In honor of the nine days of mourning leading up to the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple on 9 Av, which we observe this Sunday, I share this email from a reader. A very close friend of ours died about a month ago and last week our rabbi's adult son died.there has been talk of funerals and shiva and sadness and crying in our house. My six year old son has heard some of these conversations. He has also helped to prepare meals for the shiva for both families and went with me to deliver the meal to our close friend(where he just sat on her lap and cuddled with her--which was what she really needed then) he has started asking a lot of questions about heaven, G-d etc. Things … [Read more...]
Helping Kids Cope with Rocket Attacks from Gaza
October 30, 2011 by 8 Comments
Update: Mommy from Beersheva responds. Thirty-nine rockets were volleyed on southern Israel last night from Gaza. One Israeli was killed, and several are hospitalized with light injuries. This picture, by Yogev Shlomovitz of Ynet, and shows a rocket headed toward Gan Yavne. A reader from the south writes: "I am looking for help as to how to explain the rockets and sirens to kids, especially 3-year-olds . . . My 8-year-old tells her 3-year-old brother that they 'want to kill us so we try to kill them.'" I know several of you are in the line of fire. First of all, we hope and pray that there will be no more attacks. As of 7 am, a … [Read more...]
Guest Post: Easy and Inspiring Sukkah Decorations
September 20, 2010 by 20 Comments
Wondering how you are going to decorate your sukkah*? Your worries are over! Please welcome Mara Strom of Kosher on a Budget for today's guest post on Sukkah crafts. And be sure to check out her site. I love Sukkot. Really, truly love it! I love watching my husband and sons build our sukkah, and hosting friends and family in our humble little home-away-from-home. But every year, the decorating of our sukkah stumps me. I spent an hour today cutting and stapling hundreds of strips of construction paper for our sukkah's paper chain. Such an easy craft to involve the kids in, right? Unfortunately, it ended up being Mommy’s craft, since my sons were too distracted to help and … [Read more...]
Child Put in Foster Care When Parents Refused to Offer Junk Food
December 3, 2009 by 17 Comments
This is for the many parents of children who do not grow according to charts, and have been told over the years to feed formula instead of breastfeeding or to give a child cornflour, Bamba or other high-calorie, low-nutrient food so he will gain weight. The Daily Mail reports on a child put into foster care because his parents refused to follow a doctor's instructions to give the slow-gaining child crisps, chocolates, and cakes. Zak is now putting on some weight, but his eating problems were not cured by his time in the care of 'experts' and, much to the annoyance of his parents, he has acquired a taste for junk food. Mrs Hessey, of Bolsover, near Chesterfield, said: 'I thought I was … [Read more...]
Teaching Compassion to Children: Start When They Are Babies
April 28, 2009 by 14 Comments
We all want our children to be compassionate, but teaching this in our individualistic culture can be challenging. Here are my thoughts: Show compassion for your children from when they are babies. A person can only be compassionate if he has experienced compassion from others. We comfort babies when they cry, even when we don't know the reason, and we don't let babies cry to teach them a lesson or force them to fall asleep. Showing compassion to babies develops a capacity for compassion not only in the child but also in ourselves. By inuring ourselves to their screams we become less sensitive to the pain of others. As a child grows, showing compassion when it is not needed can be … [Read more...]
Frugal Strategies for Young Families that Pay Off as Your Children Grow
April 20, 2009 by 55 Comments
As my family grew from a small to a large one with six children, I developed efficient ways to save money. Items that are small expenses with two small children become big ones as the family grows. Below I present ten money-stretching strategies for young couples with a growing family. It takes discipline to stick to these guidelines, but the effort pays off over time. The benefits are not just financial. 1. Teach kids that it's okay to be different. This gift to your children pays off again and again. Empathize with them when you won't buy things their friends have, but stick to your principles. Train them to listen to their own instincts, and not the crowd's pronouncements. Most … [Read more...]
Nine Moons
April 13, 2009 by 3 Comments
Today we went to the Poleg Nature Reserve near Netanya. The big attraction is this sand dune that the kids can roll down: Two kids stayed there to dig a hole while the rest of us went down to the beach. As we approached, my five-year-old said, "I see tisha yarchei leida." I guess those kites do look like moons, but there were a lot more than nine. Explanation for non-Hebrew speakers: She was quoting a line from a song sung at the Passover seder referring to nine months of pregnancy. In Hebrew, the word for month and moon is the same. … [Read more...]
Working Parents and School Vacation in Israel: Proposal
March 23, 2009 by 14 Comments
Next week begins the three weeks of school vacation for the seven-day Passover holiday. The organization Working Parents for Change is working for the government to have fewer vacation days from school and more activities for children during the summer holidays. You can find the Hebrew proposal on its website. Suggestions: Quality supplemental, educational and fun frameworks for the summer holidays, subsidized by the government, municipalities, and independent organizations. "Working Parents for Change" has initiated contact with the umbrella organization of community centers. The goal is to include values currently lacking in the educational system. Increase the number of vacation days … [Read more...]
Keeping Kids Interested in the Seder
April 16, 2008 by 12 Comments
Received via a community email list:We'd like to keep our 4- and 6-year-olds alert and excited for as long as possible during the seder. Acting out parts of the haggada has been suggested but we're drawing a blank on how to do this realistically yet without delaying the proceedings too much. Has anyone out there in Cyberspace done this successfully in previous years? Can you share your ideas? Also, any idea how to act out the MAKOT (plagues)?Despite not doing anything unusual at our seder, our kids manage to stay awake. Our oldest set the precedent at his first seder at age 2.5 weeks. My parents were supposed to join us, but they had been in town for the birth and brit and couldn't bring … [Read more...]
Rabbi Metzger: Child Abuse Not a Charedi Phenomenon
April 11, 2008 by 11 Comments
On Thursday morning, Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, was interviewed on Reshet Bet (Channel Two--a government channel) for the program Inyan Acher (another matter).As of now it is available on the IBA website. If someone knows how to link directly I would appreciate it.The reporter asked him why the haredi press did not report about the recent horrific case of child abuse in Jerusalem. Rabbi Metzger replied that this is because the abusers were "not haredim," and that abuse is not a haredi phenomenon. Those who grow up in haredi communities receive a quality education and don't beat their children. As an example, he said that haredi children, as opposed to secular … [Read more...]
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