For a few bucks you can grab a bag of smooth stones from the craft store, and have a stacking contest (Yertle the Turtle). See who can stack the highest. You can do bingo using characters or (if they're reading, use rhymes -- the bingo ball can read -op, and anyone with a square saying "hop" or "pop" etc gets to mark off that square). Or memory, with green eggs and ham on one side and characters or rhyming word matches on the other side. Laminated, or not. Pin the bow-tie on the Cat? Attach a printout or poster to a tree, and give them a duct tape red bow. Or pin the heart on the Grinch. You can do shadow sillouettes with sidewalk chalk, as in The Shape of Me. Maybe have each kid bring/hold something or strike a unique pose around the playground. Bobbing for fish is an easy one. What about seeing how high you can grow the Cat's hat? Cut out some red and white strips, and add one for each "thing/idea" the kids come up with. I'd say adjectives, but with that age ... maybe characters they can name from Seuss books? Each one they give you write it on a strip and add it to the hat. See how how many stripes they can add to the Cat's hat. I guess I'd draw the Cat's face and bowtie on a white posterboard, and add the stripes to that. In that same vein, you can do hat self-portraits. Print out or paste onto white paper a hat and bowtie, leaving space for them to draw in their own faces.

I remember those :) We saw some at an airport overseas just a few months ago, and I was explaining to the kids what they were LOL. That segued into card catalogs at the library, car windows you had to roll down yourself, and having to run to the bathroom during commercials because there was no pause button on the remote!!

I don't know, so here's a bump. You may also want to try posting this in the Site News & Discussions sub-forum ...? I don't know how much traffic it gets, but I see other questions of this nature posted there.

For us it's when one can finance the bill him- or herself. But I have enough kids that there's always someone with the younger ones, so it's not an issue of anyone "needing" one IMO. And everyone plus their dogs have smartphones these days, so if my kids need to get ahold of me or someone else in the family ... phones abound. They can borrow. All kids have pretty much free access to my cell phone, though, and the cell phones of the adults and older kids in our family. We're not very private about our phones. Plus we have two house lines.

It's gotta be hard to be a kid in this digital, on-line age. I'm so grateful I made my stupid mistakes and embarassing acts in the relative anonymity of my in-real life! (I don't actually use Facebook, but I'm definitely the cool aunt ... until I'm not LOL. They never hate me for long, and they usually come around to understanding where I was coming from. So far. I sleep at night, so it's all good. I know you're sleeping well at night, too :coolgleamA: ).

Does she need to list the establishment? I've seen some resumes that just put down job title, responsibilities, and direct contact (supervisor/owner). It might be non-traditional, but .. if it were me, I'd personally gamble on non-traditional resume over inclusion of non-traditional establishment! I've spent the past three months working on the hiring committee of my work group. We're roughly 18,000 strong. In three days we received 20,000 applications for the 2000 openings, so we closed the application process. There was quite a variety of resume style. I won't lie, there were definite judgments about some prior work history. I think it was great that applicants were honest about and fine to include their prior jobs, and truth be told - a str!pper would've had excellent and relevant experience to fill our particular job, but I was a clear minority. It's a gamble, though, since being TOO general in a resume is not necessarily a great thing either. That said, while str!ppers are the prominent employees at a str!p club most people (I think? I hope!) know that they're not the ONLY employees. Maybe she can word her resume creatively, using the words you suggested, and elaborate later (if asked). I'd change customer SATISFACTION to customer service, though LOL. It's great to be proud of one's work, but ... uh ... "satisfaction" coupled with the fact that everyone knows what kind of establishment this is just seems ... to be shooting oneself in the foot IMO :tongue_smilie:

I'd be okay with my mom handling it, and I could see how she'd be ... not upset, but maybe put off? ... by me not allowing her to handle this situation. I totally see your side of things, and I don't think you're being unreasonable in your expectations ... but I also see value in my children learning and being guided by other adults - especially other adults I trust, and generally around the pre-teen years. So if it were me and my mom, I'd feel what you're feeling but I'd defer to her handling of the situation. But I don't know you and your mom, or the dynamics of your relationship. I'd wish that one or the other had included me in the loop. I'd be hurt, disappointed, and even a little bit offended! But I'd also remind myself that she showed remorse and a desire to right a wrong by immediately confessing to the owner of the broken cart. She took steps to handle a problem she created. She's maturing from the age where mommy knows everything, and learning how to navigate a broader world. Your mom is safe practice, from both your's and your daughter's perspective - right? These are all good things, that override my desire (right or wrong) to know everything that goes on.

We've done practice tees in a variety of designs -- some just screened with the team logo, but the biggest hit in that age group (for us) has always been a plain white tee shirt with the player's name in iron-on letters across the back and then the rest of the tee signed by team members. Twice we did the team's logo on the front left breast, but that cost more and depended on the parents that season :) Also personalized water bottles (can be plastic or aluminum), and kids can decorate themselves OR a crafty parent can decorate/customize with names and/or team name/logo. For a basketball team you can get those inexpensive nylon bags (like these) for kids to carry uniforms, practice clothes, or water/snacks. Personalize each with a name or number. Terry wristbands? None of mine did basketball LOL trying to think of what might be somewhat related ... But the kids always liked a unique certificate, too, as mentioned above - especially in the 5 to 7 age bracket.

I like "just a wild moment" :) I'm pleased to read that it's not: Jolly Absorbent White Male.

Can someone tell me what my son has? Do you mean his dangling participles? It's what separates the boys from the girls ;)

What about a duct tape wallet, made to size? It could hold a bit of cash, but be less bulky without credit card slots and extra pockets, maybe. Or a money clip. He can put change in his pocket while out, and then transfer it to a jar at home. It can be his rainy day fund :)

Depending on how you define "fast" - what about Red Tip? Or bamboo (though that is considered by some to grow TOO fast ... and too uncontrollably, you'd want to invest time/money into making sure it was sufficiently contained.) Or, a faster growing option may be a row of crepe myrtles.

