Posts Tagged ‘mommasaid’

Keeping Kids Safe From Burns

by Kathy Sena

As any mom who has turned down the temperature on the water heater, set a pot of boiling water on the back burner of the stove or bought two dozen electrical-outlet covers at Home Depot will tell you, burns are a big concern when you have young kids in the house. They’re a too-common cause of children’s injuries, typically resulting from hot water, flames, hot surfaces, chemicals and electrical appliances. (more…)

by Vanessa Van Petten

Last night I tried to teach my mom (love you!) how to download a song onto her iPod. It was a nightmare. Not just because I had to explain the concept of an iPod (and of downloading–at least music she understood), but also because of her fear and self-doubt that came along with it. Because I am a professional blogger, I teach people and companies about the Internet, technology and social networking all the time. I have come to realize that sometimes grown-ups are virtual kids and kids are virtual grown-ups. (more…)

by Christina Frank

I am so clueless when it comes to understanding the many machinations of money (yet admirable for almost always being able to alliterate?)

During the last couple of sessions with my ex and our mediator, money’s what we talked about –proving that, as with so many things in life, divorce ultimately comes down to cash: where it used to come from, where it will come from, who owns what, who owes what to whom, and who bought the girls their last pair of snow boots. (I did.) (more…)

GUEST POST

by Aviva Goldfarb

As I think about what foods I want to focus on feeding my family this year, such as whole grains, green leafy vegetables, organic berries and unsalted nuts, one food that also rises to the top of my list is fish. I often find that people are intimidated about how to prepare fish, so they simply don’t eat it at home, which is such a shame! Fish is an excellent lean protein source. It is brimming with nutrients and is a natural source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which is vital because our bodies cannot make omega-3s on their own. Some seafood, such as pollack, has also been shown in recent scientific studies to give us a feeling of fullness or satiation after eating it, which can help us avoid overeating later.

To help families incorporate more fish in their diets (the American Heart Association recommends we consume at least two servings of seafood a week), I include lots of easy and flavorful seafood recipes in The Scramble newsletters and cookbooks.

I usually prefer to use fresh fish but there are many weeks when I can’t make an extra stop at the fish market so I cook with frozen fish or use canned salmon or tuna in a pouch instead. When using fresh fish I recommend buying it the same day you use it for the best flavor. I also recommend taking inventory of your freezer and keeping a few staples on hand for a quick and healthy seafood meal. I often keep frozen white fish fillets, frozen shrimp, and even a store-bought frozen fish dish (or two!) for those nights that I don’t even have half an hour to make dinner or that I need to prepare an extra dish. (My favorite healthy frozen fish entrées are Gorton’s grilled shrimp and its lemon peppercorn grilled tilapia fillets. Please let me know if your family has any other healthy favorites I should try.)

If you have an easy and healthy seafood recipe or a tip for adding fish to your family’s diet, please drop me a line at aviva@thescramble.com, or add a comment on the Facebook fan page  to share with other Scramblers.

Aviva Goldfarb is author and founder of The Six O’Clock Scramble®, a seasonal online weekly menu planner and cookbook (St. Martin’s Press, 2006).

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

Review by Jane Louise Boursaw

Reel Rating: 3 out of 5 Reels
MPAA Rating: PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language.
Released in Theaters: Feb. 12, 2010
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Runtime: 119 minutes
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Cast: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson
Official Site: http://www.percyjacksonthemovie.com/ (more…)

by Dara Chadwick

It seems like I’m constantly talking about the fact that the beautiful models and celebrities we see in magazines simply don’t look like that in real life.

In my book, You’d Be So Pretty If…, I included a chapter on how media images affect women — and girls. I talked about my experience as Shape magazine’s Weight-Loss Diary columnist and how much my daughter learned about the “perfect” images we see in magazines when she accompanied me to a photo shoot for the May 2007 issue.

I talk about it, yes…to anyone who’ll listen, in fact. But still, I hear women say things like, “She’s my age. Why can’t I look like that?” or “She just had a baby and look, she’s lost all the weight already.”

There’s an attitude that if a model or celebrity is our age or at a similar stage in life, we could look the way she does if we just work hard enough.

Clearly, it’s our failure.

Not exactly.

First, let’s consider the teams of people involved in the lives of most celebrities. There are nannies or babysitters or live-in grandparents to watch the kids not only while they work, but also while they work out, head to the spa and otherwise spend time doing the maintenance work that needs to be done to look a certain way. There are shoppers and stylists, manicurists and make-up artists, designers and trainers, all dedicated to the upkeep of a celebrity’s image.

Please know that I’m not faulting them. Yes, there are clearly rewards to the celebrity lifestyle, but it’s also clearly a lot of pressure and there seems to be very little forgiveness from an often fickle public.

Second, let’s consider the amount of retouching that goes into the average magazine photograph. It’s a lot. Really.

So to compare ourselves to celebrities – and find ourselves lacking — is so unfair, I don’t know where to begin.

Instead, I’ll leave you with this, which came to me courtesy of another body image blogger. It’s a Newsweek wrap-up of “the decade’s most egregious retouching scandals,” under the very apt headline: Unattainable Beauty.

Please, grab your daughter and take a look together. Talk about what you see. Talk about how it makes you feel. Talk, talk, talk about what beauty really is…and be sure to notice that all of these women — Madonna, Faith Hill, Beyonce, Katie Couric — are still beautiful in their “before” shots.

They’re just not perfect. Neither are we. And that’s OK.

Dara Chadwick is the author of “You’d Be So Pretty If…: Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies – Even When We Don’t Love Our Own. She has been interviewed on NBC’s TODAY Show , as well as on a variety of radio and television programs. A former Weight-Loss Diary columnist for Shape magazine, Dara has written about health, wellness and parenting for magazines such as Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, VIV, For Me, Shape, Parenting and Working Mother. Her work has also appeared online at sites such as The Daily Beast and Psychology Today You can learn more about her at DaraChadwick.com.

by Brette Sember

As if taxes weren’t complicated enough, being a divorced parent adds another wrinkle to the process. As we inch towards April 15th, let’s take a look at how divorce might affect your tax return: (more…)

by Christina Frank

Back when R & I were following the American Dream instruction manual–that is, mom, dad and the kids all living under the same roof–it was pretty clear which two of us were the parents and which two were the kids. When that manual was taken in the night and replaced by the Mid-Life Crisis Manifesto–which instructed R to move out asap–the family dynamics changed. (more…)

By Judy Gruen

It’s December, the season of holiday parties and the inevitable New Year’s diet resolutions. I keep my resolutions secret, since if I blab about them to my friends I actually have to take my diet seriously. This is no fun at all. (more…)

A new study has found that parents are saying too little, too late when it comes to talking with children about sex. Here’s why and when you should step in. (more…)