Are You Qualified to Supervise Your Children

UK's Daily Mail is reporting on a council where parents are not being permitted to supervise their children on public council playgrounds. The playgrounds in question are "adventure playgrounds" open to kids 5-15. They seem to be staffed by council employees (I think that a council is parallel to a township or a small city) who supervise the play at these playgrounds.

On one hand, parents are objecting to the idea that they have to be background checked in order to take their kids to a playground. The Council counters that there are plenty of free and unrestricted playgrounds in the council, but that these supervised play sessions are not open to parents except under special circumstances.

While this does strike me a bit like asking parents to drop their kids off at Chuckie Cheese and not remain on site, and further seems more than a bit over the top, two other things about this bother me.

Take a look at this quotation from the Watford Council statement.

We have simply reiterated that the fully supervised play sessions we run at our adventure playgrounds - Harebreaks and Harwoods - are for children aged 5 -15 years old, and that parents/carers of children and young people who visit these play sessions are not able to stay on site with their children during play sessions. This reduces any potential risks to children and ensures they are able to play freely.
[Bold mine for emphasis.]

Not only does this suggest that the parents of children are deemed to be a potential threat to children using the playground (and one that can't be sufficiently mitgated by the presence of council staff at the playground), but there is also the suggestion that the kids will play more freely without parents there. Maybe the author of the statement only meant to suggest that kids would play more freely without the presence of lots of unknown parents. But it smacks more than a little of a suggestion that the presence of any parents, even those belonging to the child are a hinderance to free play.

So first you create an environment where kids don't have a lot of opportunity for adventurous, risky free play (an environment that you find all too often across the US, where tree climbing, creek poking, woods wandering etc are discouraged or actively prohibited), then you create a tempting "adventure playground," then you prohibit parents from accompanying their kids because they are somehow a risk to the other children. I've been rereading Last Child in the Woods by Louv and this whole scenario bothers me on so many levels.

One thing that the council fails to clarify is how these unscreened parents wouldn't also be a danger to children playing at the councils "4 community centres, 5 children’s centres, over 40 areas of park and playgrounds, as well as a museum, two libraries . . ." Seems like the unprotected children of Watford Council would be much more in danger from unscreened adults at an open playground or park than in a relatively controlled area like this adventure playground.

For my part, I'd appreciate a whole lot more parents, particularly engaged and parenting parents at the local parks on base. Far too many kids with no supervision. Last time we hit the park next to our apartment, I watched a group of children "playing" by grabbing each other by the legs to knock each other down. It was really rough, to the point that I was expecting a child to hit their head on the ground or twist an arm. We actually went over to a park down the street, much to my own kids relief. There were about eight kids, young elementary age (ie, all too young to be on the playground alone, per base rules) and only one other adult in the playground. She also looked uncomfortable, but didn't do anything to correct her kid(s) or any of the others.

No, Really

I'm the type of person who likes to be helpful in the library. I make book suggestions, show folks where the children's fiction is (not anywhere near the children's room), tell them about interlibrary loan, etc.

I was chatting with another mom this afternoon and she asked if I knew where the tax law books. I ask if she was looking for books on doing your taxes or something else. She explained that her husband had been doing research on the 16th amendment and had discovered that income tax was unconstitutional because there wasn't really a law authorizing income tax. They were trying to do a little more research before they wrote up an email sharing this new knowledge with all of their friends.

I managed to not actually take a step backwards, but I must have looked dubious because she added, "No, really you can read about it on the internet."

Really what was there to say? I told her that political and economics books were in the mid 300's and pointed her to the stacks.

I did add however that I knew of officers who had been kicked out for failure to pay their taxes (failure to select). Personally it would seem to me that being a tax protestor is a difficult stance to take as a serving military member.

I'm sure that I will offend someone with this, but I've rarely been in the situation of hearing such utter nonsense coming from what looked like an otherwise rational person.

Scout Songs

Here is one of the better lists of songs for scouts to sing. I especially like that while there are some silly songs, there are also a lot of traditional, heritage songs to sing. It looks like this is part of a collection of Girl Scout links.

Mikoshi Parade Video

I learned that my little camera is not at all up to capturing video. But with the wonders of Youtube, I can already share incredible video of yesterday's parade.

This is the portion of the parade that is on Blue Street (Yokosuka Street?), the main shopping district outside the base. The mikoshi go down Blue Street and then come onto the base. It was fun to see them right on the other side of the base. We could hear the drummers as soon as we went outside.

But next time we are definitely heading out in town where we can eat some of the yummy looking goodies. I didn't come to Japan to eat pizza.

