Playing with Food

Remember when someone told you not to play with your food?

Did it crush you? In one quick second, did the blood rush from your brain to your butt and remind you of where you really were, no longer lost in the luscious bumps of the snow white potatoes but, instead, surrounded by silver tools that the tall people keep telling you to use? Did the joy of playing and creativity go the way of the now dead and no longer interesting food on the plate, to the dog or the trashcan?

As an introvert, sounds can sometimes be overwhelming when our brains are trying to sift through the information, so I can understand adults who are trying to have a conversation being annoyed by baby carrots making motor sounds.

But last week, I also rediscovered something when the girls folded the sushi roll seaweed paper into airplanes before they went into the dark caves of their mouths. Paying attention to your food, feeling joyful while eating, these are good things. These are the vibes that food deserves before it blesses each of our cells.

It is date night tonight. I think I'll play with my food just for the fun of it. Well, that will be in public, though. Maybe I should practice this in private at lunch first.

A special thank you goes out to my husband for giving the girls the wonderful idea of using the seaweed sheets as oragami paper!

Books about or for Parenting

Most of these are books that were not talked about on the radio show (for lack of time) but come highly recommended!

Recommended by Sue Scott, Le Leche League leader for decades:

1. Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane M. Healy - about brain development, having conversations, intellectual stimulation, thinking, and problem-solving

2. How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk by Adele Favor and Elaine Mazlish - basic communication skills

3. How to Really Love Your Child/Teen by Ross Campbell - about emotional needs...easy read...viewpoint is a bit Christian but not in an overpowering way.

I've got my recommendations grouped by categories:

A. Adopted children

B. Personality & learning style differences

C. Feelings

D. Disorders: Reactive Attachment Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder

E. Weight

F. How to use Positive Affirmations

G. Making your own books

H. Books to read to or do a bookclub with kids

I. ADD and ADHD

J. New Age Children's books

K. Parenting

L. Grieving

A. Adopted children:

1. Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis - children's book

2. When Love is Not Enough by Nancy L. Thomas - about bonding or what to do if a child has trouble with bonding

3. Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge

B. Personality & Learning Style Differences

1. Please Understand Me by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates

2. Effective Teaching Effective Learning by Alice M. Fairhurst and Lisa L. Fairhurst

3. The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney - MUST READ for introverts AND extroverts!!!!!

C. Feelings

1. The Way I Feel by Janan Cain - a children's book with rhymes about various feelings

2. Today I Feel Silly & Other MOODS That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis

3. The Feelings Book: The Care & Keeping of Your Emotions from the American Girl Library (americangirl.com) - It also has a journal that goes with it. It's good for 3rd grade reading level or above, or read it together with your 6-12 year old. EXCELLENT!

4. a Smart girl's guide to boys: surviving crushes, staying true to yourself & other [love] stuff from the American Girl Library, may be through Scholastic - Where was this when I was a 4th grader???!! FABULOUS!!!

D. Borderline Personality Disorder and its effect on families

1.

Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship by Christine Ann Lawson

2. The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder: New Tools and Techniques to Stop Walking on Eggshells by Randi Kreger - quick reference when you don't have time to sit down and read in the middle of all the drama

E. Weight

1. Losing Your Pounds of Pain by Doreen Virtue

2. Saving Generation Next by Debi Waldeck

3. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

4. Constant Craving A-Z by Doreen Virtue - look up foods and see the emotions that make you crave them

5. Freedom from the Food Fight by Donna L. Stevens - not published yet but eye opening...try emailing her at donna@alchemyoflove.us

F. How to use Positive Affirmations

1. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay - a sort of Bible for my husband and me. It contains a list of physical symptoms, the thought patterns that cause them, & the affirmations to replace them. There is another version that is small enough for my purse.

2. I Think, I Am! by Louise Hay and Kristina Tracy - same as above but for kids

3. Believe by Katharine M. Emlen of www.creativemindpublications.com - for kids

G. Making your own books

1. With New Line Home Entertainment, Inc., you can write your own story & print your own book. If you print them in black and white off your printer, it is fun for the kids to then color the pictures.

2. On-line, Shutterfly and maybe Snapfish enable you to upload digital pictures to make a story about your family or photo album with captions.

