Ode to my Dog

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I am sitting on the couch thinking about a blog topic for today. I look down at my dog who is lying next to me, attached at the hip (well, thigh). My constant companion (when I am home). Always ready to dance at my joys and lick away my sorrows. So, here’s to you, Rafa, my dog. A musing on my answer to, “Why have a pet?”

Parade of Pets

For the first 20 years of parenting, any pets in my house were of the short-term variety. One daughter brought a goldfish home from school. Within a week, it was floating on top of its bowl.

Another daughter brought an anole home from school. The poor lizard refused to eat. And my poor daughter was a wreck as she watched it waste away. I finally suggested that we set the anole free in the back yard where it would live in its natural environment. I’m not sure what happened to the anole but my daughter felt a lot better.

Our longest-lived pet was a hamster named Little John. Aside from cleaning its cage, my main memory of him was the kids creating elaborate mazes for him to run through. He died on my 40th birthday. I felt there was something symbolic lurking there though I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Then…a Dog

Getting a dog was my idea. My oldest daughter was in college and my middle daughter was going to be leaving home in a year. I worried that my youngest daughter who was used to the boisterous interaction with sisters would be lonely with just me. She needed someone to play with, share her frustrations with. Well, if not some ONE than some THING.

Love All Around

Enter Rafa. A tiny fluffy ball of fur with two bright eyes and a button nose. He instantly became the center of attention. The girls love him. I love him. Strangers on the street coo over him. My father – who would love to adopt a dog of his own – loves him. My mother – who is clear with my father that this dog-adoption dream will remain but a dream – welcomes Rafa visits and surreptitiously gives her “grandson” cookie treats that are off limits at home.

Everything the experts say about the benefits of dogs has been true for us. We laugh more. We walk more (as in: trotting Rafa around the neighborhood several times a day). We feel the rush of joy that comes from being greeted when we walk in the door after a long day in the world. (I particularly love the wagging tail.) And, yes, my daughter and I have been comforted many times by cuddling up with this unconditionally loving little being.

Rafa is no longer a puppy. He is quickly catching up to me in age. Another joy: sharing middle aged concerns!

There are many jokes about dog owners who rhapsodize over their pets. I laugh at them, too. Because a lot of the silly stuff attributed to dog owners is actually true. I admit Rafa often reduces me to my silliest self. Another thing I am grateful for.

I will end with this: When we brought Rafa into our lives, I had a limited idea of the value of a pet. Over Rafa’s eight years, I have seen him transform a multitude of moments in the lives of many many people. I now know that pets are invaluable.

Share your favorite dog stories.

The Power of Poetry

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I often commiserate with others about avoiding poetry. A lot of poems seem so obscure. It’s like staring at an abstract modern painting and trying to decide what it means. I can feel some ultra intellectual snob looking over my shoulder in a condescending way, exhaling a long exasperated sigh at my cluelessness.

But if I step back from my fear of being seen as a rube, I can conjure up lots of moments in my life when poetry has brought me a joy that no other form of writing can.

Poetry: Delicious Language

In my early phase, I was taken with the language of poetry. The first poem I remember loving is T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The first few lines enthralled me:

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized on a table.

I was fascinated with the etherized patient. “Ether” was a tantalizing image for me when I was a child – resulting in many, many readings of Curious George Goes to the Hospital. And an eternal love for this poem.

Poetry: The Glee of Rule-Breaking

Another early favorite was e e cummings. I think I may have liked him because he
didn’t use capital letters
or periods
what a rebel

Poetry: The Outpouring of Emotion

As I grew, I became more enamored of the romance, the emotional sway of poetry. Adrienne Rich became a favorite. As in her Twenty-One Love Poems, II:

and I laugh and fall dreaming again
of the desire to show you to everyone I love,
to move openly together
in the pull of gravity, which is not simple,
which carries the feathered grass a long way down the upbreathing air.

Poetry: The Connection of Sharing

As a young mother I delighted in the communal nature of poetry. Especially silly poetry that I would read aloud to my girls, sending us all into gales of laughter. Here are a few lines from Shel Silverstein’s Ridiculous Rose:

Her mama said, “Don’t eat with your fingers.”
“OK,” said Ridiculous Rose,
So she ate with her toes.

