Monthly Archives: July 2011

Sunday’s Plate – Pockets!

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We’ve been working on some new meals that our kids really love. One of those new meals involves won ton wrappers. If you think about it, cupcake tins would make perfect personal sized meals for little kids. One for the pickier eaters, and two for the normal eaters, and three for big eaters. In a new “app” on my new phone, there is a cooking app that had this delicious lasagna made in won ton wrappers. So…we tried them, and thirty kids ate nearly fifty little lasagnas and everyone wanted more.

Nice things about the won ton wrappers is the cost is nominal and there is no boiling noodles, and they actually cook. That’s the trouble with “abc” noodles – already been cooked. Making lasagna for kids should be a “very often” occurrence because it’s a great source of protein and there are so many variations.
But now let’s think it through…is this the only use won ton wrappers have? Nep.
Think about all the little things children love to eat…macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie, tacos, hot dogs w/o a bun, ham and cheese w/o bread and so many more combinations.
If you drape two won tons in each of twelve cups of your muffin tin and just start putting your child’s favorite foods into them and top with a slice or two of cheese and bake, you’re going to have some pretty interesting results.
1. Last night’s mashed potatoes, cubed meat, cheese
2. Left over pizza cut up with scissors and topped with cheese
3. Sandwich meat, rice, cheese
4. Rice, veggies, cheese
5. Mac and cheese, sandwich meat and more cheese
6. Fish sticks, french fries cut up with a topping of cheese
7. Hot dogs, baked beans and cheese
8. Left over Chinese with a thick topping of Parmesan
9. Ham, Tuesday’s potatoes and a topping of cheese
To make lasagna, brown your meat and add your sauces. Try taco seasoning as your spice. Kids like this better than Italian spices. Mix cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese in a bowl with an egg. Line your cup with won tons and add your meat sauce, your cottage mix and top with mozzarella. Bake at 350.
Can’t wait to try this with rice, veggies meat and cheese sauce.
Cheese sauce can be found in the right column of this blog under recipes.

Saturday’s Under the Sun – Vacation Tips

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From Chicago Healers.

Summer is the time for vacations, whether it’s visiting family or just getting away for a weekend. The only problem: vacations can be expensive, from gas for the car to flights, hotels, and every meal at a restaurant.

Chicago Healers Practitioner Julie Casserly, MBA urges vacationers to “Position yourself to be lucky to spend the amount of money you actually have for a vacation, instead of going into debt and later on having to pay for past choices. No one likes having what I call a ‘spending hangover;’ it takes all the fun out of going on vacation in the first place.”

  • Last Minute Deals – In a world where there are so many things to do, most of the travel websites will have last minute trips at a deep discount, particularly in economic environment. Decide a budget and search online for an all-inclusive trip for the long weekend that falls into that number. The exciting part is that you are leaving yourself open to trying a new adventure or a new place.
  • Look At The End, First – Decide priorities for a vacation and what amount to spend, and then build a plan out from there.
  • Choose the Day – Choose to travel on cheaper air fare days, say Tuesday – Saturday
  • Name Your Price – Rent a car, hotel, or airfare through priceline.com where customers can name a price. Sometimes it can be 30% less expensive.
  • Pack the Snacks – If a road trip in the works, pack a cooler!!! No need to spend extra money on those high cost, high calorie snacks and fast food meals.
  • One Stop Shopping – Buy in bulk; get airfare, hotel, and car from one vendor.
  • Locals Know Best – Interact with the locals to learn the best restaurants and tours, where the prices won’t be spiked just for tourists.
  • Set the Plan and Open an Account – Plan for future trips: set financial intentions by opening up a separate savings account that is ONLY to be used for vacations. Set a plan for how much to spend each year on vacations and be sure to put aside an appropriate amount per paycheck that will allow for this later in the year.

Casserly explains further saying “It’s all about what free cash you have to be able to afford a vacation and about what is right for you and your family, there is no right or wrong, it’s about what you have chosen as your financial priorities and making sure that you create a positive energy flow from your spending (spending on a cash basis) and not a negative energy flow (spending with debt).”

About ChicagoHealers.com

Chicago Healers (www.ChicagoHealers.com) is the nation’s pioneer prescreened integrative health care network, offering a comprehensive understanding of each practitioner’s services, approach, and philosophy. Our holistic health experts teach and advocate natural and empowered health and life choices through their practices, the media, educational events, and our website. With close to 200 practitioners and over 300 treatment services, Chicago Healers has provided nearly 400 free educational events for Chicagoans and has been featured in 300+ TV news programs and print publications. For more information, visitwww.ChicagoHealers.com.

