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November, 2012

  1. TR’s Top 5 Read Aloud Comics and Graphic Novels

    November 9, 2012 by admin

    The below list is not gender specific!  Males and females, young and old, should get great enjoyment from comics and graphic novels!  Our entire TR family reads selections from the below each and every day.

    1. The Courageous Princess:  We have discussed the awesomeness of this story, and it remains one of the best we’ve found.  Our comic dealer recommended it to Plum, and we can’t reinforce his suggestion enough.  Featuring dragons, trolls and people from far-off lands, this graphic novel allows for many character voices and accents when read aloud.  Author and Artist, Rod Espinosa, is working on an Alice in Wonderland adaptation, which should be equally tremendous.  Watch for it at your local comic shop.
    2. Calvin & Hobbes:  We have read Calvin every day for years.  Our children love it.  We love it.  Calvin is a real kid- sometimes he’s unkind and sometimes he does the wrong thing.  But Calvin is always full of love and curiosity.  Occasionally, his parents want to sell him to the monkey-house.  We can relate to that urge.
    3. Archie:  Call him retro, but our Bluey loves Archie.  The hijinks and whatnot work for Bluey.  Apart from Moose threatening to demolish Reggie, there is little violence and no foul language.  Although Archie, Betty, and Veronica go on a million dates, all they ever have is a kiss.
    4. Garfield, The Comic Book:  We find the new comic books of Garfield to be more readable and enjoyable than the newspaper strip.  Garfield is friendlier.  He doesn’t spend as much time hitting his friend Odie.  And Garfield still loves lasagna and pizza.
    5. Pogo:  Pogo is another smart, witty comic.  Created by Walt Kelly in 1948, you may not remember Pogo very well.  It mostly stopped publication in the mid 70’s upon Kelly’s death.  You may know Pogo’s most famous quote, in reference to pollution and the environment: “We have met the enemy, and he is Us.”  Pogo specializes in fast word play and vaudevillian mistaken identity jokes.  Our children, born thirty-plus years after it ceased publication, love it.  Bluey laughs out loud at the jokes!  The various accents and language play can make it a bit of a challenge to read out loud for some.  It is currently available in reprint form from Fantagraphic Studios.

    What are your favorite read out loud comics and graphic novels?  We’d love to explore your recommendations!

    Category Parenting | Tags: ,,, | 2 Comments

  2. Stop Telling Kids How to Be Creative!

    November 7, 2012 by admin

     

    It is amazing to us that we consistently run into adults that feel they have a better idea of how to be creative than any child in their company.  They then insist on pushing their vision on the young ones.

    Example 1:

    Bluey is at the park with Dad, a friend, and the friend’s dad.  Bluey has crawled with his friend underneath part of a climbing structure.

    Friend’s Parent (FP): “What are you guys playing?”

    Bluey (B):  “We’re in our secret cave!”

    FP:  “Why don’t you pretend this is a giant spider web?”

    B: “It’s a secret cave.”

    FP: “But there could be a web, and a spider and you’d have to not let it catch you.”

    B:  -no response-

    Why can’t the kids be in a cave?  Just because this adult saw it as a spider web doesn’t make his idea any better than the original cave.  Bluey and his young friend were being highly creative.  They were making their own imaginary world.  Why can’t that be OK?

    Example 2:

    Bluey comes out of his room with a small dinosaur.

    Our Visitor (OV): “What a nice dinosaur.  Does he have a name?”

    Bluey (B): “No.”

    OV: “He looks like a George to me.  Is his name George?”

    B: “No. He doesn’t have a name yet.”

    OV: “Are you sure his name isn’t George? He looks like a George.”

    B: “No. He doesn’t have a name.”

    This continues back and forth for a few minutes- seriously.

    Bluey goes back to his room for a different toy but returns with the same dinosaur.

    B: “His name is Oscar and he’s a rescue Dino!”

    OV: “Are you sure his name isn’t George? He looks like a George.”

