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Rarely have I had the chance to quote Jimi Hendrix, especially when it comes to something that doesn’t have to do with rock n’roll or drugs…So imagine my surprise when I found this quote on wisdom by him:

Knowledge talks, wisdom listens.

Such a lovely way to distill all that encompasses the mental machinations of being wise.

Now, listen. I’ve got to tell you that I’m intentionally not going to wax philosophical about wisdom in relation to religion. The Bible, the Koran, Confucius, Buddha, Hindu religion – all good places to find a wealth of teachings on wisdom.

If you have a spiritual practice then there is your go-to place to start. In fact, you might have a few great teaching ideas yourself, and if so, please share them. I’d love to hear many different perspectives.

After doing my research, however, I can say that wisdom is a gumbo of good judgement: knowledge, open mindedness, creativity, curiosity, perspective, love of learning and listening.

Raising wise children

1. Read books. Lots of books. A good place to start is Barefoot Books Tales of Wisdom and Wonder. It’s a compilation of stories gathered from around the world and retold for little ears.

2. Grandparents. If wisdom comes with age, than what better place to learn than at the feet of our elders. Plus, grandparents and grandchildren can have an incredibly strong bond – if for no other reason that they share a common enemy: the parents. At least that’s what my mother tells me (he he).

3. Mother Nature. Aside from getting kids outside, which is always a good thing, traipsing about in nature rewards wise decisions. Balancing on a downed tree? The wise child goes slowly and makes it safely to the other side. The tree will be the teacher. And gravity.

It only takes one fall to get kids to start making better, wiser decisions. Nature is a wonderful place to test out our instincts, ultimately teaching wisdom.

4. Ask good questions. This isn’t for silly time or just bantering back and forth. When you feel that teachable moment upon you, ask your child provoking questions that get him thinking. Contemplation leads to knowing oneself, and that leads to wisdom.

Being wise adults

As with all of the other character traits, you can’t teach what you don’t have. The old axiom ‘Do as I say and not as I do’ is a bunch of hooey. Only, as a parent, sometimes it’s easier to lecture than to act. Seriously, whenever I hear myself lecturing my girls I think of Charlie Brown’s teacher. Urgh. Actions speak louder than words.

1. Think before you act or decide. Let your child see you thinking. Taking a moment teaches patience and decision making.

2. Consider the long term goal. If you get stuck making short term decisions: a ‘shut up treat’ at the grocery store, one more book at bed time and then another book and then another. You see where I’m going…the long tern goals keep things in perspective.

3. Make exceptions to the rule. Barry Schwartz has an interesting TED talk on the loss of our wisdom. Like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone‘. There are rules, even ones that you’ve made yourself. But rules should be broken sometimes, or at least altered.

Wisdom always points you in the right direction. Schwartz’s take away sound bite: “the good news is you don’t need to be brilliant to be wise. The bad news is that without wisdom, brilliance isn’t enough.”

I could put together a check list. In fact, you could put together a check list. But, seriously, that’s like the whole No Child Left Behind debacle. It assures mediocrity (to paraphrase Schwartz on rules and incentives). It stops people from actually thinking for themselves and it’s the thinking, the listening, the weighing of right and wrong that leads to wisdom.

So teach that: thinking, listening, weighing of right and wrong. You’ll be golden. And so will your kids.

Previous Character Lessons: Love of Learning, Bravery, Open Mindedness, Curiosity, Creativity, Patience, Humor, Hope, Love, Gratitude, Zest, Social Intelligence, Self Control, Grit

photo credit: Modern Home Modern Baby

My daughter’s preschool has a big bowl of apples on the table. It always makes me smile. Something about the wholesome picture of a teacher and lovely apples.

Sometimes, when a child has a lot of, ahem, energy in her hands (and I’m not talking about my girl, noooooo) the teacher will jump up and say, “Have I got just the job for you!” Her excitement is infectious and both of them run to the bowl of apples.

Then a polishing cloth is selected and reverently the teacher takes down the bowl and sets the child up polishing. I’ve seen this. With my very own eyes. It works wonders for dispelling hitting, kicking and otherwise unwanted energy. Wonders! It’s like an advanced ninja move for child handling.

