Friday Frivolity: Sandwich Bag Art

Day in and day out, packing school lunches can be tedious. The thrill of a clever and functional new lunchbox can wear off. The time and inspiration for perfectly adorable bento style lunches can run short. Leave it to a father, then, to come up with a speedier way to infuse his children's lunches with a sense of fun and whimsy, express love for his children and exercise his own creativity.

David Laferriere is just that father. Since 2006, he has be drawing quirky and clever pictures on the sandwich bags in his sons lunches, and posting photos of his creations on flickr.

The assembled photos are a thrill to peruse, and so its no surprise that they have been written about in more than one place, and slowly but surely his lunch bag photos have gathered a following.

We might not all be as deft with a Sharpie as Mr. Laferriere, but we can dream.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Frivolity: Momologue

Most mothers have had one of those moments: a moment when the patter she engages in with small children, her usual monologue (or shall we say momologue?* ) spills out into "real life." She might find herself pointing out the window and brightly exclaiming, "Look at the dump truck!" when riding in a car with friends. Or she might find herself biting her lip before suggesting, "careful!" as a friend steps out into a busy street.

However chagrined the modern mother might feel about such slip ups, she can rest easy she has never gotten so myopically focused on her role as parent to behave as the character in this fictional video.

Of course, the interesting point that this video highlights is something most of us instictively know to be true: many of the ways adults talk to children are not considerate, nor do they help a child make sense of the world a they experience it  Not so frivolous thoughts from a humorous video. Food for thought.

Have a wonderful weekend!




* Momologue: The patter in which mothers sometimes engage, a mixture of instructions (napkin in your lap!), admonitions (sit square on your chair!), and observations (look! the butter is shaped like a shell!).

Friday Frivolity: Twain and Tolstoy for Toddlers

Once again it’s Friday, and, once again, we’re writing about books. This week, its children’s books, specifically, little known children’s books by literary giants. On the Brain Pickings blog, the post 7 Obscure Children’s Books by Authors of Grown up Literature contains brief accounts of the origins of children’s books by James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, and others.

Should the modern mother feel inadequate because her children's book shelves do not house Twain or Tolstoy? Hardly. Yet, many of the books on this list appear to be so delightful, none more than Mark Twain’s Advice to Little Girls, which includes this gem:

You ought never to take your little brother’s ‘chewing-gum’ away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time of life, he will regard it as a perfectly fair transaction. In all ages of the world this eminently plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant to financial ruin and disaster.

Ah, the cleverness, the humor, and what a vocabulary! It makes this modern mother want to buy it right now, and I don’t even have any little girls. Perhaps this book will be for me.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Frivolity: Questions for the really useful engine.

Thomas the Tank Engine, along with Dora the Explorer and Elmo, remains one of our culture’s inescapable children’s television characters. If some experience with the Thomas and Friends is unavoidable, perhaps questions about the nature of life on the Island of Sodor are too. Who hasn’t wondered how a train can be part human, part machine? Or what is Sir Topham Hat’s relationship to Thomas? Parent? Boss? Owner? None has probed these questions so humorously as J.J.Keith, who applied her skills as an anthropology major in this open letter to Thomas.  Seriously sidesplitting humor here. Who says you can’t use an anthropology major?

Many thanks to Lisa for sending this along. Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Frivolity - Parent Rap

First there was the Swagger Wagon, and now there's The Parent Rap, a more recent viral video of parents rapping about life with "the shorties." The Parent Rap makes saying things like, "don't make me count to 1, 2, 3..."or "Keep your hands to yourself!" or "Don't make me stop this car!" sound maybe, a tiny bit cool. Or maybe not. Either way, its fun to watch. Many thanks ot Amy for sending it along to us.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Frivolity: Brainy Booklist

Summer is a time for reading, and so when a friend sent us this eclectic list of favorite children’s books, we delved right in. More than a list, 121 Books is an e-book containing quirky reviews written by the family behind Dinner: A Love Story, and featuring recommendations from George Saunders, Lemony Snicket, David Sedaris, and others.

Brainy and fun, the list is unapologetically subjective. I was happy to find favorites by William Steig and Richard Scarry, and delighted with new finds, like the Olympians series by George O’Connor. Mostly, I was thrilled with the very idea of  important books, books that are so beloved they become part of your family history. My picks would include I am a Bunny (on their list) and The Cricket in Times Square - not on their list, but the Garth Williams illustrations alone earn it a permanent place in my personal universe. You will likely have your own to add and that's one of the things that makes this list so fun.

