Ten Worst Foods of the Year

10 Worst Foods of the Year

Comment: I just couldn't resist!


How Many Have You Tried?
-- By John McGran, Food Writer and SparkPeople Contributer


Editor's Note: After much deliberation, food writer John "Mr. Bad Food" McGran has come up with the "best" of the worst foods he’s reviewed over the past year.

Here there are in his words (in no particular order)—the worst foods of the year!

1. Carl's Jr. Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger

I’m an East Coast kind of guy, but I realize there are no boundaries when it comes to bad foods. So, for this review, I took the advice of 19th Century newspaper editor Horace Greeley who urged, “Go west, young man, go west.”

The Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger will gun you down with 1,130 calories (600 from fat), 66g fat (100% of your Daily Reference Value), 28g saturated fat (140% DRV), 150mg cholesterol, 2,540mg sodium (110%DRV), 83g carbs, and 47g protein.

I’m beginning to understand why it’s called the Wild West! Sorry boys, but I’ll take the 3:10 to Yuma… and then the next plane to good old Philly, land of cheese steaks and soft pretzels over this one!

2. Pizza Hut Double Deep Pizza

These Double Deep Pizzas are handcrafted by loading an entire pizza with twice the toppings of a medium pizza, plus 50% more cheese and then wrapping the crust over the top to hold all the toppings in.

I tried two slices of the Meaty variety. According to the Pizza Hut Website, I also opted for 1,160 calories, 72g fat (110% of your recommended Daily Value), 28g saturated fat (140% DV), 3g trans fat, 200mg cholesterol, 3,980mg sodium (166% DV), 62g carbs, and 62g protein.

In all fairness, the suggest serving is one slice (1/8 the medium pie) but who eats a single slice? Not me.

3. El Monterey XX Large Chimichanga

While shopping at Wal-Mart here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I noticed Spicy Red Hot Beef & Bean Chimichangas in a cooler near the deli. They looked suspiciously like my 3-for-a-buck burritos of yesteryear—only bigger and a tad more costly.

While a standard burrito wraps a filling of meat, beans and/or cheese in a flour tortilla, a chimichanga is a meat-filled tortilla…deep-fried.

The key words "deep-fried" may explain why my mushy 10-ounce XX Large Chimichanga did a Mexican fat dance on my diet to the tune of 920 calories, 57g of fat (15g saturated, 1g trans fat), 40mg cholesterol, 1,140mg sodium, 83g carbs, and 22g protein.

Ay, caramba! It's a good thing I only had one.

4. Denny’s Meat Lover’s Scramble

As Mr. Bad Food, I’ve seen plenty of bad nutrition numbers in my day. But I never saw anything as heart-stopping as what I found on the Denny’s Website one day.

It was my stomach that turned upside down when I checked out the nutrition numbers for Denny’s Meat Lover’s Scramble. Denny’s could be charged with “salt with a deadly weapon” for serving a breakfast entree that packs an unbelievable 4,170mg of sodium! (The Recommended Daily Allowance for sodium is 2,400mg.)

The Meat Lover’s Scramble will also shake you down with 1,280 calories, 71g of fat (21 saturated, 0 trans), 565mg cholesterol (the RDA is 300mg), 103g carbs and 54g protein (RDA is 50). By the way, the RDA for fat is 65 grams, so you are taking in more than a day’s fat, cholesterol and sodium in a single meal!

So if you find yourself at a Denny’s and someone recommends a scramble, take my advice and scramble for the door!

5. Hardee’s Country Breakfast Burrito

The word burrito sounds like a term for a little burro. If you don’t want to make an ass of yourself—by scarfing down 60 grams of fat with your first meal of the day—then steer clear of the Country Breakfast Burrito at Hardee’s.

The king-sized breakfast burrito is cobbled together from two omelets, five hashrounds (their cutesy version of hashbrowns), cheddar cheese, and sausage gravy. The omelets that fill out the tortilla each contain two eggs, crumbled sausage, diced ham and bacon bits.

Now, if you’re hungry for 920 calories, 23 grams of saturated fat, and nearly 2,000 milligrams of sodium for your morning meal, dig in!

6. KFC Chicken & Biscuit Bowl

The clever cooks at KFC devised a way to toss together an entire chicken dinner in a single bowl. According to the KFC Website, the new bowls are “a blend of mouth-watering KFC flavors and textures all layered together.”

A blend…a jumble…a clutter…Call it what you will. But after checking out the nutrition facts, I call the Chicken & Biscuit bowl a great way to flock up your diet!

Their nutrition guide says that the Chicken & Biscuit dish will bowl you over with 870 calories, 44g of fat (11 saturated, 4.5 trans), 60mg cholesterol, 2,420mg sodium (101% of your recommended daily amount), 88g carbs, and 29g protein.

7. Starbucks Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème

When is a coffee drink not a coffee drink? When it comes with calories and frothy extras you’d expect to get with a milkshake! Oh, and when it doesn’t even include coffee! Case in point: The 24-ounce (that’s Venti-sized in Starbucks lingo) Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème served up at your local Starbucks.

This drink is made from rich chocolate, chocolate chips and milk, and is blended with ice, and topped with whipped cream (optional), and chocolate drizzle.

With 670 calories, 22g of total fat, (12g saturated fat; 0.5g of trans fat), and 107g of carbs, it only sounds like a coffee drink. The 12 grams of saturated fat is equal to the saturated fat you get in a McDonald’s Quarter-Pounder with Cheese… but the sandwich packs 160 fewer calories than the Frappuccino!

8. Pizza Hut P’Zone

It takes two hands to handle a Pizza Hut P’Zone. The problem is—according to the nutrition info on their website—it should also take two people! Yes, despite the fact their TV ads showed a bunch of hungry guys chowing down on whole P’Zones, each super-sized dough pockets of meats, cheeses and sauce is considered TWO SERVINGS.

The nutrition numbers… doubled for those of us who consider the P’Zones one-meal wonders:

P'Zone Classic: 1,220 calories, 46g fat, 22g saturated fat, 2g trans fat, 130mg cholesterol, 2,700mg sodium, 144g carbs, 8g fiber, 60g protein.

P'Zone Pepperoni: 1,260 calories, 48g fat, 22g saturated fat, 2g trans fat, 140mg cholesterol, 2,980mg sodium, 140g carbs, 6g fiber, 64g protein.

P'Zone Meaty: 1,380 calories, 58g fat, 26g saturated fat, 2g trans fat, 160mg cholesterol, 3,460mg sodium, 144g carbs, 8g fiber, 70g protein.

9. Wendy’s Baconator

The term “Baconator” sparks images of an action flick featuring a leading man with a terribly thick Austrian accent. But if you’re planning on ordering Wendy’s newest blockbuster, think again. I can picture it now: A seatbelt-straining drive-thru customer grabs his grease-stained bag of beef, bacon and fried potatoes, and before driving off to feast upon his Baconator, he shouts to the drive-up window jockey, “I’ll be bawk…for my defibrillator paddles!” Then, just before he zooms out of earshot, the server leans out of her window and yells back at him: “Hasta la vista, flabby!”

