I’d known I was going to be on Calgary Breakfast Television for two weeks, but since I’m a procrastinator and a crammer (two skills that haven’t helped me much with parenting), I decided to delay thinking about my in-studio TV debut. Then, 36 hours before I was to be on television (live television), I googled: “What […]
TV
Selective Memory, TV, and Children
My son has the ability to forget just about anything. So far, in Grade 1, he has forgotten his boots at school in a blizzard (he wore his indoor runners as mules through drifts of snow), every detail of what he did in class yesterday, and where he put the remote control to our brand […]
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a TV News Spot
Last Monday, I had the pleasure of being on The Calgary Eyeopener, a popular morning radio show in our city run by CBC (Canada’s version of NPR). I had been in touch with the producers regarding my post, “5 Best-Toys-of-2010 That Really Suck,” and they were interested in doing a seven minute segment live on […]
5 Reasons Parents Need To Watch the Olympics
Reason 1: It’s better than Kid-TV. I’m not sure what your least favourite kids-TV show is, but we prefer to be patriotic in our loathing. On Canada’s homegrown Treehouse TV, 4 Square is the most despised program in our household, especially the segments featuring four dancers in unitards. If you don’t know this show, cross […]
What Reality Shows Can Teach You about Parenting, Part 2
Feel free to read Part 1 of What Reality Shows Can Teach You about Parenting, or feel free not to bother. American Idol may not seem like a primer in parenting, but it is. Where else can you learn that everyone judges you? That lesson became apparent on a recent trip to IKEA. I had […]
Twenty Minutes with Five-Year-Old Twins
7:00 a.m. Although Vivian has been up for one hour, William is sleeping away. I walk into his room, turn on the light, and spy him asleep on the edge of his bed. It’s at this point I see the vomit. It has congealed beside him, one-inch chunks of partially digested banana. I wake him. […]
5 Tips for Traveling with Children
Tip 1: Don’t. So what’s wrong with vacationing in your house? There’s nothing wrong with it, besides the fact that your kids want to kill each other because they’re routine-bound and besides the fact you’ve started to wax poetic about the lives of your childless friends. Take it from someone who took her twins on […]
Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day (or Not)
So yesterday was Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day. Apparently it’s an annual holiday. I don’t know who celebrates it, but I’m guessing their friend-count on Facebook might be in the single digits. As I alluded to in an earlier post, one of my useless claims-to-fame is that I can sneeze like Donald Duck, a “talent” […]