Photographic Permissions, Farewell Party, Sensory Sensitive Performance and Area Happenings plus an interesting look at Raising Self-Reliant Children…

As many of you are aware, I am no longer working for the Somerset County Library System and this site is no longer associated with the Bridgewater Library.

This week I was sent a “cease and desist” letter from the library attorney informing me that all pictures that were taken by library personnel and downloaded on library computers were copyright the library and ordering me to remove them immediately. Accordingly, I am in the process of taking down many of my older pictures that were taken with library cameras -- so if you want access, you will need to make copies quickly. The photos that will remain were taken with my cell phone camera or the cell phones belonging to some of you. If there are any pictures of your children that you do not want me to continue to display on this site or on carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com, please email me at cslevin59 (at) gmail.com with photo details & the date of the post(s) and I will remove them forthwith.

I also want to invite all of you to my retirement party at the Bridgewater Library on Sunday February 11th. You and your children are welcome to drop into the program rooms anytime between 2 and 4 p.m. to say goodbye.

All the best,  Carol Simon Levin

 

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Sensory Sensitive Performance in Princeton this Weekend

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Looking for more things to do while the weather outside is frightful?

Check out this list from Hulafrog!

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A fascinating look at child-rearing possibilities:

Do Germans Raise More Self-Reliant Children?

Jason, left, and other kids have fun as they try out a new adventure playground in Moritzburg, some 20 miles north of Dresden, Germany, Thursday, April 24, 2008.
( AP Photo/Matthias Rietschel )

Sara Zaske talks about her new book Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children. Zaske details her own experience as an American woman raising her children in Berlin and learning that German parents allowed their children to do much more on their own -- from riding the subway, to cutting food with sharp knives. Based on interviews and research, she looks at German ideas about self-reliance and raising children.

Achtung Baby: An Entertaining, Enlightening Look at the Art of Raising Self-Reliant, Independent Children Based on One American Mom’s Experiences in Germany

When Sara Zaske moved from Oregon to Berlin with her husband and toddler, she knew the transition would be challenging, especially when she became pregnant with her second child. She was surprised to discover that German parents give their children a great deal of freedom―much more than Americans. In Berlin, kids walk to school by themselves, ride the subway alone, cut food with sharp knives, and even play with fire. German parents did not share her fears, and their children were thriving. Was she doing the opposite of what she intended, which was toraise capable children? Why was parenting culture so different in the States?

Through her own family’s often funny experiences as well as interviews with other parents, teachers, and experts, Zaske shares the many unexpected parenting lessons she learned from living in Germany. Achtung Baby reveals that today's Germans know something that American parents don't (or have perhaps forgotten) about raising kids with “selbstandigkeit” (self-reliance), and provides practical examples American parents can use to give their own children the freedom they need to grow into responsible, independent adults.