I had been witnessed to countless situations where I a mother exhibits an emotional breakdown disciplining their kids in public. There was a time when I heard a mother berate her 8 year old child at the mall, rather loudly, which made her daughter cry. It had been hard not to look and mind my own business. I wanted to come up to the mother and berate her myself. But she was kind of intimidating and I guess everyone else was intimidated by her, that no one tried to stop her from shouting at her daughter, till they left the store.

At one point, I too was a witness of a mother cursing at his son, for he was misbehaving. The words that came out of her mouth were enough to want me wash this down with soap…but I bit my tongue and only gave the mother a glaring look, which I didn’t know how she took.

A friend of mine, however, was braver than I am and literally had to pry the mother away from her child, when it was very obvious she was hitting her with this fan on her hand. The kid had been misbehaving as usual, but the mother has hit him countless of times, it was awful to watch. My friend stepped in and told his mother to not hit her child or she will call the police. The mother reasoned he had been very naughty and needed discipline.

I truly dislike mothers who discipline their child in public, humiliating them. But what would you have done in this case? Would you step in too?

Or ice day, as the case may be.  Where I live, we get very little snow, but a ton of ice.  The effect is the same, though–5 people stuck in the same house together for 72 hours or more.  Usually we consider it a nice, roomy house, but on these days, it starts to feel a bit crowded.  

So, let’s talk about what to do to keep from going crazy on snow days. 

First of all, take a deep breath and get a grip on your patience.  You’re just going to have to accept that your day is going to be different, and much more kid-centered, than you had planned.  This can be a problem if you work from home (I can’t even count how many times today I told my kids, “Just because you’re home doesn’t mean that Daddy and I don’t have to work.”).  But kids aren’t entirely unreasonable.  If they’re old enough, make it clear when you need them to be independent and when you can give them attention.  You may have to reinforce it a few times, but they’ll usually work with you.

Here are some other ways to pass the time in a positive way.  Don’t forget that any of these can be spaced throughout the day or traded off (Dad plays board games while Mom reads, Mom bakes cookies while Dad uses computer).

• Trilogies.  Star Wars, Back to the Future, Shrek, Indiana Jones… at least 3, sometimes 4 or even 6 movies.  Watch one in the morning, one after lunch, and one after dinner.   This way they don’t veg in front of the TV all day, but it can still be fun to watch the whole series.  You can use the in-between time to work while they play, draw, or do chores.  Yes, you heard me, I said…
• Chores.  You might need to supervise, but why shouldn’t they fold socks, vacuum, or put away the dishes?  Not all day, of course, because snow days are supposed to be fun, but after a movie or an activity is a good time to say, “Now before we do anything else, I need everyone to bring me the sheets off their beds.”
• Board games.  Admit it; you have a bunch of games, but you hardly ever play them as a family.  Snow days are tailor made for some good family game time.  Younger kids can team up with parents or older siblings if they can’t play on their own.  And like I said above, one parent can play best 2-out-of-3 in Candyland while the other parent takes a break or gets some work done. 
• Work out tapes.  Our kids are usually in better shape than we are, but that’s because they’re used to being active.  If they are stuck inside the house all day, all that energy is going to be diverted to fighting with siblings or bugging you.  Work some of it out with them by doing an aerobics tape together.  Another way to fit in some activity is to put on a CD and dance around the living room for several songs.  But it’s no fun for them unless you get up and get moving with them.
• Baking.  Even little kids can pour a cup of flour in a bowl, and they take such pride in eating what they’ve helped make.  And then when they start whining that they’re hungry, you have something to give them!
• Reading out loud.  Give them coloring or drawing materials and start a chapter book.  You can do several chapters throughout the day, or just do a few at night.  The sitting and listeing involved helps keep everyone calm, and it has also been known to divert arguments.  The drawing during a story helps them process what they’re hearing and tap into their creative side.

Snow days don’t have to be crazy-making.  With a little patience and a good attitude, they can be some of your family’s best memories.

Perhaps in a push to letting kids eat healthier, Kraft Foods has now come up with a new Macaroni and Cheese product that has vegetables in it.

Last month, it has introduced the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Veggie Pasta, which has cauliflower in it. The packages were sold at Walmart and Target stores all across the country. And the pasta for this were made with organic ingredients.

This is also one way of letting children eat vegetables without having to fuss about it. As many parents know, it’s very hard to convince kids to eat what’s good for them.

According to Kraft Foods —

“We know moms are always looking to please their kids and wanting to not make meals a big ordeal, in so far as being able to get them to eat their food. Mom is looking for ways to sneak veggies into her kids’ diet.”

In fact, the pasta packs have been readily available in Canada since March and has been well-received, that it has boosted profits for the company.

This latest product has been lauded, not just by parents, but also by nutritionists.

“I don’t think there’s a food company in American that doesn’t have on its radar the health and wellness of Americans, as a market. They think it’s a driving force in our behavior. I know it’s not. I know the driving force of our behavior is taste buds.”

Have you and your kids already tried this new product from Kraft? And are they liking it?

It’s appalling to even imagine this and yet it’s actually true.

According to The Sun, a mother admits to giving her 8-year old daughter botox injections as well as “virgin waxes” in order to increase her chances of becoming a “star”. The young child, Britney, is quite active in the beauty pageant circuit and her mother thinks that this is one way of helping her win crowns and opportunities.

The mom, a beautician by profession, said — “I know one day she will be a model, actress, or singer, and having these treatments now will ensure she stays looking younger and baby-faced for longer.” If you haven’t yet passed out from shock, she then said this: “She is a lucky little girl and is going to be famous because of the benefits I am giving her so early.”

The mother has different botox vials on stack, which is why she can afford to do this to her daughter. She gets this from a local beauty dealer. The virgin wax, she adds, is to prevent her daughter from growing hair in the future.

It’s sad to imagine and also very disturbing to think about it but there are actually a lot of mothers addicted to this whole kiddie pageant circuits. It’s also very unhealthy, not only physically, but mentally. On top of this, her daughter seems to have no qualms about what her mother is doing and even hopes to get a nose job.

What do you think about this?

Babies are adorable, and most people don’t need to be told that.  It’s hard coded into humans to adore and faun over little tykes, and Babies uses this as an entire premise for a movie.  Using little dialogue, and no narrations the Babies movie is a surprising hit.  It uses a documentary format to walk viewers through the first year of four babies lives.

It shows the wee ones growing up in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco, and Tokyo.  It manages to highlight the differences with no social commentary, and no bad feelings.

From Tokyo’s Mari and San Francisco’s Hatti having fun with their high tech toys, and baby yoga (respectively) while Mongolia’s Bayer and Namibia’s Ponijao having their own run ins with the local livestock.

Babies is a fun movie that is really breaking the standard mold, it doesn’t have what many have now come to expect in the theaters.  However, for what it lacks in the dramatic moments that many audiences are used to, more than makes up for it with a still sweet and feel-good aspect.

French filmmaker Thomas Balmès banked on the audience’s human nature for babies overall, and has created a smart movie overall that could also be enjoyed by the title audience as well.  If you are lucky enough to have a tyke that could sit through a just over an hour movie, they would love to see the wee ones on the silver screen (plus mom would love it too!).