I have recently discovered the website Pinterest. I have now spent way too much time perusing recipes, cute photos and craft ideas.

For those of you still blissfully ignorant of this website, it is essentially a bulletin board of photos that people have “pinned” with comments for all to see. These photos link to the original website or blog where the photo comes from. The photos could be of yummy dishes to cook, a beautiful image of a vacation spot or cute animal, an inspiring quote, a craft project of some sort, a product that someone found useful or beautiful, or a page from a decorator magazine.

Basically, it is an on-line scrapbook that you can use to collect and categorize cool stuff.  Beware: it is highly addictive.

One of the best things I’ve found on Pinterest are ideas for parents. There are food ideas, craft ideas, clothes and products that I hadn’t heard of, and cute pictures galore. Here are just a few I had to share with you. (Click on the photos to go to the original posts/descriptions)

	MAGNET IDEA Cut up bits of pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and place in a clear bottle. Your child can then take a magnet and move it along the outside of the bottle to make them move!
	ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE A great science project–use yeast, water, peroxide, dishsoap and food coloring to make a chemical reaction that looks like giant toothpaste coming out of a tube!
	LEGO SOAP DISPENSER This just might be enough to entice little boys to wash their hands more often! Place Lego pieces in a clear soap dispensor (use clear soap as well).
	DYE EGGS MORE EASILY Use a wire whisk to hold hard-boiled eggs when you dip them in dye–much easier for young ones.
	ALTOIDS TIN FOR CRAYONS Use an empty Altoids tin to carry a few crayons and a folded piece of paper in your purse for the next time you are stuck waiting somewhere.
	MAKING POTIONS A great idea for letting kids “experiment” safely at home.
	AWWWWWWWW Sometimes you just need a dose of cute.

Have you found cool ideas on Pinterest or other Pinboard? Please share!

My Ruby is good at a lot of things.   Things come easily to her, especially spelling.  She knows how words go together.  She did not get this skill from her father.  Even at 41, he keeps a list of hard-to-spell words.  Spell check was made for people like him.

When Ruby was about 3, she walked in the room and said, “R-E-L-L-I-M-E-A-M-Y-B-U-R.”  After a moment of ‘Huh?’ I realized she was spelling her name –  backward.  As she did so, she looked at the ceiling as though she could see the letters up there.  She can picture the words in her head as though they are on the chalkboard in front of her.

We’ve never studied for a spelling test.  She’s never missed a word.  Avery – who inherited his father’s confusion with the English language – used to have to practice his words daily for a week before taking a test, writing the words over and over.  Typically, he’d do fine, but he worked for it.

The up side to all of this is that spelling is easy for Ruby.  She doesn’t do much and aces test.  The down side is when Avery asks how to spell something while working on his 5^th grade homework, her 2^nd grade self gives him the correct answer.  She has had rare moments of cockiness, and while well deserved, cockiness is never lovable in a 7 year old.

This past weekend was the school spelling bee.  Lee was terrified because when he was young, he lost a spelling bee with the word “Halloween.”  He spelled it “Hallow.”  He forgot the end.  Because of this, we practiced the list, but not nearly as hard as we would have for Avery – or evidently Lee.  Ruby would be fine.

The spelling bee started and all the kids in front of her got words off their list like we, no, like, to, in, be.  I don’t know about Ruby, but my confidence grew.  She could spell all of those words frontward, backward, or inside out if you’d like.

Ruby’s turn, and the word she was given was ‘which.’  Uh, oh.  Did she know which which?  Would she think to ask?  A slight panic spreads through me as I watched her look over at me.  She started with “W-I….”  OHHH!  NOOOO!  I don’t even know what she said after that.  She was out, but not only was she out, she was the FIRST contestant out.  She came back and sat by me, clearly embarrassed as she started to cry.  My first instinct was to blame the guy who gave her the word.  I mean, really, everyone else got no, to, in, and my kid got which?  Then I blamed the word.  Stinky word!  Too hard.  Why do you need that H anyway?

But then I had a moment of clarity.

Failure is good.

I comforted her, told her that I was proud of her for trying. We hugged and she was told it was okay to not win.  She was agitated as words continued to be 2 and 3 letters through the next rounds, but as time passed, she got excited for friends that were still in the bee.  By the end, she was happily rooting for the finalists.

Ultimately, she will be better for this.  She will know what defeat feels like, and it will follow her.  Without a doubt, she will always remember this.  She learned to be a good sport.