Mikoshi Parade in Yokosuka

Sunday was a Mikoshi Parade in Yokosuka, both in town and on base. A mikoshi is a portable shrine from a Shinto temple. During various festivals, the mikoshi from the shrine is paraded through the neighborhood or through the town.

I went out expecting that there would be one mikoshi representing the base. Instead, we found a parade with about two dozen mikoshi from different shrines around the area, each with their own group of bearers.

The bearers of each mikoshi tend to wear matching jackets and towels wrapped around their heads or their necks.

Each team has someone keeping the group in step, either with a whistle or by a call and response routine. The teams shuffle, bounce, and dip from side to side. A couple turned the mikoshi in place or did quick reversals. One source that I read suggested that the wilder the ride, the more the kami (shinto spirit or deity) in the mikoshi is pleased. I'm sure that there is also a certain amount of friendly competition amongst the teams.


This one is the base mikoshi. The lanterns at the top are labeled with the ships and commands at the base. The team is wearing special CFAY jackets. This was one of the larger sized mikoshi. We saw one being taken home later that night. It took three large flatbed trucks. The poles that the teams are carrying look like 4 x 6's and they are about 20 feet long. The whole thing must be incredibly heavy. It looked like most teams had a full replacement group to switch with. The base was looking for 80-100 people for their team.

Several of the mikoshi were accompanied by wagons with drummers and other musicians like flute players and bell ringers. The ladies in the first picture are sitting in one of the more ornate wagons. These were pulled rather than being carried. After the mikoshi had completed the route, the were set on stands. The drum wagons were all parked together in a group, where they kept playing as other teams filed past.

Most teams seemed to have brought take out bentos or boxes of onigiri. But there was also a brisk trade in pizzas, cinnabon and American grilled specialties. My favorite was the large handwritten poster explaining the contents of a taco platter in Japanese.

I'm a Mom, What's Your Super Power

You have got to click on over to the site for the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, but please swallow what you're sipping before you do.

This has to be one of the cleverest creative writing projects I've every bumbled upon.

H/T: The Corner at National Review Online

Birds of Yokosuka Naval Base

I got tipped to a cool website that lists common birds found on Yokosuka Naval Base. It has thumbnail photos of the birds and pretty good descriptions of where on base they are found.

The website, Our Geo Japan, also has a recommendation for the Yokohama Nature Sanctuary, which sounds like it could be a very good daytrip. Both pages would be a good resource for nature study or scout groups and is also an example of what you can do now with online resources. Unfortunately, the site lacks a search window and contact info. But I hope that they keep adding to the site.

New Carnival of Homeschooling

It's been a while since I had time for a Carnival of Homeschooling, either as participant or as a reader.

This week's is hosted by The Nerd Family.

Rice Harvesting

Back at the end of August, we went rice harvesting with a group of homeschoolers from Kanto Plain Homeschoolers. We drove down to Kurihama and took the ferry over to Chiba. From there we had a winding drive to the rice farm. I was expecting something rustic, but it turned out to be quite the triving business, with rice, crawdads for the kids to play with, persimmons and a gift shop with local specialties.

They walked us down to our assigned field, which coincidentally the group had planted in the cold and rainy spring. The wet rice paddies of the springtime were gone. Now the rice was growing from dry ground. You could still see how they had been planted in handfuls.

The farmers lined us up along the edge of the field then walked down the row and handed everyone a sickle. Yep, rusty edged farm implements in the hands of everyone, even the kids.

Then they showed us how to grab a handful of rice stalks and slice them off a couple of inches from the ground. We would collect several handfuls and stack them on the berm near the field. Ten handfuls one way, then ten handfuls laid across them to make an X. We tied them together using a bit of rice straw.

It was pretty hot work and we took a few breaks beneath a shady persimmon tree. The tree was home to several types of jumping insects like crickets and praying mantis and walking sticks. There were even dragonflies, lizards and maybe a quick sighting of a snake.

Once we had cut and bundled the whole field, the farmers put up a frame of bamboo poles, tied with the same rice straw in longer lengths. We put each of the rice bundles across the frame to dry in the sun.

One of the neighboring fields had several scarecrows. There were some sort of signs with them, possibly some kind of Japanese Burma Shave style sayings.

2004 was the International Year of Rice. There are a ton of educational links about rice and rice growing at this Australian site.

Webelos

Feel free to pray for me over the next month or so. I'm doing research and preps to help lead Webelos activities at Cub Scout day camp and lead a group of them on a three mile hike up Takatoriyama.

It will either be really cool or a huge headache.

Churchill Motivational Posters

If you like the style of motivational posters, check out this great set based on Churchill quotations. Far better than the standard versions with anonymous pictures and platitudes.

[Insert snarky comment about latest winner of Nobel prize who sent Churchill's bust back to the Brits.]

