Category Archives: Parenting

We bought a trampoline

Posted on June 11, 2012 | 5 comments

Last summer we visited relatives in Vancouver who are proud owners of a trampoline and two dogs. After watching our kids spend hours jumping on the tramp, and walking and petting the pups — and thus rarely bugging us for anything — I had an epiphany. I said to Blake: “If we buy a trampoline and a dog, we’ll never have to parent again!”

It was all hugs and cuddles until Bennett started trying to bounce on Avery.

Fast forward to 10 days ago and the Canadian Tire flyer advertising Springfree trampolines on sale. I am not one to be sucked in by flyers, but it’s almost summer and the children are about to be unleashed upon me for nine weeks. When I yell at them to, “Go outside and play!” I want them to skedaddle, and quick.

Still, I have mixed feelings about trampolines — I worry a neighbour’s child will  do a flip on it and break her neck; that kind of thing. A Springfree tramp is supposed to be the safest kind since it lacks both a metal frame and springs, which together account for 70 percent of trampoline injuries. We watched the Springfree video and decided it was probably worth the extra money. (Yes, even on sale they’re expensive, more than a dog probably, but once my husband set it up it would be way less work than a puppy, I figured.)

The apparatus barely fits between our fence and garage, in a spot formerly reserved for weeds.

It’s been assembled for a day now and the kids love it. A net encloses the entire thing and even zippers shut so Bennett can’t accidentally bounce out. I had a tramp as a kid and am astonished my parents let me jump on it unsupervised. No net. Metal frame covered by thin pads. Springs on all sides waiting to pinch and maim. It was a death trap and I’m lucky to still be here.

I jumped on this old-school tramp and so did my friends and miraculously no one ever got hurt. Circa 1986.

Now, in spite of all the advances in trampoline safety and technology, some parents still hate them and think they are dangerous. To prevent injuries you’re supposed to follow certain rules like:

  • No bouncing the dog (WTF?)
  • No flipping unless you know how
  • Only one boucer at a time

This final rule will be a problem in our house. Both kids want to jump at the same time. All. The. Time. Bennett even snuck out of the house after dinner — naked! — to bounce. Blake: “Where’s Bennett?” Me: “I don’t know, isn’t he with you?” Blake: “Um…nooo…” I looked out Avery’s window and there he was, jumping all free and unemcumbered.

Yes, there’s freedom in a trampoline, for the kids and for us. We can sit at our patio table, sip mojitos, enjoy adult conversation and occasionally glance up to make sure the kids aren’t bouncing the neighbour’s black lab puppy while attempting flips.

We have a direct sightline to the tramp from cocktail central.

5 Comments

Posted in Parenting

Tagged , ,

Playground plans derailed by rum punch

Posted on May 31, 2012 | 7 comments

As a parent of a school-age child you often find yourself roped into school-related volunteering. It’s always for a good cause but it’s time-consuming and more work than you thought it would be when another mom, or the smiling principal, strong-armed you onto the team.

And so for the last several months myself and three other Grade 1 moms have been spearheading a new playground at our kids’ school. The current playground is more ashphalt than parkland. It has no trees for shade, nowhere to sit, is riddled with ankle hazards (gopher holes) and has a rather ghetto/penitentiary-like feel to it, what with the net-less basketball hoops and in-need-of-paint exterior of the school’s 1960s-era addition. Plus the equipment has reached its best-before date and is deemed unsafe by the Calgary Board of Education.

Peeling paint adds to the school playground’s woes.

Before you wonder what I’m complaining about and how rum punch could sabotage the process, let me tell you that designing and building a new playground is not about flipping through a Little Tykes brochure and ordering equipment. No. It’s about engaging the community, parents, teachers and students in the process. It’s about working with a landscape architect to naturalize the space so it no longer looks like a prison yard. You want a play area the kids will love and the community can be proud of; not one that invites vandals with spray paint at 3 a.m.

Building a new playground also requires a lot of money. Like, hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, this year our school’s Kitchen Party fundraiser was dedicated to the new playground. We on the playground committee thought this would be a perfect time to have our captive audience fill out playground surveys, plot dots on a playground map and leave the party with brochures to bring to their employers to hit up for cash.

Revellers would’ve plotted dots on a playground map and filled out surveys had the Mardi Gras-themed party not served up nine gallons of rum punch.

I think all of that would have happened, if it hadn’t been for the rum punch. Several months ago Kitchen Party organizers asked me if I could make a signature cocktail for the event; something festive that nodded to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. I love rum punch so this was a no-brainer. I also make it really strong, like they do in Barbados, home of Mount Gay rum (Select Wines & Spirits donated a case of Mount Gay Eclipse to our cause).

Revellers in line for rum punch.

What ended up happening was this: everyone drank a lot of rum punch. Then everyone lined up for tequila shooters. No one filled out surveys. No one plotted dots on a map or walked away with a colour brochure to ask their employer for a cash donation. Instead, sombreros were worn and we danced the night away.

Sombreros happen when you drink rum punch.

But everyone in attendance sure spent a lot on booze, and that night, for the first time, I was having a blast on the playground committee. If it takes a village to raise a child, it requires an inebriated one to raise money for a new playground.

7 Comments

Posted in Parenting, Potpourri

Tagged , , ,

Nurturing a love of gardening in kids

Posted on May 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

I have never been much of a gardener. And when I use the term “gardener,” I mean it in the traditional, vegetable sense — someone who grows things like cucumbers and lettuce for consumption. Though we grew a zucchini to gold-ribbon-winning size during our first summer of marriage, the tomatoes and carrots and strawberries we have attempted to nurture in subsequent years have failed to thrive.

Fortunately, we have fared much better planting annuals into containers, and raising children to help with this yearly task.

A pot of dirt itches for little hands.

I’ll admit when they were younger I was loathe to involve the kids in anything involving dirt and water. It was a huge, messy, Jackson Pollock-inspired brown splat-down on the patio after the petunias found a home. But now that Avery can submerge a marigold into soil without prematurely dead-heading it, and Bennett can use a small watering can to water mostly plants (with only the occasional drenching of Crocs and concrete), it’s almost a pleasant experience.

Gardening gloves at least keep the dirt out from under fingernails.

Not only are you beautifying the yard, you’re teaching your children about caring for something. And if they help plant the flowers, you’ll get buy-in — they’ll help water them and dead-head them too.

The best part about planting is watering the end result.

Still, you need to supervise this whole process, or you may end up with all 24 marigolds in one tiny pot, or your son might unceremoniously “plant” a four-pack of snap dragons inside the potting soil bag, or the hose will likely stay on and dribble water onto the wood chips for 30 minutes. (To put these hijinks out of your mind, I highly recommend planting a container with mint. One word: mojitos.)

I’ve been doing the annual flower plant with kids now for six seasons and suggest the following tips to keep them engaged (and you sane):

  • Let them water. So your two-year-old waters the lawn and the rocks. As long as he’s not dumping the can over your head, it’s all good.
  • Let them get their hands dirty. Plan ahead and dress the kids in play clothes and have them wear gardening gloves. They will love it and you won’t worry about them ruining an outfit or catching some weird soil bacteria.
  • Along those lines: banish the mess from your mind. There will be A LOT of loose soil that becomes mud on the patio or deck. Chill. Mix another mojito. You can sweep up the dirt after it dries.

Now, doesn’t that look nice? Do your kids help you “garden”? Do you prefer the process or the end result?

Leave a comment

Posted in Parenting, Potpourri

Tagged , , ,