Keeping Safe at Any Age

Age 16: eligible to drive

Age 18: eligible to vote

Age 21: eligible to drink a beer or two

Oops, I missed one. Age 20: Leave behind a statistic. What statistic? I'm glad you asked.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines children as anyone aged 0 - 19, and the leading cause of death in children is unintentional injury. Accidents. Car crashes, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fires, and falls are just a few of the examples.

Our country is getting safer for children - about 30% safer over the last decade. But even with improvement during decade 2.0, we still have issues. Okay, I'll leave the issues behind, but accidents still happen, and happen to the tune of more than 9,000 deaths a year.

The CDC asked several bloggers to help share safety tips, and of course I said "Yes." I'll share some of their common sense recommendations, and I'll point you toward a few web sites chock-full of information.

Common sense isn't as common as it should be, given the - well, common name. For example, under drowning, tips to decrease drowning deaths include this list.

• Learn to swim.
• Watch kids closely around water.

It's a start. Motor Vehicle tips are also common sense, but these take a little more time and effort.

• Always use seat belts & safety seats.
• Use booster seats that are correct for a child's age and weight.
• Use safe-driving agreements or contracts with teens.

Prevention for falls brings in a few items that aren't necessarily "cool" with kids.

• Insist on soft landing surfaces on playgrounds (i.e. sand or wood chips).
• Install protective rails on bunk beds and loft beds.
• Wear a helmet. Listen up, kiddos, Aaron Rodgers wears one.

I promised links.

The CDC has a page they call "Protect the One you Love."

"Color me Safe" is a coloring book available in English or in Spanish.

This site offers free e-cards related to the topic.

Readers, dear readers, I agree to post on these topics for many reasons. Health posts are never paid posts or sponsored. When the CDC calls - well, when the CDC emails - I'm willing to help because I want our world to get better, not worse, for the generations that follow. I'm teaching one of those generations right now. If I can make a difference, if I can make a suggestion that prevents a child from getting hurt, it's more than worth the blog space.

I'm serious about the disclaimer. This is not a paid post. I'm also serious about making a difference. The U.S. has a higher death rate from preventable injury than Sweden, Norway, the U.K., France, Canada, Australia.... isn't it sad that the list goes on? Let's change it, folks. Add a safety suggestion in the comments or post one on Twitter. Be sure you copy it to @CDCgov so the CDC folk see it, too.

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Making the freshman book list

The books on this table are in consideration for the ninth grade curriculum in my local public schools. The books are on display to call for community input. The administrator in charge told me they're looking for "...balanced input" - meaning input from many, not just the loud and organized book-bashing groups.

Oops. My bias is showing.

I took a copy of the list and checked off those I'd read. Then I made some general observations. I logged on to Paperbackswap and requested a few titles that intrigued me, including those that had attracted objections in the past.

George Orwell's Animal Farm was a good book for its time, but not really suitable for today's ninth graders. Most high school freshmen don't have a background in the rise of the Soviet Union. This cleverly written allegory would be more effective if students read it after or concurrently with their world history classes.

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci - I haven't read this yet. I ordered it. Parents have asked that it be removed from the curriculum, and I must see why. If the book is that powerful, it's probably fascinating.

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye - A Trivia contest once asked for the name of Holden Caulfield's younger sister. I remember that she had an influence on Holden, that he felt protective toward her, but I couldn't remember her name (Phoebe). Very introspective, this book fits the curricular theme of "...the concept of the individual as well as interpersonal relationships."

Fahrenheit 451 - Scary. Ray Bradbury's genius shows in this book, one that the book burning folk need to read. Really.

The Latehomecomer: a Hmong Family Memoir - I have this on on my shelves and I haven't read it yet. Local buzz suggests it's an excellent book. Author Kao Kalia Yang spoke to local teachers a few years ago. She inspired me to read her work and to keep writing my own.

The Odyssey - Balancing contemporary books with classics is a challenge. Many Odyssey references, including the term "Odyssey" itself, have become part of today's language. The other night I heard someone on TV saying, "Even Scylla and Carybdis couldn't tear us apart." And how about those Sirens? I hope the decision makers keep The Odyssey in their collection.

Romeo and Juliet - It's not Shakespeare's best work, but it's very accessible to young adults. It's a good introduction to the world of Shakespeare, the language of the times, and a story that's been produced and reproduced in many incarnations.

Speak - Controversial because its main character was raped, this Laurie Halse Anderson book stimulates discussion and attracts criticism. It's a strong story showing the devastation of sexual assault and its aftermath, including the bullying that can go with reporting the incident. Readers will recognize the high school cliques and the stereotyped teachers in bits of humor that balance the seriousness.