3. I have left over books and felt or magnet story pictures from college and teaching days. The kids even love the ones I made in 6th and 7th grade, especially because I made them.

H. Books to read to or do a bookclub with kids

1. The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah, Kelly DiPucchio, and Tricia Tusa

2. The Trellis and the Seed: a Book of Encouragement for All Ages by Jan Karon - made me cry...about finding what makes you special and believing you have a place in this world

3. "I can't," said the ant by Polly Cameron through Scholastic - about teamwork and never giving up, rhymes.

4. It's O.K. to say No to Drugs!: A Parent/Child Manual for the Protection of Children by Alan Garner, Illustrated by Rick Detorie

5. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, Illustrated by Jules Feiffer - fantasy book with a ton of puns and other word play! It has been a HUGE hit, even with my German students learning English!!! Even adults will have fun reading this one!

6. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers: The Story that Inspired "The Sound of Music" by Maria Augusta Trapp. It is for all ages, anyone that loves the movie. It does mention Christian thoughts occasionally.

7. TA for Kids and grown-ups too!

I. New Age Children's books

1. Thank You, Angels! by Doreen Virtue with Kristina Tracy - a basic handbook about angels for kids

2. All I See Is Part Of Me by Chara M. Curtis and Illustrated by Cynthia Aldrich

3. The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald Walsche - a book about understanding the bigger picture of life with forgiveness as the example...it made me cry and changed my life!

4. The Little Soul and the Earth by Neale Donald Walsche - takes off where the book above left off, a soul is born into a human body

5. Mountains, Meadows and Moonbeams: A Child's Spiritual Reader by Mary Summer Rain-poems and spiritual lessons, explains some basics for kids, e.g. auras

6. A Gnostic Coloring Book For Children of All Ages by Silvia Browne and Illustrated by Kirk Simonds - there is more than one available from the Society of Novus Spiritus, http://www.novus.org/home/index.cfm

J. Parenting

1. Any of the books about Love Languages by Gary Chapman. The basic idea is often enough to make a world of difference, especially with meeting new family members/in-laws: There are 5 ways we could enjoy receiving &/or giving love. They are: physical touch, quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, and gifts. Knowing what yours are & those of the people in your lives helps each person better catch the love signals coming their way!

2. Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. and Gabor Mate, M.D.

3. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Stepparenting by Ericka Lutz/Alpha Books - easy reference in a hurry

4. Any from the Transactional Analysis for Everybody Series by Alvyn M. Freed Ph.D.

K. Grieving

1. Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You're Meant to Have by Walter Makichen

2. When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don't Get Along by Joshua Coleman

Books from the June 14, 2010 radio show (that don't make you feel guilty about your parenting)

These are books that were mentioned on the June 14th, 2010 radio broadcast of "The Way of the Toddler Hour" on the "I'm Thankful" Network on www.imthankful.com. The main focus was books that don't make you feel bad about parenting right or wrong.

Books recommended by writer, speaker, and life coach Scott Noelle of www.enjoyparenting.com:

1. _The Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost_ by Jean Liedloff - about how other cultures parent

2. _Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason_ by Alfie Kohn

3. _How to Win by Quitting_ by Jerry Stocking - This is not specifically about parenting but helps us with strategies that are applicable

Books recommended by author, speaker, and radio show host Leta Hamilton of www.thewayofthetoddler.com:

1. Any book by Jenny McCarthy

2. _The Daily Groove: A Creative Parent's Guide to The Art of Attraction Parenting_ by Scott Noelle

3. _Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year_ by Anne Lamott

4. _Human Becoming_

Books recommended by Lori Hamilton, BIT Practitioner, Theta Healer, and Reiki Master:

1. _Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew_ by Sherrie Eldridge

2. _The Introvert Advantage_ by Marti Olsen Laney - It isn't about parenting specifically, but it helps you understand what your child needs, whether introvert or extrovert, to feel understood. If you are an introverted parent, it makes you feel empowered instead of guilty!!!

3. Anything from the "Love and Logic" Series of books, tapes, videos and classes!!!! They are full of brilliant ideas you may never have thought of on your own.