I agree with you. When I was 12 I had the unladylike gall ;) to be tall and good at basketball. When the genders were unbalanced during PE class my teacher sent me to play in the boys' game since she knew I could hold my own. After I successfully blocked the best boy player's shots several times, the other boys began razzing him about it. I didn't join their mocking, but I didn't ease up either. I was competitive and in it to win! He became increasingly agitated by their taunts and he and his best buddy ended up taking it out on me by making nasty sexual comments to me as we left the court (basically using profane language to accuse me of wanting him to perform sexual acts on me due to the physical contact we had on the court). I was stunned; I had never heard such language or of such acts before, and I considered one of the boys to be pretty nice in general. His dad had been our principal last year and he was in my GT class. I really didn't know what to think. This kid was my neighbor and I thought a friendly classmate, if not an actual friend. I was shocked and hurt and avoided them after this. (I reported it to my PE teacher; she blew me off. My 3 classroom teachers were horrified and talked to the principal. As far as I know they were not punished by the school at all. They were smug and unapologetic to me and claimed their parents didn't care when they got the phone calls, but I suspect at least one was lying to save face. I was blindsided because I didn't think of them as jerks from whom I could expect such behavior. Later I saw them as ill-informed little boys who were copying and trying out the supposedly "manly" posturing they'd learned from their male role models. Years later I felt sorrow for these boys; they were raised with this messed up view that their masculinity could be threatened or destroyed by being "beaten by a girl" at something as inconsequential as a PE basketball game. I used to think (and got some flak for it on this board years ago) this meant we shouldn't put adolescent boys in this awkward position of being either mocked for being beaten by a girl or being dismissed for only having beaten a girl. Now that I'm older and have a son, I think it is more important to go deeper and stop the indoctrination of our boys into thinking they have to dominate women to be men. I'm not going to keep my boy from playing coed sports as a young teen like I once thought I might. Instead I'm going to raise him to be as horrified by those boys' words as I was so he'll be the one standing up for harassed women (or men) and not joining in or standing idly by.

Oh FYI I noticed it's significantly cheaper to get the Frozen one without the push bar and buy it separately if you decide to go that route. We didn't have the push bar but now I'm considering it for DD... http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009QELK64/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1426824092&sr=8-1&keywords=mobo+push+bar&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=31yb1KLkboL&ref=plSrch ETA: I see the more expensive Frozen one also has a harness.

After looking closer I see DS actually has the Mobo Mini which is fancier in some ways but for the same age range and about $200. He used it from about 2 to age 5 and is technically too tall now but still uses/likes it on occasion, though he has other ride-ons competing for his attention. It's been a hit with his little buddies too and is great because it can't be tipped. He had a physically delayed buddy at age 4 who had a lot of trouble with a trike but did well with this. ETA: I think he was barely 2 when we bought it but he was super tall for his age. As I recall the manufacturer's min. height suggestion was pretty accurate. His too-short friends liked just sitting on it and pushing with their feet too.

I find it hilarious that such a thing exists, but here you go:http://www.amazon.com/Mobo-Tot-Disney-Frozen-Ergonomic/dp/B00OUKD5NU My son got the non-Frozen version at 2 and has enjoyed immensely. I was going to suggest a trike with a Frozen bag or basket on the front and stickers for a cheaper option. We love the Radio Flyer Fold 2 Go (about $40 at Walmart). My son could actually pedal it at 19 mo. and my 19 mo. old daughter is very close.

I was 9 when I started cross stitching. There are good all-in-one starter kits. A small ornament kit would be a good present for a grandparent too. I also loved making a latchhook rug at that age. Friendship bracelet book with embroidery floss

There is a Daniel Tiger song involving a morning routine that goes, "Clothes on, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes, and off to school." We use this one a lot and change up the words to fit our plans. He and I both like to throw in a goofy, needless action as well to make it fun. When he was just a toddler, I had him "wave bye-bye" and say "see you later" to the park or his toys or whatever he had to leave. This is probably too babyish to start at 4, but it might inspire you to think of some comparable routine. It worked great for him. I just used it on DD (19 mo.) today when she screamed and flailed as we prepared to leave the park. I regrouped by sending her up the rock wall and down the slide again, then used the "bye-bye park" technique and it worked perfectly.

I was going to suggest a song of some sort too. Remember the "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere.." mainstay of preschools? I know there are transition songs out there or you can make your own. I'm trying to think if there is a useful one from Daniel Tiger...I know there is an epidode that involves unhappiness with leaving a fun activity, but I can't recall the song off the top of my head. Now I'll have to look it up tomorrow or it will bug me all day :). Daniel Tiger songs have been super helpful for issues with my (likely but undiagnosed) ADHD son (going to potty immediately, finishing all steps, etc.) If you don't know about DT I'd suggest looking it up in general even if it doesn't directly apply to this issue because I've found it to be so useful with my boy! I made up a little ditty about putting on pants when he was only a few months old because he would resist me putting them on him. It worked wonderfully and got us over that hurdle. Now we sing it for DD and it helps her too.

