Author Archives: Jennifer Arrington Breen

5 Tricks To Make Your House Look Cleaner Than It Really Is

Posted in Home by

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Or 5 ways to make your house clean enough to have people over (i.e. Holiday party) without doing a deep clean or hiring a cleaning service.

I don’t have a cleaning service and I definitely don’t have an uninterrupted chunk of time to clean my house all at once. I have a piecemeal approach and only do it when I feel inspired to. There is no set day that I clean, nor do I have a cleaning schedule, or heaven forbid, a chart to check off. I shut down when I see a checklist. My methodology is more artistic. Yeah, let’s call it that. But it’s also very important that my house looks clean, so I guess you could say I’m an expert in just getting by and creating the illusion of clean sometimes. So here are my tips and tricks on how to make your house look much cleaner than it really is in a short amount of time. An impromptu cocktail party and you have two hours to food prep, clean, and get dressed? Planning a holiday party or dinner party and your kids don’t allow you the time for a deep clean? Here’s your answer. Disclaimer: This method does involve some cleaning. I haven’t yet found a way to invoke the power of the scrubbing fairies.

1) De-Clutter

Ideally you keep your place de-cluttered all the time so you don’t have to face a huge mess when it comes time to get ready for people coming over. The way I do it is to always put stuff back in its place. I’m never moving from one part of the house to the other with empty hands. There’s always something I’m brining back to its place. It can seem daunting to some, but it’s just a habit to start. You’re walking to the kids’ room anyway, might as well grab those books that kids brought into kitchen and put them back. Don’t let piles of junk mail accumulate all over your house. If you live in a small place, invest in a few under the bed containers and throw all the toys in there.

2) Bathroom Mirrors and Toilet

Congealed toothpaste, floss projectile, water  spots, and finger prints collect within a day after cleaning your bathroom mirrors. So you’ve got to do it before you have people over even if you did it two days ago. If you don’t, your guests may not be able to articulate what exactly looks dirty, but they’ll walk out of your bathroom with an icky feeling. Likewise with the toilet. Obviously. A stray hair or hardened urine is not acceptable to guests. A quick spray and wipe should do it for both the mirrors and toilet. If these two spots are clean, it will trick people into thinking the whole bathroom is clean.

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3) Kitchen sink

Even if your sink isn’t technically dirty, or gunked up with old food, it still needs to be spruced up. The water spots that have accumulated over a few days are enough to make it just look messy and nasty. Get some Barkeeper’s Friend or Bon Ami (if you have a stainless steel sink) and give it a scrub. This is a three minutes worth investing. It will come looking like new and again, hypnotize people into thinking your house is impeccable.

4)Empty All Your Trash Bins

This is the easiest of all the tasks and takes the least amount of time. Nobody wants to smell your old onion peels, gaze at your snotty tissues, or wonder what is wrapped up so tightly in that wad of toilet paper. Just get it out of there, please. Empty trash cans remind me of nice hotels and new beginnings, two things that will make any guest feel good.

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5) Kill Dust Bunnies

Grab a kleenex and do a quick grab of any dust bunnies hiding in corners, especially in bathrooms where guests will be naturally looking down while they sit on your throne. These little cuties are a big contributor to an ick factor that you don’t want your guests to get. You can do this on your final sweep of the home while checking for any stray socks, My Little Ponies, empty glasses, or embarrassing photos.

Done. You’re ready to pop a cork and pull out the hummus. If you’re fast, you can do the above in 20 minutes.

Whether you get half this list done or all of it, you still need to dim your lights and light a bunch of candles. Any dust bunnies you’ve missed will be rendered invisible (except in a bright bathroom, so make sure to get those) and you will have created a relaxing ambiance. Bright overhead lights are my pet peeve, but that’s another story I’ll address later.

Note: This is all assuming you have a decent baseline level of “tolerably clean” at your house. If we’re starting with a sink full of dishes, counters covered in hardened jelly, black mold around every faucet, and two months of laundry piled on all the horizontal surfaces of your home, you’ve got a bigger project on your hands, dear.

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Curried Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

Posted in Cooking by

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These are some yummy yams. Although this is technically considered an entree in Kimberly Snyder’s detox cookbook, it tastes like dessert. No joke. Yams fall into a category of vegetables that are actually healthier to eat after they’ve been cooked a very long time. As you know, most veggies are best eaten raw or cooked for a very short time in order to retain their nutritional benefits and enzymes. However, yams and other potatoes are most easily digestible when cooked for 90 minutes or more. In this recipe, you’ll see how the yams lose all their starchiness and each bite tastes as smooth and soft as a pumpkin pie (without all the dairy, sugar, and butter). The sweetness comes naturally from the yams.