OK, so it’s poor scriptwriting. But it’s also poor dining to indulge in this Wendy’s double cheeseburger on steroids. The Baconator boasts two beef patties, two slices of cheese and SIX slices of bacon! Do yourself a favor and terminate your urge to order this beast of a burger.

The nutritional numbers for the 10-ounce Baconator: 830 calories, 51g of fat (22g saturated, 2.5g trans fat), 170mg of cholesterol, 1,920mg of sodium, 35g of carbs, and 57g of protein.

10. Denny’s Extreme Grand Slam

Ads for Denny’s Grand Slam breakfasts used to feature the tagline, “$2.99…Are you out of your mind?!” Now that the restaurant chain has launched ads for its new Extreme Grand Slam—a breakfast platter piled high with three strips of bacon, three sausage links, two eggs, hash browns and three pancakes—they might want to change it to, “You’re ordering a Denny’s Extreme Grand Slam…Are you out of your freakin’ mind?!”

The Denny’s Website urges customers to “fall in love with breakfast all over again.” It then offers up its latest line of “Breakfast Cravers” platters—dishes packed with the artery-clogging goodness of not-so-lean meats. Cases in point: The Meat Craver’s Breakfast and the Steak and Cheese Omelette.

The nutritional numbers for the 21-ounce Extreme Grand Slam: 1,160 calories, 64g of fat (17g of saturated fat), 560mg of cholesterol, 3,750mg of sodium, 102g of carbs, 4g of fiber, and 45g of protein.


There you have it—my picks for 2007’s Best of the Worst…or should I say, The Worst of the Worst! Have a Happy and Healthy 2008! Article created on: 1/8/2007

An Eye Opener

From Food Navigator

Comment: It's a bit of a bog to slosh through, but it's good reading and interesting.

Fruit and veg linked to kids' school performance, study

By Lorraine Heller

26-Mar-2008 - Fruit and vegetable consumption and dietary fat intake were found to play an important role in children's academic performance, highlighting yet again the need for balanced diets at an early age.

Children's nutrition has been permanently in the headlines in recent years, as the effects of an unhealthy diet - primarily obesity and early signs of diabetes - are invreasingly manifested in children around the world.

The contribution of diet to academic performance is nothing new. However, most research so far has focused on the effects of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, as well as the effects of breakfast on cognition.

The new study published in the Journal of School Health builds on existing knowledge in the area by identifying specific dietary factors that contribute to the association between children's nutrition and academic performance.

Researchers led by Dr Paul Veugelers of the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, surveyed 5,000 grade 5 students in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2003.

They gathered information on the dietary intake, height, and weight of each student, as well as examining sociodemographic variables.

Using a food frequency questionnaire, the researchers calculated each student's intake of foods from recommended food groups as well as energy and nutrient intakes. On the basis of the latter, they calculated the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I), a composite measure of diet quality.

The researches said they opted for the DQI-I because it encompasses adequacy, variety, balance, and moderation as components of diet quality and provides a score for each.

The dietary adequacy component of the DQI-I represents the intake of foods and nutrients essential to a healthy diet such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dietary fiber, protein, iron, calcium, and vitamin C.

Intake of less healthful dietary components such as saturated fat, salt, and 'empty calorie foods' is reflected in the DQI-I moderation score.

The Elementary Literacy Assessment was then used to assess academic performance. This included students to read a variety of materials and answer written questions based on the texts.

The researchers used multilevel regression methods to examine the association between indicators of diet quality and academic performance.

They found that students reporting increased diet quality were significantly less likely to fail the literacy assessment. Relative to students in the lowest DQI-I tertile, students in the second and third tertiles were 26 per cent and 41 per cent less likely to fail.

In particular, Students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and lower caloric intake of fat were significantly less likely to fail the assessment. Dietary fat intake was also demonstrated as important to academic performance.

"In light of the current childhood overweight epidemic and underlying poor dietary habits, prevention is a public health priority. Our findings suggest enhanced learning as an additional benefit of a healthy diet in childhood," stated the researchers.

"These findings support the broader implementation and investment in effective school nutrition programs that have the potential to improve student's diet quality, academic performance, and, over the long term, their health," they concluded.

Source: 'Diet Quality and Academic Performance'
Journal of School Health, April 2008, Vol. 78, No. 4
Authors: Michelle D. Florence, Mark Asbridge, Paul Veugelers

The Garden School Tattler

We're back!

Today is our first day back to school. It seems we've been out a lot this year. With all the bad weather, state of emergency, and spring break, we've never had this much time away!

The rest of the week should be a combination of learning and discovery. Beve will be there with her camera on Thursday. Then on Friday we are trying to take a field trip. TBA today!

Because Easter has fallen as it has, the dates allow us two more whole months of school before summer break. Of course we continue to do class in the summer unlike most other places, and this allows us to continue to teach and learn. This summer on Monday and Thursday, we'll have regular school days through June, July and the first week of August. I think Edith said that public schools in Vanderburgh County begin August 11. We won't take a break this summer except for July 4th.

We are still working on summer field trips, and in this month, a packet will go out to all those who signed up for summer. We're going to try some new things this summer, and it should be a really wonderful experience for the kids. Lots more swimming, and really good field trips. Tuition will go up to support this, but there will not be a field trip fee.

This month the focus is Spring Sing and Scholastic Book sale at the end of the month. Then in May we will have our awards ceremony and a picnic.

It's been an interesting year, and it continues.

Cradles for lunch today, and pizza tomorrow. The kids have taken a liking to white pizza.

Olive News for Devin

Researchers hoping to squeeze more out of olives

By Chris Jones for Food Navigator

25-Mar-2008 - The potential health benefits of olives will be the focus of researchers at the first university-based olive research and education center in North America based at the University of California, Davis.

Researchers from UC Davis have already uncovered a myriad of beneficial compounds in grapes and wine and are hoping that the new Olive Center, part of the university's Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, will help them discover similar substances in olives.

The center has been established with a combined $75,000 in seed funding from the campus's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Office of Research, while olive growers and pressers Corto Olive, the Musco Family Olive Co., Bell-Carter Foods, the California Olive Oil Council and the California Olive Ranch have contributed $25,000.

"The university had the privilege of helping move California wines into the world's highest rankings [through its research into the health benefits of moderate wine consumption]," said Dan Flynn, executive director of the new center. "Now we look forward to harnessing UC Davis' research expertise to help vault California olives and olive oil into that same league."

Neal Van Alfen, dean of UC Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences added that the new initiative would "lead to advances in olive growing and processing" and to "a better understanding of the link between olive products and consumer health".

