Allison Ward believes she spends thousands of hours in the car with her children. Ward takes her children to their respective sports during the week, and some of the locations are as far as an hour away from her home. She also embarks on several road trips that take more than a day of driving, especially when her husband is deployed.

“Between their activities and our annual road trips, my car is really our portable home,” said Ward, a Marine wife and mother of four boys stationed near Camp Pendleton, Calif.

At first, during these long car rides, Ward would let her children watch television and play video games because it afforded her some quiet, or at least not as much screaming and fighting as there can be with four kids close in age. But eventually she realized that her four sons watched as much as six hours of TV on road trips and got out of the car cranky and full of pent-up energy.

“I don’t usually allow my kids to watch TV at home for more than an hour and a half, so I came up with some creative ways to play with them while in the car,” she said.

With summer in full swing, many families will be taking road trips around the country and spending lots of time in their vehicles. From an informal poll of military family friends, here is a list of the top 10 car games for the military mom on the move.

1. “I Spy”: A player thinks of an object that will be in view for a while, like a forest or a mountain, not something visible for only a few seconds. He or she gives the first letter of the object, and the other players have to guess it. It’s especially helpful for younger players tackling beginner reader skills. Diana Glynn, an Air Force mother of two, said this game helped her 5-year-old become familiar with the sounds different letters.

2. Tunnel game: When you come to a tunnel, see who can hold her breath the longest. Cary Johnson, a Navy wife and mother of two, said her daughters love this game, and it usually starts conversations about science or the human body. The kids ask about what happens when you hold your breath, why fish can’t breathe outside of water, etc.

3. Geography or history game: You can choose locations, landmarks or historical figures. A player names a location (or landmark or historical figure), and the next player has to come up with another location (or landmark or historical figure) that starts with the last letter of the previous player’s choice. It’s a great game for kids 10 and older. Sam Davis, an Army wife and mother of two teenage boys, said popular personalities should be included, especially if you’re playing with teenagers.

4. Counting game: Ward used to play this game when her children were a bit younger and said that it held their attention for a good while. It’s counting anything you see: blue cars, road signs, trees, trucks. It keeps preschoolers busy, and they enjoy naming objects out loud.

5. Sing-along or name-a tune game: A player sings a song, and the other players have to guess it. My kids love it because they get to make fun of Mom’s and Dad’s singing abilities, and when it’s their turn, they love showing off how well they know a song.

6. What-if game: The first player asks the other players questions about taking the trip at a different time or under different circumstances. For example, someone asks, what if we had taken this trip in the 1800s? The other players have to come up with answers and scenarios. Stephanie Hudson, an Air Force wife and mother of two, said that her tweens enjoy playing this game because they come up with all sorts of scenarios.

7. License plates: Younger children call out letters in alphabetical order, and the first one to get to Z wins. There are many ways to play this game. Kathy Rothman, a Marine wife and mother of three, said older kids enjoy making the game more complicated by looking for out-of-state plates in alphabetical order.

8. 20 questions: A player comes up with an object, person or animal, and the other players have 20 questions to guess what it is. The answers to the questions have to be “yes” or “no.” This can work with both younger and older children.

9. Punch Buggy: The classic version calls for you to punch the person next to you when you spot a Volkswagen Beetle. But Heidi Simmons and many other moms have modified the game by doing away with the punching because it can get too rowdy in the car. Simmons, an Air Force wife and mother of three daughters, said that she used to play this game when she was a little girl and that her daughters also really enjoy it today. Simmons usually designates someone to keep track of how many Volkswagens or other model vehicle they see. She then gives out a sticker to the child who sees one first or who sees the most within a five-minute interval.

10. Reading in Character: Kids can read a few lines of a book to each other, or even read out loud and try to change their voices while reading various characters. Kristin Donaldson read half of the first Harry Potter book in the car with her children, and they all enjoyed trying to sound British.

This article originally appeared on Operation Homefront.

