Unplug more. Spend at least one hour a week outside with the kids. Turn off the electronics and enjoy a park, like the new Phil Hardberger Park. Check out the San Antonio Parks and Rec website for great events, many free or almost free. Or try a high tech scavenger hunt and go geocaching.

Visit more museums. Have you visited the San Antonio Museum of Art? They have a great family day on the first Sunday of each month. For fun, visit the Buckhorn Museum or the Texas Transportation Museum. Want to go odd? How about the Wooden Nickel Museum or the Toilet Seat Art Museum?

Act like a tourist in my own hometown. Visit a landmark you’ve never been to or you want to share with your child, like the Alamo, Tower of Americas, Institute of Texan Cultures, San Fernando Cathedral or any of the Missions. Take a ride on a river barge and walk along the new Museum Reach river extension. Have breakfast at the Guenther House and wander the beautiful King Willliam neighborhood.

See more great plays. San Antonio not only has great Broadway theatre at the Majestic and Empire, but some superb children’s theatre that is…well…not as costly and just as fun. Be sure to check out the Magik Theatre. The next show, Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly, starts up January 6 and here’s a great tip: call the box office and ask for $5 tickets to the Friday, January 6th or 13th 11:30 a.m. performances. These specially priced tickets can only be purchased by phone at 210-227-2751.

For more family activities, be sure to check out our events calendar.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

Will it feel a little like California? Or more like a big Fiesta? Is it going to be one, big motley crowd? Or one awesome, never-to-forget, Woodstock-like gathering? I just don’t know. But I’m awfully excited about it. How about you?

If somehow you’ve managed to escape hearing about this exciting day, I’m talking about Síclovía. This Sunday, October 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., four miles of Broadway will be shut down to cars from McCullough to Parland….and open to The People.

You can bike, walk, jog, jump, skateboard, rollerskate, walk backwards, slide, hop, dance. Okay – that just sounds like fun to me! I’m thinking of arming some kids with chalk and turning it into one big art project!

In four stopping points along the route, called reclovías, there will be exercise classes, live music and family friendly activities. The list includes everything from body combat to tai chi, kids zumba to hula hooping and face painting. At the Mayor’s headquarters, there will be soccer, volleyball and hockey.

Totally unique. Totally free.

Here’s the map.

Here are the reclovía activities.

And all the general info right here.

This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Debi’s Full Disclosure page or more information.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

Rocky Road – Chocolate Swiss with Chocolate Chips, Marshmallows, Walnuts & Fudge
Red Velvet – Red Velvet with Pecans, Brownies & Fudge
Strawberry Skydive – Strawberry with Oreo® Cookies, Strawberry, & Fudge
Cookie Dough Drizzle – Birthday Cake with Cookie Dough, Oreo® Cookies & Fudge

The caveat: it’s only while supplies last. For a list of locations, visit Marble Slab online.

This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Debi’s Full Disclosure page or more information.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

Welcome to Twyla’s Corner, where each Monday, I post a question from the Blue Filing Box of math problems. The first person with the correct answer wins. Today’s prize comes courtesy of  Fox Home Entertainment! It’s a chance to relive your favorite moments on DVD from Volume 1, Season 2 of Glee! Including some slushies and one of the wackiest remakes of Rocky Horror ever. Gleek Out!

Dropping pounds

Divide the number of pounds in a ton by 2; subtract by 500; find 1/5 of this number. What number do you have?

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

He came to us via a good friend who has a love for dogs and a bad habit of rescuing more than she can handle.

My mom – who knows how allergic I am to dogs – thinks I’m crazy for bringing a dog into my house. But, for every inch of red, swelling, allergic eyes that I have, Sheldon proves his worth every day. He’s my magic bullet.

For starters, he gets my kids moving. Not just walking, but running, exercising, twisting, turning, jumping and laughing. Really, really laughing. You should see this dog and my kids play chase. Priceless.

But Sheldon also is calming. Whenever someone in the family is feeling anxious, Sheldon is right there. A soft, warm ball of fur to pet and hug and love on. Until all the jitters are calmed.

Sheldon is also an amazing temperature check.

It was about three months ago we realized when voices in the house started getting loud and tempers started flaring, Sheldon headed into the laundry room. And that became our visual clue for the kids. “Look, Sheldon is upset. You need to help go calm him down.” Surprisingly, that worked like an elixir for a tantrum, practically stopping it in its track.

After looking around to try to find some reason for this amazing impact, I discovered some research out of the Université de Montreal showing that, on average, parents reported a significant decrease in children’s behavior problems after they got a dog. Read: when behavior modification doesn’t work (and it doesn’t for many kids), try a dog.

I wouldn’t have believed it. But Sheldon has proved it. God bless that four-legged little angel.

If you have thought about getting a dog, you might want to stop by the Animal Defense League, 11300 Nacogdoches Rd.,  this Labor Day Weekend or Labor Day itself. As part of its Labor of Love event, all dogs that have been at ADL for 4 months or longer can be adopted for just $40.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

If you ask a question when you’re not supposed to, the teacher may yell at you and give you a big package of homework.

The debate teacher better watch her back because the kid with the genius-level sibling who has had to argue her way through her entire life isn’t going to follow the basic rules, she is going to debate each and every rule, question and argument.

Having a mom who told you about the test where the first instruction is to read all the way through before answering any other questions and the last instruction is to ignore all the other instructions, write your name on the top and turn the paper in to the teacher…pays off when your middle school teacher gives you the very same test.

Some teachers are just bound and determined to motivate students with fear, regardless of the fact that it doesn’t work.

Can’t wait to see what happens in week three. Sigh.

Photo source: SXC.hu

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

About a month ago, I received an invitation to try out a new online program from an Austin-based company, InfoGlide. I get quite a few requests. This one had me at the word “monitor.” And again at the word “free.”

