I may be on vacation this week, but camping gear, Kate's "baby belly," Gwyneth's school choice, teaching kids how to succeed and nature's beauty all still caught my attention.
1. I'm not quite ready for back to school yet--even if Target is. With one more glorious month left of summer there is still much fun and recreation to be had. Which is why I am still excited about these two awesome products I found that make a fabulous gift for yourself or anyone you know who is a fan of the great outdoors.
These Canadian-made paddles from Norquay Co. are beautiful and this awesome VW tent will take camping to a whole new level. It's not too late!
2. In Royal news, I have read -- with horror -- the commentary on Kate's "baby belly" as seen in her official pictures with Baby George outside the hospital. The poor girl just gave birth to an eight-pound baby boy, and as Canadian blogger Emily Weirenga writes so beautifully, "We've forgotten the beauty that can be found in a nurturing figure, in a real-life person, in the struggle and surrender of a body to nature." Read the rest of her blog post, it's written as a letter to Kate -- I just wish Kate would read it too.
3. In celebrity news, I read on Babble yesterday that Gwyneth Paltrow has declared her children will be going to high school in England. Apparently she thinks the school system there is superior to the US. This is newsworthy of course, because everyone cares what Gwyneth does (and eats and wears and feeds her children). It is interesting to see how upset Americans get over this decision though. Maybe safety is a factor? My take on it is that if Apple goes to a swank boarding school in England, she might be left alone a bit more than if she was at, let's say, Andover or Exeter. I wonder if the English care as much about what Gwyneth ate for breakfast as we do?
4. In the real world of parenting, there are a lot of current studies on teaching your kids how to succeed by allowing them to fail. I've written about it before but I found this article titled Three Huge Mistakes We Make Leading Kids...and How to Correct Them, quite interesting. Summer is a time for kids to grow, learn other skills and take risks. Let them. And while you're at it, you might want to pick up another book that encourages parents to be less encouraging. It's called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. I strongly recommend it for some parental back-to-school reading.
5. Finally, since I am on vacation this week I can share with you what has caught my attention the most--sheer beauty.
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