Sunday, May 31, 2015

5 Magic School Bus Episodes We Can't Wait to Re-watch With Our Kids

Hi everyone! Stevie here!

Sometimes, on the way home from school, Duchess will ask what seem like the most random questions.


"Where does honey come from?"

"What is thunder made of?"

"How come poop only comes from our butts."

More often than not, when I think back to how I first learned the answers to those questions it's because I remember the Magic School Bus episode they were in. And yes, even the poop question is answered in the episode "Magic School Bus for Lunch."

Magic School Bus was a huge part of my childhood. As my daughter was scrolling through the her usual Netflix shows the other day, I saw her skip past Ms. Frizzle's friendly face.

"WAIT! STOP!" I yelled a bit too excitedly for an adult to be yelling about a kids cartoon show. I couldn't help it. I was ridiculously excited to see that The Magic School Bus was on Netflix. I even sent a frantically happy text-message to John.

The episode plots are fairly simple. Ms. Frizzle teaches a third grade class with a school bus that can magically transform itself and its occupants into anything. They go on adventures and every kid has their role; the smart one, the funny one, the one with good ideas, and the whiny one that you just wanted to kick because I would have given anything to be in his shoes and all he could do is complain like a whiny brat. Yes, we don't kick people... but that doesn't mean we can't want to kick people, and he's a cartoon character. Stop judging me.

There are so many episodes that I remember so vividly it’s insane. I remember watching the robot episode and drawing out schematics for how I was going to build a robot out of a microwave and car parts. And he would wear a hat.

So when I found out that Magic School Bus was on Netflix, I squealed a little squeal at the thought of sharing them with Duchess. I was a little hesitant at first, I’ll admit. I’ve tried to go back and re-watch shows from my childhood and have been sorely disappointed. "Clarissa Explains It All," "Legends of the Hidden Temple," "All That." All treasures from my childhood, ruined by adulthood. But I'm happy to say that "The Magic School Bus" has survived the test of time and held up quite well. Even with its 90’s animation and sound, it’s just as awesome as I remember.

We’re getting through all three seasons one at a time. But these are the five I’m most excited to share with Duchess:

The Magic School Bus Out of This World




Aside from the fact that I’ll have to explain that Pluto got demoted, the Out of This World episode actually tackles several questions that Duchess poses on the regular.

Why does the sun go to bed over there and wake up over there?

What does Saturn look like?

I know it’s 9 o’clock but the sun is still up and no I won’t go to bed.



The Magic School Bus in a Beehive




This is an easy one. I think I kept every bit of information from this episode locked in my brain for 25 years. Though Duchess is afraid of bees, it’s episodes like this that tell us why they are important. I think she’s a little less afraid of bees these days, and only slightly more obsessed with actually becoming a queen bee. There may be some Lorde in her future.

The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow



Duchess loves rainbows. It’s her favorite color. One of her preschool teachers tried to get her to pick a favorite color from the rainbow and she wouldn’t have it. Rainbow is her favorite color. Period. In this episode, Ms. Frizzle teaches the kids about how light works and how colors work, using a pinball machine and a prism. Duchess laid in bed that night with a flashlight, a mirror and a bunch of colored sippy cup lids, just trying different things to see what she could do with light. Science!

The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed




For anyone that knows me, this one is kind of obvious. In my grown-up job I program databases for a living. This show breaks down what I can’t seem to explain to Duchess when she asks what my “job” is. It’s a pretty simplistic overview of how computers work, and things have obviously changed drastically since 1993 in the computer world. But it’s a good start.

The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie




We may or may not be raising a bit of a hypochondriac in Duchess. I’m not sure she quite grasps the difference between sick and not sick these days. This episode focuses on viruses and how our bodies fight them. Admittedly, this one is a little over her head and may have made her hypochondria slightly worse. She now tells us that she broke her white blood cells and therefore she is now sick.

