Wichita Eagle: Suzanne Tobias

Suzanne Tobias: Family book club could start – or continue – meaningful dialogue with kids

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:46 CDT

I was in my late 20s, married but childless, when I first read Lois Lowry’s “The Giver.”

Intrigued by the Newbery Medal on the cover, its dystopian theme and the chatter in some circles that its subject matter was “inappropriate for young children” – high praise, in my book – I bought a copy one Saturday morning and read it straight through that afternoon.

Afterward I remember thinking – oddly, because I wasn’t the type to dream about children or to envision my life as a mom – that I couldn’t wait to someday share that book with my kids.

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Tears and tantrums: We’ve all been there

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:24 CDT

“I wouldn’t let him play in the knife drawer.”

“I closed the refrigerator door.”

“Buzz Lightyear’s knee is bent.”

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Sticky notes reflect child’s changing taste buds

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:21 CDT

I bought a new cookbook – “Dinner Tonight: Done!” – because its title so accurately and succinctly reflected my attitude about cooking lately:

What’s for dinner? And more importantly, how quickly can I get it done?

Also, the cover photo of the flank steak and pepper tacos, one lying ever-so-artistically on its side in a dollop of beef juices, hot sauce and sour cream, nearly made my mouth water. Then I read the dust jacket:

Suzanne Perez Tobias: On a coaster roll at Worlds of Fun

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:49 CDT

As the Patriot roller coaster screamed overhead, its passengers’ legs swinging freely from the ski-lift-style seats, my son looked warily toward me.

“That,” Jack said, “looks terrifying.”

“It probably is,” I said. “That’s kind of the point.”

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Boston another chance to talk to kids about tragedy

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:05 CDT

The radio was turned to the news when I picked up my son from school Monday, so I quickly offered what little information had been confirmed.

There had been two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I told him. There were dozens of injuries and at least two deaths.

“Bombs?” Jack asked.

Suzanne Tobias: Let’s figure out mysteries of the universe together

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:22 CDT

The voice asking the first question of Lawrence Krauss and Brian Greene in a live-audience broadcast of NPR’s “Science Friday” was tiny and tentative, obviously a young boy:

“Why did you be- (gulp) … choose to become a scientist?”

“For me,” answered Greene, a theoretical physicist, “it was to get the girls.”

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Loving the madness that is March

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:19 CDT

March is mad and memorable for so many reasons.

There’s college basketball, of course, which, as I’ve said before, plays on a continuous loop on our living room television this time each year.

There’s sunlight after dinner, evenings on the back porch and the slow, steady stroll out of spring break that accelerates to a gallop the closer we get to summer vacation.

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Whatever happened to audience etiquette?

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:55 CDT

Last week in this space, I praised the value of fine arts education.

Since then, I attended an orchestra concert at my daughter’s high school that proved some additional education clearly needs to happen:

A crash course in audience etiquette.

Suzanne Tobias: Arts provide kids with life lessons

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:11 CST

Jack recently learned to play “Gangnam Style” on his trombone, which is pretty much as nightmarish as you might imagine.

And yet.

I love a house filled with music – Taylor Swift on my daughter’s iPod dock, concertinos on her violin, “Star Wars” theme from Jack’s stereo and, yes, even low-brass K-pop on a middle-school trombone.

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Snow days offer precious breaks from routine

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:30 CST

“Snow days rock!” a friend posted on her Facebook page last week.

“I’m actually cooking. And reading. And playing in the snow with our puppy. Let’s have more of these!”

By Tuesday – the sixth day of a snow-induced six-day weekend for Wichita-area students – you’d think the bloom would have faded from that gleaming white rose.

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Sometimes it pays to read children the whole book

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:48 CST

My 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, was reminiscing recently about elementary school — studying for tests in biology, world history, Spanish and algebra while reading “Lord of the Flies” will do that to a person — and I asked her what she remembered, specifically, from those early years.