California is the only state in the US that produces a commercially significant crop of olives: approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the ripe olives consumed in the United States come from California. But while it is an important part of the local economy, the California olive industry is a small player on the global stage - Spain, for example, has more than 5.6 million acres of olives grown by 571,150 producers, compared to the 39,591 acres of olives grown on 1,549 farms in California, according to a 2002 census.

California produces around 400,000 gallons of olive oil annually and output has been growing rapidly over the last decade as the body of evidence about the benefits of olives and olive oil has grown. Indeed, Californian olive oil production is now double the level of 10 years ago.

Olive oil, as part of a balance Mediterranean diet rich in fish, fruit and vegetables, has been shown to reduce mortality levels and lower incidences of heart disease, obesity and certain types of cancers.

Research by a team from the University of Barcelona, for example, found that LDL or 'bad' cholesterol levels could be cut substantially after consuming just 25 millilitres of virgin olive oil daily for one week.

The compound hydroxytyrosol is thought to be the main antioxidant in olives, and, importantly, it is also thought to act in table olives as well as in oil.

At present, 90 per cent of California's olive production is for canned olives, with only 10 per cent crushed for oil.

But with such significant potential, California's olive growers have been keen to invest in new tree varieties that are more easily harvested and have greater yields. As a result, industry experts forecast that California's volume of olive oil will increase by 500 per cent in the next five years, according to UC Davis.

"The olive center will help all olive producers, large and small, tackle the pressing challenges facing our industry. We anticipate that the center will enhance the economic viability of the California olive industry in an extremely competitive international marketplace," said Alan Greene, president of the California Olive Oil Council and a vice-president of the California Olive Ranch.

The UC Davis campus features what is though to be the most extensive collection of olive trees in North America: more than 2,000 in total.

The university began pressing and processing olive oil from its trees in 2005, and produced 6,500 bottles of olive oil in 2007.

As well as looking into the potential health benefits of olives and olive oil, the new center will also tackle areas that could help boost the state's olive industry in general.

This includes strengthening California's olive oil labeling statutes, conducting research on issues identified by olive-oil and table-olive producers, and identifying better laboratory methods for detecting adulterated olive oil.

The center also plans to establish a certified-organic olive orchard and will develop a research taste panel to help improve the quality of olive oils.

A new olive-oil processing plant and a state-of-the-art milling center is expected to begin processing oil this fall.

A Bit of Italy in the Arctic

Seeking a language renaissance: report from Reggio Emilia, Italy

Comment: This is an excellent piece from the Arctic. It's worth reading and realizing a good program does embody the Reggio ideas, at the same time remembering that it's not a new idea and it is a very natural idea. In a very natural home, a parent would come to these ideas simply because they accommodate the family so well. School should be as much family as possible with very young children.

March 20, 2008

DEBBY EDWARDSEN

For The Arctic Sounder

According to recent surveys, fewer than 10 percent of North Slope homes are I'f1upiaq speaking.

The majority of those fluent in the language are now over the age of 40. Most of those who have dedicated their lives to teaching I'f1upiaq are nearing the age of retirement or have already retired.

For those who care, and we are many, the question becomes: Whose responsibility is it to insure the survival of the endangered I'f1upiaq language?

There have been many answers to this question over the years, but the overriding answer is clear: If our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are to continue to hear the language spoken – and speak it themselves – we all have a role to play.

During the 2008 budget process, the North Slope Borough School District’s Board of Education decided to turn its early childhood program into a language immersion program.

This program is neither federally mandated nor state funded so we know this choice is ours to make.

We also know that early childhood education is crucial to the academic success of our children, so we are not simply looking to teach language, we want to offer the best program we can using the language and culture as the medium of instruction.

Recently, the board traveled to Reggio Emilia in Italy with four school board members, three administrators and an immersion teacher to look at an early childhood program that has attracted a great deal of international attention.

We went, hoping to find a method for saving a language. What we found promises to encompass that goal and more.

Our trip included visits to a number of schools as well as scholarly lectures on the philosophy behind them. We were joined with educators from more than a dozen other countries.

"History can be changed by beginning with children," wrote Loris Malaguchhi, one of the founders of the Reggio Emilia schools.

The history of these schools began in 1945, in the wake of World War II, in a little village in Italy, where a group of people decided to build a school using the bricks of the buildings bombed during the war.

They washed each brick by hand, funding the project through the sale of an abandoned tank.

It was an act of hope in the wake of a war which in Italy saw the overthrow of fascism. Out of it grew a new kind of school with a new kind of hope for a democratic future.

According to the educators of Reggio Emilia, there are two basic concepts of school –school is either a place where rights are realized or as a place where needs are met.

Meeting needs is a negative, deficit-based model, whereas recognizing rights is empowering.

The rights recognized by the schools of Reggio Emilia include: the right to be an active participant in one’s own life experience, the right to be recognized by others for one’s knowledge, the right to develop all of one’s potential, the right to be different and the right to be welcomed and valued by the community.

School is viewed as a system of relationships. Parents, teachers and children are each recognized as bringing their own knowledge into the mix.

The Reggio Emilia schools educate children from birth to age 6, in the belief that by the age of 6 the child has built the intellectual framework he or she will use for the rest of their life.

How creative and how adaptable that framework is becomes of critical importance.

People talk of the wonder of the child, but how often do they actually allow that sense of wonder to blossom and bear fruit in the child’s learning process?

The educators of Reggio Emilia reminded us that early childhood is a time of intense intellectual growth and creativity. They also made us realize that often we organize our schools in such a way as to discourage rather than encourage wonder-based learning.

Our visits to the schools of Reggio Emilia allowed us to watch their ideas in practice.

The schools were bright and colorful child-centered places. They weren’t packed full of plastic toys; they were rich in real things for the children to learn from.

In one room, I watched a group of small children sitting around a display of local plants. They were drawing pictures of these, each from their own perspective, and discussing them among themselves, with a teacher offering occasional comments and questions.

"When the children formulate a scientific point of view we never correct them, we express solidarity with them and help them formulate and test their own theories – we are very careful not to say something is wrong. Very often the children are right and we don’t even realize it," a teacher at Reggio Emilia said.

The teachers and children of these schools were engaged in a joint process of learning and researching with the understanding that knowledge is not the fruit of education, it is an ongoing process.

What the teachers try to do is to document and fully understand the "culture of childhood," to let children develop their full capacity to process information and organize their understanding of the world as children.

The quality of education, they say, depends strongly on the relationship the system has with its local community, because successful educational systems support and are supported by the cultures they live in.

A school is made of meanings and values not walls and bricks and education is ultimately a social act. It does not take place in a cultural vacuum, it takes place within the context of a specific culture, they stressed.

This is something we, in this country, tend to forget under the No Child Left Behind, one-size-fits all mentality of education.

We tend to forget how important it is for the educational system to become firmly rooted in the culture it lives in.

