Eid Craft

     The summer has blown by, and though the blog is all about kaizen, I often feel very overwhelmed in life.

     For example, it’s Rammadan right now. I have a baby in the house that likes to fall asleep around midnight, and I’m fasting all day. A part of me is just trying to survive this month, while another part of me feels guilty for not engaging my kids in educational activities and crafts during the day, and spending some time every evening to pray and study religion.

     Instead, after the morning meal, suhoor, I sleep until about 10:30 or 11am, when the baby wakes up. In the meantime, my 5 year old has already woken up, brushed her teeth, changed and made her own breakfast of toast and Nutella. My nine year old gets out of bed around 11 or 11:30. I do manage before it’s time to break the fast in the evening to get them to read Quran and memorize a little. The baby’s schedule is way off, and he doesn’t fall asleep for the night until midnight or past. And as I write, all I see is a big stack of mail that needs to be organized. It’s 1:30 in the morning.

    On the bright side, I did find some time to get the kids to do a little pre-Eid craft. On a trip to Michaels, I found some letters that were 80% off. I already had the paint and glitter at home. The kids did all the painting and glittering themselves. I tied the ribbons around the letters (the ribbons were found on an old gift bag I found at home.)  I hung the letters up on hooks the previous home owners had installed on the mantle for Christmas stockings. My splurge was the Rammadan lights I found on Ranoon.com.

    It’s a simple craft, but it makes me smile when I look at it. The kids love plugging in the lights in the evening. I want to make Eid an exciting time for the kids. I think simple decorations help. Kaizen.

Compost

I’ve always wanted to start my own composting pile, but I’ve been a little intimidated. I had done a little research on my own and things like nitrogen/ carbon ratio made composted seem like something that was too complicated. Plus, I was overwhelmed by the choices of compost bins available in the market and worried it might smell and attract animals. So when my neighbor told me about a free composting class offered right by my house, I signed up. I’m sure glad I did.

 The class was held this past Saturday, and it was only an hour long. The class answered three basic questions I had: What kind of bin to buy, where to put the bin, and what to put in it.

 What kind: The best bins are the open caged typed bins. They let air circulate. According to the lady teaching the class, the big plastic bins often don’t let air in.

 Where to put it: Your compost has to cook in order to break down. I thought this meant putting it in a sunny spot. But it is the chemical reaction taking place that makes the stuff heat up, not the sun. The best place is a shady spot, so that it is not too cumbersome when you have to turn the compost.

 What to put in it: vegetable scraps, spoiled produce, egg shells, coffee/tea grounds and filters, grass clippings, spent plant and trimmings. DO NOT PUT: oil or animal fats, meat and bones, dairy products, peanut butter, weed seeds or pesticides. About animal droppings: you can put droppings of animals that are herbivores like chicken and bunnies. DO NOT PUT poop of animals that eat meat. So I have my compost bin set up and put in a layer of grass and leaves. Then I buried my first pot of kitchen scraps. (You have to bury the kitchen scraps). The compost needs to be moist like a well-wrung out sponge. My leaves and grass were already wet from the rain, so I haven’t added anything. Now fingers crossed, we’ll see if this works.

Welcome to Your Child's Brain

I just finished reading a terrific book, Welcome to Your Child’s Brain. With an infant in the house, it’s hard to find time to read. In fact, I had to renew the book three times, but it was worth it.
Written by two neuroscientists, Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt, the book was published last year.
The book is about the brain development of children, from birth to about the age of 18. The book explains, in laymen’s terms, different aspects of brain development, ranging from sight to learning mathematics. I found the section on language development particularly interesting. For example, newborns can distinguish sounds from every language at birth, but by six months, they lose that ability and start focusing on their mother tongue.
It also includes practical tips for parents. For example, I learned that being outside my reduce the chances of your child being myopic or near sighted. I also learned about the importance of teaching kids self-control, and one of the best traits I can have as a mom is being loving and warm to my kids.
Most importantly, I learned how little impact we have on how our kids turn out, which is reassuring. We can influence our kids, but most of them are genetically hardwired to turn out ok despite our parenting styles, which makes sense. If only kids with great parents survived, then the human species probably would have become extinct. The authors use the simile, “Children are like dandelions.”
After having three kids, I’m kind of sick of parenting books; this book isn’t a parenting book. But the information is presenting in such an interesting way, and it’s packed with such useful information, I think I learned a great deal and hopefully will become a better parent.