Pinwheels for Prevention

If you visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in April, you'll see a host of blue and silver pinwheels, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

(I was an English major, and oft, in vacant or pensive mood, Wordsworth's poem flashes upon my inner eye. I can't help it.)

Three thousand pinwheels, to be exact. And the day I visited, the first sunny day in over a week, they did seem to be dancing, throwing off light from 1200 silvery petals. They were perfect beacons of hope.

For many years, April has been "Child Abuse Prevention Month," symbolized by blue ribbons. This year, Prevent Child Abuse Virginia (PCAV) has introduced the blue pinwheel as an addition symbol. The 3000 pinwheels palnted in the Children's Garden represent the children who have been served by the Healthy Families Virginia program last year in the Central Virginia and Tidewater regions.

(Healthy Families is a national program model whose ultimate goal is to enhance child growth and development by teaching positive parenting and preventing abuse and neglect. PCAV runs the program in Virginia.)

PCAV invites everyone to plant a pinwheel--or a pinwheel garden--in April to show support for healthy families and a world free of child abuse and neglect. You can make your own pinwheel or purchase one for $1, with proceeds benefitting PCAV. Call (804) 359-6166 ext. 309 to order.

Orienteering: Out on a Limb

Those kids in my Ranger Rick magazines always looked so smart and happy, running through the woods, strung with compasses and clutching maps. I wanted to go orienteering too, but no one where I grew up had ever heard of it.

So a couple decades later, I decided it was time to take some action and drag my own kids along with me. Virginia has at least two orienteering groups, Quantico Orienteering Club and James River Orienteering Club. JROC held an event at York River State Park in early March, so we drove out there one crisp, sunny Saturday morning with very little idea of what to expect. I knew that you had to find a bunch of flags without getting lost, but that's about it.

The nice thing about orienteering--especially if you're trying it for the first time and you have a 4-year-old who wants to ride on your shoulders every 15 minutes--is that you can start when you want, take as much time as you want (up to 3 hours) and find as many or as few flags as you want in any order you choose.

Sure, for some people it's a race, with points awarded for each flag, and so on. But we were there just to have fun, and we did. Even Helen, who got to jump across a little creek, read the code on a flag, and ride on mom's shoulders.

Of the 20+ flags, many seemed to be fairly close to established trails, but that doesn't mean they're easy to find or get close enough to in order to read the code you had to write on the scoresheet. (The video on Richmond Parents Monthly's main webpage shows Emily getting the code from a flag placed in the middle of a tree that fell over a gully.)
We took about an hour to find 5 flags, then called it a morning and ate a picnic lunch overlooking the York River. (The park itself has paddleboat and canoeing options, clean restrooms, a little nature center, and lots of hiking, biking and horseriding trails. Admission is $3 per vehicle.)

Unless you go orienteering alone (which you shouldn't until you gain some experience), it is a sport that absolutely requires teamwork, cooperation, planning, compromise and flexibility--mental and physical! Shawn Callahan, who heads up JROC, also does orienteering programs for business, schools and groups of young people. I can see why it would be an excellent team-building activity.

It can be a little intimidating to go to an orienteering event for the first time, but we weren't the only first-timers at York River. Both JROC and QOC have occasional events in the Richmond area that are open to anyone. At the York River meet, I picked up a flyer about a youth orienteering club in Richmond, with events right around the corner:

"Learn compass basics and the map-reading skills needed to participate in an Orienteering meet. During three 1-hour sessions, we will discuss and practice the skills necessary to finish a beginner, kid-level O-course. All kids ages 6-16 are welcome. Parents are encouraged to stay with the younger ones."
Dates: March 16, April 13 and May 18
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Cost: Clinic is free; compass fee is $12 if you need one. Expect a $5-10 entry fee for the May meet.
Where: Deep Run Park on 3/16 and 4/13--rear parking lot near soccer fields. Details about the May O-meet (Rockwood Park) will be handed out at the clinics.
RSVP: Tim Dunkum, fivedunkums@verizon.net, http://www.richmondasr.com/. (Click on the "Community" link and scroll down a bit.)

For more info about kids' orienteering in general, see this link to the US Orienteering Federation site.

Yoga Really Is For Everyone!

Two books from two different publishers arrived in the mail today: "Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Toddlers and Preschoolers" and "Yoga for Arthritis."