Books for a Desert Island

What books would I want on a desert island? I'm going to try to restrict myself to books that I actually own.

1. A Bible. I would say that it goes without saying, but it doesn't really anymore. But a Bible provides literary enjoyment and spiritual consolation. Imprecatory psalms for when I'm raging against my plight and psalms of praise and wonder for when I'm marveling at surviving whatever deposited me on the island. Many years ago, in my first weeks at the Naval Academy, I read Job, in order to draw comfort from the story of someone whose position was worse than my own. I imagine on my island exile that I would have ample time to voice Job's complaints and to be chastened by God's response. It is tempting to make this a bilingual Latin/English Bible and get double duty here as language study.

2. Boy Scout Fieldbook. I think that this has a nice blend of necessary help and interesting nature info. Plus since it's written for youthful scouts, I would probably be able to follow most of the directions. Actually, it might be even better to have a copy of Baden-Powell's Handbook for Boys since it would have more emphasis on basic skills and less of a Leave No Trace emphasis. I think given the scenario, it would be better to trade a No Trace philosophy for a good set of handmade shelter directions.

3. A literature anthology. I can picture the blue bound volume that I want, but I think my copy landed in storage this move. Beowulf, selections from Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare, poetry, and on and on. A long drink of the best of literature and expression of feeling in my mother tongue. Ending mercifully well before the contemporary drivel.

4. The Lord of the Rings. I won't cheat and include The Hobbit in this. But the opulent red bound slip-cased single volume that was one of our wedding presents would provide a healthy dose of myth and inspiration.

5. Handbook of Nature Study. While Comstock's classic is meant more for temperate climates than a tropical island, it is a masterpiece of observation and information. I could do worse than use it as a jumping off point for observing whatever beasties share my isle.

6. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

7. Hmm, what for the last book. Resource, reference, consolation, entertainment? Gaudy Night by Sayers is tempting, as is Austen's Persuasion. A hymnal or Favorite Poems Old and New? Robinson Crusoe or The Swiss Family Robinson? But what I keep looking at on the bookshelf is The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin. Boorstin is one of my favorite historians and this is part of a set that I haven't gotten around to reading. Plus the subject matter is one that would seem to be encouraging in my predicament.

HT to Mama Squirrel, who tipped me off to the Great Books Week.

Halloween Booing

So the last couple of years, we had a lot of fun with Halloween Boo bags, bags with some Halloween treats and decorations, a You've Been Boo'd poem and a We've Been Booed sign. We especially had fun with the special boo bag that we did for an exchange officer's family, since they didn't have much experience with Halloween at all. That bag was extra special with holiday books and little stuffed animals for the kids.

Last year we were the first in the neighborhood to deliver boo bags, starting right on October 1st. We moved before it came back around to us, but one friend was thoughtful and sweet and boo'd us at the hotel we stayed at our last week.

But now we're living in an apartment tower. I haven't seen much sign that this is a tradition here. I'm wondering if it is something that we should try to start or just let it be. I sort of hate to let the tradition die off. On the other hand, we live in a little island of Americana. We can't exactly rush out to Pricebusters or Big Lots for cute Halloween items.

Any thoughts?

Update: If you do put together a boo basket this year, I'd love to see it. Leave a link to a photo in the comments section.

Great Books Week

Mama Squirel at Dewey's Treehouse has extended an invitation to celebrate books during Great Books Week. Here's something I can really get into.



Here are the blog prompts for the week from the board where Mama Squirrel heard about it:




Great Books Week

I'd like to invite you to participate in a Blog Tour in honor of Great Books Week which is October 4-10, 2009. There are special blog topics for each day, and you're invited to write a post and link back to the NAIWE NewsWire blog so that others can find your post. This holiday is jointly sponsored by Excellence in Literature and the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.

Here’s the schedule of topics:

Monday: If I were stranded alone on a deserted island with only seven books to read over the next few years, I would like to have…

Tuesday: When I was a child, my favorite book was… because….

Wednesday: I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in… [what classic book?]

Thursday: I hated … when I had to read it in high school, but when I read it on my own later, I loved it because….

Friday: When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them [name of book] because…

Here's the introductory post.

Here's the Facebook Event page.

There will be a daily post with each topic so that you can leave your name and link in the comment section for the appropriate topic. I encourage you to share this invitation with other book lovers, and post it on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Let's make it a big celebration!

Blessings,

Janice Campbell
www.Everyday-Education.com

Takatori-yama

We're thinking of taking the Webelos out on a trail hike of Takatori-yama, where Rutabaga had a couple of rock climbing outings in the spring.

This mountain biking site has great photos and trail info for the area.