Tuna salad sandwich cut into a fun fish shape, goldfish crackers, baby carrots with a side of ranch dressing, and a piece of fruit. Delicious and cute all at the same time!A piece of string cheese, some whole wheat crackers, brocolli and cauliflower florets paired with a side of their favorite dressing, blueberries, and a slice of banana bread.

The classic peanut butter and jelly on a wheat mini bagel, cut up cherry tomatoes with a side of dressing, pineapple chunks, and a few mini oatmeal cookies. Be sure to check the school rules when it comes to peanut butter though - we want to watch out for other kids that may have peanut allergies! Slice of leftover pizza, cut up into smaller pieces, grapes, a small handful of popcorn, and some cucumber with a side of hummus to dip it in. This means you are fixing lunch AND getting rid of leftover from the fridge! And another great option - a pita with grilled chicken (maybe left over from dinner last night) with some veggies, some vanilla yogurt with sliced strawberries, a side of sugar snap peas, and a few animal crackers for the sweet tooth.


And though I wish I could say that these awesome ideas were mine, I actually saw these in an email that I recieved from parents.com. To find serving sizes and more healthy lunch ideas, visit www.parents.com/kids/nutrition/lunch/healthy-school-lunches-snacks/ .

Good luck to all of our families with kids heading back to school this week and to all of the kids! Hope you have a wonderful school year!!

It?s so easy to complain about our teens. I know I?m guilty of too often dishing out criticisms, admonishments, and lectures. I worry that my boys might be doing drugs, drinking, or some other peer-pressure stupidity.  But, they also deserve my support when they do well and my understanding when they slip up.


My 16-year-old, Will, recently bounded into my office, eager to talk.  Wisely, I pulled away from the hypnotic lure of my computer, and faced him squarely, ready for whatever followed.
Normally, when Will comes to talk to me, I am concerned that he either wants something or is going to confess something that I wish I didn?t have to hear.  This time, I listened.  And I listened and I listened.  I smiled, I nodded, I grunted.  But, mostly I listened.  He had made a remarkable discovery!  What was this remarkable revelation? ?Life is complicated and full of wonder and amazing things. Where did life come from?  Why do we sleep?  How does our brain work?  Why are there different languages and how did they evolve??  He literally rambled off these and other subjects, as if he?d just discovered the wheel!


Will didn?t want me to offer any feedback: he just wanted to share with me his marvelous realizations. I just sat there and patiently let him passionately express these extraordinary questions.  After maybe 15 minutes, he didn?t need me anymore and jumped up and left to call his girlfriend and share with her what he?d just voiced.

Later, as we were all getting ready for bed, he came into our bedroom, where my wife was lying down reading, and I had just come in to get ready for bed.  He leaped on our chaise lounge, fell off to the side, and scrambled up laughing at his clumsiness.  He then proclaimed, ?I love this family,? and proceeded to elaborate for a couple more minutes.


My wife and I actually wondered if Will had taken some drugs, as he seemed so high.  But, he hadn?t, and was apparently just being a teenager--a teen enjoying the ?wonder-full-ness? of life.

That is my point.  The older we get, the more we forget the wonder of youth, the wonder of being a teenager--discovering new worlds to explore and the new ideas that we feel are just ours. (Okay, let?s hear the Star Trek theme now).


Being a teenager means discovering the world.  I think adults too often squash that sense of wonder with the desire to have our kids conform. That was my discovery during the short 18 months that I home-schooled Will, since the lack of conforming public school curriculum and class management allowed Will to learn so much more than he otherwise would have under the structure of public school.  It?s why I believe home-schooling is really much better for some kids and, at the time, was the very best thing I could have done for Will.

The job of parents is to introduce our children to the world, to give them exposure to as much as we can, and to allow them to choose their paths.  I know that early in my parenting, I had my ideas of what I wanted for my sons that were based on my own particular interests and desires.  Fortunately, I got over that selfish instinct and ended up supporting my boys? own interests and dreams. I know too many parents that are single-minded in pushing their kids in the directions these parents think is best while not taking into consideration their kids interests, skills, and desires.


This is dramatically evident in the sports arena, where kids are sometimes literally forced to participate in a sport in which they have no interest.  The reason is simply the parents? ego and vicarious desire to live through their kids.  It is so wrong.  We also see this in the over-the-top push that parents often inflict on their kids to excel at school so that they can get into this or that college that the parents deem best for their child.

I wonder if it ever occurred to those parents that their son or daughter might actually be better off with a year off between high school and college? Or, maybe not even going to college! Not every kid should go to college. Couldn?t college wait a year or two while these high school grads explore life on their own? Maybe they can see a bit more of the world rather than just continue in what can be the cocoon of education and parental (financial) support?


I may have wanted my sons to be great skiers, or get into an Ivy League college, but now I want them to fulfill their own passions and find the same joy in what they do that I?ve been blessed to find in my writing and now, my radio show as well.  I urge you to do the same!




