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This picture above will make you laugh.  It made me laugh.  It also made me mad.  I imagined bringing that product home, Emily in a fever pitch of excitement waiting to use it, hubby spending time to get it together and then… huh?  I imagined the disappointment and the inevitable tears.

It makes me so mad that businesses are losing their integrity.  We would never, ever sell a product that we didn’t believe in, and never sell a product under false pretences (as above).  Every time I seal a box (which does happen) I personally imagine the delight on a little girl’s face when she opens it up and sees all those little white boxes and Emily Rose stickers.  I picture her opening up the tissue paper and exclaiming, “it is just what I imagined!”  Do us a favor and let us know if that doesn’t happen in your house.  We are here to make all of our customers happy.

Of course, it is true that there are some people in this world that we couldn’t make happy no matter what we did :-)  But we are confident that we can tackle even those people as long as we stick to our values and hold on to our integrity.

It seems as though a huge controversy was stirred by a New York columnist who wrote about the fact that our kids need more independence.  She handed her 9 year old son a metrocard, a subway map, some quarters for pay phones and a $20 bill and told him to make his way to Bloomingdales.  He made it to Bloomingdales safe and unscathed and brimming with sense of independence and accomplishment.  The columnist however was lambasted with criticism after she wrote about it in her paper.  You can read more from Rosa Brooks in the LA times about letting children “Go Outside and Play” here.

It made me think about my own childhood.  My brother and sister and I walked 2 miles to school and back every day, starting when I was about 7 years old.  Unaccompanied by an adult.  We wandered the miles long “Streamside Walk” that rambled through our town - just us kids.  We stayed out playing tag and hide and seek in the streets until it got dark and we were shouted in by our Mum.  These are some of the greatest memories of my childhood, and I am sure most of you have similar ones.

Now I can not agree with putting a 9 year-old on the Subway.  I think that’s a little extreme.  But as Rosa says, the chances of your child getting in a serious car accident are higher that the chances she would get kidnapped.  So why are we all so resistant to letting our kids play outside… alone.  I think the real issue is one that Rosa did not mention in her article… parent peer pressure.  Let’s face it, we all know the maturity level of our own children.  Your child who is 12 may not be as reliable or independent as the neighbours 9 year-old.  But isn’t that up to you as a Parent to decide?  I remember when Emily started 3rd grade and was riding the school bus for the first time, she felt grown-up and independent.  I walked with her the 500 feet across the neighbourhood to the bus stop for the first week and then she asked me if she could walk on her own.  I let her.  Based on the reactions of the other parents at that bus stop you would have thought that Emily was now hang-gliding to the bus stop every morning.  I actually had one parent approach me and question my parenting skills!

I believe that our job as parents is to teach children the skills they will need when they no longer have us to walk beside them to the bus stop.  The first time Emily goes on a business trip I don’t want her to get stuck at the airport having a panic attack out of fear of traveling alone like one of my young colleagues did when I worked in corporate.  Yes of course it is our job to watch over them, make sure they don’t get majorly hurt but it is also our job to teach them independence and confidence.  The world is a scary place, but let’s not make our kids terrified to live in it.

I’d love to hear your opinions on this one.  What is your strategy for raising an indepent American girl?

One of the biggest fears that I have as a Parent is making a mistake in how I raise my American Girl.  I want to give her all the tools she will need to move out in to this increasingly confusing and competitive world.  I came across this article on MSN Lifestyle entitled the 10 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make.  Although I found the writer’s tone a little patronizing and at times even disdainful - I am in absolute agreement that each of these “mistakes” are the basic principles of good parenting.  My issue is this - are these really the 10 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make?  Have the general parenting skills in the US really degraded so far that these 10 parenting basics have to be so pointedly raised?

We have all had to deal with the occassional spoiled child.  We have all had to discipline other people’s children… once in a while.  But it is an epidemic?  And while we all experience the occasional slip and make an error of judgement… aren’t we basically good Parents? 

These 10 Mistakes were so obvious to me as parenting basics that I wonder am I missing something?  I’d love to hear from those of you who read this.  Did you learn something new?  Do you disagree with any of the points made?

I didn’t grow up on Mr Rogers.  He wasn’t shown in the UK and I was too old by the time we arrived in the US.  But am very familiar with his program after years of baby-sitting and then catching re-runs when my own daughter was of the Mr. Rogers age.  Emily loved the him - but I always thought Mr. Rogers was a little strange.

