Smooth Move Mom!

Jul 30, 2013 by Alyssa

As moms, we try to be cool, especially when it comes to our teenagers, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way.  In fact, with me, when it rains it pours!

The other day was just not my day and unfortunately my stupid moves all happened in sight of my kids and some of their friends.

I started my day like all others, taking the dogs for a walk.  Rather than go our normal route, I decided to cut through the canyon.  It was there that I unknowingly stepped into an area of mud and my feet went right out from underneath me.  In an instant I was on my ass, my phone went flying and the dogs nearly got loose.  My daughter saw it all from her bathroom window and as I sat in the mud, I could hear her laughing.  As I got up I heard, “nice move mom, are you ok?”  I have yet to tell my husband (or kids) that my phone screen cracked once again from the incident!

Next, we had just launched the boat on the lake with the kids and some friends and I was standing up spraying on some sun block.  My wonderful husband hit the gas and I flew a bit across the deck.  My sunglasses also did some flying, right into the lake.  I reached over the side to try and grab them but they sank quickly.  I stood up and my boys were all just shaking their head in embarrassment as my one son asked, “way to go mom, were those your good glasses?”

I quietly sat down and kept to myself as the kids all took turns in the tube.  At one point I stood up to wave the orange flag indicating that someone was in the water and I hear from behind me, “mom, your tag is hanging out of your bathing suit bottom.”  I rolled my eyes since having a tag out is really no big deal and then I hear, “OMG, she has her bathing suit bottom on inside out!”  I was the butt of the jokes for quite a few hours.

But it didn’t end there.  I’m the one that gets off the boat at the dock to go and get the boat trailer.  Typically my husband drives close to the dock and I jump off, no problem.  Not this time, I totally missed the dock and landed in the water.  I didn’t even wait around to hear the laughter, I climbed onto the dock and ran to the car.

That black cloud was certainly hovering over me all day but I guess things could have been worse!

MommyWarriors.com

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Taking Pictures: Girls vs Boys

Jul 15, 2013 by Alyssa

My 15 year old son had the opportunity to spend 10 days with his grandparents down in Florida this summer.  He went down with a friend and their intent was to do a boatload of fishing, some golfing, and more or less, relax after a tough school year.

When he left, I reminded him, “take a lot of pictures, especially when you’re out on Charlotte Harbor tarpon fishing.”  As usually, I got the standard “ok mom.”

Once he arrived safely I got the phone call that he had arrived in one piece.  After that, most of my communication was with my mom who gave me the updates on what they were doing.  I did sent a few texts asking if he was having a good time and all I got back was a “yes.”  When I texted to ask him to send some pictures, I got back “I will.”

To make a long story short, in 10 days, he had caught a ton of fish, including a 140 pound tarpon and how many pictures did I get from him?  ZERO!  How many pictures did he actually take on his iPhone?  ZERO!  How about any video on his iPhone of the 45 minute fight he had with the tarpon trying to get it to the boat?  ZERO!

Herein lies one of the differences between girls and boys.  In those 10 days, my daughter would probably have taken about 500 pictures to add to the already 3,000 she has on her iPhone.  She takes pictures of everything, she must get that from me.  My son is just like my husband, taking pictures is the last thing on their mind but if you ask him about his fish, he can tell you the story over and over about that now 200 pound tarpon that he fought for well over an hour!

I can’t believe I’m saying this but, thank goodness for my dad’s little old flip phone, I do have one picture of my son out fishing for grouper.  I’m impressed he figured out how to take it and then actually text it to me.  Dad, this doesn’t mean that you are now technologically savvy but, you’re getting there!  mommywarriors.com

Grouper fishing on Charlotte Harbor

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Mom’s Crazy Summer Days

Jul 9, 2013 by Alyssa

As moms, we all think that once our kids are out of school for the summer we get to relax a little.   What a tease that is!

Okay, I’ll admit, the kids and I did have a few days of doing absolutley nothing, staring at the TV and ordering in pizza.  But that didn’t last long at all.  My last three weeks have been nothing but constant running around and I truly apologize for not being online and keeping up the blogbut I really didn’t have all that much time on my hands. 

