And in Other News

[Haggis@wk]

Schmeelkie,

Some of my favorites;

Some of my favorites:

” Sit on a front porch and enjoy a popsicle or ice cream treat. Make your own popsicles with white grape or apple juice. A pediatric dietician for the Clinical Nutrition Department offers a fruit smoothie recipe: Blend together small amounts of low fat yogurt, milk, fresh fruit and ice cubes."

(Jeez, whatever happened to Popsicles, Dreamsicles and DQ ?”)

"Summer is travel time. The key to traveling safely, says The Department of Infectious Diseases, is to visit a physician at least six weeks before departure. This allows time for immunizations, such as tetanus, hepatitis, measles, mumps, polio and influenza, to provide the highest protection."

(Kids, we’re going to visit Grandma, lets all go to the doctor’s for our shots!!!)

"Plan a fun-filled family trip before the children return to school. Jeanne Weintraub, R.N., Pediatric Health Center, reminds parents never to attempt to deliver constructive discipline while driving. Wait until it is safe and then pull off the road as far as possible."

(heh, how many times have we all heard – or said – “Don’t make me come back there!!!!”)

"Children relish unscheduled days at home. Teach them to play safely on outside trampolines, in swimming pools, on bikes and skateboards and in-line skates. A n estimated 40 percent of all childhood injury-related Emergency Department visits occur between May and August."

(That’s “unscheduled”???)


Angie,

We live in England in 58 and my father bought a "toy" pram for my sister that was so beautiful he kept it in the garage after she out grew it and in 1975 when he found out my sister was pregnant he totally refurbished it. (yes, it was big enough for an infant!)

When he found out that she was having twins (it wasn't that big!) my wife and I just learned "we" were pregnant so he reserved it for us and....we had twins!

I don't have any idea what happend to it (both parents are dead). I need to ask my sister or my nieces.

"my wife and I just learned "we" were pregnant"

"We," talk about the height of male arrogance!!

I don't remember the "we" part when she had to have a "C" section.

[Schmeelkie]

Yeah - I hate that 'we are pregnant' line - can't you just say, 'we're having a baby' or 'we're going to be parents'? I have a very sympathetic and helpful husband, but he knew HE wasn't pregnant. I mean it really didn't feel real to him until he could feel the baby kicking at about 22 weeks. Meanwhile, I KNEW I was pregnant for much longer.

[piqaboo]

May to August (inclusive) is an estimate 35% of the calendar year, so having an estimated ~40% of injuries occur in that time frame seems quite reasonable to me!

Everything has become so equipment-laden that it serves to discourage activity.
Remember sneakers? You had one pair. You wore them to walk, hide, ride bikes, scramble, play tennis, golf, football, boating, whatever. I have a friend who has "the right shoes" for ever activity listed above. I always wonder what happens when he gets a great opportunity but doesnt have the right shoes close to hand?

I am quite sure that helmets save kids lives, but what a pain in teh neck to keep track of on a long summers hop-on-and-off bike ride!

[piqaboo]

AT this age, I dont feel the need to use the seat-condom as much as before. Right now its for a) generic seatbelt (good point OT!), b) germ exposure reduction (I know she has to get exposed to have a strong immune system, but she's too young to learn to wash her hands yet!).

"Inthe beginning".. it supported the Altoid so she could stay upright when she could sit by herself, but not on a slippery or sloped surface.
I think it let us use restaurant high chairs at least a month earlier than we would otherwise have been able to. Altoid prefers the visual vantage point compared to the kneelevel view of the stroller. Ditto she likes the high view (and facing her parents) of pram better. Stroller fits so much better into trunk!

rolling sideways down long grassy slopes.......
sliding down storm-ditches built on hills....
digging for shark's teeth in the local housing development-in-process (my early childhood home was over an ancient inland sea bed).

[Angie Parkes]

Piq, I admit to playing the heavy when it comes to wheels and helmets. Bikes, skateboards, and even scooters have to be accompanied by helmets in our house. In Alberta it's law that anyone under 18 has to wear a helmet if they're riding a bike, but I insist on the other wheels, too.

