I just came across Language Littles dolls today. What a great idea for raising your little citizens! The dolls say 25 to 30 kid friendly phrases in ten languages. You can buy your little one a Spanish, French, Italian, Russian or even a Greek speaker. If you want to introduce your kid to Spanish, Lizzie can help you out. When you press her right hand she says a series of greetings. Her left hand holds the words for numbers and animals and her knee says “Te Amo.” What a great way to introduce new languages to your little citizens!

While I was living in Japan with my husband and two small children, I kept a running blog of our experiences. At one point, a friend asked me if there was anything about living there that really drove me crazy.

Honestly, there was very little about living in Japan that annoyed me, including some of the cultural differences that I understand drive many Americans crazy. For example, I knew a lot of Westerners who were constantly incensed while driving — muttering curses at pedestrians who didn’t yield to cars, etc. But since I was most often the pedestrian and not the driver, I tended not to see what’s so wrong about that. And I think many Americans in particular get annoyed at the whole “rules are rules, and they must be obeyed no matter what”-aspect of Japanese culture, but I didn’t run into many instances where I was truly irked by that. Bemused, perhaps, but not angry. If you lived in a country with so many people crammed into such small spaces, you would find that following the rules allows for a more peaceful coexistence than you might otherwise find. (Imagine riding the subway in New York City during rush hour and finding that it is almost totally silent – no one speaking to anyone else, no laughing, nothing. That’s the norm in Tokyo.)

However, one admittedly minor incident did get under my skin, both because it adversely affected my five-year-old daughter, and because it illustrated the downside of always following the rules and not recognizing the usefulness (and in this case, kindness) of making an exception. I took my daughter out to dinner at a local restaurant where she remembered getting a toy at the end of her meal when we’d been there in the past. This time, we sat down, ordered off the menu, and ate our dinner, but when we got to the checkout counter, there was no toy for my daughter. There *were* toys, right there in front of us, but the cashier told us they were only for kids who ordered off the children’s menu. We hadn’t been offered a kids menu, but that didn’t phase this woman. Neither did my daughter breaking into inconsolable sobs when she realized that she wasn’t getting the (crummy, cheap) toy that she so desperately wanted. Obviously, the woman was just following the rules. No kids menu, no toy, even if the kid had ordered a full-price adult meal

Needless to say, it soured my daughter on that restaurant from then on, but it did provide us with a lesson on one aspect of Japanese culture that we would encounter at other times during our stay in Japan. Recognizing that it was a cultural difference and not just rudeness on the part of the cashier helped both of us understand where the woman was coming from, and prepared us for similar experiences in the future.

My 13-month-old daughter Zoe practically lives in Daily Tea and gets a lot of complements on her Daily Tea outfits. They are the perfect comfortable, resilient, and stylish play clothes and we love them. Even her Dad (who rarely notices baby clothes) gets excited for Daily Tea. But until recently we had yet to venture into Tea Collection.
With several events coming up –Thanksgiving, a new years party, a few birthday parties and a trip to see family and friends in Los Angeles, I was looking for some outfits that will really stand out. I fell in love with the Bryggen Stripe Sweater Dress, but decided that none of Zoe’s events were formal enough to warrant “twirl factor at a maximum” as promised in the description on the tea website.

When choosing clothes for Zoe I gravitate towards comfortable knits (thus my obsession with Daily Tea), and so I decided on the Rasmussen Floral Knit dress. I also purchased the matching Pointelle Leggings. I figured we can pair the dress with tights and Mary-Janes for parties, and then she can wear the dress with the more casual leggings this winter as a comfy yet gorgeous every day outfit. When the weather gets cooler we can pull out the coordinating bloomers that come with the dress. For activities such as dinners and brunches out with friends I chose the adorable Sno Flugen Hoodie and the Vindella Velvet Trousers in lavender. The velvet of these pants when paired with the otherwise casual hoodie makes the outfit just dressy enough. I also picked up the Daily Tea Chrysanthemum dress and another pair of bootcut leggings from the early Fall collection to mix and match with the Daily Tea Bird Dress which has been a favorite of ours this season. I can’t wait to put Zoe in all of her fabulous new Tea clothes!

