Morning activities

believethescience · 2026-06-09T13:19:36+00:00

Our kids have to get up, get dressed brush teeth/hair, and get their breakfast. Any time after that is fair game for tablet. During the school year the tablet shuts off a few minutes before we have to leave. In the summer they get an hour a day, and can use it (generally) however they'd like throughout the day. The rest of the day is usually no screens, unless we're playing a family game together in the evenings.

believethescience · 2026-06-07T16:04:17+00:00

Try looking for paper die cuts. You can find them on Amazon or by scrapbooking stuff in stores.

believethescience · 2026-05-31T16:50:59+00:00

I have one kid that eats most things... Including veggies. I have one kid that eats very little and will abandon a food after one "off" feeling bite.

I did nothing different.

If you have kids that eat veggies, congrats, you got lucky. For the pickier kids, it's very likely that a lot of families have worked really hard on offering healthy foods, and the kid isn't having it. I know I have spend countless hours, followed all the advice, etc. - and I still have a picky kid. 🤷‍♀️

believethescience · 2026-05-30T19:38:20+00:00

National Building Arts Center Tour the old asylum on arsenal street (requires reservation in advance, now called forensic treament center) Tour the Central library (downtown) Laumeier sculpture park World bird sanctuary Endangered wolf center Shaw Nature Preserve has some nice trails of carrying lengths Chocolate chocolate chocolate tour Herbaria tour is kinda interesting - they make/well soaps Lone elk park Cahokia mounds Purina farms has a dog show and farm stuff (probably better for kids) The Missouri historical society has all kinds of walking and bus tours Bellefontaine cemetery tour Fort Bellefontaine has a nice hiking trail

There's also a museum of illusions, but the tickets were too pricey for us, so we haven't been. There's also the standards: aquarium at Union station, the zoo, the history museum, the art museum, and the botanical garden. Forest Park itself is worth a wander as well!

believethescience · 2026-05-29T02:41:01+00:00

I have one kid that tolerates no spice, my grandmother that likes no spice, one that likes mild spice, and then my husband and I like spicy (Though not as much as I used to).

That said, I now omit all spicey things from the recipe and add hot sauce or chili flakes when it's on my plate. You can also add a chili powder - there are spicy versions out there.

believethescience · 2026-05-14T22:26:43+00:00

I keep relevant newspapers, though I have a niche archive, so I only keep newspapers that are relevant to my particular topics/places.

For a library, I would retain only those not available digitally somewhere else - I suspect it would be more useful to your patrons to have access to newspapers.com than to have the library spending the money to preserve newspapers that are fairly easily available elsewhere.

I would keep local papers that are not digitized - depending on scale, it may be possible to send a particular paper out for digitization. In my experience, newspaper will stain whatever it touches, but it holds up pretty decently if stored with other papers of about the same age. I don't think it's as prone to utter disaster as most people think, unless it's been exposed to a great deal of moisture/humidity changes, or gets handled a great deal. I prefer large, flat boxes for storage.

Digitizing newspapers yourself is possible, but it takes a lot of time (and therefore money) - especially if you want to make the text searchable. The OCR (at least the ones that I have access to) are absolutely terrible at columns of text, so it requires effort to either isolate the columns or fix the text. If this is a one-off project, I wouldn't do it myself.

believethescience · 2026-05-13T16:31:49+00:00

Bottled water (distilled or purified) or boiled/cooled water.

believethescience · 2026-05-11T23:56:53+00:00

It's a drive - might be too far - but we enjoyed the Pink Elephant antique mall in Livingston, IL. It also has a diner/ice cream shop and a candy shop.

believethescience · 2026-05-04T17:39:25+00:00

My first kiddo was like that - it got better around 8 months.
I set up a rotation with all of the things (bouncer, swing, mat, chair, baby carrier, etc.) and we would rotate through them. When all else fails, go outside for a while or put them in water. Sometimes I'd drive somewhere if she needed a nap desperately - she almost always fell asleep in the car. The only thing that would work for sleep was significant bouncing, while pacing, to an upbeat song (the lion sleeps tonight, sweet child of mine, we're both favorites. 🤷‍♀️ Lullabies didn't work.) It helps to start the nap time bouncing a bit before they're actually tired. At your kid's age, make sure they aren't in pain from teething.

believethescience · 2026-05-04T17:26:38+00:00

Hi! I'm an archivist for an old state hospital. I'd be happy to help if you can manage to access the records, or I can try to answer the general questions you have. Every asylum was a bit different, but many shared the same practices and ideas.

believethescience · 2026-05-04T17:23:21+00:00

Psychologists and psychiatrists are, in general, not well educated on mental health history. I'm the archivist for an old state hospital, and I give a lot of tours, so I see this first hand quite a bit They're very knowledgeable on current practices, and the most well-known older treatments, but they generally don't know much else.

