Ahh, the simple pleasures of being a parent on Halloween-- at the end of the evening, we get all the candy rejects our kids don’t want.  This year, out of Emmie’s massive collection of 130 pieces of candy, I was given 1 mini Almond Joy, 4 mini boxes of Milk Duds, 2 pieces of banana Laffy Taffy (NOT the strawberry, of course, which I really would have enjoyed), 4 packs of Whoppers malted milk balls, 1 butterscotch candy, 1 peppermint, 1 Rolo, and a mini Heath bar. Not a whole lot to get excited about, but it made me laugh on the inside—this “reject pile” not only looks the same every year for both of my children, it contains the same stuff I rejected when I was a kid.   The same stuff about which I always think, “The adult who bought this doesn’t have a clue what most kids like.” For example, most kids don't like coconut-- so Mounds is a perennial reject as well.  Ditto for "Dots", Good 'N Plenty, "Chick O Stix", any Tootsie Rolls other than the original flavor, red hot Jawbreakers, and black licorice.   While I've grown to like most of it, I still scratch my head about some of it, like the Milk Duds.
 
I asked Emmie why she didn’t like Milk Duds.

“I don’t know, “ she replied.  “I’ve never tried them.”

“Huh?" I responded. "Then why are they in the reject pile?” 

“The name just makes them sound bad,” she said.  “Milk DUDS.”

She decided to try one for the first time, and I hadn’t had one in years, so we opened the tiny box and shared this momentous occasion.  It was not a good experience. My jaw hurt trying to maneuver to get the sticky mass of caramel off my teeth. 

“I can’t get it off,” I said.  “I think we’re supposed to suck on them.”

“I’m already trying that,” said Emmie.  That didn’t help her enjoy them much more. The rest of the Milk Duds boxes remained in the reject pile.

Sifting through said pile some more, I wondered if stuff I’d given out to Trick-or-Treaters over the years ever ended up among their rejects.  No “Now and Laters” or imitation Sweet Tarts come from my hands—I usually try to do something different and maybe even (horrors!) healthier, like mini bags of pretzels or Goldfish crackers, mini packages of unpopped microwave popcorn, even one year, much to my older daughter’s dislike, 4-packs of “Halloween crayons” in colors like Ghoul Green, Black Cat and Ghostly White.  She put her foot down when I thought up the idea of giving away old McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.  “We will be the laughing stock of the neighborhood,” she said.  “No kid wants to get a Happy Meal toy in their sack for Halloween!” 

Okay, okay!! But I still think it would’ve ranked higher than the Bit-O-Honeys. ###

originally posted at www.uncoolmom.com

Just in time for Halloween: A study by Finnish researchers says kids get more scared when watching scary movies with their parents than when they're by themselves.  According to the journal Child: Care, Health and Development, children were four times more afraid of the events on the screen when their parents were watching, too. The researchers suggest that in spite of the soothing that parents may offer, a kid picks up on more hair-raising moments with parents, thanks to a parent's facial expressions or physical reactions, and in turn the child gets more scared.  I had to laugh.  Because any time I've ever watched movies with my kids, they're not scared in the least by the "scary" parts, and get downright annoyed (and these days, embarrassed) with my visible reactions.

And I react a lot.  Don't you think some movies today are far scarier than those from eras past? Though Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" is still probably giving kids nightmares (waking up from seeing her green face in my dreams is one of my earliest memories), I would think kids would be losing a LOT more sleep over the technically possible stuff on the screens today: a giant snake and huge attacking spiders in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (a complete nail biter/hair-raiser in my opinion); a man who stalks kids and shoots at them in public in "Jumanji" (very creepy-- and too close to real headlines for me); an evil principal with a torture closet in her office in "Matilda" (she makes the Wicked Witch look benevolent); and a T Rex smashing a Jeep with children inside in "Jurassic Park" (I cried and screamed at the same time-- no joke).  When Allison, my teen, recently saw the aforementioned dinosaur flick for the first time, she not only loved it, she and her friend watched it more than once, and asked me to rent all the sequels as well.

