Blind Dog Living in a Trash Pile

This is what animal rescue is all about! ❤ Love.

Kindness Blog

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Natural Parenting (Crunchy Mamas and/or Crunchy Papas)

Natural Parenting (also called Attachment Parenting/”Crunchy Mama” Parenting) is all about developing the bond between parent and child and attending to the child’s needs (including putting those needs above your own). It typically refers to following one’s deep instincts when interacting with the child.

Natural Parenting is for biological (non-adoptive), adoptive, married, gay/straight/lesbian/bisexual/intersex/transgender, single, and interracial families. Any kind of family you can imagine can live out natural parenting in their life. Some things will just have to be modified depending on your situation.

Sections will  be classified by “Preference” or “Danger” (Danger 1= Less Dangerous, Danger 2= More Dangerous, Danger 3=Most Dangerous). While some things in natural parenting are really just a matter of preference, others can truly be life or death for the child.

There are many parts of Natural Parenting. These topics that will be discussed over the next several posts:

Vaginal Birth (Home vs. Hospital) vs. C-Section (Danger 2)

No Epidural vs. Epidural (Danger 3)

Intact vs. Circumcised (Danger 3)

Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding (Danger 2)

Cosleeping vs. Crib (Danger 2?)

Babywearing vs. Stroller (Preference)

Homemade baby food vs. Store bought (Danger 1)

Discipline vs. Punishment (Danger 2)

Unschooling/Homeschooling Hybrid vs. Unschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Montessori vs. Waldorf vs. Hackschooling (can be used in any of these methods) vs. Private School (Secular vs. Catholic) vs. Public School (Danger 2, depending)

Also, not Crunchy Mama things but important considerations:

Wooden, Waldorf, and Montessori Toys vs. Plastic Toys (Danger 1)

Video Games vs. Restricted Screen Time (Danger 1)

OVER 1000!

WE DID IT PEOPLE! ❤ I’ve only been at this blogging thing for about a month and I’ve already got over 1000 views!!! How cool is that? 😀 Ya’ll have come from all different walks of life and all over the world! It’s really just so exciting. ^_^

I’ve even got people from the United Arab Emirates, India, Costa Rica (cool), Spain, New Zealand (yay!), and the Philippines on here!

Also a shout out to Canada! You rock! Hope I get to see you someday. Also, I’ve been getting a lot of people from the United Kingdom lately. And of course the good old US of A. 😛

So now I’m looking for feedback. How have you liked the blog? Are there things you would rather I posted about (I’m getting to my big natural parenting post so don’t worry)?

Also, does anyone know how to fix my CLOCK? (at the top of the screen) It says it’s 4 in the morning, but it’s not even midnight yet. Time zones I suppose.

Anyways CONGRATULATIONS! YOU made this possible! ❤

Accessible Games for Everyone (Blindness)

Accessible Games for Everyone (Blindness)

Have you ever wondered how a blind person could play board games? Well, there’s braille, but what about games that don’t involve words? Turns out, there are lots of games that have been adapted to be accessible for everyone. Check them out! ❤

Disclosure is a Spectrum

Please take a moment to learn about post-transition issues for trans* people. Very good information. 🙂

genderqueer.me

Stealth

Back in the day (not too long ago, and still today) transgender people were advised to move far far away where nobody knew who they were and there’d be no trace of their previous life. The fact that one used to be a different sex was shameful, worth hiding at all costs. The intent of transition was to “pass” as the desired gender – male or female, only – integrating oneself into a society where a different-gendered past does not exist. Never revealing one’s transsexual history was a marker of success. It was and is perceived as secretive, deceptive, safe.

In a general sense, stealth signified post-transition invisibility. But how can we as a community make strides for our rights if we’re not visible? If nobody comes out, loud and proud, we’re perpetuating the stigma of the transsexual.

