy something frivolously) I also told the kids we would even look at some new bedroom furniture.

But this weekend I had second thoughts. … I listened to the news, the bleak picture, the bailout plan. Maybe we should wait just a little while longer to buy new furniture, I told them.

 So, before I went to the grocery store, I clipped my coupons, made my list and tried to keep to the list as much as possible. I canceled a hair appointment. I cooked stew this weekend and made plans to cook more at home.

These are little things, but I’m trying to do my part. And, if my kids can learn something from it, I hope it’s a positive lesson, one about trying to make a difference in our own budget and learning that you don’t always go get something just because you want it. — Linda Lynn 

   My daughter loves to do “arts and crabs.” She means “crafts” not crustaceans.

So we are always looking for fun, simple and cheap activities.

The photo above shows a Halloween-themed idea that I got from one of my favorite sites: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com

The site is geared to preschool teachers, but I find lots of good ideas for parents too.

This project is super fun because your child dips his feet into white paint to make the ghost shapes. This makes the ghosts funny, not scary.

Do you have any craft ideas? Share them here!
Susan Simpson

It’s a hard concept to grasp, but seemingly it can be true. 

Objectively, I would have to say my 2-year-old son’s demeanor is very mild.  He is affectionate and already demonstrates a certain compassion for others, as simple as it is. I have been very lucky that he has never taken out frustration or anger in a physical way - never a biter or a hitter.

These qualities also may make him a target of bullying.  In his class, he has a friend who is bigger than him (my son is small for his age), more outspoken and a bit aggressive. I’m going by what I’ve seen myself and what other parents have said.  The interaction between the two boys is starting to worry me though, because my son is now reenacting his negative encounters with this child, over and over again.

I’ll pick him up from daycare and about 5 minutes into the ride home, I’ll hear him in the back seat reliving the day’s events. “No No!  No push Hunter!  Be nice, (child’s name), be nice!”  or “No hit Hunter - go time out, (child’s name)!” At first I thought it was an idle situation, but lately this is an everyday occurrence.  I’m worried that it can scar him in a way that may, in turn, make him aggressive, or set him up for a lifetime of being a target of bullies.

One thing I can’t really do is talk to this child’s mom.  We are friends, and I don’t want to see a friendship go sour over this and there is no real delicate way to bring it up.  The daycare teachers are giving the boy time outs so I can’t say they’re not doing their part. 

I’m not sure where to go from here. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.  I would love to hear some!

~Erica Smith

esmith@opubco.com

I’m a fan of reality TV, I’ll admit it.  I’ve been avidly watching this season of America’s Got Talent and I must say, the talent does not disappoint.

There is one talent act that has bothered me though, especially lately.  It is that of 4-year-old singer Kaitlyn Maher. 

The premise of this show is to find a talent that can sustain an audience in Las Vegas as a headline act, along with a considerable cash prize.  I understand the novelty of having a 4-year-old sing for a national audience, but I really do think America (who keeps voting her back) doesn’t quite get this premise and I think if she wins, it will be a hard lesson to learn. 

Realistically, having a 4-year-old sing for a 90-minute show for a Las Vegas audience is asking for failure.  It may sound harsh, but I don’t see droves of people lining up, paying to see her sing.  Not only do I think she can’t keep up a show that long, but Piers Morgan, the only judge who has given a reality check about this act, is pleading to America not to put her through, and not to put her through that. 

As novel as it is, we must remember this girl is only 4 years old.  She doesn’t belong on a Vegas stage, she belongs in pre-school, singing children songs with her friends and family, watching PBS Kids, eating graham crackers and goldfish, and learning to read.

And I don’t believe the judges are blameless, either.  After all, they did know the winning act gets a show in Vegas and they could have cut her before the live shows. 

So now it’s in America hands.  We’ll see tonight if they did the right thing and sent this little girl home.

~Erica Smith

esmith@opubco.com

  The most e-mailed story today from the New York Times was not about presidential politics or fall fashion. It was about getting kids to eat healthier food.

No surprise to this mom of a very picky eater.  Food is a daily struggle in our house. This morning, my daughter did not want her usual breakfast of toaster waffles. She insisted on chocolate kisses. We compromised (one kiss, one waffle) because I needed to get her to school on time, and with something in her tummy.

The New York Times story offered some helpful hints (a link is posted below) but no magic answers. The basic message: try and try again. A child just might try a new food after it’s been offered a dozen or so times. They also might want to eat something new if they helped prepare it.

I’ll try those methods (again) but so far, they haven’t been too successful with my strong-willed child. Do you have any suggestions, short of melting chocolate on broccoli?

Comment here. And check out the NYT story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?ex=1379217600&en=240983ba5b28e936&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Susan Simpson

If you’ve read my blogs, you already know I’m a big fan of the Oklahoma City Zoo. 

Last night, my son and I attended the ConZOOvation event at the zoo, and it was a blast.  For $6 (the price for each adult, kids went free), we had an evening of dinner , crafts and a puppet show. They had the characters from OETA’s show Between the Lions and Chick-fil-A supplied dinner to the kids and adults.  Kids also got to make their own lion puppets and had a goody bag complete with animal book to take home with them.   

