The Grandma Chronicles: Curtains for Dinner

Posted on January 27, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I only knew her as GRANDMA.

But she had a life before I ever met her…as an obedient daughter, loving sister, impressionable girl, new bride and mother of five.

She was a woman of character and strength. She was ahead of her time in many ways and I thought she was an angel with super-powers. But “Curtains for Dinner” shows that she was a normal human being, just like any of us…and sometimes she made questionable choices.

As a young woman, my grandmother lived in an era where most wives stayed home and the husband went to work and controlled the family finances. Every week, she would be given a certain amount of money for the household expenses…whatever her husband determined would be enough…if she was a frugal homemaker. And, just like today, it was hard to make the money stretch to buy the staples she needed. One day, on her way to the butcher shop to buy meat for dinner, my grandmother passed a fabric store. Hanging in the store window was the most beautiful piece of lace material and my grandmother knew she had to have it for her kitchen window…to help make her house a more beautiful home. Opening the door, she entered a world of colors and textures…but her eyes were only on the lace in the window. A small scrap of paper pinned to the fabric displayed the cost…25 cents. Reaching her hand into the neckline of her dress, she unpinned the folded handkerchief that held her precious household money. Carefully she opened the scrap of fabric and looked at its contents…only 50 cents, the amount needed to purchase enough meat for dinner that night. What should she do? How could she pass up that beautiful piece of lace? But what would she do about dinner?

Making her decision, she took one of the quarters, approached the store clerk and indicated her choice. Emerging from the fabric store, the parcel of lace clutched tightly in her hands, my grandmother continued down the street to the butcher’s shop. Now she only had enough money for half as much meat. Purchasing the meat, she watched as the butcher wrapped it…what a tiny package it made!

Sitting down to dinner in the kitchen with the new lace curtains fluttering in the breeze, her husband noticed that there was only one place set. “Aren’t you eating, my dear.” he asked. “Oh no,” my grandmother replied. “I was so hungry, I ate my portion earlier.”

My grandmother might have gone to bed with her stomach a little empty…but her desire to beautify her home was well-satisfied.

Did she make the right choice? What would you have done?

Stop by tomorrow for the last installment of The Grandma Chronicles: Where Are the Side-Mirrors on the New Car? I’ll also share a recipe, from my new parenting book. for apple cake just like the one I used to make with her those long-ago Sunday mornings.

Restful Sleep…Crucial Factor in the Fight Against Obesity

Posted on January 26, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I know I feel out-of-sorts when I haven’t had a good night’s sleep. And I had heard (thought it was a rumor) that lack of sleep could cause weight gain.

Tonight, one of our local TV stations ran a special report on kids who get too little sleep being at risk for obesity and diabetes.

So I did a little research and found that studies have shown that “insufficient nighttime sleep among infants and preschool-aged children appears to be a lasting risk factor for subsequent obesity.” (WebMD Health News) http://children.webmd.com/news/20100907/sleep-linked-to-childhood-obesity

I’m always blaming fast food, super-sized meals and lack of exercise on the increase our country is seeing in childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes. But, now it seems that we can add another villain to the mix.

And that is one more reason to set up those bedtime routines for your children…and STICK to them. One of the pediatricians on the TV report had several suggestions:

Bedtime should be the SAME time EVERY night for your child.
Wind down 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime.
Children should be getting 9 to 10 hours of sleep every night.
If you are missing an hour or two of sleep for the week, you can catch up on some sleep on the weekends.

You can refer back to yesterday’s post about bedtime routines for more tips. https://viviankirkfield.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/bedtime-routines-rituals-and-can-i-have-one-more-glass-of-water-please/

In that post, I suggested you read CORNELIUS P. MUD, ARE YOU READY FOR BED? with your child and I provided a recipe for Overnight Cookies. Bedtime is a very special time for young children, but without routines and limits, many try to delay going to bed as much as possible. I promised to give you a simple craft project that may encourage good bedtime routines. With your help, your child can “set” his clock to the particular time when he will need to be ready for his bedtime story. Then he can check that time against the real clocks in the house and will know when he has to complete his toy cleanup in order to be ready for that special treat…the bedtime story.

