The Difference Between Well and Good

Proper grammar has always been important to me.

I grew up in the deep south but I have extended family far above the Mason-Dixon line. I remember the first time I went to go visit them. I was ten years old and when I uttered the southern hallmark colloquialism "y'all", it felt as though time stood still. All conversation stopped and I almost heard a robotic creaking as all heads turned to me in disbelief. I could have died on the spot.

Of course this is an exaggeration, but this is how it honestly felt to my fragile pre-teen self. Right then and there I vowed to neutralize my southern accent, and grammar and pronunciation became my obsession.

Since then, this compulsion for accurate grammar has haunted me and has become almost second nature to the point where I mentally correct the grammar of what I hear.

 Two weeks ago my best friend from high school shared an article from MentalFloss.com called The Top 10 Grammar Myths. She stated that there was one point on there that she did not quite agree on. Number 8 to be exact.


8. IT'S INCORRECT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION "HOW ARE YOU?" WITH THE STATEMENT "I'M GOOD."

Wrong! “Am” is a linking verb and linking verbs should be modified by adjectives such as “good.” Because “well” can also act as an adjective, it's also fine to answer "I'm well," but some grammarians believe "I'm well" should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition.

I have to agree with her. There are many reasons why 'good' and 'well' are not interchangeable.


About a week before my friend shared the article, I was trying to get minion Number 2 to fall asleep. This usually entails laying down with her in the complete dark and just waiting for her to wind down. (She usually goes to bed pretty easily.) We had been laying thusly for about 15 minutes. Everything in the house is quiet. I was sure she was almost asleep as she was also laying very still.

"People taste good."

That one little statement uttered without warning and without further elaboration cut through the silence. Many thoughts swirl through my confused brain. I have to admit the statement did have cannibalistic/zombie under tones.

Then I remembered that Number 2 is still working on grammar structures and finally realized that this was a perfect moment to emphasize the difference between well and good.

What my daughter meant to convey was that people have a great sense of taste. (i.e. - They can taste well.) Instead she said that they taste good implying that the taste of people pleases her. She also got a brief age appropriate lesson on cannibalism.

Furthermore, I always see the differences in good vs well in answer to 'How are you?' to be pretty distinctive as well.

For example: How are you doing in school?

I am doing well. -- To me this implies that you are learning and completing work and other assignments and generally earning decent to good grades.

I am doing good. -- To me this implies that you are doing feats for the greater good as if you are attending a school for super heroes.

So if in the future you begin to wonder if the difference between well and good is as big a deal as it is made out to be, Just remember, it could come down to whether or not people have a great sense of taste and cannibalism. 

As always, feedback, comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow my blog and register your email address at the top of the page to receive updates in your inbox and never miss a post!

Travel Tips pt 1

Travel for the Holidays

 Back in 2006, my husband and I welcomed Number1 into our lives. We were young and having a baby was unbelievably scary but everything was worth it to see the smile on his whenever the would walk in the room or hear is baby giggles as we played "Peek-a-boo" with him. He was born in early October and before he had even turned a month old the questions began.

"When are you going to bring the baby by so I can see him?"

This line of questioning is one that is familiar to all new parents. And while normally it is no big deal to just pack up the baby and take a drive to the relatives' to show off the new addition, however, my family is spread out all over the Eastern US coast from New Hampshire all the way down to Alabama, Louisiana and even Florida. I can get in the car and start driving in either direction and by the time I reach the furthest family member I would have driven 20+ hours.

20+ hours as just two young adults is a breeze. Challenge Accepted! Road Warrior badge earned! 20+ hours in the car with a baby (or now with 3 children) is more like a quest to insanity. Needless to say, I have traveled a lot with my kids to visit family.listed below are some of my favorite travel items that have helped to maintain peace in the car and yes, even some of my sanity.

Car:
My top must- have item for the car is the SeMe CarBaby Mirror.