Ask Your Dad is a part of the Netflix #StreamTeam. Each month we'll be talking about what we're watching with the kids and why. Let us know what you're watching in the comments or on the Ask Your Dad Facebook Page!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

10 Unfiltered Parenting Lessons I Had to Learn the Hard Way

Recently I have been partnering with Plum Organics for Parenting Unfiltered. Together with an awesome group of bloggers, we're talking about the crazy, messier parts of being a parent – which is pretty easy because that is what my blog is about. If you've been here for a while, you've stuck with me through unfortunate McDonald’s incidents, and epic fits, and stuck-in-traffic existential parenting self-evaluation.  None of it was pretty, but sometimes it was funny, and sometimes we got to grow together. And it was all unfiltered. It has never been my intention to make parenting look glamorous. It’s not. It is messy business. It is low to the ground. It is crawling around in the dirt. It is smelling a pair of tiny pants you found to see if they are clean or not.

Parenting is asking yourself ridiculous questions like “Is that chocolate or is that poop?” In the moment, there is no filter on parenting. There is only flying by the seat of your pants, doing your best, and trying desperately to not screw up. Luckily kids are pretty durable. I am pretty sure there is an evolutionary reason why we don’t remember being toddlers. Those first few years are like a parental buffer zone where we get to figure shit out. Here are ten things Stevie and I had to figure out... the hard way.

Duchess is a great teacher.
1. Not everything requires an emergency room visit

Our insurance company must hate us. We spent a lot of time either at the pediatrician or at the ER being told to treat a fever with Tylenol and that rashes are pretty normal for little kids. It is crazy how a screaming, crying, rash ridden kid can make you feel like an ambulance is needed one moment, and like you have completely overreacted the next. Full disclosure, we never actually called an ambulance for a rash, but we discussed it one time for a fever. We opted instead for our car, and ended up paying $150 dollar deductible for some orange juice and liquid Tylenol that I could have run and grabbed at Target for less than five bucks. Oops.

2. You have to clean inside the little fold on the top of kids’ ears. 

We bathe and wash our kids regularly. They smell ok, I guess, and they never visibly have a cloud of dirt and flies around them like that Peanuts character, Pig Pen. So, despite our frequent unnecessary trips to the ER, I figured we were at least winning in the clean kid department. That was until my daughter told Stevie and I that her ear hurt and we flipped up the fold on top to find a horror that I hesitate to describe with accurate adjectives. Fine, you wanted unfiltered. It was crusty. And gross. and we both felt horrible and embarrassed that we had missed it. It took a couple weeks of daily cleaning, some Neosporin, and lots of apologies, but we were able to revert her ears to normal. And now, with our second kid we know better. Sorry that you had to be our crusty eared guinea pig, Duchess.

3. Leaping out of your chair and running frantically to your child while acting as if they have impaled themselves on a rusty piece of rebar every time they trip and bump their head/knee/hand only makes your child act as if they have actually impaled themselves on a rusty piece of rebar every time that bump their head/knee/hand.

Seriously. Just sit back and give them a chance to react. They’ll let you know how hurt they are, you don’t have to tell them.

4. If you find yourself asking whether something is chocolate or poop, just go with poop. Really.

5. Both boy and girl babies tend to pee while getting their diapers changed. For girls, lay them on top of a towel or a waterproof matt. For boys, keep your mouth closed.

6. Toddlers wearing oversized backpacks are adorable, but they are also incredibly top heavy.

Our little Captain looked so cute and perfectly framed by the door to the front yard. The green grass and the blue sky was bright and crisp, and the world was his for the taking. It was a moment we had to capture. Little boy, big world. Stevie grabbed her camera and we watched as he fell face first off of our front two steps. Then we frantically ran to him and acted as if he had impaled himself on a piece of rebar.  Poor Captain. Poor Captain’s face. (It’s all better now, btw.)



7. If you give a toddler a banana, make sure you see them finish it. Don’t assume they just finished it and threw away the peel, because they may have decided that it needed to be saved in a toy treasure chest that they only play with every 3-4 months. 

8. Forcing your kid to eat a specific food will only make them hate that food forever

I should have known. As an adult I love Brussel Sprouts. As a child I was traumatized by them. I remember an hour long negotiation before I finally put one in my mouth, and I’m fairly sure the pain inflicted by the loss of that battle with my parents turned off my taste buds and also turned me off to the awesomeness that is Brussel Sprouts for the next three decades. It is sad, really.

