Kids Love Monkey Bread

As the Christmas holidays and our winter season begin, a nice warm yummy treat to share creates fun and memories. One of my favorite activities for those cold dark afternoons of winter is to whip up a batch of Monkey Bread with my favorite group of monkeys, who affectionately call me Momma Monkey or Ms. Monkey, as the case may be.

Since I made my first batch of monkey bread with my siblings back in the mid-1960's, with all five of us and some of the neighbors giving a hand (which is why I've always loved the name), I've baked various versions of this bread. It is an easy treat to get ready the night before a Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast. Perfect for the holidays or sleepovers. I've made it with homemade bread dough, frozen bread dough and canned biscuits. The results vary, but one effect remains constant--the pride and sense of belonging children feel in preparing a dish that everyone shares and enjoys.

It's worth cleaning up the sugar off the floor.

Cinnamon Monkey Bread

• Bread dough (enough for two loaves)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tsp. Cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick butter

Allow bread dough to rise (if using frozen dough, use 2 one-pound loaves and thaw overnight in fridge). Pull bread apart into chunks and roll into balls, about one inch in diameter. Combine white sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough balls in sugar mixture. Stack rolled dough balls in a bundt pan. Melt butter and brown sugar until boiling. Pour mixture over dough balls in bundt pan.

Cover with plastic, and allow dough to rise again to the top of the bundt pan.* Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn baked monkey bread onto a plate, and enjoy the ooey-gooey.

*Note: Once bread has risen again, it may be refrigerated overnight and baked in the morning if you desire a fresh-from-the-oven monkey bread breakfast.

Searching for recipes recently, I came across a Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread that works for dinner or brunch.

Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread

• 2 (one pound) loaves of frozen bread dough, thawed
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 5 tablespoons butter

Pull bread apart into chunks and roll into balls, about one inch in diameter. Combine Parmesan cheese, green onions, parsley and garlic powder. Roll balls in cheese and herb mixture and stack into bundt pan. Melt butter, add any left over cheese mixture and pour over bread.

Cover with plastic, and allow dough to rise again to the top of the bundt pan.* Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn baked bread onto plate, and enjoy with dinner or brunch.

Enjoy! Here's wishing you a holiday season full of wonderful and delicious memories.

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

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©2008 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Priceless Presents

As we make our holiday shopping lists and worry about what to get for our friends, families and other special people in our lives, let's take a few minutes and make sure we are giving the gifts that can only come from the heart.

The Present of Listening. How do we really listen? We turn off our cell phones, the television and the computer, and we focus on the person who is talking to us. We think in terms of their interests, their dreams and their disappointments. We are non-judgmental. We ask questions. We don't offer our own anecdotes. We focus on what is being said. We just try to understand.

The Present of Tenderness. It is with small actions that we are remembered. The touch of tenderness comes from the heart and can express what perhaps a thousand words cannot. A hug, a kiss, a pat on the back, a touch of the hand. A cup of coffee. A cookie and milk. These tiny gestures show the love we have for family and friends.

The Present of Good Humor. Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Clip the comics. Learn to tell a joke or two. Tell a few funny stories on yourself. Share your laughter because laughter sounds like angels' music. Smile to light up a room.

The Present of Being Alone. As much as we like to be with other people, at times being by ourselves is a wonderful gift. Be aware when the best gift for family and friends might simply be to let them have some time alone to rest and rejuvenate. Time alone helps us refill our love buckets.

The Present of Kindness. Do something that lets loved ones know that you are thinking of them. Growing up, my mom would ask me if I would like to split a stick of chewing gum with her. To me, that gesture of offering to share a stick of gum communicated a lot of love and thoughtfulness.

The Present of a Handwritten Note. In today's world of e-mails, the handwritten note becomes deeply personal. Your handwriting reflects your personality and sends a non-verbal message that is difficult to duplicate. Seeing my dad's handwritten notes in the books he left me is a gift that gives every time I see his script or doodles.

The Present of Appreciation. Being able to recognize others with gratitude in a sincere manner is a gift. Give a compliment to someone for the work they have done. A few words--''What a great meal,'' ''Thanks for setting the table'' or ''I think you are handsome in that shirt''--can brighten anybody's day.

The Present of a Positive Attitude. There's enough doom and gloom in the world. We don't need to bring a rain cloud along. Help those around you see the beautiful, the hopeful and the wonderful in the world around them.

These are the jewels that shine across the decades of our lives, the golden nuggets of time in the red velvet boxes of our memories. Our loving presence is our priceless present.

Next week: Kids Love Monkey Bread

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a FREE subscription.

©2008 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Real Toys for Real Kids

''What do you want for Christmas?'' I asked my 14-month-old. Since she could say ''momma'' and ''dada,'' I thought, for some unknown reason, she could communicate her perfect Christmas gift as we walked down the aisles of the toy store.

There have been gift-giving holidays when I've watched children play with boxes, paper and ribbon longer than new playthings. The most advertised toys seem to top our children's wish lists. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as manufacturers spend over 12 billion a year advertising to pre-schoolers.