Poetry: The Expression of Social Commentary

As the mother of teenagers and young adults, I have spent many hours in the car listening to the social commentary of rap. Though I don’t always admire the lyrics, I love the rhythms of Eminem, JZ, and Pitbull. And one the very first rap songs to grab me seems worlds ago now but I still like it – The Crown by Gary Byrd and the GB Experience

Next time you feel like you’re in a rut
Go see the mighty kingdom of King Tut.
It will blow your mind, no doubt, it’s true
‘Cause, guess what, King Tut looks just like you.

Of course, social commentary is not new to this century. Emily Dickinson wrote over a hundred years ago:

They shut me up in Prose –
As when a little Girl
They put me in the Closet –
Because they liked me “still”

Poetry: Find What is Powerful For You

When I went to college, I told my Chinese-American roommate that I didn’t like Chinese food. I didn’t understand (but I later learned) that this is like saying I don’t like food. That’s how many Chinese dishes there are. So, too, with poetry. There is something out there for everyone.

Share your favorite poems and experiences of reading poetry!

Teaching Love of Country

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I was torn about today’s blog. After all, today is Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day to all! And tomorrow is President’s Day. And there’s lots to say about both. What to do? Decisions. Decisions.

Meshing Valentines Day and President’s Day

So here it is. I always think expansively about Valentine’s Day, not limiting myself to celebrating romantic love. I’ve made countless doilied valentines for parents, sisters, children, and romantic partners. In college, my roommate and I made dozens of homemade heart-shaped cookies and passed them out to friends and professors around campus. To my way of thinking, V Day is a celebration if love in the broadest sense.

Turning to President’s Day, we celebrate the leaders of our country. Why? Out of a desire to honor the leaders of this country that we love.

There’s the overlap. Love of country.

Trying Times

We are in trying times. A lot of Americans do not love the current condition of their country. For many, it’s harder and harder to make ends meet. Time with family is harder and harder to squeeze in. Retirement recedes further and further from our grasp. It’s a scary time where hatred is palpable. People are often suspicious of those who look different, talk different, worship different. Some of us wish desperately for the good old days. Others of us wish just as desperately for a future that has been an elusive promise since the days of our founding fathers.

What, then, is love of country in times such as ours? And how do we teach this love of country to our children?

Love of Country

This February, along with V Day and Prez Day we are immersed in election season. We flock to the polls to vote. To me, this is the ultimate act of love for our country. For many, voting is takes incredible determination. Bum legs or weak lungs can make the physical act of getting to the voting booth a Herculean challenge. Rounding up the identification required in some states can require wading through pools of red tape. Ill-equipped polling places and malfunctioning voting machines can cause lines around the block.

In the face of all this, stories abound of our American citizenry’s fierce will to vote. My mother tells the story of an old woman who stood for hours on swollen legs to cast her vote for Obama saying, “I have waited all my life for this. I can wait a little longer.” A young man once told me of how he was turned away from his polling place for not having the right ID; undeterred, he endured hours in the Office of Vital Records getting the proof he needed, then claimed his ballot and voted. Every election year, thousands of energetic volunteers zip around their cities and towns driving the handicapped to and from their polling places.

What do these stories say to me? They say that people will do almost anything to exercise their right to vote. Why? Because they are invested in democracy. And they love their country.

Teaching Love of Country

If we love our country, we want it to flourish now and in the future. We will not always be here. We must pass the torch to the next generation. How do we do that?

Actually celebrate President’s Day. What an opportunity! A day off to share with our kids, to read about, talk about, watch movies about our country’s leaders, past and current. In my youth, we had a recording of this comedian named David Frye who did impressions of President Nixon. I may not have understood all the references but some of the issues sunk in.

These stories might inspire your child to declare he or she will be president one day. Maybe explore your child’s Presidential agenda – sometimes an eye opener. Your child might rhapsodize about world peace. Or maybe about making school for kids optional.

Watch the debates, have an election day party with your kids. Every four years, we have the chance to engage our children around the issues most important to our country today. And, just as important, to give them a visceral sense of the democratic process that they will be a party of. I loved sitting in front of the TV with my parents, watching the election results roll in. It felt like one big party that included my little family and all of those many people in rooms across the country shown on my TV screen. And we got to eat bowls and bowls of popcorn!

Share symbols of our country with your children. My birthday is July 3 and when I was a kid we always had a 4th of July picnic which I thought was to celebrate me. It was a great opportunity for my parents to explain, “No. We are celebrating our country and our membership in this great community.” There were flags. I wore my red, white and blue outfit. Fireworks were my favorite.

