Even if you don’t have a child with a behavioral problems, you’ll enjoy No One is Perfect and YOU are a Great Kid for the story and the terrific illustrations by Lee Dillingham. Since we all know kids like Zack, this book can be a used as a conversation starter with your child, too. I’m giving my copy to our school’s counselor and you may want to send a copy to your school’s counselor, your pediatrician, or anyone who works with special needs kids.

You can learn more about Kim at her website Intense Kids, Great Kids.

Faith, love and hope

Faith, love, hope – words I heard all of my life but really did not feel the true meaning of such simple words until my son was born nearly 14 years ago. They are my motto every day and words I often express to others.

When loving a child with a disability of any kind they are words you cling to and believe in. My son suffers from emotional disabilities, or neuropsychiatric disorders or mental illness, however you choose to label what he lives with on a daily basis. He, and millions of other children are diagnosed with illnesses of the brain that affect how they feel, act, react, behave and think. These are complicated illnesses, the same as the adult versions, however just at a much earlier age.

My son, Zack, has always overreacted to the most minor of situations, raging often, crying frequently and riding a daily roller coaster ride of emotions. From very early on I knew something was wrong, which started this journey that is now 11 years long and prompted our book No One is Perfect and YOU are a Great Kid.

As he grew, suffered and tried desperately to understand what was happening to him he struggled with many questions of “Why?” along with feeling as if he were the only kid in the whole world who was struggling with these very complicated challenges, I have often been called the parent who did not discipline my child, who raised a spoiled, manipulative, self centered, unruly boy, which are all very far from accurate. If you are a parent of a “high spirited, intense child” as I am, you have most likely heard some of the same accusations from parents of “perfect” children who do no wrong, who respond to their parents every command on queue, and perfectly behaved and well mannered.

My hope and prayer is that the people in general open their minds and come to realize that children like mine, who suffer with these illnesses, are not bad kids, not evil or purposefully oppositional but are lovable, kind, funny, smart and full of promise as is every other child. Yes,they may do things differently, loudly, extremely,and outrageously. They need to be given understanding, reassurance, patience, acceptance and compassion.

My wish is that other children who feel different for any reason find hope, promise, acceptance and the gift that is within them and realize they are not alone. Mental illness is not a choice, it is not contagious, it does not make you “less than.” I hope our story will open the lines of communication for parents and children, friends and neighbors to discuss and explore behavior they may not understand. My biggest hope is that children who are seeking acceptance,understanding and answers be able to find that from parents, peers, teachers and siblings and to know they are not alone in their challenges.

Nathan would gag and potentially vomit up anything that wasn’t slimy, squishy or creamy. He soon refused to eat crackers, cereal and even cookies. Instead, Nathan preferred foods like noodles, pudding, canned peaches, cantaloupe, small pieces of cheese, flan and yogurt. The lack of variety in his diet, and the fact that he was still barely in the 10th percentile at age two, were the reason I gave him toddler formula or Pediasure to drink between meals.

Kids love to dip

Sheri, his occupational therapist, suggested dipping dry foods into dips to make the food less dry feeling when he put it into his mouth. She started slowly, first with skinny stick pretzels, and then worked up to chips and crackers. Nathan has developed a taste for a variety of foods, and is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. Even so, he still has such a preference for noodles that we call him our Pasta-terian.

Back then, Nathan’s favorite dip was pretzels in ketchup. Yuck! I wish I had this healthy ketchup recipe from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food back then. Unlike the stuff on the store shelf, this has super healthy tomato and carrot puree and no high fructose corn syrup.

Use homemade ketchup – either by itself or added to plain yogurt – as a dip for crackers, pretzels, or veggie sticks. You can also use it as a “paint” to decorate food. Use a veggie stick or plastic knife to paint the ketchup on to a piece of bread, a veggie burger, or a sliced cheese or deli meat – either you or your toddler can do the painting. My five-year-old daughter, Lucie, loves when I use ketchup to make a smiley face on a slice of turkey bologna. Plus, kids are more likely to eat something that they helped make.

Homemade Ketchup with Carrot Puree
Prep: 5 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Makes 1 cup

Ingredients:

1. 1 (6-ounce) can of tomato puree
2. ½ cup carrot puree*
3. ¼ cup water
4. 2 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
5. 2 cloves garlic, minced
6. 1 tablespoon firmly packed light or dark brown sugar (optional)
7. ½ teaspoon dry mustard
8. ¼ teaspoon salt
9. ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
10. ¼ teaspoon chili powder, or to taste

Directions:

1. Stir all the ingredients together in a big saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture has reduced by about half, 10-20 minutes.
3. Let cool before serving.
4. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to five days or freeze in ¼-cup amounts in zipper-lock snack bags for up to three months.

*Carrot Puree

Prep: Peel, trim the ends, and cut into three-inch chunks.

Cook: Steam for 10 to 12 minutes.

Puree: In a food processor or blender for about two minutes, with a few teaspoons of water if needed for a smoother texture.

TOON Books are high-quality comic books designed for children four-years-old and older. Each of their books are designed to offer newly-emerging readers comics they can read themselves. Also, each TOON book has been vetted by educators to ensure that the language and the narratives will nurture young minds.

TOON Books also feature original stories and characters created by veteran children’s book authors, renowned cartoonists and new talents, all applying their skills to help children discover the magic of reading.