I felt like a child on a sugar high as I sat in rush hour traffic on I-635 in Dallas, laughing inside my mini-van and telling my children how great it was to actually experience the Metroplex traffic first hand. They weren’t too impressed, and asked, “Is there a road with fewer cars? Can we watch another movie?”, but I remained undeterred in my excited, exhilarated state.
After all, I was living my childhood fantasy of being in Dallas.
I’ve spoken before about my fascination with Texas, and this trip only fueled my irrational love for the Lone Star state. I went as far as telling my husband that he simply had to find a way to get to Texas, “Can’t you volunteer for some odd assignment and then end up in Dallas? I’ll take Houston or Austin in a heartbeat!” But I knew that it was impossible, so I tried to talk about something other than my Texas obsession with my deployed husband who didn’t have much time on the phone to hear about the malls and the museums.
I told myself to get off my silly infatuation, but I went back to being that little girl growing up in Rome, dreaming about Texas, which in my mind epitomized the land of opportunities, the best of the American spirit.
I realize that this is completely unrealistic and silly, which part of Texas was I thinking about, a city, a small town? There are so many differences and every place has its pros and cons, but just like a middle school girl with a crush on one of the Jona’s brothers, I immersed myself in my own little Texas crush these last few days.
I almost wish that something minor had gone wrong on our trip. Instead it was better than what I imagined, I met great folks, a few modern day cowboys, beautiful and friendly Texas women, and saw lots of interesting sights in the city and surrounding areas.
I didn’t take this trip because of my fantasy though, we actually went because one of my daughters had a competitive gymnastics camp where she got to work with well known gym coach Valery Liukin and realize her own fantasy of meeting Nastia Liukin, the gymnastics 2008 all around Olympic champion. My other children had their own little dreams at the sport camps and drama week they attended, and got on board with my Texas insanity. “Mommy we want to live in Texas, things are shiny and new here, not like back home” they repeated ad nauseam in the hotel.
But it wasn’t just our fantasy of moving to Texas that made the trip special. It was seeing how much our perspective made a difference in our experiences. For example, when I’m stuck in traffic back home, I dig my nails into the steering wheel at the first sign of cars slowing down. Yet, there’s really no difference between small town traffic and Dallas traffic, except for the number of cars, and my attitude, which is positive in one instance and sour in the other.
Maybe I should work on changing my outlook outside of Texas.
Then again, why go through the effort when I can move to Dallas and exist in a perpetual state of exhilaration? For now y’all, the military isn’t going to move us there, so I’ll have to make do with pink cowboy boots and my new outrageous hat.

Military wives are a tough bunch and my experience has been that they are always ready to help out.

They’re volunteering all over the gulf coast –
I interviewed two great ladies and here is the article. It appeared at Operation Homefront.

Since April 20, when an explosion tore through BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig 50 miles from the Louisiana coast, oil has been spilling into the Gulf, and experts have yet to figure out a way to stop it. Click here to read the full piece.

Growing up I loved to hear my grandparents talk about their experiences during WWII, especially their escape story.
During German occupation, my grandfather, who had worked for the Italian government in the past, was ordered to come back and collaborate with the Germans. Unwilling to do so and opposing the regime, he decided to escape with his wife and three young children. Leaving everything behind, my grandparents pretended to go for an evening stroll and with the help of the Resistance, left Rome. They were transported in a truck and reached their destination, Florence, where they hid in the basement of a kind Italian family for several months.

My grandmother told me that during those months she often felt desperate and that the only thing that kept her going was the hope that “gli Americani,” the Americans, would eventually arrive.
And one day they did.

My grandmother heard people yelling in the streets “sono arrivati gli Americani!” – the Americans have arrived – and told me that seeing these American soldiers was one of the happiest moments in her life. She felt pure joy, happiness and gratitude for these young men who brought freedom. My grandmother also told me that she could never forget the faces of the brave soldiers she saw.

We shouldn’t forget them either.
As Memorial Day approaches we can make an effort to remember the brave men and women who have lost their lives for us and for our country. This year I realized that I didn’t know the history of Memorial Day so I did some research with my kids who are old and still young enough to find projects with mom somewhat interesting.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and more than a dozen towns claim to have been the first ones to celebrate this holiday. It’s unclear which town gets the honor of being first, but we know for sure that Memorial Day was first proclaimed on May 5th, 1868, by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. The first celebration took place on May 30th, 1868. At that time flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873; by 1890 all of the northern states recognized Memorial Day. Southern states refused to acknowledge the day until after World War I.

