When D and I visited Cape Cod, we took a harbor tour in Hyannis, MA, and saw the Kennedy Compound — it’s the clump of famous white vacation homes, on the right-side of the photo. This is the closest we could get.

Our Boston Series:

Happy Independence Day
Mom and Daughter Trip to Boston
Passing the Torch – On Cranberry Pond
B&B Review
Bed and Breakfast Review
Biking on Cape Cod
Whale Watching
Reading Little Women
Salem, MA Wrought Iron
Plimoth Plantation
Boardwalk to Cape Cod
Low-Tide Islands of Oysters and Mud

More Wordless Wednesday posts here.

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As parents, we spend a lot of time loving, guiding, redirecting and reinforcing. But we don’t always recognize the importance of empowering. Small acts of empowerment can easily become a part of our parenting routine. Asking a child to choose his or her own outfit, chore, or restaurant meal, can take more time, with unknown results, but each experience gives children just a little more confidence about making their own choices in the future.

This week for Pass the Torch Tuesday, I wrote about my ten-year-old daughter’s social entrepreneur project. She’s started a Bookworm Wednesday club for the neighborhood children, and I think her strength in initiating it is partly the result of the empowerment she’s experienced along the way.

So although it may not feel comfortable to allow a two-year-old birthday girl to choose her own color frosting, consider what’s the worst that could happen?

Letting go of the reins – it works for me!

For more great tips, please visit Rocks in my Dryer.

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There are times in a parent’s life, when all she can do is sit back and watch her kids become who they’re destined to be.This has happened to me since moving to our new neighborhood. D’s truly found her stride. During the month before we moved (the painteverywallinthehouse phase) and while I was still coming to the realization of all the important stuff we didn’t have yet (internet, mailbox, bed), D consistently focused on the preparation for her neighborhood project — “Bookworm Wednesday.”

She sounds like the child of a blogger, doesn’t she?

Her vision was to make use of her shelves-full of books, to check out to neighborhood children weekly, and then read a book aloud while they were here. This would encourage kids to read and discover great stories, while participating in a weekly “club” of sorts.

While I loved the idea and was Popeye-heart-pumping proud of her for coming up with it, I’ve had a very hard time being of any assistance, since we’ve barely moved, began attending a new school, and started a new job.

One foot in front of the other. That’s about the extent of my focus these days.

But my lack of involvement didn’t deter her. She asked for startup money to purchase incentive items for the kids who were reading books, and I told her to write a grant proposal and that Empowering Youth would consider sponsoring her project. Here was her proposal:

August 6, 2007

Dear Kelly Curtis,
I would like to request a grant in the amount of $23.00 from Empowering Youth for “Book Worm Wednesday.” This will be used to purchase rewards such as (whatever Kara and I get). Check out and return will be weekly for ages 7-12, and monthly for ages 4-6. We have books in stock ready for use. We now need something for youth as a reward after reading a book to encourage young people to read more. I appreciate your consideration of this grant proposal.

Sincerely,

D

Well, she got the grant, and has now completed three Bookworm Wednesdays, with approximately ten children in attendance each week. She’s recruited two assistants, and they all work together to manage the program, recruit attendees, check out books, and walk younger children home.

I can’t describe my satisfaction as I sit at my computer, with the activities of Bookworm Wednesday buzzing behind me in the “library”. Nor can I possibly explain the rush I feel as I witness the small mob of children running down our street as I pull into the drive.

Must be Bookworm Wednesday.

BookWorm Wednesday Series:

A Teacher in the Making
A BookWorm Wednesday Halloween
BookWorm Wednesday Potion Recipe
Buy with Amazon and Donate to BookWorm Wednesday
BookWorm Wednesday Gets Some Press
My Daughter Won the Kohl’s Scholarship

You can pass the torch every week, by sharing simple and stupendous times kids make us proud, as well as the ways we see adults passing the torch. Just blog a story or share it in comments. My comment plugin will leave your link automatically. Former PTT posts. Complete Guidelines.

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Back in July, we spent a 90-degree afternoon on the coast outside of Salem, Massachusetts. The water was frigid, but it was fun to explore the low-tide peninsulas and islands that we knew would be reclaimed again by the ocean in a matter of hours.

Oyster shells covered the mud, making a firm path for walking. But it was still nimble ambling for my squeamish daughter.

Can you blame her?

Our Boston Series:

Happy Independence Day
Mom and Daughter Trip to Boston
Passing the Torch – On Cranberry Pond
B&B Review
Bed and Breakfast Review
Biking on Cape Cod
Whale Watching
Reading Little Women
Salem, MA Wrought Iron
Plimoth Plantation

More Wordless Wednesday posts here.

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Our family has never really had a handle on homework, mostly because we’ve never had a system for the backpacks. Every home we’ve lived in since our kids started school (yes, there have been FOUR), has lacked the kind of entryway that’s conducive to home-from-school organization. No mudroom. No lockers. No closet. No easy way to get any of the above.

But this school year, I vowed to start of on the right foot (you can still join me, by the way), and one strategy, was to cut through the backpack chaos.

Our solution? D and C hang their backpacks over their own chair at the kitchen counter. And as soon as the backpack’s on the chair, and they’re getting a snack, I go through the backpacks to pull out what stays at home, sign papers, and get a handle on the homework that is due the next day. This is where the backpack remains until the next morning, and after snack, the kids do their homework in this same spot.

As a result, we have discovered a method of organization that doesn’t require a closet, a locker, or a mudroom. Works for me!

I’m still working on a solution for messy winter boots, dripping snowpants, soaking wet mittens and hats. But that’s a post for a December Works-for-me-Wednesday;)

For more great tips, please visit Rocks in my Dryer.

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