Which brings me to the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. This was a debate in my family for years, and I’m still not sure it’s been settled. It was one that we must not have cared too much about because we were content to argue solely on anecdotal knowledge rather than research. Occasionally I’d inquire here and there in a half-hearted attempt to lift the veil, but not even my local grocers could give me a straight answer. After the advent of the internet, I eventually got around to doing the hard research (i.e. a two second google search). First off, the sweet potato and the yam are not even related. They are two different species of tuber vegetable. It turns out that grocery stores  have been labeling sweet potatoes as “yams” forever. They do this to distinguish between the orange fleshed sweet potato and the whiter fleshed sweet potato. The ones marked “garnet” or “jewel” yams are actually the orange fleshed sweet potatoes. If you want to find a true yam, go to your local international market and look for a black, bark-like skin. The good news is sweet potatoes, which are more readily available, have more health benefits. Vitamin A, E, calcium, Iron, and chock full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.

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Okay, enough with the Sweet Yam Potato conundrum. Here’e the recipe:

4 large Yams- sweet potatoes with orange flesh
1 tsp sea salt (you may want a 1/2 tsp. more)
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry (you can adjust this to taste)
2 tsp coconut oil

Peel and dice the yams. This is the most time consuming part, but the rest is a breeze and there are so few ingredients, so I’d still put this recipe in the “very easy” category.
Put them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Drizzle them with the coconut oil, curry, turmeric, and salt. Now get your hands dirty and toss them to evenly disperse the oil and spices. Pop ’em in the oven  at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on your oven. Some of the smaller ones may get crispy (those are a treat) but you know they are ready when they are super soft in the middle, not firm or starchy.

I hope you get to try these as a new alternative to your holiday yams this year. If your fam isn’t really into the curry idea, I get it. Make them on a random Tuesday night. You won’t be disappointed.

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Boobs Are In The House

Posted in Health, Mamas by

This post is part of the first Humor in Parenting (and Breastfeeding!) Blog Carnival inspired by the anthology Have Milk, Will Travel: Adventures in Breastfeeding, a collection edited by Rachel Epp Buller and published by Demeter Press in August 2013. The anthology looks at the lighter side of nursing. All of its contributors found something funny to say about their days as a non-stop milk shop, even if it was a tough job to have.

This carnival celebrates the craziness that is parenting and asks the question of how we use humor to get through our days, or minutes, or years. Just what’s so funny about being a parent? And why is it so important to make life with kids funny even when it doesn’t exactly seem hilarious?

Please share widely and connect us with other funny parents who are blogging and Tweeting. Use the hashtags #funnybreastfeeding and #humorcarnival along with whatever witty originals you come up with. Those ought to be worth some laughs, too!

See below for links to the other contributors. And, as you might have said to your nursling once upon a time, enjoy the buffet!

***

I loved everything about nursing. I loved reading about it, talking about it, and doing it in public. I would often be caught spouting amazing facts about breast milk. “Did you know that breast milk heats up or cools down in response to the temperature of the baby you’re holding?” Astounding! It was a straight up boob love fest. It was this magical revelation for me, a girl growing up in a society saturated with sexualized boobs. I now knew what boobs were really for. A once ambiguous existence, and the cause of confused myriad levels of exposure, was now anatomy greatly elevated in stature. The boobs are queens! They were the most important part of my body. They were keeping another human alive! I wasn’t confused about whether or not to expose some cleavage while choosing a top. Oh no. The neighborhood was going to see some cleavage and more every couple of hours. I didn’t mess with maternity bras or maternity tops. Too much hassle. I just chose the tops that most easily could be pulled down and to the side for easy access. I rejoiced in the discovery of finding real value in my body. It was the first time I really loved a part of my body. Even though I make fun of how little they are now, deflated from their milk-induced Pamela Anderson disguise, I still love them for the job they did for almost four years.

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Now, I must admit that the love fest didn’t carry on in high gear all the time. There was a learning curve, moments of frustration, a brushing of shoulders with mastitis, and that smell I emitted for taking too much fenugreek. But the worst buzz kill of my boob bash was the pump. The pump was lovingly passed down to me from my god-sister and had met with many other breasts before mine. It was a 90s era workhorse. A bit of modern technology that allowed me to pretend to be an independent human for a couple hours away from the baby. I’m grateful for that. Thank you, pump. But pumping was a huge pain in the ass. I know I’m not alone here. The milk yield to hours spent ratio was always depressing. It took too much time to clean. It made my nipples four times their normal length. It dripped milk all over. I needed to focus hard on photos of the baby (pumping porn) to help the milk let down. Worst of all, it kept me from that much coveted thing called sleep from which I was dangerously deprived.

