To Live and Die (Not Literally) By the Sticker

This evening my daughter, who is four, was playing teacher.  She handed me a tiny sticker from her sticker collection.  "Here you go, sweetie," she said to me.  "This is for good behavior."  I took it from my "teacher's" fingertip and put it on the back of my hand, as most children do.  At first I thought it was adorable but then, call it a full moon or something in the water it broke my heart a little.  Both of my children, and indeed many of the children I work with, live and die, metaphorically speaking, by the sticker.  These children are fundamentally GOOD children.  Developmentally well-behaved, sweet, and likable.  Really, most children are or strive to be, would you agree?  Yet they fall all over themselves to get a sticker, a marble, or some other small token of good behavior-ness.  All this good behavior...for a sticker?  The Montessori philosophy does not believe in external rewards - all "rewards" should come from inside oneself and while this may be harder for kids to "get", I think it is achievable.  Certainly a child who feels good inside knows that their actions are worth more than a sticker?  Can a person be anti-sticker?  What do you think?  I welcome your musings.

In the Rough

No, no, no...not referring to the Masters.  Just giving kudos to a fellow greenie (who is much greener than I) on her fabulous new column in The Washington Examiner.  Her latest topic:  tips on greener travel (and further down...some not so great news about coffee...CURSES!).  Congrats, Jenny, on a great column!

La La La L.A.

For a year and a half I lived in Los Angeles, working at UCLA.  Contrary to what most people think, my little corner of the universe - West Los Angeles & Santa Monica were totally accessible by bus.  Work was could even be a walk home if the weather was nice and ah, the weather *was* nice.  You had to be careful though...you might trip over some avocados that had dropped onto the sidewalk from an overhanging branch.  I mean... Ah, Caruso...paradise on earth.

Back on the East Coast, this time of year always reminds me of Los Angeles.  Maybe because the flowers are in bloom, reminding me of the jacaranda trees - or the warm, perfumed air before it turns all hot and Hell-like.  Who knows.  I am glad to be living where I am.  Green Husband grew up here and there is something extremely pleasant about running into various generations peeps from way back when you drop into the hardware store or the barbershop.  And of course, Spring is never so delightful when it has been a hard winter.  But still, I do loooove L.A.

green LA girl has been blogging right along since who knows when about all green things LA.  Now I can live vicariously through her posts this Spring, with an eye out for my former stomping grounds.

Cookie Crumbs

When I first picked up a copy of Cookie magazine, I thought it was pretty pretentious and my incredulity at the prices of some of the little tot togs made my jaw drop.  But soon I learned to love everything about the magazine - the layout, the articles, the photographs, the suggestions, the websites.  Of course we know that Cookie is now defunct, along with Gourmet...so I console myself with perusing through the back issues.  I think it is time, however, to follow up on some of Cookie's suggestions from months past.  Cookie crumbs, if you will.  Stay tuned.