 A Blog for Busy Parents From the Editor of L.A. Parent |
Sure, moms have Robert Pattinson to keep us eagerly tuned into The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie opening this weekend. But what do our babies have to share in 
this vamporific movement that is sweeping the nation?
How about some fangs to suck on?
This adorable-yet-creepy pacifier from Stupid.com ($9.99, for ages 3 months and older) is a fun way to put some teeth into this Twilight madness. Just hide the garlic.
[Editor's Note: Since I don't, well, have time for this, today's post is brought to you by guest blogger/gamer expert/L.A. dad Allen Rausch.]
So it’s October. That means that besides the ubiquitous pumpkins, costume shopping and breathless anticipation from my kids for the huge haul of candy they’ll be pulling in this week, there’s also the changeover. No, not the change of seasons: It’s post-season baseball and looking forward to pre-season football! It’s been kind of a nail-biter in the Rausch household because Dad is a transplanted New Yorker and my wife is a Dodgers fan now rooting for my beloved Yankees to lose. Yeah, there’s a bit of an East Coast/West Coast thing happening with us. My daughter Lily has joined her mother in rooting for the Brooklyn Quislings (as my dad still refers to the Dodgers), and my son David just wants to hit a ball with a bat and tackle anything that stands still long enough.
That led to me thinking about sports games for kids. One of the chief criticisms of video games is that they turn kids into couch potatoes. Believe me, in a country where obesity has reached epidemic proportions (to say nothing of me and my wife’s own struggles with our weight), I’m very conscious of the need to get the kids up and moving. The great thing is that the latest generation of video game controllers and systems such as the Wii motion controls and balance boards are proving to a generation of couch potatoes that not only is it healthier to get the whole body actively involved in gaming, it’s a lot more fun too! I remember getting a lump in my throat when I first played Wii Fit and EA Sports Active and realized that someone had finally made playing games not only good fun but good for my waist size as well.
With that in mind, I took a look at three “sports games” for kids. If you have visions of a super-complex sports game like Madden in your mind, relax. All three are merely sports-themed titles, two of which specialize in presenting “mini-games,” a sort of quick-hit simple activity that pack a lot of fun into a few minutes of play. The third is a cold weather blast for those of you who own the balance board you may have purchased with Wii Fit. That means that these games are simple enough for the young ones and their gaming-impaired parents. In fact, don’t be surprised if once you play them, you find yourself breaking them out with your significant other after the kids go to bed. Yeah, they’re that much fun. Try ‘em out, and we just might make a “gamer” out of a few more parents.
Publisher: 2K Sports
Platform: Wii
Rating: E
MSRP: $19.99
In between watching the Yankees’ inevitable march toward World Series glory, our family enjoys getting into the dugout with 2K Sports Baseball Blast! Baseball Blast is a simplified version of the great American pastime boiled down to themed mini-games based on team names. Our favorite is battling against the Pittsburgh Pirates where the batter has to hit back flaming baseballs launched by real pirate ships! We also enjoy “City Ball” where players have to throw a baseball through a maze trying to hit as many trophies as possible. The real gem of the collection though is “Play Ball” mode. In Play Ball players take turns swinging for the fences in regular play and then between innings you get to play a mini-game to win cards that can give your team extra power or put some bad mojo on the other player’s team. Its a lot of fun, surprisingly strategic and guaranteed to get your family laughing.
Publisher: Namco
Platform: Wii
Rating E
MSRB: $39.99
The Wii Balance Board is one of the most enjoyable controllers we’ve ever used, especially for a game like We Ski and Snowboard. As the name would imply, you can use your personalized “Mii” avatar or one of the adorable provided ones to ski and snowboard around two mountain resorts doing races, slaloms or participating in contests where you rack up points for doing tricks. The game’s controls are fairly simple, although it’s not recommended for the youngest kids. For those older than 8 – or those parents who ever wanted to catch some “sick air” without the danger of ending up in traction – there’s nothing better than that moment when you cross the finish line first fully aware that you are an Icelandic ski god! Then you should go towel off because you’ll most likely build up a pretty good sweat there, Picabo Street.
