Better Things to Do

TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Author Unknown

In Beverley Hills, they don't throw their garbage away - they make it into television shows. ~Woody Allen

Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home. ~David Frost

If the television craze continues with the present level of programs, we are destined to have a nation of morons. ~Daniel Marsh, 1950


It's been years since we had a tv. We didn't watch it much when we did have it. Just a movie once in a while. When our daughter was little we got rid of it. We didn't want to raise a couch potato. Watching television is mind-numbing, certainly not something children need to be subjected to for hours at a time. Everyone knows that children are sponges, soaking up everything they're exposed to. Their little brains and bodies are still developing. Kids need to be learning, exploring, exercising, using their imaginations, and spending quality time with their families. For better or worse, these little people will grow up to be mothers, fathers, teachers, doctors, librarians, bankers, dentists, and presidents. What kind will they be?

Here are a few things to think about...How can a child be healthy when he spends hour after hour parked in front of the tv? How will he learn to interact with people when his best friend is a piece of furniture? How can he make a worthwhile contribution to society when he needs a celebrity to tell him what kind of toothpaste to buy? There are other questions I could ask, but do I need to?

- Read a book. My husband and I love to read. My daughter loves to read, too, and my son is learning to appreciate books (he's only 18 months old and doesn't yet have the attention span to sit through a whole book). The library has a wealth of information to offer you.

- Go outside. Look for caterpillars, chase butterflies, dig in the dirt, swing, "poison" armadillos. Olivia makes "armadillo poison" by mixing dirt, grass, green onions, rosemary, and peppermint (I've told her she'll have to find a substitute for my green onions). Sit in the hammock with a book and soak up some Vitamin D.

- Play games. Olivia likes to play Go Fish, Old Maid, and Checkers. I can't wait for her and Jesse to learn to play 42. It's my favorite game. It'll be so nice for the four of us to huddle around a card table playing 42, sipping hot chocolate, when it's too cold to go outside.

- Plant a garden. Good exercise, good food, good education for the kids.

- Make something. Sew, knit, crochet, draw, work with wood, paint. Be creative. It's satisfying to spend time working on a project and have something to show for your effort.

- Go somewhere. Go to a library, museum, zoo, or arboretum. Take a picnic lunch.

- Learn to play an instrument. My husband and I used to play music a lot before we had kids. I hope music will be something we can enjoy as a family when the kids get bigger (we don't seem to have time for it right now). By the way, people who play music tend to be better at math.

- Cook from scratch. It'll take a little more time than opening a box, but it's worth it. This is time you can spend with your children and the food will taste better and be more nutritious. It's hard to beat a loaf of homemade bread fresh from the oven.

- Perform random acts of kindness. This is something I need to work on myself. Take a meal to a sick friend. Help an elderly person with housework or yardwork. Volunteer at the library. Let your kids see you do something good simply because it's good. Let them be involved so they'll learn about charity and unselfishness.

Traveling with children

We're on an extended road trip and have been driving for hours with our children. All three of my children. My oldest is only four and a half and my youngest is 8 months old. While I'm no expert, I thought I would give some tips that we found worked for us while on the road for a long time.

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks. We had both boys get their little backpacks and fill them up with all the snacks they wanted. We purchased shelf stable chocolate milks, graham crackers, NutriGrain bars...anything they wanted (that was healthy of course). This helped a tremendous amount to keep them happy because they don't often get chocolate milk or NutriGrain bars. So they felt that they were having something super special and I got another hour of no crying! We usually give them dried fruit, but this time we let them pick which one they wanted and they felt grown up because they put them in their own bags and kept them by their seats.

We also used a DVD player to help them zone out. Bad mommy, I know, but it helped so much! We brought along paint with water books and let them go at it with those...my oldest son was also engrossed with his handheld gaming system.

Another great tip was to let them get out every three or four hours and stretch their legs. We'd go to the play area at McDonalds and let them run around for at least half and hour. The release of energy and boredom was awesome. We made sure to let them run around for a significant amount of time so they didn't throw a fit when it was time to get back into the car.

We've been having a blast while driving around and seeing new things. I highly recommend taking a road trip with your children. Even if it's just to somewhere close like Austin. The drive can be fun and educational. We saw windmills from a wind farm and later some oil rigs so we talked about the differences between the two and how they affect our day to day living. Not to mention that all of us were blown away (ha, ha) by how big the windmills were!