Parenting

Having Fun / Parenting — No Comments
25
Feb 10

Playing UNO with the Kids (And Talking Smack)

UNO is the first game I’ve played with my kids where it doesn’t feel like some stupid kid game. I honestly would rather sit and do something mildly unpleasant than play Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. UNO, on the other hand is actually fun.

Even a three year-old-can play UNO. I’m not trying to insult anyone by saying that, so if you don’t know how to play UNO don’t be offended. What I mean is a three year old can match colors and numbers and have the dumb luck of running out of cards first, which is what UNO’s all about.

However, playing with a three-year-old is a bit like playing with the Alan character from The Hangover (not the card-counting scene, the peeing-on-the-floor scene). They generally cannot fan their cards, so their cards are all over the floor. Or sometimes they’ll stick the cards between their toes. And picking one card from the top of the deck is tough for them. Sometimes they pick two or three, and sometimes the cards are chosen from the middle. And they run around in circles when it’s not their turn.

My five-year-old, the other hand, is a fierce competitor with intense concentration. She hates to lose. I think this would be the case under any circumstance, but I make sure to celebrate on her and talk smack when I win (I’m not sure what the American Academy of Pediatrics advises on age to begin smack talk, but I’m sure they have it wrong. One of my fundamental beliefs in life is that success is determined by how well one can handle adversity, and smack talk is a key part of that).

Today, for example, she giggled and kicked her little legs when she threw down two “plus four” cards on me in a row. The she told me I was “going to be sorry” and later threatened to “take me down to China”, leaving off “town”, a key part of smack talk. When it was her turn to deal the cards, I made the mistake of leaving the room. I came back in to find that the pile was no longer a pile, but what looked like a bunch of cards on the floor that someone had rifled through for the best ones. She beat me in seven straight cards and wagged her little tush at me.

To give her credit, she’s playing with strategy. She reserves her wild cards to the end of the game. When she throws a wild card, she assesses and picks the color with the most cards of hers remaining. Small things, but she’s learning to think. And when I look back to the last time I was in Vegas and found myself at a craps table with a woman who didn’t understand that a four came up less than a seven, perhaps she’s ahead of a number of adults.

All joking aside, games with your kids are a godsend: you spend time together having fun, you’re engaged and in the moment, you build some basic skills, and you’re not staring at a glowing rectangle.

Dogs / Parenting — No Comments
23
Feb 10

Dog’s Testes Being Removed Today

“Day of reckoning” is on a lot of people’s tongues todays.  According to some sunshiny optimists, the U.S. financial system may be headed for one.  Whether you believe that or not, one thing is certain:  today is the day of reckoning for my Havanese puppy’s testicles.

According to Wikipedia, my wife and I are acting in accordance with advice from the majority of humane societies in the United States:

“In the United States, most humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups (not to mention numerous commercial entities) urge pet owners to have their pets “spayed or neutered” to prevent the births of unwanted litters, contributing to the overpopulation of animals.”

So there’s the conventional wisdom that removing your dog’s gonads is a good thing.  And after years of Price is Right brainwashing where the host urged me to spay or neuter my animal, I humbly offer a sacrifice of furry dog testes to the altar of Bob Barker.

So this morning, as I left for work, I gingerly placed a kiss on Baxter’s furry little head.  He’s taking one from the team.  It’s the right thing to do, but probably not as far as he’s concerned.

Parenting / Traveling — 6 Comments
18
Feb 10

Advice on Doing Disney World with Small Kids from Someone Who’s Done It Dozens of Times

We live in Florida and are two and a half hours away from Disney World. We have seasonal passes that allow us to come and go as we please, and over the past couple of years have figured the park out cold. So we’re sharing what works and what doesn’t with small children, where to eat a good meal, and how to maximize time in the park without dealing with crowds.

Here’s the advice my wife gave to a friend in a recent email:

As far as Disney is concerned, here’s my input (based on about 15 trips in the last few years):

Staying at the Contemporary is key. It’s so easy to walk to and from the Magic Kingdom. I’d book a breakfast at the Crystal Palace one morning. It’s in the park, decent food, and it includes characters like Winnie the Pooh. The key is to get to the rides as early as possible. So if the park opens at 9am, I’d book an 8am breakfast so you can be among the first people to hit the rides. If you don’t choose to eat at the Crystal Palace, I’d still make a reservation there 30 minutes before the park opens. That way you can get into the park early and you can basically just wait for the rides to open.

