Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in houston, TX

Healthy (and fast and easy) breakfast ideas for back to school days

August 10, 2009

Back to school, back to the daily routine, back to hurried mornings and the rush to beat the clock and make the schedule...it's just around the corner. As much as we welcome the return of school and routines, it's a transition time that can present challenges. Even if your preschooler only attends a part-time program a couple or so days a week, it's worth it to have some great time saving tricks and ideas up your sleeve to make any "Go Morning" that much less complicated.

One of the best and most important start you and your kids can have to the day is a healthy breakfast. There are plenty of fast breakfast products on the market -- from toaster pastries to cereal bars that claim to have milk in them already! The idea seems to be eat on the run. Unfortunately, fast food designed for on the run often isn't very healthy or tends to include a lot of sugar.

In our family, we think meals are pretty important -- important enough to sit down for rather than do on the run as often as possible. We find a healthy breakfast gives us that necessary time to finish waking our minds and bodies before the rush to get ready and leave. Plus, with this healthy start, the kids and I tend to get so much more from our day (and give much more to it, too).

The last thing we tend to have time for in the morning, though, are complicated meals. It makes it very tempting to grab that fast food. But there are some healthy alternatives!

Recently, at TheMotherhood.com, during a chat, we began discussing favorite tips and tricks for healthy but speedy breakfasts. Here are a few of those best quick and easy healthy breakfast recipe ideas:

Mom Beenie said, "We've been digging on vanilla yogurt with berries, granola and nuts mixed in. Current fave mix is blueberries/almonds/Kashi."

Kashi is a nice brand for healthy yet quick foods. Their cereals, frozen waffles, pizzas, and so forth tend to be whole grain, organic, and high in protein but low in sugar. Creativity aside, some days it's just yogurt and cereal here. We do like the high-protein granola sorts because they seem to last longer in the belly. Other times it's frozen waffles. I like the Kashi brand or the Van's gluten-free. I add peanut butter on top, and the kids like grape jam sometimes or honey on the side to dip. Now and again they'll let me add bananas on top of the peanut butter.

Mom Velma suggested, "Breakfast pizzas! English muffins with pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella, done in the toaster oven in a minute or two. My kids LOVE telling people they had "pizza for breakfast!"

That's a fantastic idea from Velma. Kids like checking boundaries,and this is a fun one to play with: dinner foods for breakfast and breakfast foods for dinner. If you think about it, some days it makes a lot of sense to have a hearty yet healthy meal at the beginning of the day and a smaller, lighter meal at the end. Imagine how soothing and enjoyable, for example, a bowl of warm oatmeal might be on a winter's evening. On the flip side, imagine how much energy and vitality you'll have from a hearty English muffic pizza for breakfast. Also try making it with mini-bagels!

I also suggest quick "crepes." On the weekend, use Bisquick to make a batch of "crepes." Use these proportions: 2 cups bisquick 1 1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs. Cook in a pan like pancakes. Then refrigerate or freeze. At breakfast time, pull them out, microwave about 1 minute, then stuff with cream cheese and orange slices! Fruit is wonderful for the body in the morning and oranges will provide a good dose of Vitamin C to help with those back to school and fall viruses.

Freezing or refrigerating is something you can do with a lot of food. You don't need to make it fresh every day. Make a batch of homemade on the weekend, and store for the week. You can even freeze eggs, such as for breakfast tacos, which proved a very popular breakfast choice by many moms!

I love breakfast tacos: scrambled eggs with a 'secret veggie' (usually tomato and squash or zucchini, or maybe spinach), cheese, and black beans in a whole grain tortilla. I can make a batch and refrigerate or freeze them, then reheat in the morning!

Be creative, plan in advance, and take inspiration from teh fast food and freezer aisles of the grocery store. You can make most of these fast food items at home in healthier (and cheaper) ways, and store them for use all week long.

Also, cooking in advance means you aren't preparing meals during the big morning hurry, so you can even involve the kids in the cooking.

Happy eating!

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4 Fab Houston Spots for Parents to Work While Kids Play

June 09, 2009

Working at home with kids can work when you create a good routine, but even so, every now and again you need to break out of the routine, shake off the home dust, and try a new thing. We all benefit from a change in scenery (and dynamic!).

It's hard to think or know where you can go to work and entertain kids, but as a full-time work at home parent, I've found a few good spots, and I'm glad to share those with you. They vary quite bit, but offer a good selection and eclectic choices.

Fun Places and Play Places (where kids can run, play and be loud while you work!)

Example: SpaceCenter Houston! There's a huge play structure that kids love, from the padded ball area for the littlest ones to huge climbing areas for older kids. SpaceCenter Houston does offer wi-fi (I called and verified) but there is no plug available so make sure your laptop is fully charged! There's also a food court, so you can take a food break. We can go for quite a while at the Space Center.