Step from Heaven - A library media specialist recommended this to me several years ago. It's a powerful story of the immigrant experience in a family that struggles to earn their way toward the American Dream. The author uses an effective technique by writing in beginning English as the family moves, improving the language and grammar as the characters themselves learn, grow, and assimilate.

I noticed a few generalizations as I looked up the titles under consideration. The suggestions cover several perspectives of WWII: the nonfiction Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Slavomir Rawicz' The Long Walk: A True Story of a Trek to Freedom, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, and Elie Wiesel's Night expose readers to multiple perspectives on a single historical time period.

There is an attempt to promote diverse voices through memoirs and realistic fiction. A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah chronicles a world our American teens can only imagine - if they're aware of it at all. Adeline Yen Mah's Falling Leaves shares another world as well: the Chinese culture where women are not valued and can suffer abuse for just being female. Works by Native American Sherman Alexie, Hispanic author Sandra Cisneros, and Hmong writer Kao Kalia Yang provide many varied viewpoints for students to explore.

And isn't that what we want as teachers, parents, and role models? For our children to explore, thoughtfully consider various perspectives, and develop informed opinions? Censorship in any form interferes with the evolution of open-minded readers.

Maybe that's why the closed-minded book critics continue to fight.

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Spring Cleaning: the Medicine Cabinet

It was on my list. Really. But my list gets so long sometimes, important jobs remain undone. When Chuck opened the cupboard to get his daily BP meds and three bottles and a box tumbled out and landed on the counter, we decided that cleaning the meds cabinet needed to rise to the top of the to-do.

If you think the "Before" picture above looks scary, check out the "During" picture. I pulled everything out -- every single bottle, every single box, every inhaler, every little medicine measuring cup -- and spread out the contents on the cupboard.

Wow.

No, the coffee wasn't in the cupboard. I needed it for strength. Really.

After combining half-full vitamin bottles, storing extras in an accessible place (two-for-one sales are only a bargain if we can keep track of what we already own), checking expiration dates, and throwing away junk like the 6 inch stack of med cups, I could organize and set up the categories. On the top shelf are over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for illnesses. I get a little OCD about OTC because when someone is sick, I do not (repeat, do NOT) want to be making a pharmacy run. We have a good stock of that which we need, and nothing unusable or out of date. They're sorted in three small boxes: cold/ allergy, tummy troubles, and pain killer/fever reducer/ anti-inflammatories.

On the bottom are the prescriptions and everyday needs.

All extras (mainly from Buy-one Get-one deals) are behind the boxes on the top shelf. Extra prescriptions? We order most of our daily meds by mail through our insurance, so we get 3 months worth in one bottle. It really saves time and space.

Not bad, really. Most of this chore was sorting and organizing. Now if we can maintain it... now that will be the challenge!

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Sunday List

Make coffee.
Finish laundry.
Read Sunday newspaper.
Clean litter boxes.
Shower.
Blog.
Run Virus-Scan on laptop.
Make a difference in the world.
Make and preserve orange marmalade.
Work on progress reports.

Progress, as of 11:00 AM:
Coffee: check.
Laundry: last load in dryer.
Newspaper: check.
Litter boxes clean, self clean.
Virus Scan finished on both laptop and desktop.
Oranges, sugar, jars, and water-bath canner gathered. Must shop for liquid pectin.
Progress reports on jump drive; will work on those during playoff games. Specific goal for today: fill in Social Skills and Study Habits sections.

Wait a minute. What's that other goal? Make a difference? That's a little tougher. Haiti comes to mind. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is tomorrow. I don't have the day off from school; I do have a substitute because I'll be in a workshop all day. I've been teaching a series of vocabulary lessons called "Words About Great Leaders" with an emphasis on Dr. King and other strong leaders. Can I do more?

It's easy to give up, feel powerless, when there's a huge disaster in the world. Haiti's poverty is debilitating on a typical day. A hurricane or earthquake hitting their island is devastating. The immediate loss of life, the potential for disease, the absence of basic shelter, food, and water - can one person make a difference?

Yes.

I can make a difference locally by teaching my students as well as I'm able. Teach them to climb out of poverty, teach them not to take for granted the skills and the materials they already possess. Teach them to be aware of what's happening in the world, know that their small neighborhood is connected to the city, the county, the state. Show them that every action is like a stone dropped in a pond, starting a ripple effect that moves outward in ever-growing circles.

Meanwhile, I'll go buy the liquid pectin I need for making orange marmalade. It won't change the world, but it'll feed my family. Today, that's a good start.

