What am I going to do about 'Socialization'?!?!

What if my kids can't deal with other kids...

Now that's a lunch table!

or learn to be part of a group....

or make friends....

engage easily with adults....

learn to be gentle and patient with little kids....

have only us as their teachers...

or they only want to play with kids the same age and gender?


Stratego for all.



8-16 playing a beach game of "Ninja"

Silly me. What was I thinking?

The Family that plays together....

stays together! :)

Go ahead, wiggle your way into their worlds - ask them to teach you how to play Yu-Gi-Oh, have an all-out, all-family Wii battle, learn to play Super Mario Smash, watch them play LOTRO for a while (or get your own account), put on a pair of roller blades, read a long book aloud together (and then another!) We just finished this, and now we are on to this. This is next.

Get into something they love. Kids' interests are often marginalized by adults as silly. It's relationship-building to forge some common interests and participate together.

Dennis and the boys bond through hockey, scouts and online gaming.

The shared interest is genuine and makes them all excited. I need to be more deliberate, because I can get swept up in the tasks of the day. Putting on a movie for them is not the same as watching a movie with them (I can still fold laundry and watch!). We watched Ponyo the other day and it gave us lots of chances for ongoing conversation. Origami, bird watching, or hiking - it really doesn't matter - it's the "with" that counts.

Tell me what you are doing *WITH* your kids this summer. How about a project like this?

48 - Explode a Bottle in the Freezer

50 Dangerous Things (you should let your kids do)

The excercise called for filling a glass bottle, without air, and putting it in the freezer. The boys predicted what would happen, and the book proivded us neat information on why. We just didn't predict it would happen with such penache.

We did more than one bottle. All around, it was interesting results.

Dangerous? Surprisingly so! I had Gavin put a dish towel over the bottle in the freezer as the book warned of shards of glass. There was a great deal of popping and cracking, especially when we took it out of the freezer. Neat.

Some Beach

Those of you who know me well, know that I will drop just about anything for a beach day. I try to get there early in the season and late in the season, early in the day, and late in the day. It is the cure for all that ails you - I promise! There is nothing wrong that the ocean can't sort out for you.

See those rays out of light streaming down through the clouds - curative properties for sure. If you really can't get to the ocean, a lovely lake can suffice until you can make your way to the coastal ends of the country. I can attest to the effectiveness of that also.

I know, you think it's hard to schlep the kids on and off the beach, not to mention the organizing, packing up, and driving. But, I guarantee that it will be worth each little grain of sand that ends up in your car and other unspeakable crevices :)

19 - Climb on the Roof

50 Dangerous Things (you should let your kids do)

The kids and I discussed how to safely do this and I trusted them all to do it. Gever Tulley is very clear in his book - and at his school, The Tinkering School, that skills are taught and that kids are given particular priviledges as long as they don't hurt themselves or others. If I had any doubt that any of the kids didn't get what was expected, they would not have been up there.

It is was exciting and they sure looked super-cute way up high!

Dangerous? Definately, but the controlled type. They loved looking at these pictures.