I stopped making new year resolutions several years ago. But this year, I am making one important one: To cook more meals at home, especially now that I am a mom.

My friends know that I can't cook. In fact, they won't let me forget that I once bought a peanut-butter-jelly sandwich from Panera.

Now that little J. is eating solid food, I resolve to make meals at home so that he could develop healthy eating habits. Plus, I'm sure I'll save a lot more money, cooking at home, instead of buying take out dinners.

If you have quick, easy-to-make meals that your kids like, please let me know. I need all the advice, suggestions and recipes as I can get.

Also, what is your new year resolution?

Happy 2011!

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Holidays
        

Liz Atwood discusses keeping kids occupied on car trips in this week's Tween Tuesday:

I took the kids to Virginia to see my family for Christmas and I thought we’d never get there. The drive is only about 2 1/2 hours, but the kids whined about being hungry and bored. A half-charged iPad kept them occupied for a while, but they eventually got tired of that. The return trip was even worse. They picked at each other constantly. The iPad ran out of power. They were tired of sitting. I kept trying to think of games to play like we did when they were small. We used to play the alphabet game—trying to pick out letters from the signs along the road, but they weren’t interested this time. We played a couple rounds of 20 Questions, but we all got bored after a while, mainly because the younger one cheats and halfway through changes his mind about what he’s thinking of.

But a couple days ago, I found this web site that features games to play in the car. While my trip is over, I thought if you’re traveling this week you might be able to get some ideas for how to keep your kids occupied. Do you have any other games you and your kids play?

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Teens, Travel
        

Please have a great and safe holidays!

I will be flying for the first time with a 12-month-old who is a little under the weather. I will write about that adventure when I return next week.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Holidays
        

Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary discusses the continuing struggles of trying to get Edwin to sleep "independently" in this week's Toddler Thursday:

We moved Edwin to a toddler bed a couple months ago, and the transition has been a bit shaky (OK, it’s been a disaster). The first few nights were fine, but once he discovered that he could get up out of bed as he pleased, he did just that. And often. We found ourselves putting him back in bed 10, 15 times a night. Some nights he would request that one of us sit in the chair in his room until he fell asleep.

All of this nonsense was really getting in the way of my TV watching plans, so I knew we had to figure out a solution. We turned all the lights off upstairs, closed the baby gate at the top of the stairs, went downstairs and hid out in the kitchen. He only got out of bed once, then realizing that it was dark and boring and lonely upstairs, he gave up and went to sleep. This routine worked for about 2 weeks.

Until last night. We did our usual nighttime routine, said goodnight and came downstairs. After about a half hour, my husband went up to check if Edwin was asleep. What he found was Edwin sitting on our bed with all the lights on, trying to put a DVD into my laptop. The kid had gotten up in the dark, fished a DVD from his shelf, gone into our room, turned on all the lights, opened up the laptop, and settled in for an evening of Baby Einstein. All while we sat downstairs eating ice cream. This is not really what I had in mind when I wanted to teach him "independent sleep."

Think it’s time to put up a baby gate in his room? Or would a straight jacket be better?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Toddler Thursday
        

Liz Atwood discusses having the Santa talk with her son in this week's Tween Tuesday:

 This week my 9-year-old and I had the Santa talk. He started it by asking if he could stay up Christmas Eve and watch me put the presents under the tree. I told him of course not. He went on to say how he knows the truth about Santa and insisted he should be able to stay up late Friday night.

As my kids have gotten older, Santa has evolved. He isn’t just one jolly, fat man who brings toys down the chimney. Long ago, they noticed that there are many different Santas in the stores, malls and parades. So now I tell my kids that Santa represents the magic and joy of the season. They stubbornly tell me they don’t believe in Santa Claus, but just as stubbornly, I tell them that I still do. And I gave my son strict warning that he is not to spoil the fun for those children who, like me, want to believe.

Have you had the Santa talk this year? What’s been your answer to all those doubters?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Teens
        

Today's Monday Reading features guest blogger Mark Osteen, professor of English at Loyola University in Baltimore and father of Cameron, who has autism. Osteen recently wrote a memoir about his family's struggles and triumphs with living with autism.

