If you’ve been here awhile, you know how I love the magazine Brain,Child - touted as the magazine for thinking moms and filled with incredible essays and feature articles and debates and reviews and words that will make you cry, sigh, rage and empathize. Without a big agenda. And without any dogma.

I’ve been lucky to know some of the incredible writers that have graced their pages and it is the one magazine that I subscribe to that I read, without fail, from cover to cover. And though much of the material makes me a better mom in the sense that it gets me thinking about certain issues, it actually makes me ignore my kids because it’s that good. Sorry kids.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Brain,Child is offering a special Slow Family Living discount on one and two year subscriptions – for both new subscriptions and old. If you haven’t read it before, treat yourself (or treat the mother of your children or your mom or your friend) and if you have read it before, well, you know how good it can be so get on it! And re-up your subscription at this special Slow Family rate.

As free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows, I want to be free! At least for a few days, wouldn’t it be fun to have your whole family be free from screens?

Do you know about the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood? They do a lot of good work lobbying to get commercials and marketing and advertising out of children’s lives and out of public schools. They bring a lot to light for families and for organizations in regards to just how much advertising is thrust at our children, at our families, from birth on. Check out their website to see just how much good work they do.

This month they are also organizing the annual SCREEN FREE WEEK from April 30th-May 6th. It’s a great way for families and children to break away from the screens for a week and see just how big a part screens play in our lives. Everyone on their own screen - watching, texting, reading, exploring and zoning out on the screen be it phone, computer, tv, game station or other. It’s sort of relentless. It’s not that screen usage is bad, au contraire! But the numbers show that the average child spends 7.5 hours per day on a screen. That’s a lot of time staring at electronics. And a lot of time not engaging with the world and with each other.

In our house during school days we do a couple hours everyday screen free – from 5-7 there’s no surfing, texting, emailing, viewing. It’s not always easy. But it feels pretty good. And 2 hours feels totally doable.

Can you do it? Do you dare? Can your family be screen free? Can you turn it all off (excluding work of course which still must get done!) Can you spend that time doing something else? Here’s some ideas to get you going…

• Go outside and lay in the grass.
• Hug a tree
• Play jumprope
• Draw on the sidewalk with chalk
• Play a game
• Draw together
• Go for a walk
• Look up random words in the dictionary
• Visit a neighbor
• Have friends over
• Throw a party – invite only your own family
• Have a fancy dinner
• Play charades
• Listen to music
• Build something

Take a week and slow it down. Connect with each other and with nature and with your imagination. See what you come up with. And if you’ve got some screen free ideas of your own, let me know.

USA Today had a big story yesterday about slowing things down for your family. They touched on some of the points such as cutting out some of the excess activities and really putting the connection in place now so that you can have connection down the road.

Read it yourself and let me know what you think…‘Slow
family’ movement focuses on fewer outside activities – USATODAY.com

We received a sweet box in the mail the other day. Perfectly sized and illustrated with a sweet little manatee drawing. Inside were 3 beautiful board books with an outdoorsy theme – including one featuring illustrations by the amazing Charley Harper whose 1960s era science book artwork is getting some acclaim right now. The books were lovely and well received by our resident pre-schooler.

But the box was kind of cool too. In order to bring back the old idea that the box is as much fun as the contents, this box came with “instructions” for use. Ideas for making robots or other fun box creations, corn starch packing peanuts that could be used for building and drawings to be colored in and used for the aforementioned box creations.

The idea comes from Blue Manatee Boxes, a little independent bookstore in Ohio. Started by a pediatrician, the idea is a return to basics and the idea too that in this age of fast paced learning and high tech toys, what’s old, such as a cardboard box, can be new again. And used by kids for imaginative play.

If you know of some household that could use a little creative inspiration, not to mention some really beautiful books which can be purchased by such themes as art, eco, baby, birthday or love, The Blue Manatee Boxes are pretty sweet. And might just inspire some good play on a hot summer day.

And if you aren’t in the market for books right now, I hope this post inspires you to look at the next cardboard box you receive with a more imaginative eye.

Have you seen this magazine? It’s one of my favorites by far. Sure it falls  into  the parenting category of magazines but it’s way more than any parenting mag I’ve ever read. It’s got good essays and fiction. Lots of humor. It always holds a good meaty feature story. And it’s got tidbits of newsworthy pieces pertinent to your role as parent. There are no how-tos such as top ten ways to get your child to sleep or to get them to eat. It holds no strong views on whether or not you should nurse or circumcise or co-sleep or vaccinate. Instead it’s just got really good writing. And thoughtful discussions. And funny cartoons.

And, perhaps one of the greatest things, it arrives quarterly. That means you’ll have no pile-ups of unread issues or backlog of materials. You know how those monthly mags can sometimes go? You’ve finally picked up one and the next one is stuffed into your mailbox? With Brain,Child you’ll be super psyched when each issue arrives and if you’re smart, or lucky, or both, you’ll carve out a little solo mama reading time all to your very own so you can fully dive into each issue. Is it wrong that a parenting magazine makes you want to stop parenting in order to be able to fully digest each issue?

Referred to as the magazine  for thinking moms, it really is one of my favorite magazines of all time. And even if I’m not in total thinking mom mode, it can bring me there a lot faster.

For the next week only Brain,Child is offering a special rate to Slow Family Living readers. Just $19.95 for one year and $34.00 for two years. Click here to get it while it’s hot. No limit on the number of subscriptions! Good for renewals AND gifts.

That’s it! Now go get yourself an issue and you’ll be ready for the summer issue which will be out soon. Have I mentioned that I love this magazine?

Check out the July/August issue of Mothering Magazine for an article of mine on allowing risk. It’s a fine line for parents and one that is sometimes hard to walk. And even harder sometimes to defend when others are there to watch and comment.

And I love the photo of our giant steel slide – from hereonin referred to as our “monument to risk”. How could you not want to read about that?

Our new friend Jim Swift of KXAN, the Austin NBC affiliate, created a beautiful news piece on Slow Family Living.  Click here to see the clip and read the story.

There is definitely not a Slow Family stance on vaccines because we really believe families need to do what is right for them. We know however that it is a discussion that presents itself always when parents get together and discuss the health and well being of their children. And a dialogue that can often get heated as families decide what is right for their children and what is right for the community at large. It is a decision that often makes parents feel confused as to what to do.

We just received an announcement from the producers of Frontline that their show The Vaccine Wars will be aired next Tuesday on PBS. Check out the preview and then participate in the dialogue on the Frontline website. It’s a heavy topic and will only get heavier if we’re not informed.

ABC news has a story tonight about Slow Family Living. They talk about the connection, the checking in with yourself, and of course, the slowing down. Check it out. And then tell us, what does Slow Family Living mean to you?

That’s the topic of On Point Radio today featuring our own Carrie Contey. And she is, without a doubt, on point for Slow Family Living!!! If you have 45 minutes, go ahead and have a listen whilst you make that Thanksgiving pie.