An Accessible Birthday Party

A few years ago, we attempted our first big birthday party for the J-Rex.  It was, of course, a dinosaur theme, and we had all the typical activities you tend to have in birthday parties.  There was one little problem, though: the J-Rex didn't enjoy the activities as much as her guests because several, such as the coloring station and the dino egg hunt, did not account for her low vision.  Granted, the J-Rex is always a good sport about these things and was more interested in her friends having a good time than her own access to the activities, but it did make me, as her parent, think about how I might have done things differently.  

Last year's birthday wasn't an issue because she didn't really have any friends to invite to a party, being newly moved and newly homeschooled. This year, however, she has a lot of kids she spends time with that she wanted to invite to a big party for her 8th birthday.  I like entertaining, so I'm only too happy to oblige, but I certainly wanted to put into practice some of the reflections I had after the last party and make this one accessible to the J-Rex and all of her friends, many of whom have varying degrees of visual impairment. 

How often does the visually impaired child get invited to a birthday party where they actually can participate equally in all of the activities? As Ghandi said, "be the change you wish to see in the world." I like the idea of the change starting with us and, besides, we want the party to be fun for everyone!

A Mother-Daughter Date to Remember

The other night, I had a terrible nightmare: I drempt the J-Rex ran out into traffic without looking and was run over by a car.  In my dream, I tried to catch her but couldn't because I was too slow and too far away. 

I woke up immediately and, blurry-eyed with shuffling feet, made my way to the J-Rex's room to wake her for hugs and kisses.  Before I could even explain, she looks at me and exclaims, "I had the best dream last night!"  A tear rolled down my cheek, I smiled, hugged her tighter, and asked her to tell me all about it.

Trying Hard, a Self-Reflection

I grew up lucky.  I was blessed to have several raw talents, including a mind that could handle academics with ease.  This kind of luck comes with a curse, though.  You see, I never had to try. 

School (well, most of it - I still have nightmares about times tables) was always a breeze. I was always an A-B student and graduated fifth in a class of over 600 without ever putting out more than the bare minimum of effort into my work.  Sure, I did work...I researched, read, learned on my own...but only when it was fun and only with the things that piqued my interest for only as long as my interest stayed piqued.  I never worked hard.

Cultivating an Open Mind by Teaching Forgotten Histories

The other day, in Social Studies, the J-Rex and I were reading about the beginnings of civilization.  As we read, I found myself objecting to the anti-indigenous bent to the way our book addressed the issue, as if all hunter-gatherer cultures were inherently savage and "lesser" than the civilizations that were forming at the time. 

Life as of Late - An Update

I have been neglecting this blog over the last couple of months.  I could say that I've been busy but, honestly, I haven't been any busier than I normally am. I could say that I've had little to write about but that would be about as far from the truth as you could get.  No, I have started and stopped many a blog post over the last several weeks, afraid of getting too personal, afraid of alienating some of my non-family/friend followers, not knowing how to say all the things I wanted to say...

Gaming Girls: MMORPGs with the Young

I love my mmorpgs.  Everquest was my first obsession, but I hated having to spend money on a monthly subscription, especially when I'd have to skip a month or so because of the obligations of real life.  By the time I had the J-Rex, I was all about one of the first pay-per-expansion games, Guild Wars.  I remember, in her early years (when I still somehow managed to find the time to spend a few hours here and there making it through a new zone or farming), daydreaming about how cool it was going to be when the J-Rex was a teenager and we could play the game together (assuming the servers are still around by then!)...

Why I don't Like Chester and the Big Bad Bully

I'm all about children's books that promote kindness and tolerance for everyone and, on the first several readings, I really liked Chester and the Big Bad Bully.  As time went on, though, I began to resent that book and the terrible lesson it taught my child.

Now, anyone who has ever read the book is probably wondering at this point what in the world I am talking about.  This whole series of books about Chester the Raccoon are promoted in schools for their value lessons, so how can I say it taught my child something wrong?  You might be picking up your child's copy right now and looking through the book to find anything amoral in it.  You could do this and you wouldn't find a thing.

That's because the terrible lesson this book taught my child was not amoral or unkind...it was the opposite: a saccharine-sweet, totally unrealistically optimistic lesson that will inevitably lead to pain and misery...

"If you are nice to a bad person, it will make them good"