Definitely go to Fantasy Land first. That’s where you’ll spend most of your time (Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, carousel, Dumbo, other kid-friendly rides.) Try to get on as many rides as possible as early as possible. By 1030 or 11am, it starts getting crowded.

Your kid will probably love the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. And, I kid you not, he might love the PeopleMover (also in Tomorrowland.) There is never a wait, but my kids love the people mover for some reason. There’s also the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland and the Monsters Inc. show.

Oh, and the Pirates of the Caribbean is GREAT if he’s into pirates. It’s not too long of a line, and it’s a beautiful, long ride.

For lunch, we usually make a reservation at Tony’s Town Square. It’s decent Italian food right by the front entrance to the park. Tony’s is decent for dinner, too.

At 3pm is the Dreams parade, which is basically a 10 minute parade that includes all of the characters from Disney. We usually find a good place to watch it in Liberty Square.

Other options for food: In Tomorrowland, there’s a place called the Starlight something or other. It has Bay 1 (chicken dishes), Bay 2 (burgers), and Bay 3 (veggie options). It’s fast food (no reservations, just walk up to a counter), but very good. They have chicken fingers, hamburgers, and a really good veggie wrap. Chicken soup was great.

In the Contemporary Hotel, there’s Chef Mickeys. Terrible food, but the kids love it because Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, etc. all dance around while you eat. We’d book breakfast there early enough so that we’d still get to the park by the time it opens. I’ve never had lunch or dinner there, but it’s an option for both I think.

California Grill in the Contemporary is excellent, but very nice. Probably not what you’re looking for, but if you’re desperate for a good meal it’s worth checking out. (All restaurants, even the nice ones, have good kids menus).

1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian has a Mary Poppins breakfast and (I think) dinner if you need a change of pace.

Other than that, you’ll looking at mostly fast food in the park. The places get PACKED from 1130-230, so I’d eat early or late if possible.

Call 1-407-WDW-DINE to make dining reservations. And call me or email me if you have any other questions. I can tell you about Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and MGM if need be, too.

Children and Media / Parenting — 2 Comments
8
Feb 10

So my three-year-old performed a Google search…

I am not bragging about this, let me be perfectly clear.  My children, both under the age of five, can perform Google searches.  It’s not happening again, not for a long while at least.  And not on Bing either.

The other day, my five-year-old typed “I’m a gummy bear” into Google so she could find this little video of a dancing gummi bear which, I have to be honest, is a total crack up.  Apparently, she’s seen us do enough Google searches and her spelling is to the point where she took the leap.  A day later, my son, who knows only how to spell one thing, independently did a search for his name.  Thank god his name isn’t Dick.

How did this come to pass?  As parents, my wife and I firmly believe that our kids’ intellects are stimulated through television and computer usage.  The American Academy of Pediatrics, with its two year restriction on TV, is living on Mars as far as I’m concerned.  You listen to those people and you put your kids at a huge disadvantage.

Because of Little Einsteins, our kids know music by Tchaikovsky, art by Van Gogh, and where the Eiffel Tower is located.  We credit the website Startfall as providing our daughter a major head start in reading.  Take a look at the site and you’ll see why.

We show them YouTube videos of Les Miserable and other shows.  We downloaded Google Earth, which allows them to see where the sunlight hits the Earth and explains why it’s night in Japan when it’s daytime in Florida.  They can take tours of the wonders of the world and explore Mars and the Moon as well.

So it’s both good and bad, but IMHO if controlled, mostly good,

What measures did we take?  We already monitor their activity very closely: the computer they use is in a common area, and it will stay that way until they go to college.  But we’re increasing monitoring and changed their setup.  Google as a home page is a thing of the past.  I configured Safari, the browser on the computer they use, to not have an address bar or a search field.  They now just have bookmark buttons for Starfall, PBS Kids, and Playhouse Disney.