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Wii
Rating E for Cartoon Violence
MSRP:$49.99
Don’t let the MSRP fool you. Wii Sports resort can actually run into a bit of coin if you want to outfit all four of your Wii controllers with the new “Wii 
Motion Control Plus” accessory that’s required for this title. But that shouldn’t stop you – just a few minutes playing Wii Sports Resort will have you rushing out do so. Yes, it’s that good, and yes, you will want to be able to play with four players at once.
Wii Sports Resort is the sequel to Wii Sports (you may have seen Serena Williams play the tennis game against Conan O’Brien) and like that title offers you the chance to traipse around an island resort playing all kinds of beach-themed games. The star of the show is “Swordfighting” where padded warriors with rubber swords can whack away at one another – this is easily the favorite in our house. Be sure to use the wrist strap on the controller and be careful not to hit one another. This game can get a little frenzied.
We also enjoy a rousing game of Table Tennis, throwing a frisbee to an adorable computerized dog, and my daughter loves the 100-pin bowling game. When a product bills itself as “fun for the whole family,” Wii Sports Resort is what they’re thinking of.
Allen Rausch is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. He’s the parent of Lily and David who, in his unbiased opinion, are the cutest children in the whole wide world. He regularly blogs about video games, culture, politics and parenting at The Angry Bear.
[Editor's Note: Since I don't, well, have time for this, today's post is brought to you by guest blogger/gamer expert/L.A. dad Allen Rausch.]
Being a dad who’s also a gamer is kind of weird. On the one hand, you enjoy a particular advantage with your kids because there’s an instant shared connection amongst gamers. When they talk about video games with you or their friends, you know what they’re talking about. You can help them over the rough patches in their own games and you can share some wonderful gaming experiences together. As the father of a 6- and a 4-year-old, it’s just a joy to genuinely share an interest with your kids.
On the other hand, I can never forget the “dad” part of “gamer dad.” I’m not unique in the struggle to find a balance between work, my obligations to my family, the need for exercise and physical fitness and the overwhelming press to complete “just one more level.” Add to that my determination not to allow video games to take over my children’s lives. Like any other part of the entertainment universe – movies, TV, toys – video games can and should be a positive part of a child’s experience. That demands involvement – setting boundaries, time limits and determining what games I’ll allow in my house. Yes, there are titles out there that are just as offensive as the most hyped-up scare stories on the news would have you believe. The thing is, they’re a very small percentage of games, and all it takes is a bit of diligence to find safe games that offer a great time.
September was a great month for our family in terms of our “together” time. We managed to carve out enough time to go to more movies this month than we’ve experienced in about a year. We caught Up and Ponyo and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, all wonderful films. That led to a discussion after the movie when passing the game store as to why we had so few games based on big Hollywood movie releases. The answer is that most games based on movies aren’t very good. Game companies know that parents often will buy them based on their connection with a property they know and don’t put a lot of effort into the development. That’s not true of all of them, though. Here are three movie-based games that are well worth your time:
Publisher: Activision
Platform: Wii
Rating: E10+ for cartoon violence and comic mischief
MSRP: $59.99
Monsters vs. Aliens is a wonderful companion piece to the just released DVD box set. The storyline concerns a squad of legendary monsters (a 50-foot woman, the Missing Link, a genius insect and a silly blue blob) who must fight off an alien invasion of the Earth. Each of the team members has a different skill that they must combine in order to make it through the levels, and much of the game involves simple platforming challenges similar to those found in the Mario Brothers games. The game has a rating of “E10+” (Suitable for everyone 10 and up) with a “Cartoon violence” and “Comic mischief” content descriptor. The comic violence part is accurate in that the monsters fight against aliens, but there is no blood, no one actually dies and the level of violence is roughly the same as that found in the original movie. “Mischief” mostly refers to the blue blob B.O.B.’s propensity for explosive flatulence. If you have no objection to your kids seeing the movie, you’ll find nothing objectionable in the game, either.
