Jul 27 2014

5 YouTube Channels We Love

Author: Amy Boughner • Discussion: No Comments

When I started watching videos on YouTube with the kid I never expected what it would lead to. We started off just finding clips of the shows she loves but over the past couple of years as she spent more time with the iPad she’s found more and more things that really interest her. First it was toy commercials, then toy demonstrations, and now surprise eggs.

Did you know there are people with YouTube channels dedicated to opening surprise eggs or blind packs of toys?

I’ve also learned in this same period that other kids love watching these videos too. My kid has even started pretending to do her own videos, narrating as she plays. And looking at some of these channels it won’t be long before she creates her own.

Here are five channels she loves, and I think they’re pretty great too:

1) HobbyKidsTV

These are toy demonstrations, unboxing, a lot of Play Doh, which my kid loves. Her favourite is the surprise eggs.

2) Charli’s Crafty Kitchen

I have memorized the theme song for these videos and the girls are quite charming. The kid has watched their Frozen popsicle episode many, many, many times.

3) Disney Cars Toy Club

The people who host Disney Cars Toy Club are very playful – they do character voices and interact with the toys they demonstrate, and the kid keeps going back. The stories they play out with some of the toys are a favourite of the kid’s and something I’m seeing reflecting in her own play.

4) Disney Collector

This lady does a lot of Play Doh videos, which are my kid’s favourite. She often watched these videos while she’s playing and mimics some of what she sees.

5) Lucky Penny Shop

I’m a big fan of the guy from Lucky Penny Shop. He’s got a relaxing tone to his voice, he does retro toys sometimes, and the kid just keeps going back to watch him.

Other great channels for kids, outside of the toy demonstration niche, are HooplaKids, MotherGooseClub and Kids CBC videos (link to Joel Plaskett’s awesome one). We also like watching Sesame Street videos, but you can watch those on their website where there is less risk of the kids coming across something less than appropriate.

If you have a favourite YouTube channel I’ve missed I would love to hear about it.

Jul 26 2014

Pushing ahead

Author: Amy Boughner • Discussion: No Comments

I’m usually pretty good at living with discomfort. And I don’t just mean the process of getting permanent crowns for my teeth, because holy crap is this uncomfortable. I put myself outside my comfort zone a lot, and I’ve survived so far. Going back to school is testing me a lot. I have no idea what to expect when December hits, but I’m asking for help and I’m pushing my limits. It’s two years. I can do that.

Since Blissdom last year I’ve been asking for things, because, as Erica Ehm taught me, sometimes people say yes, and when they say no, well, that’s okay too.

But fear can always hold you back and at this year’s Social Capital Conference it was pointed out to me that some work I am currently struggling with is probably a struggle because I’m afraid. I’m writing what might become the book that I have always wanted to write and I’m afraid to fail and I’m afraid to succeed.

Now that I’ve figured that out, I have to figure out how to get past that fear. Because fail or succeed I want to finish. When I finish I’ll have to figure out what to do next, but I want to have that to figure out.

Do I take on too much? Yes, yes I do. But I like it that way.

Jul 25 2014

En route

Author: Amy Boughner • Discussion: No Comments

It’s just a few weeks now until we head out on the road to Nova Scotia – me, my kid and Grandma – and I’m getting very excited about this trip. For starters Nova Scotia is one of my favourite places in the world and I haven’t really had the chance to visit since I was a kid. I was there in 2009, but I was working the whole time and I didn’t even see the water until the day that I left. Still, that visit proved to me once again that Halifax feels like home to me.

Me and my Gramps in Peggy’s Cove, 1990

We will be traveling in a Chevy Traverse loaned to us by GM Canada (thank you very much). Driving is my preferred way of travel. Sure, it takes longer, but you can pack whatever you might need for different circumstances and I’m pretty neurotic about such thing – will we need sweaters? Will it rain? What if I only pack sandals and then want sneakers one day?

(I also stress out about going through airport security, not because I’ve done anything but because you have to unpack your carry on and then repack it at the end of the line and doing this while taking care of and keeping track of your child is a wee bit overwhelming).

I’m even more excited about driving because on day one we’re going to head from Ottawa to Edmunston, NB, and then visit the Hopewell Rocks the next morning. I’ve never been, but the idea of walking with my baby girl on the ocean floor thrills me.

While we’re in Nova Scotia we will visit Halifax, Lunenberg and, of course, Peggy’s Cove, one of my favourite places in the world. I have a crazy idea of driving the kid up to Cape Breton to visit. I’ve never seen Cape Breton and I have always wanted to visit. Maybe we’ll get there.

