Amy_F's Profile

Ha! Clever.

We just booked our tix for Xmas last week, and we ended up with three of us together and one of us elsewhere. That's just how the remaining seats were arranged. But I do find that when my family is separated like that on a flight, people who would otherwise end up right next to me and my small children gladly trade seats with my husband so that *he* can sit next to us instead.

It's tip #2 in the main post that to me is the most challenging. If you're throwing a party, then you have to police not only every single dish in your own cooking for possible offenders of any guest's dietary restrictions, but everybody else's cooking also, and "completely rid the house of that food"? That is nearly impossible. And it if that was really what I was going for, the stress level would be so high that I would never entertain.

Both I and my 5-year old have nut allergies (my own are several ranging from "get me to the emergency room" to "I'll med up and it should be okay"). I think it's unreasonable to expect that if somebody invites us over there will be no nuts in the house anywhere.

Rather, as a host, I try my best to make sure there is something for everybody. For my celiac friend, I educate myself on avoiding cross-contamination but I sometimes do also serve gluteny foods that of course she does not eat. As a guest I just want to know what the ingredients are so that I know what I may enjoy and what I must avoid.

Love! Is that an interior stained glass window? Extra love. We have a fully interior window between our dining room and an adjacent addition, and I would love to make it a decorative art piece!

I think like many things, this takes good parenting. No, a child should not be led to believe they can only play with gender-oriented toys. Yes, a child who wants pink and soft toys might be even more interested in engineering if there were pink and soft engineering-type toys. Is it not just a misleading to have pink and girly toys *only* for things like play kitchens and dolls and other stereotypically girly roles?

I have no opinion on THIS toy specifically, but in generally I support gender-oriented science & engineering toys for girls. Some girls are girly and like to play with girly toys. If all the engineering-oriented toys are gender neutral, then does it send a message that if you are very girly then you will not fit in. Like Angeline, I have observed in the college engineering students that I teach that the women students are more likely to be motivated by engineering applications that involve or relate directly to people or saving the world.

One of the biggest factors of attrition from engineering degree programs and engineering workplaces is the lack of a sense of "belonging" there. I am a fan of starting early in letting kids know there's a place of everybody who is interested! Even if they like pink people-oriented things.

We had borrowed a full-size swing for baby #1, and she was "eh" about it. For baby #2, after we confirmed she would like a swing (she used one at day care) we bought that portable one second-hand. It was fine. The swing action was a little less smooth than on the full-size, I assume it had something to do with the size and quality of the motor & workings. The full-size could swing side-to-side which baby probably would have preferred, but, that wasn't a huge deal. It was nice to have something that would fold up and slide out of the way when not in use, because our house is small enough that every square inch counts.

And sure she outgrew it faster than she would have the larger swing, but by then she wanted to be laying on the floor and trying to roll around anyway.

Hah!

If you're on a tight budget, Overstock has a big selection and you can buy in large packs to get a little bulk discount.

Few things are necessary.

I think this is CUTE and if I had a play space appropriate for it I think my kids would love it.