Strollerderby : kid

The 10 Best Carousels in the U.S.

editors — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Their horses won't gallop off for a fox hunt like Mary Poppins' did, but your kids are sure to enjoy a jolly holiday nonetheless as they glide along on antique wooden ponies, lions, and bears! And you'll get a trip down memory lane (plus some great pictures). Here are the ten best carousels country-wide, courtesy of National Geographic's The Ten Best of Everything: Families:

1. Crescent Park Carousel

700 Bullocks Point Ave., Riverside, RI 02915, 401-435-7518
www.eastprovidenceri.net/boards/CrescentParkCarousel.php

Ride the flying steeds or magical chariots and capture the brass ring. Beautiful decorative panels, beveled mirrors, faceted glass jewels, and colored sandwich glass windows make this 1895 Looff carousel a masterpiece.

2. Flying Horse Merry-Go-Round

Bay St., Westerly, RI 02891, 401-348-6007
www.visitrhodeisland.com

This Watch Hill, R.I., carousel is the oldest in the country. Only children are permitted to ride these horses, which are hand-carved from a single piece of wood and feature authentic tails, manes, leather saddles, and agate eyes. Try to grab the brass ring!

3. Trimper’s Rides

South First St. & the Boardwalk, Ocean City, MD 21842, 410-289-8617
www.beach-net.com/trimpers

This is one of the oldest operating carousels in the country. Children love to choose from its menagerie of animals, including a cat, dog, frog, rooster, deer, goat, lion, tiger, ostrich, pig, and dragon.

4. Glen Echo Park

7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, MD 20812, 301-634-2222
www.glenechopark.org/kids.htm

Located in the suburbs of the nation’s capital, this beautiful menagerie Dentzel carousel is a wonderful place to ride a tiger or giraffe. And, under the canopy of a thousand lights, within the circle of animals, a horse leads. Which one is it?

5. Midway Carousel

Cedar Point, One Cedar Point Dr., Sandusky, OH 44870, 419-627-2350
www.cedarpoint.com

Built in 1912, this park classic takes riders on a gentle ride up and down and around on a beautifully carved steed. The ride includes sixty horses and four chariots, four abreast.

6. Cedar Downs Racing Derby

Cedar Point, One Cedar Point Dr., Sandusky, OH 44870, 419-627-2350
www.cedarpoint.com

Who will cross the finish line first? Sixty-four horses race four abreast around the track, with each horse seeming to gallop independently. The momentum of the ride increases to reach a thrilling 15 mph.

7. Kiddy Kingdom Carousel

Cedar Point, One Cedar Point Dr. Sandusky, OH 44870, 419-627-2350
www.cedarpoint.com

For little ones only. This finely crafted Dentzel carousel boasts 16 standing and 36 jumping animals, two chariots, and a menagerie consisting of bears, rabbits, ostriches, a lion, a tiger, and a donkey.

8. 1909 Looff Carousel

Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. Spokane, WA 99201, 509-625-6600
www.spokaneriverfrontpark.com

A 1909 Looff, this beautiful and well-preserved hand-carved wooden carousel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It features 54 horses, a giraffe, a tiger, and 2 Chinese dragon chairs. A favorite horse, Miss Liberty, is adorned in red, white, and blue and has a lunging, outstretched neck, giving her the look of speed.

9. Santa Monica Pier Carousel

1600 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, CA 9029 301-458-8900
www.santamonicapier.org

Located on the Santa Monica Pier and housed in a historic Moorish-style shelter overlooking the ocean, this beautiful 1920s-era indoor carousel is gaily painted, with prancing horses, ponies, and chariots. Gleaming brass poles, festive lights, and mirrored panels evoke an earlier time. One hundred years old in September 2009, the Pier is a classic “SoCal” destination.

10. 1911 Looff Carousel

Santa Cruz Beach, 400 Beach St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060, 831-423-5590
www.beachboardwalk.com

Designated a National Historic Landmark, this 1911 Looff carousel features a working ring dispenser and boasts 73 uniquely hand-carved wooden horses. Interestingly, some smile and show their teeth, while others are more serious. Some are flower-draped; all have real horsehair tails. Located in Santa Cruz’s Beach Boardwalk. The distinctive carousel music is produced by antique band organs, including the Boardwalk’s original (and recently restored) 1894 organ.

Photo: Kim Baker

Keep This Kid Away From The Dog

Brett Singer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Is there anything cuter than a little child and his dog? Playing, laughing, enjoying the wonders of life.

Before you answer, you'll want to see the rest of this picture.

