Archive for February, 2012

Those removable decals that make it possible to fill your child’s room with flowers and fairies or robots are cute and all, but now that everyone has them, don’t they look less like cool wall decor and more like giant, cheesy stickers? Stay ahead of the fashion pack with removable wallpaper from Wall Candy Arts.

You have to admit the idea is appealing: Bright, colorful wallpaper that goes on and pulls off whenever you get sick of looking at it. Now here’s the clincher. Of the available patterns, many are designed by French Bull, who also makes children’s tableware that you may have been seeing in stores over the last couple of years. Eye-gougingly bright colors, and super-fun patterns!

Our favorite: French Bull Kiss, wavy stripes with a contemporary feel that won’t look “too babyish” too soon.

WallCandy Arts removable wallpaper, about $150 for two rolls

Highlights from the boards for the week of Feb 23rd – Feb 29th:

What Plans Do You Have for Your Child with Significant Health Issues… (50 Replies)
Looking for moms who have children with significant health/psychiatric/intellectual issues. What kinds of plans to you have for your child’s long term care. Have you put aside money for the child? Do you expect the child’s siblings to play a major role in their care? What respite do you get? Do you plan to live with them forever? If so, what happens when you die? Been ignoring these issues far too long and need help with thinking through everything that needs to be put in place. Guardianship papers? Insurance plans for us in case we die and sibling needs to care for disabled kid? What else?

My Sweet 2 Year Old Displays Aggressive Playground Behavior…(30 Replies)
My 2.5yo is unusually aggressive when we go to the park. Normally, he is 100% sweetheart and such a mama’s boy, but when we are at the park, he will run up to the biggest boy and say, “How old are you? I’m older than you. I know how to ride a bike.” Why is he acting like this? It’s embarrassing.

My Inlaws Spoil Our DC So Badly it Changes His Behavior for the Worse… (__ Replies)
My ILs spoil our dc rotten. I would be perfectly fine with it if they visited a few times a year, however they spend at least one day a week with him. Now that dc is getting older issues are coming to the surface. Dc refuses to do hw when grandparents are around, becomes defiant and is difficult to get back to normal for a while after the visit. I worry that in a few years, when teenage years hit, we will have bigger issues and will be told by dc that he will just go stay with his grandparents who are nicer to him. ILs feel that spoiling dc is their prerogative as grandparents so talking to them doesn’t help.

She Ignores Her Children as Punishment… (12 Replies)
To the mom who bragged about ignoring her children as punishment: Child development research has shown that it is actually more detrimental to ignore your children or impose isolation than it is to exact some other measure of punishment in line with the offense. Humans are social creatures. The GREATEST fear to a young child is that their caregivers will ignore or no longer care for them. To the primitive subconscious brain that translates to death. Your child is probably so well behaved because she fears that mommy will stop loving her.

Miscellany

Are Divorces ALWAYS Bad for Kids? (20 Replies)

Would You Ever Buy Used Baby Products (14 Replies)

Special Needs Playdate… (42 Replies)

No one puts their child in those old-fashioned walkers anymore. The fear is that while the child is walking around in the enclosed, wheeled walker, he or she can get hurt, or fall down the stairs, since the child basically can’t see her feet.

No such fears with the yBike Pewi. This innovative walker looks almost like a metal-robot kid on all fours. With four wheeled legs, a friendly face to grab for balance, and a bike-like seat that toddlers can straddle or walk behind, yBike looks and feels like a mini-version of a scooter or a bike. Not a babyish walker! Almost just like the bikes the big kids ride! That’s something almost any toddler can get behind.

And since they’re not strapped in with vision obscured, Pewi is both safe and helps toddlers really get the gait of walking instead of just leaning.

yBike Pewi, $65

If you’re starting your baby on solids, looking to ensure your child’s nutritional intake, or looking for healthier eating solutions as a busy parent on-the-go, there are three new books out this year suited for your own specific food fight.

The Wholesome Baby Food Guide: Over 150 Easy, Delicious, and Healthy Recipes from Purees to Solids by Maggie Meade

Available at Amazon.com and Independent Booksellers

Parents Need to Eat Too: Nap-Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents by Debbie Koenig

Available at Amazon.com and Independent Booksellers

Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor, and a Bottle of Ketchup by Laura A. Jana MD FAAP and Jennifer Shu MD FAAP

Available at Amazon.com and Independent Booksellers

If you treasure the last few tattered and threadbare strings of your hipness, reading one of those alphabet books with alligators and xylophones to your wee one can get downright depressing. Liven things up a little bit with the beautifully designed board book The Rock & Roll Alphabet, which uses the same-old ABCs for a little spelunking down rock’s history.