Fearing the Child by Judy Lyden

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A young child assaults mom with a push, a kick and a scream. He or she might even say, “I hate you!” and mom recoils in terror.

“I want it NOW! screams Verucca, and daddy shrinks into a jelly fish.
“Well, little Johnny doesn’t much like going to his room; he doesn’t like it when we say no; he doesn’t care for being in time out.” Uhhhhh…yeah…ummm he’s not supposed to like it.
Many children rule their perspective roosts. They lay down the rules for mom and and dad and keep them hopping through the hoops as fast as their little feet can hop and Johnny has a bull whip. It’s not real; it’s a verbal bull whip that has hot feisty tears attached and a scathing reproachful tongue to deliver those words that make some parents shake in fear. Little Johnny, by God, is going to get what little Johnny wants or somebody is going to pay.
And where does this inordinate chaos come from? It comes from the second and third years when mom and dad didn’t quite take hold of the child, and because they didn’t, the child took hold of them because, you know, someone had to, and it might as well have been little Johnny.
Many parents have no idea how to care for a toddler. Most can handle a baby, but after the first year when the walking begins, childcare all but falls to ruin in many homes. Children aren’t the same prisoners of their little bodies, and their minds are developing at such a rate, many inexperienced mothers just can’t stay one step ahead of the child.
Toddlers want to run, climb, roll…might as well put them into a room fully padded and say, “Have at it kid.” Holding, calming, soothing, talking sweetly to a kid who just wants to run is going to make two people very unhappy. Might as well just kid proof the house, block the stairs, and let the kid run. It won’t last forever. And get the child out EVERY day for a couple of hours at least. This running and climbing is natural and it’s supposed to be like this.
By age two, a child begins to need a LOT of structure. “No” becomes the vocabulary word of the year. This is the true mommy and me year. It’s a head to head all year. The child’s brain is working about as fast as a desert absorbing water after a quick rain. Take and show a two year old everything possible. He will not respond at first, but by the end of his two year old year, he will love his closeness with his parents, but the word “NO” is always in the background ready to structure and discipline, and every child needs the “NO” parameter.
This two year old year is the make or break year for the beast child. Children who set the agenda and take the power seat do so in this year. When parents refuse to take the reins – for whatever reason – and instruct a child, the child will lose all respect for the parent and begin to throw tantrums, order the parent around and refuse nearly anything the now disrespected parent tries to do.
Table training, toilet training, talking, dressing, building, listening, and manners are all accomplished in this two year old year. By age three, a child should be ready to learn in a group, and if the the first three years are handled properly by the parent, the child’s crossover to the preschool age should be a snap.
Why do parents let the child take the reins? Many parents make toddlers cry by refusing them the physical outlets that the child desires. A toddler has not learned to express himself, so he cries. It’s natural, but there are times when a toddler is so angry that he will blood curdling scream, and if the parent gives in once, the toddler has him in the guilty zone, and he’s his forever! Or so thinks the toddler. The next conflict the toddler will again curdle his own blood and screech even louder hoping the parent will give in. Every time the parent gives in, the toddler becomes more and more of the boss.
After months of giving in, the parent has lost control and just appeases the toddler until the child is two and adds words to his screeching and says, “I hate you.” At this point, the parent is so afraid to make the child unhappy, he runs after the child like Varucca Salt’s father in bitter fear that the child really does “hate” the parent.
As the child becomes three, the child with an intelligence is bored with his game and really wants a parent to exchange ideas with, to talk with and to respect. But the history is set in stone, and the child is lost without an adult in his life.
Many children end up rearing themselves.
Getting back the reins is hard. It takes a lot of work, but it’s the best work a parent will ever do. Working with a three year old is easier than working with a two year old because a three year old is tired of the game, and has more cognition than the two year old. It’s as if the three year old sees more than himself in the hand mirror.
Retrieving the reins means learning to say “NO” and mean it. That means there is no victim and there are no excuses. A parent is supposed to say “NO” and do it sometimes in a loud voice. It’s a safety issue. Somebody MUST be in charge, and it really shouldn’t be the child. The word “NO” can’t be over used to begin with. Tears are tears there are three types of tears, angry- no tears; sad – tears; hurt – tears. When there is noise but no tears, you can pretty much bet that the anger level is mountain high. It’s not time for the parent to assume the jelly fish position, it’s time for the child to isolate. “Go cry someplace where I can’t see or hear you.” This usually sends a tyrant into orbit, but it’s an orbit that can be spent alone…in the privacy of the tyrant’s room. And there can’t be a refusal to go because the parent is in charge…remember? Screaming is a weapon. Are you going to let someone attack you with the weapon of choice, or are you going to say, “NO!”
Yesterday on the bus, a six year old was screaming because he didn’t get his way. “You’re not going to do that because you don’t have any reason to do that. You’ve had a nice day. Quit now or it’s your last field trip.” Instant silence. Why? Because I have leverage. I have something the child wants, and his good behavior is going to get that while his poor behavior will lose it sure as the sun rises in the morning.
Every parent needs leverage against a tyrant and time alone usually is that leverage. It might take weeks to fight a battle of wills, but come on, do you really care if a “tyrant” is sitting all by him or her self? The more time alone, the more quiet there is in the house and the closer a parent is to taking back the control of the home.
Parents are supposed to be in control of the home, so suit up, grab the “NO” word and wait for the assailant. And remember, allowing a child to be a tyrant through the preschool years will only encourage them to be tyrannical as grade schoolers and then high school comes and the child is no longer manageable by parent, counselor or principal.