I learned too.  I learned to pray for moments of success for my children, but also moments of failure.  It is good for them.  No one with character ever won everything.

How do you handle your child’s unexpected failures?

Steven Burnett joins us for another guest blog. Steven is a certified Professional Home Inspector with Journey Property Inspections, LLC, covering all of Southeastern Michigan. He also does radon testing, water quality testing, and lead paint testing.

In the first segment of this article, I talked about what radon is and where it comes from.  In this segment I will talk about how radon gets into your home, and what you can do about it.

Newer homes—whether built on a basement, crawl space, or slab—are energy efficient and as a result “air tight.”  When you run exhaust fans, use the furnace, or have a fire in a fireplace, you are literally sucking the air out of your home. Your home then becomes a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking air out of the ground.  The foundation of your home has cracks and holes for sewer lines, gas lines, and water lines. No matter how well you seal your basement or slab foundation, some ground air will get into your home.  This is how radon gets inside.

Older homes may not be as air tight as newer homes, but because the foundation is probably cement blocks or field stone, there are more cracks and holes for the radon gas to enter.  So there really is no advantage to having an older home or newer home. If your home sits on top of a bed of porous or sandy soil, you may get radon in your home.  Homes built on top of heavy clay soil have less chance of radon.

Now I have to interject something here that will make kitchen remodelers mad.  Think twice about getting granite counter tops in your kitchen.  Granite looks great, but it may have “hotspots”  of radon in it. Homes with granite counter tops require special and isolated testing to be sure that the source of radon in a home is not the granite.

Determining if a home has radon gas is very easy, albeit expensive.  You can purchase a radon test kit from your County Health Department.  You can find them on-line.  You might even find one in a local hardware store.  You can also hire a professional to test your home for radon.  Hiring someone will probably cost you from $50 to $200.  If you do it yourself, the cost is probably in the $20-$30 range. You can also purchase radon meters on-line.  They are much like smoke alarms, or CO detectors, but designed just for radon.

When the results come back from a lab, it will indicate that your home has a (X)piCU (picocuries) level of radon.  The EPA has determined that anything less than 4.0 piCU is not a health risk.  Anything over 4.0 piCU is a health risk, and the home should be mitigated.  The lower the number, the better.  Mitigation means (literally) sucking the air out from under your home and blowing it into the atmosphere where it is harmless.  The equipment and installation to mitigate a home ranges from $800 to $1500+.  This depends on the contractor, what they have to do, etc.
I always tell my clients “Do not walk away from a home because it has radon!  It can be easily fixed.”

My advice is this–if you have a basement that is finished, or you plan on finishing it, have your home tested for radon first.  Slab foundation homes are rare in this part of the country, and homes with crawl spaces are less likely to have radon because of the ventilation.

The effects of radon gas do not happen overnight.  It may take years before a person is affected.   If you recently moved into a home, the adults may never see any effects from radon gas, but your kids might.  Be on the safe side, and for your own peace of mind, have your home tested.

Steven Burnett joins us for another guest blog. Steven is a certified Professional Home Inspector with Journey Property Inspections, LLC, covering all of Southeastern Michigan. He also does radon testing, water quality testing, and lead paint testing.

Without getting too technical, radon is a decay product of uranium.   If you studied chemistry in high school or college, you know that uranium produces radiation.  There are three types of radiation; Alpha particles, Beta particles, and Gamma particles.  Gamma particles are very similar to X-rays, and are relatively harmless.  That is because they travel very fast and have no mass. Alpha particles, on the other hand, are very large (for an atom), highly charged, and travel slow.  Uranium takes 4.5 billion years to decay, radon takes 4 days, and the decay by-products of radon take about 3 minutes.*

Radon attaches to dust particles in the air and about 50% of them become attached to walls, pictures, counter tops, etc, and as a result are harmless.  The other 50% is in the air we breathe.  This is where the problem with radon and its by-products come from.  Our lungs can be subjected to the alpha radiation they produce.   The Surgeon General of the United States issued a health advisory in 2005 that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer.

Before you don a radiation suit, the EPA has determined that only about 2 people in 1,000 might get lung cancer at these levels.  However, if you smoke, your risk factors increase 20 times–another reason for not smoking.*

So where can a person go to escape radon?  You can’t, it is everywhere.  The highest levels are across the Midwestern United States.  This is because of the rich sandy loam and clay mixture of soil these states have.  Though this soil grows really good crops, it is also very porous.   Moving to the top of a mountain in Wyoming, Colorado, or Montana won’t help either.  Some of the states with the highest Radon concentration levels are the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.  That is because those states have granite mountains, and granite carries high levels of radon.