There are many traditions associated with Memorial Day. The flag of the United States is flown at half staff from dawn until noon and many people visit cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time. Since the late 50’s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, any soldier available from the 3d U.S. Infantry places a small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery. This tradition is called Flag In.

This is a great article on the New York Times about Auditory Processing Disorder.
It’s interesting and explains a lot about this disability and the relationship between parents and children navigating these difficult waters.

Looks like Sandra Bullock is moving on with her life.
Good for her:

People has an exclusive interview.

This article originally appeared at Operation Homefrontonline

Most mornings, Amelia Strong wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and sits quietly in her parents-in-law’s kitchen in their home near Kansas City, Mo. Strong and her mother-in-law read their Bibles and sip tea. Occasionally they hold hands while they pray and ask for strength.

By 6 a.m., Strong’s routine starts. Her husband Tom, an Iraq veteran who suffers from various physical disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder, needs help getting dressed and ready for his physical therapy and rehabilitation.

For more go to: Operation Homefront

When I took my 3-year-old to see ‘Up,” we hardly made it past the previews. I know, it was a bit daring because she’s only 3, but her older sisters really wanted to go and she wanted to be included. Once we’d sat about the length of a “Dora” episode, she was too restless to sit still.

That’s not the first time I walked out of a movie, but it’s the first time I walked out of a good movie. In fact, I was as disappointed as the older girls that we had to leave. Having recently seen “G-Force,” which managed to be both hyperkinetic and intensely boring at the same time – it really made me appreciate the difference between good and bad family fare.

While the web isn’t always a friend to families, it’s full of resources for parents who want to find a good movie, avoid a bad one, or assess whether a film is appropriate for their kids. Several sites give specific breakdowns of potentially offensive material, so you can find out exactly where that PG-13 came from, or even which curse-words were used, how often, and in what context. CommonSenseMedia.org, ParentPreviews.com and MovieMom.com are a few good examples.

There’s a lot of demand from consumers for this kind of detailed information. Even the Internet Movie Database IMDB.com, which is one of the most trafficked entertainment sites on the web, now offers a parent’s guide for most movies. Two other sites are very useful, RottenTomatoes.com and MetaCritic.com which collect dozens of reviews in one place and rank movies based on critical consensus.

Here is a short list of some of the best and worst movies for kids in recent years. Let me know if I missed something or if you completely disagree with some of the critics’ consensus on what makes a good or bad movie.

Best movies for kids:
The good news is that there are plenty. With family films pulling in a lot of money, we can expect to continue to see attention paid to high-quality family entertainment.

“Up”: Appropriate for young children/good for the whole family. Pixar has yet to strike out, which is a pretty amazing track record. There is no more consistent name in entertainment that is both high-quality and family-friendly.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox”: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Quirky fun based on a quirky book. It’s for older kids and adults with or without them.

“Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”: Appropriate for middle school/teens and adults obsessed with the “Potter” series. This film is darker than the previous movies, which is consistent with the tone of the books. The “Harry Potter” movies, like the books, have generally been a model of how quality family entertainment is also just quality entertainment.

“The Princess and the Frog”: Appropriate for younger children. Disney’s latest – and a return to hand-drawn animation – has lived up to the hype.

“Coraline”: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Not for little kids, who may find it scary, but many older kids loved this movie and its themes.

“Ponyo”: Appropriate for all children/the whole family. If you aren’t familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, you’re missing out. “Ponyo” is the latest of his epic animated films to cross the Pacific. For those who don’t typically watch foreign films, one of the great advantages of animation is that dubbing is seamless.

Not worth the rental:
The worst movies for kids are ones which stretch their demographic. They have adult material, but play to a younger crowd in advertising to fill the seats. Here are a few movies marketed heavily toward kids which may make it in the Happy Meal, but which just don’t make the grade.

“Transformers Revenge of the Fallen”: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Yes, the effects are cool. But there’s no rule that says a movie based on a cartoon or video game has to make no sense, it just seems that way.

“GI Joe Rise of the Cobra”: Appropriate for middle school/teens. Same thing here. It’s not really a bad movie, but it’s a disappointment that a movie so many kids will want to see isn’t better.

“G-Force”: Appropriate for younger children/family. You can’t just take CGI animals and funny actors and assume the movie will be good. Even with talking rodents, a script matters.