Despite the angst, somehow I became reluctant friends with my pump. We had to have a truce while our existences commingled. I chose to see the good in my pump. You know, that black pleather shoulder bag is kind of dope in a 90s retro sort of way. It’s many compartments that never seemed to store all of its operating parts was just a lesson in spatial awareness and efficient packing. The unnaturally elongated nipple action was charmingly amusing. Best of all, that pump had a beat, a damn good beat. That pump somehow mysteriously knew that I love house music and served up some deep Chicago house. That pump and I would jam. And on a good night, after a rousing duet when I was out of town and there was no where to freeze the precious breast milk, I would toast to my breasts, my baby, and my pump with a shot of liquid gold. It was a house party, was it not? Shots are required. Duh. It was only after I had imbibed a few times that I read up on the potential health benefits of drinking one’s own milk. I didn’t really need anyone to tell me it was okay. It just felt natural. And how could I possibly toss that hard earned nectar down the drain? Impossible. I knew it couldn’t hurt me, so why the hell not.

So my boob love fest was in fact not completely hindered by the pump. It brought the music and the drinks. Everybody likes that guy.

Don’t let anything ruin your own love affair with your milky boobs. They are miraculous.

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***

Please check out these the other submissions to our humor carnival:

In “I Will Sleep When I’m Dead,” Zoie at TouchstoneZ needs some sleep but her kids have other ideas.

In “Laugh or looney bin,” Virginia of Ready or Not Mom shares how laughter (and tears) got her and her husband through two NICU stays and a whole lot more. “Just call me Bessie…on the move” shows some love for a nursing mom without a lot of spare time on her hands.

In “Boobs Are in the House,” Jenny of Half Crunchy Mom shares how her love affair with her nursing breasts was hindered only by the act of pumping, but she found a way to party with the pump.

In “Send in the Nipple Clowns,” Kerry of Pickle Me This shares a story in which a mother who hasn’t slept more than three hours in a row for six months reflects back on the comedy of her breastfeeding life.

And, from Have Milk contributors:

In “The importance of laughter,” Jessica Claire Haney of Crunchy-Chewy Mama gets serious about looking for humor with her kids where her own parents didn’t.

In “Underwater” and “Excuse Me,” Adriann Cocker of Cockerchat muses on the absurdity of parenting while leading a hip loft lifestyle
in downtown Los Angeles.

***

To learn more about Have Milk, Will Travel, or to buy a copy for your favorite mom (or the people who love her), visit the Have Milk page at Demeter Press or on Amazon.

See how much Literary Mama liked the book at this review.

Keep up with readings and happenings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HaveMilkWillTravel and follow the book’s feed on Twitter at @HaveMilkTravel.

Best Ever Healthy Vegan Salad Dressing

Posted in Cooking, Health by

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This is the salad dressing I make every day, twice a day. It is the most delicious, creamy, satisfying salad dressing I’ve ever had. And it’s healthy. No oils, sugars, or creams. I found it in Kimberly Snyder’s book, Beauty Detox Solution, but have modified it slightly to my taste. She adds lemon. Non citron pour moi. All you need is little food processor or immersion blender to puree the ingredients. Although I’ve made it many times just mashing it in a bowl with a fork when I’ve been without the above modern amenities.

1 avacado
1 clove of garlic (or  two huge ones if you’re like me- love it spicy and don’t care how you smell)
3/4 tsp sea salt (This is personal. You could go less if you have celery and olives in your salad)
1/4-1/2 cup of water (Again, this is personal depending on how thick you like it)

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Here it is after it’s pureed and poured on my go-to, every day kale salad.

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All tossed. If you are curious, my every day salad consists of as many vegetables as I can get my hands on. Then I chop them very small. Beets, jicama, carrots, celery, cucumber, sprouts, red peppers, hemp seeds, and tomatoes are the norm.

Enjoy! Let me know if it’s as tasty to you as it is to me.

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Mom Profile- Alexis Eyler

Posted in Mamas by

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This is my third installment to the short profiles of moms I know who embrace the idea that moms should unite despite our differences and complexities.


1) What makes you a Half Crunchy Mom?