Reggio Emilia schools teach through project-based learning, not teaching units, and the projects are often community-based.

This approach started with the very first school, where once a week teachers would pack the children into a truck and take them into the town to study some aspect of the community and its culture.

"We feel it is very important for our schools to be connected to the communities they are a part of – this connection is often the genesis for a project," a teacher said.

The most hopeful thing for many of us in the school board was how well this system fits with traditional I'f1upiaq learning styles.

The schools of Reggio Emilia encourage the same kind of creativity that allowed the I'f1upiaq to survive in the Arctic over the millennia.

They do this through a teaching style NSBSD Bilingual/Multicultural Program Coordinator Jana Harcharek characterized as "organized pakaking."

Our goal, now, will be to use what we have learned in Italy to fashion a new vision of early childhood education.

We hope to expand the program, through partnership, to include younger children.

We want, ultimately, to develop it into a language nest, a place that will bring all generations together for a language renaissance.

We cannot do this overnight and we cannot do it without active community involvement.

We hope that, like those Italians who built a school from the rubble of war, our people will be willing to roll up their sleeves and help us.

We hope, too, that like the educators of Reggio Emilia, we will someday be able to say that our community was willing to participate and volunteer their time in the school because they understand that they work for the future and they feel a sense of wonder at what they are doing – in the same way the children feel a sense of wonder as they are learning.

Debby Edwardsen is the president of the North Slope Borough School district Board of Education.

Drawing - What do you See?

Comment: this is a good blog entry. There are other things to look at with children's drawings such as the smile on the face, the size of the features, and missing parts of the body which all show the viewer something different.

15 Mar 2008 08:28 AM

What You Can Tell from How a Child Draws a Person

by Lyn Newton | More from this Blogger

In two of my previous articles I discussed the early childhood activity of coloring. I also talked about what can be gained about a child's ability from the way that he or she colors a picture.

During the first days of kindergarten, most children will be asked to color a picture. In addition to asking children to color a picture, they are also usually asked to draw a picture.

Instrument (KDI), asks children to draw a picture of a person.

In fact our test that we use at the beginning of kindergarten, the Kindergarten Diagnostic Instrument (KDI), asks children to draw a picture of a person.

Again it is amazing what you can learn about a child from the way that he or she draws a picture of a person.

The picture is scored according to how many details the child puts in the picture.

The typical beginning stage of drawing a person is a head, arms, and legs. These are the body parts that children are the most aware of or become aware of first. Children who are more aware of their surroundings and of their body will add more features.

It is thought that this awareness comes with maturity.

Some children entering kindergarten are still in the phase of drawing the large head with four sticks attached as arms and legs. However, according to the scoring, this is a very low stage of drawing.

Many children are adding details by this age. They have clothes and hair on their person. The most artistic and particular children will ask to add a background to their picture. They feel that their person needs to exist in some place. They draw a sky, sun, and clouds.

Girls tend to give more details to their drawings than boys do.

Although in many cases academic abilities can be related to the stage of the drawing, I have had some very intelligent students do poor on fine motor activities such as drawing. They simply do not have an artistic side. They do not enjoy coloring or drawing.

Coloring Pages

Coloring Outside the Lines

Free Coloring Pages

Handwriting Without Tears

Fine Motor Skills

Learn more about Lyn Newton

Lyn is a kindergarten teacher and mommy to a girl and a boy. In her spare time, she enjoys informative and creative writing.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger

Arrrgggg

I'm sick today. I've had an infected tooth. Yesterday I went to the oral surgeon and had a root canal. It was successful, but the infection has been really something. I learned a lot however - the greatest of these things being humility.

I tried to think when a cold drink hurt this tooth that it would go away if I just toughed it out. It did go away, but after a few weeks hot began to hurt it, and I thought it too would go away, and I ignored it, and sure enough it went away, and I thought "good."

On the Saturday before the play, the tooth began to really hurt. By Tuesday, I had a hamster living in my neck. I took pain meds and an antibiotic and made it through play week. Over the weekend I was just sick, but I thought by Monday it would all be over - and it nearly was! I had the oral surgery and came home feeling good, and then the anesthesia wore off! I spent a terrible night and woke up to a severely draining tooth that would make anyone retch. The hamster has become an adult and its owner a jackass.

Here's what I learned: when a tooth is sensitive to cold for any length of time, the nerve is dying which means the tooth is dying - get help then!!! So when your child says more than a couple of times, "Mommy my tooth hurts," listen. And don't get Judy headed if it happens to you! The dentist said that when a tooth is sensitive to heat, you're already in trouble and it's badly infected. Because I toughed it out for several weeks, my infection got as big as one of those hamsters in the pet room - not the guinea pigs or I'd be dead - the little brown hamsters in the red box - and it hurts and you feel like you have a full case of the flu. Having had the flu once in the past 40 years, I know!

I don't mind the pain, except for last night when the incredible infection got ready to explode in my mouth, but I do mind being in the dummy group. Next time - shheeesh - never again, but if I do feel a twinge, I'm going to camp out at my dentist's office and be there on the doorstep when he comes to work the next day.

My heart breaks for kids who go through this. I'm sure Zoey B's mom sees a lot of this. Please make sure you get your kids and you and that stubborn husband to the dentist regularly. It's not as if we live in the middle of nowhere with no professionals to take care of us. Thing is, I did go in February, and decided to just let things lay - dumb club.

Here's a little story Susie E sent that brightened my otherwise worthless day:

NO LEFT TURNS

by Michael Gartner

This is a wonderful piece by Michael Gartner, president of NBC News.

In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. It is well worth reading, and a few good chuckles are guaranteed.

'My father never drove a car. Well, that's not quite right. I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.

'In those days,' he told me when he was in his 90s, 'to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I dec! ided you could walk through life and enjoy it, or drive through life and miss it.'

At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irish woman, chimed in:
'Oh, bullshit!' she said. 'He hit a horse.'

'Well,' my father said, 'there was that, too.'

So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars -- the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge; the Van Laninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth ; the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford -- but we had none.

My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines , would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 mi les home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and! brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.

My brother, David , was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. 'No one in the family drives,' my mother would explain, and that was that. But, sometimes, my father would say, 'But as soon
as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one.'

It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first. But, sure enough, my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown.

It was a four-door, white model, stick-shift, fender skirts, loaded wit! h eve rything, and since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car. Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother. So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year, and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. 'Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?' I remember him saying more than once.

For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps -- though they seldom left the city limits -- and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.

Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.)

He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then wou ld go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home.

If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church.
He called the priests 'Father Fast' and 'Father Slow.'

After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll, or if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio.

In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: 'The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second b! ase m ade a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third
base scored.'

If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out -- and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream.

As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, 'Do you want to know the secret of a long life?'

'I guess so,' I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre.

'No left turns,' he said.

'What?' I asked.

'No left turns,' he repeated.

'Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of on-coming traffic. As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn.'

