Tag Archives: summer

HATS (not) Optional

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HAT in ASL www.growingsigns.com

I love hats!

In summer, I know wearing a hat is the best way to protect myself from overheating, sun exposure, and glare. Same goes for winter, but for warmth and keeping dry (hats also really help on days when my hair could use some extra TLC but there’s no time to give it any).  But my family hasn’t always shared my same enthusiasm for wearing hats.

My first baby was born in early springtime, and by June, the rays of summer came hot & heavy upon us as we strolled and took in summer fun around town. Besides always using the stroller’s built-in sun shade, I remember popping lots of cute bonnets and brimmed hats into my diaper bag for her. By August, as she got older & more dextrous, I remember lots of cute bonnets and brimmed hats being tossed out of the stroller -she did NOT like wearing a hat.

Every time she’d pop her hat off, I’d pop it back on and sign HAT. Every day, over and over. Sometimes I’d try really roomy hats that I’d hope she wouldn’t feel being stealthily put on her from behind…no good. But I kept trying. HAT. We wear our HAT. Mommy’s putting on her HAT. Here’s your HAT.

The following summer when she was one, I found myself repeating HAT a lot: Let’s put on our HAT! Even though she was talking, I’d realized that it really helped to use signs along with my verbal words for commands or, shall we say, emphatic statements. One day, after weeks and weeks of relentless hat tossing (why do babies never tire of some things?) and HAT signing (well, I’m pretty stubborn too), I was almost blown off my own feet. As we were leaving the house for our daily jaunt, the sunlight almost blinded us through the open door: “Mommy, I need HAT!” Wait, what? She was reminding me!

Now, I keep hats for all of us by the front door and back-ups in the car. My kids know wearing their hat is part of being outside, and thankfully, you can find cool-looking kids’ hats everywhere now. Luckily my son has been more amenable from a young age to wearing a hat and doesn’t fight me on it (there’s other battles, don’t worry).

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Yesterday, our family strolled down Fourth Avenue in the blazing sun and took in the annual Khatsahlano Street Party music festival, all in our straw hats.

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Don’t give up if your baby resists your efforts to wear a HAT. Try signing HAT every time you see hats, wear hats, pick up hats, put on hats. As I’ve realized is true with all parenting efforts, including teaching signs: consistency and repetition are key. And it helps if you wear a hat, too!

How to Sign HAT in American Sign Language

The American Sign Language sign for HAT is tapping at the top of your head with a flat hand to indicate where a hat is worn.

Blankets on the Grass

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photo(1)[9]My husband and kids & I sat around the table for lunch about a month ago on a rainy June day and talked about what we wanted to do this summer when the skies finally turned blue and the days were long. Before that, during a quick mommy getaway, I had had an aha! moment realizing it was time for our little family to start having more simple, local adventures and natural world discoveries this summer, not scheduled skills camps.

When I was growing up, we didn’t go to daycamp or bike camp or even swimming lessons. Summer was free-play with a capital “F” –hot days spent running through sprinklers, or building forts in the backyard, and playing massive games of hide-and-seek with the neighbourhood kids for hours after dinner.

My kids needed some of THAT!  So it was time to make a summer bucket list to identify and write down some things we had often forgotten to UN-schedule in the summer, like laying on the grass to watch clouds or stopping to pick berries at the side of the road. But also some local fun around town while we had time to explore our city’s forests and beaches with the rest of the world.

Here’s our family’s list we starting compiling that rainy day, and we are still adding items now that summer has started –that’s the spontaneous part! Today we made this big blanket & pillow nest in the backyard as the sun was high in the sky and enjoyed it until the bugs came out this evening. Every list has to start somewhere…

  • Wake up and watch a sunrise
  • Watch a movie in the backyard (on blankets!)
  • Make a meal only from ingredients gathered at the farmer’s market
  • Look up at the stars laying on blankets
  • Write our names with sparklers
  • Paint rocks & leave them in an unexpected place for someone to find
  • Fly a kite
  • Bake some treats & have an (iced) tea party
  • Go to an outdoor movie
  • Have a sleepover with friends
  • Pick berries, eat berries, pick more berries!
  • Wade barefoot in a cold creek
  • Visit some local tourist attractions we never usually have time for
  • Try a new sport
  • Jump in a lake
  • Ride different local transit -the Seabus, skytrain, Aquabus etc
  • Hike in Lynn Canyon
  • Join the public library’s summer reading club
  • Bike around the seawall
  • Make homemade popsicles
  • Make a summer photo slide show
  • Paint our faces, and arms, and legs
  • Play showercap shaving cream cheesies tossing game and other silly games
  • Make creative s’mores over a campfire
  • Make homemade backyard relay games
  • Paint each other’s toenails
  • Have friends over for a summer sleepover
  • Play the cloud game on the grass
  • Blow bubbles in the bathtub
  • Explore 3 new playgrounds or parks, make obstacle courses
  • Have a waterfight in the back yard -sponges, shooters, & a bin of water
  • Roll down a grassy hill
  • Plan a beach party with our friends
  • Watch a sunset together

I’ll keep posting more items as we add and tick them off the list. What’s on your summer bucket list?