Yet some people face real or potential danger should they reveal…

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Building a Kid’s Costume Trunk

A wonderful list for stocking your own child’s or a friend’s child’s play trunk! Great gender-neutral ideas for any adventurer! 😀

A 9-Year-Old Boy, And His Stuffed Wolf

Kindness Blog

Joshua Wade needed an endoscopy last Friday. His favorite stuffed animal, “wolf,” meanwhile, needed stitches for a hole in his right leg. The 9-year-old asked his doctor at the Children’s Hospital Colorado, Christine Waasorp Hurtado, if his stuffed friend could get surgery too.

“His parents said, ‘No, no, no, they don’t do wolf surgeries here,'” Hurtado told The Huffington Post. “They said they’d get him fixed up at home.”

But Hurtado and Joshua’s anesthesiologist, Tom Strandness, decided to surprise little Joshua. When he woke up, his pal had a fresh set of sutures, a hospital mask, and a new bandage. His father, Kevin Wade, posted a picture of of the adorable scene to Facebook.

“I saw Joshua a few minutes after he’d woken up,” Hurtado said. “He was still pretty sleepy but he was very excited. He was full of smiles and happy with his wolf.”

Kevin Wade was clearly…

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The Importance of Playing Role Playing Games with Your Kids

After listening to several hours of a really intense game of “Capture the Flag” (with my friends) which involved creating “fractals”, “ice prisms”, and drinking tea, I began to think about how much fun role-playing with kids would be.

They already make up stories with each other and play games with dice, so they could pick up on the concepts quite easily if some of the more complicated features were stripped away until they were mature enough to understand them.

Some simple advantages of rp-ing with kids:

1. Learn Math.

2. Problem Solving Skills.

3. Critical Thinking Skills.

4. Teamwork Skills/Cooperation.

5. Attentiveness

6. Storytelling Skills

7. Social Skills

8. Ethics/Responsibility

Some useful links:

A Basic Overview (some links don’t work): Lists 50 games that can be played by and with children. Many articles about role-playing are listed as well.

[Some personal favorites (from the descriptions): Cat; Shadow; Full Light, Full Steam; FATE; The Zantabulous Zorceror of Zo; Questers of the Middle Realms, Redhurst Academy of Magic]

http://www.tlucretius.net/RPGs/kids.html#forall

My personal favorite: Preschool RPG for pre-readers:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/forum/gaming/general-roleplaying/46669-preschool-rpg

Risus:

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus15.htm

Floor Games:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3690/3690-h/3690-h.htm

Talking to other parents:

http://www.roleplayingtips.com/gm-techniques/role-playing-games-and-kids/\

Retelling your adventures:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?1268-7-Advantages-to-Retelling-your-Adventures

The Lizard Guy Project

So much fun! ❤

busy mockingbird

Have you ever seen those paper bag puppet projects that you cut out?  Apparently, they like to do those in preschool, because several months ago, my daughter’s drawings started to look like this:

Yup, she would take an animal and break them up into pieces in her head, sometimes even drawing a little completed version (like in the little bear at the top right) as “instructions” for what it’s supposed to look like.  I found them pretty fascinating, that she could break it down in her head piece by piece as a “project.”

And then she’d ask me to help cut them out.  Have you ever tried cutting out stickman arms or a pair of dot eyeballs?  Not an easy task.  Thankfully, she was quite forgiving in that.  Once I had the pieces cut out, she’d carefully piece them all back together and glue them down.

Sometimes in the gluing…

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A Opinionated Man’s Adoption Story

A Opinionated Man’s Adoption Story

In trying to learn about all sides of adoption, one eventually comes across the stories of Adult Adoptees. Sometimes these are happy, but many times they are extremely painful. This is one of those stories.

Please take a little while to read these entries, especially if you are interested in adopting. Adoptees’ voices need to be heard.

(Used with permission)

“I found the information about my birth mother and my blood sister in Busan, South Korea, in a pathetic orphanage that I don’t even remember the name of. I have never liked hospitals or orphanages and I now knew why. No one, unless you are also adopted, can understand the pain that is brought when you are faced with the reality that you were not wanted. Add to this the pain that your mother decided one sibling was less trouble than you would be, and what you have is a maelstrom of emotions, regret, and anger. My storm could have killed me, it almost did.”

Also, check out his other posts, especially “Project O”.

http://aopinionatedman.com/category/project-o/