Pamela Alma Weymouth

Pamela Alma Weymouth maintains her sanity by transforming her life’s disasters into stories. She has won awards for her fiction and essays from Glimmer Train and Traveler’s Tales. Her writing can be found in the Best Women’s Travel Writing 2009 or on The Huffington Post. She earned her MFA in creative writing from University of San Francisco. When she is not at work on her novel she is usually chasing her twin boys.
Pamela Alma Weymouth

Santa Claus vs. The Buddha: What Am I Teaching My Children?

by , 12/22/11
 
 
The other day one of my twin four year olds asked me “Mama, is there only one Santa Claus?” Having seen Santa just that week at the mall, the zoo and a local tea house, he was understandably confused. After congratulating myself on having a brilliant kid, I did, what many parents do, I lied, or shall we say, I continued the lie I had begun telling him several years earlier. “Of course there’s only one Santa. Why do you ask?” “Well,” said Quinn, “his beard was different.” “He probably got a haircut, I mean a beard trim, you know like your Papa does sometimes?” I thought myself rather clever. “No Mama, it was longer,” he replied. I proceeded to make up some an absurd story about how Santa’s beard tended to grow faster than most because of it being so cold in the North Pole. In the last few weeks I’ve told my boys that Santa’s reindeer live at the zoo and the Academy of Science while they rest up for their big flight. I’ve recounted how elves make toys—but only eco-friendly toys, because Santa would never allow the lead and phalates in plastic to harm little children, and that the bad toys are sometimes accidentally purchased by parents who don’t know better. All this has been done while being sure to explain that vampires are not real, that witches and monsters are all make-believe (except for The Switch Witch) and that heaven is something some people believe in and some people don’t. While I remember cherishing the myth of Santa Claus (despite my atheistic upbringing and my 1/8 Jewish blood) I question the moral logic of teaching my children that lying is a high moral crime, even as I lie to them. My second dilemma remains: Why am I teaching my kids to wait in anticipation for a day when a mythical person will bring them lots of stuff?
 

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Organic Apple Picking: A Fun, Healthy Activity for the Whole Family

by , 11/21/11
 
 

With all the recent scares about arsenic or lead in your child's apple juice, why not go to the source and make your own? Pack a picnic, and head for the country by car, train or bus to your nearest organic you-pick apple orchard. Not only will you have a great adventure in the country, but also your tot will learn that their fruit does indeed grow on trees - not in a box! Hurry up and get the last apples of the season. In some states you can still pick blueberries, peaches, figs, squash, and fall vegetables, too. To find the nearest organic or pesticide-free farm in your neighborhood visit PickYourOwn.org.

 

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The Switch Witch: Solving the Halloween Candy Conundrum

by , 10/31/11
 
 
What’s a parent to do when faced with a child’s overflowing bucket of chemical laden Halloween candy and cheap plastic spiders? Do you deprive your tot of the joy of tick or treating? Do you allow him to eat his fill and then suffer from a high-fructose corn syrup crash? Do you allow her moderate doses after each meal, while you fret about potential lead contamination or possible carcinogens in ingredients like: “Artificial colors,” Red #40, Yellow #5 or carnauba wax—an ingredient also used in car waxing and shoe polish? Finally, I discovered an imaginative solution that will make both parents and kids happy: The Switch Witch!
 

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3 Eco-Friendly Straw Options to Solve a Parent’s Dilemma

by , 09/16/11

 
 
Before you pack that organic juice box into your child's lunch box this fall, consider this: 500 million disposable straws are used in the US daily according to researchers at Be Straw Free. That's enough to fill 127 school buses a day, or over 46,400 buses per year. So, the next time your waiter hands your child a drink in a plastic cup, with a plastic lid, and a plastic straw, you can say, "No, thanks," or (if you don't want your kids to hate you) you can say, “We brought our own.” That's when you whip out your eco-friendly straws! Several companies have come up with thoughtful alternatives made from glass, stainless steel, and even corn, all which may help to save the planet and your children's health. Your waiter might give you a strange look, but in an addled parents’ world, this is one small way to make a big difference.
 



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