Parenting: Book Review of Simplicity Parenting

I just finished reading Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne. It is good enough that I am going to ask my very busy husband to read it. I would recommend it to current parents and ideally have both parents read it so you can discuss it and get on the same page. One thing that I really appreciate about this book is that Dr. Payne makes it clear which ideas are appropriate for which age groups and generally addresses each idea throughougly across the spectrum of ages. I actually wish I had read the book before my son was walking and talking (and I was laying the foundations of our communication and routines), so for pregnant moms-to-be, I think it would be useful and a refreshing change of pace from the normal parenting preparation bibliography.

In the book, Payne describes both the conceptual framework and nitty gritty ideas for how to bring more simplicity into our children's lives, and as a result into our lives as well. Drawing from his experience in counseling and training as a Waldorf teacher, Payne presents vignettes from his clients (families with kids from toddlers through teenagers) and cites relevant research to paint a clear picture of the role of simplicity in child development and behavior. He explains both theories of why and examples of how children and their parents are affected by a lack of simplicity and how simplifying can change how children behave, develop, and form relationships.

The book focuses on four facets of life that can be viewed through a simplifying lens: environment, rhythm, schedules, and filtering out the adult world. Some of the questions he ends up addressing are ones I had often considered myself: How would my son behave differently if he had drastically fewer toys and less clutter in his visual space? If it has been mostly too hard to establish a rhythm of daily and weekly routines, should I keep trying and how can I do it? Why should I be wary of filling my child's days with classes and other scheduled activities? Is my son experiencing information overload? Payne ultimately discusses these ideas in much more detail, exploring the effects of screen time, advertising, choice overload, talking less while saying more, the role of unstructured time, simple ways to start increasing family connections, what kinds of toys may be helpful versus harmful, and generally how to start small and build up from there.  On that last point, he has worked with families that are so busy and overloaded with parental committments that I can scarcely imagine their struggle and has had success with many of them, so I think the success of these techniques has more to do with being motivated and open-minded than with having a lot of time to devote to an overhaul.

In the last week, I have done a lot of ruminating on simplifying, and actually made the time to take action in the "environment" arena. One morning while my son was at preschool, I bagged up half of his toys (the ones he used the least or bothered me the most) and stashed them. Many things are already flagged to be given away, and others are in a big maybe pile, but they are out of sight and out of mind. And it had an amazing and immediate effect on both my mood and on my son. He now spends more time playing with each toy and is more willing to clean up. And he doesn't seem to have noticed that many toys went missing.  I've also noticed I am spending way less time cleaning, so even in terms of time this change has already paid for itself. Really, this is an easy intervention to try out! (And it's reversible--in fact, Payne talks about creating a "lending library" from which toys can be borrowed or rotated.)

Next on my simplifying action plan is to think about shoring up our routines as a family. We've made a lot of progress on this in recent weeks, and I've seen how much easier my parenting job has gotten in the activities that involve routines. When the little guy knows that it is time to brush his teeth, and believes that is just part of what we do before bed, there are a lot fewer discussions--he is starting to become compliant without any discussion at all. (Amazing!) In addition to starting and sticking to these kinds of basic routines, I plan to follow the lead of several friends and to make an activity chart that my son can participate in. It will have a set of pictographs showing our daily activities (eat breakfast, brush teeth, wash hands, clean up toys, take a bath, etc.) that can be ordered and then moved from a "need to do" column into a "done" column. I think it will help keep both of us on track!

The last big part of my plan is more ongoing--changing the way I talk to and around my son. When a parent says too much, how can he or she listen? And how can it leave room for the child to make up his own mind? When a parent overexplains, what does a child really hear? I expect this will be difficult and require a lot of slowing down my thinking and speaking, but I can see where it would improve my relationships with everyone, and not just my son.

The only downside to this book is that I often found the descriptions of the big picture to be far too long. But perhaps this is because I was already on board with most of the concepts and didn't need written persuasion. For a parent who is feeling a bit skeptical or resistant, maybe it is necessary. Even so, there are some gems buried in that prose that seem to crystallize the take-home messages so well that I think it is worth reading the entire book and not skipping around.  I might even read the book again and write them down to create a poster of the most motivating ones.

Kid's Clothes: Tea Collection

Ever since I read my first pregnancy magazine when expecting my son, I have kept seeing pictures from the Tea Collection. But I haven't tried their clothes yet. Do they sell them in stores? I don't like to buy a brand without feeling them for myself first. Do you have their clothes for your little ones? What do you think? I am hoping to find out for myself by entering to win a gift card over at In the Know Mom. The Tea Collection has some unique pieces that would be fun, with a new collection of Bali temple garden designs (the Bali beach designs are pretty too, but not my thing). We could definitely use a few pairs of light-weight pajamas for this summer!

Dessert: Shamrock Shakes Review

I decided to try out a simple recipe for making "Shamrock Shakes" that are supposed to be similar to the ones McDonald's has been hawking for St. Patrick's day. It is perfect for the person who loves mint-chocolate ice cream but feels like the crunchiness of the chocolate gets in the way. My son agrees: "I like it green minty ice cream!"

Just a warning about portions: The amounts listed below made the perfect amount for two portions. It would be easy to go overboard with this one, as that resulted in nearly 300 calories each! It is amazing how easy it is to drink down large amounts of melted ice cream, but it's nice for a special treat.

Recipe:
1 C vanilla ice cream
1/2 C whole milk
1/8 t mint extract
3-4 drops green food coloring
fancy themed sprinkles, if desired

Throw the first four ingredients in the blender, serve in glasses, and top with sprinkles!

