The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
It's May! Did anyone else hear that “whoosh” sound as April just flew by? What was up with that?!
Favorite recent Pinterest find: How ADORABLE is this blanket?! From Babies in Knitwear You can follow me on Pinterest here |
As a little order of business: We'd like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we're not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise). We certainly don't intend to be sending you to bad or lame sites by any means, and we're confident in the quality of most of the places we link to. But sometimes we will be referencing a part of a site which we haven't had time to peruse, so we can't vouch for the whole thing; or we're not necessarily full-on believers in a site but we want to highlight a particular article.
Anyway, you know what we mean, right? Unless we explicitly recommend the site, then take our link with a grain of salt. If the site is great — well, of course! we recommended it! we only like excellent things! If it's questionable — obviously we can't be liable at all, don't blame us, you're on your own, etc.
- My Mom sent me a link to an article by Anthony Esolen and suggested that maybe we should have at least one from him each week. I laughed when I read that, because I had already bookmarked an Esolen article to share with you. Maybe we should make him a fixture! He writes frequently and consistently and can be found in various publications of high caliber, and justly so. If you're not already familiar with his work, just make a point to look him up periodically and you will be rewarded with enrichment! And maybe we'll just keep linking to him here, as per Auntie Leila's suggestion.
Mom recommends See No Evil from The Catholic Thing
I recommend A Boy's Life with Unisex Scouts from Public Discourse
- Here's a post about how to set things up in the home so that your children are irresistibly drawn to learning.
- Recently, Mom has been doing more than her usual amount of intensive pondering on the subject of living the Liturgical Year. I suspect that is why her friend Christina reminded her of the book The Year and Our Children, some of the Forward of which you can read here.
- The comments on the past few posts have been even more informative and hilarious than usual. One or the other. Or both. Mom does need to get goats, if only temporarily, if only to up that ante like she does. Rosie might not be ready to cut out most of her diet yet, but if she's not at least doing some stretches, we'll want to know the reason why. And the world is full of a number of things, cabbages and kings and many, many interesting facts. Mom said that xylem and phloem (mentioned by dear Sybil) would have been number 6 on the list if she hadn't gotten distracted! In Ann's email to her children, in which she apologizes gently for “not having any sense that I had done a good job” teaching this to them, she links to the video below, with: “Enjoy, and then walk the rest of your lives really knowing how to name those clouds.” We love Ann.
{cute song alert – the first two minutes or so}
Follow us on Twitter, where we discuss random stuff and link to (sometimes sillier or more fleeting) other things.
Like us on Facebook, where you will be advised of posts including some from the archives that you might have missed.
Laura Jeanne says
Thank you for the article about Boy Scouts. I live in Canada and they are not called Boy Scouts anymore, but just Scouts – because they allow girls to join now, too. And some of the troupes are led by women. I think this is ridiculous and unfair, because Girl Guides (Canada's version of Girl Scouts) is still for girls only. Why can't boys have something for themselves?
We moved to the country last year, and I wanted to put my son in Boy Scouts to meet some other boys, since he usually only plays with his little brother. I was upset when I contacted the local troupe and found the leader was a woman. I never signed him up. How can a women teach boys about boy things?
I am so sad for all the little boys growing up today in a culture where they are not really allowed to be themselves.
Briana says
I have two of Mary Reed Newman's books, and as i Was reading some last night in a bout of mad poison ivy itching that woke me up, I though that Auntie Leila sounded a lot like MRN. I think that's the one book I don't have, though she writes about the liturgical year in her others.
Ensolen is awesome, I agree.
Yes, please get goats.
Woman of the House says
I love Anthony Esolen and read him regularly. A must-read for any parent is his _Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child_. Don't miss it!
Steph says
I just bought this on my Kindle following the links from this post! I'm so excited to start it!
Kristin H. says
In response to Laura Jeanne's comment, Hubby and I read this post a few weeks ago about the Boy Scouts, “Then and Now”. Ack! The feminisation of our boys! Boys had to know how to “run hose” and hook a hydrant – fireservice terms. Now they all sit around the campfire and talk about feelings and work through nature abstractly, not tactically.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/04/15/the-boy-….