A recent story in The Baltimore Sun describes a new form of MRI that uses brain scans to detect autism. This is good news because it might allow autistic children and their parents to start treatments sooner. As the father of an autistic son, I would have welcomed this test, had it been available two decades ago, when my son Cameron was a child. But would the test have made a significant difference to Cam’s life? Probably not.

There has been a lot of media coverage of the rise in autism diagnoses and of the latest fad “cures,” none of which really cures autism. The fact is, the vast majority of autistic children grow up to be autistic adults. There are too many stories in the media about diagnosis and cure, and not nearly enough about the day-to-day lives of autistic people and their families.

But my wife Leslie and I know how painful it is to watch your child suffer when he can’t say what he wants or feels, when he’s tortured by sensory overload, when he feels isolated and friendless. And it’s only natural that parents try to spare their children from such pain. But at some point, you have to accept your child as he is, instead of as a vessel for your own desires. We learned this the hard way, and I’ve told about our struggle in my new book, One of Us: A Family’s Life with Autism (University of Missouri Press). You can read more about it at http://oneofusbook.com/, and at http://press.umsystem.edu/media/osteen.htm.

In the book I describe our many efforts to treat Cam and teach him basic skills, and I tell of the toll his condition took on all three of us—how we often felt trapped, isolated and voiceless. But I also describe how we learned from Cam, and discovered how to celebrate his small, daily victories. In this sense, the book testifies to the triumph of love against adversity. After all, we parents of disabled children love our children, believe that they are the most beautiful and talented children in the world—just like every other parent.

I had two main purposes in writing One of Us. First, I hoped to speak for Cam, who can’t speak for himself. Giving autistic people a voice is one of the most important tasks before us. I also wrote it to help other parents of autistic kids feel less alone. And I know that our story isn’t the only one. That’s why we invite others to share their stories about autism and parenthood on the oneofusbook website. Please visit and share your experiences with others.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Monday reads
        

You limit junk food, cook with fresh vegetables and instill the right eating habits at home. But what happens when your kids are at school or at a friend's home or eating out with friends?

A new study has found that parental influence on kids' diets is not as strong as we might like to think. My colleague Meredith Cohn writes about this finding in today's paper.

Researchers (at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health) looked at 30 years' worth of studies and found that kids' diets have become far different from their parents', and they appear less healthy.

May A. Beydoun, a co-author of the study, said many people assume that parents have a strong say in what their children eat. But outside forces might have more sway, particularly over older kids who eat out more, concluded Beydoun and Dr. Youfa Wang, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the department of international health.

The outside forces are many: friends, schools, area stores and advertisers, among others.

The conclusion: Parental influence is pretty weak when it comes to your child's eating habits.

What works and doesn't work for you when it comes to trying to instill healthy eating habits in your children?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Health
        

Television sets at Best Buy (Sun photo/Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary discusses TV time in this week's Toddler Thursday:  

We don’t have cable at our house. It’s not because I’m anti-TV; it’s just because after Edwin was born I stopped working full-time, and cable was the first luxury to go. I like to think that this means Edwin watches less TV than his cable-watching peers. But that is probably not the case. He watches more TV, DVDs, and YouTube clips than I’d like to admit. In fact, I was overcome with joy when he developed the attention span to sit through an entire episode of something. It meant that I got to fold laundry and clean the bathroom! (Wow, I really need to get out more.)

Curious George keeps him occupied while I take a shower in the morning. Then there may be some Dinosaur Train on in the background while he plays. I sometimes turn on the tail end of Sesame Street so he can catch Elmo. After dinner, he loves watching clips of Bert and Ernie on YouTube. (Seriously, if you have a toddler I highly recommend classic Sesame Street clips on YouTube. It is comedy gold for toddlers! And their parents.) Mister Rogers also holds his attention (and they offer full episodes on PBS.org). He still requests his Baby Einstein DVDs, and I often set him up with one when I need to get something done.

I always feel a little guilty about it, but he watches less than the 2 hour limit recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for children over 2. (They don’t recommend TV for children under 2, but that must be because nobody there has ever had a child under 2 and needed to take a shower or unload the dishwasher.)

