With the start of the school year, the daily chore of packing lunches has returned.  Although, “What should I pack for lunch?” is the most frequently spoken questions in regards to lunch, there is another pressing query.  That would be, “In what container should lunch be packed?”

The options are varied, much more so now that a generation or two ago.  No longer do kids have the limited choice of brown bag or metal lunch pail.  Now there are lunch boxes and bags made from a variety of materials and with a variety of features.  Your Parenting Info has found a few options that seemed both interesting and helpful.

Laptop Lunches

Laptop Lunches are American style bento boxes that are designed to help families pack nutritious and eco-friendly lunches. They are reusable, recyclable and dishwasher safe. In addition, they contain no phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), or lead.  To learn more, please visit their website.

LunchBots

LunchBots are super cool, stainless steel lunch and snack containers that are healthier than plastic (no chemicals leaching into your food!) and better for the environment (no waste!). They have sizes and styles for sandwiches and snacks and their unique bento-style, divided containers are very popular.  More information is available at their website.

EasyLunchBoxes

On the go kids who strive to be healthy, fit, and green will love the ease in which they can transport meals and snacks in the EasyLunchBox system.  Organize and quickly pack healthy food without wasting time, money, paper, or plastic.  They have no BPA, phthalates, lead, vinyl, or PVC and are safe for dishwasher, freezer, and microwave.  Learn more at their website.

In addition to these three great lunchbox ideas, we also discovered a replacement for plastic sandwich bags that can be used with the lunch box of your choice.

ReUsies

ResUsies are a reusable alternative to single-use, plastic sandwich baggies.  They are 100% cotton lined with leak resistant nylon and come in tons of cute patterns.  They also are lead, BPA, and phthalate free.  ReUsies can be washed by hand or thrown in the washer/dryer or even the dishwasher.  Best of all, each ReUsie keeps thousands of plastic baggies out of the landfills.  For more information, visit their website.

When do we lose the childlike ability to sleep through just about anything? Somewhere along the way in our journey to adulthood, we make the choice to stop giving ourselves fully to sleep. We refuse to let go of a partial sense of awareness even in the midst of our deepest sleep cycle.

I’m wondering about this today because the difference between the way I sleep and the way my children sleep was highlighted by circumstance last night. Electric, my four-year old son’s pet hamster, managed to chew his way from his plastic cage and make his way into the space between the bookshelf and the wall in the room next to my bedroom. The sound of the rodent squirming around was more than enough to ruin my night’s sleep.

Falling back on my innate primitive hunter instincts, I was able to fashion a trap from the materials at hand – a clump of hamster food, a plastic Halloween bucket, and my lap desk. At three AM I stumbled, groggy and grumpy, into my 4 year old son’s room to reassemble the hamster’s cage and drop the little critter back in. I decided that the best plan to keep him put until morning was to jam a Mega Block into the opening and tape it in place with packing tape. (I never claimed that I was a sharp thinker at 3 AM.)

I entered the nine year old’s room to get the packing tape, stubbed my toe on a remote controlled car, spun around, and banged into his dresser. Only then did I remember that the packing tape was in the kitchen. To the kitchen and back to the hamster cage to finish my repairs.

Through all that, I wasn’t quiet. I may have let loose an involuntary word or two when I stubbed my toe. Tearing the packing tape off the roll makes an annoying (and loud) noise. Neither boy so much as opened one eye.

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s childhood 1, adulthood 0. I can’t sleep through a rodent gnawing on paper in the next room, but the children can sleep through a major impromptu carpentry session five feet from the bed.

Around 6:20 tomorrow morning, I will be walking up my street (literally up, it’s a hill), where, at the top, I shall catch the school bus to my first day of school.  With this, my high school years will begin, and yet another chapter of my life ends.  But, with these four years of high school up and coming, I am beginning some new things that look like tons of fun, and am preparing for the four years of life some people consider the best.

