DadTalk

Learning to Teach

There are times – generally 24-7 – when I struggle with being the ideal parent. I’m never satisfied that I’m doing a good job, but at least I’ve learned enough to keep my obsessive-ness to myself and away from my children as much as possible.

One of the things I’ve learned – in particular by reading Philip at Blue Sloth and recalling my days of teaching technology in the newsroom – is that incremental education seems to work best. What I have observed is this: when adults start something new, we learn a lot, amazingly fast or we fail to get it at all.

But those who “get it” quickly often fall into a few traps: 1. We decide the object of learning is too easy and become bored or cocky. 2. We become overconfident and stop trying as hard in subsequent lessons. 3. Students who are accustomed to easy learning sometimes give up when the subject matter gets more difficult and frustrating.

When students don’t get the subject material at all, the traps are even more ugly. 1. I’ve seen students get so frustrated or upset they can’t think. 2. Others give up because they erroneously judge themselves stupid.

In all the above traps, resistance to the activity builds. You have to really nudge the kids back onto the playing field or to pick up a drawing pencil again. (It’s even harder with adults.)

The Ugly Truth About School Lunches

This year, I decided to make all my kids’ lunches for school. After being appalled by the choices offered to Seth last year, I decided it was better to give my kids a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich than to spend money on the endless junk food offered by the school.

In all fairness, the menus at Seth and Lael’s school are fairly conventional: pizza and burgers with vegetables or fruit. But I worried that the ingredients within those foods contained high fructose corn syrup, refined flours, low-quality cheese and low-quality meat.

Still, you probably wonder every day if it’s worth rushing around each morning to make lunch for the kids. Or perhaps you wonder if it’s worth making the leap.

Well, wonder no longer: Ed Bruske, who writes for Grist, spent a week at his daughter’s Washington, D.C., school discovering how lunches are prepared. The meals at this school are called “fresh cooked.” In other words, the food is made somewhere else and then warmed up at the school.

So far, only four installments have been posted, but they are a very compelling read:

• Tales from a D.C. school kitchen: What does 'fresh-cooked' really mean?
• Tales from a D.C. school kitchen: How foods that don't occur in nature end up on your kid's plate 
• Tales from a D.C. school kitchen: What kids will do to avoid vegetables
• Tales from a D.C. school kitchen: Hold the fat and please pass the sugar

Finalist in Knight News Challenge

This week I was surprised to learn that I’m a finalist in the Knight News Challenge. My proposal was a sort of editing tool that could work on a variety of website platforms.

I truly was surprised. Like many journalists, my self-confidence has been deeply impacted as the industry sinks deeper and deeper into financial ruin.

From here, I have to fill out a longer application form by the end of the month. To be honest, I’m very nervous about this whole thing, which makes it hard to concentrate.

Still, I hope to make a good run at the finals. Here’s hoping.

Recalls What New Dangerous Metal Will Supplant Cadmium, Lead?

With the Consumer Product Safety Commission telling parents to essentially toss – in a safe manner! – all that cheap jewelry your kids have acquired, the question becomes: what dangerous new metal will replace lead and cadmium?

As you probably heard, the toxic metal cadmium was recently found in some jewelry by The Associated Press. The CPSC, still behind the curve, is investigating.

Cadmium can cause pulmonary failure, cancer, kidney damage, anemia and discoloration of teeth, according to OSHA. It can also cause brain development problems in children, reports The Associated Press.

One of the tested items was 91 percent cadmium by weight. Twelve items that contained at least 10 percent cadmium were sold by Walmart, Claire’s and a dollar sore. The first two stores promised to stop selling the contaminated jewelry, but expect a new rash of recalls as the CPSC gears up its testing arm.

Of course, it’s unlikely the CPSC will ever get a handle on all the contaminated jewelry already in the hands of children. Even if the U.S. finds a way to crack down on cadmium, it seems likely that Chinese manufacturers will find new, dangerous ways to keep jewelry inexpensive.

Just as an example: the most common metal – and one of the cheapest – in the Earth’s crust is shiny, malleable aluminum. While not as toxic as lead and cadmium, it still can cause brain and skeletal problems if ingested by children, according to Wikipedia.

While it’s a bad idea to ingest most metals, some are worse than others. Plus some combinations, seem to be safer than others.

Still, I have little doubt that some new dangerous metal will show up on the market before long.

Real Snow Day

The kids have been pestering me to take them sledding for over a year. We didn’t make the 2½ hour drive past Flagstaff last year for a variety of reasons.

This year was different. I planned well in advance. Lael got new boots and decided she could wear her winter clothes one last year. The kids were so excited that for two days, they played dress up in their winter clothes despite Scottsdale’s near balmy weather.

Our neighbors were supposed to join us, but they bailed at the last minute. Needless to say by the pictures, WE made it up to the Wing Mountain sledding area.

The hill sizes were perfect. For almost three hours, the kids got their fill of sledding. By the end, they were cold and miserable – temperatures were in the 20s accompanied by a strong wind – just as it should be when you go sledding.

Don’t worry, I had plenty of hot chocolate in the car. The kids really liked that.

We left just in time: a half mile of cars were waiting to get in even though a fairly significant snowstorm was making the steep mountain roads treacherous.

We were home by early evening. I then crashed with my usual altitude headache, but happy that my kids had fun.

Pretend Snow Day

I know, I know, I’ve barely been blogging. I guess after 5½ years, I’ve finally begun to burn out; at least it took me a while to get there. Doesn’t help that my audience has shrunk considerably and I’m constantly trying to revive my career.

On the other hand, I get to volunteer at Lael’s school. In this picture from the last day of last semester, Lael plays in pretend snow (packing peanuts) after her teacher turned the entire classroom into a winter wonderland.

I presume my Midwestern relatives do not relate to this.

Overheard ‘Mom, You Smell Funny’

My wife comes out of our daughter’s bedroom after trying to put her to sleep. “Lael says I smell funny. Do I?”

I get up from my computer. “No, you smell pretty good to me,” as I give her a playful sniff and a hug. That elicits a laugh.

“Good, would you tell her I don’t smell?”

I walk into Lael’s room. “Daddy, mom smells funny.”

“No she doesn’t. Now let’s go to sleep so we can go to the Children’s Museum tomorrow.” I explain that the Children’s Museum is kind of like a big, indoor playground.

When it comes to smells, I probably should explain. You see, I have fairly extraordinary abilities; I have one of those noses that you commonly find on those New Yorker political cartoons. (Sadly, David Levine died last week.)

Cybils Announces Finalists

Let’s start the new year with a positive, shall we? Over on my wife’s site, discover the best children’s books of the year.

The books are divided into 10 categories this go around. Bloggers – most of whom are authors, reviewers and librarians – have been reading hundreds of books to determine the best of the best.

Here are the finalists by category:

• Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
• Fiction Picture Books
• Graphic Novels
• Middle Grade Fiction
• Non-Fiction Middle Grade/YA
• Non-Fiction Picture Books
• Poetry
• Young Adult Fiction

The winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day.