A quick web search turns up the following yoga books:


Yoga for Wimps
Yoga for Dummies
Yoga for Golfers
Yoga for Regular Guys
Yoga for Your Hands
Yoga for Suits
...and lots more, including my favorite:

So that means I'm waiting for someone to write these books:


Yoga for Barbarians
Yoga for Knitters
Yoga for Bad Drivers
Yoga for Presidential Campaign Managers
Yoga for Goldfish


Any takers?

Elliott Yamin is Gonna Be Upstaged!

Thirty kids from all around the Richmond area are practicing hard for their moment in the spotlight at the Central Virginia Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Gala on March 1. (See our main page for a video of a recent rehearsal. Don't they sound great?)

They'll be sharing the spotlight, and the microphone, with some dude named Elliott Yamin. But for the kids I talked to before a rehearsal last week, being on stage with the "American Idol" star was less significant than the fact they're getting to sing their hearts out with others who share their experience of being a kid with Type 1 diabetes.

Baylee, 10, was just diagnosed in August. Her mother said she has endured some weird looks and teasing in school when she has to prick herself to monitor her blood sugar levels. She was so happy to get involved in JDRF and find out that she's not the only one in that situation.

When I asked Baylee who she'd be singing with at the gala, she said, "A lot of other kids!" "Anyone else?" I asked. She looked at her mom, trying to remember the name of that other guy. "Oh yeah, Elliott Yamin," she said.

Kendal, 7, seemed a little nervous about remembering all the words to the song, but she said she had been going over them and practicing hard.

Samantha is 7 now and was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. She wears an insulin pump, which means that her dosage of insulin to correct her blood sugar levels is regulated by the pump. She and Savannah, 8, were both very matter-of-fact as they told me about what the pump does.

Cole, 7, has hope that a cure for diabetes will be found. He says he wants to be able to eat candy like other kids.

Many of the kids had glamorous accessories, to go with the gala's theme: "Lights, Camera, Take Action!" Click on the link if you'd like to take action and learn more about JRDF or attend the gala!

Homework: Just another excuse not to clean your room

MetLife released the results of a survey of teachers, parents and students this week, "The Homework Experience" (warning: 207 pages of pdf). It's part of The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher series.

Some of the results are very interesting; for example, 30% of secondary students describe homework as 'busywork'-- compared to a whopping 74% of such students who said that in 2002. (What's going on with that?!)

But I can't figure out what the practical application of this survey is supposed to be.

Will teachers (24% of whom think the quality of their schools' homework is 'excellent') care that 33% of parents think their child's school gives only 'fair' or 'poor' quality homework? Should they care? What is quality homework?

91% of teachers say that 'doing homework helps students learn more in school'; 86% give homework to 'help students practice skills or prepare for tests.' So you do homework to pass tests... does that mean you've learned more? (I can't pass up a link to an enormously intriguing book on this subject: Alfie Kohn's "The Homework Myth.")

Separately, a small group of teachers and school administrators discussed challenges related to creating, assigning and evaluating homework, and its relationship to the bigger picture of education. Chapter 6 of the survey's report summarizes their discussion and offers some hope of application. One of their main conclusions was that homework should be 'relevant to the day's lessons." Wheeee!

I'm married to a teacher, so I'm sympathetic to the problems teachers face: no homework assignment will be perfectly relevant for every child in a classroom, but who has time to create (and then assess the results of) 2, 3, 10, 50 different assignments for the same concept? And who wants to deal with explaining to 100 students (and their parents) why Tina got a longer assignment than Tony, while Tito didn't get any assignment at all?

If I had easy answers, I'd quit my job and run for the School Board (...er, on second thought: no.) I don't think "The Homework Experience" survey has any easy or astonishing answers, but it is certainly good food for thought for anyone interested in education.

Yo-yo: More Than Just a Cool Word to Say

I had heard that astonishing things were possible with yo-yos, but to see those tricks in real life was a thrill. I caught the finals of the Open Freestyle division at the Virginia State Yo-yo Contest, held last Saturday at the Children's Museum of Richmond, and it was spectacular.

On our main webpage, you can watch some video clips of Sebastian and Ann competing. Sebastian is a student at the College of William and Mary. He was the 2006 and the 2007 Virginia State Champion in the 1A Division. (In yo-yo speak, 1A means you're using one yo-yo to do string tricks with the yo-yo spinning at the end of the string.) Each competitor in this round had three minutes to do their stuff to the song of their choosing.

If you're interested in learning more about yo-yo tricks, Tony Basch (Richmond's yo-yo spinmeister) recommends a couple websites such as Begin2Spin and tricks.skilltoys.org.