I’ve had kids all all over the country for one thing or another.  One traveled to Indiana to play lacrosse with the big boys at the Notre Dame lacrosse camp and realized that once you get to college you have to do an awful lot of walking to get where you need to be.  Another went to Florida to visit my parents and do some tarpon fishing while getting spoiled by his grandparents.  My little soldier headed to Gettysburg to take part in the 150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg battle and figured out he certainly likes he fact that Southern California has no mosquitos.  An lastly, my daughter headed to Dallas for the Junior National Volleyball Championships and played her little heart out to help her team secure being the #15 15s team in the nation leaving with a goal for next year to make it to the top 4.

And where was mom while all this was taking place?  Well, right in the midst of things of course.  Still driving kids to practices and airports.  Traveling from city to city, living out of a suitcase, sleeping on pull out coaches, staying in local Bates Motels, not to mention being stressed out beyond belief watching my 14 year old daughter being scouted by college coaches in some of the toughest volleyball matches she’s ever played.  I blew my diet, worked out out zero times and was beyond exhausted when I finally got home.

 But when I did get home, I knew my kids had a great time doing what they love and that’s all that matters.  The house was as dirty as it was when I left, the dogs were still alive and my garden welcomed me with some mighty fine ripe tomatoes.  Even though it’s been in the triple digits since I touched down at LAX,  there really is something to be said about being home and  sleeping in my own bed.

So, the practices continue, the weather keeps getting hotter and I’m back in mom mode.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

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Disconnected – Kicking the tech dependency and just talking

Aug 7, 2013 by Alyssa

Written by Alyssa Banko

Published in SCV Health & Family Magazine July/August 2013

A publication of The Signal

I’m all for new technologies and there have been incredible advances since I was a kid but, society has become so dependent on electronic technologies for entertainment, education, relationships and communication that face-to-face conversations are becoming a thing of the past.

Whether we like it or not, cyber communication is here to stay and, for as much as we want to detox from it, embracing it is really the only choice.  For the kids, it’s just a way of life, they fear nothing electronic.  The parents, well, we fought it as long as we could and now we do our best to keep up with it.  And those poor grandparents, their anxiety skyrockets when they get near a computer and freak out when they push the wrong button on their flip phone.

I remember an ad for the Yellow Pages years ago that said “Let your fingers do the walking.”  Nowadays it’s more like let your fingers do the talking because there’s no need to speak when you can email, text, update your Facebook status or post a picture of what you’re doing on Instagram to chat, plan and coordinate just about anything.

Sure it’s great that our communications can be sent in an instant but, we still need to teach our kids that there is another way and that’s to effectively carry on a conversation.  Communication is the building block of a strong family and is the basis for our kids’ future relationships.  Rather than hide on the couch behind a screen with their fingers moving a mile a minute, they need to understand that words, expressions and gestures are key components in basic communication.

Knowing that all these electronic devices are not going away anytime soon, here are some tips for effective family communication.

 Make the time to be together as a family to have some meaningful conversations. Take a walk, sit around a campfire or play a game and just talk to each other.  Having a family talking stick is always fun (especially in the case of a large family like mine) and it allows everyone to speak without any interruption from the peanut gallery and helps cut down on going off on a tangent. Provide a safe and comfortable environment for the kids to open up.  This could be as simple as a few minutes on the way to school, at dinner, or even in their bedroom.  My daughter and I have had countless conversations laying on her bed in the dark and she loves every minute of it.Remove the devices that have become their new appendages.  Yes, they will fight you kicking and screaming or might have a panic attack that they can’t respond immediately to a text but, a little device separation is a good thing.Talk with your kids as often as you can.  It doesn’t have to be just whenever there’s an issue, but more on a regular basis on any topic to help reinforce your positive relationship with them. As hard as it may be, learn to zip it and just listen.  There are times when kids (especially teenagers) just need to vent without hearing your two cents.  Mind you, I have one that can talk my ear off for an entire flight from NJ to CA but, if that’s what he needs to do, I will sit there and I will do nothing but listen.Let the kids speak for themselves as soon as they possibly can.  Allow them to ask their own questions and respond all by their little selves.  One of my biggest pet peeves is parents that don’t allow their kids to have a voice.  For goodness sake, if you are still ordering for your kid at a restaurant, it’s time to open the door and let them take a big step outside the mommy shelter.

