Archives for April 2013

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate - To Dr. Saul Hymes There’s No Question

April 29, 2013 By Sarah Fader

Let me start out by saying that my children are vaccinated. When they were born, it wasn’t a question for me. Vaccines save lives. They prevent humans from contracting dangerous conditions which are sometimes fatal.

There have been recent outbreaks of measles in England and Wales this year. So it’s still important to get vaccinated.

My friend and pediatric infectious disease doctor, Saul Hymes, would agree with me on this.

In fact, he feels so strongly about children getting vaccinated, that he wrote an article about his thoughts on the anti-vaccine movement as well as what can happen when parents refuse vaccines for their children in a publication called The Magazine. The article is called: Give it Your Best Shot

The Magazine is an iOS based magazine founded by Marco Arment, creator and developer of Instapaper and lead developer of Tumblr.

The anti-vaccine movement has been an axe to grind for Saul ever since he was in medical school. The fact that it seemed to him to coincide with the Bush administration and a trend of anti-intellectualism didn’t help much.

As Saul learned about the anti-vaccine movement, there were celebrity activists who were vocal in their stance against vaccines including centerfold and model Jenny McCarthy, who he calls out in his article for being ill informed with regard to the potential “dangers” of vaccines.

Saul’s article is a in depth look into the history of vaccinations and attempts to debunk some common anti-vaccines theories out there.

Want to know more? Click here to read Give it Your Best Shot

Introducing Films of The 80s to Ari - A Video Series

April 26, 2013 By Sarah Fader

The time has come.

Ari is of an age where he is able to appreciate and discuss more abstract concepts. He’ll be turning five on May 6th. It is time to initiate him into the world of films of my childhood.

I grew up in the 1980’s, which is a decade filled with classic films.

Here are some of the films I loved as a child:
Back To The Future
The Princess Bride
The NeverEnding Story
Adventures In Babysitting
Stand By Me

I’m going to introduce these films to him, slowly but surely, with the help of Netflix.

I’ll be posting video interviews with him documenting his favorites.

But I need your help! What are your favorite childhood films of the 80s? Post a comment here and let me know!

Mother’s Day is Coming Up and Nerd Wallet Knows!

April 24, 2013 By Sarah Fader

I got an email today from Matt over at Nerd Wallet

Without even knowing what the email was about I was excited, because I love the company’s name. It’s fun to say. Say it with me, “Nerd Wallet.”

See! I told you!

Matt told me about this contest they’re having over there…wait…over where? Why at Nerd Wallet of course.

Nerd Wallet is a financial literacy site that helps people stay out of debt and manage their money. Hey…maybe I should check them out. I’m terrible at managing money.

Anyhow, the contest works like this. Nerd Wallet wants to know what would be the best Mother’s Day present for $25 and under. The winner gets $1000! So here’s my answer.

Mother’s Day is a Hallmark holiday. It should be Mother’s Day every day, because moms are awesome, and let’s face it, if it wasn’t for your mom, you wouldn’t be here on this planet.

But you know who makes money on Mother’s Day? Greeting card companies and florists. Cards and flowers are overrated.

Here’s what I think would be an awesome Mother’s day present, take some family photos that you love (from your digital camera, phone or that you’ve already posted on Facebook) and combine them to make a photo book.

I love the photo books that Shutterfly makes. You can see them here. They’re on sale for 40 % off right now and the prices start at 12.99.

Giving a photo book is meaningful way to express gratitude to the maternal one. It’s also an excellent example of a gift that is thoughtful, but doesn’t break your bank account.

By the way, Shutterfly has no idea that I’m telling you this, and I’m not getting paid to say it. They’re just awesome, and I thought you should know. So now you know!

I love this gift idea for mother’s day because it’s personal. When you see pictures of your family compiled in a book, it feels like your partner put thought into their present. And it’s something that you can look at for years to come. The nice thing about photo books as opposed to albums is that you don’t have to worry about the physical pictures becoming weathered or damaged. The pictures and the memories are still there; they’re just on printed paper.

The other thing that’s special about this gift is that it allows the gift giver to express creativity. You can personalize your photo book in so many ways. No two photo books look the same.

What do you think would make an awesome Mother’s Day present for $25 and under? If you think you’ve got a great idea enter Nerd Wallet’s Contest! You could win $1000!

The D.O.E Was Mistaken - Ari Makes Gifted & Talented Along With 2000 Others

April 23, 2013 By Sarah Fader

When I received the results from Ari’s gifted and Talented test, I knew something wasn’t right. I read the score explanation over and over again, and no matter how many times I looked at the paper, the math didn’t make sense.

He was in the 95th percentile for non-verbal and the 84th percentile for verbal.
According to the score explanation, the non-verbal accounts for 65 percent of the score, while the verbal only accounts for 35 percent.

Now, I’m certainly not a mathematician, but the score I came up with was over 90 percent, while the score they sent us was 89.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

I emailed my best friend, Mint. She confirmed my sense that something was amiss. When she did the math, she calculated 91.5.