Thsi is a little mirror that clips easily on to a back seat head rest to provide your still-backwards facing toddler a much better of you in the front seat as well as the world passing by around them. I was at my wits end when my state passed a new seat belt regulation  that would require Number 3 to stay in a backwards facing car seat until his second birthday. Facing backwards was very frustrating for him and short trips to even the grocery store would be long enough to spark tantrums from my generally laid back child.

Since I have added the SeMe CarBaby Mirror, every time I glance in the rear view mirror at his reflection in his little mirror all I see are my good-natured baby's smiles. Now this is not a panacea or "magic bullet" for pleasant car rides. Number 3 can still be afflicted with sleepiness or hunger and that can cause a stressful ride, but it does eliminate a good bit of the back seat crying. Now if I can only get the older two to stop crying/whining.



Airplane:
Must have item: CarSeat travel Cover

Once the long drives got to be too much me and my family, we did try using air travel. It was more expensive but promised to be much  faster and quite a bit less stressful. While it was less stressful than traveling by car, it is still very stressful. One of the main sources of stress for me was making sure that I had all the baby gear needed for the trip; mainly the stroller, the pack and play portable crib and the car seat. Let me tell you, bringing a car seat on a flight is a huge pain in the rear end. The item is bulky without any good hand holds on it and there is no telling what will get on it after you check it at the plane itself.

It got to the point where I would just have family members ask around to borrow a car seat during our visit just to avoid having to take one with us on the plane. This car seat cover is an item I wish I'd had from that very first flight. It completely covers the car seat, which is no small feat as I have Britax Boulevard 70-G3 Convertible Car Seat Seat (one of the biggest on the market but definitely my favorite that I have ever used). The car seat travel bag is made out of polyester, this makes it durable as well as water resistant. I am confident that the travel bag will protect the car seat from most mishaps that can happen in transit. The travel bag has a little tag window, where you can put your contact information should it get separated from your flight. I personally have never had any luggage not make it to my destination, but knowing my luck if anything were to not make it, it would be the car seat. The bag does have a handle sewn on to it and it also comes with a shoulder strap to make lugging the car seat around the airport a little easier. For me the best feature that the fact that it can fold in on itself into a little pouch with a zipper! This makes for easy and convenient storage especially while traveling.

I have yet to take the family on a cruise or a train trip. These are things that I would like to do over the next few years. But since I have not tried them yet, I am not sure of what unique challenges they present to traveling as a family.

Now that I have shared with you some of my must have items for traveling, what are yours? Share your advice and suggestions in the comments section below.

As always comments, feedback, and suggestions are always welcome. Please follow the blog and subscribe your email address at the top to receive new posts in your inbox and never miss an update.

Please note that in accordance with FTC regulations, any items mentioned in my blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Shared TV Time with the Kiddos

Television time for children has been a hot debate ever since the TV box was produced to be accessible within the home. Several studies over the years have been conducted many of which have had conflicting results. I personally take a viewpoint similar to the Canadian musician Raffie.

Young children need to be able to run around to develop motor skills and they need to be able to interact with real people in order to develop communication and social skills. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages media use by children younger than age 2 and recommends limiting older children's screen time to no more than one or two hours a day. The Mayo Clinic wrote an article regarding the necessity of limiting children's television time, the effects of too much television time on children's health, as well as some tips and strategies on how to limit that time. You can read the full article HERE.

I know that we are supposed to limit TV time for children, and for the most part I feel that I do an alright job at that. My children have limited TV exposure before the age of 2, and like Number 3, most of my kids were always more interested in running around than sitting and watching TV.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that all television is bad. My mindset falls in line with the philosophy of The Child Development Institute.

It’s Not All Bad!

