Microwaving plastic containers - is it safe?
This article from The Harvard Medical School Family Guide is worth a read - it puts to bed a few urban myths whilst telling you what to actually look out for.
Writing letters to grandchildren
There no simpler gift than a letter from someone you love. The Gave That blog has written a beautiful article on the power and value of letters from grandparents to grandchildren.
Read it in full here. I still have postcards from my grandparents I treasure and my kids love getting postcards from their grandparents to put in their treasure box. How about you?
I’m sick of competitions masquerading as rorts
Over the past month, if you buy Coon cheese, you may have seen promotions around ‘Win a million dollars’. We buy their cheese and so have been going to the competition website to enter barcodes.
I was about to enter my fourth when I thought to click on the tiny ‘terms and conditions’ link, and realised the ridiculous steps one has to go through just to have a chance to win the big bucks:
Entries will be divided into groups according to each selection and component of the toastie made by the entrant when building their toastie (for example, entrants who choose a particular type of bread, who chose to butter their bread on both sides, selected a single slice of Tasty cheese, to be cooked under a grill, until ‘crispy and golden’ would form one group, while entrants who chose the same bread but with no butter, and who selected a single slice of Tasty cheese, to be cooked under a grill, until ‘crispy and golden’, would form another etc..). The group that, as determined by the Promoter in its sole discretion, has the highest number of entries will be the group that is entered into the draw. If more than one group is determined by the Promoter in its sole discretion to have the equal highest number of entries, the Promoter will in its sole discretion select only one of the tied groups to be entered into the draw. From the group(s) of entries selected for the draw, the first valid entry drawn will win the major prize. The major prize consists of the opportunity for the winner to participate in the Cooking Demonstration and the opportunity to participate in a game for the chance to win either $1,000,000.00, $30,000.00 or $10,000.00 (“Game”). Accordingly, in addition to the Cooking Demonstration, the major prize will be either $1,000,000.00, $30,000.00 or $10,000.00, but only one of those amounts will be won. The Cooking Demonstration requires the winner to prepare and cook their winning toastie on television at a time and place to be determined by the Promoter. Ingredients will be supplied by the Promoter. The Game may also be recorded and broadcast on television. Entrants should note that, if the Promoter is unable to secure a television appearance, the Cooking Demonstration component of the prize may be cancelled and no compensation will be provided in lieu. It is intended that the Cooking Demonstration and Game will take place on 17/11/08 (but this date is subject to change at the Promoter’s sole discretion). The Game will take place at Quad 1, 8 Parkview Drive, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW 2127 (but this location is subject to change at the Promoter’s sole discretion).
In other words, you MIGHT be in the group that goes through to the final draw and even then you play a ‘game of chance’ that will likely net you 10 grand rather than a million. I wouldn’t sneeze at 10 grand but it’s yet another example of PR spin over any substance. Oh and did I mention you need to keep the receipt for every product you’ve bought? The actual wrapper ain’t good enough - unbelievable.
A big thumbs down, Coon cheese…
Track your haircuts
I’m a bit of a geek but even I find this story a little ridiculous. A guy called Matt Cutts has posted about using a spreadsheet and Google calendar to work out the time between haircuts.
The obvious question is: why???
What’s your relationship IQ?
Smart Marriages has an interesting quiz on relationships - try it out.
Drinking on the cheap
I came across a fairly useful article on not sending yourself broke paying for alcohol when you go out for dinner or entertain.
It needs an Australian slant though - what’s good cheap wine or spirits that you’d recommend over the more expensive brands?
Microwave versus Stove
The New York Times of all places has an excellent article on using your microwave more effectively.
I tend to use it to start to pre-cook potatoes before I throw them into a wok but don’t do a lot else with the microwave except to defrost things - I may have to make more of an effort after reading that article!
My turn to cook
I’m far from an accomplished cook but I try to cook at least once a week, twice if bringing home takeaway counts as ‘cooking’ (we’ll cover health takeaway in a future post - I’m not claiming we don’t bring home junk food sometimes but we try to minimise it).
Anyway, I really only have a repertoire of three or four dishes - Chicken Korma, Chicken Parcels with lemon and ginger, and Chicken Burgers. Do you see the theme? So, to break out of the mold, I’ve decided to branch out to Quesadillas. Here’s one simple Quesadilla recipe I found and I think I’ll try that. With chicken of course.
I’d love to hear from everyone on how they divide the cooking duties. As I’ve said, we’re in reality a 5-1-1 household (HappyParent-Her cooks five times, myself once and a night of leftovers / toast / random crumbs from the floor). What’s your ratio?
Food on road trips with the kids
Lifehacker are asking for tips for commuters wanting healthy food options and it got me thinking about the whole food thing on lengthy road trips.
I think it’s fair to say that you need something more than McDonalds to cover a six to eight hour road trip. We’ve certainly stop at the fast food place on the side of the freeway but we also carry a bunch of semi-healthy snacks that help to pass the time as well as reduce the chance of screams from the back of the car about wanting chips (we’ve avoided them eating a burger so far).
Here’s some tips on snacks that take a while to eat, something that’s handy as time is no object trapped in a car:
1. Fruit straps - they take a while to chew and aren’t ridiculously high in sugar
2. Little tupperware containers with sultanas, dried apricot. If you have more than one type of dried fruit the kids tend to enjoy the variety more.
3. Cut up watermelon - it may get a little messy but you won’t get any complaints from the kids!
I’d love to hear your food tips for longer car trips. What works for you? Any interesting food disasters in the car?
It’s time to be happy
In these days of overprotection and structured childhood, being a kid has really become preparation for ’successful’ adulthood. An adult life that most (all?) parents hope will be triumphant and more successful than their own.
We give our kids a lot - more than we had, more than our parents had. All those material possessions and essential experiences that they need in order to be the successful, intelligent and beautiful adult we know (want) them to be. We parents pay a lot for all those meaningful, educational experiences that will give our child just the right skills to be the best.
But - they don’t seem to appreciate or even be aware of what we’re doing for them. The time, the cost, the inconvenience we go through to give our kids everything they need. It’s sooo frustrating. Don’t they understand?
Perhaps it’s us who don’t understand. We’re no longer allowing our kids to be what they want to be. Do we let them enjoy being kids and experience the fun if the childhoods we had? Can we let them get the lumps and bumps and scrapes from playing outside? Is it right to let them fight their own battles and sometimes lose? Will doing that make them happier, or more to the point will it make our lives easier? Can we let our kids enjoy being kids and do some of the things we did when we were younger?
Everyone needs down-time and some unstructured space in which to explore and enjoy life. So here at Happy Parent we’ve come up with 50 essential experiences that all ‘well-rounded adults need to have had in order to appreciate life and the world. We’ll roll out those 50 in coming months, as well as some running commentary on issues facing parents today. I’ll explain more about myself in coming weeks, as will my spouse and co-blogger, David.