Essays - parenting

"David, my next door neighbor has two young kids—five and seven. One day he was teaching his seven-year-old son Kelly how to push the gas-powered lawn mower around the yard. As he was teaching him how to turn the mower around at the end of the lawn, his wife Jan called to him to ask a question. As David turned to answer the question, Kelly pushed the lawn mower right through the flower bed at the edge of the lawn—leaving a two-foot wide path leveled to the ground!

When David turned back around and saw what had happened, he began to lose control.

I'm such a believer in making ordinary days and nights special for our children. It's so easy to get caught up in a routine and have them all blend together and slip away. When my kids look back on their childhood, I want them to remember a mosaic of little moments filled with wonder, oddness, beauty, magic... life.

That's why I make up so many of these lists and ones in similar themes, and why I put up this site.

Want to add a little fun to your family's life? Here are some super quick ways to give life a little touch of zaniness.

On a day where you all plan to stay home, have everybody put together the most outlandish outfit they can find and wear it all day. Pair pink striped pants with orange flowers and add sneakers and a tiara, that sort of thing. Morn too! Don't forget to take pictures.

Feed the goblins. Start a tradition where a bite of somebody's food mysteriously disappears before meals.

While I try to champion the wonderful qualities of toddlers, I'll be the first to admit that your average two year old can sometimes be exhausting, exasperating and extremely hard to entertain. For those days when your little one has you in a heap on the floor and there are still 10 hours till bedtime, I offer the following distractions.

1. Find a field. If weather is remotely agreeable, I highly recommend taking your little person to the biggest, widest open space you can find and then just sitting in the middle of it.