Since television is definitely here to stay, parents need to look at it as a resource and not necessarily as a menace. A good way to start is to consult the listings of the public television stations which offer magnificent programs on nature, literature, history, current events, the arts, etc. Also, consider:

•  Studies have indicated that television does increase the general vocabulary of children, especially when it involves term referring to outer space.
• Television does provide opportunities for children to learn about all kinds of things, although whether they do so to any great extent depends largely on the specific programs the child actually watches.
• Television can increase a child’s range of interest since it exposes him to a variety of activities and topics he might not otherwise encounter-archeology, science of all kinds, architecture, music, etc.
• Television has probably been the most effective of all the mass media in making people aware of a wide range of human problems ranging from pollution to homelessness. It also has increased awareness and acceptance of various kinds of illness, both physical and mental.

Read more: http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/family-living/kids-media-safety/television/#ixzz3pFrBZLVU

I generally limit the TV time for the older two kiddos. Not because I am concerned about how much they watch, but more because stuff needs to get done first (ei: homework or picking up a little). What TV time they do get, I get involved in. I know what shows they are watching and what type of content is in them. For the most part I like the shows they watch. Sometimes, though, the shows can get to me with how repetitive they get.

Some days I want to pull my hair out if I have to hear the screeching of the children with British accents sing about Thomas and his friends.

Now, my older children are pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. (Not to toot my own horn, or anything.) I will never forget the evening when I was channel surfing for a tolerable show for my oldest and I to watch before bed. As I was flipping through the channels heading to the usual channels he watches, he tells me to wait and stop on a channel well before we get to his usual line up.

My son sat mesmerized as the screen flashed machinery left and right of an assembly line. I asked if he wanted to continue looking for a show and he replied "No, I want to watch this.". That show was How It's Made.

Another show that my kids like to watch with me, I introduced them to it. It is a cooking show that matches science with fun cinematography. That show is Good Eats. Alton Brown the show's star and creative engine finds fun within the scientific explanations of food in a way that my children can relate to. I started watching Good Eats back in 2005/2006 and I will watch it every chance I get. My children have grown to love the show too and if given the choice, will choose it over any cartoon.

In the clip above Alton Brown consults with a relative of the famous Cookie Monster on the intricacies of baking cookies and why cookies can turn out in various ways (chewy, thin and crispy, cake-like and crumbly) even though it is all the same basic recipe.

Sadly though, Good Eats is no longer in production. It did have a very long run and has since (much to my and my children's delight) been released on Netflix. If you have a Nexflix subscription you can watch them HERE. If you have not checked them out before, I would highly recommend you do.

If nothing else, the two shows that I have discussed, created some common ground for me and my kids. It is something that we can all agree on when it comes to our TV time, and that creates one less battle for me to have to fight.


As always, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome! And remember to follow Reviewing Whirlwind and sign up for email updates at the top of the page so you never miss a post!

Mommy Needs...

A New Pair of Shoes New Apple Charge Cord


I don't know about other parents out there, but I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to the Apple Lightning charge cords.

This little accessory rules supreme in my house hold. It is needed for our iDevices, like mommy's iPhone or the family iPad. However, the Apple branded cords all seem to have roughly the same short life span, just over 2 months.

Most of them meet the same untimely demise of fraying cord casing and internal wires at points in the cord where they meet up with the connectors.

As you can see in the picture above as soon as this fraying occurs it has to be thrown out as it now poses a fire and health hazard. With official Apple branded cords priced at $20.00 each and only lasting for a few months, I had to find a more affordable and sustainable alternative.

Now I have found two brands of cords that I like as my replacement lightning cords. Kash and Beam Electronics both make functional and affordable replacements.

The Beam Electronics lightning cord is only 1 foot long but is great for charging devices at the desk. The cord covering appears to be a little thicker and a bit more durable than the Apple branded cords. It charged my iDevices in roughly the same amount of time that the original Apple branded cords used to.

For longer lightning cords, I prefer Kash Technologies. They have a four pack of 3 foot long cords that as of October of 2015 were just under $16.00.
They like the Beam Electronics have the thicker cord coating making it more durable than the original Apple branded cords. However the length of the Kash Technologies cords are more suited to charging the iDevices in the car where a little extra reach on the cord can go a long way.

