Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

How do you talk to your kids about tough topics like homelessness and charity?

We often pass people in our car who are holding cardboard signs, asking for change or jobs or food. For several years now, Joy has asked about this - and I honestly am at a bit of a loss when dealing with it. I really want her to become a giving and loving and charitable person. I want her to have empathy - but also to know when to have appropriate boundaries.

When she was five, we talked about people who don't have homes, and she asked why they don't just move in with us? It's a hard question to answer... why can't they live with us? Why aren't I trying harder to help people who are less fortunate than us? It's a good question, and one I wish I asked myself more often. I wish I had some better answers for us both.

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

I recently heard about this local project, Faces of Bellingham© - a local artist, Lea Kelley, has been taking pictures of folks around town and collecting them in a blog. It is fascinating to look at. In fact, I can't stop browsing through. I recognize many of them, people who frequent the downtown streets, or the coffee shops, or the farmer's market. But some of them are just faces I haven't seen before. Some friendly faces, some worn faces, some young faces. There's just something about looking at faces that are so bare like this, and I keep staring at them like they are a puzzle I'm trying to figure out... Are you happy? Do you love someone, and do they love you back? What do you do when you get home, and do you seem to manage it all better than I do?

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

Joy found this book at my parents' house called What is a mother - I think my mom must have gotten it as a gift about a hundred years ago. It's a little disturbing, and Joy has been reading it out loud and doesn't seem to be as worried about it as I am. She recently read this one to me:

A mother is a woman that God made. When a man goes out to work the mother stays home and cleans but if there was not a mother the man would have to stay home one part of the day.

I said, "Joy, is that how our family is?" "I dunno." "Well, do I stay home and clean during the day?" "I dunno."

Anyway, it was a real gem of a teachable moment - super educational. I think she's probably going to become a women's rights activist now.

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

This morning, Joy asked me over her bowl of oatmeal, "how do people work?" I assumed she was talking about jobs, like our careers.

"Joy, I'm not sure what you mean?"

"Well, I mean how did God make it so that we could breathe, and our heart keeps beating, and our body just knows what to do?"

It's funny how I just go through my day, worrying about silly things like whether I'll get Joy to school on time, or whether my hair looks funny (which it does). And all this time I am a walking miracle. Breathing. Living. It's so amazing. How DO people work?

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

If you use alternative transportation to commute to work during the next two weeks, you can sign up to win a trip to Paris. Go to Wheel Options to check out the details, and a list of the amazing prizes you might win!

Brought to you by the fact that I've been working my rear off on this project all month. :-)