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Wii
Rating E10+ for “Fantasy Violence,” “Mild Language” and “Mild Suggestive Themes”
MSRB: $49.99
If you have a budding wizard or witch in your house, they will love the Wii version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Like the other games in the series, Half-Blood Prince follows the storyline of the movie quite closely. Harry and his friends continue their struggle against Lord Voldemort during their sixth year at school. The real kicker in this edition is the use of the Wii’s motion controls to cast spells in wizard duels. By moving the Wii remote in certain patterns, kids will have a blast casting spells against the game’s enemies or enjoy a multiplayer mode where they can wizard duel against their friends. Like the movie it’s based on, there is some violence (no death or blood, but people do get thrown around by magic and one boy gets kicked while on the ground), a few “Hells” sprinkled in the dialogue and lots of references to kissing or “snogging” (the main characters are 15 and 16, after all). While it’s a game suitable for older children, it’s an easy buy for any parent who is OK with their kids seeing the movie it’s based on.
Publisher: LucasArts
Platform: Wii, Xbox360, PS3, PC
Rating E10+ for “Fantasy Violence”
MSRP:$19.99
Saving the best (and cheapest!) for last, if you own a gaming system and have kids, you must own LEGO Star Wars. This is a brilliant adaptation of all six Star Wars movies rendered in LEGO sets. It doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does. The characters and settings are adorable, and the way the game reproduces iconic scenes from all six movies is often hilarious. Gameplay consists of platforming action, solving puzzles using LEGO pieces and fighting against hordes of LEGO-ized Star Wars baddies with blasters or lightsabers. There are lots of hidden secrets to uncover and new Star Wars characters to unlock and play with, which makes the game endlessly replayable. And it’s simple enough for all but the youngest players to get the hang of. The “Fantasy Violence” descriptor is necessary but the “violence” in the game is merely LEGO figures whacking or shooting each other with toy guns and breaking up into LEGO pieces. If you do get it, though, be careful. You might just find yourself playing the game late into the night after the kids go to bed.
What scares you as a parent? My list is so long that it’s … well, scary.
Last week I started reading Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry. This book and author-mom Lenore Skenazy’s blog that started it all has been excellent fodder for talk shows, parenting debates and blogs everywhere. The premise of putting some irrational worries on the back burner and giving a bit of old-fashioned freedom and fun back to our kids might not be for every mom in our very scheduled, fear-based society. But it helped open my eyes a bit and think about why I was so worried all the time.
Then today, I got to work and opened my email. It’s scary, and not just because there’s so many emails that I’ll never, even in a couple of lifetimes, be able to read or respond to it. But many of them are trying to scare me and make me, a serial worrier, even more freaked out.
I’m sure that even if I didn’t work for a parenting magazine and wasn’t constantly bombarded by pitches about new products, Web sites, parenting experts and other stuff designed to “keep our kids safe” I’d still check Jack’s breathing at night and sweat till Kate’s school bus arrived at her field trip destination.
But I decided to do a little experiment and see if my email might be contributing to my worrisome world view. Here’s a sampling of subject lines and opening sentences in some emails that I received in just one – ONE – 24-hour period:
Is there any wonder I’m worried a good percentage of the time?
It’s not that these issues aren’t legitimate and need to be addressed. And I’m all for hearing about great products, books and other helpful items – and if we truly need to make sure parents are aware of a very real, harmful danger out there, I want to know about it. But can we please cut down on the fear tactics as sales or pr pitches? Either that, or I’m just going to stare at the ceiling all night wondering when that electromagnetic pulse is going to strike …
It’s hard to go wrong with birthday cakes. Well, that’s what I used to think until I read Cake Wrecks ($12.99, 
Andrews McMeel Publishing), a new book by Jen Yates, a blogger who “tastefully” chronicles an ongoing series of offbeat – and real – confections in her hilariously wry blog, CakeWrecks.com.