Mind you, I spent 18 months working in a brain injury support group, so I'm pretty anal about this.

I felt that the worst thing about that article was the smarmy use of euphemisms. My guess is that "proper hygiene" when swimming means don't pee in the pool.

Haggis, my sister, who was born in 1947, had a doll pram when she was a kid. She was a real tomboy, so she used it to haul coal and firewood!

[Haggis@wk]

Piq,
The only thing good about going back to school when I was a kid was that I got a new pair of "Keds."

http://sneakers.pair.com/l/ked1960a.jpg

(the image was too big. Here's the link to the kind of Keds I meant.


I'm here to tell you that with a new pair of Keds I was my own trampoline and space program! I could jump over the moon with the cow.

I never knew how "tired" the old pair were until I got the new pair.

Damn, that was so cool.

<small>[ 05-05-2005, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Haggis@wk ]</small>

[piqaboo]

Enjoy a nice #24, but dont forget to heed #'s 2, 6, 12, 14, 17, 18, 23 & 25. Have a nice relaxed and fun filled summer now!

Except that those on water intake are probably out of date. Too much water in sweaty conditions, with no salt replacement (aka food), leads to over-diluted blood, which leads to nasty problems including death.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Getting new shoes for school - I remember that! Not that I ever had hi-top Keds. I wanted girlie sneekers.

Downside of getting the new shoes was wearing them over the summer calluses. Barefoot was my preferred summer mode, and we had zoris for when it was too hot to step on asphalt. Sunday involved shoes for church, which was an intolerable torment.

Bike helmets? Not invented yet. Nor car seatbelts. My friends and I used to bike down to the flood-control ditch, climb down the sides of the ditch, explore adventure and catch horney toads in the ditch. Barefoot. If we found rattlesnakes we'd kill them then wonder if somebody would cook the snake for us this time - (Well, it was supposed to taste like chicken, right?)

I don't think we did any of the things on that 29-point list of 30 things to do in the summer. They left out the flood control ditch, mudpies drying on the swing set, tomato-worm-hunting, tree-climbing, and sundry other unsafe fun activities.

[piqaboo]

I did one of those "funfilled family hikes" once, and got bees stuck in my hair when we walked past a swarming hive, and 23 ticks on my body and head when we (must have) walked under a shrub with a bunch of newly hatched pendulating baby ticks.

No mention of avoiding those risks.....

No mention of riding horse bareback (horse) and barefoot (me), hellbent for leather up hill and down dale and thru the local pond (even the horses had to swim).

[OperaTenor]

"Barefoot was my preferred summer mode, and we had zoris for when it was too hot to step on asphalt. "

Pfaff, I say! I think I developed something like 1/2" thick calluses on my feet walking barefoot on asphalt during summers in AZ.

[Haggis@wk]

"Downside of getting the new shoes was wearing them over the summer calluses."

Gawd, yes Selma!

Sunday school was agony (I sang in the choir so we'd take our shoes off. With the robes and being in the choir loft we could get away with it)

Horny toads were just making their way north from Southern Florida in the early 60's; escapees from road side attractions. I remember seeing a picture of one in our local newspaper ("The Playground Daily News" alas, no more) and every kid from 9 - 13 was looking for those suckers (never did catch one)

One last thing that we'd probably go nuts if we saw our kids do was belly board in storm (hurricane) surf; before and after.

[Angie Parkes]

Selma, what are zoris?

I, too, used to go barefoot all summer (still do as much as possible) and one day my mother complained that the neighbours would think that I had no shoes. I kept going barefoot, but would carry my shoes with me in case the neighbours were looking.

I wasn't any more interesting as a child than I am as an adult. My chief pleasures were swimming at a very deep, very cold lake (no lifeguards, no parents) and spending hours reading under a huge willow tree in a friend's yard down the street.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by Haggis@wk:
Horny toads ...(never did catch one)

Too bad; horny toads are necessary to one of the very best practical jokes ever invented.

We had all these midwesterners for teachers because California was populating so rapidly. Many of them urban or suburban types, sheltered, civilized, unused to barbarians. A strategically placed horny toad in a desk drawer was usually a nice surprise.

