Topic: Child rearing

The “play date…”

By Beth Britton | September 28, 2008 |

"Woman getting ready..."

Play dates are funny things.

The morning of, maybe even the night before you set about planning what you will wear. It’s kind of like when you were in high school and were going on a date with a guy, only difference is the debate over what you wear is now a little different.

As a teen you wanted to have it all together, smell nice, hair a certain way, and make- up just perfect.

As a mom on a play date, same thing, only this time you strive to not make it look like you have it all together.

You want to be approachable, right? You don’t want to give the impression that Gucci and pearls are the norm for you. Or maybe that’s just the impression you want to give, and if that’s the case then I think someone needs to tell you

• A. You’re not fooling anyone, and
• B. The rest of us are quietly fuming that you got to take a shower this morning!

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Separation Anxiety: a real issue for toddlers

By Beth Britton | September 3, 2008 |

Elle girl and Elmo

Last night after a family dinner out at our favorite pre-baby restaurant, Old Chicago, we thought we would make an attempt to return to post-baby normalcy by going to a book store that we had not ventured into since before Elle-girl was born.

We never took a small baby to this particular book store because we didn’t want to be “those” parents of an obnoxiously loud toddler screaming its head off because it couldn’t get what it wanted, you know the type, the ones that people who don’t have children scoff at ?

We thought that now that our well mannered daughter was a bit older that we would try it. Not taking into consideration that it was 9 p.m. at night, and our toddler is usually curled up in her footie pajamas by this time any other night of the week.

It started off well. She seemed stunningly overwhelmed by the mass majority of her favorite thing in the whole wide world all around her, books!

She was all smiles and all whispers, just like planned!

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“The Naughty Chair” tames the dangerous side of independence

By Beth Britton | August 29, 2008 |

naughty
Main Entry: naugh·ty Pronunciation: \ˈnȯ-tē, ˈnä-\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): naugh·ti·er; naugh·ti·est
Etymology: Middle English noughti, from nought Date: 14th century
1 a: archaic: vicious in moral character. Check
1 b: guilty of disobedience or misbehavior. Check,check
2: lacking in taste or propriety. Sometimes, yes. Check, Check, Check

Being a former Preschool teacher I understood that sooner or later I would have to institute a “Time-Out” area for my toddler. However, I didn’t realize it would be sooner, rather than later.

As I saw the approaching need I began to scout out local antique stores and Malls, yard sales, garage sales, and Ma and Pa, Grandma, and Grandpa’s attics, looking for just the right stool. Requirements were as follows: «Read the rest of this article»

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