Maybe being computer knowledgeable almost from birth has made our kids unimpressed with what we parents from the "Dark Ages" would find scary. Oh, they still get scared--  just by different things.  When asked what movie scared her the most when she was younger, Allison replied, "The Muppet Christmas Carol! I used to leave the room every time Marley and Marley came on."  The two "old men" from "The Muppet Show" shared the Dickens character of Marley, and she said they were really creepy, rattling chains and talking in a weird way.  Hmmm...puppets? Muppet puppets? Who would have thought...

My tiny 10-year-old, Emmie the Fearless, says she can think of no movie that's scared her, and I can't either.  For her, I think scary stuff makes her like a movie even better. Gives her a triumphant sense of accomplishment when it's over, like she's taken on an obstacle and defeated it.  Recently when Allison and her friends were watching "Jaws" one night, Emmie begged to watch it the next day. I had serious reservations. I saw Jaws when I was 13 and experienced my first sleepless night ever.  I mean, I was so scared afterwards, I envisioned sharks coming up out of the toilet to get me.   I told Emmie about this, and she laughed and reminded me that we all had seen the shark used in the movie, at Universal Studios in California-- "Looked pretty fake to me!" she said. 

So I braced myself and watched it with her, again.  Thirty-four years later, not quite as scary. But still heart-pounding at times. And completely gross toward the end.

Emmie liked it so much, she checked out books from the Richardson Public Library about sharks and wrote a report about them for a class project.  "I want to see Jaws again!" she announced.  
Who knew there were so many sequels?!
### 

Adapted from a post at www.uncoolmom.com

At Monday night's U2 concert at Cowboys Stadium, lead singer Bono gave lots of mention to (naturally) the Dallas Cowboys.  But did you know he also mentioned, in front of 70,000 screaming fans, our fair city of RICHARDSON?!  In case you were in line for the bathroom at that moment, here's how it went:

He was introducing a song, and he said "What time is it, and where are we going?" (crowd erupts in cheers) "Should we take the DART?" (more cheers) "To Fort Worth?" (cheers) "Richardson?" (cheers, especially from our section!) My husband said Bono mentioned one other place, but my mind was wandering to a smattering of thoughts: "He just said Richardson! In front of 70,000 screaming fans! What great PR for our fair city! What great PR for DART! I'll bet the mayor of Arlington is fuming...once again, the name of their city was never mentioned, at an event held at a place financed in part by the citizens of Arlington... but isn't it great that Bono said Richardson? I wonder why?"

I pictured Bono in some hotel room before the show, flipping through guest brochures and magazines, happening upon a DART ad. My husband thinks he said Richardson due to Arapaho United Methodist Church's longtime support of the "U2charist", a contemporary worship service that incorporates the music of U2.  Who knows? At any rate, it was a better moment of fame for our city than when Canyon Creek Elementary was the first school in Texas closed due to swine flu. I'll take Bono over flu germs any day!!

More fun at www.uncoolmom.com

In this multi-media-saturated world, parents have got to stay on top of things or they're simply letting their children be washed over by the tide of "anything goes".  But lately I'm aghast at how many parents aren't in the know, at the level of cluelessness reached.  Are you really that busy that you can't take a few minutes to get plugged in to your kids' world?  It doesn't mean you suddenly have to become a right-wing extremist to monitor media. Or ban your kids from everything.  I'm just talking about being savvy, about staying in step (or one or two steps ahead) with what your kids see and hear or want to see and hear. So you can be educated.  So you can make informed decisions.  So maybe you can have decent discussions with your child.  This is NOT the same world that you grew up in, even if you and your kids go to Journey concerts together and cry at the same Disney movies.  I offer my top six suggestions for being media savvy-- and welcome others:

1.) First of all, if you care about your kids, keep the TV and computer out of their bedroom.  Plain and simple.  Nothing says "I as a parent really don't care what you soak in from total strangers" better than having a TV and computer in their room.  It's like I tell my kids, "Would we unlock the front door and let hundreds of adults, total strangers, just walk into your rooms and start talking and teaching and selling whatever?" You can talk about parental controls on their bedroom computer 'til you're blue in the face and I'll show you kids who can get around them.  Maybe not yours, but their friends might.  And lately, things you thought were safe might not be any more.  I just heard today that the wonderful movie ratings folks at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) loosened control of movie previews in April-- which means your kid could be watching a G-rated movie online and getting a very inappropriate movie preview attached to it as a bonus...  While I do like some computer parental controls (see #6 below), it's even better when a parent can see what's on the screen whenever they want, when the computer is in a common area of a home.  And if you don't like that word "control", consider this: whenever the Dallas Morning News convenes a teen panel from across the Metroplex to talk about life, one of the kids' biggest complaints about parents is that they wished they set more limits, or were more consistent in enforcing rules.  They're not going to admit it to their parents, but kids crave direction.  It's scary out there. 

