We have had a lot of hot and humid days this summer, so when Rosebud plays in the water table, I try to keep it in the shade. On this particular day, the sun had shifted and Rosebud was complaining of being hot. She still wanted to be outside so I suggested moving the table to a shady spot. She didn't want to, but obviously it was still a problem, so we had to find a solution. The umbrella that came with her picnic table was over her lawn chair, so she brought it over to the water table.
I asked her how we could stand the umbrella up to cover the table. She tried putting it into the ground which didn't work. Then she noticed a little hole on the back of the water table that is meant for an umbrella. It fit, but slid all the way down and was too close to the table. I told her what we needed to do was to find a way for the umbrella to sit in the hole without falling all the way through.
She suggested that we use tape, so I headed inside to check the junk drawer. I brought out some round rubber thing that must have been some sort of stopper. That was way too small. I showed her the rubber circle and how it wouldn't fit. We went back to the tape solution and duct tape did the trick, at least for a while. I put some tape on the bottom of the hole and the umbrella had something to sit on. Well, at least until Rosebud started splashing.
If Rosebud can't reach something in the kitchen, she finds something to stand on. Usually, she finds her drum, but that has become unsafe so it disappeared. She's always looking for things in the house to use as a step stool. One day, she tried using an exercise ball and came crashing to the flor. Luckily I was right there and she didn't get hurt, but it definitely scared her.
We all use some level of problem solving skills every day. Whether it's in our businesses, family lives and even in our hobbies. It's important that children have many opportunities to find solutions to their own problems. This can be with specific toys or just random things in their environment. I notice Rosebud's problem solving abilities most when we're not doing anything specific because the best learning opportunities naturally appear. They can appear when we're cooking dinner, creating art or playing outside. It's children's job to explore using trial and error to see what works. It's our job to ensure that they have plenty of opportunities to do this. Here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Put water in a bucket or water table with a variety of objects and different sized cups. They can learn about sinking and floating, less vs more and if an objects properties change in water. For example, a sponge or cotton ball will become heavier in water. The whole idea is for them to experiment and to see how things work.
2. Give them blocks of any kind and let them build whatever comes to mind. Rosebud likes to build castles, roads, cities and tree houses just to name a few. Bigger blocks get stacked on top of smaller blocks. Different shapes don't always work well together. The blocks may not balance well depending on if you are building on carpet vs a hard floor. There are so many ways that blocks can be used for teaching and learning problem solving and logical skills.
3. Puzzles are good because children have to think about where the pieces go in relation to each other. While this is not open ended, puzzles can help children focus on a specific problem and solution.
4. Any dramatic or aunt imaginative play can be used to encourage problem solving. When children play together, they have to decide who is playing what role. Around the preschool stage, they start planning and being more intentional about their play. They can work out turn taking, using an object to represent something totally unrelated and experiment with different roles and themes. Rosebud's favorite dramatic play theme is, doctor. I can't even count how many checkups I've had in the past year.
5. Let them experiment with a ball or marble run. Have different sized tubes. Change the tubes around with different lengths and curved tunnels. They can see how the marbles move depending on how the run is set up. One boy I was working with in the pre-k class was fixing his marble run. He was telling me how the pipe needed to be welded because there was a crack, so he took it apart and rebuilt it. He built his marble run quite tall and another boy was working on a way to reach the top of the marble run.
These skills can be modeled and reinforced at any time. Children have a curiosity and drive to learn. Experimenting comes naturally to them and it definitely should be encouraged. You never know what discoveries they will make. For more great ideas and insight on this topic, click here.
I’ve been having trouble with my cell service for months. I’m not sure why, but voicemails cut out or I don’t receive them until hours or days later. The majority of my calls are dropped and I usually have poor reception wherever I go. I’m not sure if it’s my location or my phone itself, but it is so annoying. My mom asked me why I don’t call the phone company to try to get to the bottom of this. Well, that’s a good question. Why am I putting up with this? Instead of getting annoyed, why not try to change my situation? I called the phone company and they updated some settings. However, the issues are not fixed completely and this time, I will be calling back. I pay for cell service each month and have insurance on my phone. As a paying customer, I deserve quality service. Why do we settle for crappy service, bad treatment or keep things that no longer are useful to us? I can’t be the only one who does this.