Wild and Wonderful World!

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Conservationists discover more than 1,000 species in New Guinea

Treasure trove of unknown varieties of animal, bird, fish, insect and plant have been identified in the forests and wetlands of the Pacific island over a period of just 10 years

    Wattled Smoky Honeyeater, Papua New Guinea

    Wattled Smoky Honeyeater (Melipotes carolae). Photograph: WWF

    A new type of tree kangaroo, a 2.5-metre-long river shark, a frog with vampire-like fangs and a turquoise lizard are among hundreds of new creatures found and being documented in a report by conservationists working in the Pacific island of New Guinea.

    Some 1,060 previously unknown species of mammals, fish and birds have been spotted in the volcanic island over a 10-year period.

    The Final Frontier report, which was put together by WWF as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, marks a brief respite from the escalating rate of animal and plant extinctions which is taking its toll across the planet and has left a quarter of all known mammals on the endangered list.

    The species have all been discovered, at a rate of two each week, in the period from 1998 to 2008 by the various teams and researchers who have visited the region and its extensive forests, waters and wetlands.

    One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

    Perhaps the most extraordinary freshwater discovery is the species of river shark which, given its size, has done well to evade discovery until now. The shy fish has been named the Glyphis garricki after the New Zealand zoologist Jack Garrick, who identified it. Because of its rarity it has immediately gone on to the endangered list.

    In the salt waters a snub-fin dolphin that comes in a delicate shade of pink was spotted in 2005 and, after much scientific measuring and debating, now qualifies as the first new dolphin species to be found in more than three decades.

    Dr Mark Wright, conservation science adviser at WWF, said the report was a fabulous reminder that “the world is full of fantastic and fantastical creatures, of quirky and improbable lifestyles. The more we look, the more we find”.

    But he said that species diversity was rich the world over. “Perhaps it is so commonplace we ignore it, or maybe we’ve forgotten how to look. Let’s take flies. Britain is home to more than 5,000 species of fly, and these are not everyone’s favourite, but flies represent 5,000 entirely different responses to life’s challenges.

    “For instance, the holly leaf miner, whose nondescript larvae cause leaf blotching at this time of year – their entire world is limited to that tiny strip between the top and bottom of a single leaf. Those same life processes that we go through – feeding, growing, breathing – are still acted out, but now crammed into a creature far smaller than a grain of rice.”

    New Guinea is in an area known as the “coral triangle”, a region with the most diverse marine eco-systems on Earth. In the 10-year period in question, 33 new fish species have been found in the waters around the island, including the damselfish, a strikingly brilliant blue wrasse and seven species of zig-zag rainbow fish, an 11cm-long creature which lives in shallow waters. In all, 218 new kinds of plants – including a flesh-like orchid, 43 reptiles and 12 mammals, 580 invertebrates, 134 amphibians, two birds and 71 fish have been found.

    “It is precisely that endless variety of form and function that enthrals me, but this exuberance of nature is under threat,” said Wright. “Despite the best efforts of groups like WWF, it is clear that we will not save all we would like to.

