Let them be eaten by bears

Peter Brown Hoffmeister was a troubled teen who carried guns to high school in the 1990's.  His mother forbid video games, saying they would "dumb him down".  These were the days before Call of Duty and Halo and the like.  And although he got into many fights and was expelled from school, he never shot or wounded anyone with a weapon, even though he admittedly thought about it many times.  In fact he turned his life around, became a high school teacher and wrote a book titled Let Them Be Eaten By Bears, A Fearless Guide to Taking Our Kids Into The Great Outdoors.  He goes back to my favorite remedy for bringing young boys back from the brink in today's tough world of violence.  He is also the author of End of Boys, writes a sharp blog about related issues and for the Huffington Post.  Check him out.  

Art of Solitude

Why do we need solitude (and silence, which often accompanies it)?  We need it because solitude makes us more sensitive mothers.  Removing ourselves from constant stimulation and noise actually sharpens our sensitivity.  Also, solitude forces us to face ourselves.  In solitude we learn to like ourselves better because we are faced with our own company.  It helps us heal from old hurts so that we can be free to enjoy the present and it refreshes us in ways that the company of others can't.  Finally, solitude centers us and brings about a deep peace that cannot be achieved while staying immersed in either the good noise of friends and family or the awful noise of raucous media.  We must retreat into quiet aloneness so that we learn to be the women we were meant to be.  

-Meg Meeker, MD

Happy

What is the science behind our happiness?  See how people all over the world experience happiness.  The more that goes around, the better off we are.

Streaming on netflix.

See the trailer here

Boys Should Be Boys

On this still Saturday night I got a few blocks pieced together, listened to some country, and am ending with a chapter of another Meeker must.  Boys Should Be Boys is the answer to all those pressing questions about raising a son today.  She discusses the devaluation of masculinity, noxious pop culture and the divorce of children from their parents today.  And then she goes further... she tells us how to turn it around, how to get boys back to the forest, and dirty and running and jumping, and just growing up happy and healthy.  Ditch the ipads, video games, computers, the hyper-scheduling of extracurriculars, and just be together.  The more time spent engaged in activities apart from parents, the worse off they are.  This is demonstrated in the astronomical increase in ADHD and other learning disabilities among boys.  Go fishing, read aloud, chop wood, paint a fence, whatever, just do it together, because our boys need it.  Oh and one more thing, they need a father.  More than anything in this world, they need a man to lead them from infancy to adulthood, and to set an example of how to be a strong, caring man who is in touch with himself and with his world.  A son is his father's apprentice.  

Read about it here.

Meeker on 10 Habits of Happy Mothers

On my eternal quest for simplicity, my husband found a great book for me.  I wasn't too keen on the title, one of the billions of self-help titles that I avoid at the bookstore.  Surprisingly, it's been a refreshing reprieve from the medical journals and texts I traditionally put first, and brought me back to the roots of what makes us happy as women.  Meg Meeker is a pediatrician, and gives a great spin on motherhood, career and keeping life simple.  She addresses the importance of friendships, our extended tribe of women, and prioritizing who and what comes in and out of our lives in this age of acceleration. Two thumbs up!  Other titles by Meeker: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and Boys Should be Boys.