MinorMonitor is a free web-based tool for parents to track their kid’s Facebook activities.  Now I don’t know about you, but I have a philosophy about Facebook.

Kids are going to get on it whether we want them there or not. We can facilitate and monitor. Or they can sneak around behind our backs. They are likely far more tech savvy than we are. And what they don’t do under our noses, they are certainly going to be exposed to at their friends’ houses. And I’m going to tell you this now…Facebook is world’s safer than Google+ and other networks I’ve played around with.

I’ve used several different forms of monitoring. My standard rule is that I must know Twirl’s username and password. That’s the easiest was to track (especially the ever-illusive instant messaging portion of Facebook). There are no computers allowed behind locked bedroom doors. And parental controls are active on all computers in our home.

However, MinorMonitor is an interesting addition. I like that it gives me proactive alerts and an dashboard roll up of trigger words. It is hyper-sensitive, offering up the idea that the word “Jackson” in posts might be indicative of drug references and the word “hate” might be an indication of cyberbullying. Since Twirl has been the victim of cyberbullying before, I found this to be particularly helpful. In this instance, the word was simply the answer to a questionnaire, but I liked that the tool picked it up. In addition, I’m told MinorMonitor has been built with unique self-learning and natural language analytics that make it smarter over time, which means it will provide a more accurate analysis and fewer false alarms as I give it input on each instance of flagging.

I like this technology. But it’s a lot like floaties. It does not replace good, old-fashioned, hands-on parental monitoring. It’s one more tool to help; one more set of eyeballs. I still plan on logging directly into my daughter’s Facebook account and poking around.  She calls it stalking. I call it parenting.

One day, she’ll be too old and wise to listen to me. For now, I can guide her. Protect her. Teach her. I’m going to take the opportunity while it’s still there. Before it’s too late.

Fun (and Safe) Stuff Online for Busy Kids

All of these sites are created specifically with kid safety in mind. All have comprehensive privacy protection and registration processes that are designed to protect children from cyber bullying, online predators, spamming and abuse.

Innerstar University — by American Girl, for girls 3-12 where young girls can participate in fun and enriching activities to boost their confidence and strength.

Whyville – by far, one of the best sites around. Designed by a computational neuroscientist right here in San Antonio, it is a virtual city, populated by some 6.5 million kids from around the world who engage in constructive educational activities while promoting socially responsible behavior. The citizens of Whyville interact with each other while participating in activities that range from science and math to art, civics, and economics. Examples include science simulations in angular momentum, art activities like designing your own avatar and visiting the Getty Museum, writing for the town newspaper, playing multiplayer games such as checkers, and treasure hunts that take you around the globe. I *LOVE* this site!

Everloop – If your teen is not quite of age for Facebook, but you want them to get their feet wet and learn the basics, how about Everloop as a first step? It’s an online social community platform for tweens between the ages of 8 – 13 that allows them to share content, communicate in real-time.  No grownups allowed.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids

Me… I kind of think he looks and sings like a girl. But what do I know. I’m just the mom.

She started a Facebook page: “I’m not single, I’m mentally dating Justin Bieber.” Oy. So far, it has 353 Beliebers. It joins the hundreds of Justin fan pages named charmingly, “I wanna be Mrs. Bieber” and “I wanna be Justin Bieber’s one less lonely girl” and “Bieber

We stopped at the grocery store last night and decided to pick up a little something to send away in a care package to Twirl who is away at camp this week. Since we can’t send food, we decided to send a magazine. Dad, around who’s little finger she has wrapped herself, picked up a Bieber magazine. “It’ll make her so happy…and she’ll be the hit of the cabin. Plus, everyone will think she has the coolest parents.” Me…I just rolled my eyes. Title of the magazine: “The 100 Most Important Days in Justin Bieber’s Life” including his very first tweet. Be. Still. My. Heart.

I can’t remember being this enamored of anybody when I was her age. Maybe the boy who sat three seats over and to the left of me. I might have written Mrs. and his last name on a page inside my notebook a hundred times or so throughout the course of the school year. And I might have called him on the phone and hung up a few times (thank God it was before the days of caller ID). But he was at least potentially accessible…I mean, I could have asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance if I had gotten up the nerve.

Yet, somewhere, niggling around in the back of my head, is the idea that it won’t be all that much longer before a real boy, one closer to home, will replace her pop star fantasy. I’m not sure I’m ready for that to happen. The pop star thing is annoying. The real boyfriend thing is scary.

So, I’m content to let her wallow in Bieber Fever for a while longer…where no real boys can match up to the airbrushedness of Himself. Where she can be one less lonely girl, at least in her head, dreaming that he will one day notice her…out of the millions of adoring fans…pluck her from obscurity and live with her happily ever after.

In the meantime, she will have to content herself with celluloid versions of him. Which everyone can do this weekend at Pickrell Park, 703 Oak Street (FM 1518 & Aero Ave) in Schertz.

Time Warner Cable, in partnership with the City of Schertz and the YMCA of Greater San Antonio is hosting a Movie in the Park event with a free screening of (hold your breath) “Justin Bieber NEVER SAY NEVER.” Because you know you want to see it again on the Super BIG screen. In fact, just round up all the neighborhood tweens and make an event of it. Bring the Bieber polish, perfume, iPods and blankets. You’ll totally rock the mom thing.

Or not.

Either way, there’ll be family fun activities and games, a pool party and a chance to win a iPad2.

Saturday, July 16
Pool party starts at 6:30 p.m.
Movie in the Park activities start at 7:30 p.m.
Movie starts at 8:30 or when the sun sets.

Be there or be square.

Disclosure: Time Warner Cable is a PfitzPR client.

MomOnMars San Antonio Busy Kids