MOXIE MOM on Life & Kids
District Budget Crunch
If you’ve been paying attention to the school district’s woes, you know we’re facing a major budget crunch, and the district is looking at all kinds of ways to save, large and small. It’s not going to be easy.
We have a little more time to make comments on the proposed budget, so if you’re a district parent and you haven’t taken time to review the plan, take the time now. Now is the time to voice your concerns. Bear in mind that this process wasn't easy and many folks put a lot of thought into it. Please be respectful.
Budget Savings Plan, click here.
Online Listening Board, click here.
leave a comment!Magazine Folds
If you’re a subscriber to Wondertime magazine and you received your March issue yesterday like I did, you just received the last issue of your subscription. In fact, I don’t know how long the above link will last because the website will be disappearing, too. Yep. And I don’t know if you’ll get a refund. I’m guessing not.
Apparently even Disney, the owner, isn’t immune to the economic woes. You can read more here. In fact, print magazines are on the chopping block. Not all of them, but here’s a list that are either gone or going.
So, if you ask me how I’m doing, I’m fine, but I’m quietly mourning the loss of a good publication. For its focus on funny. For its beautiful photos. For its willingness to tackle tricky topics (read this article on the birds and the bees by Catherine Newman before it disppears, too. Too dang funny for words.).
Perhaps most pertinently, for its willingness to work with me, a writer. I had three articles in the works, one of them done and just waiting for a spring issue. Now those articles will never see the light of day, at least in the way they were envisioned.
But more than my own accomplishments, I’m sorry that so many good people were given the ax, and I can only imagine the shock when the magazine’s staff was given the word. I know it was sudden because it was sudden for me, too, working as I was to meet an upcoming deadline.
Tough times out there…
1 commentFlooding Fun
With school closed yesterday (and again today), we are at a bit of a loss. I mean, what is there to do when it’s just raining outside? No sledding to be had. Plus, I have to actually work.
Well, here’s what we did after the kids got all their homework done for the week. This is Squalicum Parkway. Impressive, eh? Check out the Bellingham Herald photos if you haven’t yet. 
So, what to do today? Hum de dum.
2 commentsSummer Painting Project
So, here’s a way to get your kid’s bedroom cleaned up: let her paint a wall after she cleans it. And we came up with this even before Randy Pausch died on July 25. In case you don’t know, he was a computer-science professer at Carnegie Mellon University with pancreatic cancer who advocated, among other things, letting your kids paint their bedroom walls. I didn’t find this out till after he died and after painting the wall. And all at once, the wall feels bigger now than a mere painting project. It feels like a tribute. 
Leah was so stoked about the idea, she spent a whole day—and I’m not kidding—going through her stuff and putting it away or sorting it into one of three bags: recycle, toss, give away. Suddenly we could see the floor. And she admitted she actually liked it that way. Till now, she’s always maintained she prefers her room “messy” (read: disaster zone). I’m telling you, Randy (is that too familiar?) must have been onto something with the bedroom painting.
We went to the paint store and she chose all shades of blue swatches, and when we got home she taped them up on the wall and studied them for a day. She settled on a deep cobalt. “I want to paint polka dots on top,” she said. Polka dots? Right away I was wondering about the work involved, the days of drying time, but she had it all figured out. “We’ll sponge them on. It won’t take long.” Martha Stewart would be proud.
Two days later, her wall was blue. We traced chalk circles around a plate, and we sponged lime green, white, and turquoise polka dots. (The latter two from our basement stash.) After the paint was dry, we wiped off the chalk marks, and she had textured polka dots that remind us of snowballs.
She loves it. It did turn out well, I must say. We made a good team. Me, the work horse, Leah, the visionary. Best of all, she has become room-proud and doesn’t let clutter build up (which, now that I know about Randy, kind of pales as the point).
Ty is inspired and is asking when we can paint his room in polka dots. All the walls, not just one. I’m still waiting for him to start tidying the clutter. But we may do it anyway just to honor Randy’s memory.
leave a comment!Nature Play
I was informed recently that I am the only mom Ty knows who doesn’t allow her child to play teen-rated computer games (he's eight, for Pete's sake). Teen, huh? Somehow I doubt that, but so be it if it’s true. (He must have known his argument would go nowhere because he hasn’t bothered to broach the subject again.)
I haven’t told him, but I really think we’d be better off with no computer games at all. In this day and age, though, cutting off the compute games is like taking away the telephone—in other words, it’s a fact of life for most families. And unfortunately, I went down that road awhile back, though I’ve drawn the line at video games and the now ubiquitous Wii.
But I’m currently reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, a compelling examination of what happens to our children when they don’t get outside enough. And not just outside, but outside in natural settings, the likes of which our urban (and suburban) kids don’t have ready access to anymore. Not because it’s not there—at least in Bellingham—but because we won’t let them go there on their own.
According to Louv, our kids are suffering because of it, both physically and mentally. We all know childhood obesity and diabetes are at an all-time high, but Louv also argues that our kids aren’t doing as well emotionally. Nature, he says, inspires wonder, creativity, and open-ended play. Organized sports aren’t a substitute because, well, they’re organized. And yes, they get kids moving, but only for a prescribed amount of time.
I also just learned about Green Hour, founded by the National Wildlife Federation. Green Hour promotes the idea that we need to get our kids outside for an hour a day, preferably more. I am both heartened and depressed by the concept. Heartened because promoting unstructured outdoor play can only be a good thing. Depressed because I think it’s sad that we have to prescribe it. When I was growing up, being outdoors was just part of my day, and getting from point A to B on my own initiative, whether I walked or biked, was part of being a kid.
But besides being too structured these days, we also live in a culture of fear. We know too much about scary crimes against children, even if they occur five states away. I’ve heard it said that statistically we are no worse off, crime-wise, than we were in the 70s when most of us parents were kids.
And yet while I'd love to let my kids go play alone in a creek, I can't quite let them. I do know too much about toxic waste and I've seen too many homeless camps. But I’m thinking a lot about nature these days and how to get my kids in it more often. Green Hour gives you a list of items to take along to make the most of your time (magnifying glass, bird guide, etc.) and also lists hazards, such as snakes, bugs, and heat, to prepare for, depending on where you live. Personally, I don’t plan to give it too much thought. That’s the whole point.
