Movie Review: Back to the Future II

Movie Title: Back to the Future II. Rated PG. Adventure-Comedy. Not as good as the first film, but watchable. Marty needs to go to the future, 2015, to stop his son from being bullied into committing a crime. While in the future Marty gets an idea. He takes a sports almanac to take back to the past to be able to bet on races that have won. Doc tells him he shouldn't do it. Meanwhile Marty's father's old nemesis gets the same idea as Marty. He steals the Delorean and takes the sports almanac to his young self back in the 1950's. This alters all their futures. Marty and Doc must go back to the 1950's to retrieve the almanac to redo the future. Interesting plot, but Marty's son is annoying as a wimp. What I did like was the flying skateboards. Marty has a really cool scene riding it though town to escape the boys bullying his son. It's interesting that someone thought we might have flying cars by 2015. I serious doubt this will happen. But it was fun to watch.

Make a Stove Top Hat: Arts and Craft Project

Black top hat. What you need. Three pieces of black construction paper. Scissors. Glue stick or tacky glue. Pencil.
What to do: For main, stove pipe, part of hat- Roll one paper together with longest sides touching. Put on your child's head to see how wide hat should be. You want it to pop up six inches above their head to be a stove top hat. After determining how wide hat should be, using a glue stick/tacky glue, glue one or two inches of one side into the other. This is the main part of hat. For the cover: One hole side up, put the main part of hat onto another sheet of black paper. Draw a circle around it, then another circle adding an extra inch or two. Cut around the additional inches circle. Fold down sides of first pencil mark. The additional inches on paper was done so you can glue this part INTO hat. You can also staple it in. For a brim: First draw a circle around hat on last piece of black paper. Then using pencil circle again adding an inch or two inside first circle. Cut on second circle mark. Fold on first mark and glue inside hat. Now make the actual brim by drawing a circle around extra paper left, that now sticks out of hat. Cut to brim size you want. Read this a few times and try on sample paper.

Simple Rainy Day Artwork

Copy Art. What you need: Plain and colored paper. Glue. Scissors. Colored pencils/crayons.
Sit down with your child in a room they want to copy.
Step 1: On a piece of paper have two columns: A- People, objects, and pets your child would like to draw. B- People, objects, and pets they would like to cut out. Step 2: On white construction paper have your child draw the objects/furniture/people from column A where they appear in room.
Step 3: On colored paper have child draw, then cut out objects, etc… from column B. Glue these cut-outs on the white construction paper where they are in room.

Stair Safety

It might be funny in a movie watching a dog slide across waxed wood floors, but in reality a dog can break a hip or a leg if they fall. If you have wood floors, protect your floor and your dog. Buy dog socks with RUBBER pads. Your dog might not like them but it's worth a try. Your floor won't have as many nail marks from skidding. Another suggestion: If you have wood stairs, don't wax or over wax them. Also, think about installing a carpet runner on it. While visiting someone I saw two dogs, as well a child in socks, slip on slippery wood stairs. Tile stairs are dangerous, too. Teach your child to be careful on stairs. No rough housing on stairs!

Movie Review: Back to the Future

Movie Title: Back to the Future. Rated PG. Adventure-Comedy. I think the movie is for older kids, twelve on up. It has about 5 offensive words, but what's worse is there's a scene with a boy trying to get a girl in a car for the wrong purposes. (Who wants to try explaining that to their eight or nine-year-old?)
The movie plot is interesting and it's well paced. The film keeps your attention throughout it. I enjoyed Back to the Future both as an older kid and as an adult. The movie is about high-schooler Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) who has a dad with a confidence problem. The dad has a low opinion of himself due to the town bully whose been bothering him since they were kids. Marty is friends with the town eccentric, Doc. He's an inventor who creates a time machine inside a DeLorean (car). He plans to drive into the past or future in style. As Doc is showing Marty the car, a van full of Lebanese comes after Doc. (He was supposed to make them a bomb that actually worked.) Fleeing the Lebanese, Marty gets in the car and drives back into the past. He meets his parents and changes the course of their future. A classic scene is Marty's mom calling him Calvin because that's what his underwear tag says. Overall Back to the Future is a fun movie.

Tissues- Have them in handy places

During cold season have boxes of tissues, in reachable places, in many places in your home. Children do not like to go to the kitchen to get a tissue if they're busy playing elsewhere. They’re more likely to use a tissue if one is near by. Otherwise they might use their shirt, back of hand, or sleeve. If your child has a lingering cold put a little pack of tissues in their backpack for school use. Also, have tissue in your glove compartment. You can refill the tiny packages with more tissues from bigger boxes. Thus, saving you money.

Qualities to being a Good Parent 2- 11 more

1) Spend time with your child alone, and as a family unit.
Pen, not pencil, in a time to do something special with your child. Read to them at night, go on a walk together. Get to know your child. Also, do things as a family. Eat dinner together, play a board game together, even play handball together... By doing this you are creating a family bond. Kids who do not deal much with their parents or sibling(s) can be clueless as to what families actually do together. Give your child a basis.

2) Show your child how to solve life problems.
If you don't teach your child how to deal with problems in the correct manner, who will teach them? Problems can range from how to deal with friends who are mean to how to lose a game without having a melt down. Life can he hard, teach them how to handle it as best as possible.

3) Instill the idea of moderation. I.e. Food. TV. Computer games. You can't have everything all the time.

4) Teach good eating habits. Monkey see, monkey do.

5) Teach tolerance towards others by your own behavior.

