May 30, 2007

The Number One Reason Boys are Better Than Girls

As a followup to my list of five reasons that boys are better than girls, I’d like to point out a comment from a reader named Jim Durbin, who attributed the following to his father-in-law:

“With a boy, you just have to worry about one [boy]. With a girl, you have to worry about all of them.”

(The brackets denote editing by Jim to ensure family friendliness - use your imagination.)

May 29, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wit’s End

Over the weekend we took the entire family to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End, or “P3″ as Son #1 likes to call it. We don’t hit the theater all that often — rather, we mainly rely on our Blockbuster Total Access membership for most of our movie watching — so we had high hopes for this movie going in. [more]

May 28, 2007

From the Archives (May 20th - May 26th)

Here are some of our favorite Raising4Boys (subscribe) posts from a year ago this week:

» Free Summer Movies (See also: Summer 2007 Free Movies)
» Paying People to Have Kids
» Move? What Move?

And here are some of my favorite FiveCentNickel (subscribe) posts from a year ago:

» The Cost of a Failed House Deal
» The Home Office Tax Deduction
» More on the Home Office Tax Deduction

And here’s what was going on two years ago:

» Kids & Money: Setting an Allowance
» Home Values, Appraisals, and Fraud
» Easy Access to Online Articles

May 25, 2007

Free Summer Movies for Kids

If summer vacation hasn’t arrived yet in your neck of the woods, then it’s just around the corner. With that in mind, I thought I’d pull together a list of free (or at least really cheap) movie theater promotions for kids this summer. In case you’re not aware, theaters often have special summer promos where they show G or PG films on weekday mornings for free, or nearly so.

While we’re very happy with our Blockbuster Total Access subscription (click to read our first impressions), nothing beats an occasional trip to an actual movie theater. What follows is my best attempt at compiling a list of these offers.

If your favorite theater isn’t listed, you might want to call them and ask if they offer anything like this. I tried to catch most of the major chains, but I’m sure I missed some - if so, feel free to let me know and I’ll update it. Also, some chains might not have posted details of their promotions yet, as it’s still a bit early. With that said, here we go… [more]

School’s Out!

Just a quick note to say that today marks the end of the of the school year ’round these parts. Wow, what a difference a year makes! Last year at this time, school was letting out, we had just sold our old house, and Son #2 and I were about to head out of town to close on our new house. We then turned around and high-tailed it home (320 miles each way) so we could spend one last night in our old house and then turn around and come back with the full family in tow the very next day. Talk about a whirlwind tour! All I can say is that we’re thrilled to be headed into this summer with our boxes unpacked and our life in order.

As for this being the end of the school year, I’m actually not all that sure why they didn’t just close down last week since there’s been nothing educational happening this week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be a killjoy, and I’m glad that our kids are getting to let their hair down (so to speak) for a last bit of fun before summer vacation. However, it seems like the end of the year celebration has gotten stretched out further and further over the years, such that it’s now a week long (and largely education-free) bash.

May 24, 2007

Carnivals - Week of 05/21/07

Raising4Boys participated in two carnivals this week. Here they are along with links to our articles that were included in each.

The Best of Me Symphony included “Allowance Insights.” Also included was “How I Dodged a Speeding Ticket” from fivecentnickel.com.

The Carnival of Family Life included “Fire Ants and Kids Don’t Mix (Plus, How to Treat Stings).”

May 23, 2007

Kid Joke: Scary Numbers

Q: Why is 6 afraid of 7? [more]

May 22, 2007

Brain Development in Kids

This is pretty interesting… A recent study suggests that “some of the brain’s basic building blocks for learning are nearing adult levels by age 11 or 12.” Of course, the portion of the brain responsible for things like impulse control and moral judgment doesn’t mature until sometime in the early 20s. After puberty, brain development slows and the focus changes to fine-tuning what is there as opposed to “installing new wiring.” If only we could speed up that impulse control and moral judgment bit!

[Source: CNN/Health]

May 20, 2007

From the Archives (May 13th - May 19th)

Here are some of our favorite Raising4Boys (subscribe) posts from a year ago this week:

» FluMist More Effective than Injections in Kids
» The Big Move Approaches
» Throwing Eggs in the Kitchen
» Most Popular Baby Names of 2005

And here are some of my favorite FiveCentNickel (subscribe) posts from a year ago:

» Yet Another Toilet Repair
» All About Title Insurance
» Withdrawing Your Roth IRA Contributions (Followup)

And here’s what was going on two years ago:

» Tracking CDs with Quicken
» Pay Down Your Mortgage With ‘Found’ Money
» Citi Driver’s Edge Rewards Just Got Better

May 16, 2007

How Not to Coach a Kids’ Soccer Team

Last night Son #2 had a soccer game. He plays in a local U8 rec league, and his team has been having a pretty rough season. They throw the teams together at random, and there’s a good bit of variation in talent across teams. Last fall he was on a great team that went undefeated, but this spring his team is winless. It’s partly due to inexperienced kids and partly due to an inexperienced and soft spoken coach. Regardless, he’s been having fun. But last night just about put me over the edge… [more]