    “Forest will continue to be felled, rivers dammed and coastlines developed. And species will be erased. Some extinction is inevitable – a consequence of Darwin’s ‘natural selection’ – but humans are imposing intense pressures, leading to ‘unnatural selection’. Nature is struggling to cope, but we have the ability and power in our hands to forge a future in which the environment is truly valued – we must choose to do so.”

    New Guinea is the second largest island on Earth, after Greenland, and is divided between the countries of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It holds the third largest tract of rainforest in the world and is home to around 8% of the world’s species.

    But while its relatively low level of human population had protected its species, illegal logging is now projected to strip the island of half of its forest cover by 2020.

    ■ To support WWF’s anniversary report, writer and film-maker Stephen Poliakoff has made a short film which will include footage of some of the new species from New Guinea. Called Astonish Me, the film will be shown exclusively online by the Observer later this summer before being shown in Odeon cinemas as a short feature prelude to major films.

    Poliakoff said that his drama – which stars Bill Nighy – had been inspired by the new discoveries made in the natural world.

    “What astonishes me is there are so many animals out there we are seeing for the first time from the very colossal squid to the largest insect in the world discovered recently – it’s extraordinary in the 21st century that this is still going on. We think we know everything, but we don’t,” he said.

Teaching Tuesday…

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We don’t know who replied, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.
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Our 14-year-old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she passed away my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so, and she dictated these words:
Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.
Love, Meredith
We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, ‘To Meredith’ in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, ‘When a Pet Dies.’ Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:
Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help and I recognized her right away.
Abbey isn’t sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don’t need our bodies in heaven, I don’t have any pockets to keep your picture in so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I’m easy to find. I am wherever there is love.
Love,
God

The Selfish Child by Judy Lyden

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Last night I watched a movie in which a character called Mary – whose only purpose in life was to gush – mostly about herself – spewed the most unbelievable trivia about her own life. She took up everybody’s time with her me, me, me palaver. It was always about Mary. When the man she was interested in introduced her to his new girl friend, the selfishness took a new dimension and poured out of her in an incredible savagery grizzled like a string of shark teeth.

Mary is like a lot of people we know. The selfish, self centered people who always put themselves first, second, third, last and only and never realize how tedious they are.
These people are loathsome and you can write the scenario. You meet someone after a long absence and innocently say, “Hi, Sue! How have you been?” and the response is “Well, I’m…me…I…me…I…me…for five minutes straight with never even a thought about asking about you until you want to run and hide. Even when Sue asks about you, she doesn’t really want to hear a response, and when you try to get a foot in the conversational door, they don’t hear a world. It’s boorishness.
And it has a beginning. It begins with poor parenting at two. Most two year old children are the center of the their own world, and that world is the only world. If they could speak clearly, they would tell you so. The tyrannical two year old, the selfish child, begins to shape his or her personalities with either aggressive behavior or passive aggressive behavior. Stubbornness, refusal, entitlement, self regard all begin at two and it comes from parents who never see the child’s behavior as negative simply because they don’t see their own behavior which is parallel.
Many parents of selfish children have a high regard for themselves. It’s simple, they are better than other people; they are socially a cut above everyone else. In other words, they are snobs. Snobs model a behavior that will become the quest-point of a tyrant.
By three, a child who has taught himself to be stubborn, to refuse direction, who feels entitled to a host of extras and has a self regard that cuts himself off from the next child is headed down a really vacuous life road. Selfish children with an entitlement agenda who rarely give into others have trouble making friends. The desire to either push others around and bully or refuse friendship with a silent moroseness is a big red light to children of a less selfish bend.
Selfish children want not only their turn but everybody else’s turn and they can never seem to figure out why they can’t have all the turns. Or, similarly, they don’t want a turn at all because it would mean “slumming.” They may not be able to express themselves to this degree, but it’s there and it’s taking root.
As the child grows, life tasks are pushed onto others and the “excuse” becomes the golden rule tool. “I tried to help making the bed, but my mother made it over, so I’ll never make it again.” This statement has nothing to do with mother, and nothing to do with the task being poorly executed. It has to do with the selfish child finding an excuse never to lift her excellent finger to help anyone again. With children, with the less mature, with spoiled selfish people, we hear it all the time.
Envy, jealousy, anger are all attributes of the selfish child. Compassion, sympathy, mercy are not. A selfish child will not care if someone is hurt because they don’t care. They want to know how they fit into the equation, what they are going to get, what they are going to have to side step.
When something good happens to Jane, the selfish Jaxine is angry. Most likely, Jaxine will either refuse to acknowledge Jane’s success, or say little, or if at all possible, sabotage it. And Jaxine will undoubtedly tell Jane that her success is nothing at all compared to someone else she knows.
This behavior buds in the earliest classroom, playground and playroom play. You hear it all the time. When a child dresses up and looks like a little princess in dress up and gets her picture taken by the teacher, the selfish child will call her names and say, quite unabashedly that the dress is ugly, that the princess is not her friend.
The average child is thrilled with another child’s birthday because there is a sharing. It never occurs to him or her that it’s not his own birthday. The jealous child, Jaxine, however, is angry that it is not her birthday, and can’t even wish her friend happiness. She is angry and lets the day go buy without even so much as a kind word to her friend.
We all know people like this. We all have encountered people who behave like Jaxine.
And the problem with the selfish child is that he or she comes from parents who are just like him or her. Selfishness is bred. It is modeled by the elder for the younger. So fixing it is not going happen at home.
What do non-selfish people do with the selfish child? There is nothing a teacher can do to make a child or anyone else think or feel differently from what is inside that person. The only thing a teacher can do is to not allow the outward, uncaring, non-participatory behavior. By saying no to a child quite as a matter of fact will do more than anything else.