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Looking ahead: Challenges and growth

I enjoy reading Problogger Blog Tips. I'm an amateur, not a professional, but Darren's advice is applicable to creating and maintaining a quality blog of any kind or size. Lately he's been taking the New Year's Resolution approach, looking ahead and asking questions. Questions are valuable: they inspire thought, creativity, and help focus goals in any field, not just blogging.

In a recent post he asked: "As you look at your blog and the year ahead:

• What is it that you feel is holding you back?
• What problems do you face?
• What questions do you have that you can’t get passed (sic)?
• What issues do you keep coming up against that just hold you back?"

Here are the answers (the questions?), tentative though they might be, in terms of Compost Happens.

Holding me back: Time, reluctance to network in person Problems? Time, lack of HTML knowledge

Questions I can't get past: I have a vision for a new edition of Compost Happens. It includes the main blog and the poetry site (A Mother's Garden of Verses), and would expand to include a review (and potentially affiliate) page. The roadblocks (questions and issues, together) are as follows.

1. I envision these not as separate blogs, but separate pages within one blog. This means major changes.
2. Chuck is considering buying his own domain name and setting up his page on a new hosting provider. Right now he's established his page as a guest on a friend's site. Moving to his own space and combining with Compost Happens would potentially help increase the visibility of his site and mine.
3. Would I lose the visibility I have now? I'd have to change the link in any directories that include me. That's a lot of work, and a lot of (gasp) time.
4. I've blogged under the pseudonym Daisy for years. Will the change identify me, causing potential risk to the family in any way?
5. Do I need to attend blogging conferences? I keep wishing Blissdom would be held outside the school year (I'm a public school teacher). It sounds like an excellent conference for a blogger of my (smaller) stature, where BlogHer remains somewhat intimidating in cost and in size.

These questions have no simple answers. If I want to expand the Compost Happens world, I need to make an investment in time and money. If I plan it well, though, it will happen. One step at a time, I can focus my sites on my site and clarify my insights. Meanwhile, I think I'll pour a cup of coffee and have a leftover Christmas cookie or two.

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What is Compost Happens all about? My elevator pitch in rough draft

Who am I? I'm Daisy, and this is my blog. I write it, I maintain it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Once in a while, I make changes. Unless we're professional bloggers by trade (and some are), any of us in the blogsphere will change what we can and spend time within reason to keep our blogs unique and good quality.

Last summer the buzz for bloggers included creating an elevator pitch. For example, if you were in an elevator at the BlogHer conference and you had to quickly describe your blog, what would you say? Here's my first attempt:


Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part eco-consciousness. It chronicles my home life, teaching life, coffee, garden, .... oh, darn it, this is getting too wordy.

Okay, here goes again.

Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I'm Daisy, and I'm the groundskeeper here. I take care of family, garden, and coffee, when I'm not teaching and doing laundry.


That's a little better, but it's still a rough draft. Should I mention A Mother's Garden of Verses or Mid-Century Modern Moms? Maybe. Now I'm thinking and revising, and that can only lead to positive changes.

Any changes, however, need to retain the integrity of the blog. Reviews, for example. The FCC is now regulating bloggers' reviews, calling for clear disclosure of donated items and paid posts. Frankly, BlogHer ads have always required that kind of disclosure; it's not new. Mothertalk/ MomCentral, unfortunately, is getting some negative exposure. I commented on a post related to integrity of reviews, and the emails came flooding in.

When I posted an honest review of James Patterson's Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Mothertalk quoted a select few lines that made my post sound neutral, if not positive.
When I reviewed Return to Sullivan's Island, I was again honest. Mothertalk asked me to change the review. I modified a few lines, but I could not make the book sound good. It just wasn't. In fact, the first Sullivan's Island was so much better I wondered if the author had really written the sequel.
Since then, I've been blocked from doing further book reviews.

Mothertalk/ MomCentral doesn't seem to get it. Glowing sugar-coated reviews are not credible. If I encourage people to read a book, it'll be worth their time. I'm a teacher, published in professional journals, a teacher of reading and writing, an educated reviewer. By telling me to change a review or not post it, they compromise their site's integrity.

Frankly, I don't plan to compromise mine.

Compost Happens is a personal blog; part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I'm Daisy, and I'm the groundskeeper, taking care of family, garden, and coffee. I post honestly and straight from the heart. Count on it.

Like it or not.

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Daily Goals in Lists of Threes

The Daily Three philosophy fits nicely into my Action goal for 2009. This process limits planning to a managable amount. The to-do-list stays short, provides focus.

It's quite simple. Several plurk buddies have picked up the habit of announcing a list of three goals each morning. As they accomplish each goal on the list, they post the news on plurk. Here are a few examples from my lists of three.


