Four Fun (Parenting) Things
I loved this NYTimes story (gift link) about encouraging kids to take photos on trips. They’re often drawn to such sweet things. When my cousin was little, his mom gave him a camera to play with, and he took a photo over a wall that he was too short to see over. That way, when the photo was developed, he would find out what was on the other side. I always thought that was adorable…
And here are two photos that three-year-old Anton took when we visited friends years ago in in Vermont. We look so big through his eyes!
What do you eat for breakfast? Jillian Barreca, a Toronto-based recipe developer, posts breakfast ideas on Instagram. Her toasts look easy and delicious — caramelized bananas with peanut butter? yes please! — and I’m excited to try some out this week with the boys.
We’re recently gotten into the game Priorities, which we now play with anyone who stops by. The rules are simple: one person draws five cards, and then everyone else has to guess how the person would rank them (e.g., do they like baths more or less than breakfast in bed?) You end up getting into funny conversations and learning things about the people around you.
Loved this poem by Megan Fernandes (via Alyssa Chua).
Finally, Kate Baer — bestselling poet and mother of four — and I will be doing a live stream tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12 p.m. ET. We’ll be talking about books, parenting, female friendship, perimenopause, TV shows, bras, you name it; and we’ll also answer reader questions. To watch, simply subscribe to our newsletter Big Salad (free is fine!) and download the Substack app; then you’ll get an email and notification when the live begins. Can’t wait!
P.S. More fun things, and what’s the age gap between your kids?
Tags: fun things
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50 commentswe took our kids (10 and 7) for our first family kayak trip last weekend, which was magical (and also terrible at times) … and then I came across this article later in the day: tips from a 10yo for parents wanting to get their kids outdoors more: https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/camping/adventure-advice-for-parents-from-a-10-year-old/ Also … just have to say that while I like the poem you shared, the opening line really sits poorly with me. It doesn’t say what I think she is trying to communicate. As a child therapist, much of my life’s work has been about honoring the dignity of children in a society that all too often denigrates and denies the dignity of children. It seems to me that because CHILDREN DO HAVE DIGNITY that they can often live so fully in the moment, appreciate the small pleasures of life, and life from a place of emotional honesty… which I share the author’s admiration for.
Hi Kath – I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think the poet meant that children have zero dignity and should be treated as such. I took “no dignity” to mean that they have no fear, no care about what the world thinks, can live freely as they feel :)
For me, it makes more sense if I replace “dignity” with “shame.” Children have no shame when they’re little. They’ll tell you they need to poop and cry about small injuries. They haven’t yet learned about “propriety” (i.e. suppressing their feelings in order to be polite).
I love all of these! A question for the crew, how do you help kids open up to new hobbies (preteens who may be reluctant or think people have established in say a team so they are worried about starting)?
Can your child try the new hobby with a friend? Even one who has more experience? My daughter has been the new kid in a dance class, helped by her friend who danced for years, and she has helped other friends join the ski club that she loves. She is also much more open to trying a new class, camp, etc. with a buddy. It can take some parent finagling to make it happen but might be worth it. And then you have a built in carpool family!
That’s a good idea Rae – going with a friend so much easier. I know I’m like that. Thank you! PS ski club sounds fun. I grew up in a small country town near the mountains and would ski as a kid and sometimes ride horses in the snow. It sounds so magical now!
Do you have hobby- or sport-focused day camp options near you during the summer? I ask because we have a lot of local choices for half-day camps that last only a week, and they’re a good way for kids to try stuff. Because of experiences with camps, my son decided that he wasn’t a big fan of soccer. But he did really like a theater camp and a camp where they got to paint pictures in a local park.
I’m old enough to still have a little canon digital camera, my last one before smart phones took over. Every so often I break it out for my preschoolers. Boy or not do they have fun. And it’s very fun for me to see the phones. For those looking for a fun camera for kids, I would ask around the olds in your life, lol, or thrift stores, or buy nothing groups. Make sure you get a memory card and a charger. Lots of these great quality lightweight little cameras still around.
https://dumbwireless.com/products/troomi-pro-kids-phone On the subject of parent-child friendly, low cost devices, some may find the youth cellphone sale and $20/month basic plan useful. TMobile provider. We own a Camp Snap camera (love it) and soon after learned about the cellphone company, Dumbwireless.
