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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Neighbors crash Quarryville mom’s yard
When her friend Katie Eshleman was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, Renee Rogers wanted to do something to help. And she knew plenty of other people in their Quarryville neighborhood did, too.
Judy Bushong, far left, cleans off the patio she helped build for friend Katie Eshleman. Behind her, other friends pitched in to make over the yard
“Katie’s amazing. She brings everybody together,” Rogers said.
Katie Eshleman’s husband, Jason Eshleman, agreed. “She’s got a bubbly personality, and it’s contagious.”
Katie Eshleman, 37, the mother of three young girls, has a tough road ahead, though her spirits are high.
Within a week of being diagnosed with cancer, she had a bilateral mastectomy and faced four rounds of chemotherapy over a 12-week period, then five weeks of radiation.
Friends and family sent meals, cards and offers of help. But, Rogers wondered, how many frozen lasagnas can you make?
So, one afternoon about a month ago, as she was planting flowers in her front yard, Rogers looked across the street at the Eshleman house on Blackburn Road and came up with the idea.
The Parent Olympics
So you’ve taken a sudden interest in the kayaking slalom event? You’re sitting on your couch making critiques about the front tucks of the Russian gymnastic team’s floor routine? Of course you are because the Olympics are in full swing!
Every four years, we’re treated to the best in athletic competition in sports we don’t pay a whole lot of attention too (say what you want but I know you didn’t have a clue there was such a thing as synchronized diving).
The athletes in the games have devoted their lives for the chance at Olympic greatness. They have sacrificed their time to being the best, put forth effort, money, sweat, and possibly put to the side their own personal lives all for this opportunity.
What Olympic athletes have done is well worth our respect and it also brings to mind another group of people who have mirrored this sort of devotion. Parents.
Parents have given up most things in their lives. We’ve given our time, effort, money (and our beds during bad thunderstorms) without the possibility of winning a medal. Every day, parents around the world compete with their kids (who are usually whiny) but thankfully without any Bob Costas analysis. We both have our arenas and courts. Parents’ happen to be in restaurants, public bathrooms, lines in the grocery store, and our homes. While we may not be the physical specimens our Olympic athletes are (Unless you throw in the archers. They could double as bowlers.) , we may not have trained a lifetime for our events we will be “competing” in them for the rest of our lives. Both parents and athletes understand the meaning of sacrifice, working on a team, and achieving specific goals and having nothing else matter in the world more than our sport…or our kids.
In fact, Olympiads and Parents are so closely related, if it weren’t for our Olympic athletes’ chiseled bodies and resting blood pressure rate of 32, you may not even be able to tell us apart.
You can run a 100m race in under 10 seconds? We can maneuver in a public restroom stall with our kid while trying to cover the toilet seat with paper before they wet their pants.
So in the spirit of the games of the 2012 London Olympics, may I present to you some of the games of the Parent Olympics.
Conversations with my Wife (and kids). 10 More Minutes
It’s our job as parents to instill morals, a code of ethics, manners, when to use a fork and when to use your hands, why wiping your boogers on your sleeve can be seen as gross. All sorts of things we teach our kids. One lesson that seems to keep coming up is time.
Kids are notorious for having no sense of time. As babies, playing peekaboo, when your kids see you come out from behind your hands, it’s as if they haven’t seen you in 3 hours. My daughters used to wake up from an hour nap and greet my wife and me as if we had just gotten back from an 11 year mission to Mars. Being a kid is like being in a perpetual casino with no clocks where minutes pass like hours and hours pass like minutes.
Growing up, my parents did me no favors in the time department. Anytime we left anywhere, we were given a 10 minute warning. Growing up, my sister and I knew that 10 minute warning could mean anything from 10 minutes to 3 hours. I was convinced 10 minutes meant I still had time to start and finish a game of Monopoly.
Now a parent, among the things I was sure I wouldn’t do to my kids (besides make them eat Brussels sprouts) was giving them a meaningless 10 minute warning. If I said 10 minutes, I wanted them to know it meant 10 minutes.
Let’s just say it has been a work in progress.
*****
“Tell the kids 10 more minutes please.” My wife seems to think if I give the kids the deadline, somehow it will resonate louder.
Top 5 Factors in Choosing the Best Preschool for Your Young Child
Besides the location, schedule and cost, there are many other important factors in choosing the right school for your child.
Accreditation/ Licensing- In the state of Pennsylvania, preschools are typically licensed by the Dept. of Education. Child care centers are licensed by the Dept. of Public Welfare. Licensed schools will have their certificates posted in the school. Licensing ensure that basic standards are met in the school for safety, supervision and curriculum. In the state of Pennsylvania, there is a quality initiative called Keystone STARS. Schools can participate in this program to improve their program using the standards set by the state. Schools begin at STAR 1 level and move up to the maximum STAR 4 level by increasing professional development, improving curriculum and learning environments, having highly qualified teachers, and increasing parent/teacher relationships. School can also be accredited several accreditation agencies. The most popular agency is The National Association for the Education of the Young Children, NAEYC.