I'm pretty sure you've been corrupted. I just spent way too long researching this and the evidence seems to be against you :). That is the danger of being the grammar-loving, speech-correcting mom; they find the chinks in your armor! (My mother the grammarian was a target for students and daughters alike. My dad was smart enough to stay out of it.) I do agree that it doesn't sound as wrong with "want". Perhaps this is because we use "need" more often than "want" to stress the true necessity of the task rather than our personal desire that it be accomplished. BTW, I hear this frequently in Idaho, so PA is not alone in this. My great-grandmother always corrected anyone who said "These clothes need washed," with "No, dear, they need washing or to be washed," even into her 90s!

This may sound dumb, but one thing that works for me in the after-dinner hours is to have a small healthy snack, drink a glass of water, then brush, floss, and use fluoride rinse even if bed is a few hours away. The thought of redoing my tooth regimine is a good deterrent.

It's big in Idaho too. Arctic Circle has it in a dispenser along with ketchup. You can even get it at some big franchise places that don't officially offer it, like McDonald's. I remember going on a youth group trip as a teen; we baffled the McDonald's clerk in NM with our request for fry sauce. "You mean ketchup?" he asked. When we explained he asked every employee in the place about it because he thought we were so odd! None of them had heard of it.

Location and mood and type of fries matter to me. Tots: ketchup or ranch or fry sauce or just seasoning salt Breakfast potatoes: ketchup + Tabasco McDonald's fries: ketchup Winger's: Original Amazing Sauce + ranch or BBQ Arby's curly: horsey Del Taco: 1 part ketchup, 2 parts Del Scorcho Burger King: yucky fries--onion rings only! Carl's Jr. crinkle cut: BBQ What can I say? I'm complicated like that :)

FTR, that's how I interpreted it.

I would hope she meant scoops but given how crazy-sweet it was I believe it. I had an instant headache from one gulp and spent the next three hours drinking water constantly to try to counteract. I just realized it really reminded me of the pregnancy glucose test! It was that level of nasty!

Nm

I used to think I liked sweet tea, but my only experience was at a restaurant in Idaho, which isn't exactly sweet tea country :). My friend I visited in Missouri cautioned me to try hers before ordering my own. I'm glad I did because it was way too sweet for me. But the real reason I ask is I had a friend who grew up in Georgia & Texas. When I tried hers I felt like puking! It was so sweet I had an instant headache. I tried watering it down by half but it was still too sweet. I asked her later how much sugar she used and I swear it was 5 cups in one gallon! This isn't normal, is it? Online searches come up with much less. (When I make my own apparently lightly sweetened tea I use 3/4 - 1 cup of sugar per gallon :))

We had banana cream and cherry thanks to my boardie friend who came over :)

My 1-year-old drinks only milk and water, never juice. She shares a smoothie with the family sometimes. My 5-year-old drinks water and milk on a daily basis and gets juice or lemonade occasionally for special events/outings--about 1-3 times a week. Last Saturday I made lemonade for a BBQ; today he had a juice box at the zoo. I drink water, iced tea, milk, and the occasional coffee (1-2x per week) or soda (1-2x per week). DH drinks water and Diet Coke daily.

Fortunately it was a large group and someone noticed it and alerted the lifeguard, but the source was not apparent.

There was a poop incident in our local pool this week. There were no children in the water at the time. There was a senior water exercise class in progress. It happens!

It seems probable to me given my experiences. I hung out with a pretty whole-foods crunchy crowd in CA but I discovered several of the ones I thought were die-hard let their 3-6 year-olds have Sprite or rootbeer at restaurants. I am not in that crowd (too many Oreos and Kraft Mac & Cheese boxes here) but we are adamant about no soda for little kids. We will reevaluate at double digits. I hope my kids never develop a taste for it! We also recently went to a McDonald's birthday party and several people were really surprised to find that my 5-year-old never has soda.

In a perfect world this would be great. The jr. high I taught at allowed phones to be carried and used only on breaks (15 min. in morning, 1 hr. lunch, 15 min. afternoon). I thought this was a very reasonable policy, but I still had kids trying to sneak texts during class and even tests! In a school setting we had an ongoing relationship and could deal with this without outright banning. In a camp setting it makes sense to me to just outright ban them because with all the other things you have to be aware of when you have teens 24/7, monitoring cell phone usage (and misuse) is a big hassle. Plus if you have older leaders who aren't as aware of technology, what they think is benign usuage could be much more. It only takes one incident of "sexting" at camp or inappropriate use of internet to cause a big scandal for the organization. Even if I totally trusted my teen I wouldn't break this rule for the sake of the group. There is always the possibility of another teen stealing and misusing it too.

OK, now I have to go watch "The War of the Buttons" because you got me longing to hear an Irish accent :)

Same here. Pre-ubiquitous cell phones, I went to camps with no books/magazines/walkmans/CD players rules from age 11 to 18. The goal was to keep people from tuning out and missing out on the group experience. No one was prevented from calling a parent for homesickness or any other issue. I'd never send my kid if I thought the organizers would blow off his/her request to contact me.

I used to attend a church with a Scottish pastor. There were a few times we had to struggle to understand him, but it was totally worth it! From a young age my sister insisted she wanted to marry a guy with an accent. She got a New Yorker, which isn't nearly as exotic/romantic as she was thinking (Irish, English, Scottish, or Australian).

Well we Americans think our accents are boring and yours is cute!