One of my readers, Meeyauw, apparently enjoyed my post on creating a National Wildlife Federation backyard wildlife habitat enough to actually do this project with her grandson, Wingnut. (Wow, somebody was really interested in what I had to say! What a nice feeling!).
She and Wingnut created a totally wonderful slideshow (complete with great music that makes me want to dance) of their nature hike around Meeyauw’s property with cat Buddy. They photographed various habitat elements that they came across, and also took many photos of Buddy enjoying himself tremendously.
Meeyauw’s gorgeous Barton, Vermont property appears to need no adjustments for certification, and that cool sign should be on her barn in no time. Caves, natural springs, glacial boulders, trees, ferns…suffice it to say that when I die I want to be reincarnated as any form of “wildlife” whatsoever and live happily ever after on her property!
Thank you to Meeyauw and Wingnut for your great slideshow. I hope that anyone reading this will stop by Meeyauw’s blog and watch the slideshow. Maybe you’ll be inspired to try this yourself! If you do, please let me know.
By the way, check out the National Wildlife Federation’s site called Green Hour for some information and ideas for getting kids outside and into nature.
Activity Ideas, educational/homeschool, environment, Everything Else!, gardening, nature, nature, other blogs, outdoor fun, science projects
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Backyard Wildlife Habitat, birds, Certified Wildlife Habitat, gardening, National Wildlife Federation, nature, nature photos, nature projects, nature slideshow, NWF, wildlife
If your family is like mine, you have probably shed enough Cheerios throughout your kids’ childhoods to fill several super-sized cereal bowls for the Giant that invaded Tinytown (the Giant says he prefers catnip, thank you).
Check out this totally adorable nature video at Mon@rch’s Nature Blog to see who benefits from our Cheerio-litter!
Chipmunk Video
PS. Even though I advocate “unplugging” your children, bring them in to watch this one!
Just because it is no longer “officially” TV Turn-Off Week, doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to be conscious of your family’s screen-time.
There are a lot of great reasons out there for “turning it off,” or at least minimizing your TV and computer usage. Here are a few internet resources that I have come across that really address this issue nicely:
A few reasons on her list include the well-known facts that excessive TV appears to contribute to childhood obesity and violence, as well as the behavioral benefits demonstrated by TV-free children: less aggression, more creativity, longer attention spans, and an interest in reading.
Think of what you could spend your money on (or put into savings) without a cable bill and the added electricity of one or more TVs in your house. Then there are the less obvious financial benefits such as less exposure to commercial marketing (perhaps you’ll save money there too!) and spending less money on fast-food or ready-made meals because you don’t have time to make a dinner from scratch if you have to catch your favorite show.
I really like this post because it has some very creative reasons for turning it off, many of which I had never thought of before. It is definitely worth a read and will make you think about your money, and how TV affects your spending.
- There are websites out there that also encourage less TV-watching. I link to some of them in my left sidebar. I won’t relist them all here, but I will highlight a few of them.
- If you are wondering what TV-free kids are like, here is a link to one of my favorite articles (found on The Center For Screen Time Awareness website): “TV Free Families: Are They Lola Granolas, Normal Joes or High and Holy Snots?” This article presents the results of a 1999 study conducted by Barbara Brock, a professor of Recreation Management at Eastern Washington University. She sent a 22-page questionnaire to nearly 400 TV-free families and had a 72.7% response rate. The results are very interesting and seem to confirm the beneficial effects of turning off the TV found in other research.
My children have been TV-free their whole lives and I sometimes wonder about how that will ultimately affect them, so I find this study to be very reassuring!
- Finally, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under age 2 watch no TV at all. Please read their recommendation at my post TV and Toddlers. For a while now, I have had the following sign on my blog:
It is finally being noticed and has appeared on several other blogs too. I am so pleased that others are willing to help spread the word, and I have moved my sign to a more prominent location. Please feel free to place it on your blog too. It can be found at Aylmer Press. You can also print full sized ones to hang in schools or other public places if you would like. Steve Kokette found my blog and was kind enough to contact me about his sign, so please include a link to his site if you use it. Thanks for helping spread the word!
Everything Else!, other blogs, TV, TV-free kids, TV-Turnoff Week
| AAP, AAP recommendation, American Academy of Pediatrics, Cent, Center for Screen-Time Awareness, Kill Your Television, LimiTV, The Simple Dollar, The Simple Dollar blog, TV, TV and behavioral problems, TV Smarter, TV studies, TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge, TV-free family, TV-free kids, TV-Turnoff Week, White Dot
Apparently I have been tagged by Jen to be part of a fun blogroll idea that helps readers easily discover new blogs. Thank you, I have never been tagged for anything except for running too slowly in elementary school PE class and, most recently, for a tax audit. Here goes, I hope I do this right. By the way, if I link you and you want to be part of this then I am glad! The more the merrier! If you don’t want to do it, then feel free to opt out. No hard feelings.
Here are the rules:
1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content string. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra linkback.
2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.
3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the Originals list.
4. Add up to 5 new parenting or (Mommy/Daddy) blogs to the list in the My Adds section.
My Adds:
Toddler Planet
Crib Chronicles
The Not Quite Crunchy Parent
Crouching Mommy, Hidden Laundry
Purses And Poop
The Originals:
A Work of Art: Raising Our Exceptional Son
Ever After … My Way
Adventures In The 100 Acre Wood
An Island Life
Adoption and Fire
Lala Girl
The Bookworm Broadcast
Parenting Sites 411
Cass Knits
Geni Desu Yo
No Average Mom
Notes From The Trenches
Busy Mom.net
Groovy Mom
Coffee Time
My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings
Toil
My Single Mom Life
Tips From The Money Goddess
Army Mom: New Jersey
Melissa’s Place
Three Sons and a Princess
Moot Thoughts and Musings
A family runs through it
Uglyhead
Parenting Toddlers
arewethereyetmom.com
HeartSongs
Kitchen Ramblings from a fairly odd Tofu mom
My Splatter Painted Life
The Adventures of Fantastagirl
Party of Six
Controlled Chaos
Never a Dull Moment
It’s Just the Coffee Talking
Supermom
Christina, Downloaded
Cursing Mama
scribbit
Unplug Your Kids
Don’t Try This at Home
Dumb Questions:
1) Can anyone tell me how these five people will know that I linked to them in this post? Just from their stats? I don’t really get the whole linking, keyword thing.
2) What does it mean in the instructions when it says: “If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.” What is a keyword? What is MY keyword?
I think I may be missing something important. If someone more knowledgeable has an explanation, please comment. Thanks in advance!
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Themocracy