Imagine if Alexander Graham Bell had invented a texting device back in 1876 and most recently the telephone came into our lives.  Those 8.6 trillion texts that are sent a year would diminish and we would be excited to pick up the telephone, move our lips and actually talk to each other.

MommyWarriors.com

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Are Kids Getting Enough Sleep?

Is your little one getting enough shut-eye? According the sleep experts, the answer is probably no.

After reviewing 100+ years of studies about children and sleep -- more than 300 of them -- University of South Australian researchers determined that sleep experts have consistently found that children got less sleep than recommended, Time Magazine reported.

“Over the 112 years the study covered, children lost about 75 minutes of shut-eye,” Time’s Bonnie Rochman wrote of the new study inPediatrics, “in 1897, experts were recommending that kids sleep 1 hr. 15 min. more than was advised in 2009.”

“Another constant,” Rochman added, “societal hand-wringing over children’s lack of sleep and a tendency to blame the hectic pace of modern life.” One of the study’s authors said, “People are always recommending kids sleep more than they do.”

So what's the current recommended amount of sleep time for children?

It varies based on age, but according to the National Sleep Foundation babies between the ages of 3 to 11 months need a total of 14 to 15 hours, while toddlers between 1 to 3 years old should get 12 to 14 hours. Preschoolers need 11 to 13 hours, and elementary schoolers should sleep between 10 to 11 hours. Older children and teens need a minimum of 8½ hours.

How many hours of sleep do your kids normally get?

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Top 5 Food Choking Hazards for Kids

Has your little one ever choked on a piece of sandwich or a grape? A new study explored just how common food-related choking injuries are in children - and the results may surprise you.

Every day, an average of 34 children in the United States are treated in the emergency for a non-fatal choking involving food (12,435 per year).  More than 60% of those cases are children under the age of four.

What's the most dangerous food? Hard candy.

In the course of the study, which was published in the August issue of Pediatrics, researchers identified the top five causes of non-fatal food choking.

Hard Candy - 15.5%

Other Candy - 12.8%

Meat Other Than Hot Dogs - 12.2%

Bone - 12%

Fruits and Vegetables - 9.7%

While only 2.6% of incidents involved hot dogs, researchers noted that they are in a different (and more dangerous) category. Because hot dogs are a type of high-risk food which can completely block the airway of a small child, they are more likely to be involved in choking cases that result in death.

So what should parents do to keep their children safe? The American Academy of Pediatrics offers extensive guidelines on foods to avoid and other choking prevention strategies here.

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Couples Who Run Have More Sex

Does working up a sweat with your partner make things hotter in the bedroom? A new study suggests that couples should strap on "his and her" sneakers!

Couples who run together apparently have more sex, at least according  to a Brooks Running survey of 1,000 adults ages 18 or older who run at least once a week.

Of those surveyed,  66 percent believed they have more sex when they run with their other halves. Men (71 percent) were slightly more likely than women (62 percent) to make the connection.

Why? There are several possible explanations, including the increased intimacy that comes from spending time together and the bonding effects of shared exercise.

[Read "Workouts with Friends: The Benefits of Small Group Training"]

Some other fun facts that the survey uncovered:

Men enjoy chatting on the run more than their female counterparts. Favorite topics: sports and cool new gadgets. Women, on the other hand, prefer to talk about the current state of their relationships on group runs.

Top celebrity running partners: 27 percent would pick Jimmy Fallon; 22 percent would pick Chelsea Handler or Jimmy Kimmel.

30% of participants find runners who spit while on the road that most hateable kind to encounter. Um duh, that's because hocking loogies is just rude.

Do you ever go running with your significant other?

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