Sisters

“I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world.” (Louisa May Alcott)

A precious moment after watching the movie Little Women.

"I could never love anyone as I love my sisters"
('Jo' in the 1994 version of Little Women)

I know I shouldn't

I can't help myself...
Has anyone else noticed that on the cover of the Friend magazine for May
the Dad seems to be wearing a BYU t-shirt?
_____________________________________...Just a question.

El Paso with Grandma

Pick Grandma up at the airport and take her directly to the Zoo. What could be more logical?




These pictures are at the beginning of the day, before we were all tired hags. Before the
tour-the-border, too-much-mall, not-enough-lunch, perfume-in-the-eyes (and subsequent
poison-control and Walgreen's-washout), run-a-real-errand, FIND-SOME-FOOD, and
better-get-gas incidents. Always an adventure with Grandma. Always lots of laughs. And
that was just day one.

Yippy-Skippy is 7!

Yippy Skippy was not feeling well on her birthday, but she wasn't contagious and
it was too late to postpone the party, so she did her best. (And I'm pretty sure she
had a good time anyway.)

With Grandma's help we hosted a pony themed birthday party. First, the guests
"corralled the horses" (found the sticker packets in the back yard) and then decorated
a cowboy cup with pony themed stickers. They played pin the tail on the pony,
had a sugar cube relay, and stomped "flies". They ate pizza, cake and ice cream,
gave presents, and laughed a lot! Great Fun.

The sugar cube relay.


"Fly" stomping contest. Stomp everyone else's, but don't let yours get stomped.


Pony cake (idea courtesy Family Fun website)



Every kids favorite part?

Hooray for 7!

More Fun with Grandma

We took her "up the hill" for some window shopping. Here is a view from the way down.





We try not to let any out of state visitor get away without going to White Sands,
no matter how windy the day! Despite being sandblasted, we had a great time!

Dress Up

The girls were playing dress-up with one of the young women from our ward after school one day. Yippy-Skippy is even pinching her cheeks so they'll be rosy. Very silly!

Are you a Helicoptor or a Cowboy?

On the spectrum between "Helicopter Parenting" and having "Free-Range Kids," I definitely fall
more toward being a hovering Helicopter Mother. My kids live about 1/4 mi from their school,
they walk as a pack of three sisters, and still 85% of the time I walk with them or follow them
2/3 of the way there. Their front yard boundary is two houses down from us. They never play in
the front yard alone (without another sister with them). We live in a small town, on a residential
street only 2 blocks long. (Can you hear the rotors from the helicopter?) Perhaps you have heard
some of this debate recently. I find it very interesting and it has been occupying much of my
thoughts these days.

Being an independent sort of person, I find independent thought and action a worthwhile trait to
instill in my children. How can I do this while keeping them safe from harm at all times? Of
course, I can't. But how much "hovering" is enough?, too much? There is no easy answer. Here
are a list of links that I followed (on another such night when I should have been sleeping), that
introduce the debate. I would love to hear others thoughts on the matter, I'm curious to see
what views are similar or different from my own.

This sight is an article that introduces the basic debate.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/133103/page/1

A follow-up story with additional theories as to the change in the parenting style.
http://www.slate.com/id/2189375

Lots, and I mean LOTS of anticdotes from people weighing in on the issue. Beware, the language
in a few, and don't follow any links to 'bad stories' before you go to bed at night. (They could be
largely why we "hover" in the first place.)
http://www.metafilter.com/70753/Free-Range-Kids

Although I promised myself I wouldn't blog late at night because I always read it later and
lament my grammer, speling, and puctuation, -not to mention my logic at times, I am not tired
yet, so I'll share some of my thought on the topic.
1: Yes, this generation of parents tend to hover way too much, for way too long.
2: Yes, this is largely because we have been scared witless by Dateline :), Law and Order, missing
persons pictures everywhere, and sensational media reporting.
But: bad stuff happens, and you don't want it to happen to "your kid."
3: No, we don't know our neighborhoods like back-in-the-day. Our neighbors, even if we know
them on the other side of the block, are probably not home cooking dinner and glancing out their
windows watching a pack of kids playing 4 square in the driveway. No one is home, not kids, not
neighbors.
But: Our kids have been taught what do if a stranger offers to give them a ride, they know how to
bite, kick, scratch, scream and run. They have to learn to trust their own abilities, instincts and
insights.
Furthermore, as Latter-Day Saints, hopefully we have taught our kids to recognize the spirit
when prompted, and respond accordingly. And we have to trust our own parental intuition and
revelation about individual circumstances. We know the Lord answers many of those prayers for
safety that we are always saying. :) And if not in the way we might like, well, the kids still have to
live, grow, and learn, and we have to let them. If they fall on the way to school, they can hobble
to the school nurse and get a band-aid! (Even if I won't be there to kiss it better.)

Not to reduce child rearing to playing odds, but how many of us still eat raw brownie batter and
cookie dough even though the increased likelihood of salmonella contaminated eggs is higher
than it used to be? Are the odds of getting salmonella poisoning from a raw egg more than the
crime rate in your town? More questions. Answers???