{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

I was hanging laundry and heard a loud noise behind me. Realized it was the bees in the asparagus! They can’t get enough of those little flowers.

All would be fabulous in the garden if it weren’t for the rabbits. You’d think with a dog and a mostly feral cat (he kills an average of four squirrels a week!), we’d be good. But no.

I need a fence. Or rather, fences. The squashes are getting ravaged, the lettuce is a mere shadow of its former self. If they touch my beans…

On to our links!


This post about this little girl with many special needs (including Chiari Malformation, which Bridget also had, without Clare’s other issues) has two features to recommend it: 1. Clare’s cheerful smile, and 2. good tips on how to help a family of a child who needs extended medical care. Even with my limited experience, I can attest to how exhausting it is to be at the hospital that is almost certainly not close to home — how hungry you get, how anxious, how sleep-deprived.


A super-fun activity for kids: build your own epic marble-run! Is it raining where you are? Is it winter for our down-under readers? Kids just need a project? DO THIS.


While you are sitting by the pool, sipping your iced beverage, you can be thinking educational thoughts — that is, thoughts about education. Just as we need Sunday to gain perspective over the works of the weekdays, raising our eyes beyond the horizon long enough to see who we are and why we are working so hard, so we need a break from school to think about what our goals are. This short essay by Joseph Pearce can give us some criteria about the kind of education we want for our children. Obviously, we want to read “Great Books” — but a “Great Books Curriculum” might not be the best kind of education there is.

“The Great Conversation adds the gravity of Tradition to the study of the Great Books, allowing the ancients into the conversation with their modern counterparts, thereby enfranchising all generations, born and unborn, into the convivial communion of the Great Conversation that continually animates the life of civilized man.”

This article by Anne Maloney is a must read. We refuse to teach our children self control, we refuse to protect them, and then we wonder why they are so wounded. (Perhaps we are wounded too, living as we are with a “legacy” of libertine living.)


An interesting study on the effect of telling a woman that her baby is “too big.”

“In summary, we found that while only 20% of women with SLBs [Suspected Large Babies] go on to have a baby weighing 4,000 grams or more, the suspicion of a large baby is independently associated with greater use of perinatal interventions that are currently not indicated for fetal macrosomia and may themselves confer unnecessary risks to women and their neonates. Maternity providers may not be aware of the impact of communicating fetal size concerns to patients on their perceptions about the likely course of labor and delivery and the need for certain perinatal interventions. Future studies are needed to review current policies and practices surrounding clinical management of pregnancies with suspected large babies, which will hopefully lead to the development of guidelines that ensure that women with SLBs experience care that reflects the best current evidence and standards.” [emphasis mine] [editor’s comment: how about doing our best to encourage a woman to trust that her body was made for this job and it’s very unlikely — statistically speaking — that she will need drastic intervention to birth her child.]


From the archives:


For Independence Day, make this day about more than flag-themed desserts — we need to teach our children what we are celebrating! Practical civics through partying!


Related to the Anne Maloney piece, above: What C. S. Lewis made me think about.



And this: Standards and solidarity: Ten ways to give your child the gift of purity.


~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~


Follow us on Twitter.
Like us on Facebook.

Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Bridget’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Blog: Corner Art Studio.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.

The post {bits & pieces} appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.