'What?' I said again.

'No left turns,' he said. 'Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer. So we always make three rights.'

'You're kidding!' I said, and I turned to my mother for support.

'No,' she said, Your father is right. We make three rights. It works.' But then she added: 'Except when your father loses count.'

I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing.

'Loses count?' I asked.

'Yes,' my father admitted, 'that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again.'

I couldn't resist. 'Do you ever go for 11?' I asked.

'No,' he said. 'If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day.

Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week.'

My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90.

She lived four more years, until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102.

They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom --the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.)

He continued to walk daily -- he had me get him a treadmill when he was101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising -- and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.

One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news.

A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, 'You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred.' At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, 'Y ou know,
I'm probably not going to live much longer.'

'You're probably right,' I said.

'Why would you say that?' he countered, somewhat irritated.

'Because you're 102 years old,' I said.

'Yes,' he said, 'you're right.' He stayed in bed all the next day.

That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night.

He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: ' I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet'

An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:

'I want you to know,' he said, clearly and lucidly, 'that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have.' A short time later, he died. I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long.

I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life ... or because he quit taking left turns.'

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy!

The Muslim World

Comment: Here's an article that's really interesting in today's world.

Muslim nations need true education

By DR MOHD SANI BADRON

The Muslim world is in need of high quality universities, libraries, resource centres and laboratories.

The solution to present-day Muslim nations’ predicaments lies in a strategic vision aimed at building human development.

To provide a Muslim response to global challenges, we need to build a knowledge society in which real and true knowledge (al-hikmah) is the governing principle of all human activity.

As far as the educational infrastructure is concerned, it is quite obvious that the Muslim world is in need of high quality universities, libraries, resource centres, and laboratories.

Indeed, it is of paramount importance for Islamic states to provide quality lifetime education for all its citizens.

This must address not just the most important lifelong education and higher or tertiary education, but basic education as well as early childhood education, too, in order to properly habituate and capacitate every young person towards genuine learning.

However, in confronting the reality, we must admit that statistics and indicators point to the fact that some Muslim countries have failed to catch up with the Information Age.

The previous problems of illiteracy and poor infrastructure are now compounded with the problems of poor educational info-structure, such as the scant ratio of telephone lines per population and difficult access to digital media like computers and the Internet.

It is very unfortunate if in this digital era the Muslim Community fails to benefit from digital technologies to advance the global opportunities for Islamic education (al-ta’dib).

It might be beneficial to study how, for example, in less than seven years, with a less than US$1mil (RM3.2mil) annual budget, and with only seven paid staff members, Wikipedia has been able to muster the collective intelligence of tens of thousands of volunteers.

It produces the most-visited online reference site that contains more than 9.25 million articles in 253 languages.

In its December 2005 accuracy assessment, Nature magazine found that Wikipedia articles on matters of the natural sciences were almost comparable to those of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

We are living in a period of scientific, technological and digital revolution. For this reason, Muslims must not remain passive bystanders.

This revolution also emphasises the importance of innovation and active research and development (R&D) as the dynamo for social progress.

For the welfare and survival of Islamic nations, this R&D must be harnessed in a socially planned and systematic way.

Muslims must take note that today, every product and service is increasingly based on research. New inventions in turn, increase the productivity of the sciences and its social effects.

Infrastructure aside, Muslims must first and foremost allow themselves to be guided by genuine knowledge capital of the worldview of Islam (ru’yat al-Islam li al-wujud), including its history, its thought and its civilization.

Based upon this core of knowledge capital, Muslims must be able to create and disseminate new knowledge and beneficial sciences.

As there are tremendous developments in the domains of contemporary information and data, there is also a great challenge for Muslim scholars to integrate contemporary intellectual perspectives, present-day knowledge and sciences within the framework of the worldview of Islam.

Islamisation of present-day knowledge and sciences is very important in order to ensure that there is always an equilibrium between two types of knowledge, knowledge of the world and knowledge of the worldview of Islam.

This brings us to a most important matter, that we need willing students, whose enrolment figures must reflect the real needs of the Muslim educational system, as well as erudite scholars (al-rasikhun fi al-’ilm).

It is long overdue for Muslims to support genuine reforms in their educational system. I am referring to a creative attempt to establish a system of education (al-ta’dib) which is able to harness the human capital element towards excellent, all-embracing right action (adab).

Obviously, when we say we must aspire towards a knowledge society in which knowledge is the governing principle of all human activity, it also means that we must rid ourselves of all that is against human dignity.

Muslim leaders must liberate good human capabilities so that every Muslim and individual citizen can positively participate in our system of governance.

What is most important is that we must prepare our people to contribute through their intelligent and meaningful participation as citizens in peaceful cooperation.

Music

Insights Gained Into Arts and Smarts

Comment: This is from Education Week. It's a fine article and one we agree with and have fostered for many years at the Garden School.

By Debra Viadero

Findings released this week from three years of studies by neuroscientists and psychologists at seven universities help amplify scientists’ understanding of how training in the arts might contribute to improving the general thinking skills of children and adults.

“We tend to think of the artist, on the one hand, and scientists and mathematicians, on the other, as fundamentally different people,” said Elizabeth S. Spelke, one of the scholars who took part in the research project. “I think the work done here suggests a much closer connection between the cognitive processes that give rise to the arts and the cognitive processes that give rise to the sciences.”

The idea that the arts, and music in particular, could make children smarter in other ways gained currency in the 1990s, after a pair of researchers published a study showing that college students performed better on some mathematical tests after listening to a 10-minute Mozart sonata.

The news led to some widely reported, if fleeting, efforts to promote music learning. Georgia legislators, in fact, even voted to provide parents of newborns with tapes of classical music.

But most neuroscientists viewed such policy moves as premature: The studies never definitively determined whether exposure to music, or other arts, causes changes in the brain that sharpen other kinds of thinking skills. Left unsettled, experts say, is whether the arts make people smarter or whether smart people simply gravitate to the arts.

Burying Myths

In an effort to get at that question in a more comprehensive, systematic way, the Dana Foundation of New York City in 2004 brought together neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists from seven universities to launch a broad program of studies looking at how experience in dance, music, theater, and visual arts might spill over into other areas of learning, and to explore possible mechanisms for those links in the anatomy of the brain— even at the genetic level.

The final report from that $2.1 million effort was unveiled at a March 3 conference at the center’s Washington headquarters.

While the report still doesn’t provide any definitive answers to the arts-makes-you-smarter question, it sounds a final death knell to the myth that students are either right- or left-brained learners, say the scientists involved in the study. It also offers hints on how arts learning might conceivably spill over into other academic domains.

The research team at Stanford University, for instance, studied the development of reading fluency in 49 children between ages 7 and 12. They found that the students who came to the study with more musical training tended to make faster gains in reading fluency than did students with no musical backgrounds.