The only thing I loved about this device was that I actually was able to read an actual paper book for the first time. It was a book I ordered online. I didn’t have to change the format or alter it in any way. I just picked it up, pushed a button on the glasses and started reading. Now days, I can get most books on Kindle or Audible, but this particular one I couldn’t get in electronic format. That was in the first month of having the device. After that, I rarely used it. I purchased it in January and now we are in August. It has barely been useful to me and I kept telling myself, maybe I’ll use it later. Maybe my circumstances will change and it will become more useful.
Too often, we get stuck in this negative mindset where we feel we can’t change things. Sometimes, I feel like it’s not worth the bother, but usually it is. If you can eliminate something that makes you angry, depresses you, places a burden on you or hurts you, it is worth the effort. Even if you have to disrupt your busy schedule or make a huge change in your life. What are the things in your life that are no longer serving you? What steps can you take right now to reduce or eliminate them?
I am choosing to let go of the transcription business idea. There have been so many obstacles beyond what is normal. First, there was the 
Now, here’s the good part. On that horrible day when I decided that enough was enough, I was scheduled to talk to a life coach. I had come across her in a parenting group on Facebook a few weeks ago. She is currently getting certified, so I asked her about the process and didn’t think much about it. I had almost forgotten about the call and when I realized it was scheduled for that night, I was dreading it. I was in such a horrible mood that I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I wanted to curl up with the blankets over my head. Not to mention that I hate calling anyone I’ve never talked to before, but I made the call anyway. I knew as soon as I heard her voice that I’d like her. She shared lots of information about the program and answered my endless questions. During our call, she did a mini coaching session and when she asked what my dream career would be, my first thought was coaching. I told her that I have really struggled finding a meaningful career and that I’d like to help others to get passed their road blocks and find what excites them. It became glaringly obvious to me that transcription didn’t even pop into my mind.
What you need:
After breakfast, we decided to make another sticker collage. This time with fish and flowers. Less than ten minutes later, I was scrambling again to find something to do.
Rosebud loves to go through my drawer of craft supplies which mostly consists of beads, shells and other jewelry making items. I had some string and larger beads so I thought, why not try some beading. It's a great fine motor activity and Rosebud loves to wear necklaces. I cut the string and put a little piece of tape on the end. We often do that for the kids at work to make it easier to pull the string through the beads. However, when we started beading, the tape was making the string too big to pull through the beads.
I had to go to plan B. I was hesitant to use the wire, but I was supervising her and knew it would be easier to get the beads on. I showed her how to string the beads which she was having trouble with. I expected this, as it was her first time. I decided that I'd put the beads on for her, but she had to pick out her beads and hand them to me. She picked out a couple of beads and then lost her train of thought. When I'd ask her which bead she wanted next, she'd say, "making a necklace." Then just scattered the beads around.
What did I learn?
In order to get some transcription practice, I wanted to find a company that hires beginners and allowed me to work on my own schedule. Rev.com met that criteria even though their pay was minimal. You may have noticed that I did not link to them directly as I do not want to direct any traffic towards their website. To get hired, you have to complete a grammar test and a transcription practice test. I completed the grammar portion without difficulty, but when it came to the transcription test, I discovered that the web based editor is not accessible with Voiceover. For those who don’t know, Voiceover is a screen reading software built into Appple products. It reads the text on screen aloud so that the person can hear it instead of reading the words. With the editor, I was not able to read what I had typed in the text box so I was unable to proof read and fix any mistakes I made and admittedly, there were a few. However, there would have been less had I been able to read what I was typing. Unfortunately, I had to submit the application as it was. I figured that I would have a better chance of getting my concerns taken seriously if I had actually applied.
After I submitted the application, I followed up with an E-mail explaining my situation. I explained that their editor was not accessible, gave them some information on Voiceover and told them that I hoped they would work on this issue in the near future so I could reapply and work for them. On Monday morning I got a response that was actually shocking. Usually discrimination is subtle and even though you know you were discriminated against, it’s harder to prove. In this case, it was as plain as day. An employee of Rev.com stated that their editor was not compatible with screen readers and that they weren’t actively seeking a solution at this time nor in the future. He went on to say that their company was not a good fit for “visually challenged/visually disabled people.”