6) Teach your child about finances.
It's no joke when a woman says, "Oh I have no head for finances. My parents never taught me." Children should learn how to budget their money. They shouldn't spend money on things they don't have money for. Credit card debit can be like a black hole. It's hard to get out of.

7) Teach your child responsibly.
From pitching in with chores to turning in their homework on time. Your child's boss later in life is not going to believe their dog ate the company's project report.

8) Teach an appreciation for life.
If you complain and whine about life and what it dealt you, you are instilling negativity in your child. There are things to appreciate. From art to nature to your pet dog to the right of having a fair trial in the U.S.

9) Teach your child about safety.
The world is not perfect. You need to teach your child to protect themselves. This can be from the danger of matches to not going anywhere with a stranger, no matter if the person says that they are hurt, you the parent is hurt, or the puppy in their car is hurt and can they help.

10) Give your child a warm, safe home environment.
Your material goods come second to a child's basic needs. Food, clean clothes, and shelter. Also, a child should not have to fear living in their home. No child should be exposed to, or have to worry about, being verbally or physically abused by anyone in their home.

11) Let your child grow and go when the time comes.
One day your child might want a spouse. It's hard to have a good marriage with a parent-in-law poking in your business all the time. Children and adults need to learn to make their own decisions. Just because a minor decision your child picks is different then what you would pick doesn't automatically mean it's the wrong choice. Dealing with parent guilt is not fun.

Movie Title: Dolphin Tale

Movie Title: Dolphin Tale. Rated PG. Excellent family movie. I highly recommend it. Movie based on a true story. A lonely boy riding his bike to summer school sees a beached dolphin tangled in ropes with its tail caught in a fishing cage. He cuts the ropes off its tail to free it. A marine rescue team is called. They take the dolphin to their facility. The boy sneaks into the facility to see the dolphin and bonds with it. The manager’s daughter, Hazel (cute, bubbly little girl), befriends the boy. She names the dolphin, Winter. Because Winter’s tail is infected it has to be taken off. A doctor at a VA facility, where the boy’s cousin is recouping from a war injury, makes Winter a prosthetic tail. Kids without an arm, or leg, learn about this special dolphin and want to visit her. Unfortunately, the facility is in jeopardy of closing due to lack of funding. It’s up to the kids to make sure this doesn’t happen. The ending has real film footage of Winter as a young dolphin. Lovely story. Very uplifting.

Book Review: The Shaman’s Apprentice

The Shaman’s Apprentice by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin. Pictures by Lynne Cherry. This story takes place in the Amazon rain forest. A sick little boy, Kamanya, is cured by a shaman. This influences the boy’s decision to become a shaman someday too. He follows the shaman around as he picks herbs to help cure the sick. One day miners come and bring disease to the area. The shaman can’t cure the malaria. Missionaries come and use modern medicine to cure those who have the illness. After some time the missionaries leave feeling their work is done. One day a woman comes to the village wanting to learn about the healing art of rain forest plants. The villagers learn the cure for malaria was obtained from the bark of a tree. This prompts Kamanya to keep learning from the shaman about what plants can cure.
Interesting book with detailed pictures of herbs. Children can learn something new: Modern medicine we use everyday is derived from plants and trees. This is why it is important to save places like the rain forest. There is more to learn about what healing properties certain plants and trees have. The pictures of the rain forest are lush, filling the page, edge to edge.

Arts and Craft Project: Magnet Pictures

Do you ever get free magnets from companies? Don't throw them away! Cut out pictures of your kids from photos, or pretty scenes from postcards, and glue the back of them onto the magnets. Your child can easily do this with photos of your family pets or funny pictures from magazines. You can even cut the magnet into shapes like a heart or a bone, depending on how thick the magnet is.

Hair Tip

Hair tip: Use apple vinegar and water for a cleansing shampoo. Otherwise switch brands every so often so you won't have build up in your hair. A hairstylist told me, you should not shampoo normal hair, and especially chemically treated hair, everyday. It dries out the hair. Shampooing every other day should be fine. If you style your hair, use a shower cap in the shower for the days you don't wash your hair. I know someone who straightens her hair. But she doesn't want to do it everyday because it will over dry it. So she wears a thick shower cap in the shower on the days she doesn't wash it. Her hair still looks straightened afterwards.

Movie Review: Living it Up

Movie Title: Living it Up. Comedy. Family film. Kids might get bored when Dean Martin sings, but it's worth watching the film to see Jerry Lewis in action. He's a true comic. Besides, you can always fast forward past the singing.
Story line: A sweet young man named Homer (Jerry Lewis) thinks he's dying of radiation poisoning. A newspaper journalist gets wind of this. Thinking this would be a good tear jerker for her newspaper she persuades Homer to come to New York City, all expenses paid, for a final farewell to the world and a big send off. The problem is Homer really isn't going to meet the angels just yet. But when his physician (Dean Martin) learns of this grand trip to NYC he talks Homer into going, with him along of course. Dean and Jerry have to keep up the pretense that Jerry is indeed dying and fool some doctors. For kids ten and older. Younger kids might get bored.

Paper Towel Shaker

Save paper towel rolls to make a simple musical instrument.
What to do: Your child can color the paper towel roll. Afterwards, cover one end with thick paper (butcher paper) or two sheets of paper. Tape closed. Put dried beans inside. Cover other end with paper. Tape shut. Shake for music.

For the New Year

Have an emergency evacuation plan for your family in case of a regional disaster in your area (earthquake/tornado/hurricane/flood). Have a family meeting where you tell all members of the family what the plan is. I suggest you get a manual to find out what you’re to do when a disaster happens. You might have questions.