Also, once a month, we attend a class with other 2-year-olds and they do all kinds of fun things.  There’s story time, craft-making, and the zoo staff bring in a “friend” … usually something alive that the kids can touch and come face to face with.  It runs about an hour on a Saturday morning, once a month and they have a different theme each class.  For Zoo Friends, each class is $10.00 and for others it is $12.00 per child.  Well worth it!

Visit the zoo’s Web site, okczoo.com, click on education, then events, then toddler programs to see the programs offered for kids 5 and younger and special events.  There’s some fun things coming up like Family Fun Night for Zoo Friends members and Cupcakes with Santa in a few months.  For a monthly schedule of events, look under “Zoo News” on the homepage or go to http://www.okczoo.com/wimgo/.

Have fun planning your next trip to one of Oklahoma City’s best attractions!

~Erica Smith

esmith@oklahoman.com

The other night watching the potential first woman vice president give her speech at the Republican National Convention, I had such conflicted emotions. I wanted to say, “You go, girl,” in my least cheesy of voices. But as young Piper licked the palm of her hand to slick down 4-month-old Trig’s baby locks I wanted to scoop them up and shield them from the storm.

Electing Hilary was putting a woman in the white house. Electing Sarah is putting a mom in the white house. Hillary’s child is grown and no longer depends on her the way an 8-year-old and a 4-month-old depend on a mother, not to mention three other children one of which is a 17-year-old mother to be. And while a mother’s work is never finished no matter how old her children are, her role in their lives changes dramatically over time.

With Palin we’re asked to re-examine a mother and father’s role in the family and to develop new standards and expectations. And I’m not saying this is a bad thing necessarily. But in general a mother’s role in nurturing is much more involved than a father’s. In general, fathers tend to be able to say I have a late meeting or I’d like to go do X and slip on out. While mothers IN GENERAL have to solve the kid puzzle if they have a late meeting or want to go do X all by themselves … arrange pick-ups, drop-offs, meal plans and often still cook, lay out pajamas, etc. And maybe it is not so much that mothers are actually expected to handle all of this, but more they feel like they should or feel like it is expected of them. (more…)

  Britney Spears’ mom is publishing a book about her family, but don’t expect to find it on the “how to” parenting aisles of your book store.

Lynne Spears’ biography “Through the Storm” is published next Tuesday by Thomas Nelson, a leading Christian publisher. The Associated Press obtained an early copy and said the book “tracks Britney Spears’ life through her precocious early years — she was singing and dancing by the time she was 3 — through her explosive rise to her pill-addicted, near-tragic fall.”

Lynne Spears presents herself as a loving, selfless (she gave up her job as a school teacher for her daughter’s sake) but increasingly powerless parent. She recalls feeling she had been “punched in the stomach” when she learned that Jamie Lynn Spears was pregnant at age 16.

No doubt the book will be a top seller, mostly for the tabloid-factor. And as a mom, I shouldn’t judge the Spears family or any other. But I do wonder if there will be a sequel. Another storm is likely on the forecast for this famous family.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer

Sharon Rodine, director of youth initiatives at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said the more conversations about the issue of teen pregnancy, the better.

If it’s a TV show that has parents and teens talking on the subject, so be it. 

“Hopefully the talk will lead to some positive discussions for some young people because we have been ignoring them for too long,” Rodine said.

Some critics have jabbed at the new ABC Family show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” saying that it focuses on sex too much and that it plays a lot like a soap opera parody, but others, like Rodine and leaders with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, say it has folks talking and that’s worth a lot.

Rodine said it’s often hard to get people in Oklahoma to see how much teen pregnancy has become a concern. 

“Between 2005 and 2006, and that’s the latest data we have, the births to teens in

“It’s an alarm bell going off because, in so many ways, we’ve become complacent.”

Rodine said it’s sometimes hard for people to relate to numbers so she found another way to describe the problem.

“How do we help the public understand what this means? To help put this in perspective I tell people that the number of teens giving birth in

“We need to say ‘diplomas before diapers’.”

With that said, here are some national statistics from the National Campaign to ponder:

– The teen pregnancy and birth rate has declined dramatically since the early 1990s (down 38 percent and 32 percent respectively), driven by decreased sexual activity and increases in contraceptive use. Even so, recent data shows that the declines in teen sex and improvements in contraceptive use have leveled off. And the teen birth rate is on the rise for the first time in 15 years.

– At present, 3 in 10 girls in the

– There are more than 729,000 teen pregnancies annually and in 2006, there were 435,000 births to teens.

– At present, half of all pregnancies in the

– Carla

It’s Grandparents Day.

It’s not too late to visit Grandma, Mee Maw or Granny to tell her you’re thinking about her.

It’s not too late to make a phone call and send Papa or Gramps a hug over the phone lines.

I know people sometimes argue that special designated days like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Grandparents Day are irrelevant when we should all be appreciative and loving of Mom or Dad or Grandma everyday.

But these family roles are so important that I believe we can’t laud them enough, appreciate and celebrate them enough.

So take the time to honor your grandparents. Many have invested much in their families and are now looking to see some of that time, energy and love come to fruition in the next generation.

Teach your children the value of respecting and appreciating the older adults who were paving the way for them long before they were even thought of.

The payoff is huge.

One day, if you are lucky, you’ll be a grandparent too.

Carla

P.S. Maybe you’re already a grandparent. If so, happy Grandparents Day!