So how much TV does your toddler watch?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Toddler Thursday
        

My colleague Meredith Cohn is looking for mothers to talk about how they are trying to put their kids on the right eating path.

Cohn is writing a story about a recent study that shows parents don't have as much influence over what their kids eat as many think. Schools, peers and the environment play big roles.

If you're interested, please contact Cohn by Wednesday morning at meredith.cohn@baltsun.com.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: School's In
        

Liz Atwood talks about Christmas traditions in this week's Tween Tuesday: 

Do you recall the scene in the classic movie A Christmas Story where Ralphie’s aunt gives him a rabbit costume and his parents make him put it on? Poor kid, he was so embarrassed.

Well, I don’t dress my sons in costumes or even make them wear matching sweaters, but I have one Christmas tradition that I’m sure they would like to forego.  Ever since my older son’s first Christmas when he was four months old, I have taken a picture of him holding a plastic reindeer. When his brother came along, I took a picture of him with the reindeer as well.  I always pose them in the same chair and holding the same reindeer I picked up at a flea market long ago.

Don’t ask me why I do it. I have no idea. Although I had a reindeer just like this one when I was a kid, my parents didn’t take pictures of me with it.  My sons, now 9 and 14, moan and groan about posing with the reindeer each year. One day they will probably be in a psychiatrist’s office recounting how their mother humiliated them at Christmas each year. But, I’m going to try to get them to do it again this year. Perhaps I can bribe them with Christmas cookies or extra video game time.

Do you have any holiday traditions at your house that you just don’t want to do without no matter how old the kids are?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Wow.

You must, have to, need to read this Washington Post story on a "mother's joy and a family's sorrow."

Where do I start?

I won't give away the ending, but it's a story about a mom's love, family, friends, joy, sorrow, told in such a unique way that reflects our fascination with social media.

Feel free to leave comments.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Monday reads
        

Liz Atwood's post this week about Christmas shopping got me thinking about buying gifts for children.

Sticking to a budget when buying gifts for children is especially hard because you just want to get your kid everything.

How much will you spend on your children this holiday season? Take this poll:

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Holidays
        

Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary offers advice on baking with toddlers in this week's Toddler Thursday:

Toddlers have a keen sense for when you’re trying to do something that doesn’t involve them. They can tell right away when you’re busy trying to get something done, and they will choose this precise moment to get into monkey business. Around the holidays this can be particularly vexing. While I’ve been baking, cleaning, addressing cards, and preparing for houseguests, Edwin has been busy destroying the house.

So to involve him in the holiday activities, I got the bright idea to let him help me with a batch of cookies. Baking with your toddler can be fun, supposedly! They love to help out, they love to dump things into other things, and they love chocolate chips. I thought baking with Edwin would be a win-win, but it was not exactly the Hallmark moment I envisioned. Here are some tips that I learned the hard way, so that you may have more success:

Pre-measure everything before you start. Open canister of flour + enthusiastic toddler = BIG MESS.

Have a snack and a drink at the ready. If your little one gets hungry during the process, you won’t have to turn your back on him to prepare a snack. Also, he won’t try to eat the cookie dough. Hopefully.

Put the eggs away after you use them. We had a very close call with the carton of eggs that involved much gasping and diving on my part.

Give your toddler one spoon for each hand. Best to keep both of his hands occupied. A free hand could mean disaster when there is batter involved.

Use an easy, easy EASY recipe (see below). This is key. I got too ambitious with the cookie recipe. There were too many ingredients, everything took too long, and Edwin got bored and started rifling through the china cabinet and causing mayhem.

Here is a very easy cookie recipe that takes no time at all. By the time your kid loses interest, the cookies will be done!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together all ingredients. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls evenly on a greased cookie sheet. Take a fork and press down to make a criss-cross pattern.  Bake 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet before you transfer them to a container (or to your mouth).

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Toddler Thursday
        

(Algerina Perna/The Baltimore Sun)

Liz Atwood talks about teens and gift buying in this week's Tween Tuesday:

The decorations are up, the gifts have been ordered. We’re in full holiday mode at my house. Naturally the kids want to join in. Twice this past weekend the boys wanted a ride to the mall so they could buy presents. Of course, that meant they were looking out for presents THEY wanted as well.