The book reveals some serious and graphic assaults with frosting, and the images – along with Yates’ accompanying commentary – made me laugh, cringe and stare in wonder at some of the book’s “but for the grace of god” bakery abominations, including but not limited to:
Read it … and learn.
High heels for babies? Well, not exactly. But if you’re looking for a really unique baby shower gift – or have a shoe fetish that is playing out on your 
infant – you should surf over to a company called Heelarious.
The products, billed by Heelarious as “her first high heels,” are soft, adorable little booties for non-walking baby girls (newborns to 6 months) that are the kind of satiny pumps that Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) would have been born in, if she could’ve. They come in all shades and varieties, as you can imagine, from the bright red “Stella” ($34.50) with a leopard-print lining to the two-tone pink “Sadie” ($39.50) cowboy boot, complete with shiny-silver fabric spurs. 
They’re unequivacably adorable – and you’ll probably get a chuckle out of seeing these on kicky little baby feet – but is this cute or just a slight bit creepy? Are we telling our daughters at a very early age that they should aspire to this look of 4-inch stilettos and make fashion choices for the benefit of others’ enjoyment? Are we objectifying infants by dressing them up as though they were baby-sized Barbie dolls? Or am I overthinking it?
I’ve been a shoe-aholic as long as I can remember, and my mom didn’t have these to feed my love of foot fashion. And the satisfaction I get from finding a great pair of classic patent-leather pumps is purely my own invention. Or is it?
Leave a comment or email me at carolyn.graham@parenthood.com and tell me what you think!
What do two surfer-girl moms do when they can’t find cute swim trunks for their boys? They create their own line of adorable swimwear, of course.
Manhattan Beach moms Katie Motika and Alli Baldocchi banded together to create Haiden Surf, which they formed in 2008 to keep babies as fashionable as possible at the beach. Adorable designs cover psychedelic (Riptide), classic hibiscus (Surfin’ USC) and zebra (Zoo Babe) prints (among others), and the line offers other crucial beach items, such as flip-flops, trucker hats and rash guards.
The swimwear, made from quick-drying polyester, comes in 3M - size 7 and retails for $32-$36. 
My favorite item in their line, however, is the tightie whities ($14), which bear the “No Dumping; Drains to Ocean” logo that is often seen around L.A. beaches – a cute accessory even if you’re not headed into the surf.
One of the reasons I haven’t had time – ahem – for much blogging lately is due to the fact that we threw an awesome rock ’n’ rolling 9th birthday party for Kate. We even convinced a band comprised of high school girls to come over and play a bit and hang out, giving the whole evening a fun rocker vibe. They even taught the girls how to play a Green Day song, which they all loved.
When it came time to pull together a party favor, a fortuitous product appeared in my “in” box: Wear Your Music fashion bracelets.
These little gems are made from used guitar strings, twisted together in a fun fashion statement for music lovers of all ages. They come in a wide range of colors, and I picked up a 10-pack of “back-stage black” ones for $69.99.
The girls loved them, which was great, but I felt good about the fact that this company is a nonprofit that supports a wide range of charities.
In fact, music lovers can buy bracelets made from guitar strings strummed by big-name artists, too, including Slash, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana and Elvis Costello. Of course, those guitar-string bracelets are pricier – starting at about $100 – but are handcrafted with recycled silver and include a clasp stamped with the musician’s initials. Each artist bracelet is packaged in a recycled CD case and shipped off with a certificate of authenticity. All of the profits from the artist bracelets are donated to the musician’s charity of choice.
Now that’s something to sing about.
In addition to loving L.A.’s taco trucks (see post on June 19), I guess I’m just fascinated by any business that can simply be hitched up and rolled wherever it might be needed.