DeirdreLMLD says
Very interesting comparison! This would also give me pause about enrolling a son in the boy scouts today (even if the present problems weren't in the picture): I can sit around with my son and have him explain procedures and processes to me, but he needs an outdoor troop and leader to take him into the woods and actually show him how to *do* these things!
I love The Art of Manliness! Every once and a while I find myself on that site and it's always hard to tear away. Such a great resource for guys who didn't get all this stuff from their dads, for whatever reason.
priest's wife says
I love your disclaimer…I am always in fear when I recommend something…like when I told everybody to listen to Mumford and Sons and they use a four letter word in a song!…as Britishers are wont to do
Nancy says
Thank you for introducing me to Anthony Esolen…and the article on the Boy Scouts. Even though retired from teaching, I continue to substitute. In the faculty lounge we discuss the changes that are happening in our schools.I stopped teaching in public schools when the mandate came down that families were to be presented to kindergarten students as two mommies, two daddies, or a mommy and a daddy. Civil liberty lawyers are ready for action!
Now our diocesan school system is in the process of adopting the common core into their curriculum. Not sure why this is happening.
Always enjoy your bits and pieces!
Anitra says
Thanks for the “Unisex Scouts” link. I hadn't really thought it through, before… My parents kept me away from Girl Scouts (I learned some outdoors-y skills at various summer camps), but enrolled me in an off-shoot of the Boy Scouts when I was old enough – these days, I belive it's called “Venture Scouts” or something similar – teenage boys & girls together, learning discipline and certain trade-related skills (boating, or firefighting, or police work, etc.).
I especially liked this line: “With his own sex, however, there should be naturalness and ease.” THAT is a big part of what is missing from so many childhood experiences that I've seen: a sense that the other gender is different, AND an ease amongst the same gender. As a girl, the only other girl I felt comfortable around was my best friend; otherwise, I was much more comfortable around boys, even when I was being picked on, demoted to little-sister status within a group. Girls just seemed foreign and unusual to me. I think I picked it up from my mother.
In short, this whole bit reminded me that, although I want both my children to be capable and confident, able to cook, clean, build, fix, carry…. at some point, gender differences DO need to come into play. And the way we treat our son needs to be different than the way we treat our daughter – as well as the friendships we encourage for each.
Lisa G. says
If you're interested in knitted things for baby, at our library we're impressed with the many cute things in “60 Quick Baby Knits” and “60 More Quick Baby Knits” put out by the Cascade people.
Marcia says
Oh my, do you suppose the baby Moses looked that way as he floated on the river? No wonder! … I think I'm going to go ahead and scatter some coloring pages, mazes, and sewing samplers around the house. Thanks for the lead!
Cristina says
Yes to more Anthony Esolen articles! I read the boy scout article earlier this week and (having three lads of my own) it really hit home–and like Woman of the House said–everyone should read Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child!
Mamabearjd says
I'm wanting to “weed out” my Pintrest, so I'm thankful for boards to follow. Could we maybe have a Pintrest link up here sometime? Maybe we would just put our Pintrest follows in the comments of one particular post.
Love, LOVE Bits & Pieces!
Sheryl says
Agree with Mamabearjd-LOVE Bits & Pieces! Great pics and topics! So fun to see you all participating more. Great ideas in diverse areas!
On another note-Was I the only one excited about the “Babies in Knitwear” picture because I thought it was the beginning of pics and writing about Deirdre meeting Frances? Although, on second glance the Knitwear baby is younger than Frances, maybe? Can't wait for more Frances pics too! Are there any Pippo and Frances pics? Sorry, not meaning to stalk. Just love those baby pics and of course, the expectant Mom's pics, too. All too much fun and happiness! Blessings
DeirdreLMLD says
I got to hang out with Francis again this past weekend and we took some photos, so maybe I will share those at some point. 🙂 I'm a proud auntie.
But yes, the baby under this sweet blanket is younger that Francis… and a stranger. 🙂 Although very cute, too!
Sheryl says
Sorry about misspelling Francis! Thoughtless.