3 goals: grocery shopping, go to bookstore, thoroughly check garden for ripe peas!

This list came up right after vacation. I'd been gone for a week, the refrigerator resembled Mother Hubbard's cupboard, and the garden had grown quite a bit in my absence. The bookstore run: well, I never need an excuse for a bookstore visit. Really.


3 goals: post office, harvest lettuce, catch up on Time Magazines.


Post office is often on my list because I list books through Paperbackswap.com. On this particular day, I had six books to mail. Lettuce is on the list for bunnies and people; salad with supper tonight, bunny food at bedtime. I cut it back to the roots and it grows again. Time Magazine: I like to catch up before the news is old, but even so, I will get a little more depth on the stories I read in the newspaper or saw on CNN.


Setting goals is also useful when I'm feeling lazy, but can't afford to waste the day. Here's a recent set:


1- plan decent supper 2 - go to school 3 - start laundry.


I specified goals for working in my classroom, too: basic hallway decor, posters, science kits. I want the room to look good, look welcoming in case kids wander through the hallways early. When the room appears ready, I can focus on actual planning and preparation.


One of the best elements of the Three Goal plan is the focus, the prioritizing. There's much more to do in a day than these three items, but this reduces the overwhelming feeling of "There's too much to accomplish! I can't get it done!" Checking off each major item brings a great feeling of accomplishment. When the main three are completed, anything else feels like a bonus.

Now: off to school to get a little more work done toward Open House tomorrow night!!

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Going Greener and Greener

Action is my Word of the Year. That's one reason I signed up for Going Green Today. They send one easy action to my email every day to help me increase my Green Living habits. Green? you may be thinking, "Daisy, you're about as green as they come!" You'll never mistake me for Elphaba from Wicked, but yes, I'm very eco-conscious. I did notice, however, that as I filled out my daily Go Green sheet the one point activities were easy; the four pointers were harder. Some were hard because I'd already done them, but some just took a little more effort.


Going Green recently offered bloggers and writers a one-time free membership with no strings attached (they didn't ask for this post, by the way), so I jumped at the chance. I was already following them on Twitter and enjoying their general tips. The daily tips that now arrive in my inbox are more specific. They're part of a personal plan based on a survey I took when I signed up. The plan is of a chosen length (I picked 30 days) and takes into consideration my personal habits and needs. They won't, for example, suggest I start a compost pile or take my own bags to the store. I already do both of those.


My suggested action today was this: ** Going to the Market **

Depending on where you live, farmer's markets can range from year-long to primarily during the summer months. Finding these gems can be a fun event for
the whole family and a great way to get to know the people who care for the food
you eat.

My local market will start soon, but not soon enough. I'd go today if it were open! Part of our plan for our anniversary trip is a visit to the ultimate market: Pike Place Market in Seattle. I'm sure I'll envy Seattle residents their market. In fact, I think Husband is a little nervous that I might decide we need to move there.


But back to my word, Action: Going Green Today is a good fit for my goals. I think it'll be a good fit for many of my eco-conscious readers.

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Pandemic Preparedness without panic

I can't prevent swine flu, or any other illness for that matter.
We have travel plans for the summer, Amigo has summer school/camp plans, and La Petite will be hopping on a plane for Italy in mid-May.
We're not canceling anything.
We can, in the good Girl Scout way, Be Prepared.
If Amigo becomes ill, we'll bring him home and isolate him. Swine flu hadn't reached Italy yet last time I checked, and no cases had been confirmed in my area - yet. La Petite's trip should be relatively uneventful. Our own trip is still in the planning stages: we might be wise to check cancellation policies on everything from Amtrak to hotels to flights.

In the meantime, I just went over the informational newsletter for Public Health volunteers. Most is consistent with the publicity in the newspapers and online. Stock up, take basic precautions to prevent germ spreading, etc.

Store a two-week supply of food. Okay, consider it done.
Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. No preparation or cooking? Nothing spoil-prone, I get that point. But no cooking? Are we expecting the power to go out, too?
Plan for your pets as well. Done. I usually buy two bags of rabbit pellets and hay whenever I stock up. Their main food is hay, green veggies next, and pellets last. If we run out of fresh foods (and the neighbor's dandelions are all eaten by the wild ones), our bunnies can eat pellets. They'll be fine.
Store a two-week supply of water, 1 gallon of water per person per day, in clean plastic containers. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. This makes sense if there's a hurricane or ice storm on the way, but a pandemic? Will swine flu prevent our water system from working? If worst comes to worst, I could boil what's in the rain barrel. Oh, wait, that would require cooking and preparation (see above).