So, if you, like me, have a teacher in your life that you want to thank, give this a try. It’s a recipe from Tree Top of applesauce land. And let me just add that all teachers, especially preschool and kindergarten teachers, deserve any and all gratitude we can give them!

Tree Top Apple-Dapple Cake:

Cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup Tree Top Apple Sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 cups finely chopped apples

Glaze:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Stir in apples.
3. Spread the batter in a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.
4. For the glaze, combine the brown sugar, butter, and milk in a small saucepan. Cook and stir until bubbly and all of the sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly. Drizzle warm over cake when it has cooled for 5 minutes, so it can seep into the cake and keep it moist and completely irresistible.

photo credit: lisaclarke

Andrew Weaving’s new book Playful Home: Creative Style Ideas for Living with Kids is a blast of colorful fun, with many many ideas for incorporating your kid’s world into your world without actually stepping over their cast off toys. That’s not the kind of ‘incorporating’ I’m talking about.

The book, published by Rizzoli and out this month, is also not one of those fussy, ‘that looks nice but it’ll never work in my home’ type of picture books. Well, except maybe the photo with the slide that delivers you from one floor of the house to the lower floor’s playroom. That’s not gonna work for me. I’d venture to say that’s not gonna work for most people. Oh, but if it could.

Incidentally, that is my older daughter’s favorite page!

The book includes 12 case studies – homes that have been designed with kids in mind. Like the slide. That’s definitely a kid centric house. But, like I said, not everything is outta reach.

In looking through the book, I am inspired to add more color into my girl’s room. We just bought a house (yea, finally!) and while we haven’t closed yet, haven’t moved in yet, I found this book to be an amazing jumping off point to dreamland. I cannot wait to get my hands on that house and a few cans of paint. Watch out hubster, we’re gonna be painting!

Of particular brilliance is a custom made bunk bed/storage system that I’d kill to have in our house. It’s so simple. So useful. So beautiful. The ladder up the left of the unit doubles as a deep book shelf. Amazing!

There are portions that deal with outside play areas as well. Inspiring, too, but these projects seem a little over my head. It’s not like I can just slosh around a few buckets of paint and call it a day. Still, interesting idea factory.

But, saving the best for last…the end of the book has one of the best, all purpose, a little high- a little low-brow crafting ideas. It’s not a crafting book, though, so nothing is complicated or needs too much in the way of directions.

Take, for instance, the box aquarium. Here’s the their information page – see how little you actually need to know. Of course, here’s our attempt which is slightly less lovely.

Professionals

Me and my DIY. Needs work, yes, but it’s still fun to play with my girls.

Also, I should mention, that my 2 year old keeps taking it off my bookshelf and putting it in her book bin. She has a little reading corner where she can ‘read’ her books and this is among her favorites. Seriously. I’m not exactly sure why.

For adults (he he) The Playful Home is great for thumbing through to get inspiration for having a house that is lived in without looking rumpled. You know that saying, ‘rode hard and put away wet’? I’m not certain but I think it has something to do with not properly taking care of a saddle, but oh how it fits so many scenarios (and sometimes people).

Some houses where children live look like that. But they don’t have to. Truth be told, though…I’d get this book for the fun projects in the back!

So, a big thanks from me to you, Rizzoli. Thanks for sending me the book so I could share it! You’re very thoughtful that way.

photo credit: Rizzoli for book cover; Modern Home Modern Baby for the rest

I’ve been thinking about health lately, probably because I’m a bit traumatized by that whole feeding tube diet dust up. So, in an effort to support sane women among us, (and stay on a healthy kick – healthy habits, healthy mind, healthy body), I’m sharing some wisdom from my lovely, and also sane, friend Lizelle. She’s a fellow blogger and during one coffee kvetch session, we got to talking about her commitment to cooking.

I’ll share with you some of her wonderful insights on life in her kitchen. Mostly, though, I’m inspired by how she handles fresh ingredients and all this cooking! Read more…

Have you heard of Wittlebee? It’s really cool. Essentially, it’s autopilot for getting your kids dressed.

Basically, think of the worst shopping experience you have with your kids – which, incidentally for me, is most times when I shop with my girls. They are 2 and 4 and love to play hide and seek under the clothes racks. They think it’s especially hysterical to have me ‘chase’ them through the store, using my whisper yell for them to ‘come here!’