2.) Get a Facebook account. You can set up one in less than five minutes. Just go to www.facebook.com and follow the directions.  You don't need a photo.  It doesn't mean, in any way, that you have to start "finding friends".  And you can set it for Private so that no one can find you. But it does let you see if your child has a Facebook account.  And who their friends are. And some of those friends set their pages to be public, so you can see a lot.  (I know several parents who think their kid doesn't have an account, but they do!)  And this is not spying, and this is not encroaching on some sort of "teen-only" domain. This is getting up to speed with what hundreds of people already know about your child. And getting up to speed with what hundreds of adults you know are already enjoying, as they find long lost friends and reconnect.   I know some savvy parents who tell their kids they can have a Facebook account as long as they, the parent, can be on their Friends list.  And others who say, you can have an account as long as I can check it out whenever I want.  Both good ideas. Also, surf MySpace.com if you have time some evening. You'll be very surprised at the local kids you'll see, and what kinds of things they quote on their profile page-- and it will take you less than 15 minutes.

3.) Find a reliable online movie review service that you like before allowing (or not allowing) your child to see a questionable movie, and be prepared to discuss why.  I use several, such as www.kids-in-mind.com and www.commonsensemedia.org.  Parents are so clueless when it comes to movies, it's unbelievable.  One parent I know showed an R-rated movie at a slumber party full of 13-year-olds.  Another time, when discussing a movie, a parent told me, "Well, they saw the first one, why wouldn't the sequel be the same?"  Parents are simply too busy to take the time to take a few minutes to keep up.  (Yet they can take an hour to get their toes painted...)  Wouldn't it be great if we all had time to actually watch teen movies before our kids saw them?

4.) Read a magazine's content before signing up for a subscription for your child.  And look over a few months' issues if possible.  Do you really want your pre-teen reading about why "girl on girl action" at parties is done a lot but might ruin her reputation? Yes, this was the topic of a Seventeen Magazine article a couple years ago...

5.) Tune your car radio dial in the Dallas area to 106.1 and 93.3 and listen to what teens are enjoying.  Even if you think that all your kid listens to is Christian rock-- they ride in other cars, don't they? They go over to friends' houses, don't they? Oh, your kid only downloads Ipod tunes that you approve.  But kids share Ipods all the time.  And the radio plays the most popular tunes that kids are downloading.  So get educated!!!  And that doesn't mean that you then have to turn things off completely, or have a big fight with your kid about their listening habits.  It means you might have to actually talk to your teen once in awhile about what you're hearing, ask them why they like something (and if you can't understand the lyrics, at least find out the artist or title and go look up the lyrics online.)  I was once driving a carload of teens to the mall when "If You Seek Amy" came on the radio.  (And if any of you parents don't know what I'm talking about, that's assignment number one in this media savvy lesson.)  "I cannot believe this gets radio play," I said.  "Brittany Spears is a skank." Squeals and laughter from the car erupted.  One kid couldn't believe I knew the song, let alone anything about the singer.  Then I proceeded to tell my carload of kids why I thought she was a "skank", and we actually had a decent discussion.  Hopefully they'll never listen to that song quite the same way again.

6.) Activate content controls on the computer for things like YouTube and web surfing (with Internet Explorer, it's found at Internet Options under Tools on the Toolbar.) I once surfed for information about a famous painting, Magnolias on Velvet, and was shocked with what Google found.  Ditto for the time I was looking for gifts for a relative who owns a Shitzu.  In case you didn't know, YouTube should be rated X, and it's pretty popular among kids-- even young kids.  There is a lot of creative stuff on YouTube, but there's a lot of bad stuff, so make sure you can approve of the creative stuff when you want, and filter out the bad.  Although lately it's hard to separate the two.  You can be looking at a perfectly fine video, and on the sidebar, shocking stuff can be advertised...

