I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

Halloween. Ah yes, that magical time of year when I get to teach my kids about America and the power of Capitalism! What's that? You don't use Halloween as an object lesson to teach your kids the same principles on wealth distribution and profit? Well, allow me to enlighten you on my teaching method. You see, just before the neighborhood opens up to the ritual taunting of "trick-or-treat" on the evening of Halloween, every child has a choice. They can choose to stay home and eat the candy their parents purchased or they can go out into the neighborhood. If they choose to sit at home and eat the candy given them by their parents then they will not need to exert any energy at all and they will have some candy immediately at their fingertips. However, this option also requires that they share their candy with other children who knock on the door and they will soon discover a rapidly diminishing supply of sugary sweets in their bucket. If they choose to go out in...

There were 3 options for my preschoolers to choose from: Honey Bunches of Oats, Cocoa Pebbles, or Raisin Bran. I set all 3 on the table and asked each child which cereal they would like to eat for breakfast; all three chose 'Honey Boats.' After pouring their cereal and getting each kid situated, I poured myself a bowl of Raisin Bran and we all got to munching. When Isaiah (my oldest) finished his cereal first he asked if he could have more. Sure thing, which one do you want?  "That one" *pointing to the Raisin Bran* Surprised I pour him a bowl of Raisin Bran, surprised that he ate the entire bowl. As we were cleaning up our bowls from the table after breakfast I realized that the Cocoa Pebbles were not touched this morning, not even mentioned. Odd,  I thought, typically the chocolately-sugary cereals don't last a week at our house . And yet this is the same [big] bag of Cocoa Pebbles that we opened over a month ago. Why the sudden lack of interest? ******...