If you’re planning on traveling this holiday, navigating the details may feel a bit overwhelming. Packing your kids’ wardrobes is step one to good planning. Two and a Half Travelers is a great place for some trips on how to organize your thoughts and your kids’ clothes!

Tea’s Elevester Blouse made a list of Adorable, Affordable Children’s Holiday Outfits for the coming holiday season. Earlier this fall, one of Tea’s designers, Laura Boes, explained the inspiration behind the Elevester Dress in her article about Norway. Hop on over to her post to learn more about the story behind Tea’s clothes this season. Her images of Norway are beautiful and may inspire you to take a trip there sometime soon!

The next few days are big ones here in the US. People everywhere are phone banking, door knocking, and early voting in anticipation of Election Day next Tuesday. When election time rolls around, I often settle into a two month mode of dreaming about the future. What would the ideal health care system look like? How will our relationships with countries abroad shift?

No matter what your political leanings, election time is a great time to dream of the future with your little citizens. It is also a time when you are likely wondering what their next decade will hold. This week we decided to feature our writers’ reflections on what this season has brought up for them and their little citizens. They come from all sides of the political debate. Our intention was not to endorse a candidate or party but instead to begin a dialogue about how election season shapes your discussion of the globe with your little ones. If you want to dive deeper with them in the last few days, this is a great site for talking with kids about the elections.

Enjoy and happy voting!

The Editor

This election has provided us with an opportunity to educate our children on the political process and to let them see how we as a family are involved in that process. Even more importantly, we have had the opportunity to teach our children about respecting the opinions of others.

Our children are only four and six years old so our discussion of politics is pretty high level. However, given the energy of this election year, it is virtually impossible to totally avoid political discussions in the house. Even leading children’s televisions stations such as Nick Jr. are talking about the campaign and urging kids to vote online. Our family has campaigned by organizing volunteers, knocking on doors, and making phone calls to support our candidate of choice.

So what have our children learned from this historic election year? First of all, they have learned that there are no limits to who can run for President of this country. Watching Senator Clinton and Governor Palin has shown them that women can play key roles in the political process. And seeing Senator Obama strive for a position in the Oval office gives them hope that minorities in this country do not have to be limited by stereotypes and misguided perceptions.

Secondly, our children have learned that not everyone will agree with them. Some of their friends “are voting for” a candidate that is different from the one our family is backing. However, we emphasize that everyone has a right to vote based upon issues that are important to him or her. We are all different and entitled to varying sets of beliefs and preferences.

Finally, our children have learned to always do their best and “take the high road” when talking to friends about differences of opinion. Our hope for our children is that they realize that they can be anything they seek to be in this country and to not be limited by other people’s ideas of who they should be.

There are some things a family can agree upon…where to get the best cheese steak, which way is the fastest to get to home, and what football team to root for. But it is apparent that this election season, there are many things a family cannot agree upon.

I’m not talking my immediate family…the four of us…we all agree. For starters my children will root for whomever you tell them to as long as you give them a piece of clothing and some pom-poms. As for my husband and I, well…let’s just say that I think that I have worn him down to the point of no return.

But when it comes to visiting and talking about this election with our respective families, it appears we are on polar opposites of the spectrum. My family is Democrats to the bone while my in-laws will be Republicans till the day they die.

You’d think that this would cause some huge family tension…fear of birthday parties where someone might say the wrong thing. Nightmares that someone might agree with McCain in the company of my family or drive a car with an Obama sticker to my in-laws…but that really isn’t what has happened at all.

There’s no changing my parents or my in-law’s minds, we all know that. But what we have tried to do this year is show all our children and grandchildren how a healthy and on-going dialogue can be held about important things without losing tempers, shouting, or even throwing objects. In our families, adults have behaved just like their name…adults. Imagine that.