So what did I do when we had Brussel Sprouts for the first time with Duchess? I nagged and cajoled and negotiated and demanded that she try a Brussel sprout before she could leave the table. Guess what Duchess hates more than anything now? It is a cycle of sadness, and it is all my fault. Oh well, more for me. MMmmmmm brussel sprouts!

Source: Wikipedia

9. What works today probably won’t work tomorrow

There was a point where we had bedtime dialed in. We had our routine. There were no tears. There was only teeth brushing, books, songs and joy. I even bragged about my system to my friends. Well, what the parenting gods giveth, the parenting gods also taketh away…eth. A switch flipped over night and the next evening bed times became World War 3. This didn’t just happen with bed time.

Our kid who ate everything became a picky eater. Our gentle, sweet two-year old became a face punchy three-year-old, and then went back to being a gentle, sweet four-year old. Every single time we thought we had something figured out and were finally getting a handle on this whole parenting thing, the ground underneath us shifted and we had to relearn it all over again. Which brings me to lesson number one...

10. You don’t learn how to be a parent by doing things right. You learn to parent by being less wrong. 

I read books. I read blogs. We got advice we liked. We got advice we hated. The only thing that really worked was getting to know our kids. And then getting to know them again. And then, when they changed, getting to know them again. Sure, there was some universal stuff, but when it came to connecting with our children in a way that made them OUR children, it came down to trial and error. It came from seeing how they reacted to our reactions to them. My solutions for kid problems are solutions for our kids. They are baptized in dirt and goop and unmentionable gunk. They are hand tailored and refined. And they are constantly changing. Just like our kids. Just like us.

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Like this post? Be sure to come like the Ask Your Dad Facebook Page! We have lots of fun learning things the hard way over there too!



Like I mentioned up top, this post is sponsored by Plum Organics. They are an awesome company and I jumped at the chance to work with them. Be sure to check out their Parenting Unfiltered website and share your own unfiltered parenting moments with #ParentingUnfiltered. Also, this Friday and for the next few weeks I'll be participating in #UnfilteredFriday on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Come share your funny, silly, messy, sad, and beautifully chaotic moments with me and Plum Organics!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Please Stop Sending Me the Joey Salads Kidnapping Viral Video



A bunch of people keep sending me a new viral video about "kidnapping." Please, everyone who is sending it, stop.

If you're lucky enough to have missed it, please don't click the link or the image above. I will describe it for you. It is a video where a weird dude with a puppy walks up to a “random” lady who is totally OK with a weird dude with a puppy walking up to her and explaining that he is doing a “social experiment” (whatever the hell that is) about kids. The weird dude with the puppy is wondering if she would mind if he goes and pretends to kidnap her kid. Of course the lady, who is not freaked out in the slightest about this random puppy dude walking up to her, is ALSO fine with watching this guy THAT SHE JUST MET go and pretend to kidnap her kid. Of course she is. The guy, Joey Salads, who is apparently internet famous for making totally not set up/fake internet videos, proceeds to not only pretend to kidnap that lady's kid, but then shows us how ALL THE KIDS are easily kidnapped as long as you have an adorable puppy named Donuts.

So basically this YouTube guy is the Pied Piper, but instead of a flute he has a puppy, and the internet is now losing its flipping mind because a playground full of 3-5 year old kids are more concerned with puppies than they are with getting kidnapped. Sorry. I’m not buying it. I’m not buying that the video is real, and I am also not buying that a kids’ first and only priority is to be scared of being kidnapped by anyone who isn't their parent. Excuse my language, but that is total bullshit.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Learning to be Wrong



We were on our way up to visit my dad when the conversation turned to money. Stevie and I are usually pretty good at talking about money, and this conversation should have been a breeze. We were talking about savings and how that has slowly become a word that we don't have to put the words "we should really think about" in front of any more. Then I messed up. I said something kind of mean. Not only was it mean, it was incorrect. I said that I pay for everything. 

I don't pay for everything. Not even close. It's pretty even. I don't even know why I said it. 

Stevie was obviously upset. She got quiet and started responding with short punctuated answers when I asked her what was wrong. Then I took the next logical step. I got mad at her for being mad at me. It went about as well as you would expect.