• First of all, I have gotten involved in a new-to-me sport that is loads of  fun: football.  For my international readers, I am referring to American Football, not fútbol.  I know the sport looks very dangerous, but statistically  it is less dangerous than soccer (primarily due to the use of pads).  I am playing in the roles of wide receiver and safety, with some dabbling in outside linebacker, although I would like to try kicking.  I think that’s enough ’bout me though, as you are probably bored.

• As a result of joining football, I have made new friends, and become better acquainted with a few old friends.  Some of my new friends are older than I, which is kind of new to me, because until high school, I only had kids my age in my classes and as friends.  I’m assuming this will be a high school thing…

• Now, I am looking forward to high school because, for once, I will be able to pick and choose my classes, which is a terrific break from the middle school grind.  Back in middle school, I only ever picked two classes; Spanish and Algebra (most kids stayed in pre-algebra).  Also, the school didn’t group students into classes by level, so each class was a mix of all student types.  This meant that smarter students could only advance as fast as the class, even though we learned faster.  Now, I can take honors and A.P. courses.

This a bittersweet thing because high school is going to be fun, and I get more freedom. But I am slowly creeping closer to adulthood, which also looks fun, but I will have far more on my shoulders then than I have ever had.  Adulthood is looming ahead, as age always will, and it cannot be stopped.

Webkinz World is a website in which you can ‘adopt’ a pet (represented in the real-world by a plush toy) that lives and moves within the virtual world.  Webkinz eat, sleep, and play within the online realm of www.webkinz.com.  This world is completely safe for the young ones, with interaction among the denizens of Webkinz World limited to preset phrases and no potential for the dissemination of your child’s personal information.

Webkinz World offers a host of games for young boys and girls, but it also offers something more: an arena for risk-free life lessons.  Children must earn the currency of this virtual world, Kinzcash, by playing games or completing various tasks.  Only when they have earned enough Kinzcash can they purchase items such as clothing, furniture, and food from the Webkinz store.   Suddenly, my son, Max is faced with the responsibility for budgeting his Kinzcash amongst the needs of his three Webkinz: Blue Lou the hippo, Joe the tiger, and Eagle the frog.  (Don’t ask; I didn’t name them.)

Much like in real life, my son eschews the concept of saving and seeks the instant gratification of buying what he can afford now.  At Wal-Mart, if I allow the boy to purchase whatever cheap toy fits his budget now, he ends up with a piece of junk that will soon be discarded, while getting no closer to purchasing the higher end toy he really wants.  In Webkinz World, the price of such a poor decision is less significant due to the ease of earning more Kinzcash and the ability to resell unwanted items.

So Max is free to try and fail, the safety net of Webkinz World minimizing the pain of buying ANOTHER sofa when he really should save up for a new room in which to put it.  In the same way, forgetting to feed our real-life cat has dire consequences, but Blue Lou has been known to go weeks without being fed and has endured.  Such a lack of penalty, if unchecked, could be detrimental to the development of a young person’s sense of responsibility.  But utilized as a part of a conscientious parent’s tutelage, Webkinz World can be one more arrow in our parenthood quiver.  And in the real world, we need all the arrows we can get.

We all want our children to grow up to be well adjusted adults in this crazy world.  I even have an image of the type of woman I want my daughter to be.  However, if I don’t model the person I’m hoping for, 18 years from now will I see me in the mirror or the image I have for my daughter?

As children are growing up, we strive to make sure they use ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’  We even tell them to respect others and hold the door or say excuse me.  Many of us struggle to ensure we don’t use foul language or offensive phrases in the presence of our children.  This is all because we are molding them to be the person we want them to be.

When we say a swear word and then justify it by saying this is an adult word, we are really saying ‘When you are an adult, there are no rules.’  When I turned 18, I thought it was time to visit F-Bomb city.  I learned quickly there was a time and a place.  The same goes for holding the door as the elderly woman walks in to model respect and then cutting the same person off 10 minutes later on the highway.

As parents we are sending mixed messages.  Our children are picking up what we do and not what we say.  ’Smoking is very bad for you,’ as we light up for a smoke.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse did a 2005 study showing parents who smoked were twice as likely to have children who become smokers.  I am willing to bet most of those kids saw their parents try to quit at least once and even were lectured on the dangers of this habit.  Yet, monkey see, monkey do.  I fell victim to this as did three out of four of my siblings.

