5 Books that Changed my Parenting: Book 4

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If I were a child, Alfie Kohn's Unconditional Parenting is the book I would want my parents to read. I was raised in a household where rewards and punishments were meted out with love and consistency, and I have tremendous respect for my parents. But this book showed me that there is another way to parent that can also produce loving, empathetic, and responsible adults--and it doesn't require punishment, threats, bribes, or rewards.

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Raising Bilingual Children: Realities and Responses

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This last weekend I was able to attend a seminar at the Alliance Francaise de Portland entitled Bilingualism for Children: Benefits and Expectations. Jane Fabulet-Roberts, head of the Alliance's Children's Program, spoke from her experience both as a bilingual educator and as a parent. I found the seminar very encouraging. Here are five points from the seminar that I found the most informative:

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Non-Native Language Mistakes: Should You Be Worried?

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As a non-native French speaker, I find that my lack of language knowledge is the most worrisome part of speaking French with my children. What if I ignorantly teach them to use the wrong words? What if my sentences are grammatically garbled (as they often are)? Will they one day be embarrassed by the language errors I have mistakenly passed on to them?

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Beyond the Daily Tasks of Motherhood: The 80/20 Principle

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After Monday's post about What It Means to Be an Intentional Mama, it's only fair that I share ideas for simplifying your home life and making purposeful choices on a daily basis. Let's look at some percentages for a minute:

In the early 1900s, an Italian man named Vilfredo Pareto noticed that 80% of the peas from his garden were produced by just 20% of his pea plants (not unlike my toddler, who makes up 25% of our family and produces roughly 80% of the daily mess on our dining room floor. But back to the story.) After reflecting on the 80/20 ratio, Pareto also noticed that 20% of Italy's population owned 80% of the land in Italy. Today, the Parento Principle (aka the 80/20 rule) is frequently used in a business context to explain that a small percentage of your time or effort can produce the majority of your results.

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5 Books that Changed my Parenting: Book 3

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You might find it surprising that one of my favorite parenting books was written by someone who is the top result of online searches using the terms "America's Worst Mom." She also has a reality show on Discovery/TLC International titled "World's Worst Mom." But Lenore Skenazy has a lovely sense of humor that pairs well with her understanding of parental behavior, and she laughingly accepts the ironic labels. (They were coined by the media after she let her nine-year-old son ride the New York subway alone.) Her ensuing book, Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry, is a straightforward, humorous, and surprisingly informative read. 

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The Best French English Dictionary App

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Though I majored in French and English in college, I somehow made it through my studies with only a pocket-size French English Dictionary from the early 1980s. I had no idea how impressive a dictionary could be until I began teaching and purchased a two-and-a-half-inch thick, five pound French Unabridged Dictionary from Collins Robert for classroom use. When a translation question arose that I couldn't answer, the student who volunteered to be the daily fée du dictionnaire (dictionary fairy, with optional wand, ID tag, and tiara) would find the answer in that massive dictionary. But ever since I downloaded the Collins-Robert Concise French Dictionary App as a stay-at-home mama, I've been amazed at how useful a dictionary app can be.

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