Monthly Archive for April, 2008

Parenting tips by Eskom

Published
by
twinutero
on April 26, 2008
in Learning & play and South Africa
. 0 Comments

Eskom is South Africa’s state-owned electricity company. The company people love to hate.

In January, Eskom began “load-shedding”, or rolling blackouts. This is meant to protect the electricity grid by reducing demand. It regularly throws large areas of the country into darkness.

Nevermind that many residents of South Africa have never had, or have only recently acquired electricity. Load shedding seems to be causing serious irritation among those accustomed to reliable power.

But consider the up side.

Our household power is cut once a week in the early morning. The kids wake up to darkness.

“I want to watch Noddy,” announces Alex, looking expectantly at the TV.

“No! Power off,” says Jon.

One minute later:

“I want Wheels on the Bus,” announces Jon, pointing at the CD player.

“No! Power off,” says Alex.

And on we go, reviewing all the things that need – and don’t have – electricity.

During our weekly share of load shedding, the kids have learned:

  • That lights, TV, music and the toaster need power to work, but the gas stove (source of Mom’s coffee) does not;
  • Not to touch candles;
  • How to blow out candles – without touching them;
  • That flashlights pointed at the ceiling look just like the moon;
  • That 6 o’clock is followed by 7 and 8 o’clock, when the power returns;
  • That it gets light outside at 7 o’clock;
  • That reading, playing and staying in bed do not require power.

So, load shedding is a pain – and points to larger problems in South Africa – but still, that’s a lot of learning in two dark hours.

Childproofing with multiples

Published
by
twinutero
on April 21, 2008
in Coping and Siblings
. 0 Comments

Easy….

Lock it. Hide it. Gate it. Plug it. Bar it. Just get rid of it.

There’s a school of parental thought that says childproofing is anxiety-driven and largely unnecessary. A recent article on Babble, for instance, argues that babyproofing is “overparenting”. Many of the comments agree.

I do too – in theory. I agree that children should be taught, through trial-and-error and through parenting, what is safe and what is not. I also agree with the larger movement to allow kids more freedom to roam, tinker and explore.

However, a laisser faire approach to childproofing with multiples simply doesn’t work. At best it’s chaos; at worst it’s dangerous.

Just last week, Thomas sent me on a scouting mission in the backyard. He had deposited a poo in some undisclosed location. I returned from this mission within minutes, object in hand. The house was strangely silent – and the fridge door was wide open. I then heard small noises in the living room. Alex and Jon were planted on the couch, sharing a liter bottle of blueberry juice and chatting like they were hanging at the local pub. Not a tragedy perhaps, but a real pain to clean up.

We’ve had many, more serious events.

In a flash, Alex climbed to standing on the kitchen counter, rummaged on top of the microwave, found the “panic button” for our security service and pressed it – holding the button down the required two seconds to send armed response racing to our house.

Ah yes, and Thomas carefully demonstrating to his younger brothers how to place one’s neck in the chord for the blinds and lean on a 45 degree angle. “I’m choking!” he says, to complete the lesson.

I could go on.

So we’ve put put a clasp on the refrigerator door, we wind up the blind chords every morning, and we’ve stored the panic buttons so high as to be completely useless.

We could teach the kids not to do these things. We do teach the kids not to do these things, one by one, and time after hundredth time. But the twins are two years old, and Thomas is three. They will do everything they’ve been told not to do, and they will work with astounding cooperation and synergy to achieve their desired mischief.

The days are too short – life is too short – to spend my time mopping up a liter of juice, placating the security company, or whisking the kids into emergency. So until we have as many watchful adults as roving children, we will continue to lock it, hide it, gate it….

[Cross-posted at Twin Pregnancy and Beyond]

Update on bisphenol A

Published
by
twinutero
on April 16, 2008
in Fair & green and Feeding
. 0 Comments

Our children may be among the last to consume bisphenol A (BPA) with their milk and formula. Or so we hope.

Since I wrote on using Medela baby bottles, public pressure to ban BPA has heightened and the availability of BPA-free baby products has soared.

And then… one of the biggest producers of polycarbonate bottles and the strongest defender of BPA safety, Nalgene, launched a line of BPA-free drinking bottles. Read more commentary on Z Recommends.

And now… Health Canada has announced that it is “taking action” on BPA. The department has completed its risk assessment, which focused on infants and newborns, and is proposing a ban on polycarbonate baby bottles.

Here is the story according to the Globe and Mail.

Here is Health Canada’s offical news release of April 18. Make of it what you will.

Also see information on BPA from the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment.

The day we gave the bottles away

Published
by
twinutero
on April 6, 2008
in Fair & green, Feeding, Guilt and Sleep
. 0 Comments

It was overdue, long overdue.

Last weekend we finally rid the house of all baby bottles. Alex and Jon are over two, after all, and Thomas is three and a half. It was embarrassing to have them ask for a bottle in public or have visitors pass a load of empty bottles in the kitchen sink.

Mostly, we were tired of the dependency. Whenever the kids were sleepy, or upset or awake in the night, they would ask for a bottle of milk. They didn’t always get one, but they were rewarded often enough to keep asking.

Why did we wait so long? Because there never seemed a good time to take away something so obviously comforting. Had Thomas been an only child, or more than fifteen months older than his brothers, we would have weaned him long ago. But I don’t think he sees himself as older at all (well, except when it’s convenient) so it was hard to say yes to the twins and no to Thomas. We decided to wait until they were all ready to leave the bottles behind.

That, of course, could have been long ago. All three kids started drinking from sippy cups before they were one and from real cups before they were two. They didn’t need a bottle to have a drink. They sometimes needed a bottle to settle down, however. It was a habit, and with all the changes of the past six months (i.e., moving to a different hemisphere) we were reluctant to break the habit and further rock their world.

Last weekend, however, after a string of wakeful nights, we said enough. In the morning, we told the kids that today was a special day. We were going to pack up all the bottles and give them to some babies who need them more than we do. Everyone helped, Jon most enthusiastically. The bottles went into a bag; the bag went to “the babies”. In fact, the bottles went to the basement until we were sure we could handle life without the bottle crutch. Yesterday, they did go to less-fortunate children in a nearby township.

The transition was surprisingly easy. We always have an answer to “I want a bottle.” Jon usually pipes up with, “Some babies.” They have seen the bottles go into the bag and they know that babies, not boys, have milk in a bottle.

We’ve replaced nightly bottles with Klean Kanteen sippy cups. Klean Kanteen products are stainless steel, free of bisphenol-A, odorless and dripless. We bought them in Ottawa before we left (at Arbour). They are pricey however and the kids objected to the chill of holding a steel cup. So we found bottle insulators and now have the most expensive sippy cups on the planet.

But… we have no bottles.