We have five chickens because that is what my daughter wanted for Christmas.  I love it because I have complete control of at least one thing my children eat – plus, the kids are learning a lot and the chickens are actually pretty fun. I am very careful about what foods come into the house and skip the hot lunches at school.   I don’t know how it happened, but my kids HATE soda – even when I try to give them ginger ale for an upset stomach, they won’t touch the stuff (it’s too spicy).  But, I believe strongly in moderation, so the occasional McDonalds happens and you will definitely find microwave popcorn, chips and store bought cookies in the house. As a local business owner, I am very committed to shopping locally – an unexpected benefit being that my kids aren’t aware of a lot of the commercial toys out there because we haven’t set foot in a Target in three years. On the flip side, my kids use technology quite a bit.  They each have an iPad and while it is loaded with many educational apps, including tools for learning their weekly spelling words, they also play Minecraft, Clash of Clans and Dragonvale.

2) What are you good at as a mom?

Consistency.  I set limits and stick to them (most of the time).  At least, I am consistent enough that my kids know that when I say something, I usually mean it and it might not be worth testing me.    My kids are by no means perfect!  I yell at them to get homework done, practice their violins, and clean up their rooms almost every day, but I know that I can trust them to make good decisions.  They help set the table for dinner every night and are responsible for letting out and feeding the dogs every morning and evening, which is a task since they are outnumbered.

3) What is your biggest challenge as a mom?

Balance.  I am pretty strict – homework, extra reading and math, violin practicing come before everything else and there never seem to be enough hours in the day.  Lately, I have been making more of an effort to make sure that they also have time to play every day.  Now that my oldest is 9, I think communicating with a tween is going to be the next big challenge – my husband and I are already experiencing the joys of having a child who knows far more than the two of us.

4) What surprised you most when you became a mom?

Poo-outs.  I think I was prepared for everything else – it actually all seemed second nature – like I had done it a million times before.  Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about exploding diapers?  But, in all seriousness, as soon as I became a mom, I found that I could no longer watch a movie or listen to a news story that involved a child being hurt. Not that I enjoyed those things before, but the immense amount of empathy for other parents and their children was unexpected.
Alexis is mother of Dylan, 9, Lucas, 7, and Immogen, 5.

Spiritual Tourguide

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jen weigel

If you live in Chicago, she’s a local celebrity. If you are in Evanston, she’s our mom next door.  Jenniffer Weigel has written three books that I just devoured in under two weeks. Are you a die hard Catholic? Athiest? A skeptic? Spiritual? Don’t know where to go next in your career? Divorced? Lost a loved one recently? Just confused in general? Her books are for all of you. She is funny and irreverent while maintaining her journalist’s skepticism and a nurturing thoughtfulness. A couple weeks ago I would’ve told you Reiki, reincarnation, and the presence of spirits was a bunch of malarkey. Now I’m not so sure. Jen’s experiences are incredibly compelling and I can report that I’ve used one of her practices to get parking spaces exactly where I need them for the last two weeks. I’m 12 for 12 right now. She stopped counting after 220 something. Of course that is a spiritual baby step that can be applied to bigger things in your life. But who doesn’t want a street spot on Monroe and State? I have to say, I’m becoming a believer.

The best part is that she gives choice nuggets from all the major spiritual gurus. Not into reading spiritual self help books but need some inspiration? Just pick up one of Jen’s books. She distills the guru’s major tenets down to understandable points without all of the repetitive, new-age vernacular that can sometimes accompany these “woo-woo” books, as she calls them. She covers Wayne Dyer, Caroline Myss, Deepak Chopra, Anita Moorjani, John of God, Don Miguel Ruiz, and James Van Praagh to name a few.

In her first book, Stay Tuned: Conversations With Dad From The Other Side, she reveals much about her relationship with her dad, the well-known sportscaster, Tim Weigel  and how she handled the emotional challenges of his death. On the lighter side, this book covers many of her celebrity encounters while working as an entertainment reporter and also gave me that good parking practice. Her second book, I’m Spiritual Dammit!, (also the name of her one woman show) takes us through the birth of her child and deeper into her investigation of a spiritual life while navigating the challenge we all encounter: Finding how we can match what we are passionate about with a career. This is something especially common among moms trying to reinvent themselves after kids. Her third book, This Isn’t The Life I Ordered, discusses her divorce and how she handled its accompanying hurdles.