That portable concept has now been applied to eco-friendly clothing and gift items. Visionary Boutique, a beautiful little shop 
headquartered at 5285 W. Pico Blvd., is owned by mom-entrepreneur Magda Rod. She and some of her “green” friends helped transform a 1966 Airstream trailer into a boutique on wheels. The result is a rolling storefront that can be “hired” for parties, eco-makeovers (to help women learn about how to keep the chemicals out of their beauty products) or other occasions.
If you want to check out the static shopping experience, bring your own wheels to the store, which is stocked with a variety of books, bedding and bath and body products. There’s clothing, of course, including Magda’s own children’s clothing line, Wildchild Wear. One of my favorite items in the line is the Visionary necklace ($32), which includes a peace sign and a tiny scroll, upon which the wearer can jot down her wish for the world.
And just to make sure she keeps it all “green,” she plants one tree for every item sold in the boutique or mobile store.
I might as well as admit it right off the bat: I’ve never been a big curry fan. The aroma seemed a bit overpowering and never really jived with my tastebuds. But as my palatte has broadened over the years, I’ve begun to discover these intricate flavors that have been so seriously misunderstood by me, Miss Meat and Potatoes.
These days I really enjoy sampling and savoring curries at L.A.’s vast and varied ethnic restaurants but had yet to try it out at home – till I received the nicely packaged set of Curry Love sauces. Simmered up by L.A.-based chef Michael Buechi, this line of gourmet, USDA-certified organic curry sauces are a tasty way to spice up those weekday dinner doldrums.
Husband Steve whipped up the suggested recipes printed right on the jars, making dinner a snap. We’ve tried the Blissful Banana Ginger Curry, which combines banana and coconut milk with ginger, lemongrass and lime juice. Tasty. The Luscious Yellow Thai Curry gave the chicken a zing with its ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon with cumin and turmeric. The Passion Red Thai Curry, the spiciest of the bunch, will be dished up this week (I’m thinking with shrimp).
The only drawback? My kids werent’ crazy about them. Nine-year-old Kate will always give our experiments a try, but Mr. Meat and Potatoes Jack, at age 4, stuck just to the rice side dish. But I’m thinking they’ll both come around with time – just as I had to do.
The Curry Love Gift Set comes with all three sauces in a pretty, recycled and biodegradable box with a tea candle and set of matches (just to set the slightly saucy mood). The set retails for $25.50 while the individual sauces sell for $6.99. And just for good measure, 1% of the profits goes to 1% for the Planet.
To get those tastebuds fired up, Chef Buechi serves up some recipes on the Curry Love Web site, such as this one:
This summer recipe features the Curry LoveTM Luscious Yellow Thai Curry Sauce, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, peppers, eggplant, cilantro, cashew nuts, and chicken (optional for vegetarians) as the main ingredients.
Recipe Ingredients
* 2 Tsp cooking oil
* 1 pound chicken breast, skinless and sliced
* salt + pepper
* 1 pepper (green, red or yellow)
* 3 Tsp cooking oil
* 2 cups eggplant cut into cubes
* 1 cup sugar snap peas
* 1 cup mushrooms quartered
* Cilantro (for garnish)
* chopped unsalted cashew nuts (for garnish)Instructions
1. Heat the oil in a skillet and heat till very hot, add the chicken and season with salt and pepper
2. Cook until browned on all sides, approximately 2 minutes
3. Transfer the meat to a plate and keep warm
4. Add the second measure of oil to pan and add the eggplant, roast on low heat until brown
5. Next add the mushrooms and sugar snap peas and stirfry for 2 minutes
6. Add the Curry LoveTM Luscious Yellow Thai Curry Sauce to the pan and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally
7. Add the meat and bring to a short boil, do not boil for longer than 2 minutes or the meat will become tough
8. Before serving, garnish with cilantro and chopped cashew nutsServe with steamed rice, noodles or warmed grains. Recipe serves 2-4 people.