NO TICK-TOCK CLOCK

You will need: A piece of cardboard (from a cereal box would be fine), metal paper fastener, construction paper, marker and scissors.

Cut a large circle (the clock face) from the cardboard.
Cut two “hands” (one longer and narrower than the other) from the construction paper.
Attach the hands to the center of the clock with the paper fastener.
Draw the numbers in the correct order on the clock face.

Parents…keep in mind that if you’ve been trying to lose a few pounds yourselves (as I have been), perhaps getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis may do as much for you as cutting back on calories and exercising. In fact, if you treat all three elements…restful sleep, nutrition (not diet) and exercise with respect, you may be rewarded with better health than you ever had before. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to call it quits for the night…there always seems to be something else that MUST be done…laundry folded, dishes put away, lunches made for the next day, bills to pay and checkbook to balance…the list goes on and on. This is another reason that making lists of short and long-term goals as well as a daily to-do will help organize and prioritize what needs to be done.

P.S. This post somehow got put in drafts and didn’t get posted on Tuesday…sorry. 🙂

Stop by tomorrow for a look at a very special lady…my grandmother…she was a role model for Positive Parental Participation in an era before spending quality time with your children was a catch-phrase.

God Couldn’t Be Everywhere, So He Created Grandmas

Posted on January 26, 2011 by viviankirkfield

GOD COULDN’T BE EVERYWHERE

SO HE CREATED GRANDMAS

This plaque hangs in my kitchen. It was given to me by my daughter, after her son was born. It is so very meaningful to me, and I smile every time I pass it by, not only because I’m thrilled to be a grandma to one of the world’s most adorable, smart, sweet, loving, handsome, and wonderful little boys in the world, but also because it brings back my memories of my own grandmother.

If I close my eyes, I can still see her, sitting in her antique rattan rocking chair, arms outstretched, ready to enfold any child in need of love and a listening ear.

This amazing woman cherished children and was always eager to praise your drawing made at school even though the people were stick figures and the trees were lopsided, listen to you practice the piano no matter how many wrong notes you hit, or just hold you. She was a role model for Positive Parental Participation in an era before experts were encouraging parents to spend quality time with their children.

When I was ten years old, a wonderful thing happened. My family moved into my grandmother’s house! She was getting older and my parents and my aunts and uncles were uncomfortable having her live on her own. I don’t know how easy it was for my parents to coexist in this multi-generational home, but for my sister and me…it was heaven! Now we could have access to this very special person on a daily basis, not just on weekend visits.

My favorite time was early Sunday mornings. My parents and sister would sleep a little later, but my grandmother was an early riser. I would tip-toe downstairs to the kitchen where I would find her, drinking coffee and dipping her dry bread into it. She would take down an old porcelain cup, pour in a splash of coffee and fill it to the rim with milk and hand it to me. Starbucks’ lovers…eat your hearts out…there is no coffee drink available today that can compare to that nectar from the gods. 😉

After we finished our petit dejeuner or little breakfast, my grandmother would go to the pantry (yes, a real old-fashioned pantry that was like a walk-in closet) and get out bowls, flour, sugar and various other ingredients and we would spend the next few hours preparing apple pies and other amazing dishes. Perhaps that is where I learned my love of cooking and baking and it is definitely one of the reasons I included a cooking activity with each story recommendation in my book for parents of preschoolers. I understand how important it is to participate positively with young children and encouraging your child to help in the kitchen will build self-esteem and create a life-long parent-child bond.

I have two stories to relate about my grandmother…she was only human, after all. One shows that she didn’t always use commonsense, and the other…well, if it happened today and the authorities found out about it, she would probably be in jail. But, it was another time and people had a different mind-set about parenting. Stop by tomorrow to find out about “curtains for dinner” and “the new car that lost its side-mirrors”.