Toddler in the Kitchen: Delegated Task #1

I am always eager for new ways to get my toddler involved in the kitchen. But putting away groceries quickly turns into him taking things off the shelves and running out of the kitchen with a bottle of ketchup. (It's not in his nature to let things go unexplored.) Adding dry ingredients into a mixing bowl resulted in puffs of flour flying into the air, then landing and getting stuck between the creaky old floor boards.

Although I know my son got great enjoyment (and maybe something useful?) out of these experiences, it made food prep harder for me. The perennial question: What's out there that a toddler can handle and is also helpful?

Answer: Husking corn. My son loves to eat corn on the cob, and it turns out he has just enough attention span to pull back the husk on four cobs (and put them in the trash if the ends are pre-cut). After convincing him not to eat the corn raw, he handed the ears over to me. I still had to pull off most of the silks, but next time I will let my son rinse the ears. There was some mess, but I think a large tray as a work area would solve that. Even without these improvements, the project kept him happily (and safely) occupied while I got the water boiling and was time neatral. Success!

Stay tuned for another food prep task that can be delegated to your ever-helpful toddler!

Product Review: Star Wars Pancake Molds

My family has a tradition of making pancakes on Thanksgiving morning. "Make Your Own Pancakes" involved my mom standing behind her electric griddle, surrounded by bowls of various toppings--nuts, pineapple, coconut shreds, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, crushed Andes mints...enough to make your teeth ache just thinking about it. Mom would pour out the batter (buttermilk, buckwheat, or ricotta cheese) and we would add the toppings--quite the smorgasbord for all of us kids. This tradition is so delicious and easy, I want to continue it with my little one, but this year he was too little to get near the hot griddle.

So it was with fortuitous good timing that I received a gift of Star Wars™ pancake molds for my birthday. I knew Thanksgiving morning would be the perfect opportunity to try them out, while carryong on a multi-decade tradition.

I mostly followed the recipe on the packaging, figuring that the folks at Williams-Sonoma had probably tested that particular batter with the molds. After one practice round, here is how they came out:

Not too shabby! With an extremely thorough coating of non-stick spray, I still had to jiggle the molds more than I expected to get the pancakes loose, so the edges were a bit jagged and the batter smooshed together if I wasn't extremely careful. Also, Darth's eyes form a point of weakness that breaks the pancake in half if jostled too much. But these are definitely recognizable! And with more practice, and perhaps a slight change to the consistency of the batter, I imagine they would come out even better. The main flaw is that if the pancake does not come out cleanly, then you have to wash or wipe down the mold after each batch of three pancakes, which slows things down a bit too much for me (especially with a hungry toddler running loose).

The recipe turned out to be delicious, reminiscent of the cakey pancakes served at my husband's alma mater. (Oh how I have missed them!) Here are the ingredients I used:

2 eggs, beaten
1.5 C bread flour
0.5 C white whole wheat flour
3 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
2.5 C buttermilk
4 T butter, melted
cooking spray for molds and griddle

The only differences from the original were doubling the vanilla from 0.5 t and using different flour: They called for 2 C all-purpose flour, but I wanted to try something a tad healthier. I couldn't even taste the whole wheat, so I plan to substitute a whole cup next time.

Overall, I would give the product a B+ grade. I think we will get a lot of use out of these over the years, especially as the little one gets older.

Quick Meals: Lemongrass Stir Fry

My go-to chicken dinner is a simple stir fry of chicken, red bell peppers, and onions in a "teriyaki" sauce. I find teriyaki tastes fresher, yet just as aromatic, when I leave out the sugar and salt and just use ginger, low-sodium soy sauce, and garlic. I use this premade ginger paste to save on time and reduce waste, so the meal is delicious and fast, but I was looking to change things up.

And then I happened upon lemongrass paste. I have enjoyed lemongrass flavor when I've gone out to eat and tried to cook with it a couple of times. Starting from fresh or using thinly sliced lemongrass in a jar both worked well, but I didn't care for the fairly woody texture of the rings. Perhaps I am missing something in my technique? But the paste solved this problem--all the flavor ready to blend, and quickly. I wasn't sure what to pair it with, but settled on roasted ground cumin and soy sauce and my taste buds were singing. As was my toddler: "More chi-chi!" I suspect he ate more of the chicken than I did, and the leftovers were all gone before the end of the next meal. Success!

Doing some additional research, it appears that lemongrass is commonly paired with garlic, ginger, and turmeric. (Though I don't recommend turmeric when feeding a toddler as it stains clothes rather effectively.) Do you make any recipes that use lemon grass?

Recipe Review: Pear Torte

Tonight my good friend and I tested out a dessert recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The recipe is similar in technique to an apple torte my mom makes, and overall this recipe gets five stars: It is both easy to make and delicious.

WARNING: Do NOT keep reading if you are hungry.

The semisweet chocolate is melty and rich, the pears are almost molten, and crust is golden with a flavor of caramel. It takes 20-30 minutes of active preparation and the full 40-50 minutes to bake, just long enough to cook and eat a simple dinner.

This recipe will most likely reappear on our holiday table, reincarnated: Having followed the recipe fairly faithfully this round, I plan to make a couple changes and report back. I found this dessert to defy one of the basic laws of desserts: It had too much chocolate. We used 130 grams of chocolate(the measurement of 3/4 C is imprecise because it relies on the size of the chips/chunks), and I plan to reduce that to about 100 g so that the pear and chocolate will be better balanced. I am also planning to try white chocolate instead of the semisweet as well as adding vanilla and possibly honey to lighten the dish and pair with the pear. And for the merriment inclined, I could definitely see getting some rum involved.

I have one more fiendish idea, and if it works out, you'll get to read about it here. Stay tuned.

(I apologize for the unartistical frontal shot of the torte, but we couldn't wait to eat, and after we ate, we were too contented to care. Yes, it was that kind of delicious.)