More fun at www.uncoolmom.com

As I watched the furor unfold over the last few days about the President's planned address to schoolchildren next week, and watched as some school districts flat out refused to show the broadcast while others made it optional, I eagerly anticipated the Richardson Independent School District's take on the matter. "We're an exemplary district in an intelligent city," I thought to myself.  We'll do the right thing and not bow to the divisive pressure of politics, but rather, do what schools always have done when Presidents give an address to children-- let the children watch, if teachers choose to incorporate it into their day. Just like with Presidential inaugurations, shuttle launches, etc. It's patriotic, it's American, it's what we've always done.

Boy, was I wrong.  Not only is the RISD not going to allow its schools to show the broadcast live, they are doing the unthinkable and asking parents to sign a consent form ONLY if they want their child in K-6 to watch a delayed broadcast. Wait, did I hear that right?  Sign a consent form if they want their child to listen to our President speak.  What? Have they gone crazy? Doesn't anybody see how wrong this is?  We live in America, let alone patriotic North Texas-- shouldn't it be the other way around? Those who oppose the speech should be the ones to have to sign a form, opting out.  Watching a sitting President speak should not be treated like it's abnormal.  As it has been set up by the RISD, next week the children who have consent forms will be singled out and taken to an auditorium or cafeteria to watch. The children who are being patriotic will be the ones seen as going against the norm, as leaving the classroom...it doesn't make any sense, and it makes me very sad to think how twisted things have become.

Also, I think the RISD is discriminating against disadvantaged children.  We were told that if the consent form is not signed and returned, they will take that to mean a parent doesn't want their child to participate. Any experienced teacher will tell you that disadvantaged children have parents who rarely, if ever, check their children's backpacks or check email, so many of these kids will no doubt miss out on the speech. Yet aren't those the children who stand to benefit most from it? A speech about staying in school and working hard? 

It's no wonder Texas has such high dropout rates and teen pregnancy rates with educational leaders who bow to pressure in this way and let politics dictate policy.  They're not showing any real concern for the children who need their concern the most, and neither are the people who have been clogging the district's phone lines. ###

More to read at www.uncoolmom.com

On a cold January day in 1980, as a senior at Burlington (Iowa) Community High School, I got to skip school and be a courier for CBS News as Ted Kennedy toured Southeast Iowa in his bid to become President. I had almost forgotten about that day, when I hung out with his kids and met Ted and his wife, until the recent news of Sen. Kennedy's death. A friend and I were talking about the news at a church youth group dinner last weekend and suddenly the memories came flooding back.  It prompted me to look through my piles of "stuff" to find the issue of my high school newspaper in which I recounted the experience.  It's worth sharing, even though it's written by an 18-year-old me and the encounter with his kids was like SNL's "The Chris Farley Show".  Here is the condensed version (I've put commentary in italics):

My Day With the Kennedy Family
From  Vol. 70, No. 9 of "The Purple and Gray", student newspaper of Burlington Community High School, published Friday, January 18, 1980.

   In August, I shook hands with the President of the United States and four months later I did the same with his "understudy" (Vice President Walter Mondale had paid a visit to my high school).  Why then should I have gotten excited about the chance to meet a "mere" senator? Probably because he was a Kennedy, and probably because in the meantime, I would be hobnobbing with some big-name reporters.  These were my feelings on Friday, Jan. 4, when I was offered the chance, via my  journalism teacher,  to be a courier for CBS News during Senator Ted Kennedy's visit to S.E. Iowa.  