We Did the Hokey Pokey

We went roller-skating yesterday at Skateland on Hull Street. Boy, did that bring back memories--most of them good! I couldn't remember if the music had been that loud when I was young, though. Probably was.

My girls each skated with a friend. It was a pleasure to see so many kids there, about equal numbers of boys and girls, and to see teens sharing the rink graciously with little ones as young as 3 or 4.

Cell phones and the Two-Way Street of Trust

The new issue of Parenting arrived in the office yesterday and as I browsed through, I noticed the results of a reader poll the magazine had done: "Is it okay for kids under 12 to have cell phones?"

On the "yes" side, one reader had written that her children know the three specific circumstances under which they may use their phones and they don't use them otherwise. On the "no" side, another reader wrote that kids "can't be trusted" with cell phones. She didn't specifically say her kids couldn't be trusted, so it sounded like she meant any kid under 12.

I wondered if this second mother had really thought about whether children are trustworthy--with cell phones or anything else. It seemed as if she had made up her mind about what kids can and can't do, without testing her opinions.

Later, I thought about how the phrase, "can't be trusted" says just as much about the person using those words as it says about the person from whom the trust is being withheld. We speak of "earning" someone's trust, as if one person is doing all the work, but really it's a two-person job. Sometimes it takes effort--or maybe vulnerability--to trust even a sure bet. It's possible that if parents think they can't trust their children, the problem is with them rather than the kids.

I like the attitude of the first mom. She recognized what a useful tool a child's mobile phone can be for a family. The parents and children obviously worked together to create a two-way street of trust regarding its use.

That's why I like Growing Up Online columnist Carolyn Jabs so much. She frequently addresses the issue of trust between parents and children as it relates to technology, and her general attitude is that trust is not a hands-off stance. Knowledge about the technology young people use (or want to use), combined with open communication between parent and child about limits, creates trusting and trustworthy people.

Even though I used to feel in my heart that Emily is too young for a cell phone (what's next--high school? driver's license? voting rights? wait, stop growing up!!) after reading this woman's remark, I'm ready to weigh the pros and cons for our family's situation.

How the Bunny Sold Out

Yes, yes, happy new year, best wishes for 2008 and all that. Can I have some rant time now? Here's the first thing in my email Inbox to boggle my mind in 2008:


"Pat the Bunny" is coming out on DVD in March.




That's "Pat the Bunny" as in probably your first touch-and-feel book ever. And that's "touch-and-feel" as in soft fluffy fuzz and scruffy scratchy stubble. Actual objects affixed to actual pages. Who thought this would be a good idea for a video?





The text of the press release reads, in part: "Baby's first friend, Bunny, is off on a brand new adventure when pat the bunny® playdates™ hops onto DVD for the first time.... "


(Wait a minute. I thought Baby's first friend was her parents.)


"Heralded as the first interactive book ever produced, the pat the bunny touch-and-feel book encourages children to use their senses to explore the world around them. Continuing this tradition, while incorporating new technologies, the pat the bunny playdates DVD is the perfect gift for new caregivers. ...."

(Maybe those "new technologies" make your computer or TV screen feel fluffy?)


"Each of the 4 15-minute playdates on the DVD invite children to 'touch' the world by exploring sounds, tastes, sights and smells. Baby's first friend, Bunny, encourages you to make the most important playdate of all - the one with you!"

...But only after Baby has had her playdate with this DVD, apparently.

Readers of Richmond Parents Monthly might recall that I've groused about electronic media for young children before--for instance, DVDs that are supposed to make your babies smarter. As many educators and parents point out, no matter how good a video is, real life holds something developmentally more appropriate for a young child.

Of course, now we get to the part where I'm supposed to say, "Okay, my children watch TV, but...." And then I'm supposed to come to the happy conclusion that everything is fine in moderation, with the implication that moderation is that only way to go.

Yes. My children, ages 4 and 11, do watch TV and DVDs and play on the computer, and have since they were younger than 2. They get more screen time than I'd like them to have. Such compromises, negotiations and concessions are a part of married life, since my husband and I disagree about the role of electronic media in our lives.

However, I feel compelled to say that it is possible to raise a child without a TV or video player. Such was my childhood experience, which wasn't THAT long ago. (Few parents want to go this route, but hopefully not because they think they can't.) Moderation is not necessary!

In fact, sometimes I think it's moderation that gives us absurdities such as a pat-the-bunny movie, as if we're supposed to think that just because it's not Grand Theft Scooter, it's good for kids.