I wonder how many parents have faced this situation: The kids see something they want to buy for a parent, sibling, friend, etc. and ask to “borrow” the money. I remember my grandmother used to take me to buy presents for my mom. While I may have picked out the present, my grandmother paid the bill. Of course when children are small, they don’t have much money. And I know some of you will say, it’s the thought that counts – let the kid make you a nice hand-crafted decoration. But as the kids get older, their gift-giving becomes more ambitious. They want to go beyond the handmade ornament. Presumably, their wallets grow as they grow older. Tweens can earn an allowance or take small jobs. So when they have their own money, should they buy their own presents?

How much freedom should a tween be given in shopping for and buying gifts? Do you drop your tween off at the mall and let him spend his own money? Do you give him a budget? Do you accompany him as he picks out his gifts? Do you give him the money to buy the gifts? 

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Playground bullying is hard enough but what happens when bullying goes viral? 

Check out this fascinating and frightening story by The New York Times on parents struggling to deal with cyberbullying:

It is difficult enough to support one’s child through a siege of schoolyard bullying. But the lawlessness of the Internet, its potential for casual, breathtaking cruelty, and its capacity to cloak a bully’s identity all present slippery new challenges to this transitional generation of analog parents.

Desperate to protect their children, parents are floundering even as they scramble to catch up with the technological sophistication of the next generation.

The article talks to parents who have turned to schools and law enforcement to get to the bottom of who's bullying their kids online. The story also talks about the very awkward etiquette of dealing with parents of the apparent offenders when they are uncovered.

Then there's the issue of monitoring your child's computer usage. To what extent would you go as a parent?  

How far would you go to get to the bottom of things if your child is being bullied online? What role do schools and law enforcement have in safeguarding our children?

It's a long article, but it's worth the read. Let me know what you think.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Monday reads
        

Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary talks about a funny web site featuring "stuff" kids ruin in this week's Toddler Thursday:

I had not seen the website "Sh*t My Kids Ruined" until I read about it on the Today Moms blog the other day. It was started by Julie Haas Brophy after her toddler spilled a quart of black paint on her Oriental rug. She posted a photograph on Facebook, and the huge response it generated inspired her to start a website collecting similar tales.

The website is a hilarious collection of photographs depicting property destruction inflicted by children (usually toddlers, of course). The website became so popular that it spawned a book that is being advertised as the "strongest visual birth control on the market today." Some of the captions accompanying the pictures are even funnier than the pictures themselves. It's nice to see that these parents were able (at least in retrospect) to maintain their sense of humor about it all.

Edwin can make some pretty impressive messes, but so far his antics pale in comparison to some of the disasters shown on this website. Next time your toddler makes what you think must be the worst mess ever made, take a look at some of the pictures on Sh*t My Kids Ruined. You'll definitely have a laugh, and maybe some assurance that that there are toddlers who have done much, much worse!

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Toddler Thursday
        

I know, I'm two days late on this week's Monday reads.

My husband jokes that we need to get baby J. in some sports league like right now. But it's no joke for some parents.

There are exercise videos for babies as young as six months, and there are companies that cater to grooming baby and toddler athletes, according to The New York Times.

Future Robinson Canos and Sidney Crosbys are getting their start in sports earlier than ever. Kindergartners play in soccer leagues and at an annual T-Ball World Series in Milton, Fla. But now children are being groomed as athletes before they can walk.

The growing competition in marketing baby sports DVDs includes companies with names like athleticBaby and Baby Goes Pro. Even experts in youth sports seem startled that the age of entry has dipped so low.

One doctor told the paper that he sees no advantage in exposing babies to sports and cautioned about the potential for injuries at such an early age.

Gyms and other entrepreneurs behind such businesses are not making claims that your baby will turn into a professional athletes. And the parents who were interviewed for the story say they want to find an outlet for their children to have fun.

Do you find this alarming or is it harmless? Let us know about your experience if you have a baby or toddler in an exercise/sports program.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Monday reads