What to do when children say, “We’re bored!”
“Boooring…” This word has become the ultimate putdown. If a party is “boooring”, it is a total disaster. Or if a class is “boooring”, the teacher is the epitome of failure. I recently heard that in Michael Crichton’s novel Timeline, a character made this insightful remark: “In other centuries, human beings wanted do to be [...]
Should I tell kids about my past?
A reader asks, “I’ve made mistakes in my life and am not too proud of what I’ve done in my younger years. When my daughter asks if I was a virgin when I got married, how should I answer?” I think our kids pretty much know that we don’t live perfect lives, *cough, cough*. When [...]
When playing is not just playing
Do children under 3 years old need formal education? Do we need to buy them learning programs and educational software? In a previous post, I pointed out a recent debate about whether DVD programs such as “Baby Einstein” are any use at all. Do children learn by sitting and watching? Do they learn sitting in [...]
Making the world a better place
A year ago I wrote a post on 3 ways we can set an example to our children to make the world a better place. Now more than ever, in our current state of the economy where people are distressed about one thing or another, it is important for everyone of us to do our [...]
Passing values on to our children, Part 1
A parent asked me, “How do I teach my children good values?” Actually, teaching values to our children is both easy and hard. It’s easy because you don’t have to do anything extraordinary or inconvenient. There are no books to buy, no conferences to attend. But here’s the hard part. You are non-stop teaching your [...]
Adventures In Parenting anniversary
A year ago November around this time, I officially launched this website Adventures In Parenting. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into when I first started. I didn’t know how to promote the site, I didn’t know how to SEO and all that. Yet somehow, you found me. I am so glad you [...]
Albert Einstein toothpick puzzles
I recorded 6 toothpick puzzles, just for fun. These puzzles are great for stimulating your mind and practice thinking out of the box. Try them out with your children. Don’t forward too quickly to the solution. Here is the first puzzle. Click here to see the other 5 puzzles. Forward it to your friends and [...]
Simple ways to organize important papers
Walk through the front door of my house and you will see that I am obviously not an organized person. We have stacks of stuff on every horizontal surface, including the floor… “Mom, where is my report card from last year?” “Mom, where is my vaccination record?” “Mom, when was the last time I had [...]
Don’t Let Your Kids Fall Behind
As a substitute teacher I was teaching a 3rd grade class today. The math topic was figuring out elapsed time on a clock. “If the movie started at 6:30pm, and the movie was 1 hour and 15 minutes long, what time did the movie end?” The students are to write their answers on their individual [...]
Neatness counts
I get lazy, do you? I have half finished projects, a messy desk, and stacks of paperwork waiting for me. Children are often lazy too. They scribble a few answers on their homework, write a paragraph or two, and consider their homework done. When I was substituting at an after-school care center, I helped children [...]