The Many Dangers of Mall Trains
Yesterday morning when I asked my Daughter if she wanted to go to the park or to the mall, she didn’t even hesitate. Go outside and get wet or play inside on a giant train, hmmm… Maybe I shouldn’t have given her a choice. Taking your kid to the train at the mall is like playing Germ Roulette.
For some reason 10:30 am on Thursday is a hot time in this town to take your kid to the train. And even though there is a sign that clearly states no children over 5, there were giant children jumping all over the place. I almost grabbed one of them and demanded proof that he had legal rights to be on the train. But I figured that most of those overgrown toddlers weren’t carrying I.D.’s and from what I could tell their parents didn’t care what they did as long as they weren’t torturing them.
On the other end of the spectra from flame throwing, wall scaling super heroes is my daughter. She is one of those kids who know the value of relaxing. Ever since she was a baby, she would manage to get her feet propped up and herself situated into a lounge position. It didn’t matter where she was, she could get comfortable in a shopping stroller, in her highchair, in her baby bath. She was born a lounger.
This mentality extends to play situations as well. Instead of running around and screaming she actually lays on the train, no matter how busy it is. She stretches out lazily and watches the kids running wildly by or occasionally looks a bit surprised as she is shoved out of the way. But even when she’s shoved aside she quickly resumes her position lying along the steps or directly at the top (or bottom) of the slide. It would be funny if I wasn’t so scared that one of the larger, more energetic children was going to jump on her head.
In the history of mall trains I’m certain that children have landed on each other’s heads at least a few hundred times. And though I am nowhere near as protective as Brad is, it’s embarrassing to go to the train with him and my daughter, he’s a hoverer. I certainly don’t want anyone jumping on our daughter’s head.
Right as I was trying to decide if the very miniscule chance of head injury was grounds to remove her from a play situation a mall worker began to clear the train for a cleaning.
‘Great,’ I thought, ‘we played on the train right before the cleaning. God only knows how long it has been since the last time this thing has been cleaned. Oh well,’ I try to convince myself, ‘she’s building a good immune system right?’
Whole Wheat Couscous and Sweet Potato Dinner
Another way to build up the immune system that doesn’t usually cut into the parent’s sleep schedule is healthy eating. And one of my favorite and easy healthy dinners is the wonderful Couscous and Sweet potatoes. As most of my dinners occur, this happened as a result from leftovers. In this case left over sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving, but if you don’t have any sweet potatoes in your fridge, simply boil them with the skins on, let them cool a bit, take the skins off and cut into small chunks.
Ingredients:
Makes about 5 medium size portions
3-4 Sweet Potatoes
1 Cup Whole Wheat Couscous
Boil Sweet Potatoes until soft, remove casings and cut into about 1 inch slices or cubes, or use left over sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole.
Cook Couscous according to package directions (plain whole wheat couscous is best) or buy in bulk and boil 3 cups of water, add 1 heaping cup of Whole Wheat couscous, stir and bring back to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and spoon a portion onto a plate. Top with the sweet potato chunks. I like mine sprinkled with a bit of brown sugar, or another “brown” sweetener (molasses, agave etc), a little nutmeg and a touch of butter. This is so good and so simple.
Whole Wheat Couscous and Sweet Potatoes
neuromom 