Not all lightning cords at my house get the pleasure of living out their sort lives to the fraying end. Especially when my whirlwind incarnate number 2 gets a hold of it. She is fantastically and almost comically accident prone (think Martin Short in the movie Pure Luck).

Our family had just received our beloved iPad back from the local tech repair team with a brand new screen after a particularly bad week of accidents staring Number 2. She'd had the iPad maybe an hour contentedly watching cartoons on Netflix with it plugged up. She then decided to change location from the couch in the living room to the kitchen. She got up and started walking, forgetting that the iPad was plugged in.

By the time she remembered, it was too late. The damage had already been done. She hung her head and brought to me the pieces of the newly deceased charge cord. Somehow, when she stood up and walked away from her spot on the couch and the outlet next to it, the metal connector of the lightning connector came out of the connector's housing. Thankfully there was enough to grip and we were able to liberate the metal connector from the connector receiver of the iPad.







Disclaimer: Items mentioned in the blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Do You Need a New Bedtime Story?

I understand that repetition is a part of learning and children are the masters of repetition.

(Mommy, Mommy, Are we there yet? Mommy? Are we there yet? Are we there yet, Mommy?)


Here is an excerpt from an article I read earlier this week on www.kindermusik.com

Three interesting facts about repetition and child development:

1. Learning requires electrical energy to create neural pathways. The less “automatic” something is, the more electrical energy is required. Think of something you do automatically – like count by 10′s. It takes very little electrical energy for your brain to travel that “counting 10′s” neural pathway, because you’ve done it a lot.

The more well-traveled a pathway, the less energy is required. That’s why you can do two things at once. Watch TV and knit, for example. When you are first learning to knit, it takes all of your effort. Looking, counting stitches, watching your needles. As it becomes automatic, you use less brain energy, so you can layer another activity on top of that without fear of accidentally turning those mittens into a hat instead.

Neurons Communicating

2. Did you ever wonder why children expect a favorite activity to be repeated again and again and again? Repetition is a necessary building block of development. Children’s brains KNOW that they need repetition. They are pretty smart little creatures! Do you remember the show Blue’s Clues? (Never the same for me after Steve left…). The creators did research while developing the show as to what preschoolers wanted to see in the show, and you can probably guess the answer by now – repetition!

3. So what about the fact that we always have a hello and goodbye ritual, a bounce, a steady beat, rocking time, and story time (in the older classes)? As my friend Heather Wiebe says (she a Kindermusik teacher in Alberta who is fascinated about the way the brain works, just like me) “Patterns make children happy. Knowing what to expect and having things happen in that way not only helps children know what to expect and feel at ease, it’s also how they mark time.” When the environment and routine is predictable, then a child feels safe and learning can naturally happen.

Read the full article Here. 

While this does provide an explanation as to why repetition is important it provides little comfort when your little one is asking you to read the Goldilocks and the Three Bears for the gazillionth time or the cute little song they are listening to over and over again is starting to sound a little creepy like the playground screen in The Birds.

If you have read all the books in your house for bedtime stories (when I was taking classes for my undergraduate degree I did read textbooks to my children for bedtime stories: two birds, one stone), it may be time to introduce some fresh characters.

I recently ran across a really cute and endearing series called Terry Treetop.

Pictured is the book Terry Treetop Finds New Friends.

I read this book with my children and it provided a great conversation starter to talk with both my six year old and my nine year old about what makes a good friend and helping people in need.

The book is well written and the meter of the book makes it an easy and enjoyable bedtime read. Tali Carmi uses literary devices such as repetition as well as alliteration making this a great practice primer for the six year old's reading skill.

I look forward to Terry's other adventures and sharing them with my children and reading them a couple hundred times.


Disclaimer:
I may have received any products mentioned in this post for free or at a discount in exchange for an honest and fair review.