So, I wrote an email to gifted and talented as said the following:

I was just looking at Ari’s score sheet and I’m just wondering about the results.

It says that the non-verbal accounts for 65 percent of his score and the verbal accounts for 35 percent of his score.

He scored in the 95th percentile for non-verbal and in the 84th percentile for verbal. If you average the two it’s 89.5. However, if the non-verbal accounts for 65 percent of the score, would his total score be slightly higher?

I received a response with the most complicated mathematical jargon I’d seen. Mint and I were stumped.

Naturally, I emailed my friend (and the smartest person I know) to help interpret it. His name is Saul and he’s a pediatric infectious disease doctor, so he has to be smart, I thought. Also, I bet he knows math.

He said:

His total percentile is not the average of the other percentiles—they recalculate the percentile again on the basis of this combined standardized score they generate but I guess don’t report on the sheet.

So I thought, it’s over. He didn’t get in. I was upset, and I wrote about it.

Then something miraculous happened.

I got a message from Saul:

Did you hear about the g and t testing screw up? A friend told me apparently Pearson who does the test scoring messed up and kids are getting reclassified-some who are not gifted are now gifted and some who only qualify for district testing are now qualified for citywides. Or so I’ve heard…?

Then I got a letter…it said:

Your child’s score has increased based on this correction. Your child is now eligible to apply for district G&T programs.

I stared at it in disbelief. I read on, and it turns out that:

Upon receiving scores, two New York City parents contacted the Department of Education and questioned the formula used to calculate their child’s results.

I was one of the parents that contacted the D.O.E. The other parent, from my understanding of the situation, was a statistician, a word I can’t even spell.

Because of this mistake, not only is Ari eligible for the Gifted and Talented program (as he should have been all along) but so are over 2000 other children.

I’m glad I said something.
I’m proud of myself for sticking up for what is right.

Even though it felt funny to challenge the result, I knew something wasn’t right and I stood up for my son, and apparently over 2000 other children too!

When you believe something isn’t right, say something. Speak your mind. You never know, you could help 2000 people.

Flying Cats and Never Having to Say You’re Sorry- Peter and the Star Catcher

April 18, 2013 By Sarah Fader

Tonight I had the opportunity thanks to the wonderful Holly Rosen Fink at Culture Mom Media to see the prequel to the Peter Pan story, Peter and The Star Catcher.

I took one of my oldest and closest friends, Livvy, to see the show. She was also my doula for Samara’s birth.

The play was held at New World Stages on West 50th Street. As soon as I stepped through the doors of the theater, I knew it looked familiar. Suddenly I realized that this place used to be the three dollar movie theater when I was in high school at F.H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts back in the 1990’s. It had transformed from a theater with sticky floors to a cultural institution with a giant mural that read “create.”

After embracing the space, Livvy and I headed into the theater to see the show.

Peter and The Star Catcher is about a boy who never had a home, a mother or a father. He spends his life in darkness. He meets a girl, Molly, who shows him that there is light in the world. She teaches him that girls are excellent leaders and that some cats can fly.

The show has a Greek chorus aspect to it. The cast tells the story of the boy by speaking in unison and becoming different roles from one second to the next. There are pirates, mermaids, an androgynous nanny, a crocodile, a mollusk, and many more colorful characters.

The story takes the audience on a roller coaster of an emotional journey. One moment I was feeling sad for the boy (who later earns the name Peter) and his lack of family, the next moment I was laughing hysterically as the man who will eventually become Captain Hook loses his hand by getting it stuck in a treasure chest full of sand.

As I watched the story unfold, my curiosity unleashed as well. I wondered how this no-named orphan boy would become the Peter Pan character that I grew up loving. Eventually that curiosity was quelled as the boy opened his heart to us and with it released something magical.

After seeing Peter and The Star Catcher, I’m ready to live in a world that has a little more magic.
Peter says he wants to live in a world where you never have to say you’re sorry. That got me thinking, maybe that’s possible. If we can get in touch with what we want in this life, maybe we don’t have to feel sorry. We could all learn something from spending time in Never Never Land.

Take a trip over to see Peter and get yourself some magic!

The Making of a Robot

April 15, 2013 By Sarah Fader

Special shout out to Valeen, Ari’s art teacher from Private Picassos, for making this project come to life.

Magna-Tiles- The Obsession

April 14, 2013 By Sarah Fader

I love Magna-Tiles. Yes, I’m 33 years-old and I love them as much as a four year-old does. I love them more than blocks and more than Legos. No disrespect to either building toy.

Ari loves Magna-Tiles just as much as I do.

His Pre-K teacher told me that she’s never seen a four year-old create the structures that Ari has created with Magna-Tiles.

The Magna-Tile people don’t know that I’m writing this.

Here are some of Ari’s Magna-Tile creations:

Replicating the model on the box