Monday’s Tattler

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Good Morning!

Another summer week at the Garden School. This week we will try to get three swim days in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Our long trips are over for the summer, and we will go to Boonville to the lake at Scales on Friday and on August 5, we will have our summer finale at Pounds Hollow Lake in Illinois with a hot dog and hamburger cookout.
It’s been a great summer, and the kids have seen so much. It’s time to begin to settle down as we near going to school and concentrate on getting as many children swimming as possible. We have six swim days left, and we want to make the most of it.
We would like to thank parents for all your support and care through this incredible summer. We could not have done it without you.
Miss Kara was so excited by the field trips, she has made that part of the Garden School curriculum her own and will be our field trip manager this fall. It looks like we will be doing a lot of travel!
Last week we tie dyed shirts and they turned out surprisingly well. There is one in particular that I am very fond of. I am thinking of changing the uniform shirt from the green ones to the tie dye ones with GS letters on the back. I am also thinking of a particular blue short to wear with the new shirt. Don’t worry…the cost is on me. Just noticed at the Science Museum that our shirts are hanging poorly and looking kind of eh…
This week on Thursday, I am trying a new recipe: lasagna cups. It’s made with a won ton and you make the lasagna in cup cake tins. Terry suggested that I make this at home first…lol.
Lots in the hopper…of course…we are the Garden School.

Sunday’s Plate from the Idaho Potato Commission

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Savory Stuffed Idaho® Spuds

Stuffed with fresh vegetables and lean turkey or ham, this delicious dish is a healthy, well-balanced meal packed into an Idaho® potato.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 large Idaho® Potatoes, baked
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets
  • 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup sliced green onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper
  • 1 cup fully-cooked lean turkey or lean ham (optional) diced
  • 1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
  • 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • Dash ground nutmeg

Directions

  1. In a 1-quart microwave-safe casserole dish, combine broccoli, mushrooms, green onion, red pepper and 2 teaspoons water. Micro-cook, covered, on HIGH for 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Drain well.
  2. Add the turkey or ham (if desired). Cook, covered, on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.
  3. Stir together yogurt, milk, cornstarch, mustard and nutmeg. Add to broccoli mixture. Cook covered on HIGH 2 to 4 minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring every 30 seconds.
  4. Spoon over hot potatoes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Estimated Nutritional Analysis per Serving:
349 cal, 1 g fat, 26 g protein, 59 g carbohydrate, 49 mg cholesterol, 164 mg sodium

Friday’s Tattler

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It was a brilliant trip to Mammoth Cave because it was cool all the way down. We had a good lunch and then took the cave tour. We were with 100 people, and our little guys had trouble keeping up. They were turning the lights out behind us as we went, and I think the kids were more intent on running to catch up than on touring. Next time…it’s a private school tour. Don’t care how much it costs.

The children were very very good on the bus, and I got to thinking that I think they have had enough long bus rides this summer. Next Friday, I think we will be going to Scales Lake and maybe a water park extravaganza if I can set it up.
The ride home was hot and sticky, but the kids were troopers. Gotta love a sleeping child on the bus.