A is for Aretha, oft referred to as Queen, B is for the Beatles in their Yellow Submarine, runs the verse, with striking black-and-white portraits of the artists. Will you have the only preschooler who knows about Stevie Nicks and the Hollies? You will if you buy this book!

Rock & Roll Alphabet, $15

My DH Has Office Wife - Red Flag?… (136 Replies)
I just found out my husband has an office wife. He insists that they are just friends, and that he has no feelings for her. He insists she has no feelings for him. I explained that he’s crazy if he thinks she has no feelings for him. She’s divorced. They work about 75 hours a week together. Apparently they have lots of inside jokes and send texts to each other constantly…..

Why Don’t Parents Teach Simple Manners?… (100 Replies)
Genuine question: Why do some parents not teach manners to their kids? Simple, easy thing, like the correct way to ask for something (”may I please have…”, instead of “green beans please!”) Or always saying excuse me, please, and thank you. Or not letting children incessantly interrupt adults when they are speaking? If you some of you chose not to teach your children these things, why not?

My Nanny Told My MIL Off - Do I Have to Fire Her… (70 Replies) MIL can be very annoying/frustrating. I usually just take it. My nanny told her off today. MIL is steaming. This nanny is absolutely amazing and has been with us for 2 years. What can I do. MIL is going to want her gone, and this will happen over my dead body. How do I handle?

Inlaws Favor DC #1 to Point of Obsession... (35 Replies) ILs love our dc#1 and very much like dc#2. They are constantly trying to take #1 overnight, on vacation etc. They have been doing it since he was 1y/o and he is 8 now. They have not once offered to take or spend individual time with #2 who is now 2y/o. The 8 yo doesn’t need so much attention anymore, has his own social life etc. I feel this “obsession” with #1 isn’t good for anyone. Would you disregard and just keep letting them take #1?

Sending Out-of-Control 2 Year Old to Aunts for Summer… (65 Replies)
DS 2yo is out of control. I am thinking of sending him to DH’s aunts for the summer so she can work with him. He doesn’t know her would that be really traumatic? She is a teacher and is very good with getting DC’s to behave.

Miscellany

Early Onset Puberty for Our Young Girls (56 Replies)

Molding My Son’s Education for Ivy League so He Will Not Struggle in Life (60 Replies)

My Lifelong Best (Childless) Friend Will Not Ask about My Baby (39 Replies)

Anime director/producer Hayao Miyazaki, known as the Walt Disney of Japan, doesn’t have any daughters, so what makes him so able to understand the brave and secret hearts of his female protagonists is beyond me. In film after film like Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Tortoro and now, The Secret World of Arrietty, Miyazaki puts girls at the center of the action. It’s so rare in children’s movies, not to mention in anime, it’s almost jaw-dropping.

Arrietty, which has been out in Japan for almost two years, is an adaptation of Mary Norton’s 1950s classic book, The Borrowers. Arrietty is a 14-year-old Borrower, little people who live in the walls of “human bean” houses, and get what they need by borrowing from humans. They’re never supposed to be seen by the Beans, but on her very first borrowing expedition with her father, Pod, Arrietty is spotted by the young boy staying at the house in which she lives.

Her parents warn her to stay away, and when they find Arrietty’s seeing the boy, they make plans to move. But Arrietty is lonely and wants a friend. And the Beans really only want to get a look at the little people. What happens next is sad and beautiful, but nothing that will terrify young children; it’s all on a level too subtle for really little ones to catch. They can enjoy the lovely music and glimmering, delicate animation, while older kids can grasp the beautiful humanistic message of Arrietty: Every being is entitled to life, and to love.

Arrietty is in theaters now grossing hundreds of millions; be one of the families who sees it on the big screen. It’s worth it.

This past week, there was much discussion on our UrbanBaby message boards regarding the unfortunate physical attack at an all-girls private school in NYC in October that left an eighth grade student injured. Concerns regarding our own children and their appropriate behavior immediately come to focus as we all assume “Not my kid” and possibly fear we might not trust all of their adolescent choices. In light of those important conversations, this week we share gender specific guides to help parents raise civilized members of society.