What is the purpose of a toy? To babysit? To help a child develop thinking, creative and physical skills? To allow a child to explore and understand the world?

What do children need in toys to help develop important skills?

Are we as a culture creating an environment that disconnects our children from sensory experiences that are critical for development?

In The Age of Missing Information, Bill McKibben recounts watching every channel of one day's worth of cable television programming. It took him one year of all-day viewing to watch one day of cable show offerings. McKibben describes the disconnection he felt with real life, along with sensory deprivation. He craved ''three-dimensional'' experiences. He wanted information that was missing from the TV screen. For McKibben no television show surpassed the sensory experience of swimming in a mountain lake on a summer afternoon, using muscles and his mind to solve a problem, cook food or visit friends.

Twenty years ago the autism rate in the U.S. was 1 in 2,500 children. The rate, now reported by the CDC, shows a rate as high as 1 in 150 in some areas of the country. I think it is not a coincidence that the rise in autism (communication disorder) coincides with the rise of the use of TV, computers and video games to occupy our children's minds. We are creating environments that lack vital connections to our earth, that provide too few opportunities for the hand and the mind to work together in a three-dimensional, multi-sensory way and that do not allow interaction with people.

Here are suggestions for ''toys'' that will help our children connect to our earth, use the hand and mind together and allow for family interaction. You won't see them advertised. Your children won't ask for them, but these items will help your children in significant ways.

• Child-size brooms and cleaning supplies
• Whisk rooms
• Watering cans
• Flower vases
• Wheelbarrows
• Gardening tools
• Gardening gloves
• Bolt board
• Lacing cards
• Potholder looms
• Bead stringing
• Children's cookbook
• Rubber band board
• Musical instruments, glockenspiel
• Art supplies
• Chalkboards
• Books
• Puzzles
• Magnifying glass

A favorite catalog for ''real'' toys is For Small Hands. For more ideas visit www.forsmallhands.com.

Next week: Priceless Presents

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a FREE subscription.

©2008 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Santa Claus: Making the Invisible Visible

''I've never gotten a present from Santa Claus,'' said Iliana, my 12-year-old seatmate on an east coast flight. ''My parents thought I should only be given verifiable facts. They told me there is no veracity in Santa Claus.''

''It's too bad that no one ever told your parents about the Secret of Santa Claus. When you know the Secret, you believe in Santa Claus all your life, even if you can't verify facts.'' I said.

''You believe in Santa Claus? What secret?''

''It's simple, but…''

''Please, tell me,'' Iliana said.

''We're flying on a plane right now. Who built this plane? Who designed it? Who got it ready to fly? Who trained our pilots? We know that someone had to do it, and with some research we could find those people. We won't though. We'll never meet those people. I'll call them invisible workers since they work to give us something we couldn't do alone.''

I took a sip of coffee. ''There are thousands of invisible workers for almost everything we use. I have no idea who planted the beans for this cup of coffee, or who picked them, roasted them and packaged them. I can only thank our flight attendant, the last person in this invisible line of people.''

''I have faith,'' I continued, ''that when I wish to fly on an airplane, or have a cup of coffee, these unknown people will have done their jobs, and my desires will come true. I don't have to grow my own coffee beans or build my own airplane because of all these wonderful people.''

''So you're saying that Santa Claus is an invisible worker?'' said Iliana.

''I see Santa Claus being all these people in the world, who strive to serve humankind, to make life more enjoyable, more comfortable, more magical. I will never see these people who do so many things for me, but they are most assuredly real. When I understood this, and I was older than 12, I wanted to be that helpful kind of person. In the first stage of believing in Santa Claus, when we're little, we're on the receiving end. When we live the secret, we are on the giving side, which is fun. Being like Santa, which is doing our jobs with cheerful intention to help others, makes amazing things happen, such as flying at 30,000 feet at 500 miles an hour, while sipping coffee, and talking to you about Santa Claus.''

''I get it. Once you know how Santa works, you become Santa Claus. You do your regular stuff with love in your heart, and you try to help others without expecting anything in return. Santa is people helping people. I'm pretty sure nobody told my parents that,'' Iliana said. ''I think I'm going to have some fun being an invisible worker.''

I was hoping I could show Iliana that Santa is that invisible force of faith, charity, believing and doing that cannot be easily explained. For the young child, one way we can help them see and experience this force is in Santa's work. As the young child enters a developmental stage of reasoning, around age six, and begins to wonder about Santa, we need to give them opportunities to work and contribute to something bigger than themselves. We need to show them how to choose to be part of the magical power of giving, service and surprise.

As we walked off the plane, Iliana said, ''I'm so excited about Santa Claus. I've already got some great ideas. I think this feeling is what the saying, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive,' means. Boy, are my parents and a few other people going to be surprised.''

Iliana spied her grandparents and started singing, ''Here Comes Santa Claus.'' They laughed and said, ‘What are you so happy about?''

As I walked away, Iliana waved and winked at me, then answered, ''It's a secret.''

Next week: Real Toys for Real Kids

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a FREE subscription.

©2008 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing