Barefoot and Balanced Review

Image from Netgalley 

Description from Netgalley; 

Today's kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble” outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses?

Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment.

Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We've taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments.

With this book, you'll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

I got a lot more out of this book than I thought I would. When I started reading it there was a lot about problems in the classroom, studies that showed kids needed to move more, input from seasoned teachers, the authors experiences running a camp, and all of that is great. This book is well researched and well reasoned, the author makes her point clearly and concisely, but I didn’t feel like it pertained to me and my child. The Toddler has never been in a classroom, so the problems of school age kids, even preschool, seem very far off to me right now. It wasn’t until I got to chapter 8, When Is My Baby Ready For The Outdoors?, that this book really got my attention. Because up till now I’ve never really made outdoor play a priority in our day.

I never even really thought about letting her play outside, let alone play outside unsupervised. She’s my baby, why would she ever need to play without me? But after reading Barefoot and Balanced I’m thinking playing outside might be exactly what she needs. I’ve noticed a lot of things since we began packing for our move and one of them is that she depends on me, or whatever adult happens to be at our house, for play, independent play doesn’t really happen, and creative play doesn’t really happen either; a tea set is just a tea set, the play kitchen is just for storage, empty containers are just empty containers. I’m not giving her space to explore and be creative. She is my baby and she does still need me, but she needs to be able to explore the world and her own limits too. At first, I was sitting on the couch reading, going ‘that's not about my parenting, I don’t need to do that’ and I got a little defensive and wanted to quit reading, but I quickly realized that it is about my parenting, and that reading books like this one, accepting the new knowledge and doing better going forward was exactly why books like this are important to read. It’s not about criticizing parents, it’s about learning to be better parents who are better able to meet our kids needs and let them learn skills that will serve them for their whole lives.

Personal tangent aside; After getting past the school age kids part at the beginning, Barefoot and Balanced has chapters about what ages kids should be outside at, how to involve kids in outdoor time, how to overcome fears about letting kids play outside (I needed that part!), how to slowly transition to and encourage independent play, and how to get younger kids to be comfortable with less parental involvement.  The author also makes a point of saying that it’s still important to play with your kids, play is bonding and will always be important, which made me feel better because I hated the idea of not playing with The Toddler. There is also a large list of recommended reading at the back of the book, and I can’t say I’ll read all of them but it’s something I would like to take a closer look at.

There’s a lot of great information in this book, and I found it a great opportunity to grow as a parent, and I’ve decided to make outdoor play more of a priority for both The Toddler and myself. Since being outside is recommended to help manage anxiety I feel like we can both benefit from it. I gave this book 4 out 5 stars, just because the beginning is a bit preachy, when it comes to schools and recess, and things like that. This was a very informative read, and it’s encouraged me to look more into my parenting and things I could be doing differently. I’ve got a couple of books that are about the Charlotte Mason method  that I bought a few months ago but never read, so those will be coming up soon!

Okay, it’s been a couple of months since I wrote this review and I wanted to come in a update it. Since reading Barefoot and Balanced I have made an intentional effort to make outside time a regular part of our day. Nearly everyday we go outside after naptime. The Toddler plays in the yard while I read a book on the porch, and I have to say it’s probably the favorite part of our day for both of us. It’s relaxing for me and an energy burner for The Toddler. She sleeps better, she plays better, and she’s more independent. If you have children of any age I strongly recommend this book. It’s been a good thing for both me and The Toddler.

Find it on Goodreads here.

I received this book free through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Books I'm Loving for The Toddler

The Toddler and I read a lot of books together. If she likes a book she wants to read it six, seven, eight times in a row. After reading a book eight times in a row, four times a day, for a week I get a little tired of the books we have. For the last couple of weeks we've been making trips to the library on Saturdays so I can have new books to read to The Toddler on a regular basis without spending a ton of money.

So far it's worked out great! I usually pick a 'theme' for the week and we pick books based around that theme, Last week it was bears. The Toddler loves pretending to be a bear and roaring at me from her closet while I fold laundry. Of course, I pretend to be terrified of the 'bear' and she giggles like mad. So anyway, we got some bear books. One of them was the funniest children's book I have ever read. I burst out laughing, I think it scared The Toddler a little.

The book was Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup. It's about a bear who never takes a bath, so if you have a little one who hates the tub this might be a good pick. Big Smelly Bear wakes up one day with an itch that won't go away, he runs into Big Fluffy Bear and the most realistic argument ensues. I won't spoil if Big Smelly Bear actually takes a bath or not, but it's definitely worth checking out.

The second book was Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix. This one wasn't really on theme with the whole bear thing, but it was such a unique book that I went ahead and picked it up anyway. This book goes through the four seasons and uses basic shapes and colors mixed with die-cuts to create the pictures in the book.

Gif is from threebooksanight.com. I'm not talented enough to make gif's yet. 

Both of these books were ones I didn't mind reading over and over. In fact I might have to pick up both of them from Amazon, since we both liked them so much.

As I find really stand-out kids books in the future I might go ahead and share them here on the blog. I know I'm always on the lookout for good kid's book recommendations and I'm sure other moms are too.

What I'm Reading Right Now, A Mini Review of Mary Boleyn, and How to Recharge an Introvert

From celebuzz.com

This last week was full of cold, wintry, weather and showings of our house. As such I didn't get a whole lot of reading time. I did get kicked out of my house so strangers could be paraded through it and forced to spend a lot of time with people, people who I don't normally mind, but as an introvert it was very very draining. So here are the books I didn't have time to finish, and the one that I did.

from Goodreads.com

Mary Boleyn; The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir - Finished!
This one is a library book, so though I'm not able to count it for the RMSC it's been on my TBR list for a long time. Like since it came out, and I'm so glad I finally read it. I've written about my love of The Other Boleyn Girl many times before, and I was surprised to see it mentioned in this book! Of course Ms. Weir was pointing out where the book differed from what Mary's life and character were actually like, and explaining how historical fiction like The Other Boleyn Girl had helped to build the myth of Mary Boleyn into something she probably wasn't, but still...

I loved getting to see what Mary was actually like through her letters and read her family's view of her decisions and what her life was actually like, which is very different from the story in The Other Boleyn Girl. There was only one point that I disagreed with, not even really disagreed, I just thought the author used a very modern train of thought in her interpretation of Mary's thoughts about being separated from her daughter. Other than that I found it very well argued, and loved the book as a whole.

Rating; 5 brightly colored Tudor Roses

The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley  and Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson- Still reading
I didn't have a ton of time to devote to reading this week so I didn't make any progress with either of these. I'm thinking I'm going to focus on The Relic Master and get through it so I can read more of the Malazan series without being distracted.

from instyle.com

So the last week has worn out my 'dealing with people' reserves. Sunday I was going to hibernate, but I knew that if I was going to do that I would need to do it completely alone, and that was not going to happen. The Husband already had plans for the day so I'd have The Toddler. I would also have the car, and since we only have one that's a pretty big deal! So I did something that very rarely happens; I went out. Just me and The Toddler. And to be honest I love getting to spend time doing things with her outside the house. We spend so much of our time cooped up here, with no car and nothing but a liquor store within walking distance. Going out with her was refreshing. We went to the bookstore! And we had lunch! And we went to the library! So it was a whole day of me, and my baby, and books. I couldn't have asked for anything better than that. I didn't talk to anyone but The Toddler, and cashiers. I didn't have to sit and listen to anyone explain how labor unions started in the industrial revolution, I didn't have to pretend shopping for crap I don't want or need for hours on end is fun, I just got to relax. Going out doesn't always to the trick, and I'm still not looking forward to the showings tomorrow, when I have to vacate my house again, but this week it was exactly what I needed. And I got new books!

Yes, it's the show cover of Outlander. It was cheaper than the normal
cover and I gave in.