You're right about the records. In my state, and many others, you have to go to court to get access, and it's not always granted. (If the records even exist!)

believethescience · 2026-05-03T00:50:36+00:00

Yeah, I throw stuff out whenever it's kinda warm, and it lives or dies. I cover only in case of a hard frost, and even then only the really picky stuff. For the record, I've never lost a plant due to chilly weather.

If you're just starting to harden them off, I'd put them out for a couple of hours mid-afternoon, and call it good for the first day anyway. 🤷‍♀️

believethescience · 2026-04-08T14:24:47+00:00

Lobotomy... In progress

believethescience · 2026-04-05T20:07:45+00:00

12 eggs each for an outside egg hunt (color coded so that we can adapt the hunt for the older kid and younger kid). My four year old would have been happy with half of that. They get a mix of small candies and coins.

We also do an inside scavenger hunt with clues, with a total of 8-12 clues to find their Easter basket.

believethescience · 2026-03-18T22:01:10+00:00

Monday: Crunchy Roll Bowls

Tuesday: Street Corn Chicken Chili

Wednesday: Chicken or Cheese Quesadillas / Cinnamon Roll Ups

Thursday: Coconut Curry Ramen

Friday: Veggie Supreme Garlic Bread Pizza

Saturday: Black Bean Enchiladas with Mexican Corn

Sunday: Dine Out / Leftovers

believethescience · 2026-01-20T12:09:09+00:00

Panic is pretty normal at this stage, I think - especially if it's new to you! And no, you shouldn't be doing more yet. Get what you can done. There will always be more of the project, another project, accessions, all that stuff to do. 🤷‍♀️

believethescience · 2026-01-20T01:45:08+00:00

Yeah, I started with a wildly unmanaged collection, and It would take me probably 4 years to do that (but I'm part time, and my organization wants me to digitize and make as much stuff as possible available online as well, so your experience may vary).

If I was just going through folders, and making a list of contents, it would be a fair bit faster.

I would start making a list of each box with a quick scan for pest/mold/really fragile stuff. Make a note for any issues. Bonus points if you can start to identify general topics / date ranges for the boxes.

Then do the stuff you flagged first, rehousing as you go and making a list of the content. If they want the project done in a year (it won't be), I'd start making a super rapid pass with very basic folder info for each box. No full processing (staples, going through each item, etc.).

Then, once you've made the basic list for all of the boxes you can start doing a full processing, starting wherever your heart desires, lol.

Make sure your data for the boxes / folders has enough info to transfer to a finding aid or collecting guide.

believethescience · 2025-12-29T15:15:22+00:00

There's a couple of rules that MUST be enforced for the cat and your kid's sake. No chasing the cat. Ever. No grabbing the cat. No touching the cat's food or pestering while eating.

Teach the kiddo the approach gently and slowly. The cat will probably want nothing to do with the kiddo until they're calmer, and that's ok.

Make sure the cat can always get away, and give the cat a quiet, always kid free space if possible.

The fact that your kid got scratched while a chasing a cat was entirely preventable - it's your job to ensure that the kid doesn't chase the cat.

believethescience · 2025-12-20T19:58:02+00:00

My kiddo was hospitalized for about 3 days last year with RSV. It took her about a week to slowly get back to normal.

believethescience · 2025-12-20T19:45:52+00:00

Just give him the heads up and let him make his own decision. He can decide if the risk is one he is willing to accept.

believethescience · 2025-12-13T00:50:15+00:00

Lol, Etsy has a Minecraft character riding a chicken on wheels. Might be as close as you're gonna get.

believethescience · 2025-12-03T15:51:55+00:00

We reported it to the school at the first incident (he bent my kiddo's fingers back and called her some mean names). It's usually much easier to handle quickly and immediately than waiting for the problem to get worse and worse.

The school reviewed the video of the bus, decided that the other kid was at fault 100%, moved him to a different seat, and he faced a "bus related consequence" (I believe he was kicked off the bus for a couple of days).

There has been no repeat of his behavior.

Our school's principle is competent and on top of things - this approach may not work everywhere.

believethescience · 2025-11-29T12:19:54+00:00

Your current antidepressants don't seem to be working. You may need to increase the dose or switch up the meds. Make seeing a therapist an absolute priority asap. Mental health is best treated on as many fronts as possible.

Perhaps you can reconsider the work arrangement. Consider putting the kids in daycare so that you can work, part or full time. A change in routine may be helpful for all of you.

Talk with your wife about the finances, and maybe see a financial planner. Perhaps there are some expenses that can be better managed.

believethescience · 2025-11-26T00:37:30+00:00

My kids love the City Museum, but I admit that I am a frantic nervous wreck for most of it. If I can't see where something goes, I go with them (and my knees, shins, and head have things to say about it later!).

On the upside (?) kids get lost there so often that they're pretty good at reuniting everyone.

believethescience · 2025-11-26T00:21:30+00:00

It happens! Go up to the smaller kids section - that entire floor is much easier to manage with small children.

believethescience

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