At first I envisioned myself greeting the Kennedys at Municipal Airport and riding in their limousine.  Later I found out my job wouldn't be quite like that, after getting a phone call from Susan Zirinsky, a CBS news correspondent in Washington, D.C. (she's now the executive producer of CBS' 48 Hours and other special projects).  She told me to meet her in Keokuk (a city about 40 miles south of Burlington) on Jan. 7, the day of the senator's visit.  She and the press traveled behind his limousine by bus, and she needed me to drive her back to the airport so she could fly back to Washington.  Then I would continue on with the rest of the press.  She also informed me that I would be getting paid (I think I got $75, which was huge to a high schooler back then!), and that it would be lots of fun.
      So, limousine or no, I still looked forward to the job-- and besides, I was excused from a whole day of school! The night before the big day was filled with snow, ice, and hazardous road warnings, but Monday the 7th was sunny and beautiful.  Purple and Gray photographer Dedria Ford accompanied me on the trip.  She made the drive go faster and provided moral support (Dad let me take the brand new family car so I was a little edgy.)  We left early for Keokuk so I could find the airport, using a carefully drawn map from Dad.  That accomplished, we next looked for the Labor Temple, where Kennedy was to speak and where we would meet Susan.
   Kennedy was over two hours late, and we had to stand those hours in a small room packed with people.  The only entertainment was the Secret Service men pacing back and forth to the beat of the Keokuk High School marching band.  The choppy sounds of "Rocky" and other inspiring songs filled the air.  When the senator finally arrived, so did two Continental Trailways busloads of cameramen and reporters.  They poured into the room as I frantically looked for Susan.  Amid the rush, I only got a glimpse of Kennedy.
   I didn't have to take Susan to the airport after all, but a lady from NBC needed me to drive some videotapes there instead. (Though rival networks, they shared a private plane.)   As I walked out on the runway, gave the bag of tapes to the pilot and said, "Someone will meet you in Des Moines," I felt like I was in a spy movie.
   Next, we were to drive to Fort Madison (about halfway between Keokuk and Burlington) and be at the Consolidated Packaging Corporation, where Kennedy took a tour of the factory with his family.  Since it was reporters only and no public, I was able to get a close view of them. Dedria and I had to keep reminding ourselves that it was "for real." But that wasn't too hard-- half of the tour was outside and we trudged along a smelly path of oil, wood chips, and gravel in the sub-freezing weather.
   Once again we left a few minutes ahead of the group for the next stop, Burlington.  Kennedy was scheduled to speak that night at the Holiday Inn (the Holiday Inn was once considered Burlington's fanciest hotel, having recently remodeled and built a dome over the pool, complete with Astroturf, fake trees, black "iron" balconies and room fronts decorated to look like The French Quarter.)  Two adjoining rooms were turned into "filing rooms", for phoning and typing, for the press (that would be for making calls from land lines and typing on typewriters, not computers). Dedria and I stayed in the rooms for a little while but got bored, so we sought other excitement.  I got the idea of interviewing Teddy Jr. and Kara, the Kennedy teens.  We asked a security woman to help, but she was too busy.  Dedria and I finally resigned ourselves to ordering BLT sandwiches and eating them at a poolside table, near the Kennedy rooms "to try and catch a glimpse."  

Well, we got more than a glimpse.  No sooner had I bitten into my sandwich than Kara and Teddy Jr. nonchalantly walked past our table and up to the bar.  A few spectators began talking to them and getting snapshots, so I thought, why not me, too? I wasn't about to blow a chance like that! I walked up to Kara and tapped her on the arm.  She turned and smiled, puffing a cigarette. I introduced myself and asked her if she and Teddy would join Dedria and I for an interview.  Kara didn't like that idea too well, so I pleaded, "Well, at least sit and talk with us during dinner? I figure you're pretty sick of all these adults."  Kara replied,"I'll see what Teddy wants to do."
   But she didn't ask him, so as he walked away from the bar with his beer (I think the legal drinking age in Iowa then was 18), I walked up to him, repeating the request to talk with them over dinner.  His reply was favorable, and soon Dedria, Teddy Jr., Kara and I were sitting at the black wrought-iron table.  I told myself I was going to be cool and collected, but it was hard to think of intelligent things to say.  Dedria began, "So, how do you like Iowa?"
   Teddy said that he really liked it, that it was interesting.
   "Yeah, like touring box plants?" I joked.
   "No, really," he said.  "I like it.  I haven't been out this way much at all."  He's also never been to New Orleans, and was fascinated by the Holidome's unique decor.  