The incredible, edible eggplant
This is a box of finger eggplant, so-named because the vegetables are long and thin.
It’s harvest time for summer’s purple passion, a colorful fruit that masquerades as a vegetable and is comfortable in a wide variety of dishes.
From now until October, Lancaster County farms and gardens will be dotted with eggplants — purple and white ones, big ones and baby ones. If you know eggplant only in its bulbous, dark-purple form, and only co-starring with its botanical cousin, the tomato, in eggplant Parmesan or ratatouille, local chefs say you’re missing out on a very versatile vegetable.
A Celebratory Smile
Angieth Deng, 2, is all smiles at the recent South Sudan Independence Day celebration held recently in Lancaster. (Sunday News photo by Jeff Ruppenthal)
SHARE OF LANCASTER ANNOUNCES 10TH ANNUAL WALK TO REMEMBER
Lancaster, PA — Share of Lancaster, a non-profit organization that offers pregnancy and infant loss support, announces its 10th annual Walk to Remember on Sunday, September 30, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. The event takes place at The Greenfield Corporate Center.
The annual event, which began in 2003, provides an opportunity for families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss to come together for a time of remembrance.
“Many people who endure the loss of a baby, whether through miscarriage, pregnancy complications, stillbirth or SIDS, feel extremely isolated by the experience,” said Abby Messick, Executive Director of Share of Lancaster. “The Walk provides an opportunity for these individuals to come together as a community in support of one another; to help them realize they’re not alone. It offers a time to remember and reflect upon the lives that were lost.”
Activities for the event include a walk around the ponds at Greenfield Corporate Center, a reading of baby names, a releasing of doves, a candle lighting, music, various children’s activities and more. Participants who register by August 24, 2012 will receive a personalized memorial bracelet with the name of the baby they wish to remember. Baby names and a personalized memorial messages are also included in the program brochure.
Fighting Between Siblings – Expert Kirsten Murray
I have a question about my 7 and 5 year old. Now that school is out, they are constantly fighting. My daughter, the 7 year old, seems to instigate the arguments with bossing my son around. He then lashes out at her by hitting and kicking. My husband and I have had numerous talk with them about how to treat one another. We also model positive behavior. We’re not sure what to do. So many friends say that boys are more aggressive and it is okay but we don’t accept that train of thought. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
I am guessing you are not alone in this situation! Summer vacation presents many wonderful opportunities along with unique challenges. The first step in addressing this is to sit down together with both of your children (family meeting) for the purpose of sharing the specific problem, coming up with ground rules and expectations and then planning a fun family activity.
You say the arguments begin after your daughter bosses your son. There is an easy answer to the first part of the problem. The arguments will not take place if the bossing behavior is stopped. Let your daughter and son know that only parents in the family have authority over children in the family. This means that children are never “in charge” of other siblings. What logically follows is that they cannot boss their brother or sister. But you need to spell that out for them–they can’t necessarily make that logical jump. You need to clearly articulate that it is your expectation that your daughter will not boss your son, and vice versa. You will then decide on a response that will be given by mom, dad, and/or brother should she forget and boss him! So, you will intervene with a simple, “Bossing is not acceptable,” to help her change her behavior. No yelling needed, no escalation to anger, just a calm statement.
Helping Children See a Brighter Future
CHICAGO (July 20, 2012) – As many kids are gearing up to begin a new school year, Prevent Blindness America wants to encourage parents to add “get my child’s eyes checked” to the their list of things to do. Having a child’s vision tested by an eyecare professional can help them towards greater success in the classroom since much of a child’s learning is done visually. Some students who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities may simply have a vision problem.
Prevent Blindness America, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, has declared August as Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness month in an effort to encourage parents to learn about ways they can help protect their child’s vision. Parents and caretakers are encouraged to visitpreventblindness.org for free information on a variety of children’s vision health topics including eye conditions and eye safety.
At 10
I know how excited you are. It is written all over your face. On the cusp of turning 10, this July 23rd is going to be a monumental birthday for you. It is going to be for me as well. Every step (literally and figuratively) of your life I have recorded in my mind. The thought of my baby girl turning 10 is hard to believe when I can remember fumbling for a bottle for you at 2am.
There was no greater feeling in my life (with your sister too) than when I held you in my arms for the first time. At 1, you fit perfectly there. Everything about you was perfect even though I wasn’t (figuring out a hungry cry vs. a wet cry took me a little longer than most). I can’t begin to tell you what it’s like knowing I had a hand in the beautifully perfect life spitting up on my shoulder.