:rofl: Okay, that right there is funny. I just found the one person who's worse with names than I am!

There you go, that's a plan! Normally I'd suggest to do it the Filipino way and just shorten her name, but ... "Do-Do" has not-nice connotations LOL. I think in English, too, but definitely in Tagalog!

I'd look to experience more than qualities; namely, I'd want to know that they had spent some time immersed in the language. That could be time spent abroad, or at the knee of a native-speaking parent/grandparent/spouse, but I'd want some indication that the tutor had opportunities to become intimately familiar with the language and culture behind it. I'd want someone who could process and think in the other language, versus someone who had simply studied it academically and could teach it academically. I guess the quality I'd be looking for is the ability to LIVE the language. This has proven important to me based upon my work experiences. I'm trained to speak in a variety of languages, and could teach 101/102 vocabulary and syntax to a student. BUT I don't have true knowledge and intimacty with the languages, so beyond a few memorized idioms and scripted responses to recurring situations I'm not intimately familiar enough with the language to truly TEACH it beyond the basics. I know this is also true of the person who writes the scripts for people in my native language because his scripts are technically correct but do not flow the way our speech naturally would. The writer uses certain words in place of known phrases, etc because he lacks a true understanding of the language as it's normally spoken. I think non-natives can learn the flow of a language, and I'd want to be certain my paid tutor had or was in the process of.

No, but there are Pinoy terms of endearment, too! Just figure out the right one for your relationship :) For example, "Tita Gidge" is what everyone IRL calls me. And I call most people "Tita" or "Tito" because that makes my aforementioned inability to remember names so much less embarassing LOL.

Cervical cancer has affected three women in my family. All three women share a primary doctor, who has been the family doctor for generations. This doctor still sees a number of our relatives, and is vabidly pro-vaccination; she has reservations about this vaccine, and advises against it - even for our kids, with the family history. Of course, she stresses that this is contingent upon regular doctor visits and a more keen eye on our health situations (given the family history, especially). So, no. This vaccine is not for us.

We have none of the above in any bedroom. I've struggled for years with insomnia, so I've had to keep those things out of my own bedroom. I don't know that it's helped, but it certainly hasn't hurt. I figure same goes for the kids :)

We have always split our year between states. In 15 years with American Airlines, we've never had an issue using them to transport our pets between homes. You may want to look at the Pet Flight website. Here's a link that goes straight to American's pet travel incidents, which includes dates and details of reported incidents. Here's a quote from an ABC article that I found. It references the number of pet deaths (33) American Airlines had over the 4 year span between 2005-2009. It ranked 4th out of 5 airlines, meaning only one airline had less deaths during that time.

The tooth fairy gives a new toothbrush and $5 for the first tooth. After that it's a gold dollar coin per tooth, regardless of condition and how it came out. Like other fairies, she's had to leave an IOU. But she's too cheap to feel guilty and add to the bounty, she figures "better late than never" LOL.

She sounds so gracious. That probably makes it even more annoying on your end! If I were you I'd tape her picture up on the wall near my refrigerator, with her name below it in big font. Then every time I walked by, I'd say "hi" to her picture, using her name LOL. I'm horrible with names, but excellent with faces. I have to do stuff like this often!

It hasn't happened to me that I'm aware of. In general, though, I'm fairly oblivious to these things; it could just be I haven't picked up on it :) I'll say that I've been on the other side a few times, and have met people that instinctively I dislike. Even I haven't had a specific reason to, it's just a general vibe. Sometimes it ends up being warranted (and the person later acts in a way that justifies my rash initial reaction), but more than once enough time has gone by that I've never been able to justify that initial dislike. Either way, I'm never directly rude and I'd not go out of my way to avoid you totally. I can dislike someone and still be civil LOL, especially if our social circles WILL be crossing!

I don't read people's signs and signals very well. I pretty much need to be hit over the head with social stuff. I'd feel awful if I thought my visits were tearing up a friend the way these visits are doing you. I'd want to know, so that I could be a proper guest and to not risk losing a friendship over something I didn't know to be a problem. I know I'm not the only clueless person around :) and given some threads here, lots of us show a blatant lack of having been taught "proper" (read: formal) social customs and manners LOL ... regional and cultural exceptions, not withstanding. So something that may seem like common sense to you or any host, may truly not be commonly sensed! Sounds like you enjoy this family and have a solid plan to continue doing so ... on equal terms, not just theirs. Hope it goes well! You might also try to set up a standing date. "Hey life is getting busy and I'm not able to host as many drop-ins as I've been in the past. I don't want to lose our visits, so maybe we can set it up for one day every third week or something?" (This limits a drop-in to one week, or allows you flexibility to select a day in a given week as that week approaches.) You could also go further and suggest meeting up at their home in alternate months, as was suggested upthread. That may take some of the load off!

Or it would be like lurking for awhile at a dog breeders' forum because that's a subject of interest to you, and feeling like you've come to know and respect certain voices ... so you register and post for insight into an unrelated topic (in a subforum for topics unrelated to the purpose of the forum) because you've developed a one-sided sense of community that (due to lurking) is unfortunately not shared by the larger community (whose sense of "community" is rightly limited to active posters). The people might be very nice, and while you may not trust their views on home education ... you would have lurked enough to know which screen names/online personalities can offer reasonable insight into the (or any) unrelated topic. :D

By now the day is over, and hopefully your tomorrow feels brighter. Being in transition or limbo sucks, there's no way around that. I'm sorry you've had such an overwhelming week ((hugs)).