Example: McDonalds! I used to avoid McDonalds---calories, fast food, and high-priced wi-fi. But, now McDonalds has partnered with a number of carriers, and I can log in using my SBC Global address for free! There are usually friends we know at the local McDonalds, or at least nice kids, so the children play and I write or edit, as need be. I can usually eke out a couple of hours, if I schedule it around lunch time.

Example: YMCA! The downtown location offers wi-fi and is covered by the free Houston downtown wi-fi, too. According to some moms, many local YMCAs offer wi-fi and kid activities. Check with yours and see what you can do. You may need a membership.

Quiet Places (where kids can be entertained, but more quietly)

Example: Local library! Local libraries offer free Internet access. Find out when storytimes are, and work around those. My library has rooms like study rooms. I like to use those because then we are sort of in our own bubble. I can borrow books for the kids and bring a few toys or coloring books, too. Our "breaks" can incorporate story times or just a change of scenery.

Example: Coffee shops! To be competitive with big chains, I find a lot of mom and pop coffee houses offer a very "den-like" atmosphere. Near me is the Coffee Oasis, which offers free high-speed wi-fi, a fax machine, a copy machine, and good sandwiches and fresh pastries (coffee and tea, of course, too, among other great drinks). It also has book shelves with books, games, and a cute little room with a kids' table. They also have a meeting room I can use if it's not booked up. A quick scan of Houston area coffee shops shows most offer good spaces and free wifi.

Eat, drink, work and be merry

A number of kid-friendly restaurants offer free wi-fi, good food, and space to hang out. I've had a meeting (with kids) at Berryhill's. Unfortunately, the favorite Lupe Tortillas doesn't offer wi-fi, but f you have a connection card, you could probably make it work. Birraporetti's, with those lovely big booths, also offers free wi-fi.

Find The Zone

The city of Houston offers free wi-fi coverage throughout downtown. This covers a number of family friendly and work-friendly places, including parks, Bayou Place, libraries, the downtown YMCA, and more---anything central within the coverage area. You can see a map of downtown Houston covered by free wi-fi and get more information at the Houston wi-fi Web site.

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Explaining work and work demands to kids

May 11, 2009

For Mother's Day, my kids delivered a heap of wonderful, handmade presents. In addition to beaded necklace and earrings, countless drawings and sweet notes, my older daughter made a little "book" in which she told a story about me.

Usually, we tell our children stories, typically about made up characters or baby stories about themselves. Until I sat and read what my daughter thought of me, I hadn't paused to wonder how she perceived the things I do. After each prompt on the page, my daughter answered (correctly) that I like chocolate best, enjoy singing in the car, and give her and her sister cuddles every day. The last was most important to her. But when it came to the meal I make best, she'd scratched out "cooked" and replaced it with "gets." Even harder to read was that I dislike working at the computer. I wasn't sure that I had conveyed that, and I wasn't sure whether it was really me she meant, or herself.

Sometimes it's hard to be a working parent, especially one who works from home. The children leave to go to school, as does their father, but I stay home, and work from here most of the time. The purpose of this is that my career can be done remotely, and because we both wanted to make sure there was a primary parent available for the kids.

So how do I explain to my children that home is also a workplace for me, and how do I explain my complicated job to them? How does any parent explain, especially when dealing with a child's resentment of how the work intrudes on what a child wants from a parent?

I've explained to my kids that I'm a writer and editor. This is a pretty easy job to explain. Kids understand some people write, and they understand that someone will always "grade" what other people write. I can also show them books I've co-written and also books I've edited, and the pieces of building a book. I've even published a children's book, so there's actually something I did that is interesting to them, with nice picture as well! My husband is an architect. That's an even easier job to explain. He has shown them how he thinks about designing buildings using legos and blocks, and they've gotten to tour buildings he's worked on.

Handling their frustration and disappointment when work "steals" us from them is harder, but I find the key is following through on my promises. What my kids usually want is my time and attention, so if I promise that at a specific time we'll do a specific thing, and then follow-through, it usually keeps the balance in place, and builds their trust that even though mom is working now, she'll play a game later.

How do you explain jobs and work to your kids? And how do you handle that work-demand and child-demand conflict?

 

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List of Resources for "tough stuff" topics, families, kids

May 05, 2009

National Resources:

Autism Society of America 

Family Communications -- founded in 1971 by Fred Rogers, "Mister Rogers," this organizations Web site is full of great tips and ideas for parents tackling "tough stuff" questions and issues with young children. From divorce to diversity, environment to tragic events in the news, divorce, death and more...this site is a very helpful resource, geared towards preschoolers.

