The value of reading aloud

In case you were wondering about whether you still should be reading to your school-age children, check out this article on the value of reading aloud.

This was another piece circulated on the NIH Parenting Listserve, but I thought it was worth sharing. If you're not already on the Listserve, consider joining. Lots of great information...

Bath time: wrinkled fingertips have a purpose!!

With credit to Science....

Not Slippery When Wet

The pale wrinkles that adorn fingertips after an extended soaking may be unsightly, but they serve a purpose: They help us get a stronger grip on slippery objects.

Long thought to be caused by osmosis-induced swelling in the outer layer of skin, the wrinkles are in fact produced by the autonomic nervous system, recent experiments indicate. But the purpose of the puckering—which occurs on hair-free skin of the hands, feet, and toes but nowhere else on the body—hasn't been clear, says Tom Smulders, an evolutionary biologist at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.

In 2011, a team of neuroscientists suggested that the wrinkles served to enhance our grip on wet or submerged objects, just as treads on tires help improve traction on wet roads. "That seemed like a clever hypothesis that would be easy to test," Smulders says.

So he and his colleagues designed a test in which volunteers picked up 45 submerged objects—such as glass marbles and lead fishing weights—from a bin one at a time, passed them to their other hand through a postage stamp–sized hole in a barrier, and then dropped them through another hole into a box. When test subjects had wrinkly fingertips—induced by soaking their hands in 40°C water for 30 minutes—they completed the task about 12% faster than they did when their fingers hadn't been soaked, the team reported on 8 January in Biology Letters. When performing the same task with dry objects, wrinkly fingertips didn't provide an advantage.

Suggestions for activities for children aged 3 to 6

A former neighbor shared this through our listserve.The list below includes a number of activities that I had not yet considered for our 3-year-old.

Enjoy!


HOME SUGGESTIONS
The following suggestions are appropriate, purposeful activities that the child from 3
to 6 years enjoys. They help to construct the child’s personality. Prepare the materials
and present the activities in such a way that your child will know how to execute each
activity independently.

Care of person
• The child should be responsible for bathing, brushing teeth, dressing, and
combing hair.
• He/She can choose his or her own clothes (from an appropriate range of options).
• He/She should hang up his or her clothing (the home environment should be
prepared to accommodate these activities, e.g. a low hook on which to hang one’s
coat.

Care of Indoors
• Clean sinks, bathrooms,
• Dust and polish furniture, silver
• Mop floors,
• Fold laundry, roll socks,
• Keep room picked-up (make the bed, etc),
• Help with cooking and baking: peel vegetables, slice fruits, make salad, roll
dough,
• Water, prune and dust plants,
• Empty dishwasher or rinse dishes,
• Put away dishes,
• Pass food at the table,
• Set the table,
• Fold napkins,
• Clear table,
• Be involved in preparation of breakfast and own lunch,
• Prepare and serve snacks,
• Empty wastepaper baskets,
• Help put groceries away, fold paper bags.

Care of Outdoors
• Shovel snow with a small shovel
• Sweep porch and sidewalks, pick up paper around the yard,
• Rake leaves,
• Collect fallen fruit,
• Help wash car, polish hubcaps.


SOURCE: AUGUSTE MONTESSORI (202) 237-1788

Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad Open House -- Oct 1

Looking for something to do the first weekend of October? The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad is holding an open house on October 1 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lots of emergency vehicles and activities for young and old. Also on that week is 'The Taste of Bethesda".

The Squad is located at 5020 Battery Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814-2642.

I haven't ever been to either event, but they sound like fun

Do you know about PACE?

PACE stands for Parent and Community Education. It's a new moms group that I participated in when Michael was born. Many of the women I met through my group I am still friends with today.

The organization pairs up 10 or 11 new moms (who all live in the same general area) with a trained facilitator for a 6 or 8 week discussion group.

You're supposed to sign up before the baby is born--so you can be assigned a group to begin 3 weeks post-partum. Contact information is on their site: http://www.pacemoms.org/.

It's about $250, but money WELL spent!

$1 Family Movies at Lowes Georgetown (on Tuesdays)

Not that any of us are off on a random Tuesday, but in case you are....the Loews theater in Georgetown will be running $1 family movies: next week, 7/27 is Kung Fu Panda. Check it out.

Toddler Diversion

www.kneebouncers.com

Careful, it's addictive!

--
Sent from my mobile device

What to do on the weekends..

Indoor Activities:

* Playseum- 7000 Wisconsin Avenue - Lower Level, Bethesda, 9:30 to 6 p.m. Mon-Sat
(full disclosure: this place is run by evangelical Christians; We've never been, but friends love it!)

* The Building Museum, 401 F Street NW, between 4th and 5th Streets, @Judiciary Square Metro (Red Line) 10 a.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m. Sundays
(The Building Zone, for toddlers and pre-schoolers--lots of play space, controlled number of kids/parents at any one time; Also, the museum has a Firehook cafe, and tons of running around space; a fountain)

* Smithsonian Museums, 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays
(We have loved The Museum of the American Indian and the Natural History Museum)

More ideas here: A Parent in Silver Spring (blog)

Outdoor Activities:
* Cabin John little train
Off Tuckerman lane, pass the entrance to park where DCEG picnic is held, turn left into Cabin John park. The park has a fabulous collection of play-ground areas. It's well shaded for the summer. There are bathrooms, but we've never had to use them. Ample parking. The train is $1.25 for all passengers, regardless of age. You can pay with cash/credit. It's about a 20 minute ride. You can rent a room there for a party, too.

* Glen Echo park & carousel
Less shaded than Cabin John. A little harder to find/get to--off Canal road. They have an okay playground. The carousel is beautiful. There's a little Irish pub nearby that's pretty kid-friendly.

* National Zoo
Open dawn to dusk every day. Lots to do. Parking at the zoo is $20 unless you're a member. Ample neighborhood parking on either side (Adams Morgan or Cleveland Park). If on metro, get off at Cleveland Park and walk down the hill; then to leave walk down hill again to Woodley Park.

* Turtle Park Sprayground 10am-7pm, Mon-Sun
Near American University, off Van Ness. Parking on the street. Shaded playground with big sand box, several climbing areas. Not as many swings as I might like. Some running around space in the playground (a nice hill, etc), but there are also tennis courts and fields that are more open. The splash-park is small-ish and mainly for tots, but a ton of fun. It's not fully shaded. There isn't much seating for parents so be ready to sit on the ground and maybe get wet. There are bathrooms, but I've never used them. Friendly parents: At least once another mom gave me a diaper when I had a swim dipe but no backup for once we were done splashing!!

Saturday-only
Glover Park Farmers' Market: Off Wisconsin Avenue, at the school across from Social Safeway. There are usually musicians. No shade whatsoever.

Sunday
Dupont Farmers' Market: Very crowded, usually there are musicians at either entrance. Not the best for kids.