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You don’t have to live in Los Angeles to read this informative blog – Good Reads with Ronna. Ronna Mandel is an Associate Editor with LA Parent Magazine, and her blog is part of the LA Parent website. What I like about this book review blog is that the reviews are so thorough and well-written, you can really sink your teeth into them. There’s no hype, just great, useful info. You’ll know right away if the book being reviewed is perfect for your child or not. Some of the reviews are from guest reviewers, and there are plenty of photos of the books and children reading them.

Ronna’s even looking for some guest reviewers to help her out with the big stack of books she has waiting to be reviewed. So check out the blog, and if you do live in LA, you’ll want to read the rest of this website too for anything and everything parenting in LA.

6 -year-old Lillie, reporter from www.wanderingeducators.com reviewed Lilly Badilly today, and we are celebrating here at Smart Poodle! Please check it out.

“One of my very favorite books, EVER, is called The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica (and not only because we share the same name).”

Take a few minutes to browse around the Wandering Educators website too. There is a ton of great info there if you are going to travel, thinking about traveling, are wondering about the world or wandering about the world!

Happy President’s Day!

The third Monday of February is Presidents Day in the USA. It started with a celebration of George Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1732, and now it is a celebration of all the Presidents of the US.

Most children do not have school on this day. And if you work for a bank, school or government office, you do not have to work either. Yeah! In addition to enjoying your day off with your family, take this opportunity to learn, with your children, about one or more US presidents (great and not-so-great!). Ask your children to pick one or two past Presidents and see what you can learn. Make sure to find out where he was born so you can find that place on the US map.

The streets in my town are named after Presidents. One of the lesser-known presidents has Pierce Street named after him, so I did a little research to learn more about him. After all, he has a street named after him in my town, so shouldn’t I know a little something about him?

Franklin Pierce

• 14th US President (served from 1853-1857)
• At the time he was 49, the youngest President to be elected
• Political Party – Democrat
• Born 1804 in NH
• Died in 1869
• Education – Bowdoin College (studied law and graduated in 1824)
• Wife – Jane Means Appleton
• 3 Sons – 2 died at birth and the other died at age 11
• Former First Lady Barbara Pierce Bush is a descendant of Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce had a long political career, serving in the House and the Senate before becoming President.He was also a General in the Mexican-American War. During his presidency, he lived with great personal tragedy, as he and his wife, Jane, lost their first 2 sons at birth. Their 3rd son was killed in a train accident at age 11. Jane was understandably in a terrible state following his death, and was said to have never recovered from the tragedy.

Pierce ‘s presidency was best known for the passing of the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, a bill introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas. Essentially it allowed the new territories to choose slavery (or not) for themselves, overturning the 1820 Missouri Compromise (which regulated slavery). The Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in massive protesting and turmoil for Pierce. The ramifications changed history, as some outraged Democrats bonded with Whigs and others to create the Republican Party.

Pierce was unable to obtain a nomination by his party for a second presidential term. He was believed by many to be a “weak” President and was succeeded by fellow Democrat, James Buchanan.

Reference: The Reader’s companion to the American Presidency. 2000. Edited by Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer.

A while back, Kristina Daniele from www.momontherise.com reviewed Lilly Badilly, and we have stayed in touch. Recently she became the Chief Editor of Yonkerskids.com, part of the US Family Guide network. If you are not familiar with this guide, you’ve got to check it out! With over 400 web sites reaching parents in all states, major cities, www.usfamilyguide.com is America’s Family Network. This network provides a feature packed, customized system reaching millions of parents at a very low cost. On the site you’ll find coupons for just about everything, specific community info for parents, extensive travel info, camp guides, birthday party ideas, restaurants for kids, national attractions and a ton more.

While Yonkerskids.com is a local guide for the Lower Westchester, NY area, businesses can choose to market their product nationally by choosing to advertise in any number of other sites within the network. If you do online business, this is a great way to increase visibility for your products and services.

Kristina explained, “As an Editor, I regularly review businesses and services to include on the site. Not only will parents have access to your business, they will receive a review of your business from a Parent, Educator, and Marketing Professional.”

When it comes to parenting, no one can help you out more than Kristina! Please contact her at yonkersfamilyguide@gmail.com or call her at 914-613-3243 for more information. You may also follow her on twitter.

And if you just want to sign up on the site, please click here and Enter the referral code: YONK for special savings and discounts.

So many of you have written to me to complain about your winter weather. It got me thinking about what it would be like to live up north and just long for spring.  That’s when I decided to look back at all the photos I took this year of flowers, from Florida to Canada and everywhere in between. If you do not have spring-like weather where you live, now you can just imagine you do.

In the business of publishing, many letters go out, emails get sent and phone calls get made. But where is everybody? Has the world disappeared?

I respond to people who have left me messages and do not even hear back from them. EVER.  Where did they go???????

No  matter what reason people have for not returning messages, I, for one, will not be that rude. Yes, there are extenuating circumstances that make it impossible to get back to people. (i.e. sudden and instant death, loss of fingers or other emergencies), but I don’t think that can be the case with more than 99% of the population.

This brings me to the subject of manners. I receive tons of emails from people who want something from me. They want to sell me something, have me do them a favor, publish their books, give them a recipe, provide moral support, and much more. I ANSWER ALL OF THESE. Sometimes it just takes one sentence. People cannot say that author Glade or anyone at Smart Poodle Publishing is rude.

