I was that kid, that flower munching, rock collecting kid. I spent hours trying to dam up our frog pond and fed my sisters goutweed root, thinking it was Queen Anne’s Lace (oops). Now I want the rocks to stay put for drainage, weeds to stay out of the lawn, and slugs and snails to stop eating the garden.
Hello from North Haven! My daughter Penrose turns three on Sunday. When she was born I imagined her growing up in cargo pants and overalls, t-shirts and jeans. I’d describe my own style as comfortable low-femme – I’m happiest with bare feet wearing something loose and cottony – but of course my female offspring wants to […]
One minute you’re on the list to go backstage at the Imperial Theater, the next you’re muttering in frustration at a sobbing almost-three-year-old as her boots fall off and her package of oyster crackers is lost to the seagulls.
Secular Easter is a little bit of a mystery to me – my own Four Questions go something like “Why on this day do we hide eggs? Why on this day do we take pictures with a terrifying giant rabbit? Why on this day do we allow our children to eat candy before noon? Why on this day do we eat a lot of jellybeans?” – but it’s hard to find fault with a bunch of kids in cute clothes running around outside.
Getting kids outdoors for unstructured play has quantifiable benefits as far as attention and resilience, but it seems to be frought with controversy.
When Penrose started running laps around the house Sunday morning yelling “I WANT FRY! I WANT FRY!” (your guess is as good as mine as to what that even means), we figured we’d better get her outside while the warm weather lasted.
This is my twelfth Knowledge Fair at North Haven Community School, and one of the best, in my opinion.
While it would have been easier to leave Pen with a babysitter (heads up, North Haven teens – you would make a killing setting up some sort of play time during town meeting), I wanted her to see the nitty gritty work that makes a town function.
While it’s efficient to heat and easy to clean, adding my daughter into the situation means we’ve had to think creatively about how to accommodate her needs and stay sane in a small space.
Hello from North Haven! My daughter Penrose and I were outside enjoying the unseasonally warm weekend, climbing around on the sticky piles of snow heaped around the house from shoveling and plowing, when a spot of red caught her eye. “Look Mom,” she called from across the front yard. “I found a ladybug!” She was […]
In addition to this blog, I'm a contributing writer to kveller.com, a Jewish parenting site, a blogger and book reviewer for reformjudaism.org, and the author of Salt Water Cure, a column in Working Waterfront. I report news from North Haven for Working Waterfront and Island Journal, and was a speaker at the Maine Conference for Jewish Life in 2015. Follow Frozen Chosen on facebook or visit my Web site for more writing and free music to download!