Many TOON Books to choose from

Jack and the Box is the perfect book for beginning readers. It’s full of simple sight words and wonderful illustrations. It was written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman, who won a Pulizer Prize in 1992 for his book, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Spiegelman claims he learned how to read from looking at comics and “trying to figure out if Batman was a Good Guy or a Bad Guy.” He even let his children learn to read from his old, very valuable collection of old comic books. Jack and the Box is recommended for children in grades K-2.

As a parent of a brother and sister, I can relate to Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever. It’s about two siblings who can’t stop fighting. When their favorite super hero pass his costume on to them, the twins fight so much that they rip it in half and only have half the super powers. Will they combine their powers or let the evil forces win? Written by Jay Lynch of Garbage Pail Kids fame and and Dean Haspiel who has drawn superheroes for Marvel and DC comics. For grades K-2.

Then there’s the aptly named Stinky, a monster who loves pickles and possums and is scared of people.  When a new kid, Nick, enters his swamp, Stinky tries to scare him away, but ends up making friends with the boy. A nice blend of a sweet story and gross out humor. Pickled onion, anyone? Written by Eleanor Davis for children in grades K-2.

For more information about TOON Books check out their website and their blog.

Global Wonders was created by Rashmi Turner, a working mother and former executive at The Walt Disney Company who previously led educational productions, product development for media lines of businesses, marketing, and communications, for The Baby Einstein Company.

Learning about world cultures

With Global Wonders, children can gain a more enlightened view of the world around them. It’s also a great way to start a dialogue about different cultures if your children are the type who ask embarrassing questions like, “Why does that lady have a red dot on her head?” or “Why do those people have dark skin and talk funny?”

My children know people from India, France, Sweden, Mexico, China, Taiwan and Napal. We enjoy shopping at Asian markets and Mexican carnicerias, and frequently dine out at restaurants that serve Vietnamese pho, Chinese dim sum, Pad Thai, Japanese sushi and Baja Mexican seafood dishes.  So learning about other cultures isn’t new to our children at all though as parents, we do get our fair share of embarrassing questions.

The Global Wonders series

Coming to Target, Toys “R” Us and Amazon on October 21, 2008, the first series of DVDs include:

• Global Wonders: Around The World
• Global Wonders: India
• Global Wonders: Mexico
• Global Wonders: African-American

Recently, the children and I watched a sample of the Global Wonders series. Nathan, being eight-years-old, didn’t care for the video. Basically, he’s too old for it. These are much better videos for the preschool, pre-K and kindergarten crowd like five-year-old Lucie who enjoyed the program immensely. She sang along with the music and repeated the foreign words and phrases when prompted.

I enjoyed the animation. It’s similar to Disney’s Little Einsteins, which isn’t a surprise since Ed Wexler is the animation director, character designer, and art director. He’s an Emmy-nominated, 20-year veteran of Walt Disney Animation and worked on Little Einsteins. (Click here to learn more about the Global Wonders Creative Team.)

I also liked how they approached world culture. The Global Wonders series puts an emphasis on what cultures share rather than differences – everyone celebrates birthdays, children like to play sports, and we all enjoy music.

I appreciated that they showed grandparents and an African-American dad who is a college professor, too. Other positive role models include families who spend time together and children who like to learn, sing, be outside, and play sports.

Lucie and I give Global Wonders a thumbs up.

Take a Global Wonders moment

Here’s a sample from Global Wonders: Mexico about Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead:

It’s also a social networking site. You can create a profile, save your favorite films and blog posts in one place, and share your own responsibility story.

My responsibility story

Teaching children responsibility is tough especially when it doesn’t come naturally to your child.

I’ll never forget the time that Nathan came back visiting from the neighborhood school playground with his grandmother. He couldn’t wait to show me the treasure that he found. Was it a cool rock or a pretty wild flower? No, it was a three-ring binder filled with dozen of pages manga-style cartoons that some grade schooler had patiently drawn. Nathan brought it home thinking that he could keep it.

“Nathan, that belongs to someone else, someone who spent a lot of time drawing those cartoons,” I explained. “It’s not something to keep. It doesn’t belong to you. If you don’t return it, they’ll be very sad that they lost it.”

I was disappointed in the boy. He only thinks of himself and not how other people feel. Maybe this is normal for an eight-year-old boy. But I don’t like it. It makes me feel that he lacks a moral compass.

Also, I was puzzled that my mother-in-law didn’t insist that he leave the binder on the playground. She mumbled some lame excuse about “telling him to do so” but I didn’t care. She knows better too and I expect better from someone who was a former minister who worked with youth programs. At least she should could have suggested that they return the next day when the school was open. 

Bottom line was that Nathan shouldn’t have taken the notebook, and my mother-in-law should have insisted that it wasn’t his to take. So I made them both walk back to the school and leave it at the school’s front door, hoping that a teacher would find it the next day, and return it to the rightful owner.

Nathan came home upset after returning his “prize,” and I’m sure my mother-in-law didn’t appreciate having to walk Nathan back and forth. I didn’t care. The binder and the drawings belonged to someone else. Returning it was the responsible thing to do.

What’s your responsibility story?

Go to The Responsibility Project to share your story. And while you’re there check out their films. One of my favorites was Mandy & Lester since it reminds me of my responsibility story.