My sister, Shelley (older than me – just had to mention that) is a successful marketing expert. Her company is called Airlift Ideas. She ALWAYS returns phone calls. In fact, she somehow manages to return my calls before I have even finished recording the message on her machine. Maybe that is why companies like to work with her and find out how they can improve their own images and successfully market their brands. They can be sure she’ll not only be there when needed, but also get the job done well.  Check out her website. (She does not dress in millipede costume or speak in cartoon voices, but she does a fabulous presentation.)

Okay, back to manners. Teach your kids to have them. Not only should they say “thank you,” respect adults, clean up after themselves and hold doors open for people, but they also should respond. If a friend calls, call that friend back. If a question is asked, answer it. If a promise is made, keep it. It’s not that hard.

And don’t you want your children to be reliable and well respected? Trust me, it’ll pay off some day if they are. In a major big way.

There’s nothing like a gift basket to celebrate a special holiday. Kids especially love a themed basket, and it does not have to be expensive to put together.

There’s no need to spend $ on your container. Use what you’ve got around the house! Here are some ideas:

• Take an old basket and give it new life with spray paint or just some red and white ribbons
• Wrap a small cardboard box in colorful wrapping paper with hearts on it
• Fill a big (clean of course!) red bucket with goodies
• Use a beach pail
• Use a giant red gift bag (maybe from Christmas!) You can sponge some white hearts on it with paint
• Fill a big tin you already have

Here are some ideas for items for your basket:

• A handmade card with a heart cutout
• Separate little notes, “I love you because…” each with a different reason why you love your child
• Heart shaped candies/chocolates/cookies
• Lollipops
• A book (about love of course!)
• Items to make Valentine crafts (stickers, papers, doilies, card stock, crayons, markers, etc)
• A small stuffed animal (red or pink)
• Puzzle books
• Travel size games
• Superballs
• Baseball
• Bubbles
• Marbles
• Sidewalk chalk
• Red or pink socks!
• Pencils (with hearts on them, of course)
• Red t-shirt
• Valentine PJs
• DVD/Movie Gift Certificate
• CD

Want to make it really fun for your kids? Hide their baskets and then give them clues about where they are.  Another great idea is to put the basket next to their beds after they’ve gone to sleep, so they’re the first thing they see when they get out of bed.

P.S. I got this cute free clip art from kaboose.com

I have been trying desperately to get the word out about the lack of geography knowledge in our schools. Please join me in the fight to ensure all American students get a well-rounded education!

Wandering Educators is a fabulous site to explore. You’ll love the wide variety of info and the unique writing styles.

Click here to read the article.

When I visit middle schools, I talk to the students about regrets in the hopes that I get through to at least one child per school. I tell them that I regret not working hard enough when I was a student, and that I have no one but myself to blame for that. I tell them that by working hard they will increase their opportunities by leaps and bounds. Colleges do not accept students based on their natural born intelligence. They want to see what they have accomplished academically and otherwise. A person can perform well on standardized tests and have mediocre grades. He or she will then be up against those students who test well and have excellent grades. It’s no fun realizing you’ve miss out on opportunities.

The truth is that everyone unavoidably regrets something. And though it isn’t really productive to regret your past, it can be positive if it motivates you to make changes now to improve your future. From my perspective it seems that adults regret the things they did not do, more than the things they did.  The most common regrets for things people did not do are: 1) “I did not really apply myself in school.” 2) “I wish I had never quit ____________ (fill in the blank i.e. going to college, playing piano, taking swimming lessons, painting, writing, etc.)

The things I hear that people regret doing are 1) “I wish I never started to smoke, drink or do drugs.” 2) “I wish I never married ______.” 3) I wish I never said ___________ to _____________.”

My Grandpa Joe (who was the inspiration for the character Grandpa Willie in my book) used to drive me crazy with his regrets. He was a brilliant man, but so cautious that he would never take any risks. He’d sit in front of the TV for hours watching the stock ticker across the bottom of the screen, and make comments about how he should have bought this or that stock or sold this or that stock. I vowed to never do that myself, and I haven’t.

So how can we make sure our kids do not make the same mistakes we made at their age?

First of all, everyone will make mistakes. It is part of life and learning. Secondly, we cannot make our children do things differently.

But we can encourage them to take the right direction.

1. Be honest with your children about things you would have done differently at their age. My own daughter has heard me say, many times, I disappointed my own self by not applying myself in school. Luckily she will not have this regret, as she is an excellent student and completely self-motivated. And she won’t ever say she did not practice piano enough as a child, because she has been playing as much as possible since age 6.
2. Don’t lie to your kids about your past, because they will eventually figure out the truth. If you were a wild teen who drank, smoked and skipped school, it is not wise to tell your children that you were a perfect angel and expect them to act the same as you.
3. Forcing practice of a craft, sport, musical instrument, etc will lead to resentment. You cannot make your children want to excel at something.
4. Scheduling every minute of your kids’ lives so they will stay out of trouble or excel at something will also backfire. Your children will see this as punishment and will quit the first chance they get.
5. Set a good example. Let your children observe your excellent work ethic, determination and moral behavior. If you do not normally follow through, don’t expect them to either. If you smoke 2 packs of cigs per day, don’t be shocked if they smoke too. If you often fight with your spouse in front of the kids, expect them to turn out to be yellers as well.

As parents, it is natural to want our kids to have better lives than we had. We cannot expect perfection, but we can always hope for the best. The last thing you want to regret is that you regretted too many things.