Getting back to Southern Michigan, the counties of Hillsdale, Lenawee, Jackson, and Washtenaw have the highest concentration levels in the state of Michigan.  Approximately 50% of the homes in this area have radon.  If you live in the northern tier of Hillsdale and Lenawee, or the southern tier of Jackson and Washtenaw, your home has an even higher chance of having radon.  This is because of the sandy soil and higher water table.  It is great having the lakes of the Irish Hills so close, but they are also the source of our higher radon concentrations.

So, what does a home owner do?  How can I prevent radon from getting into my home?  Is it better to buy a new home or older home?  What if I don’t have a basement?  Do I need to buy a Geiger counter? Should I seal my yard with cement? All of these questions and more will be answered in part 2 of this article on radon.

To Be Continued!!

*Data is from Environmental Solutions Association and the Environmental Protection Agency

When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be several things.  First, I wanted to be a mom.  Then an artist.  Somewhere around 7^th grade I spent some time wanting to be an archaeologist, mainly because of Indiana Jones.  Then an artist again.  Ultimately, I went to school to become a journalist.  And I worked in TV for a while.  But then I became a mom.  I should have gone with my first instinct.

Avery has always had clearly defined interests.  He started digging around in the grass for caterpillars when he was about two, moved on to picking up daddy long legs by the legs when he was about three, and by 5, he was wearing preying mantises into the house on his head.  True story.  As soon as he could say Entomologist, that’s what he wanted to be.  As his interests have grown, he has added archaeologist, marine biologist, and robotics engineer to the mix, with the intent of attending M.I.T. regardless.  I give him credit for having a plan.  And while his goals are lofty, I have no doubt he will become at least one of these.  Maybe two.  Like an Entomologist who builds robots on the side.  That kind of thing.  He got really upset the other day because while he has a giant book of ideas for things he is going to invent, he is frustrated that at age 10 he doesn’t have the money and resources to make these things happen.  To make himself feel better he made a 5 foot origami swan by gluing together 42 sheets of printer paper.

Ruby, on the other hand, is far more practical.  She would like to be a teacher.  Preferably kindergarten.  She loves to read, spell, and learn new things.  She likes to play school with her sister, and in doing so has mastered the enormous patience that teachers require.  While I think she is capable of the same complex sciences that her brother strives for, she would be perfect as a teacher.  She is sweet, friendly, caring, and compassionate.  I have no doubt she will make an excellent teacher.

Rita is very talented in art and has an exceptionally creative imagination.  She has never been very vocal about her long-term ambitions, so the other day, I asked her what she would like to be when she grows up.  She gave it a moment of thought, then replied, “Hmm, when I grow up, I want to just be a mermaid.  Because that way, I don’t have to go to college and spell all the words right.”

At first, I didn’t know what to do with this.  But after my own moment of thought I realized that just like the other kids, I will support her in whatever she decides.  Hopefully a few years from now, she will come up with something a little less aquatic.  And that requires the use of her legs.

Do your child’s personality and interests allow you to picture their future?

Typically, I am the one in our family that comes up with clever little ways to manage our children.  At least I think they are clever.  Sometimes they are clever.  In any case, this time, I have to say my husband is a genius.  He has conjured up a method of child control that is superior to all methods that came before!

He gives out points.  The other day, he bet Avery 10,000 points that he would win a race.  He let Avery win and Avery earned 10,000 points.  He gloated about it to his sisters.  Lee gave Ruby 100 points for making her bed, and then changed it to 1,000 points when she did so extra quickly.  He gave Rita 1,000,000 points for sitting quietly during an excruciatingly boring show that he wanted to watch.  She did it willingly, because of the points.

The kids are so excited about these points that they brag about them to each other.  Rita and Avery taunt Ruby over the fact that she only has 1,000 points, while they have tens of thousands more.  Now, the mere fact that Ruby only has 1,000 points while her siblings are carrying around millions proves that the system is completely backward, but whatever.  All Lee has to do is yell, ‘I’ll give the first person to vacuum 4,000 points,’ and we get three volunteers.  Or ‘1,000 to do the dishes!’ and voila!  Clean dishes.

Here is the best part.  What does one get for these points?  Nothing.  Or at least nobody knows.  They work for meaningless points.  No prizes, no money, no treats.  Just points.  And the points come from a limitless supply of points, so we can hand them out willy-nilly.