I look at the world differently after reading these books and I won’t bore you with all of the lessons that I’m putting into practice. But I will tell you one of the best things that I got out of these books is that I no longer fear death. Yes, it’s a biggie. Iv’e had a pretty strong fear of death since having kids. Am I alone here? Fear of me dying young, while my kids were young. My kids dying before me. It wasn’t paralyzing, but it was a buzz kill on many occasions.  I am comforted by many of the stories in these books and they have alleviated that fear. So, if you have a fear of death, look no further!

On that sunny note, let me leave you with a quote from Jen’s interview with Caroline Myss, author of  Sacred Contracts, that really resonated with me: “What I’ve discovered, Jenniffer, is that most people are terrified to take a look at all they can be. And the reason is because they’d have to act on it. People are afraid of the responsibility that comes with knowing yourself more deeply. People will even sabotage their own success because they’re afraid. You’re afraid of the hard work.”

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Busting a Gut

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Yesterday, I was not anticipating that seven people would be checking out the state of my personal landscaping.

I was in my Wednesday aerial arts class, practicing patience with myself in what is a weekly exercise in humility. I’m the oldest person in the class and after being off all summer, getting my strength back has been a challenge.  We were practicing  a trick called a “helicopter”.  (See clip below. Note: this is not me, just a random Google grab)

Many of these graceful looking aerial tricks are actually quite painful, so I was not at all phased by the pain I felt after each time I tried the trick. But then there was a presence, a thing, the feeling that something was out of place. My careful exploration discovered a bulge, then my hesitant peek underneath my waistband uncovered a golf ball size bump protruding from my groin. Shock and fear reigned for a moment as I shakily gave my first peep shows of the night to my instructor and classmate. We all had a fairly strong opinion that this was a hernia.

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Over the last couple of days, my crunchy side has been asking the universe how my talents can best be used. “Thank you in advance for helping find the best way to use my talents in a way that I love and am passionate about”, I intoned.  Although I was thinking about this more along the lines of a career choice as I now near the time when my little one will be in kindergarten, could the universe be responding with a message about my hobbies too? Is this hernia a sign saying, “Time for you to quit trying to be a circus performer, Old Lady”? The determined, strong side of me says “Hell no! I can move past this and be flying through the air in a couple weeks.” But I wonder.

Galaxyhealing.com gives me this metaphysical definition of a hernia: Wakening or collapse because one tries to cope with too much at once and strains under the weight. Person strains to do everything right and therefore, pushes too far. Inner longing to release what is being restrained.

Is my body trying to tell me something? I love the idea that we can potentially find signs in the external. Answers outside of our heads, in the world around us. But a part of me wonders if that’s too easy. My hernia tells me that playing with a trapeze and pushing myself to get the splits so I can move up to the next level is not my path. Done. No thought required. Too easy, right? Not if one is inclined to get analytical and look at a potentially deeper lesson or message. What have I been restraining that is longing to be released? I could spend some time on that one. Have you ever suspected something in your inner life of having a physical symptom?

I wasn’t delving into this analysis yet while baring my all in front of two nurses and three doctors as they took turns trying to shove my intestines back through the muscle. I opted for no drugs at first, then after a couple of shoving sessions, and full body shakes, I said I’d give the drugs a try so we could just get it done without all the recovery breaks. Unfortunately I have some superhuman resistance to Dilaudid because the pain was not reduced one iota. The best thing that came out of the manipulations were the continued reference to “how tricky” my case was because my abdominal wall was was so strong, making it difficult to push through.  A girl will never turn down a compliment, even while grimacing in pain and being pushed in the pubis.

Eventually, after a couple of hours, they got it back in and I got home to bed. The bruise and swollen bulge are still there, probing me to ask, “why”? What is the Half-Crunchy Mom to do? Entertain the metaphysical or just get the hernia operation and shut up about it?

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Mom Profile- Courtney Zielinski

Posted in Mamas by

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What makes you a Half Crunchy Mom?

I tend to vacillate between crunchy and more mainstream… I cloth diapered both of my kids (with my first, I used disposables when she was a newborn),  breast-fed until my daughter was one and my son was 18 months, try my best to feed them organic, whole foods and have thus far successfully kept them from soda and only on road trips do we allow fast food. On the other hand, we let them watch TV, play with the iPad, and they adore hot dogs. I sort of choose my battles as they come according to what my gut tells me is right and try to stay consistent and pretty evenly balanced (The key word here is “try” because inevitably I fail from time to time and someone will be eating a snack bag of Cheese-Its and on their fourth TV show when we’ve had a rough day and I need to get some work done).

What are you good at as a mom?