I just got all teary when I found this post, 15 Reasons Why Mr. Rogers was the Best Neighbor ever.  I love that he got his car returned after it was stolen, he was hugged by a Gorilla, he was the most tolerant American ever, and he could make a subway car full of strangers sing.  Now I don’t know anything else about Mr. Rogers other than what I have just read - maybe he had some bad qualities.  But it seems to me that anyone who (throughout his entire life) wears the cardigans that his Mother knits for him is pretty close to angelic

There is a lot of debate surrounding a child’s allowance and one of the biggest points of contention is whether or not your child’s allowance should be tied to chores.  I personally think an allowance is absolutely essential to teaching your children about managing money.  The chore question to me is purely a matter of choice, as long as your child gets an allowance of some kind.  Even a dollar a week is money in hand that they have to make choices with - and every choice they make is a money learning experience.  Of course an allowance without a financial education is useless and we will be posting about ways to help your children learn about money in future posts - but today we are talking about allowances.

Emily’s school has an annual “sleep-over” trip.  Since she is only 10 years old we wouldn’t let her go on this trip last year for a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons was the cost.  This trip would have been a huge gift for Emily.  SInce we didn’t know about it ahead of time we didn’t have the chance to teach her about the value of earning something.  Well - her school will have a trip again this year and we have told her that she can go… if she earns it.  To that end we made the decision that this year Emily’s chores will be tied to her allowance and her saving goal of paying half of her school trip. 

I was browsing for help and advice on the web when I came across this promising looking website.  Pay Jr allows you to set up a chore calendar for your child, link those chores to her allowance and give your child a way to watch their savings grow.  The only thing I was disappointed in was that you couldn’t enter short and long term goals which would be a very useful added feature.  I haven’t used it yet so I don’t know how friendly it is - but I will try using this and see how Emily likes it.  If anyone else has ideas or suggestions I would love to hear them.

It is almost every child’s dream to have a dog.  Households around the country have to deal with this dilemma and have continual discussions on this.  I know we have a healthy discussion on this subject every few weeks.  There is no right answer.  Dogs are wonderful animals but any ownership of them comes with a very serious responsibility and one that must not be taken on lightly.  I think it must come down to individual family wants and circumstances. 

I recently read a terrific article from Sharon Kennedy Wynne specifically about questioning whether owning a dog is a good thing or not for your family.  It asks you to answer 5 quick questions to define a family’s desires, requirements and circumstances.  If you’re thinking about getting a pet - please make the right decision.

One of the most popular items available in our store is the wonderful “Dorothy Outfit” for your American Girl doll or other 18 inch doll.  We know that it is a favorite gift outfit because we always have to wrap them

Yesterday evening I was relaxing and surfing eBay.  I’m not an eBay buyer - just a window shopper - I get too irritated when I don’t win!  Anyway, I came across these wonderful “Wizard of Oz Bears”.  They not only have Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz but the entire cast of characters.  The Wicked Witch of the West, the Good Witch, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion.

I thought these were adorable and considering how popular our outfit was would make a great gift for your American Girl.  Especially since I found the same set of bears on Amazon for only $7.28 each!!  Whoo - hoo!

I love play dough!  I love to play with play dough.  I just couldn’t wait until Emily was old enough that I could buy tons of different colors and sit at the kitchen table with her for hours.  I have to admit that one of my favorite things about play dough is the smell.  Doesn’t it make you want to eat it?  Can we blame our kids for putting in their mouths?

We found this great article from Family Fun that has 10 different edible play dough recipes!  Jello, Kool Aid, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal - all play dough, all edible.

The article states that this play dough is great for kids who are in pre-school and tempted to eat their art supplies.  But since I am um…. quite a bit older than pre-school and I have been tempted to eat my art supplies I would say these recipes are great for everyone.  Emily and I are certainly going to experiment with these.  She is just getting interested in cooking so these will be so fun to do together when we can both enjoy the results (and I can enjoy my secret desire to eat my play dough.)

We speak to a lot of Grandparents here at Emily Rose.  We love chatting away with excited Grandmothers as we advise and guide them on making the perfect choices for the perfect birthday gift, or little Grandma surprise.

I have a vivid memory of how important my Grandparents were to me as a child.  They lived in London - a three hour drive from where we were on the West coast of England.  Three hours doesn’t seem like a lot - but distances in England seem a little longer when in three hours you have driven most of the way across the country.  We saw them a few times a year and they always arrived bearing presents and cuddles and lots of great stories.  I can remember sitting on the sign-post at the end of the road in great anticipation to see their car turn the corner.