   Both Kara, 19, and Teddy, 18, attend college in Connecticut, she at Trinity and he at Wesleyan.  They're taking off a semester to campaign.  They were surprised to learn that their cousin Joe had campaigned at Burlington High School. 
   Before I could really feel at ease, Teddy had to cut the conversation short so he could do some telephoning to Iowa Democrats.  As he got up to leave, Kara followed him and they both cordially said good-bye.   All Dedria and I could do was keep remarking how we couldn't believe we got to talk with them.
   But that wasn't our last encounter.  After the senator spoke in the Regency Royale Room, we joined the reception line and shook hands with Ted, his wife, Joan, and the children.  To the children, I expressed how glad I was that they talked with us and wished them well in school.
   My final assignment as a courier was to drive to the Burlington airport and make sure the press plane took off safely. (If it didn't, my job was to call Susan's office.)   As we watched the journalists file off the buses for the last time, Dedria and I realized our big day would soon be a memory.  I was glad to have gotten a chance to peek at a family I'd read so much about, and to work with Susan.  (She said she'd call me again.) (She didn't.) ###

For the full story, including more of the interview with Teddy and Kara and some biting commentary, go to www.uncoolmom.com

I shed some tears this morning, the first day of school. I didn’t think I would.  I mean, I’ve been looking forward to this day, right? As a work-at-home mom with kids, back-to-school means I can get more work done.  Peacefully.  But this back-to-school was a mixed bag of emotions, since it was the first day of high school for my oldest daughter, Allison.  Only, sadly, there’s not really a proper place for moms to cry on the first day of high school. 

With elementary school, tears are almost expected, at least for kindergarten and first grade moms.  Even Dads are able to get misty-eyed.  Teachers stand ready to share kids’ Kleenex.  Our school even had a parent gathering one year called “Yahoos and Boo-hoos”, a first-day reception to ease the pain and welcome the school year for new and returning parents. 

But with the tremendous milestone of entering high school, I knew we parents were supposed to act like it’s “no big deal”.  I knew, even before she told us, what our daughter expected of us on the first day: No pictures taken at school, only Mom would accompany, and I was to just drive up and let her out.  And then drive away quickly.  Just like with Jr. High.  (And if I cried, that would not be a good thing.) 

So I found myself shedding my “high school tears” in my bathroom.  Darn, why did they have to start just as I was about to put on mascara?  Maybe it was because I was facing myself in the mirror, kind of like facing my conscience: “This is it.  This is high school.  The beginning of the end.  She will be out of your life before you know it.” WAHHHHH!  I had to turn my back and grab a Kleenex fast-- Allison wanted to share the mirror. I knew she had first-day jitters, and seeing me cry would only make them worse. “My contacts are giving me fits this morning,” I said. “I don’t know why!” Luckily she paid no attention as I finally put on the mascara and she began straightening her hair. 

Upon arriving at school, I missed the turn-in for the carpool line, but still managed to get close to the front door in an adjacent parking lot, giving us the opportunity to pause. “Have a great day,” I said, and-- she let me give her a hug!! And she smiled!! (And, even though I felt like crying, I didn’t!!) Wow, maybe this is the dawn of something new and different!!

A fleeting hope.  As I called out after her as she exited the car-- “Pick-up is 4:10, right? Right?!”-- she frowned.  “STOP YELLING!” she yelled at me, then turned in a huff, and walked up the sidewalk. I kept myself from crying once again.  She’s just uptight about her first day, I thought.  And then I managed to smile, knowing that next time I get drop-off sass, I’m going to do what I did once before, which effectively makes future good-byes much sweeter (at least for awhile): As she walks into school, I’ll simply roll down the window and sing out, in my loudest, best mom voice, “BYE, ALLISON!! I LOVE YOU!!” 

