From our May issue, a selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting thoughts from around the web and the world of parenting.
TACKLE THIS
“I cried when my youngest son took a football scholarship…. I don’t think anyone should play tackle football before high school. Kids’ bodies are not ready. Flag football is a wonderful game.”—Jean Fugett, a former NFL Pro Bowler who played football for the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, now a lawyer, as quoted in an op-ed column, “The Cost of Football Glory” by Joe Nacera in the NYT earlier this year; check out our roundup of expert advice on how to prevent concussion and sports-related injuries in children at nymetroparents.com/sportsinjuries
Views from an 'Older Mom'
“Most, if not all, of my friends are ‘done’ with parenting…They can see the next chapter of their life beginning with travel, home downsizing, and, well, freedom… I on the other hand am still checking school planners, assisting in science fair projects, and hauling kids all over town for practices and games. And I’ll be doing this for probably another 10 years. Wow…. Lately I am finding more and more parallels to my and my mother’s life, coincidentally or not. I’m going to guess that she very well would’ve liked to have taken off her ‘mommy hat’ many times while having to care for me and my younger sister in her later years.”—children’s book author and Norwalk mom Jennifer Covello, who blogs about everything from giving ourselves credit and trusting our instincts as parents to journaling and entrepreneurship at parentingforpurpose.com; her writing can also be found at mamapalooza.com
“On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.”
—from “Ten Fun Facts about Children” at 10-facts-about.com
|
MOMMY MATH
“A mother cooks 1 protein, 1 vegetable, and 1 starch for dinner at 5pm. By 5:30pm, 3 kids and 1 husband are seated at the table. By 5:35pm, 2 kids have rejected the protein while all 3 kids have rejected the vegetable and 0 kids have rejected the starch. By 5:40pm, 2 parents are cleaning 25 discarded pieces of food off the floor. At what time does mom finally get to eat?” —Ilana Wiles, a.k.a. Mommy Shorts, the NYC mom blogger every other mom and blogger has a blog-crush on (see why at mommyshorts.com), from a recent post “8 Mathematical Mom Problems”
Children today don’t get enough sleep, but neither did their parents, grandparents, nor great-grandparents. —from a study in the March 2012 issue of the medical journal Pediatrics (some things never change, we guess!)