“Planet 51″: Appropriate for family. The problem with the success of animation in recent years is that sometimes the quality control is weak. This takes a good idea (a human shows up as the “alien” on another planet) and just can’t make it work.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks”: Appropriate for young children/family. Full disclosure: I took my kids to see it and they loved it. It’s largely harmless, but it’s also not a great film to get the full family involved, because adults and older kids won’t exactly be challenged.

“Old Dogs”: Appropriate for family, just not that good. Sappiness and slapstick are tough to pull off.

A new national survey shows that there has been a sharp drop in children’s bullying in the last five years. Experts believe that anti-bullying programs are having an impact.

The study, published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, showed that the percentage of children who reported being bullied went from 22 percent in 2003 to 15 percent in 2008. The percentage of kids reporting assault, even from a sibling, went from 45 percent to 38.4 percent.

In the study 2,030 children, ages 2 to 17, were interviewed in 2003, and in 2008 the same questions were asked to 4,046 subjects. 10 to 17 year olds were interviewed directly about forms of violence and victimization they experienced; for children under 10, their parents or primary caretakers were asked the questions.

Professor David Finkelhor, the lead author of the study, said he was encouraged by the data. “Bullying is the foundation on which a lot of subsequent aggressive behavior gets built.”

Anti-bullying programs received funding increases after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. One of the largest initiatives to date is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program which is found in schools across the country. The program works to introduce changes in the school, in the community, with the individual, and in the classroom. Olweus helps establishe a bullying prevention coordinating committee, conducts committee and staff training, develops individual intervention plans for involved students, posts and involve school staff rules against bullying, develops partnership with community members to support the school’s programs and works on many other initiatives.

The study published this week showed that the biggest decline in bullying was found among children from low-income households. Marlene Snyder, director of development for Olweus, said that the findings are consistent with Olweus staff’s observations. Many of the grants to implement anti-bullying programs went to large inner-city schools where crimes were high and economic conditions low and Snyder said that, “When those communities have had the money, they could be successful.”

The new research didn’t address the bullying because of sexual orientation. Unfortunately, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said that this type of harassment hasn’t declined but remained the same between 2001 and 2007.

Source: Babble

New research suggests that even before they’re born, minority children face many obesity risks. One study concluded that cultural customs, beliefs and family income are all factors which contribute to obesity. The other study showed that obese children exhibit signs of inflammation at a very young age.The two studies were published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

In the first study, researchers looked at data from 16,000 children, ages 1 to 17, who had blood tests between 1999 and 2006. Inflammation markers were analyzed including a C-reactive protein, or CRP, which has been linked to heart disease in adults. High levels of CRP were found in children as young as 3 years old with even higher levels in black and Hispanic children.

Ashley Cockrell Skinner, the lead author in the study, said she was very surprised to find the markers in such young children. She stressed that it’s unlikely the high levels will cause problems at age 3. It’s unclear if lowering CRP levels at such a young age would make a difference.

The second study published in the Journal of Pediatrics analyzed racial disparity. Researchers spoke with 1,826 mothers in the Boston area. They looked at several factors: mothers pressuring children to eat more, mothers who smoked during pregnancy, allowing children to have sugary drinks, fast food and televisions in their rooms, rapid weight gain in very young infants, starting solid food before 4 months, and children sleeping less than 12 hours a day, between 6 months and 2 years.

Minorities were found at greater risk for all of these factors. Lead author of the study Dr. Elsie Taveras of Harvard Medical School explained that while some traits are common in low-income, less educated families, including whites, researchers accounted for it and still found that “race was a factor regardless of income.”

Taken together these studies can be useful if they become a starting point to help families and society prevent the behaviors that can cause obesity. This on-going battle needs to focus on the many factors which in fact contribute to the data highlighted in the study, and not stop at the immediate causes.

The research can be a good starting point to ask ourselves why we allow children to have sugary drinks or unhealthy food. As Madeline Holler pointed out here at Babble, personal responsibility is important, but a heavy advertising campaign that puts Barbie sugar filled cereal against carrots and celery is a tough one to win, even for determined parents.

Making good choices often depends on available alternatives. Until Dora decides to put a carrot in her backpack, or stick her face on a green bean frozen package, it may be an uphill battle.

Source: MSNBC