Some of the newer teachers would WHACK!! the horny toad, in a surprised defensive maneuver that never worked out well. It's true. Badly upset horny toads really can shoot blood out of their eyes. Shrieking teacher, howling class, venegeful principal. Notes to parents.

[GreatCarouser]

...and I suppose you thought it was a joke in Men in Black ?

The Weekly World News

[dai bread]

Summer nostalgia.......

The beach. We lived within easy walking distance of a safe one, so there was often not an adult in sight, esp. after school. Dry sand, beyond the reach of the tide, and wet sand, so we could play with toy boats on the dry sand and cars & trucks on the wet sand. Sound Irish? The dry sand had a sea-like surface; the wet sand was flat, and we could build with it.

The dinghy. The beach was sheltered by a breakwater and harbour a few miles off, but otherwise, next stop Chile. We had huge fun surfing the boat in to shore like Australian lifeguards, only better. (At least in our opinion)!

The drainage channel. Tidal, and big enough to almost warrant being called a river. Fishing for flounder with spears. Yes, speared feet were known! The channel drained open country, not built-up areas, so the water was reasonably clean and the flounder edible .

The footy field. Rugby, that is, and surrounded by wide open fields studded with trees. Very good for cowboys & indians, with cap guns if we were lucky enough to have them. Also good for a much more violent game called bullrush or bar-the-gate, resembling rugby league.


All of this barefoot, of course. No nasties to worry about, just metalled roads, hot sand and thorn bushes. Even today I go barefoot around the house & yard all summer.

I tried to give my children a taste of this by taking them every summer for several years to a cousin's bach (holiday cabin) up north, on a little peninsula with ocean on one side and harbour on the other. The children had great fun surfing in a canoe. So did I.

[piqaboo]

Barefoot rules.
Zoris, aka Go-Aheads, aka flipflops, aka thongs, aka jailshoes.

Go Aheads because you caint go back'rds in 'em.

We were not allowed to be on the ground near the horses barefoot, for fear of tetanus and puncture wounds. So, we wore flipflops, and kicked em off once we were aboard. Mostly we were barefoot and prided ourselves on our calluses. Disneyland barefoot is a whole new world. They actually had some stone stairs that felt soft to barefeet.
Got in trouble on vacation because we'd barefoot out of the hotel, the manager thought it made us look like poor trash, and wanted to kick us out. The bellboy intervened (my girlfriend was a cutie) and told us what the problem was. We wore our zories thru teh lobby after that, down the block to the corner, then pocketed them.

Biking, swimming (Marco, Polo!), picking blackberries, and oranges from condemned groves, chasing butterflies. All the fun Altoid has to look forward to!

[BigJon@Work]

Originally posted by Angie:
I bought a cap rocket for my boys!

One of the ways I can be identified as a bad mother is that I don't schedule anything for my kids during the summer unless they hear of something really cool they'd like to do.

You are a mom of great value! I wish there were more like you.

I was just eyeballing a local creek that I'm going to tell my 7-year old to make his home this summer.

BigJon

[Haggis@wk]

Did anyone have a tree house? Man I wanted a tree house so bad but my father never would let me.

We had this fantastic 50+ y.o. live oak in the back yard with the perfect spread of branches to make a great tree house.

The house now belongs to me and my sister (I'm buying her out and plan to retire there) and I still think of that might-have-been tree house.

58 isn't too old to build and play in a tree house is it?

[Angie Parkes]

Haggis, I can't think of anything sweeter than bringing a childhood dream to fruition when you are old enough to appreciate how special it is.

The only drawback I can see is that if you build it, we all might come!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

No, 58 is not too old for a treehouse. I'm pretty sure it will be well designed, sturdy, won't hurt the tree, and may feature some sort of elevator feature. That way you can get the keg upstairs.

I recommend putting in an electrical conduit, securely fastened to the trunk, for the keg fridge. And the computer. Put in a FireWire hub on the back porch, speakers on the treehouse computer, and you have beer, b.com, and butterflies all summer long. Can't beat that with a stick!