How to Raise a Lady: A Civilized Guide to Helping Your Daughter Through Her Uncivilized Childhood by Kay West

In this revised and expanded edition, author Kay West reiterates the lasting lessons of being a lady, but also guides parents in teaching their young daughters how to navigate through modern social situations with grace. The book provides stories, suggestions, and ideas for parents to set their young daughters on the path of appropriate behavior. How to Raise a Lady focuses on real-life topics such as sleepovers, sex, religion, and politics with twenty-two useful chapters that include “Computers, the Internet, and Social Media,” “Mean Girls and Bullying,” and “Modesty, Boundaries, and Appropriate Attire.”

How to Raise a Gentleman Revised and Expanded: A Civilized Guide to Helping Your Son Through Her Uncivilized Childhood by Kay West

Kay West offers this updated and revised edition to help parents teach their young boys that learning appropriate behavior can set the course for success or disappointment throughout his entire life. He might be a rough-and-tumble little boy but it doesn’t hurt for him to learn about appropriate hygiene, temper issues, and good sportsmanship from an early age. Parents can learn how to help their young man act at a formal dinner, meet the parents of his sweetheart, and learn confidence along the way.

“Good manners are born from common courtesy and common courtesy is quite simple. Courtesy is based on respect, civility, kindness, and consideration. It is being mindful of others, whether you are in their presence or not.” Kay West

Every kid likes to get the mail. But when they sort through it, it’s a bunch of bills, junk mail, maybe, if you’re lucky, a holiday card from Grandma. But never anything really interesting. Until, that is, you order them Mail’s Here.

Mail’s Here bundles up a story into segments: The Tooth Fairy has to take a vacation, say, and in each segment, she’ll have a separate mini-adventure. Each adventure is on a separate sheet of paper, which Mail’s Here sends to you along with envelopes, ready to send through the mail to your child, parsing out a segment a day. And now you’ll see a child who really likes to get the mail!

I tried a sample sent by Mail’s Here, sending the Tooth Fairy story day by day. Not only did my six-year-old suddenly get really interested in the mail, she stacked the story segments up in her room and won’t let us throw them away, she enjoyed the whole experience so much. Guess I’m going to have to order another one, huh?

Mail’s Here, $20 per story set

Highlights from the boards for the week of Feb 9th – Feb 15th:

Does Smaller Class Size Promote Mean Girl Behavior?… (29 Replies)
Spin off on the Brearley story. One problem with schools that have small grade and class size is that it is very easy for a small (often mean) group of boys or girls to hijack the social agenda.

Why Would I Want to Take Advice on Being a French Mom?… (163 Replies)
Thanks to the WSJ article there is so much emphasis on being a french mom this week. My FIL clipped the article and handed it to me. My reply: Why would I want to raise my son to end up as a high brow, petulant and condescending french adult. Have you people been to France? I was born there and lived there as an adult as well. I would rather raise a brash, but open minded and kind, American, thank you.

Speak Up Sanctimommy - What Bothers You Most?… (41 Replies)
What are things you are sanctimonious about? I’m generally a laid back mom, but one of my big pet peeves is the constant snacking–parents giving their kids food in inappropriate places (e.g. synagogue or mommy and me class) or times (e.g. during a performance) just to keep them quiet. I think it’s important that children learn to behave without always having snacks in their hands. And for things you do care about, when you see other parents and children doing differently, do you take a stand with your own child (i.e. we don’t bring lollipops to class) or do you let it slide to keep the peace and not appear sanctimonious?

MIL Demanding Mothers Day… (75 Replies)
MIL issue: my mother in law just asked my husband if he would spend the day just with her this coming mother’s day. I am a mother - (we have a 3 yr old) and I am also pregnant and due in August. My husband’s father is deceased and so my MIL is alone. I have some sympathy for her, but I also don’t understand why we can’t all do something nice together? I am angry at her for requesting it, but want to know honestly if I should just go along, or whether people think she’s being unreasonable?

Miscellany

Parenting Philosophies from Around the World (7 Replies)

Show Off About Your Kid - Smartest Thing They’ve Done (24 Replies)

Explain to Me a Stay-at-Home-Wife (22 Replies)