The researchers also used brain scans and newly developed software technology to study the corpus callosum, the part of the brain linking the left and right hemispheres, as the children grew. They found that the “white matter” pathways responsible for phonological awareness—the ability to pull apart and manipulate the sounds in speech—grew to be more highly developed in the children who were stronger readers than in those with weaker reading skills.

“We think these things all go together,” said Brian Wandell, who led the Stanford study. “Listening carefully to other sounds has long been thought to be important to the development of phonological awareness and reading fluency.”

But until now, few or no longitudinal studies backed up that connection, Mr.Wandell added.

In a finding that surprised them, the Stanford researchers also found preliminary evidence suggesting a link between visual-arts lessons outside of school and children’s skill at math calculations, possibly because both activities involve recognizing patterns.

Paying Attention

In her study, Ms. Spelke, a psychology professor at Harvard University who usually studies the basic understandings that babies bring into the world, attempts to peel back the layers on the “Mozart effect” with three experiments involving children and adults.

She found that middle and high school students who studied music intensively, typically because they were enrolled in special schools for the arts, were better than students with little or no musical training at tasks involving basic geometric skills, but not at tasks involving other kinds of fundamental mathematical systems, such as basic number representation.

Other studies in the mix also suggest a link between music training and skill at manipulating information in both longterm and working memory; between music learning and speaking fluency in second-language learning; and dance and the ability to learn by observing movement.

Training in acting, the study also found, also appears to lead to memory improvement.

One way that arts learning might lead to improved thinking skills, hypothesized Michael Posner, a professor emeritus at the University of Oregon in Eugene and an adjunct psychology professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., might be in motivating students to pay attention.

“We know that if you train attention, then you’ll be more successful at various cognitive tasks,” he added.

Some of the researchers also identified genes that might play a role in predisposing children toward an interest in the arts.

“It’s an important first step, but what we really need are experimental studies with large samples,” said Ellen Winner, a psychology professor at Boston College who studies arts learning but was not part of the Dana Consortium. “We can’t conclude anything about causality from correlational studies,” she added.

Interrelationships

Only one of the studies, in fact, involved a randomized study directly related to arts learning. Researchers at the University of Oregon, led by Helen Neville, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, randomly assigned 88 children taking part in the federal Head Start program for disadvantaged preschoolers to a variety of different learning groups.

One group of 26 children met in small groups with teachers for music-related activities. Another group of 19 children received classwide Head Start instruction, while another, similar-sized group got the same instruction in smaller teacher-pupil groups. A fourth group of 23 children received small-group instruction in focusing attention and becoming aware of details.

All the special classes were 40 minutes long and took place four days a week.

Spatial skills and other nonverbal IQ skills did improve in the music students over the course of the eight-week study, but that was also true for the children who got attention training and the Head Start children who worked in small groups. Only the children in the large Head Start class failed to make any progress in those areas.

Those results, the researchers conclude, “may derive from the fact that music training typically involves time being individually tutored, or being in a small group, which may itself increase opportunities for training attention.”

Nonetheless, arts advocates and many of the researchers taking part in the project see the report’s overall findings as important fodder for ongoing efforts to dissuade schools from dropping arts instruction in the face of pressure under the federal No Child Left Behind law to raise students’ test scores in mathematics, reading, and science.

“What we are seeing here is that we have quantitative data that confirm our assumptions about the interrelationships in the way children learn,” said poet Dana Gioia, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at the Dana conference. “And the purpose of education is to realize the full human potential of every child.”

Coverage of education research is sponsored in part by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.

New Green Guide

I haven't posted because I'm trying to die silently from this tooth thing.

Here's a really interesting new concept. It's a from National Geographic, and it's a Green Guide for moms to help keep the home more eco friendly and save money. I'm including the site here, and you can get to the site in the links on the side under National Geographic. It's a little commercial for my taste, but some may like it.

White Bread

This is from Food Navigator

Written by Linda Rano

Comment: Just a little joyful note today about something we all take for granted. Interesting if not scary reading.

11-Mar-2008 - Foods with a high glycemic index (GI), such as most white breads, lead to a higher risk of certain health problems, according to researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia.

The study found that high blood glucose led to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and was also linked to gall stones and some types of cancer, providing further evidence that could trigger greater demand low GI and multi grain foods.

The researchers concluded: "Low-GI and/or low glycemic load (GL) diets are independently associated with a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases. In diabetes and heart disease, the protection is comparable with that seen for whole grain and high fibre intakes. The findings support the hypothesis that higher postprandial glycemia is a universal mechanism for disease progression."

High grain breads, and other low GI foods, are therefore recommended in the promotion of a healthier diet.

Between 2003 and 2006, the number of new whole grain product launches fairly doubled every year - from 64 in 2003, to 140 in 2004, to 346 in 2005, to 620 in 2006, according to Mintel.

This reflects the race by food manufacturers to carve out a slice of the market during the initial period of rapid growth, which ran parallel to the growth in consumer awareness of the healthy grains.

The researchers had found that results from previous observational studies had been inconsistent and had prolonged the controversy over the effects of GI and GL on the risk of certain chronic diseases.

In their study the researchers employed meta-analysis techniques, that incorporated the results of 37 studies. The studies were further stratified according to the validity of the tools used to assess dietary intake.

A statement from the University of Sydney drew attention to the fact that the diets of nearly two million healthy men and women worldwide were reviewed.

The researchers confirmed that for the comparison between the highest and the lowest quantiles of GI and GL, "significant positive associations were found in fully adjusted models of validated studies" for all the diseases combined."

The University statement quotes lead author Alan Barclay as saying: "If you have a constantly high blood glucose and insulin levels due to a high GI diet, you may literally 'wear out' your pancreas over time. Eventually it may lead to type 2 diabetes in older age."

However, he said that he was more surprised by the relationship between GI and some of the other diseases. With regard to cancer he concluded: "This is because constant spikes in blood glucose that cause the body to release more insulin also increase a related substance called 'insulin like growth factor one' (IGF-1). Both these hormones increase cell growth and decrease cell death, and have been shown to increase the risk of developing cancer."

The University statement defines high GI foods as carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion, causing blood glucose levels to increase quickly and stay higher for longer, for example most biscuits.

Low GI carbohydrates break down more slowly during digestion, releasing glucose gradually into the bloodstream, with leading examples including muesli, whole- or multi-grain bread and fruit.

Source : The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Authors: Alan W Barclay, Peter Petocz, Joanna McMillan-Price, Victoria M Flood, Tania Prvan, Paul Mitchell, and Jennie C Brand-Miller.
The researchers are affiliated to the University of Sydney, Australia.

Malawi

Early childhood development improves
BY SUZGO KHUNGA
13:45:41 - 03 March 2008

Comment: When you think you have it bad, just think about a place like Malawi.