Oops. Looks like junior's got a little explaining to do. What's he going to say? The dog did it to himself?

I do wonder why whoever took this photo didn't stop the future tattoo artist. Maybe it was an older brother looking to get a bigger bedroom.

Source: Screencast

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Should Students Attend Parent-Teacher Meetings?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:30:00 GMT

In an effort to boost participation in parent-teacher meetings, many schools have started including an unlikely facilitator in the talks: the student. According to The New York Times, attendance at parent-teacher meetings at a middle school outside Chicago increased sevenfold after administrators started letting students sit in on the conferences. The principal speculated that parents from low-income and immigrant families are more likely to attend a discussion with their child and her teacher than a traditional meeting in which they listen politely to a 15-minute teacher monologue. I would guess that parents are also more likely to attend conferences when they don’t have to pay for childcare.

Candidly discussing your child’s performance and challenges in front of him may seem like a joke of a conference (and doubtless it sometimes is), but, if led well, such a conference does have the potential to improve more than just attendance. Allowing the student to present her own academic successes and concerns makes kids feel in charge of their learning process. As one parent put it, “My daughter is learning that the teacher is not responsible for her learning. Cierra knows that she is responsible for her own success.”

On the other hand, parent-teacher conferences can be vital times for both parent and teacher to fill each other in on important behavioral concerns that neither party would be comfortable discussing in front of the student—perhaps your child is having trouble sleeping, for instance, affecting her engagement in the classroom. To address this need for privacy, some schools offer parents the opportunity for closed parent-teacher meetings by appointment. Every school opting for a student-inclusive meeting should—quite clearly and vocally—offer parents this option.

Photo: New York Times

Crafty: Flying Fingers

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

I have a confession to make, one that will firmly cement my status as an old lady with seriously geeky habits. Ready?

I am a knitter. I love the yarn and the needles. I make all kinds of knitwear all of the time. I knit socks -- and, yes, I know I could just buy them. I knit hats and mittens and scarves and sweaters. My kids wear handknits, too, but grow out of them amazingly quickly.

Here's my other little secret: my daughter has just entered the prime "learning to knit" age and I haven't taught her yet. Partly, I know that she'll resist anything I want to teach her right now. But the largest reason I haven't started the lessons is that I just don't think she has the co-ordination right now to juggle needles and yarn.

Enter finger knitting, whose only tools are yarn, which I have waaaaay too much of, and fingers, which we have just the right number of. I'll let you know how it goes.

Photo credit.

7 Ways to Make Your Baby to Sleep Tonight

Cole Gamble — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

For the first year and a half of his life, your little boy may have gone down with a bottle at a regular time every night. Oh how blessed those days were. But then one day a switch flipped in that slumbering angel and now the little man won’t sleep at all. It’s midnight and Johnny Wired is bounding through the house and yelling like he’s just realized his rushing for frat. By now, you’ve learned when baby don’t sleep, you don’t sleep. And when you don’t sleep, the earth stands still; zombies rise and walk the earth (and by zombies, we mean you). If you're going to survive you need to come up with a plan. You need to lay some strategery on that kid’s butt. Here are some tactics you can employ.

1) Wear them out during the day. Take them to the park. Run them hard.

2) Shorten or cut out the nap. Wait, you’re kid isn’t sleeping at night and you are still giving them a nap? Are you nuts?!

3) Stick to the rules. If you say “only one story and then bed,” it better only be one story. Or else you’ll spend countless hours every night bargaining.

4) Set up a consistent routine. For instance, do bath, teeth, story, bed. Do it the same way every night and they will learn to wind down with the routine.

5) Create a soothing environment. If you make your kid sleep on top of a running washing machine, now is the time to rethink that strategy.

6) Stay as close as he needs you to. Some children are happy to go to sleep after a quick goodnight kiss, while others prefer to snuggle, hold hands or go to sleep with an adult in a nearby chair. This will change as your child grows and becomes more self-confident, so don't worry ' you won't have to rock your teenager to sleep.

7) Let them know you’ll be there. Sometimes the root of the problem is nightmares or fear of the dark. Assure where you will be, install a nightlight and general remove the fear factor.

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20 Disturbing Baby Products

Man locks daughters in cage while he works

Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

editors — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Note: This week's review is by 9-year-old Alexandra, as told to Babble editor Gwynne Watkins. Take it away, Alex!