Nickelodeon has just released the list of winners for its 2009 Parents' Picks Awards, and Uncool Mom is on it! My website/blog, www.uncoolmom.com, was named Best Local Blog for the Dallas area, by readers of Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect.com website.  Other local businesses on the winners list include The Original Pancake House (Best Breakfast), Half Price Books (Best Bookstore), Cool Cuts 4 Kids (Best Haircut), and Studio Movie Grill (Best Place for a Parent Date Night)-- and I am very excited to share the spotlight with them! Here's a bit of what Nickelodeon sent to local media:

“The Parents’ Picks Awards give parents across the country a chance to share their ideas, opinions and recommendations about the best local resources for kids and families,” said Tanya Van Court, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NOGGIN, ParentsConnect and NickJr.com. “This input is vital for ParentsConnect to remain the foremost destination for parents to find the best things in their local areas. We thank all the parents that voted, and congratulate the winners." 

Winning venues receive a "Parents' Picks 2009 Winner" seal to display in their storefront windows, and will be featured on Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect for the rest of the year as one of the best family resources in their area.  All Parents’ Picks businesses are nominated based on recommendations from Nickelodeon’s local city editors coupled with feedback from the site's users.  Users’ votes ultimately determined the winning venues in 30 different categories.

Featuring the tagline “We’re not perfect, we’re parents,” Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect is an online resource for parenting advice and community, focused on both celebrating the reality of parenthood and making parents’ lives easier.  Geared towards parents with kids of all ages, from babies to teens, the site offers unique features like personalized profiles to help parents connect with each other; advice from top-tier parenting experts; a digital multi-media scrapbook; seasonal crafts, recipes and activities; a weekly meal-planner; a weekly newsletter focusing on pregnancy and early childhood milestones; and guest celebrity editorials.  Each age-related section on the site provides daily content to help users with both large and small parenting challenges.   

Nickelodeon, now in its 30th year, includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in nearly 99 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 15 consecutive years.  

Uncool Mom was one of five Dallas-area blogs nominated for a 2009 Parents' Picks award.  To see all the categories, nominations and winners, go to http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/parents-picks/dallas-tx-usa/best-places-dallas.

Thanks very much to everyone that voted!

(Authored by me in 2002 and published in the Dallas Morning News' features section (was it called "Today" then?), the following column is still very relevant, so I thought I'd dust it off and share it on my neighborsgo blog. Enjoy!)

In A School Daze After Shopping

When August rolls around, my husband often waxes poetic about the thrill of purchasing Big Chief tablets and fat, oversized pencils. I clearly remember, as my mother and I pushed a tiny cart through the aisles of my town’s Osco Drug Store, how great the new crayons smelled, how perfect the erasers looked and how fun it was to buy a tan-colored “school supply box” instead of using a cigar box.

It was with this in mind that I chose to “do-it-ourselves” last year when shopping for school supplies with my then-first grader, Allison, rather than fork over $26 for a pre-packaged set of supplies that are sold at the school a few days before school starts.  (That’s right, for those of you who have been away from the school scene for awhile—at many schools, parents can now purchase all of the supplies needed for the grade of their choice in a neat, shrink-wrapped pack.  You can even order and pay for the packs in the spring and they’re waiting for you when school starts in the fall.  And sometimes a small cut of the profits goes to the school’s PTA.)  I had gone the pre-packaged route for kindergarten and felt I’d deprived my daughter of a nice memory. (I also had a sinking suspicion that I could easily beat the price of the “pack” by at least ten dollars.)

Armed with a supply list we’d printed off the school district web site, Allison and I headed to the nearest office supply mega-store. I was impressed—they had file crates on tables just inside the doors that included lists for what looked like just about every school in town and surrounding towns. Wow, this was no Osco’s, I thought.  The store had many bins of school supplies right up front.  We proceeded to run down our list..  ‘Box of 24 crayons’. Great, they were on sale for only 99 cents.  ‘Two glue sticks, One 4 oz. Elmer’s school glue, scissors-- pointed, not blunt.’  “Here they are, Mommy!” Allison said as she found the glue and happily chose some scissors with purple handles. This is working out great, I thought.  Eight markers, two red composition books, Manila paper in two sizes. There are the markers-- check.  Composition books--check.  Manila paper…only one size there. The other size must be on the art supply aisle, I thought. And that is about where everything started to fall apart.