After sifting through the advice and visiting the Red Cross disaster preparedness site, here's my plan:
Keep the pantry stocked. We keep a fair supply of canned and jarred food (and coffee, of course) along with basic baking goods. I can make everything from a chili to bread to a fruit cobbler with the contents of our pantry.
Water? I won't store any extra. We keep plenty around the house in one form or another.
Keep bunny litter and food handy.
Stock up on firewood in case of....in case...oh, what the heck, just stock up on firewood.
Plant a garden! Fresh food! Little or no preparation! Bunny food, too! Now there's motivation to start planting!

Can anyone answer my questions above? Would basic utilities be at risk in a pandemic? In 1918, the last killer pandemic flu, did the water supply get interrupted? Electricity? Gas? What do you think, knowledgeable readers?

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When the going gets tough, teachers get tougher.

This is the longest stretch in the year for teachers and students alike. From January until early April, we have no meaningful breaks. The weather stinks. It's either indoor recess for bitter cold or damp and mucky playground because it's too warm. Behavior takes a downturn and gets worse, not better, until spring is in the air for real. First semester report cards go home, March parent-teacher conferences happen, and all is not well with the world.
I dread Monday mornings. I learned not to expect my class to have a successful Silent Sustained Reading on Monday mornings - for a number of reasons. My class usually learns keyboarding in the computer lab on Monday mornings, but that's getting less and less successful, too. Last week the time that should have been 30 minutes of keyboarding ended up being less than 15, with me spending most of that time straightening out keyboard covers so they couldn't cheat and redirecting kids who were distracted....over and over and over.
I reached for my goal word for the year and took action.
We will no longer go to the lab on Mondays. I will keep that time reserved for my class, but we won't go back until they earn it. They need to learn keyboarding, it's in our curriculum, but not on Monday mornings. I've added a lab time midweek when their attention is usually better focused.
I predict a bit of shock on their parts. I hope for a little positive peer pressure from those who do behave well. If they refuse to pay attention to those misbehaving, it may help. When they can successfully complete a Monday morning keyboarding session, the reward will be Monday morning Free Time in the lab.
It'll take a while, but at least I feel like I've taken action.

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Action assessment

Action. I chose this for my Word of 2009 because I'm good at thinking, I'm good at espressing my ideas, but when it comes to implementation, many times I back off or freeze. One month into the year, how is Action coming along?

I realized that action doesn't always have to mean activity. I took two sick days last week to see a doctor, rest, and heal. The action involved meant putting in for sick days, writing sub plans, and mentally letting go of my class for a couple of days. That's easier said than done, made a little more accessible because my sub was a retired teacher from my building who knew my students well. I was sick enough not to mind if he couldn't make it, but very, very relieved when I found out he could.

Action meant setting aside anything optional and focusing on the most important impending deadlines. Action meant instead of agonizing over time missed at school, I filled the vaporizer and slept on the couch to breathe in its moist air. Instead of jumping up to answer the telephone in mid-nap, I took my hearing aids out and let the answering machine screen all calls. Action meant that I actively pushed fluids, ate oranges and grapefruit, and didn't feel guilt for not cleaning the house since I was home all day.

Action is beginning to mean choosing the actions, making my choices fit the time and fit the priorities in my life, whether home or work.

As for a goal word in the coming year, I think Action is going to be good for me.

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Action!

That's the word.
Thought, creativity, ideas: those are the easy parts. Taking a deep breath and putting the ideas into action is much, much harder. That's what I need to do.
I was reading a column on Work it Mom about doing a closet "cleanse." There are several ways to approach this, and my closet needs a major cleanse. So does Amigo's. La Petite's probably does, too, but none of the others matter in the Action goal: just mine. Action means I'll choose a plan for cleaning the closet, purging it of clothes I no longer wear, and organizing what's left. When? I don't know, but that's just one example.
We had a surprise (sort of) day off from school a few days ago, and I took part of the day to clean the kitchen, and I mean really cleaned it. Scrubbed the stove, cleaned a few refrigerator shelves, rearranged part of the tiny counter space to make snack baskets and phone chargers more accessible. I baked bread and then cleaned the breadmaker inside and out. I wish I had a cover for it so it wouldn't get so dusty - wait! Action! I used a pretty towel to cover it. It's a good temporary fix, a frugal choice (no $ spent), and it'll keep the breadmaker cleaner between uses.
I hope to have more days like this, days when I can take on a small project and finish it. Each time I take action on something at home or at school, I can feel successful.
So here goes, the word for 2009: Lights, Camera, Action!!

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