Encourage your kids to get involved. The 1968 election. I was ten. My parents supported Kennedy, then Humphrey. I supported McGovern. After school, I’d march myself down to the local McGovern campaign office and stuff envelopes with the adults. And I got cool campaign buttons.

Enough reminiscing. It’s 2016. How do you teach love of country?

Chinese New Year – A Celebration of Family

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When my children were in grade school, one day each year they would march with their classmates and teachers in a big in-school parade through the halls. They would don colorful capes and masks and carry bright red lanterns. They would end the parade with gatherings in their classroom to share an array of special eats.

What were they celebrating? Chinese New Year.

Another Holiday!

You might be holidayed out. Or you may be thinking – yay! Another distraction from the dark deep freeze we find ourselves in. We humans do our best to dress up the winter months (each and every one of them, it seems) with light and color and comfort food.

A Celebration of Family

Either way, I think Chinese New Year is worth noting. Why? Because the partying at this holiday is about honoring the bonds of family.

When the Chinese started this tradition in ancient days, the birth family was the most important unit of relationship. In 2016, the concept of “family” is broader – it can include extended family, blended family, partners, and dear friends. But the essence of the celebration is the same: taking time out of our busy lives (yep, put those computers away!) to gather with our inner circle. This can be a great ritual for children. A time to honor the reciprocal bond among their family members that supports and nurtures, rejoices in successes and comforts when there are disappointments.

So I intend to celebrate. And maybe you will, too. It doesn’t need to be for the entire weeklong holiday. Even just a quiet dinner can be profound: a moment to honor and affirm the importance of family to us as individuals, to our local communities, and to our human community around the world.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Share your stories of celebrating family.

Black History (Every) Month

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When I was a small child, I was taught that the continent on which we live was discovered by Christopher Columbus. For a long time, I had the hardest time remembering if he was Italian or Spanish (in fact, of course, he was Italian but sailed for Spain). I remember I had a hazy image of a humongous, dark, uninhabited rocky terrain – and cold, very cold – that was just sitting there for what might have been an eternity until one day Columbus bumped up against this desolate place and CLICK! the lights came on (picture one of those closets with sensored lights that automatically come on when you open the door), cities popped up, and some years later, I was born. And so we created a holiday to celebrate good old Chris for having made all of our lives possible. In some ways, he seemed like a creator.

Of course, this is not the way it happened. Fast forward to my kids at the same age. They learned about Christopher Columbus, too. But they learned he was just one of many characters who paraded across our continent. There were First Nations who built sophisticated homes and tools and art, and who sometimes suffered – I remember my children’s great concern about the Trail of Tears. There were pilgrims and others from Europe searching for religious freedom, and blacks, some who were explorers, most who came as slaves.

My children drew pictures of those early days – not the dark boulders I had envisioned but towering green trees, gold and blue maize, bison, and people of various colors and styles. The image my children carried around was not that we owed our history to one great (European) man but that many people, many cultures got us to where we are and who we are today.

The origins of Black History Month go way back before my children’s early education. The idea began as Black History Week in February 1926, organized by Carter G. Woodson, the second black man to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. This was extended to a month of study in 1976.

Of course, a lot has changed even since 1976. Technological progress had brought black artists and athletes, scientists and even a President onto our screens on a regular basis.

The question is: Do we still need Black History Month?

I can’t answer this question with a definitive Yes or No. But I can say without a doubt that we need to teach our children our history as a nation. And that history needs to include the role played by African-Americans in all of our history’s many facets. Why?

There are many.

To me, the most compelling reason to study the past is to shape a better future. I’ll harken back to a past blog post about cookie-making. My daughter stubbornly set about making cookies without regard for the baking that had come before her. She was not aware that others had tried the minimalist flour/water combination that led to tasteless rocklike cookies time and time again. She was not aware that somewhere down the line, someone had added baking powder with wondrous results. And that scattered through history, some bakers hit upon recipes that resulted in cookies heavenly enough for the gods. And that many times, these results were actually preserved in writing for future generations to learn from. When she finally acknowledged that there was a lot to be gained from baking history, she was able to piggy-back on this to create her most delectable treats.

We, as a people, have the same potential to learn from past mistakes and build on past glories. Someday, I hope we will not need to set aside a month to remind us to include the black past as part of our teachings. Until then, Happy Black History Month!

Share your favorite stories from black history.

