The Best of the Rest of the Web: Vacations, Lessons Learned, & Turning to Silly Putty

From our July issue, selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting thoughts from the web and the world of parenting.

Lessons Learned
“One day…my sister and I stole some yo-yos from a local supermarket…. It wasn’t long before we were found out and our mom made us…ask to speak to the manager, tell him we took the yo-yos, apologize, and pay for them from our allowance money. As humiliating as that was it paled in comparison to what we faced when we got home…. The lesson for my kids is the same one I’ve been talking about since they were little: Taking the high road is never easy, but it’s always right.” —René Syler (@goodenufmother), Westchester mom of two, author of "Good Enough Mother: The Practically Imperfect Book Of Parenting," and frequent TV guest, in a post entitled “How to Teach Your Kids about Character” on Parentables.

“[I am comforted by] those moments…where your kids do something so normal and yet so superlative that you turn into silly putty... A smile, a song where all the words are wrong, an unexpected hug, a sincere ‘I’m sorry,’ replicating something taught without prompting, a delighted laugh, you know what I’m talking about. It gets you every time and is worth all the schlepping that is parenthood.” —New York Dad, father to two young boys, who lives in New York City, travels often to Rome, and blogs about “anything and everything encountered by an urban dad” at newyorkdadblog.com, in a post entitled “Rock & Roll Parenthood”

Greetings from
Florida!
“…this is CJ’s vacation. So we rode rafts through waterfalls at Typhoon Lagoon (CJ said it was like a donut making a loopty loop) 57 times, ate green snow cones for lunch (and maybe dinner), trekked to Cinderella’s castle in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, became best friends with Mickey Mouse, and tackled a band of alien invaders with Buzz Lightyear. Wheee! CJ’s eyes have been round as saucers since we’ve been here. The world is a pretty rad place when you’re 3.” —Andrea Stanley, who with her husband and itty-bitty city tot, Connor, traded in her white picket fence in the suburbs for a view of the Statue of Liberty after she had her son, on her blog Stories from the Stoop (andrea-stanley.com), where you’ll also find a delish recipe for blueberry soda, musings on city living, and plenty of cool links