The children are threatening each other with points.  ‘I’m going to tell mom to take away some of your points!’  I think Ruby is actually clued into the ridiculousness of it, as she seems to care the least about the points.  She lets Rita and Avery do all the work.  I’ve always known that she works with an extreme level of brain capacity.  The other two do too, but they are often blinded by the sparkle of prizes, money, or points.  They’ll learn.

Have you ever got your kids excited over nothing?

I am a technology Nazi.  I have managed to keep video games, computer games, and most toys that run on batteries out of my house for the better part of 10 years.  When the kids were smaller, we found that when the rogue fancy toy made its way into our house, the kids spent more time with the box.  Ultimately, said toy would drain its own batteries, and Avery would take it apart and use the circuit board inside as a spy gadget or robot decoration for the Kleenex tower he built.

A few years ago, I folded and allowed Santa to bring a Wii.  I created strict rules which included only games that forced you to be moving, and if the sun is out, no Wii.  The latter of these rules meant that for the better part of summer, the Wii sat dormant.  I’m okay with this.  When the odd rainy day rolled around, the kids had forgotten the Wii existed and resorted to crayons, blocks, Barbies, and board games. This is all part of my master plan.

Some would argue that there are toys out there that benefit learning, and there are, but why bother when you can sit with a coloring book to enhance fine motor skills, dress up clothes for pretend play, build castles and cities with blocks, and mom can read books instead of the book reading itself.

Along the way, with each passing year, it has become harder.  Avery and Ruby have both come home complaining that friends are allowed to play online, or why don’t we have more video games.  School has assigned work that has required Google searches, and even before that, teachers have sent home web sites like SpellingCity.com and MathMagician.com, both of which are fantastic resources for learning.  However, they sabotage my quest to keep my kids in a somewhat Amish household.  But it is a slippery slope.  What started out as school work has morphed into aimless hours of YouTube videos.

To help myself maintain control over that which I have lost control of, I have set up time limits and earning charts.  The kids have to complete chores to earn their technology time.  This has worked some, but they argue with me over time on the computer required for school, and how it’s not fair for me to let that cut into their earned time, etc., etc.

On top of this, Avery spent the summer doing odd jobs and chores to earn money to buy himself a 3DS, a really cool handheld by Nintendo.  Now he uses his computer time to look up games and programs to download on his DS, and we’ve lost control over when the DS gets used.   We require homework, housework, and everything necessary to be done before the DS comes out, but it still feels like he spends way too much time with this little machine.  Now, instead of hearing plans for gadgets and spy games and robots when his friends come over, I hear silence, beeps and laser sounds as boys sit side-by-side with their video games.

For Christmas, Avery got turtles, Ruby got a giant box of art supplies and Rita got an easel.  For the time being, the DS and the computer sit idle longer.   When the Wii gets turned on, the kids play along with my forced dance contests.  For now, I am accepting life for kids in 2012 is different than 1982.  But don’t get me started on a cell phone.

How do you advance with technology?

I finally made it! My youngest son is starting pre-k. After raising four boys and and putting them through school, the last li’l chick is leaving the nest. So why do I feel like I’ve never done this before? The same fears and doubts creep in my mind like they did 20 years ago.

I suppose you never really get used to letting your li’l ones go, watching them grow up and eventually starting lives of their own. Hey, it’s only preschool, but it’s a start in that direction—even though we still have a long way to go, it still stirs up emotions.

My biggest fears haven’t changed. Who’s going to take care of my child when I’m not around? Will someone help him if he gets lost? What if he has to go potty, whose gonna stand outside the door? Is a full day too long for him to be away from home? All the ‘what ifs’ that circle through my mind are normal, I know, but they are still legitimate.

Thankfully, I’ve been through this before. I know what to do and what to look for. Leave my cell phone number with the teacher, the bus driver, a neighbor, anyone who may need to get hold of me just in case. Develop a routine. The easiest way to guarantee good results is practice. Become familiar with the other parents and reach out to other single moms—two more smart ways to develop a strong support system.

Even though I am nervous about my littlest ones heading off into the big world of preschool, I’m confident things will go smoothly. I talk to him every day about school. I prepare him mentally for what he will be experiencing and make it exciting for him to look forward to.

Here are some more great tips towards preparing for preschool:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-prepare-your-child-for-preschool_64536.bc

What are your worries about sending your child to preschool? For those of you who have been through it, please share your tips!