Teaching the Meaning of Martin Luther King

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I was a child during the time Martin Luther King changed America. I was ten years old when he was killed. What I remember most about him in my child’s eye memory are the rhythms, the cadences of his speeches. Even though I did not understand all that he was talking about, I understood that it was urgent, important, world-changing. I knew deep inside me on a very emotional level, that he was a person for the ages. He made me feel that everything would be all right.

Even though I was so young, I remember exactly where I was when I learned he had been shot – I was at the grocery store looking through teen magazines while my father shopped. And someone came running through the store moaning and sobbing. And for a while, I felt like the world had been thrown off its center.

My older self has learned much more about the particulars of Martin Luther King’s life. His work was so profound, so broad as well as deep, that I cannot possibly say enough here to do it all justice.

Is there a way, then, to share with our children a sense of who Martin Luther King was and why his life and work are important to our lives now?

I think so.

Listening to Martin Luther King Speeches

When my children were little, we spent part of every Martin Luther King day listening to one of his speeches. Here I give thanks to the wonders of you tube. For those who are interested, here are some links:

These are links to full-length speeches. For those with shorter attention spans, you will have no trouble finding clips/highlights a couple of minutes in length.

Learning About Martin Luther King’s Life

There are plenty of video biographies that outline, in varying levels of detail, the facts of MLK’s life. Check out http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr/videos for videos on the history channel website.

There are also books geared toward every different age level. For small children, check out Martin’s Big Words. For older children take a look at Martin Luther King Jr. (10 Days) or take a look at something written by MLK himself.

Encouraging Your Child’s Response to Martin Luther King

At points in their lives, my children have felt compelled to create their own personal responses to what they’ve learned about Martin Luther King. They certainly are not alone in this regard. I recently ran across a video created (with help!) by a five-year-old girl who had developed a strong interest in Martin Luther King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMr1Df80-j4. The possibilities are endless – art projects, stories, poems, research, videos, and on and on.

Many communities have special Martin Luther King Day events. Getting out and being part of a group of people focused on Martin Luther King’s legacy is an opportunity for children of today to build emotional as well as intellectual memory of MLK’s meaning in the world today. The kind of memory that sticks.

Martin Luther King Day: A Day “On”

You may have heard this phrase. It’s an opportunity to use your day “off” to continue MLK’s work. The Corporation for National and Community Service lists some ways to volunteer: http://www.nationalservice.gov/mlkday. Check your local news sources for opportunities near you!

My last thought for today. There are many wonderful MLK quotes. Here are two to reflect on this holiday:

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

New Year’s Resolutions: Are They Worth Anything At All?

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The Christmas tree is still up for a few days more and there’s candy lingering in bowls on practically every surface around the house. But other than that, the festivities have wound down. Adults are thinking about going back to work. Children are getting ready to go back to school. The old year has ended. The new one has begun. And here in the U.S. we have this tradition of making resolutions.

Who Makes Resolutions?

I’ve been reading online that in some families, kids make resolutions, too. Some resolve to get better at things – like sports or the violin or math. Others resolve to be a better person –like not fighting with siblings or being more helpful around the house. One girl has resolved to try new foods. First on her list—alligator!

My kids didn’t make resolutions. But I have to admit, I made some for them. Thoughtful, meaningful, handwritten cards for birthdays and mothers day and the like. That was a big one for me. My daughters tried pretty hard to convince me that no one writes cards like that anymore (a stone ages thing, they said) and no one expects cards like that and no one appreciates cards like that. Ah – but I do. Having grown up in the Wilma Flintstone era, as I did. And you know what? My kids did write them. And they still do. And now one of them has a boyfriend who loves this kind of card as much as I do. ☺

Still, I hear that this little story is the exception, not the norm. A Forbes Magazine article a few years ago reported that only 12% of people making resolutions actually keep them.

So Is There a Point to Making Resolutions at All?