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224 and Web site.

Poison Control 1-800-222-1222

Local Resources:

Psychology Today offers a guide to local family and pediatric counselors.

Advocacy Inc

Alliance for Multicultural Community Services - 

American Red Cross

The Arc of Greater Houston - Houston, Texas - support, activities, for families, individuals with mental retardation -

Association for Developmental Disabilitie

Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA)

The Autism Society of Houston

Avance Inc.

Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol - Houston, Texas - assessments/evaluations, counseling, education, information and referral

Benji's Special Education Academy Inc. - Houston, Texas - equipment, speech-hearing-language diagnosis and therapy -

Big Brothers and Sisters of Greater Houston - volunteer counseling for dependent/neglected, learning disability, and other health impairment

Bilingual Education Institute

Casa de Esperanza -- a safe place for children in crisis due to abuse, neglect or the effects of HIV.

The Center for Creative Resources - Houston, Texas - parent/family counseling, psychiatric diagnosis, psychological counseling, psychological diagnosis, psychotherapy, social/recreational for ED and substance abuse -

Center for Hearing and Speech - Houston, Texas speech clinic, educational program, before and after school care, hearing and vision screenings, speech/hearing/language evaluations -

Council for Exceptional Children

Covenant House

Crisis Intervention Center of Houston Inc.

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Houston, Texas - information and referral

The Down Syndrome Association of Houston - Houston, Texas - advocacy, informational and referral, parent training and education, social/recreational

Easter Seals Unlimited Potential Program

Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Texas - Houston, Texas - support groups, social activities, Camp Spike and Wave, Kids on the Block puppet show, parent and community education, camp Kaleidoscope

Family to Family Network

Harris County Children's Protective Services - Houston, Texas - investigation, medical and psychological rehabilitation treatment, residential care

Harris County Department of Education - Houston, Texas - adaptive behavior centers, occupational/physical therapy services, psychological services

Harris County Health Department - Harris County, Texas - medical diagnosis, occupational therapy, parent/family counseling.

Hear-Say for Hearing Impaired - Houston - hearing aid bank, in-service training, oral interpreters, message relay (TDD), outreach services to elderly, information and referral, hearing screening, lip reading classes, workshops, socials

Hermann Children's Hospital - child life, general medical/surgical services, occupational therapy, patient/family education, physical therapy, speech therapy, total diagnosis -

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Handling tough times and topics with young kids

May 04, 2009

Swine flu. It's on the news, in conversation, everywhere. Schools had to bring it up to explain why it's so important to wash hands and use hand sanitizer. So there was no way my daughters would miss it.

My older daughter is a bit of a worrier, but my younger one lets these things bypass her, on the whole. Every now and again, though, she seems fine, until suddenly she isn't, such as afraid to go to bed and we have to talk her worries out of her.

Despite our best efforts to protect them, children do catch wind of scary and bad events, and whether it's health, such as swine flu, or weather, such as a hurricane, or a family member's divorce, or anything else worrisome, it's important as parents to decide the best way to handle it.

For me this means having some tips in my back pocket, and evaluating which ones to pull out. I'll share a few personal stories and advice I've gotten from trusted experts to demonstrate what helps our family.

1. Do you need to tell the whole truth? Or will a reassurance do?

Swine flu is largely out of our control, as are acts of nature such as hurricanes. Nevertheless, both have been a part of our lives in the last year. A little over six months ago, we had to evacuate our family for weeks when a huge hurricane struck directly at our town. Our home suffered damage, and some homes in our neighborhood were destroyed completely. For months, the landscape of our town looked different as debris littered the water and roads, collapsed houses were abandoned, and large government and disaster relief trucks were everywhere.

This was a time for the whole truth. I admitted a hurricane hit our town, and had possibly damaged our house. My seven year old wanted to go to the house to see, but the four year old did not.It reassured our seven year old to see her home and things still there, albeit damaged, and we talked about buying wood, hiring helpers, and rebuilding the portion of our house that was damaged. It helped her to work on a plan to get things back to safe and normal. But she had to see for herself. My four year old was satisfied to see a picture I took of the house to know it was there, and mostly okay. She needed little reassurance other than a promise that we were fixing the house and everything would be fine.

In that case, we were living through the tough times, being directly affected by it. It wasn't a "thing out there that was happening" it was a "thing that was happening to us." In that case, I needed to be open with my children with the hope that if they had questions or concerns, they would tell me.

Swine flu isn't happening to us, but it is out there around us, and my children have heard about it. They've also asked about it. In this case, I erred on the side of "protecting them." In my opinion, there is no need for them to know that is has been serious sometimes and some people have died. based on their personalities and young ages, this is beyond their ability to handle, other than by just getting very scared.