Loving. I’d say I’m a world-champion snuggler and giver of affection. In fact, I probably go overboard in this arena. I’m always making sure my kids know how much I love them and that they are great kids. They tend to roll their eyes, like “ok, Mom, we get it.” In fact, my daughter and I have a running joke where I say, “Guess what?” and she’ll answer, “I love you.”

What is your biggest challenge as a mom?

I am a pretty emotional person, so I find it really challenging to talk myself down when I’m upset or frustrated and not to raise my voice. One of my biggest goals as a parent is to teach my kids to regulate their own emotional reactions and to communicate in a calm and honest manner. It’s hard! It’s hard to keep my cool when I’m boiling on the inside, but I know it’s so important to demonstrate that to my kids because that’s exactly what I’m trying to teach them; how to communicate and honor feelings without having what amounts to a tantrum. So we do a lot of “I feel really frustrated because xyz…” or to draw an upset kid (or adult!) into a discussion, “I can see how angry you are, can we talk about it?” It’s more work than than just hollering and letting out all that energy, but in the long run, it’s really helping us with communication and validation. One of my proudest moments was last week when my daughter was mad at my son and wrote him a note that said “you hurt my feelings and I’m really mad! But I love you!”
What surprised you most when you became a mom?
Just the sheer depth of love I would feel. I had no idea.
Courtney is mother of Ava, 6, and Stellan, 3.

Too Much Media, Mom!

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Pinterest and Facebook are the modern Mom’s guilty pleasure. However, they can bring as much angst as they do the much needed escape that we all need from time to time. In the last week, several articles came out following a survey given to moms regarding Pinterest. It showed that 42% of 700 Moms surveyed felt guilty, unhappy, stressed, and inadequate when faced with Pinterest. People will always struggle with the urge to keep up with the Joneses, but now, instead of comparing birthday party deets at the park circa 1970s, we have to see the elaborate creativity of Mrs. Jones on display in full color.

When you go to Pinterest’s site, you know what you’re getting into. You’re asking for it. You either have your armor up and know your limits, which will keep you in good stead when face to face with an insanely organized closet with chalkboard paint labels. Or, you go in like a lamb and are slayed by the children’s crafts and find yourself up at 1 a.m. cutting up multi-colored sponges to make “quiet building blocks”. We love to dream and imagine our homes looking not just orderly, but inspired. We have great Pintentions, but they can disturb our sleep and make us feel defeated. Who wants a cranky mommy? And she’s cranky because she didn’t do a project that really didn’t need to be done anyway. That’s crazy! Let’s remember these projects are like commercials. They make us think we need them when we really, most definitely don’t. If you love doing these projects and you don’t feel pressure to do them, awesome! Myself, I go on Pinterest with the armor. I may incorporate one idea I see out of 500.

Facebook is not quite as guilty of causing us angst, but you’ve still got your mom friends on there showing off their amazing handmade halloween costumes and decoupage vases. Just keep it in perspective ladies. You don’t have to make your kids costumes too if you don’t want to. You do something else equally interesting and cool too. You don’t have to keep up with the Mrs. Jones on your Facebook News Feed. She’s probably wishing she could be more like you.

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Free Range Baby Step

Posted in Parenting by

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I let my girls go into a store by themselves to pick up a drink for me. Nothing bad happened. Free Range Kids Lenore Skenazy has asked moms to write to her with stories that begin with, “Nothing bad happened when…” Well, this is my story.

Nothing bad happened when I let my almost four year-old and 6.5 year old go into the neighborhood health food store by themselves. When I asked the girls if they’d go in and grab a kombucha for me, my little one piped up immediately with a grown up flare, “I know which kind you like!”. My eldest said, “we’re going alone?”. I explained I’d be back in a minute, reminded them that they are familiar with Dennis, the owner, and they’d be my shopping helpers. I dropped them off, told the friendly owner I’d be back in a minute, then ran next door to the bank. The bank was fifteen paces North of the health food store so it was truly a baby step.  When I returned from the bank in about 90 seconds, they greeted me at the door with huge smiles, holding up the kombucha and gummy vitamin packets that the owner gave them. They looked very proud.

I think this little free range baby step gave them a boost of confidence and that was my goal. I wasn’t expecting that I’d feel a boost in confidence as well. I’m looking forward to our next baby step which may be giving them a couple of things to fetch in a larger grocery store a few aisles away from me. Does anyone have any other free range practices they’d like to share? I think we’ll be surprised that there are more of us free range leaning parents than we think. Holler so I know you’re out there.

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