I'm glad I didn't get up to go to the bathroom in the middle -- I would rather have peed my pants than miss that! I recommend that movie to people who like action-y science fiction-y movies -- that's me -- I basically read fantasy. I think my friends would like it, or kids older than me. It was scary! I covered my eyes about five times for a half hour at a time. The bird that was extinct was cool, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. I recognized the names of the rocks from my Rocks and Minerals unit at school -- like feldspar. I thought it was ridiculous when they lit the flare and went up Mount Vesuvius. Also, wouldn't they have run out of oxygen? Trevor (Brendan Fraser) reminded me of Remus Lupin from Harry Potter. And the other guy (Josh Hutcherson) was from Bridge to Terabithia -- I hated that movie! I give Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D an infinity positive. Unlike Bridge to Terabithia, which I give an infinity negative.

Gwynne would like to add that Alex totally called a couple of plot twists before they happened, and didn't buy that anyone could make the journey the characters make in the film without dying about eighty times. (Also, Gwynne liked Bridge to Terebithia.) Still, both of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and shrieked every time the 3D giant piranhas leaped at us from the screen.

Baby's Got Roid Rage

Cole Gamble — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:00:00 GMT

A Walgreens in Nashville had a little hiccup and, instead of filling a five-year-olds blood pressure medication, gave the little scamp two months worth of steroids. As one can imagine, little dude got upset. He also entered early puberty. I’m not kidding. Now I feel obliged to make some kind of remark about this ‘roided up preschooler getting signed by the Houston Astros, but that early puberty thing has me kinda floored at the moment.

This is a serious problem and it also seriously endangers a running gag I have about my own kids doing drugs. Sometimes when my toddler is getting a little wild and screechy I like to say aloud, “Don’t mind my baby, he’s on crack.” I say this because it’s so hilariously original that there is no way anyone could have ever thought up the comical mismatch of infants and addictive drugs before I did. That’s why I trademarked the phrase BabyCrack™. Don’t know what to do with it yet, unless there is an energy drink manufacturer looking to market to the under two demo. You, however, may use the word for free as long as you don’t profit from it. It’s my gift to the world. You can even put a spin on the concept and try something like, “My baby’s got roid rage!” See, very funny, unless it’s true.

Photo: www.roseville.ca.us

Brooke Shields Goes 'Street' at Playground

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:11:00 GMT

The Funny or Die website is our new fave here at StrollerDerby and for good reason. Take this convincing exchange between Brooke Shields and another mother at the playground. She repeatedly yells out "Check it before you wreck it!!" and other hip-hop lingoisms as the two moms converse.

Playgrounds can be a place of utter humorlessness and competi-mommy tactics. Enter good old Brooke Shields. We could all take a lesson from her rapper-language playbook. I tell you, if this is what really happened in the dull old parks in my area, I'd certainly go there more often.

Watch it here.

School Terror Drill Irks Christian Parents

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 13:33:00 GMT

A rag tag group of right-wing religious fundamentalists stormed a New Jersey school with guns because a girl was expelled for praying before class. At least that's the script of a police drill that is driving Christians crazy in this sacred time of recognizing the Easter Bunny as the holiest of holies.

In a drill designed to improve responses to school hostages crises, police decided to write a script that involves the "New Crusaders" storming the school to seek revenge for the made-up prayer expulsion. Though the word "Christian" wasn't used in the script, some Christians are nonethless put out, arguing the drill amounts of religious intolerance.

My favorite part of the story was this quote from one outraged person:

"This is an unreal scenario, like I said. No child can be expelled for praying in a school since it's legal; therefore, the parents wouldn't have gotten mad, they wouldn't have used guns. If a school district had expelled a girl for praying in class, the parents would have shown up with attorneys, not with pistols."

Forget turning the other cheek. Real Christian parents sue.

Yo Ho Ho! How to Turn Your Darrrrr-ling Into A Pirate

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:29:00 GMT

What is this pirate trend that is sweeping the nation? Suddenly dinosaurs and spaceships aren't cool enough anymore; everyone wants to be a pirate.

When we lived in Portland, Ore., the most popular band in town was a pirate band. (Two words: Luh-ame.) When they played our local farmer's market you'd trip over baby peg-legs in strollers and preschoolers with eye-patches and fake parrots on their shoulders while shopping for produce. You'd have to be careful when reaching for a basket of strawberries lest you get gouged by a hook.

Avast thar! Is it time for your kid to get with the pirate program? Start with the books, then the locution, then introduce the music (if you must). And, lastly, no pirate would be complete without the perfect ("slutty" if you're a girl, Yo HO HO, indeed.) ensemble. Me? I'm not so into the whole pirate scene. Singing sea shanties? Noooo thanks, but I wouldn't say no to a bottle of rum and a peek at some booty.