We are definitely going to spend some time at this Haida Ship Playground. The awesome. Seriously.

Jul 23 2014

On the subjection of women

Author: Amy Boughner • Discussion: 1 Comment

When I was younger I thought a lot of the things about feminism that the women of #WomenAgainstFeminism feel too. That it’s something we didn’t need any more, that I don’t hate men, that I enjoy the feeling of my legs when they’ve been shaved.

Of course, since then I’ve grown up a lot, learned a lot, met a lot of great women and I know now that, as best put by The Bloggess:

I’m not saying you can’t choose to not be a feminist but know what you’re choosing. Don’t make a decision about a group based on the most radical beliefs of a group. Don’t get defensive if you get deeper and are exposed to difficult ideas about intersectionality and race and gender and colonialism and patriarchy and male liberation. Just listen. Some of it will make sense. Some of it won’t. Some of it will later when you’re a different person. Some of it you’ll change your mind about throughout your life and the world will change too. Some of it is bullshit. Some of it is truth. All of it is worth listening to.

That woman makes so much sense when she’s making sense.

Here at 33 I consider myself a full on feminist. Even though I shave my legs, took my husband’s name and stay at home with my daughter. Hell, I even like baking. And I don’t subscribe to the idea of affirmative action. None of that makes me a bad feminist.

What makes me a good feminist? Well, I’m a woman for starters, and I believe that that doesn’t lessen my standing in society. My belief that women need to engage and inform, that women have a right to be heard, that women are not a cohesive group and shouldn’t be treated as such. That women are equal citizens, period, end of sentence. That right there makes me a feminist.

You cannot argue the fact that when women get support communities prosper. You cannot ignore the fact that the next generations are overwhelmingly being raised by women. That is a huge sphere of influence and a huge opportunity to make a difference.

One of my favourite readings for university (the first time around) was John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women. Mill argued that the nation was being dragged down by men who were married to stupid women. Women who were stupid because they were not allowed education. He argued that women should be granted the same rights as men to benefit the men.

I mean, what a great way to make an argument to other men, right?

Mill, an man from the 19th century showed me something. I believe that the more women engage, participate, the more interesting the conversation will be.

And that’s what makes me a feminist.

Obligatory mother of a daughter picture

Jul 20 2014

People in your neighbourhood

Author: Amy Boughner

I grew up in a neighbourhood. Almost every house held people I was acquainted with, and most of them had kids around my age. I can walk through the neighbourhood now and tell my daughter which of my friends, my sister’s friend or our teachers lived in which houses.

My sister started walking me to school when I was in Grade 1. Mostly because my single mother had to work. I didn’t mind at all. We would walk up a couple of blocks, meet some friends and walk the rest of the way in a group. I was allowed to walk to our corner store or my best friend’s house, down to the park to play. With my sister I rode my bike all over the neighbourhood once I could ride. We were never more than two or three minutes away from someone that we knew.

I asked my mom the other day how often she thought she would have been arrested during the course of my childhood.

Now we live in a neighbourhood. There’s a small park a couple of doors down and I absolutely love taking the dog for a walk and seeing kids playing in the street on bikes and scooters. There’s even a place where a group of kids has built a fort among the trees. It makes me feel like this is a real, safe neighbourhood. There are kids just out and about having fun, doing stupid things, just like I did when I was a kid. Those are the things I want my kid to remember.

Jul 10 2014

Birds suddenly appear

Author: Amy Boughner

The kid has a habit of asking deep questions out of nowhere. The other day we were in the car together, she had been talking about other things, and then suddenly she asked me how Daddy and I fell in love.

She asks these questions and catches you totally off guard and leaves you stumbling to answer.

Today I was at Carleton to see the registrar. I had to take in some documents to get them to do a name change, since I got married after I graduated last time. As I was walking back to my parking spot I took the tunnels from the Quad and ended up on the fourth floor of the university centre. I walked towards the stairs and ended up in front of the door to the stairs that I used to always take up to the fifth floor. Fifth floor UniCentre, Room 531. That’s where I met Joe. When I stopped looking at that door and took the stairs down instead I got a little emotional.

I went in for an interview at the student paper and met the editor and two board members. Out of the three men in that interview one became my husband, the other is a very good friend to us both. (The third guy was a journalism professor who has played no further role in my life).

I started that job in November and Joe and I became friends over the course of the year.Good friends. As editor-in-chief and production manager we were often the last people in the office and we had a lot of good talks. I really don’t know when things changed.

One night I went over to his apartment to watch a movie. That weekend I invited him to my place to watch some movies that were part of an assignment I was doing. And I was really nervous and I wasn’t sure why. It felt like something was happening. We sat together on the couch and after a bit he kissed me.