My own daughter lives many, many miles away from her own, very much beloved, Grandparents.  They are in two different states and both sets would require a plane journey for a visit.  As we become a more mobile civilization and jobs and commitments draw us to all parts of the world, I think that Emily’s distance from her Grandparents is not unusual.  The big question is, knowing how important that Grandparent relationship is to our children, how do we help them nurture that relationship so they will have the same sweet Grandparent memories when they grow up?

Luckily our children have a few more resources available to them than we had as children.  We didn’t use the phone very often as it was way too expensive, and we certainly didn’t have computers or video cameras.  We found this great article on eHow that suggests using both modern technology and a good old fashion pen and paper to keep those long-distance relationships flourishing.

You can read it here.

Imagine a world without Neverland or Narnia or Hogwarts! I hope you can - because it was imagination that let J. M. Barrie turn a public park into Neverland, C. S. Lewis transform a garden into Narnia and J. K. Rowling change a school into Hogwarts. Without the use of imagination life would get pretty boring. Imagining should be encouraged at every stage of life…and especially at a young age. In a 21st century America where what you do is more important than what you are and time is money, this aspect of development is often overlooked. Its time to get back to the basic philosophy of allowing kids to think and feel and express themselves…before its too late.

The Importance of Playtime

Playtime is one of the most fertile grounds for this development. Kids need to be encouraged to “dress up”, role play, read, interact with each other and, as necessary, make mistakes. Too often their life is filled with computer games, movie and pop stars and the latest fashion trend. Most things are passively laid on for them and indeed actively marketed to captivate their young minds. Even my daughter, who I like to encourage to think out of the box, told me the other day that she was overwhelmed by her upcoming SOL’s…and she’s only 9 years old.

Today’s children are more stressed than ever before. Whether its academics, swimming lessons, a soccer game or music lessons many children are over scheduled and over fed (both metaphorically and literally!). This leaves very little unstructured play time and imagination opportunity. Play is critical to how a child develops in all areas. It’s how they develop their brain, their physical skills, social and emotional skills, and it’s also a great opportunity for parents and siblings to really fully engage with each other and build relationships within the family.

Choose the Right Toys

Multi-purpose and unstructured toys, like clay, blocks, generic toy figures, and baby dolls, encourage play that children can control and shape to meet their individual needs over time. Too many of today’s best-selling toys promote highly-structured play; most often action figures or video games linked to TV programs or movies. They “tell” children how to play and can channel them into merely using the toys to try to imitate what they see on TV or in the movies (and unfortunately the most popular shows have violent themes).

For young girls, dolls play is an excellent activity to encourage role play, nurturing and behavioral responsibility. When American Girl Dolls started out in 1986 it had lofty ideals of education and history. They wanted to “celebrate girls” – and they did a great job. They promoted historical dress, different environments, taught the value of changing attitudes and, more recently, even help girls understand their physical and emotional changes as they develop. But one area they have forgotten is how to play with the American Girl dolls. Too often they are now collectables that sit on shelves, or worse get stacked in drawers. Much of this has to do with the commercialistic malaise that has become America’s culture. American Girl products are grossly over priced – from the doll itself (80 bucks a head) to the accessories and outfits to the shop experience ($20 for a kid lunch). This puts it in the realm of collectable and generally out of the reach of small hands. But it does not have to be so and mothers should shop around to get affordable products that allow kids to get back to play.

How to Promote Play

As a Mom there are many ways to help your child develop play that supports her social, emotional, and intellectual development. Here are a few:

Read to your child. As well as allowing regular interaction this introduces your child to new thoughts and new ideas. Soon your child’s imagination will take over.

Choose new toys carefully. Toys that can be used in many ways usually promote the most valuable play. They give children many opportunities to invent new uses for them over time. Too many toys, or a constant barrage of new ones, can prevent children from doing this. Keep it simple, chose toys that let your child’s imagination soar.

Schedule playtime. Set regular, uninterrupted playtime in your child’s life, but don’t be too rigid about it. This tells her that play is important. For children who are heavily dependent on television, develop this routine gradually and help children figure out how to begin their play.

Let your child set the pace. Your child will enjoy the activity much more if they can dictate the pace. Encourage appropriate activities of interest and discourage inappropriate activity – provide supervision but don’t lead or correct.

Like most things in life stimulating your child’s imagination is a balancing act based on good judgment and trial and error. But don’t underestimate play as one of the most powerful vehicles children have for trying out and mastering new skills, concepts, and experiences. Play can help children develop the knowledge they need to connect in meaningful ways to the challenges they encounter in school and in life. Encourage your child to use their imagination, stretch their reasoning, and believe in fantastic adventures. If Harry were here he’s pick up his wand and point it toward us….”imaginarius!”