121 Books is free for download, but only through this weekend.

Happy reading and have a wonderful weekend!

Skirts, not just for tennis anymore

Some love them. Some hate them. And some are still scratching their heads about this perplexing article of clothing – the running skirt. Can one be a ‘serious’ runner and athlete wearing something intentionally cute?

Admittedly, I initially found the running skirt to be silly, despite my low athletic ambition. The skirts just seemed so... cute-sy… until I tried one. I loved it walking my kids to school; I loved it while I was rolling the trash bins to the curb; I loved it stopping by the supermarket; and most importantly I loved it running. So cute. So comfortable. So functional. So presentable.

Yes, that’s the best part: the modern mother in a running skirt can go for a run and then hold her head high as she rushes about her errands with out the risk of looking like she’s wearing a swim suit, undergarments or even the dreaded spandex.

So, in celebration of this brilliant invention and just in time for our Friday Frivolity, we bring you this short history of running skirts, from Runner’s World. Have a wonderful weekend!

*runner in running skirt photo from Title Nine 
* racing in running skirt via Runner's World

Friday Frivolity: Mommy's little burger king

Children's art can be vibrant, charming, and most of all, revealing. On the Huffington Post, Claire McCarthy describes her son's hilariously forthright art show submission and her mixed feelings about it. Her story, When Kids Make Us Look Bad: My McDonald's Moment, has been making its way around the internet, because its just plain funny and probably because we can all laugh in self recognition. Most of us have experienced a similar cringe-worthy moment or two.

Here's the art work in question:

And here's her story: When Kids Make Us Look Bad: My McDonald's Moment

Have a great weekend, and should you find yourself with a hankering for Mc Donald's, please don't blame us. You can take that up with Ms. McCarthy, or rather, her 6 year-old son.

Friday Frivolity - Drama in the First Person

I was just thinking, I could use a little less drama these days, and then friend Karsten showed me this.   Brilliant.

P.S.
No offense Don but I'm just not that into you anymore.  I know there are loads of women out there who don't mind you taking a powder for 17 months  but apparently I'm not one of them.   So, now that you're back, guess what?  I don't care.  No giddy anticipation, no butterflies, no Zou Bisou Bisou here.  Seeing you again has mostly just reminded me why we stopped seeing each other in the first place.   You have the same old issues and seem to have picked up a couple of new ones since we last met.  So thanks for the good times, please tell Joanie "Well done, it's about time" and I hope to see you some evening once we're all caught up on Modern Family.

Friday Frivolity - Yoga and the Modern Mother

The tendency of suburban mothers to partake regularly in yoga classes has been noted by marketers, scoffed at by some, defended by others, and by most accounts become a fixture of the suburban motherhood experience, much like taking up tennis, taking on home renovations, or subjecting oneself to hours at a hockey rink/indoor pool/soccer field for the sake of youth sports. So, when the New York Times published an article describing the tantric sex cult origins of yoga, and claiming that unknowing practitioners might become victims of "libidinal surprise," those of us who haven’t done a downward-facing dog in years had to wonder, Wow, maybe all those other mothers trotting about in yoga pants are on to something. Then again, maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re just too tired or too late to put on some actual pants. After all, no one has documented what percentage of people wearing yoga pants actually participate in yoga.

*image from someecards. 

Friday Frivolity- Mealtime Humor

Even for the mother who loves to cook, the daily dinner preparation can be a grind. That's probably why this funny e-card has been bouncing around facebook. Should you find yourself similarly distraught in the near future, perhaps consulting this list of lesser known food holidays might provide some mealtime inspiration. Sadly, crab-stuffed flounder day has passed, but there's still time to celebrate National Clam Chowder Day and National Pistachio Day. 

Have a happy weekend! 

Friday Frivolity: Sparkling summer socializing

In this season of weekend visits and summer socializing, the modern mother will likely (hopefully) find herself at an adult dinner party. We can only imagine the company will be amiable and the conversation convivial.  However, should our modern mother find herself trapped by an obnoxious bore, or shifting in her seat as the conversation dies amid nervous laughter, we then hope she has read this recent piece from the New York Times: The Life (and Death) of the Party by Bruce Feiler. Mr. Feiler not only offers ideas of how to extract oneself from a monotonous tête-à-tête, but also suggests a few fun general questions, like, “How many of Michelle Bachman’s 23 foster children will vote for her for president?” We could add a few more, like, “if you had to emigrate and could choose any non-English speaking country, which one would you choose?” Or, “What was the first concert you ever went to?”  Readers, do you have a favorite question for general conversation?

