Do you have a reluctant math student? Unfortunately I have two of them. My 7 and 9 year-old are stuck in that very tedious phase of math where everything seems to be all about drilling problems. According to her recent parent-teacher conference, my 4 year-old on the other hand, currently spends much of her time in the “math environment” of her Montessori classroom. As her proud Mom, I have of course already planned out her future career as an engineer!
The foundation of math can be pretty boring. I remember that from my school days. Fortunately I ended up loving math later, and even took it in college.
I keep thinking, if only there was some way to make it clear to them that math can actually be really cool later on, then perhaps they’d be willing to slog through this early stuff until the light bulb comes on for them as it did for me.
Fortunately I recently discovered the math stories by Theoni Pappas. I bought Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales
(that’s some of the cool stuff!) and The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat
(my kids love cats).
I have begun reading the fractals book out loud with my oldest daughter. We have read several chapters and she keeps wanting more! Each short chapter has an easy and creative explanation of a different complex, mind-bending concept presented in story format. Often there are related activities to do, or puzzles to solve. At the end of the chapter is a highlighted box with more complete information about the concept, usually involving history or practical applications.
The Möbius strip was one of the real WOW chapters that we have read so far (see our photo above).
Will these books turn my children in to math-lovers? Who knows, but they are fun!
Is it a new DVD player? A subscription to People magazine? A case of anti-aging miracle pills? What could say “I love you Mom” more than a miracle weight-loss drink or anti-stretch mark cream?
(By the way, these examples are extracted from actual Mothers’ Day gift suggestions that I received via email at Unplug Your Kids from eager marketers!)
No.
THIS IS THE PERFECT MOTHERS’ DAY GIFT:
All real moms will understand. (Take note marketers.)
Happy Mothers’ Day!
PS. This was my actual gift from my 4 year-old this year, presented with great ceremony!
Birthday parties don’t have to involve a depressing influx of cheap, unwanted (at least by parents!), commercial toys. If you can convince your children that family gifts suffice, you might be able to turn that excess of birthday party gift generosity into birthday giving generosity.
I really believe that children are charitable by nature. They just need to be taught about the needs of others and encouraged to engage in charitable work and giving. My hope is that this will help create more sensitive and socially conscious adults.
My 9 year-old daughter has enjoyed charity birthday parties for many years now. I already wrote about her first Humane Society birthday party (she has had several of these and one of her friends is doing it now too). After a few more years of charity parties, I now have more ideas to share with you.
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Today’s idea is the Kids-in-Need Stuffed Animal Party.
One year my daughter had a birthday party where she asked the guests to each bring one, new (tags on) stuffed animal to take to our local hospital Emergency Room. They give them out to very sick or injured children who come in and need a little extra comfort.
I am such a proud mama when I say that she came up with this idea entirely on her own. My sister is a physician in our local Emergency Room and having visited her aunt there, my daughter knew that they handed out stuffed animals.
In keeping with the stuffed animal theme, our party craft was stuffing our own animals with easy and inexpensive kits
that I bought on Amazon. The kids LOVED this! My intention was that they add their animals to the donate basket, but this proved to be very unpopular and every single child elected to keep their animal (including my children). That’s OK, at least they had fun and went home with a much-loved party favor.
TIPS:
- Make sure you check with your local Emergency Room first to see if they would even want stuffed animals, and if so, what kind. Ours wanted tags on and no buttons or other things that could be pulled off to become choking hazards.
- Police and Sheriffs also sometimes carry stuffed animals in their cars to comfort any children they meet in accidents or other bad situations. See if your local law enforcement departments might be interested, and what they would want.
- Based on experience, I recommend that the donated animals “disappear” after the party or younger family members might start falling in love with them!
(More ideas to come!)
One benefit of no TV that had never occurred to me when I began this experiment after the birth of my daughter nine and a half years ago, is the lack of exposure to “sexy teens!” I am shocked sometimes when I see how some teens and tweens, dress and act. I really am not a conservative person, in fact I consider myself to be quite liberal, but I do believe that 9 year-old girls are emotionally girls and NOT women. What ever happened to childhood?
Some might think it backward (please don’t flame me), but I am SO relieved that my 9 1/2 year-old daughter still believes in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. She still plays dress-up and fairies with her little sister and like-minded friends. She is not on Facebook, nor has she ever expressed a desire to be. Don’t berate me for “stunting” my daughter’s social and technological development. Believe me, I am sure she will “develop socially” as soon as those hormones hit her system! She also knows how to use a computer just fine thank you.
There are certainly many factors involved. Her stage of physical development, her personality, and the fact that she attends a very small Montessori School all surely play a role. But I do truly also believe that part of the fact that she has not yet become interested in “popular teen culture” is that she is not exposed to TV shows and commercials that cause her to emulate those behaviors.
My good friend friend Wishy just sent me a link to a review of an interesting-sounding book by Leonard Sax, the author of Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men
. His new book is about girls: Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls-Sexual Identity, the Cyberbubble, Obsessions, Environmental Toxins
. I urge you to read the review and see what you think.
Meanwhile, I hope that my little girls stay little girls for as long as they need to.
adult books, Book Recommendations, Everything Else!, marketing and kids, musings, other, parenting ponderings, TV, TV-free kids
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advertising & kids, behavior, Leonard Sax, sexualization
Hello all! Welcome to the month of May. May already? Yikes!
The theme for this month’s Unplugged Project will be:
Bread
Remember, it doesn’t have to be baking bread, it can be crafts with bread, learning about bread, the letter “B,” whatever you want.
If you have never joined our Monthly Unplugged Project, please read more about it here. There are very few rules. The main ones are that the linky below is only for people who have done a project that is somehow, in some way, arguably related to bread. Also, please link to your project post, not just your blog in general. Finally, I’d really appreciate a mention and link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post.
Thanks and I look forward to seeing what creative ideas you come up with this month for bread!
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