Weekly Medley: Violence as a family tradition

Did you know that violence against children is twice the rate of spousal abuse—and that does not include spanking? Children die every day at the hands of their own care givers. I learned these facts and more startling information, including the long-term health problems due to violence, in early childhood in this TED Talk that my friend S. shared with me. Please watch it and share it with your fellow parents. Bennett also shares some great ways to help kids self-regulate without punishment.

Recently Olivia Wilde spoke about an experiment where famous actors and actresses swapped parts in a closed reading of a popular film. The men were uncomfortable and ultimately hated it, complaining about not getting many good lines if any at all. Wilde said, “Welcome to our world!” I am so in love with this idea. If Hollywood is so stuck on remaking every single movie under the moon, I want them all with reverse gender roles. I wonder would a generation exposed to lead female characters that aren’t love interests or sidekicks but actual heroes would be like…

Looking for something to do with all of those banana peels your family goes through? Here are some great ideas. I’m definitely using peels in my garden this year to deter aphids. I hope they work; so far the orange peel in my plant containers doesn’t seem to keep the cats away!

Wood Sprite’s next big project is light boxes. She saw some sand art on a light box recently and now she is hooked. They look pretty simple and cheap to make! She said she wants to tell stories this way like I tell stories with words. People will come all over the world to her club house, where she will listen to their stories and sculpt them out of sand. I think it sounds just lovely.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia