the lesson in Chipotle's "The Scarecrow"

Chipotle's newest thought-provoking film is every bit as good as the last, in my biased opinion, and this time, there's an app to go with it. I declare myself biased because my husband works for Chipotle, so some may discount my opinion based on that. Thought I'd better throw that tidbit out there right away. "The Scarecrow," with it's simple, clear visuals and haunting remake by Fiona Apple of the song "Pure Imagination" from the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" challenges how we think about fast food. I won't spoil it for you, but I will challenge you to throw off a bit of the denial the next time you take your family to the restaurant with the golden arches. By all means, what you eat is your choice, but no matter your choice (and I've been known to make some pretty poor choices), at least understand what you are putting into your body and what the industries you are supporting do to the animals you are eating. There ARE better choices out there. Chipotle is one of them.

Please check out "The Scarecrow."

The littles and I have watched "The Scarecrow" a couple of times. The first time, I let them just watch it to see what they would pull from it on their own. They understood that it was sad, and they felt bad for the animals.

Porter (6) asked "Why are these Chipotle things always so sad?"

It's hard to explain it to a six-year-old. You can't really go into the politics of it all, so I did my best: "They are supposed to make you feel sad, because they want you to feel so strongly that it changes the way you think."

The second time we watched, I did some commentary and paused it if they asked questions. Porter seemed to understand as I explained that the people are just eating the food, and they don't know about all of the chemicals in it, and they don't know how badly the animals are treated. All they see is the cute little store front and the yummy-looking food, so they buy it, and they eat it. What "The Scarecrow" is showing us is what goes on in reality. "Oh, so that's why you won't take us to McDonald's and fast food very often," he concluded, then asked "but why can't we just eat the good kind of animals, and why can't the fast food places use those?...Chipotle does."

So he got the message perfectly. "Exactly, Porter." I said. "They don't because it's cheaper to buy the yucky stuff, so that means they make more money."

"That's just wrong," he declared. Bingo.

Campbell (4), my little self-proclaimed vegetarian, had a few more questions and had some very strong feelings: "The poor cows need us. And the pigs. And the chickens." Yes. "Mommy, I want to save a cow."

I asked her how we could do that.

"We could make a home for it at the farm."

"That's a great idea. But we don't have a farm," I reminded her.

"So what can we do?" she asked.

"Well, how about we don't buy the animals from the factories. If we don't eat many animals, and the ones we do eat come from little farms that treat them right–rather than factories–we'll be helping the farmers who are doing the right thing. If everyone does that, then the guys that are doing the wrong thing will go out of business and they won't be able to hurt us or the animals any more."

She thought for a minute and then spoke again. "But how do we get everyone to do that? Mommy, can we change the world?"

And that's just the question. Can we?

i want to pet sit for Sizzles

Don't pets in books, movies, and on TV always steal the show?

I have quite a few favorites, but my current celebrity doggie crush is on Sizzles, from the Charlie & Lola books and TV series. My littles introduced me to the Charlie & Lola books by Lauren Child, and soon after, we saw the characters come to life on the small screen, much to our delight. Honestly, it's the only kids show I actually enjoy watching with them.

For me, the books and episodes shine because of the dialogue and the illustrations/animation. And it's quite impressive how closely the animation keeps with the books' illustrations. The characters are charming and adorable and creative, and they make the most mundane thing seem like an adventure. Every book and episode starts the same way in Charlie's voice (he's British, so don't forget to imagine the accent):

I have this little sister Lola. She is small and very funny...

Charlie is the sweet older brother, and all of the stories are told in his voice. Lola is his adorable (and small and funny) little sister, who he often must rescue from one thing or another. Nothing too dramatic. Things like not being able to find her favorite book at the library or spending all her money at the zoo so she can't purchase the seal bath toy she had her heart set on. Charlie always makes things right for Lola.

So what about Sizzles? Sizzles is their friend, Marv's, dog. Lola loves Sizzles, and so do I. Sizzles is part mischief and part love, and has a knowing look almost all of the time, though he doesn't seem quite as smart as Lola thinks he is. He appears in only some of the books and episodes. Just enough to get you to fall in love and beg for more. And his bottom is just the cutest!

My favorite Charlie & Lola book is We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog, so, naturally, my favorite episode is We Do Promise Honestly We Can Look After Your Dog, which is, of course, based on the book. I won't debate which is better, but I will say I love to see Sizzles in action. Lola, and her BFF, Lotta, beg Marv to let them look after Sizzles. The girls are in a bit over their heads, but it's jolly good fun, and *spoiler alert* Sizzles makes it out of the experience just fine. If you are a dog lover who wants to smile right now, please click here and watch the episode. I completely absolutely promise you will love it. Watch with your dog-loving kids, too. Okay, go ahead...let me know what you think, and let me know how madly in love with Sizzles you are.

But you can't have him. He's mine. Sizzles can do anything.

are animals food? last night's dinner conversation

We eat meat very rarely in our house. I'm borderline vegan, but I do make meat for the kids a couple of times a week. They can make their own choices when they are older and understand all of the information before them. I let them know why I don't eat meat, and I tell them why people do. I never criticize them for eating it or tell them it's bad, but I don't serve it frequently, either. Last night for dinner, I made the kids some cod and veggies. They had the greatest conversation with no intervention on my part. (In case you're new to my family, my son, B, is sixteen. My son, Porter, is six, and my daughter, Campbell, is four.)

Campbell: So, this is fish, but not the kind that swims. That would be hilarious!

Porter: Um. Yes it is, Cam. What kind of fish did you think? Fake fish?

Campbell: So, am I actually eating an animal right now?

The boys: Yup.

Campbell: And they squeeeeeeeeze the eyeballs out so it tastes good?

B: Well, that's one way to put it.

Campbell: One time, I want to try eating fake animals, because I don't like eating real animals.

B: You kind-of have. Didn't you eat at McDonald's?

Campbell: Oh, yeah! That's not real food!

Exactly.

taming a cat the Minecraft way

Every Friday, my six-year-old son, Porter,  gets excited. It's stay-up-late, skip-the-bath night, and he can't wait to play Minecraft. If you have a boy at home between the ages of five and forty-five, you're probably familiar with this highly-addictive game. I am opposed to video games, in general (that's a WHOLE other ball of wax you don't want me to go into here), but when a few of my trusted mommy friends began singing the praises of Minecraft and Porter began to beg for us to "just check it out," I decided to cave–literally–and let Porter give it a shot. It seemed creative and something that might require actual thinking with a brain rather than mind-numbing button mashing. For those of you unfamiliar with this game that can be played on basically any platform you can imagine, the Minecraft Web site summarizes it:

Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew, players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things.

It can also be about adventuring with friends or watching the sun rise over a blocky ocean. It's pretty. Brave players battle terrible things in The Nether, which is more scary than pretty. You can also visit a land of mushrooms if it sounds more like your cup of tea.

The game developers release periodic updates. One of the recent updates is a big hit in our house. You can have a pet cat! Or lots of pet cats!

I've talked before about the why I don't have a cat. But virtual cats? I let the kid bring home as many as he could wrangle.

You see, these cats don't start out purring in your hands. They begin their Minecraft existence as ocelots, roaming wild and free. In order to have them as pets, you have to gain their trust through being near to them and offering fish. Lots and lots of fish. Fish = love.

And the best part? No litter box!

So Porter showed me how he trains ocelots to become suitable pet cats. Talk about a fun way to spend a Friday night! First comes the approach, and like any decent cat would demand, you must prove yourself with a delectable offering, getting close enough to the ocelot so he can smell it, but not so close that you scare it. Once you've enticed the creature and gained his trust, you give him fish. More fish means more love, and your new pet cat isn't shy about showing his affection.

After you've earned this kind of devotion. You can't shake it. So Fluffy then follows you everywhere, practically winding between your legs. And if one isn't enough, you can go for more.

Just as Porter had trained his pride, the rain set in. And we all know how much cats like to stand out in the rain.

So in order to keep his feline family happy, Porter had to quickly build a structure. He has gotten very good at building, so he threw something up rather quickly and baited the cats inside.

Everyone needs something to do in the rain, right? It was then that I noticed the kitten. It appeared as if the cats had already gotten busy entertaining themselves in the inclement weather. I asked Porter where the kitten came from. He explained it well: "Well, Mommy, when you have two cats, you get a kitten." I didn't probe for additional details. Cute kitten, right?

In Porter's rush to create a shelter for his new cat family, he skimped a bit on the windows providing only bars as a barrier to the open air.

What happened next is too graphic to show you, and it happened so fast that I was unable to capture a photo. As the virtual storm grew to a crescendo, the lightening began to strike. Porter started to block up the windows, anticipating the inevitable. In a split second with a flashing crash, two of the cats were struck simultaneously and went up in flames. It was heartbreaking.

As the duo burned in a meowing fury, Porter summed up the whole experience: "Oh, NO! Cats are much more harder to take care of than dogs."

RIP, kitty-cats.

We can't replace our beloved pets in real life, but, thankfully, Porter can spawn new kittens in Minecraft. We don't want the cats who have passed to feel as if they have been replaced. But they've been replaced.

Minecraft demands a lot of animal interactions, but this new cat training update is proving to be a fun challenge both to play and to watch.

National Geographic Kids goes totally techy

I grew up with a library of National Geographic magazines in my home, so it's only natural that my jr. pet sitters have a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine (called National Geographic World back when I had a subscription). We love, love, love reading it together! We'll usually read an article or two after our nightly book-reading ritual so we can savor the magazine all month. Since we've been busy with summer activities and slackin' on the reading a wee bit, we were behind on the last issue. We noticed only a couple of days ago that a few of the articles have a new techy feature that blows my mind. There are now "digital extras" in the form of "bonus videos" that you can watch on your phone. No joke!

All I had to do was download the "free NG Kids Scanner" on my iPhone, scan the picture in question, and up popped a totally awesome video that showed footage of what was described in the article. How crazy cool is that?!

Totally simple instructions...

AND we just received the September issue in the mail today! And it has driving dogs. Enough said.

National Geographic Kids magazine was already awesome, but this adds another level of excitement. I'm happy to say that my littles are already really excited about reading, but this takes the magazine-reading experience to a whole new level. And I imagine it might entice children who don't enjoy reading to give it a try. And, again: driving dogs. Yes.