Dear Jet Lag,
Every summer the kids and I travel to Michigan to see my family. And every summer you nail us with your three-hour, West-to-East time difference. Milo and Belle, who are used to Pacific Standard, are up until 11pm for the first few days. Which means, Jet-Lag, that I get no down time. And that none of us is allowed quite enough sleep. You see, the children somehow know when it’s morning here (even with blackout cardboard over the window) and wake up with the sun.
Do you know what sleep deprived kids plus no-downtime-mommy equals? It equals extreme whining (which, apparently, is a competitive sport), much snapping and a giant bruise on my forehead from where I’ve banged it against the wall over and over again. (Read more…)
We are only two days into summer, and already I can feel my standards slipping. Bedtime has gone out the window, the Monkey has already watched two PG-13 movies that he’s NEVER been allowed to see before, and, most notably, we’ve eaten Oreos for breakfast.
Oreos. For Breakfast.
Now, while I’m lax about a lot of things, I do try to maintain some healthy influence over my children’s eating habits. But something about summer makes poor choices easier to justify. I try to ease my guilty conscience with a little game I like to call “Find the Food Groups”.
Let’s use Oreos as our example:
Grains: Well, this is obvious. The two cookies that comprise the Oreo “sandwich” provide a stable base for our pyramid of health. As we know, the darker the grain, the healthier the bread; I’m sure the same applies to cookies. Additionally if you eat the “whole cookie”, you have eaten the “whole grain” and whole grains are very good for you! (Read more…)