When my 4 year old sees the campaign commercials on TV he always wants to know who we are rooting for. I tell him that Daddy and I are rooting for Obama, but Nana and Pop Pop are rooting for McCain. “But how can that be?” He asks, “You both root for the Eagles.”

If only it were that simple. But in life you don’t get to insulate yourself with only people who agree with you. And with that in mind, I can only hope that through our example, our children will learn to have an intelligent discussion with people of differing opinions and love them all the same even if they don’t agree with them. And I think that is a goal our whole family can agree upon.

I came across a wonderful video about global citizenship earlier this week from A Place of Our Own. If you have a few minutes, click here to watch the short movie. Its a great piece on how you can teach your little citizens about the great big world.

Our daughter was 16 months old when we took her for two weeks to Buenos Aires. She absolutely loved it (as did we). Here are a few things we are glad we did and/ or wish we had known:

Avoid red-eye flights – All flights from the U.S. to Buenos Aires are red-eye flights. We had the time and didn’t think our daughter would do well on a red-eye, so instead we flew Mexicana airlines to Mexico City during the day. We stayed at the airport Ramada hotel (recommended) and continued on the next day to Buenos Aires. This worked well for all of us, especially for Grace as she only had to nap on the plane, not try to get a full night’s sleep. This plan backfired on us on the return though when Mexicana canceled our return flight and we ended up on a red-eye anyway. Some parents say their kids do well on red-eyes by sleeping all the way through, so do what you think will work best for you and your child(ren).

Rent an apartment – Apartments for rent are widely available in Buenos Aires because of a hotel room shortage and because of investment real estate. Many of them are cheaper than comparable hotels. We paid $120/ night for a very nice 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in Palermo, a great neighborhood to stay in with a child. We rented through ApartmentsBA and found them professional and, apart from a few minor hiccups, easy to work with.

Keep your child on the time at home – If you’re from the West Coast that is. If you’re from the east coast the time difference is only 1 or 2 hours (depending on time of year), from the west coast it’s 4 or 5 hours. We kept our daughter on Oregon time by still feeding her dinner an hour before bedtime but at 8 or 9pm instead of 5 or 6pm. This way we were able to stay out until 9 or 10pm and sleep in until at least 8am. Argentines don’t even think about dinner until 9pm so by keeping her on a later schedule we could actually eat when locals eat.

Bring a portable booster seat – While most restaurants in Argentina have high chairs, some don’t. Of those that do have them, every single one we saw was actually just a tall chair with no straps or even bar to keep the child in. This might work with an older child but our daughter would have simply slid right out. Thankfully we had brought The First Years On The Go Booster Seat which fit nicely into the restaurant high chairs and kept our daughter in place.
Don’t bring diapers and wipes – We had heard diapers and wipes would be expensive but they really weren’t. Major U.S. brands (Pampers, Huggies) were available in every grocery store and pharmacy, so we were never without a place to buy them.

Do bring baby food - If your child is still eating pureed baby food you’ll need to bring it with you or bring a hand grinder to make your own. We had heard jarred baby food would be available but we checked in multiple large grocery stores and it never was. Our daughter was old enough that she was also eating table food, so it wasn’t a problem for us but could be a big headache for someone with a smaller baby. Our daughter drinks whole milk which was easy to find but formula also seemed easy to come by.

Bring a baby carrier – We highly recommend the Ergo baby carrier, no matter where you are traveling. See our list of essential travel gear for more information. We used it daily in Buenos Aires.

Bring a plastic changing pad. Diaper changing stations were very rare in public bathrooms. We either changed Grace’s diaper on the floor on a changing pad or just waited until we returned to the apartment. Since we returned at least once a day for naps this worked most days but there were a few emergencies where the bathroom floor had to do. We were told all McDonald’s have changing stations and McDonald’s are everywhere.