    Sheesh!  The kid just said the dinosaur’s name was Oscar, only after our visitor pressured Bluey to name it.  Bluey didn’t need to name his toy.  Just let him play with the dinosaur in his own way.  You’re an adult!  Go buy your own “George” Dinosaur if that’s what you want.

    Why do some adults feel so compelled to orchestrate the details of kid’s creativity?

     

     

     

    Category Parenting | Tags: , | 1 Comment

  3. Arty and Crafty!

    November 4, 2012 by admin

    We are lucky to have a large space devoted to arts & crafts which includes an up-cycled art table for our family’s various projects.  In fact, having proper space for arts and crafts was a factor in the selection of our current apartment.  Over the years, we’ve gathered a good stock of supplies when stores mark things on clearance.

    Tip1:  You may not need green glitter paint now.  But if a huge container is deeply discounted at .69cents, you’ll be happy you picked it up at some point in the near future (Halloween, St Patty’s Day, school projects, etc.)  Shop the ends of aisles and back of the store in arts&crafts shops for great deals!

    We’ve labeled each drawer of our arts & crafts area so that everything is easily located.  Our most used items include:  crayons, paint, tape, glue, scissors, and paper (construction/graph/white).  Thanks to our stock piling, we don’t remember that last time we purchased something from one of those categories beyond white paper.

    Tip2:  If your kids are in school, you know that you’ll have a sizeable supply list at the start of the year.  We always pull the requested items from our collection.  There is no reason the supply list has to be satisfied with brand new items.  As long as your supplies are in reasonable condition, send them to your school!

    We don’t usually initiate a specific arts & crafts project with our kids.  We’ll just suggest, “Let’s paint,” or “Let’s scissor up some paper,” and then we see what direction the kids take with it.  Large, parent-driven projects are not impossible.  Recently, our Bluey and Dad constructed a robot over a few days!  And we love creating a diorama.

    Even if your supplies are limited to paper, pencils, and scissors, there are many fun activities to explore such as paper snowflakes, paper boats/hats, paper dolls, and drawing.  The important part is to allow yourself to jump in and get creative!

    Category Get Crafty! | Tags: ,,, | Comments Off on Arty and Crafty!

  4. More Power To Ya!

    November 2, 2012 by admin

    As you all know by now, a tremendous storm, Sandy, blew into the East Coast and knocked out power, decimated houses, flooded towns and tunnels, and took lives.  Millions of people are affected by this weather event.

    Snapped utility poles in Bloomfield, NJ. Photo by Mike McIntyre

    Here at ThriftyRambler (TR), our hearts go out to everyone on the East Coast.  We were born and raised in the New Jersey and lived in New England for years.  We’ve experienced our own share of fierce storms and power outages.

    We want to send a TR salute to those who are putting things back together.  First Responders include EMT’s, Firefighters, and the Red Cross.  These courageous folks step into the breach and rescue people and pets from harm’s way.   First Responders get a lot of well-deserved praise and accolades for their efforts in events like Sandy.

    Our TR family survived the New Hampshire Ice Storm of ’08.   During this event, we struggled without power and running water for ten days!  This experience shed light on an often overlooked Responder during major weather disasters.

    So we now want to send a heartfelt THANK YOU to the Power and Light employees from all over North America:  HydroQuebec, PG&E in California, MG&E in Wisconsin, and the Arkansas COOP Electric, to name a few.  In addition, there are countless other powerline technicians and repair people who will travel hundreds of miles to offer aid in this disaster.  All of these folks end up sleeping in dingy hotels far from their homes and working 16 to twenty hours a day in order to restore power to the people on the East Coast.   We know first-hand how essential and incredible their commitment is to our Nation in times of crisis!

    We hope that the East Coast continues to make a steady and strong recovery.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

     

     

    Photos by Mike McIntyre and ThriftyRambler

    Category Inspirations | Tags: | Comments Off on More Power To Ya!

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