Happy reading, and enjoy the weekend!

* image from the Style Files

Friday Frivolity: Pinterest

This week, one of us has been so obsessed with a new website, that she has not managed to write a single blog post.  How could that be? How could I not find the time to laud the emerging revolt against homework, comment on combating recipe clutter, or ponder if obsessing about a child’s happiness dooms him to misery? What could possibly be more interesting than raging about the lot of the suburban mother?  Well, take a look at Pinterest.

On Pinterest, one can collect images from anywhere on the internet by “pinning” them to your "pinboard." Tag it with a comment or two, and thus assemble an online visual catalogue of decorating ideas, crafty things, books to read, beloved shoes, vacation destinations, whatever.  I might even say it's kind of like a mixture between facebook, tumblr, and Twitter, if I knew anything about Twitter. 

The best part, of course, is social: connecting with friends to see what they’re pinning, or scrolling through the boards of people who are more stylish, sophisticated and better connected. Since each pin has a link back to its original source, browsing through pinterest can lead to some of the funkiest corners of the internet.

Just what every modern mother needs: another way to fritter away hours online. Impossible to resist, when images and ideas like these await: 

craft projects, 

lighting ideas,

whimsical toys,

beautiful kitchens,

and party ideas.

Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Friday Frivolity - Goop's Guide to Being a Good Guest

The lovely and talented Gweneth Paltrow, as you probably know dear reader, is also a blogger.  Like your humble authoresses, Ms. Paltrow also writes about parenting, food, travel, fun and etiquette.  We thought her latest piece on how to be a good summer guest especially timely.  So whether you are jetting off to the Hamptons or wandering next-door for a sprinkler party we recommend the following Goop Newsletter. 

Friday Frivolity: Junderpants

What are junderpants, you ask?  Depending on whom you consult, they are (a) a crime (b) the hilarious name for a remarkably tasteless product, (c) a skimpy pair of underwear printed to look like denim jeans, or (d) something that made one of us giggle like a schoolgirl. The answer, of course, is all of the above. We just cannot bring ourselves to post a photo, but we can send you here to see them. There you go, junderwear and junderpants. Presumably, these products are intended for the parents of the baby wearing demin diapers because clearly, they are not for the well mannered modern mother.

Friday Frivolity: Summertime T's

Despite rain, rain, rain in Boston this week, we're dreaming of summer and summertime fun in these adorable shirts from Wink and a Nod. The playful and inspired motifs will delight children. Tasteful and high quality execution will charm their mothers.  The only challenge will be choosing which one. Where ever you are, hope you get a taste of summer this weekend.

Friday Frivolity: Manners Checklist

When a friend recently sent us this list of 25 manners every child should know by age 9, we realized that we had been neglecting our blog's original intention, which was to discuss manners and modern motherhood. Since we found the list compassionate and modern but still (thankfully) traditional, we wanted to share it with all of our well mannered readers.

And at least this modern mother was relieved to realize her children might not be that far off the mark. Hope you all feel the same way.

*image from MindWare

Weekend Watercolors

Having dropped the ball on our usual Friday Frivolity, we decided to post these original watercolors and prints by Nakisha Elsje VanderHoeven for our readers to enjoy over the weekend. These and many more are available on her Etsy store, Blue Dog Rose. No, we don't know Ms. VanderHoeven or even remember how we stumbled across her work, but we feel certain these sweet illustrations will help put most modern mothers in the mood for spring and for Easter, even in places where it's 40 degrees and raining.

Friday Frivolity: Typin' it, Old School

According to this Slate article, many of us have been typing wrong. This typing error transcends social class and education level, and it might even, dare we suggest, affect some of our dear readers and an author (or two) here at Manners for Modern Mothers.

Thankfully, it has nothing to do with IQ or fine motor skills. This typing mistake is a matter of what comes after the period at the end of each sentence.  Or rather, sentence. Please read and tell us what you think. Are some of us typing "wrong" or are we just typing "old school" style? 

*image of, and information about this typewriter available here.

Friday Frivolity: Richard Scarry's Classic Manners Book

We doubt our readers need much advice about teaching manners to their children, but nevertheless, we would like to celebrate a sweet little book that does precisely that. Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Bookteaches even the youngest children good manners by showing them. Huckle the Cat asks to be excused after a meal and remembers to help clear the table. Lowly worm says "Thank you for a very a very nice time" when leaving a birthday party. Pig Won't spends a boring day by himself because he won't help his father in the boatyard and later learns that helping out can be rewarding and fun. Just like reading this book.