2016 | PulseonParenting

Can Kids Use Antiperspirants?

Apr 12 2016

My twin boys are rapidly approaching adolescence. Moods are swinging, zits are erupting here-and-there, and oh, yes, BO is making its presence known. Of course, my younger, sweatier son would be the first to need the Speed Stick. Because in direct opposition to his brother’s love of the shower, he can turn on the water, physically get in the shower, and emerge with a perfectly dry head. In other words, hygiene is even less on his radar than his brother’s. Brushing his teeth is a small victory; getting him to use his “deodorant” is nearly impossible. Fortunately, he is…

Apr 05 2016

A couple years ago I was walking through town with one of my boys when a complete stranger exclaimed, “Oh, my, you’re sunburned!” The concerned individual was referring to my son, whose face looked rather like a strawberry, red with his brown freckles like berry seeds punctuating his nose and cheeks. My guilt resurfaced, a day after my son’s sun-soaked adventure. Even though I had done my best to slather my son with sunscreen, he, like every time before, wiped his face immediately to remove the offensive gooey cream he hates so much, and keeping a hat on him is…

Mar 30 2016

Creativity: putting things together in novel ways, or seeing the world, or a given problem, with fresh eyes. (ahaparenting.com) “Oh, my, he’s such a mess!!” Grandma could barely get the words out through her laughter. Her loving observation of my older son at age three was spot on. There he was, sitting at our kitchen table working on crafts: stuff was piled everywhere, stuck together randomly with glue from a dripping bottle. His clothes were streaked with food (oddly, even now, breakfast is on his person before he’s even had any), his face mustachioed with lunch. The perfect picture of a…

Don't overdo it. Consider how AP courseload fits in with an already busy schedule.

Mar 22 2016

March Madness!!!! I never realized how zany a month March is. I mean, take a look: ~Will March arrive like a lamb or a lion? Wait. No one really cares that much about that anymore, do they? ~NCAA basketball, the ultimate in cager mania. Go Skyhawks!!! (Fort Lewis College, NCAA II tourney, in case you b-ball enthusiasts were curious.) Wait. They lost. Darn. Well, there’s always next year… ~The beginning of daylight savings time! More sunlight after dinner! Wait. Actually, who likes “spring ahead?” I was so tired I accidentally made decaf the morning after. Not. Good. Anyway, what seems…

Mar 15 2016

Legos (and Grandma’s sugar cookies) are like crack for kids…at least they are in our house. Once any of us, dad and mom included, starts snapping together those technicolor pieces, time and reality disappear. But for my older son, Legos are a way of life. He eats, sleeps and breathes Lego creations, and he is truly Pavlovian when he watches a Lego master build ships and shopping malls on YouTube. He is well on his way with logging his own 10,000 hours to attain Lego mastery. His goal is to be an architect but his dream? To work for Lego….

Mar 08 2016

Imagine a single bookshelf. Filling the entire length are books, books of varying thickness, topic and cover design. They are different from one another but all are still books. At each end of the shelf is a thin, metal bookend. Present, but easily overlooked. They are, of course, not books, but despite taking up very little room on the bookshelf, they still occupy the same space. Now think of a classroom of, say, 25 kids. Most of those kids function pretty well in that setting. Each child has his own strengths and weaknesses, interests and personality, but these students can…

Take AP classes in subjects that interest you.

Mar 01 2016

I don’t understand homework in elementary school. My past, and likely yours, too, had many hours devoted to homework…but I never did any, had any, until middle school. And I settled myself after school at the kitchen table with paper and pencil because teachers told us do this at home and turn it in tomorrow, and I did (yes, I was one of those kids…). But it’s a different ballgame today for families: homework comes home for our elementary schoolers, and they really need some supervision, unlike (mostly) the older kids. It can be a time-consuming process, especially when…

Feb 23 2016

Last week, in Happy Birthday, Boys: “Infertility Unplugged” by the Numbers I wrote about my husband’s and my infertility experience from a mathematical point-of-view. This week, I turn to the lighter side. It’s hard to believe, even years later, that some aspects of infertility could actually make anyone laugh. And I wish I could have at the time; laughter is great therapy. But better late than never, right? So here are some of the absurd instances in our infertility journey: ~“The Folly of the Pharmacy.” Pharmacology was the toughest class I took in school. Anyone who can get a PhD…

Feb 16 2016

At this time 11 years ago, I was crying into my shoes…literally. Bloated as a waterbed, I tried desperately over my pregnant tummy to reach my shoes and shove my swollen feet into them. Time was of the essence; I needed to commute an hour away to sit for my recertification exam and shoes were a necessity in the frigid Wisconsin winter (and probably in the exam center, too). Fortunately my husband came to my rescue, armed with a shoe horn and sheer determination. It’s hard for me to believe my twin boys will turn 11 in a matter of…

Feb 09 2016

“So what is your birth story?” Have you ever shared with someone the story of how your children came into the world? I remember a friend of mine and I doing just that on one of the rare occasions we could sit and catch up. It was an enlightening personal experience, one I would never think to initiate and was glad she took the first step. The actual birthing experience may be a small fraction of life experience but it ends in the first time we lay eyes on our children, so it’s a story we as parents hold…

My name is Heidi Black and I have it all... Maybe not in the traditional sense of the phrase but I do feel I have it all: three beautiful, healthy children, a devoted husband and father and the privilege of being a Domestic Engineer. (I used to call myself a SAHM but that just doesn’t fit when my day is filled with coordinating 5 schedules and preplanning their execution, all up to a week in advance.) And now, indulging in a not-so-secret desire to write, and following the advice “write what you know” I am ready to share what I have learned from this ironic life journey and along with you, discover answers to those many questions related to parenting.

Archive - 2016

Can Kids Use Antiperspirants?

Don’t Get Burned by Your Sunscreen: Tips for Sun Protection

Nurturing Creativity in Our Children: More Mess, More Time

Standardized Testing: a Primer

The Creative Thinker: Is Your Child One of Them?

Bookends: the Kids Who Struggle in a Classroom Environment

Am I Supposed to Check My Kids’ Homework?

“Infertility Unplugged:” the Outtakes

Happy Birthday, Boys: “Infertility Unplugged” by the Numbers

Too Much Information: a Conception Story