Guilty as Charged

As a working mom, guilt is par for the course. I feel guilty that I can’t be more involved in my children’s classrooms; I feel guilty that I can’t meet my son at the bus stop; I feel guilty that my children are often the first ones to arrive at the child care center in the morning and are sometimes among the last to be picked up. I am constantly upstaged by the room parents, the mystery readers, and the school library volunteers. So I decided to do something about it – to get involved where, and when, I could. I joined a couple of committees that meet in the evenings. But I’ve quickly discovered that volunteering begets more volunteering. If you join a committee, they are going to want you to take on tasks and projects and initiatives. They’re going to ask you to represent the committee at this meeting or that forum. And you’re going to want to say “yes,” to be an active committee participant. The problem, of course, is that all of the time you spend being an engaged member of your children’s school communities is time you could otherwise spend with your children. And in the end, that just creates more guilt. When the choice is dinner at home and bedtime snuggling versus hammering out the details of the school lunch menu and deciding what the theme of the winter gala should be, I’ll pick the former every time. I guess some kinds of guilt are easier to live with than others.

--Modern Mom

Preschool Science

I love to see what new science experiments are going on in my daughter’s preschool room.



Today, there were 8 or 9 water bottles around the edge of the water table, each filled with blue water. The middle of the water table was filled with yellow water. The water bottles looked like regular bottles with the lids screwed on; but, my daughter told me they were faucets. She picked up one of the water bottles, loosened the top, and water started to stream out of the bottom, just like a watering can. As she loosened them (or she got one “started” and let me unscrew the lid the rest of the way), we counted how many holes there were by watching the water as it flowed into the center of the water table. The water was fast or slow depending on how loose the cap was. Unfortunately, I had to go to work, so I didn’t get to see the yellow water turn green as more and more “faucets” were turned on.



We made this one at home to add to our bath toys…minus the color. Should be fun!

--Commuter Mom

Commuter Mom: Over the Rainbow

My brother sent us the greatest gift this week - a solar powered Rainbow Maker. We hung it in my daughter’s window on Saturday afternoon and talked about what would happen when the sun shined directly into her window. He sent us a regular prism, too, so we made some rainbows in the yard in the meantime.

On Sunday, my daughter came racing into the other room yelling, “Mommy, there’s rainbows all over my bedroom!!!”

Thanks, Uncle T!

Commuter Mom: Explosive Learning

My daughter has been interested in science related things recently. I’m sure Curious George and Sid the Science Kid have had something to do with it. But mostly, I think her interest is due to all of the science that they have been doing in her preschool class.

When I dropped her off at school last week I was able to stay for a few minutes and the teacher demonstrated one of the activities so that my daughter could tell me about it. They made a volcano in a jar. Of course, it was a purple volcano because my daughter got to choose the color. Then they told me all about how they made eggs they could bounce. Really. They soaked eggs in vinegar; the acid in the vinegar causes the shells to become soft allowing you to “bounce” them. Of course that is until one of the children drops it on the floor and it breaks.

As I was leaving I read the parent board and saw pictures of their experiment with water displacement. The children counted pennies as they dropped them into a bowl of water until the water overflowed. It took 200 pennies. I’m not sure which part of that activity impresses me more – the fact that they counted to 200 or that they are learning about water displacement.

I can’t wait to find out what I will learn from my 3-year old and her preschool teacher next week.