The concept of early childhood development (ECD) has improved as more Under 5 children have access to good nutrition and education through the establishment of Community Based Child Centers (CBCCs), deputy minister of women and child development Patricia Mwafulirwa said on Thursday.

Mwafulirwa was speaking at the handover of four CBCCs at Chowe in Mangochi built by the communities with financial assistance from the German government and initiated by United Nations organisations FAO, Unicef and World Food Programme (WFP).

The CBCC cater for children aged two to six years where they take part in various activities such as playing with building blocks to promote creativity, reading and playing with soft toys to ensure early learning stimulation.

Mwafulirwa said ECD services had increased in the past 10 years through the establishment of CBCCs from 1 per cent in 1996 to 29.7 per cent in 2007.

“Over the past few years, ECD in Malawi has tended to focus on all children for their survival. Children seek protection from all types of abuse and exploitation and participation in social economic development,” he said.

Mwafulirwa said the project called Protecting and Improving Food and Nutrition Security of Orphans and HIV Affected Children had improved food availability in targeted households and enhanced crop production in the Chowe area.

She however bemoaned the limited access to ECD services for the majority of children more especially those in rural areas and those affected or infected with HIV/Aids.

Through the project, the targeted households were trained on construction of dams for vegetable gardens and were introduced to improved fruit varieties as income generating activity.

However, the CBCCs have not been welcomed wholeheartedly in the Chowe area as narrated by Chief Chowe.

Chowe said many parents were reluctant to send their children to the CBCCs due to high illiteracy levels in the area because the parents don’t understand the importance of it.

For example at Chowe CBCC, over 243 children were registered but daily attendance ranges from 98 to 200 at times.

Because most parents were not aware of the benefits of sending children to the CBCCs, 11 villages are yet to complete construction.

About 12 villages in the Chowe area have 1,815 orphans and vulnerable children who are benefiting from ECD interventions under the project.

From Maxine

Good Housekeeping Tip
Another Ray of Sunshine from Maxine ...

Always keep several
get well cards on the mantle...
So if unexpected guests arrive,
They will think you've been sick
and unable to clean!

Spring Fun from Edith

Try using your mouse to scribble on this:

Spring

Behavior at School

Spring is creeping up on us, and the children's behavior is taking long rides down slender tributaries. Some children will travel untraveled waterways and end up in the muck, and some children will look down the inviting waterway and say "NO!" We are grateful to those who say no.

This week we had to dismiss two children for such wrongful behavior, we could no longer handle either one of them. Rarely do we do this, but there are times when the safety of the entire group is at risk, and then it's a no brainer.

For years we have been the school where children could come and fit in - if they were shy, if they were late bloomers, if they were brilliant, if they were slightly odd, English was a second language, or they had a dormant but serious illness. These were our beautiful angels, and nobody knew a thing except they were Garden School children and were loved.

But outrageous behavior that's affronting, rude, dangerous and malicious is never tolerated. We're sorry about the choices these children have made, but their terrible choices must never ruin the day of the other children.

Behavior is something that is modeled by parents. Most negative behaviors comes from watching mom or dad do the following: treat other family members shamefully, curse, be overtly sexual, be rude and demanding in public, have screaming or throwing tantrums, demonstrate selfishness - the demand on the part of the parent that he or she always comes first every time, ignorant about the effects of TV, or be extremely lazy - or rarely exercise helpfulness to do the work that's required at home. When parents show their lesser sides, children are watching and will often model these behaviors. When they have practiced a few times, the behavior becomes the child's and there is a slim chance that a teacher is going to change it.

Sullenness, pathetic negativity, disruptive self doubt, and failure are all taught by unloving parents who haven't a clue nor want one.

On the bright side, industriousness, calm review, self-less-ness, helpfulness, and smarts about what is appropriate for ANYONE to watch on TV will strengthen a child's model range and help make him the best he can be, which is what most of our parents do. We can tell because most of our children are outstanding little citizens and can accomplish just about anything.

Because most of our parents are excellent examples, we've thrown away the age appropriate guides and have thrust our children into activities beyond their years because that is what the children are wanting. "Figure it out," has become our theme song these last weeks, and you know what? The children are figuring things out for themselves, and it's wonderful to see. Independence is growing in leaps and bounds and the children are discovering at a furious pace.

Good families and good children are backbone of our school. We thank every single parent for their love and cooperation.

Grandparent Fun

WHAT IS A GRANDPARENT?
(taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-olds)

Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of her own. They like other people's .

A grandfather is a man grandmother

Grandparents don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us .

When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also why we shouldn't " step on cracks "

They don't say, "Hurry up !"

Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes.

They wear glasses and funny underwear

They can take their teeth and gums out

Grandparents don't have to be smart

They have to answer questions like, "why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?"
When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't! mind i f we ask for the same story over again ..
Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television, because they are the only grown ups who like to spend time with us.

They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we've acted bad.

A 6 YEAR OLD WAS ASKED WHERE HIS GRANDMA LIVED ''OH,'' HE SAID, ''SHE LIVES AT THE AIRPORT, AND WHEN WE WANT HER WE JUST GO GET HER. THEN WHEN WE'RE DONE HAVING HER VISIT, WE TAKE HER BACK TO THE AIRPORT !

Comment: I can relate to that.

58?

Comment: I read this and laughed, but much of it is true. I'll be 57 this year, and I remember many of these things. I didn't listen to Tommy Dorcey; I listened to Peter Paul and Mary. I didn't have a TV until I was 6. We did have penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, my mother invested in the pill and made money; we had frozen foods, a dishwasher, and a dryer, and we had the pens, but weren't allowed to use them at school. We still did 7th century manuscript with dip pens. My first air conditioner was made in 1936 in an experimental house we lived in. The rest of it's pretty true, although I still say "Sir" to anyone out there.

I think the big difference is the freedom we had vs the freedom children don't have today. I had the run of my island and miles beyond as early as four years old. I wasn't watched because only the very very wealthy watched their kids and they had butlers and maids to do it. I can't tell you how many times my life was in serious danger as early as 5-6. I was once honked at by a coast guard vessel because my raft was too close to Alcatraz Island. I took rides from tourists because I knew they couldn't go faster than five miles an hour on the island, and I could always jump out. And how many times did we sit on the open tailgates of station wagons going down the highway? If you got stuck in a crevice under the boardwalk, would anyone ever find you? If that tree you climbed to the top of that overhung the 200 foot cliff, and the branch cracked???? And what about dodging the man-o-war that often floated into the bay? Swimming too long distances was our little way of life. If you suddenly didn't have any steam, you just turned over and tried to float for a minute until you caught your breath, that or go under. Unfortunately, I discovered early that Miss Judy can't float. Life was dangerous because we made it that way. We camped out in the center of big sequoia trees, and sometimes there were bears... but the only time I was really hurt was when I fell down the convent steps and broke my finger. The nurse wrapped it in a kotex. Go figure.