I think so. And here’s why:

  • Structure. Our lives are full of actions, big and small. It’s kinda like the Internet. If we start surfing without knowing (at least generally) what we’re looking for, we can spend hours drowning in all the info that’s out there –I call it getting Internet drunk – and we don’t remember a thing we’ve read when we finally shut down. Resolutions remind us what we’re looking for.
  • Hope. Springs eternal. And a new year gives us a do-over, a chance to get it right. Never mind that we’ve been trying for the last ten years to lose those extra ten pounds. This will be the year! So we say January 1. And just to think it feels good, is inspiring. We may not lose those pounds. But we might. And without hope, we don’t even try.
  • Accomplishment…or at least Progress. Maybe by December 31, those ten pounds will be history. Or maybe the scale needle will stop on a number two pounds lighter than where it was on January 1. (As an aside, my scale reminds me of The Wheel of Fortune. I watch the needle bounce around as I bounce around on the scale, adjusting my posture, of course, and I wait in focused expectation to see just where it will stop. But I digress.) The point is two pounds lighter is better than nothing and a lot better than two pounds heavier. To get there takes self-discipline. But when you do get there, it is an accomplishment. Which might get lost in the shuffle without an intentional resolution to begin with.

Resolutions Are Good for Everyone – The Tall and the Small.

Kids, too. In retrospect, I wish I had included resolutions as part of my children’s New Year ritual. It’s a chance to dream. A chance to organize and prioritize. A chance to practice resolve. And, thereby, a chance to succeed.

Share your favorite New Year’s resolutions!

New Year: Endings and Beginnings

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Christmas is two days past. The holiday season is winding down. I hope yours has been full of love and joy and some silliness. Mine has been all that and rich with family and friends.

Today I am in recovery mode from all the hustle and bustle. Mostly a balm of peace and quiet. The littlest tiniest bit of letdown as I break down the gift boxes for the recycling truck. And as the holidays are ending, my thoughts turn toward the beginning of a new year.

For me, this has always been a time of both optimism and dread. Endings and beginnings are like that.

When I was in school, the new year was the beginning of a new semester. This meant new classes, new subject matters, no track record in these particular courses. If I’d had a bad previous semester, the chance to wipe the slate clean was a gift. But often, I was anxious and tired at the thought of starting something new. I remember lying in bed the night before the restart of school, listening to the harsh wind whipping through the trees, wanting to stay wrapped in my warm blankets for the foreseeable future.

Those first nights of the new year, I often stayed awake for a long time. I tried on images of happy possibilities. I felt periodic rushes of anticipation of becoming a better version of my old self. I also wallowed in memories of the recent holiday’s good times. Relived a highlight reel from the semester just finished. As I finally drifted off to sleep, I felt the inexorable and somehow comforting pull of cycles.

Now I am a parent. My children are all about to embark upon a new semester. They are also about to scatter far away from Chicago to their various homes.

I know I will spend the first nights of the new year thinking about my work. I have just handed off to my publisher my latest book. It is time to begin discerning a new topic to write about. To start anew. I will think about the many endings and beginnings past. Schools. Homes. Friends. Workplaces.

The weather is warmer here than usual. But a strong wind has started up today. I will listen to the rustling of the trees outside my window. And burrow into my blankets. But I will also remember that the harshness of the winter will give way to the soft green of spring, then the hot pavements of summer, then the crisp colors of fall, then another winter. Small cycles wrapped into larger cycles wrapped within the ultimate cycle that spans my life. All full of promise waiting to unfold.

Happy New Year!

Winter Break: How to Avoid a Breakdown

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We’re in the holiday prep home stretch. As much as I advocate using the season of preparation to be contemplative, I, like most of us, am in a bit of a frenzy. I’ll bet lots of you have little time to read right now. And I have little time to write. So the next two weeks’ blogs will be short (and hopefully sweet).

Today’s musing: The kids put on a wonderful holiday assembly program last week and now they’re home: for TWO weeks. How does your family have a great winter break without parents or kids (or both) having a breakdown.

Break without Breakdown

My strategy: Mix it up.

Indoor Time

Holiday break is an opportunity to take a hiatus from early morning routine. Indoor activities can be done in PJs. Whoo hoo!

Some favorite indoor activities in my family:

  • Gift-making. First week of school-break. my kids were absorbed with making gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles. They made candles with paraffin wax and crayons, ornaments with gingerbread and colored sugar, potholders with cotton loops and metal looms. My girls bent over their work with knitted eyebrows, deeply absorbed in creating masterpieces. Gift-making time was focus time.
  • Board games. Does anyone know any activity that takes longer than a game of Monopoly?
  • Baking. For Hartfield family baking lore, see the “blue cookies” blog from two weeks ago.

Outdoor Time

Fresh air, large spaces to move around in…winter frost or not, bundle up if necessary, then let loose. In one of my favorite Christmas movies, Miracle on 34th Street, Santa sleeps with his whiskers outside the covers because, he says, “Cold air makes them grow.”