Please listen to ?The Bruce Sallan Show - A Dad?s Point-of-View? Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., PST on KZSB AM1290 in Santa Barbara or on the Internet via a live stream.  For that link and all information about the show and Bruce, visit his web-site: http://brucesallan.com. Bruce?s column, ?A Dad?s Point-of-View,? is available in over 75 newspapers and web-sites worldwide. Find Bruce on Facebook by joining his ?A Dad?s Point-of-View? page: http://www.facebook.com/aDadsPointOfView. You can also follow Bruce at Twitter: http://twitter.com/BruceSallan. 




If you'd like to contribute to the TMN blog, please email blogpost@themommiesnetwork.org

On Saturday, Feb. 27th, we celebrated Union County Mommies' 4th Birthday. This is our annual party to celebrate the day Union County Mommies.com was created and to celebrate all of the wonderful mommies that are a part of our wonderful group.

This year, the celebration was a FIESTA theme! We had around 70 mommies show up with their families. We celebrated with an awesome DJ to play our favorite music, a wonderful taco bar, a beautiful cake, pinatas, a craft area where the kids got to make dancing sticks and paper plate maracas, a music area, a bounce house, and clowns. Every mom that came, left with a prize - and we gave out goody bags to the children. The prizes included anything from haircuts for the kids, gift certificates for dinner, birthday party gift certificates, and certificates towards photography sessions. Here are a few pictures to show just how much fun we had!

We really couldn't have had such a wonderful party without some wonderful companies that help donated items for our party. Thank you to just a few of the MANY people that contributed - Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Life's A Party DJ Dennis, The Bouncehouse Man, Union County Music Together, Simple Occasions Catering, Salsaritas of Monroe, Chilis of Monroe, Our Family Photo, Dimples and Curls Photography, Pigtails and Crewcuts Blakeney, The Blushing Bakeshop, StayNPlay Bonterra, Texas Roadhouse, and our many other members that donated their services from haircuts, to handmade goodies. This party was a success because of you!

Turning Point Charitable Event

Since our Turning Point Drive in December received so much support, we decided to partner with them again in February for an event we are calling: A New Year...A New You!

We are bringing in a group of salon and spa professionals to help pamper these women and children and make them feel renewed and beautiful from the inside out! We will be offering haircuts for both women and children, styles, chair massages, mini manicures, and face painting for the children.

We would love to provide these services to as many clients as possible that day, so if you are a professional in this field and are interested in helping make this event a huge success, please send me (imarriedrich) a private message on UCM for more details! And please keep in mind anyone volunteering for this event will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Did you know about GoodSearch? GoodSearch allows you to raise money for The Mommies Network simply by doing what you probably do every day: searching the internet. If you use GoodSearch to search the internet, GoodSearch will donate 1 penny for every search you make. That doesn't sound like much, but with 31,000 members and their families all GoodSearching for us, it can really add up! And it doesn't cost you anything!

Also, many internet retail stores at which you probably shop participate in GoodShop. For instance, if you buy something at Target's website, they will donate 1.5% - 3.5% of your purchase price to us. Old Navy/Gap purchases earn 2.5% for us. Babies R Us shopping earns a 1.5% donation to us. And it doesn't cost you anything! In fact, some stores have special coupons for GoodShoppers.

"How do I GoodSearch and Goodshop?" you may ask. There are two ways. The first way is via the GoodSearch/GoodShop homepages (http://www.goodsearch.com and http://www.goodshop.com). The GoodSearch home page is kind of like the Google home page - you enter your search terms and the results come back. GoodShop can be entered from the GoodSearch page, or by going to http://www.GoodShop.com. There they have a directory of all their participating stores. Select the store you want to shop, click the "Goodshop This Store" button, and you will be directed to the store's regular store with one difference: you will be identified as a GoodShopper and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to The Mommies Network.

But now there is an easier way to GoodSearch and GoodShop. GoodSearch has created an amazing toolbar that lets you perform GoodSearches from anywhere! And if you go to one of the GoodShop participating stores, it will automatically recognize you as a GoodShopper and donate the right amount to your charity. Also there is a tab that will activate when there are coupons for that store. Pretty sweet! And just in time for Christmas shopping!

The best part is that they have customized a toolbar JUST FOR US! And they put up a page for us for our members to go to download it

http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/mommies-network

The toolbar works with Internet Explorer and Firefox!

Note for Vista users: If you use Firefox, ignore the special instructions for Vista users button. If you use Internet Explorer 8, the toolbar probably will not install for you. If you use version 6 or 7, you should only need the special instructions if your user does not have admin rights on your machine.

It doesn't seem to work on Macs.

When you download the toolbar, MommiesNetwork(Charlotte, NC) may automatically be selected as your charity. If it is not, simply type Mommies Network, and it will select us. And if you want to GoodSearch on a computer you can't download the toolbar onto, just go to GoodSearch (http://www.goodsearch.com) and in the drop down that asks "Who Do You GoodSearch for?" Select/type in MommiesNetwork(Charlotte, NC). Don't worry - even if you aren't in Charlotte, there is only one Mommies Network, and we are it. Because of tax law, The Mommies Network is an incorporated 501c(3) non-profit with headquarters in Charlotte, NC. But it includes all of our communities across the country.