Now, cast that vision aside and NEVER have to endure it again. Oh, hell yeah!

OK, back to the beginning. What is Wittlebee? Read more…

Well, they’ll think of everything, won’t they? Pottery Barn. Just when I think I’ve gotten all that I can out of them – my storage boxes, bookshelves, glider, play kitchen(!) – Pottery Barn Kids draws me back in. It’s like I don’t want to look at their catalogs anymore. But. I. Can’t. Help. Myself!

So, here’s what I found for ME (yes, me, not my young lovelies) at Pottery Barn Kids. I’m telling you this in case you still have hints to drop for upcoming Mother’s Day. Or you’ve got to get your mother something from the grandchildren and G-Ma, as a woman and mom, might just love some jewelry! Read more…

I was going to tell you about how a love of learning can lead a young mind toward a fulfilling and fruitful life.

I was going to tell you how a love of learning is a life long endeavor, a way to ensure continued passionate endeavors.

I was going to tell you how our educational system is so broken that it favors rote memorization over actual learning. Learning (!), as in, to be educated! Urgh.

Only I sounded like a know-it-all to my own ears. A little preachy. So I thought I’d settle with a story and a few quotes to make my point because there are people out there who know better than me. Read more…

Maybe you’ve heard of the latest diet craze? I first heard about it on the news but now have seen countless stories on it. It’s called the K-E diet or more descriptively, the feeding tube diet. And yes. It involves an actual feeding tube.

I suppose adding my opinion to the mix won’t really matter here – it seems like people are appropriately up in arms about this diet, about the doctor who is promoting it and about the women who are on it.

Oh, and about the society we live in that might give rise to such behavior. I support any and everyone who thinks this goes way beyond drastic and thinks that it is a wildly bad idea. Read more…

One of my favorite quotes from Pulp Fiction is when The Wolf says: just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.

Sometimes I think I’m raising children who are characters. I mean, what with all the crying and hurling onto the floor. Granted, I’ve got preschool age children, so a bit of dramatic flailing and hurling about is par for the course – but it was one particular tantrum sparked by the wind blowing hair across my 4 year old’s face that I thought: grit. This girl needs some grit!

But how to teach grit?

When I read about a school in New York City that is incorporating character lessons into the curriculum in inventive ways, I knew I needed to understand a little more about teaching character to children. Specifically, my children. Read more…

I’m a self avowed jeans and tee girl. Seriously, almost every day I wear this. I cannot help myself; it’s an addiction. I know there must be a secret club out there to help us mommy uniform wearing bunch but I have yet to find it…maybe J. Crew or Madewell can sponsor us?!? Oooh, that’d be cool.

How about you join me? Let’s make Stacy and Clinton of What Not To Wear proud and start wearing adorable, easy, comfortable dresses. Get out of the jeans. AND the yoga pants. C’mon, you know you do it. You know you wear yoga pants as real pants. I know I do. And, no, I don’t work out enough to justify them either.

I know, I know, dresses are hard to find…they feel so (ahem) dressy…yada yada yada. But if you can find a good dress source, then choosing to wear something other than jeans and a tee would be super easy! Read more…

Is it bad that I wish these new looks from Giggle would come in my size? I swear, I’d totally wear these adorable dresses for girls if I thought I could. My sister-in-law has a saying: “mutton dresses lamb” for this exact situation. When women (I won’t add ‘of a certain age’) try to dress too young they can look, how should I say, ridiculous.

Now, when I go shopping with her, she’ll come out of the dressing room and simply ask, mutton? With her British accent, it’s beyond endearing. Read more…

Aside from the fact that the name of these chips is awesome (!), they taste good, can be used as crackers, too, and are indeed healthy. Food Should Taste Good. I mean, what else do you need to know?

For one, they have sweet potato, salt and vinegar, olive, white cheddar, blue corn, lime, cantina…the list goes on. Read more…

“The baby across from me is clapping to the soundtrack in my earphones,” my friend writes. She’s in a cafe working, or should I say absorbing the present around her. And twittering.

It reminds me of an article I read recently about sabbaticals and the power of removing yourself from your daily routine in order to appreciate your daily routine. Funny how you have to disengage to re-engage.

But who has 4-12 months to take off on a sabbatical?!? Not your average joe… Read more…