I am already seeing my 10 month old daughter model our behaviors and personalities.  Usually she picks up on the bad stuff faster.  I am praying and hoping I can curb this and model to her the person I want her to become.

Helping your child pack and subsequently move into college can be a huge ordeal. The whole process is typically very stressful, and that’s coming from the teen perspective. Here are a few tips to make the process run as smoothly as possible:

• Make checklists and keep questions to a minimum. Start a checklist at least a week before your child heads off to college. Many colleges actually provide checklists that you can use as a basic template. This checklist can constantly be edited. You might want to make some additions, but your child can also chose to eliminate items he or she finds unnecessary, without a huge verbal discussion about it. This also reduces the all-too-familiar question, “Did you remember to pack your [insert item here]?” The beauty of a checklist is that it’s all on paper; fewer arguments arise.
• Let your child control most of the packing. Parents might want to make the entire list themselves, to ensure that their child has everything he or she needs, but this really won’t work. Teenagers are bound to refuse to bring a few of the items that their parents suggest; let them be. They might regret their decision later, but allow them make that mistake and call it a learning experience.
• Buy snacks. Pack snacks, but also have snacks to eat while you’re packing. A little bit of food and energy goes a long way. It helps reduce the stress that’s building up. A teen can become very frustrated trying to cram their entire wardrobe into a suitcase, but a simple smoothie can hold those anxieties at bay. It’s comfort food; you know how it works.
• Keep in mind that your child is as anxious as you. Tensions might be running high, but don’t take it personally. You’re nervous? You’re a bit stressed? So are we. Try to remember this as the process continues. You don’t want to say good bye in a bad mood.

Keep these few tips in mind and you’re well on your way to helping your child make a (relatively) smooth transition into college. Good luck!

Remember the days when you stayed in to play a board game. Remember when you were a kid and enjoyed Monopoly and Candyland? Today, society is all about technology moving as fast as the internet. However, in the midst of all of this, I found a way to slow down and stay in. The best part is, it only has two words: Mad Gab.

Mad Gab is actually a card game. There is a set of cards and each card has two sides. One side is orange and one side is blue. According to Mad Gab, the orange side is harder. The name of the game is simple: say what you hear not what you see. For example: the blue side of my card says: “Since Henna Tea Ojai Owe”. Although it looks like jibberish, once your teammate says it a few times fast, you will eventually guess that it “translates” into “Cincinnati, Ohio”. Similarly, the title of this article is “Doesn’t Make Any Sense To Me”. While there is a point system and timer for the game, I chose not to use it to create a more fun and relaxed atmosphere. And let’s be honest, it can take a long time to de-code some of these!

My favorite thing about this game is that it is a game that can be played by anyone of the age of ten or older and by anywhere from two to twelve people! It is a fun games that can be played by teens and especially young adults. It will make you laugh so hard that you cry. It is a great way to entertain you and your friends for hours at a time! This game never gets old and will make you laugh until you cannot laugh anymore! Remember, in Mad Gab, “It’s not what you SAY, It’s What You HEAR!”.

It’s that time again. The bittersweet time of year when we send the kiddos back off to school.  Time to check off the list of to do’s before we drop them off for the first day.

1) Back to school shopping.  Timing is everything.  Many states are now offering a tax free period for back to school purchases.  Now we’re faced with a decision: is the seven cents per dollar that we’ll save worth the aggravation of fighting roving packs of angry mothers in search of the last twelve pack of #2 pencils?  Maybe, maybe not.

2) School uniforms.  If your school requires a uniform, you probably had to order months ago, before the child’s latest growth spurt.  Will it fit or won’t it?  Even if it fits now, how long until he does outgrow it?  It’s always a moving target with the school uniforms.

3) Reprogramming.  Most of us let the rules slip during the summer.  Bedtime stretches from 8:30 to 9 to 9:45ish.  With just weeks remaining  before the start of a new school year, it’s time to start making the adjustment back to a reasonable bed time.  This transition time is never popular with the kids, but getting a jump on it now is much better than waiting for the jarring adjustment when it really matters.  The fighting and whining now will be well worth it when you’re actually able to get them up, dressed, and fed on time for the first day back.