  • For those who live in snow country, there are snowmen, snowball fights, snow ice cream, snow angels, ice skating, ledding. When I was a kid, I spent a week of spirited teamwork building an igloo big enough to sleep in. Plenty of options to fill two weeks.
  • For those who live (or vacation) in warm sunshine…well…need I say more? Swimming pools, playgrounds, sports. To this (jealous) northerner it looks an awful lot like summer.

Down Time

Indoors, outdoors – lots of great possibilities. Every parent knows, though, kids get tired. And then they can rev up and spin out of control. In my house, the tell was laughter. Started as giggles, moved on to guffaws, and left unchecked, ended up with screams and rolling on the floor, tickles becoming pokes becoming jabs. For me, the key was to pull myself away from my own activities to redirect the girls at giggles stage.

  • Until they were five, there were regular mid-day naps.
  • As they grew, sleep time was replaced by quiet time – silent reading, mellow music tapes, a TV show.
  • As teens they were all about texting or watching memes.

End result? After a space of quiet, the hysterical giggles had evaporated. Order was restored.

Happy Holidays everyone! Or, as my kids would say, “Have a chill time.”

What does your family do to make winter break happy and healthy and just plain old fun.

Baking with Kids: Food for Mind, Body, and Soul

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My inbox has been inundated this week with mouthwatering pictures of peppermint fudge, dreidel cookies, gingerbread men, etc. – the staples of holiday month. Which makes me think of my daughter’s “blue” cookies that will forever be part of family legend.

You Ask: What are Blue Cookies?!!!

When my daughter was three, she had already spent two years watching me bake. Now she decided to step up to the plate (well…the kitchen counter) herself. She had/has a “slight” stubborn streak. Translated: She would suffer absolutely NO advice on ingredients.

She dragged out a big bowl, a big tin of flour, a cup of water, and a stirring spoon. Without any measuring tools, she concocted a flour-water mixture that resembled paste. She cocked her head, looked at her creation for a minute or so, then retrieved a box of food coloring from the cabinet and dyed her dough blue.

We spooned the sticky mess into circles on a tray, deposited the tray into the oven (heated by me) and eyeballed the blue dough until it resembled something like blue cookies. We scraped them off the tray, piled them onto a pretty dessert plate and let them cool.

After dinner – you guessed it – she sashayed into the dining room with “dessert.” And she was a taskmaster. She gave me, her dad, and her sisters the death stare that commanded us to actually eat. Which we accomplished with healthy gulps of water after each bite. The icing on the cookie? She took one nibble of hers, then stone-faced, surreptitiously (she thought) pocketed the rest until she could deposit it in the garbage.

Undaunted, for months thereafter, she made blue cookies. She experimented a little by adding sugar, then cinnamon. Still…blahhh. Finally, she was ready to listen to my tips on the role of baking powder; and on the importance of correct ingredient proportions. She learned to use measuring cups and we studied actual recipes. And after a few attempts, she made something edible.

Which we all rejoiced over.

The Joy of Baking

After that, the blue cookies disappeared form the repertoire. Replaced by chocolate chip and oatmeal; then cookies with sprinkles and frosting; then ginger molasses and Mexican wedding cookies. Then her own creations – yes, she came full circle – which are, I am grateful to report, heavenly!

Aside from an ever more delicious eating experience, what did she gain? What can your child gain from baking?

Food for the Mind

So here’s the great thing for all you right brain types (like me). Math can be fun. So can chemistry. What more creative way to teach measurement, fractions, the metric system? What about the chemical properties of baking powder? (Yes… I am now obsessed with this.) The beauty of baking is it’s a very concrete way to teach. And that means it is very likely to stick.

Food for the Body

Kids are curious. So as you are measuring out that flour, that ginger, those chocolate chips, you have the opportunity to talk about….where these ingredients come from; and the concept of vitamins that our bodies get from food. You can talk about eating in moderation and about balance among the food groups. And it’s all fun! Plus, when you say “one cookie is enough” it will actually make sense and not seem like a heartless random punishment.

Food for the Soul

I think this requires little explanation. Heart-warming times with your children you and they will remember forever (blue cookies are case in point). I heartily endorse the aphorisms “Food is the way to the heart.” “Sweets for my sweet.” And, now that my daughter is away at college, a new twist on “I’d rather be blue, thinking of you…”

Happy baking!

Do you have baking stories to share? Recipes are welcome ☺