We roamed the aisles, looking for the other size of paper.  Allison started getting tired.  We asked a clerk-- they didn’t have it.  It was time to choose a school supply box. There were several different sizes and colors, and some with cartoon characters.  How about Scooby Doo? Tweety? My daughter was overwhelmed by the many choices.  She finally chose one with a blue jewel- patterned lid, but after examining it while traveling a few more aisles I decided it was two small, and we went back to choose yet again.  On the way back, we passed the many different styles of three-ring binders, which my daughter insisted she needed.  “But it’s not on the list,” I said. She explained that her friend has one so why couldn’t she? “Your friend has teenage siblings,” I explained, “so she has a lot of things you don’t.”  Needless to say, I left the store with a pouting child who stormed past me through the door upon arriving home, yelling, “I hate shopping for school supplies! Why do we have to get what’s on a stupid list?!”

Maybe a nice shopping memory will be made for second grade.  In the meantime, I added up the school items on the receipt—they totaled $24, and that didn’t include the missing Manila paper or the two boxes of Kleenex we still needed to get. 

Upon arriving in the classroom on the first day of school, we had yet to find the paper after looking in two other stores, and I’d forgotten about the Kleenex.  I also discovered the composition books I’d purchased were all wrong. The correct ones were especially made for early writers, with a dotted line stretching between each regular line.

  “Where did you find these?” I asked one mom, hoping she’d say a store in very close proximity.   She looked at me with genuine sympathy.  “They came in the pack,” she answered.

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Update: Since then, we purchased many "pre-packs" (I now have two kids in school) and after awhile, we collected way too many "repeat leftovers"-- scissors, paper, pens, crayons... so some years I insist on "doing it ourselves" in spite of the inconvenience!

Find more fun at www.uncoolmom.com

Since I'm always writing stories for Neighborsgo about great things other people are doing (see "View All Content By This Contributor") I thought I'd take just a few lines to toot my own horn: my main blog, www.uncoolmom.com, has been nominated by Nickelodeon for a Parents Picks Award for Best Local Blog in Dallas on their parentsconnect.com website.  I'm up against four other blogs, and as of today, there are five more days to vote.  Winners will be announced in August. To vote, go to www.parentsconnect.com/parents-picks  While there, you can also vote for lots of other area parent "bests" like Best Indoor Play Space, Best Dance Classes, Best Martial Arts Academy, and Best Pizza.  "Best Pediatrician" and "Best Dentist" are taking write-in votes at present so nominate a deserving local doctor!

Also in the realm of shameless promotion, I wanted to mention that Uncool Mom won a prize in the Lakewood Fourth of July parade (we go there every year rather than anything in Richardson since my husband grew up in that neighborhood, and it's a family tradition).  The parade theme was "Lakewood's Got Talent" so we put a sign on the front of our minivan that read "Mom's Got Talent" and covered the sides with big word magnets we created on our home printer of all the jobs a Mom does, like NURSE, CHEF, COUNSELOR, LAUNDRESS, CHEERLEADER, GARDENER, etc. Our youngest daughter and her cousin sat in the back throwing candy out the sides, and my sister-in-law drove, dressed up like a stereotypical mom (a la Carol Burnett), in a bathrobe, cat-eyed sunglasses and with curlers in her hair. She was a hoot, admonishing kids along the parade route to "Eat Your Vegetables" and "Wash Behind Your Ears".  We played the Trout Fishing in America kids song, "Are We There Yet?" on the car stereo, and I walked along handing out cards (printed from a template provided by Nickelodeon) about the Parents Picks awards.  Thanks to my sister-in-law's antics, we won first place in the "over age 12" division for Most Creative Costume.  I've posted some photos of our fun day (and if you ever want to see a very cool 4th of July parade, check out Lakewood's.  It doesn't get more Americana than this-- it winds through neighborhoods so people have parties on their front lawns as they watch, some complete with dining tables and crystal, some with just plastic lawn chairs and lots of American flags. It reminds me of the New Orleans lawn parties for the Mardi Gras parades. At the Lakewood parade, there are homemade floats, trucks with Scouts and cheerleaders, classic cars, politicians and beauty queens in convertibles, decorated bikes, decorated dogs, high school bands, Elvis impersonators, and on and on.  It lasted 45 minutes this year! It ends in a park, with free water, beer, hot dogs and snow cones and Uncle Sam, who gives out the awards.  All neighborhood parades should copy this one!).