She listed several things: classmates, playground games, songs from the character education CDs one of her teachers played:

Think before you act,

Suzanne Perez Tobias: We’re all connected, just not to one another

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:43 CST

Sometimes our family room looks more like an Internet cafe.

We sit there together, the four of us, but we’re all looking down, our heads bowed as if observing a collective moment of silence. And it is silent, in fact, except for the click-click-clicking of our electronic devices.

Randy’s laptop.

Suzanne Perez Tobias: A thin line between humility, the humblebrag

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:01 CST

Perhaps you’ve never heard the term “humblebrag” – it’s annoying being a social-media vanguard who has to explain everything all the time, but I’ll try … #humblebrag – so here’s the UrbanDictionary.com definition:

“Subtly letting others know about how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humor or ‘woe is me’ gloss.”

Humblebrags are everywhere these days, thanks especially to social media. There are humblebrag Twitter feeds, hashtags, blogs and even a book, “Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty,” in which television writer Harris Wittels republishes and comments on some of the best (worst?) humblebrags of all time.

Suzanne Tobias: A place to spread a little kindness and caring

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:02 CST

You know the old sayings, the ones you learned as a child and repeat through the course of your life, to yourself or to your children or grandchildren:

Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

Suzanne Tobias: Time to declutter – but don’t throw those toys away

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:12 CST

There are only so many episodes of “Clean House” or “Hoarders” a person can watch before she grabs a few trash bags and heads into her son’s bedroom.

The built-in desk and shelves on one side of Jack’s room had become so covered in papers, school supplies, books, games and gadgetry that there wasn’t room for him to spread out his homework.

“How do you work like this?” I asked him recently.

Suzanne Tobias: Winter forces us to look inward

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:44 CST

The holiday decorations have barely come down.

Some still wait by the basement door to be packed in boxes and hauled downstairs, like kids at a bus stop wondering whether it’s Saturday. They’ll wait a little longer because I hate this chore, this signal that the festive, twinkly, evergreen-scented part of winter is over and the cold, brutal months lie ahead.

“All right,” my husband announced on New Year’s Day, “I’m ready for spring.”

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Simplifying gift strategy enriched this season

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:25 CST

Another Christmas is over.

The packages are unwrapped, the cinnamon rolls eaten, the iTunes gift cards redeemed and a new giant-block calendar hangs on the kitchen wall – am I the only one who requires more calendar space with each subsequent year? – which means it’s the perfect time for a “Want, Need, Wear, Read” debriefing.

A few weeks ago, I pledged to simplify my family’s holiday gift-giving by adopting a strategy I’d seen on numerous blogs and websites.

Suzanne Tobias: Throwing dice and other fun family activities

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:32 CST

My family loves board games.

I have said and typed it many times before, particularly this time of year, when dark evenings, cozy fires, winter break and holiday get-togethers loom gloriously ahead like a vast expanse of purple Cranium clay.

Each holiday season I try to add a few games to our growing collection, which usually means visiting my pal Gwen Ottenberg at Imagine That Toys in Wichita. Incredibly, the visit usually results in some happy new board/card/dice-game discovery and in me shouting, “This is the best game ever!”

Suzanne Perez Tobias: Elf on the Shelf invites postings of off-color shenanigans

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:24 CST

Like many holiday traditions, Elf on the Shelf began so innocently.

We got our little elf doll and accompanying storybook as a gift several years ago, when the phenomenon first started to take off.

The idea – in case you haven’t been inundated with elf photos in your Facebook news feed – is that every day during the weeks leading up to Christmas, a family’s elf hides somewhere in their house to watch over the children and observe all the daily goings-on. Every night he flies to the North Pole to report back to Santa what he has seen, good or bad, and before the family wakes the next morning, he’s hiding in a new spot.

Suzanne Tobias: Holidays offer a good excuse to sing

Suzanne Perez Tobias — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:34 CST

The remnants of our Thanksgiving turkey weren’t even in the fridge last week before my children started hassling me about my singing.

Here’s the deal: I love Christmas carols.

I love the somber, religious ones like “O Holy Night” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”