4) End of Summer Cleaning.  Now is a good time to clean the kids’ rooms and get rid of outgrown clothes, broken toys, and assorted unwanted items.  Getting rid of the clutter will give the children a fresh start to a new year and may even help them to keep organized for the upcoming school projects.

With the clock ticking down to the end of summer vacation and the return to school, now is the time to get a jump on the preparations that will ensure a smooth transition.

As you can see, this is the third episode in an epic saga.  For all you Twilight freaks/aficionados, I was actually referring to my series of articles about vacationing with grandparents, not your beloved book/movie series.  My first volume is essentially where I established my creditability on this subject by listing my numerous travels with grandparents and in Volume Two, I spoke of the three major problems seen traveling with grandparents.  Below, I’m going to list a few cures for these three problems, commonly seen vacationing with grandparents.

• The first problem I listed was not listening, specifically to the adults in charge.  Now, this problem is very common, even outside of vacation.  There is no perfect cure for it, which makes it as problematic as it is.  The best solution I can think of is simple, but harsh.  When a child or children doesn’t listen, lay down a swift and effective punishment.  Now this could incite an even larger rebellion, but it is more likely to end the problem.  Simply outweigh the reward from not listening with a punishment.
• The next issue, stress, is very similar to not listening because both lack a definite cure and can be hard to handle.  Like I said in the last article, leaving people together for several days is bound to cause stress.  Once someone is overly stressed out, they will probably break down or get into a fight.  At this point, telling them to calm down WON’T WORK!!!  Instead, do everything in your power to stop it before it happens, like setting up compromises, getting cots in hotels, etc.
• Now, as for rule differences, this is the only one with a simple answer.  Whomever is in charge should lay down a universal set of rules for the trip so that there is not anyone trying to make claims that certain rules do not apply, as of reason x.

This is the final installment of my epic saga, in which I detailed my travel with grandparents, common problems, and their solutions.  So, I leave you with one last thought: if a child is a major trouble-maker and could cause a very serious problem (like really not listening), does he/she deserve to travel?

A couple weeks ago, I discussed the advantages associated with teens and tweens have their own cell phones.  If you’re thinking this might be a good purchase for your child, I have some suggestions regarding the purchase of the phone and choosing a contract.

The phone

Most cell phone carriers offer you a vast array of cell phones, from free to hundreds of dollars.  The free option may work for some families.  Depending on the age of your child, the free phone may not be cool enough.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that you need to cater to every wish, but there are ways to please everyone.

• Make the free phone the default choice for your child’s phone.
• If your child wants a phone with a price tag, the phone then becomes a gift for the next major holiday, or your child needs to save money (allowance, babysitting money, etc.) to pay for part or all of the phone.

Of course, there also is the issue of certain phones requiring a data plan.  Adding a data plan to your cell phone plan is costly, approximately twenty-five dollars per person.  In our house, cell phones with data plans are not an option, as it is an added expense.  Once the kids are old enough to hold part-time jobs, it will be their decision as to whether they want to pay the fee in order to have a phone with a data plan. (Why would a 12  year old need constant access to email and the Internet anyway?)

The Plan

Cell phone plans range in the number of minutes and texts allowed.  Having three social children, ages 12, 13, and 14, I have kept a watchful eye on our monthly cell phone bill to ensure that we didn’t exceed our allotted time.  However, as I have seen there is very little time spent talking, the more important feature is texting.  Our cell company allows us to add unlimited texting to all phones for ten dollars a month.  This minor expense is worth it; I have heard numerous horror stories of huge phone bills from families with a set number of texts allowed each month.  Sure, you could hold your child responsible for not sending more than the allotted number of texts, but they can’t control the texts that they receive and for which you are charged.

Although cell phones aren’t a necessity, they definitely are beneficial to both parent and child.  Do a little research, and you will find a phone and plan that works for everyone.