And we’ve never looked back.

I still don’t know when the switch flipped for me. That was the end of March and by the summer we were planning on moving in together and fully expected to get married. I hadn’t even planned on ever getting married but suddenly I really wanted to. Things just kind of fell into place.

So now how do I explain that to my kid?

Jul 08 2014

Giveaway: Crazy for puppets

Author: Amy Boughner

A couple of years ago Grandma and Grandpa brought the kid a new friend. His name is King and he is very funny. He is also unsure where exactly his kingdom is.

Since the king arrived in our house the kid has become a huge fan of puppets and two years ago we took her to the Puppets Up festival in Almonte. We timed our visit all wrong and didn’t get to see any of the shows, but she did get her face painted and we got to see the parade, which she loved. I’m thrilled that this year we’re going back to the festival and we will make sure to check the schedule and plan to see a few of the presentations. I believe the kid is already acquainted with the Puppet Tamer, so we’ll stop in to see him again, and since Abby Cadabby is one of her favourite Sesame Street Muppets (see below) we will have to check out Leslie Carrara-Rudolph’s “Leslie and Lolly Make Stuff Up.”

And how could we possibly skip a performance called Squirrel Stole My Underpants? I mean come on. And the Little Feet Theatre. You can’t see this picture and not want to see where that goes:

I would bet that the king will join us for the festival.

The artistic director of the Puppets Up festival is Noreen Young who created Under the Umbrella Tree, which ran on CBC for 10 years starting when I was six years old. I have fond memories of those characters Holly, Iggy, Jacob and Gloria. I love seeing Noreen Young’s puppets decorating the windows around downtown during the festival. It’s especially cool because Noreen Young designed the puppets for an older CBC show called Hi Diddle Day, and it so happens my mother was one of the show’s scriptwriters.

You can buy tickets to the festival here, day passes and weekend passes are available and children under 3 are free. Puppets Up runs August 8, 9 and 10.

I am very excited to be able to give away two day passes for the festival to one lucky reader. Leave me a comment below letting me know that you’re interested and I will draw a winner July 31.

Disclosure: I was given two passes to the festival for my family as well as the giveaway passes for writing this post, but I am honestly excited to be taking my daughter to check it out. And if you do take in the festival make sure you spend some time checking out Almonte and the surrounding area as well.

Jul 04 2014

Go ahead, jump…

Author: Amy Boughner

Two years ago I left full time work and started working on contract. That has slowly morphed into have my own business, and that business is changing into something more suitable for me as I roll along. Talking to Shelagh Cummins, my parents and my husband has let to more thinking, more changes, more doing.

Talking to my father about something totally different one day, I mentioned a new program at my Alma Mater, a Masters of Political Management. And he told me I should do that, in a way that told me he thought it was pretty obvious.

Since I graduated from university with my BA I have had questions and regrets. I didn’t do a four-year honours degree, I never took research methods and I think it would have been very beneficial.

I started thinking about going back for my Masters, but going back for my Masters means going back for a year first to finish my honours. And suddenly that’s two years, and a lot of money by the way.

But if I’m honest with myself, I have spent the past seven years thinking about maybe someday going back for a Masters, and regretting not doing my four-year. And as I said before my kid has taught me a bit about regrets.

So I have a lot to think about this summer, and perhaps some hard work ahead of me.

I’m terrified to jump in and do it, but I’m terrified I won’t too.

Jun 27 2014

Best feet first

Author: Amy Boughner

I posted here a little while ago about how the brain works, and how sometimes you just need to jump in with both feet. My daughter has taught me this lesson better than anyone and I’ve watched her try and fail and try again and succeed more times than I can count. I’ve also watched her find things she loves, things she can love for a long time that will be beneficial to her. I’ve watched her make mistakes and move on. I’ve watched her take a chance and make a friend.

We took a little trip to Sesame Place – highly recommend it for young kids, by the way. We went two days in a row. We spent the first wandering around the park, going on rides and having lunch with a few friends – you know, Elmo, Cookie Monster, the Count, Grover and Abby Cadabby. The second day we spent going to a couple of shows and playing in the water park. We also attended the neighbourhood party parade both days.

In the second song of the parade/party Abby Cadabby and Zoe have two helpers that bring kids into the parade to dance with them. Two or three kids each. The first day the song started and kids went up and mine sat there, in the stroller we had rented, upset that she hadn’t jumped at the chance to be in the parade with these characters she adores.

The second day the time came, Abby’s friend was looking for kids to dance. The second day my kid went for it and had a blast.

Seriously.