It's still interesting to go back. My husband and Edith are a few years older, they probably remember a lot more fun stuff. But here it is:

How old is Grandma???

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current
events.

The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at
schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

' television

' penicillin

' polio shots

' frozen foods

' Xerox

' contact lenses

' Frisbees and

' the pill

There were no:

' radars

' credit cards

' laser beams

' ball-point pens
Man had not invented:

' pantyhose

' air conditioners

' dishwashers

' clothes dryers

' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and

' man hadn't yet walked on the moon



Your Grandfather and I got married first ... and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir."
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a
title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers,
and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common
sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand
up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger
privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening
breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and
weekends-not purchasing condominiums.



We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters,
yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on
our radios.

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to
Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan" on it, it was junk.

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10
cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a
nickel.

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough
stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 .. but who could afford one?

Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day:

' "grass" was mowed,

' "coke" was a cold drink,

' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and

' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.

' "Aides" were helpers in the Principal's office,

' " chip" meant a piece of wood,

' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and

' "software" wasn't even a word.


And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a
husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say
there is a generation gap ... and how old do you think I am?

I bet you have this old lady in mind ... you are in for a shock!

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the
same time.

This Woman would be only 58 years old!
>

Something for the Troops!

Comment: I received this from one of our former teachers who is one of my best friends. Thought I'd pass it along.

Someone has said if Christians really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America.

If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

Comment: This is a marvelous article by Susan Miller. It's well worth reading and doing. I found the article in Early Childhood News. In the picture the child is helping mom unpack the groceries and doing it very carefully.

Creating Learning Environments at Home
By Susan A. Miller, Ed.D.

As a parent, you become immediately aware that you are your child's first teacher. Then it should not be surprising that your child's initial important learning environment is your home. Your home setting can be a comforting, warm cocoon where your child very naturally learns about love and trust while you snuggle together reading a book in bed. Or it can be a stimulating place in which he learns to satisfy his curiosity while sinking toys in the bathtub.

Even if you do not consciously invite your child to be a part of your daily routine at home, you will probably find him right next to you anyway. An activity that may not seem exciting to you may be fascinating to your child. For example, when I sat outside on the deck shucking corn for dinner, my toddler-aged grandchild eagerly joined me. He began to intensely pull down the green husks. He became most intrigued as he discovered the golden surprise inside each ear. And then just as quickly, he made a tickly beard with the cornsilk! His sensory-motor skill development and imagination became alive during this simple, shared project.

You serve as an influential role model for your child as she learns about her world. It is fun for her to imitate you and copy your daily activities while she gains new skills and practices some old ones. In this article, Early Childhood News shares ways to take familiar areas in your home and create similar miniature learning environments for your child. Some things are interesting to do together, or with a sibling, while other activities foster independent learning.

While you pay your bills, order clothes online from a catalog store, or call your dentist to make an appointment, encourage your child to practice his communication skills, such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Create a pretend computer with a shoebox. Cover the back of the box with clear contact paper so your child can add "words" or "graphics" to the "screen" with a wipe off crayon. Together, you can write letters and numbers on paper taped to the "keyboard" lid. Fine motor and language skills are sharpened as your child types answers to his email.

Phone fun: Poke holes in the bottom of two paper cups or tin cans (tape any sharp edges). Knot and pull the string tightly through the holes for designer phones for two. Hold one cup to an ear to listen while the other person talks in the other cup. Or create a hand held cell phone with a toilet paper roll and magic markers. To help your child make meaningful connections, create a personal phonebook with real or simple phone numbers (1,2) and pictures of favorite people and places to call.

Box of bills. To help her learn to identify some numbers and letters and to create a print rich environment for your child, save your colorful junk mail. Add some old envelopes, scrap paper, markers and stickers for stamps so she can sit and write out her bills right next to you.

The Gym :

While you grab some precious moments to exercise on your bike or treadmill, you are teaching your child at an early age the importance of keeping physically fit on a regular basis. Create a tiny exercise area for him to move his large muscles, too.

Jazz it up. Roll a towel up tightly and hold it together with rubber bands the long way and on each end. Encourage your child to see how many creative ways he can use this long snake to build his muscles: jump over it, lift it over his head, shake it in the air. Record some jazzy music for him to coordinate his jumps with the rhythm.

Pillow pile up. Pile several pillows on the floor for him to "dive" into or "crawl" around. See how many different ways she can think of to move around the pile. And this provides a great "cooling down" spot for you both to rest and snuggle after your workouts.

Soup-can lifts. If you use weights to tone up, try taping an appropriately weighted can over your child's sock (in case of a skin tape allergy). He can enjoy sitting and lifting his foot or leg while he or both of you count together. For silly fun, try taping on a little teddy bear or a maraca.

Dressing Room:

Usually you feel rushed as you try to decide what you want to wear for the day. Provide stress-free opportunities for your child to become involved in decision-making, too, as she solves some dress-up problems of her own in a near-by corner.

Zip or rip. Offer your child a wonderful collection of old wallets, purses, and bags. Invite her to explore the cause and effect relationships of various closures while practicing her fine motor skills as her fingers zip zippers, snap snaps, rip open Velcro® fasteners, and button buttons.

Keep a handy basket of all those single socks you never know what to do with. Have your child play a classification game and sort by color, shape, size, texture, pattern, or owner.

Dress for the weather. Ask your child to dress his teddy bear in outgrown baby clothes. Besides gaining practice manipulating sleeves and pant legs over the proper body part, he can make meaningful decisions about weather concepts—a fuzzy hat keeps teddy warm on a snowy day.

Cooking Station:

While you are working in the kitchen, safety (sharp knives, hot pots) is often an issue. Give your child his own safe working station—a metal tray on the table or a box of pans on the floor near the wall—so he can make inspired scientific and mathematical discoveries.

Spill and fill. For lots of fun with differently-sized measuring containers and spoons, put water or cornmeal in a dishpan. Have him observe which piles of cornmeal are the largest or which containers hold the most water. And to stretch his imagination, your child will also enjoy burying miniature figurines in the deep corn meal. These hands-on experiences help develop emergent mathematical understandings about volume and size.

Dry + Wet = Gush. Prompt your young scientist to add wet water to dry flour and salt in a bowl. Too much water? Gush! Not enough water? Crumbly stuff! Encourage him to slowly keep adding ingredients until he creates a wonderful ball of play dough to use with cookie cutters or bake. This discovery approach promotes an awareness of the characteristics of different properties.

Cook's choice. Cut colorful pictures of food out of magazines and advertisements. Use small pots, pans and a wooden spoon for your little chef to stir up a stew or birthday cake. Supply paper plates for him to dish out a special meal for daddy. You may wish to furnish a non-toxic glue stick so he can create some permanent food collages. Discuss his choice of foods: for example vegetables and healthy snacks.

Susan A. Miller, Ed.D. is professor emeritus at Kutztown University Pennsylvania