At my brother’s wedding, disposable cameras were put on the tables. My, then, 2 year old son went to town. We got the most lovely, happy smiles. Guests bent over at the waist to meet him on his level. The unexpected result was All The Cleavage! We still laugh about it today.
When my daughters were younger I’d give them disposable cameras when we went on holiday. My younger daughter would take lots of close up selfies, before selfies were a thing, and we have a great collection of photos of her nostrils.
A fun (bird) parenting thing: Cornell’s American Kestrel Cam, complete with mama-shimmies! https://www.instagram.com/p/DIj9NBYOVxB/ The whole feed is here, and Ma Kestrel is now up to four eggs this season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI5APPyrfTw So small! So fierce! I love those danger potatoes.
One of the best things we discovered when we gave our daughter a camera (when she was small), is the adults always had the best, most genuine look on their faces. Their smiles were wide and relaxed, their body and actions all caught, unguarded for the toddler that she was at the time. It was so refreshing to see people like that.
Thanks all to the recommendations for CampSnap! Just ordered one for my son’s 4th birthday and can’t wait to see what he comes up with.
My kids have been using Polaroids for years, and it’s the only photographic evidence of my existence.
If you love that game, I cannot recommend That Escalated Quickly enough. It’s the hardest we’ve laughed in awhile.
We gave my son two disposable Fujifilm cameras for Christmas last year and they have been a huge hit. He brought the first one on a recent trip to Mexico City and it was so much fun to see him considering which shots to take, setting them up, and engaging with the clicky physical camera-ness of it all.
17 days into being a first time mom and am looking forward to revisiting the COJ parenting archives :)
Congratulations, Amanda! <3 So much wisdom in the CoJ archives. Enjoy that precious baby and take good, gentle care of yourself, too.
Congrats 10 days in with my second!! Our babies are born a week apart. Enjoy the newborn snuggles
OMG Joanna, that phot of you made me tear up. You can feel the love, even through a screen <3
That sideways half-picture of your face has me seriously considering not wearing eye makeup. Beautiful!
Hi! Thank you for not linking to Amazon in today’s links. I see you such intentional decisions to align your values with how you run the site, and this site continues to be my favorite place on the internet. THANK YOU!
I agree. This is one of the safest and most intentional places on the internet. I started reading when Toby was a baby! And it still endures.
What do we eat for breakfast? On Sunday mornings my husband and I make a feast for our kids and ourselves… Belgian waffles, breakfast potatoes, beans, salsa, tortillas, cheese, olives, fresh ground coffee
Does anyone have camera recs for kids? We’re going to Italy this summer and want our kids to be able to take photos, but I’m also nervous about losing the cameras. I considered disposables, but 4 kids x $20/ea feels Iike a lot for the 20 minutes it’ll take them to use up all the film :)
go to a thrift store and buy a cheap digital camera, make sure it has a charging cord, and a wrist strap- have them wear it around their wrist/have them wear a cross body bag.
What about doing a call out on a buy nothing group for old digital cameras?
DO NOT DO DISPOSABLE!!! It costs so much to develop them now! I learned this the hard way after spending about $60 on the camera and development only to get a series of ceiling fan photos lol. Now we have given my kids our old digital cameras, which I’m sure you could find pretty cheaply online and then they can upload the pics later. My kid likes to make PowerPoints of places we go and the slides are so funny: a pic of stairs on a hike and the caption “not good for strollers”
Camp Snap! They are digital but have no screen so they can take all the pictures, you can dump them onto a device for review, and then go again. We had only good experiences this summer when we gave them to our boys and their pictures are so much fun to add to the family album. https://www.campsnapphoto.com/
We’ve had fun with the Camp Snap (I think it’s called). My 7 year old has taken some fun photos with it. I think it holds 200 photos at a time too, so nice for travel!