So on this topic, I took a reassuring tack. "Swine flu is a flu, but it's contagious like any kind of sick, so let's just be careful to wash hands and not share drinks and not put hands or toys in mouths, okay?"

My older daughter wanted to know what happened if you got swine flu.

"You feel really sick, with a fever, snotty nose, sore throat, coughing, yuck, who wants to get sick that way? So let's just be careful and try to not get sick," I explained, and asked if they wanted to know anything else.

My younger daughter wanted to know if you had to go to the doctor and get a shot. I told her maybe, if you got sick.

"I'll wash my hands and not put them in my mouth, Mommy!" she promised.

I assured them it was going to be okay, and we were healthy people who were taking care.

At this point, swine flu is something they know about but aren't worrying about personally. That's what I hoped.

2. What is it that the children really want to know and need to hear?

One time my daughter asked about how babies are made. I nearly launched into a technical explanation well beyond my daughter's age-level (3). Then, luckily, I remembered some great advice a fellow mom gave me, "When it's a tough topic, try answering a question with a question, like, 'Why do you want to know?' or 'What do you want to know about specifically?'"

As it turned out, all my daughter needed was to know if babies came from people or clay. "People," I told her, 'Anything else?" "Nope," she said, happily, and skipped off.

I'm fortunate in my friends, especially when they are Devra Renner, MSW and Aviva Pflock, certified parent educator and child development specialist. These wonderful ladies are Parenting Consultants providing training and consultation services for families and organizations all around the world. They run a great Web site and blog at Parentopia, and also published a fantastic book titled Mommy Guilt.

A while back, Devra wisely wrote:

"But before you begin a conversation, do consider "Is this a conversation we need to have now? Later? Never? Soon?" and "Is this a one shot convo, or will I need to revisit this more as my offspring get older?" Often parents get worked up about "missing" a teachable moment. For most of us, we've got years of parenting ahead of us, and many opportunities to talk with our kids! Talking about our values, ideas and principles isn't always easy, but it may help you to relax a bit about it when you consider these conversations as ongoing and not just one time events during the course of your parenthood."

It's so true, often we over-answer our kids, or miss what it is they are really seeking. This advice is spot-on, whether it's about values or tough topics.

In general, with my children, I find that whether it's a news type story, such as swine flu, or something that happened to someone we know, such as divorce or a car accident, their main concern is always, "Will this happen to us?"

I don't feel comfortable making any guarantees about things I can't control---such as car accidents or diseases---so on that count, I offer reassurances that our family is taking care and we will be okay. On things I can control---such as divorce or moving---I reassure the children that we are sticking together and Daddy and I are not divorcing or moving.

3. Having the conversation, ending it, and keeping the lines open---how do I do that?

To reiterate, in general, children want to understand a tough topic as it relates to them. So how do you explain without making your child think it will happen to him or her?

Devra advises:

"When children are trying to wrap their brains around something difficult, it may be easier for them to understand if they can be told of story from your own life, or that of someone else they have heard about or know, which relates to the situation. Keeping the story age appropriate and including familiar person, place or thing may make the concept less scary, less overwhelming, etc."

I agree with that completely, and often include a reassurance, by pointing out how I got through the hard event or am okay now.

It's easy to make a hard talk too much for a child, so I try to keep my sentences short, and encourage my child to participate, whether it's to add her thoughts, to ask a question for clarification, or to tell me she's had enough.

Devra also wrote:

"The key is to keep the conversation open, honest, age appropriate and infuse humor whenever possible. And when any one's had enough talk on a topic? Keep things open ended by offering "We can talk about it more later" and be agreeable that either person can bring it up again in the future."

That's the most important thing to me: letting my kids know they can talk to me about anything that concerns them, even if we need to talk about it more than once.

But I can also tell when my older daughter is starting to obsess about an issue. At that point, I cut off the flow of details and information, and resort to reassurance, and redirection.

My children don't live in the dark (or in a vacuum) and they've certainly had to deal with some tough topics, but with some help from friends, and great advice from professionals, we've managed to handle the tough topics tactfully. This way, the children get to talk, get the information and reassurance they need, and move on.

 

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Getting to Know You: Houston Parent Bloggers

by Rachel Mosteller

July 21, 2008

I've always felt there's never been a huge parent blogging community in Houston. I figured it was because, well, I live in the suburbs and just didn't know anyone. Knowing your own local bloggers is a great way to meet people who have children the same age as your's and to just feel part of a larger community. So, I set out to find several parent bloggers that we could all relate to and say  Read more...