I’d be interested in recommendations too! For a recent trip we brought our old DSLR, which my 11 year old enjoyed experimenting with, but it’s bulky and heavy, and making sure he was careful enough with it was a challenge. We let both kids (I also have an 8 year old) use our phone cameras sometimes too but it would have been good to have a lighter portable option they could each take their own photos with. We had a small digital camera from the early 2000s, which would have been perfect, but it’s now old enough that we can’t upload the photos, it won’t connect to our computer anymore :(
I highly recommend CampSnap cameras! They act like a disposable, but you download all the pics to a computer and it holds a ton before you have to download them. I bought my husband one for Christmas and we use it all the time. The photo quality is somewhere between traditional 35mm disposable and digital quality, so it maintains a bit of a vintage feel to the pics.
We have a CampSnap too! All the fun of disposable without the waste and money that goes into film. It stopped working after about eight-nine months, but the customer service was incredible and walked me through, step by step, what I needed to do to get it working again. And the pictures turn out sooooo sweet. : )
I got my kiddo an old school disposable camera for spring break (I swear I saw that idea on CofJ!), and it was a HIT! She spent hours at museums finding the ‘perfect’ shot and was sooo thoughtful about how she used her limited photos. I swear this was the secret to a trip where the adults got to enjoy coffee/museums/transit rides. The #1 picture winner according to her? A duck she spotted at the Lincoln Memorial!
My boyfriend recently bought a screen-free plastic digital camera, and my daughter loves to run around taking photos. It’s always fun to download them and discover her shots. Saturday before last, I was having a slow breakfast before my daughter woke up and had the thought that my work day would be so much better if I started the morning this way. So, last week I decided to start showering at night so that I could fit in a slow wake up and a solid hot meal. I put on morning jazz and light a candle and stare into the oblivion as I eat my breakfast and sip my tea. I’ve been eating a very simple arugula, lemon, S/P, olive oil and parm salad. A couple of soft boiled eggs with EBTB seasoning, and a slice of toasted sourdough slathered in butter. I can’t begin to tell you how much better I feel. I have to leave for work at 6am, and instead of rushing and barely chugging a protein shake, giving myself this time to ease into my day is game changing.
That sounds so lovely!
Her poem on postpartum depression took my breath away
Would you mind sharing a link to it?
What’s the title of that poem, please?
Priorities sounds just like First to Worst! It is the BEST game and now my favorite present to give. The feeling when an entire group of people are spending their time thinking thoughtfully about you is wonderful and to watch others experiencing that same feeling is glorious. It also leads to so many fun moments of connection after the game is played as you learn so many delightful facts.
The poem is great except for the bird feeding part in the park just the same I wouldn’t like it one bit if an alien “desired” to feed my kids God knows what. The 1/2 of you look lovely 💛!
Oh gawd- my nephew was gifted a kid’s camera last year and he asked me to “pretend I was crying and also to sing” – which I did because that is my job as Aunty – and now he always talks about the ugly pictures and videos he took of me, haha! I always say, hey you asked me to do it! My theory is this is his first step towards being an edgy, indie, auteur.
HAHAHAHHAHA my niece asked me to text her a photo of “the face you make that mommy hates” — which is a SERIOUSLY hideous face I make to make my sister laugh. so I texted it to my niece and now it’s out there in the world.
No regrets. Anything for the nephew! (though if the videos go missing one day, no harm done…)
Once my son learned my phone password, I started finding suprise photos in my library like 50 selfies of a loose tooth or a portrait of our cat wearing sunglasses. They’re some of my all time favorites!
Hahahahha so so cute
Same! Our 6 year old is an early riser and he will borrow (and then quietly return) our phones to take photos of the sunrise the rest of us are sleeping through ☺️
Yes! My daughter spends a long time building intricate block towers that she knows will eventually be taken apart so she always asks to take a picture of them with my phone so we won’t forget what she made. Later, when I scroll though my camera roll I find the sweetest gems like too-close selfies and whispered videos of “I love you Mama” 🥹
@Emily Johnson “whispered videos of “I love you Mama”” just had me melting. The sweetness!