Trade ya

I am diving head-first back into my stay at home mom-ness. Maybe not head first. Maybe more like sticking a toe in, finding it colder than I remember, and begging my husband “Don’t leave me alone with them!”. Thankfully, he goes back to work Monday after being laid off for almost a month (and letting me re-adjust slowly). It probably will be temporary, but at least he will be working for the next few weeks.

Out of sheer determination to win back your hearts after ignoring poor Big Binder for so long, I have updated the Calendar, and February is looking pretty good (for a February in Michigan, anyway). Be sure to check out the “Mystery Animal” event at Meijer Gardens. There was one offered last week and we had a blast.

And now, I need some help from you all. First is from a comment left by Laura on the Dear Old Dad post. She asks for resources that might be available to kids who do not have father figures, or to men who want to learn how to be better fathers. Certainly atttending the event I mentioned is a good start; does anyone know of any others?

The second thing is about the Priority Health Classic. This is a bike race my whole family loves, and includes a kids’ race. I got a lot of positive feedback from folks that they loved participating in it too. Sadly, Priority Health isn’t going to sponsor the race this year and the future of it is uncertain. 

It’s an economic decision, but I want Priority Health to know how much we all appreciated their sponsorship of this race, as well as how disappointed we are that it may not continue. Bike races are straight up cool and like nothing else. Kids love being able to watch grown ups race, and then race themselves. It’s positive, civic, free, and healthy which pretty much meets my criteria of an awesome event.

How can we convince Priority Health to reconsider? I’m up for any ideas!

Dear Old Dad

No, Dad, I am totally not calling you old.  It’s just a song. Or a saying. Or something.  It’s pretty evident to anyone who reads Big Binder that I really love my Dad and that he is very important to my family and to me.

When I was 16, my Mom died.  I didn’t really ‘get it’ until I myself became a parent, but my Dad had an incredibly difficult, exhausting, and draining job ahead of him as a single parent.  Let me just say publicly… Dad, thank you. 

Fatherhood is important.  I am fortunate to have a husband who is also a great dad.  Kids need a positive male figure in their life.  I am really proud to be a part of Great Start, especially because of a presentation coming up next month I want to tell you about.

Senator Bill Hardiman will be speaking at the David D Hunting YMCA (the big, fancy one downtown) about the importance of male role models for children.  This isn’t a political event, it’s a man who speaks from his own experience and genuinely wants to support strong fatherhood in his own community.  It’s free, and you also get a day pass to the YMCA.  Now is your chance to check out that awesome pool! I will be helping with the event, I sincerely hope to see you and your family too.

STRONG FATHERS

Given By: Senator Bill Hardiman

Discussing the importance of male role models for children.

Where:  David D. Hunting YMCA (downtown)

475 Lake Michigan Dr NW

When: February 28th from 2pm – 5 pm

Sponsored By: Great Start Parent Coalition

www.greatstartkent.org/parent_coalition.php

For FREE admission to the event and a YMCA day pass,

RSVP 632-1007

 Are you a father, uncle, brother or friend who is active in a child’s life?  Come listen to a powerful message from Senator Hardiman about how to play an effective role in a child’s life.  There will be free childcare during the 1 hour presentation.  After the presentation, a FREE day pass for the YMCA will be given to all families to enjoy the facilities.  So, bring your swim suits and get ready to have a free fun family day!

Ready For The Switch?

No, not the presidential transition, sillies.  The one that really affects Americans – the DTV switch.  Apparently this is more important than any other issue facing our nation because I don’t watch tons of TV and even I want to scratch my eyes out when I see those Are You Ready? ads.  Heaven forbid someone be TV-less! I’m sure the 6 people who have somehow missed that they need a converter will never, ever figure out what is wrong when their television doesn’t work on February 18th.  They’ll probably just put it out in the trash, and read a book instead.  The horror.

I’m just going to take one step up on my soapbox and say… what if the government spent that much time/energy/money on an important issue? Oh, the places we’d go! What if they handed out $40 coupons to cover the cost incurred of volunteering, or donating food or providing a service to someone who needed it? Yes – calling Americans to serve on MLK day  was very, very impressive and it warmed my heart to see the amazing response.  Think if the efforts dedicated to DTV over the past year were spent instead to calling us to action? Allright, stepping down now.

You can probably see where this post is going – as usual I want to Stick it to the (Comcastic) Man.  Here is a little tidbit that isn’t being screamed across the airwaves – chances are very good that you can use your digital TV converter with $70 antenna to get the same amount of channels as you would with basic cable.  By basic I mean really basic – the $17 a month package. 

After to watching my sister get a converter box (before the coupons ran out) and hook it up to her $15 rabbit ears, we decided to give it a try. Much to my delight, we now have three different PBS channels, including PBS Create , plus all the other non-cable channels. 

If you’re interested, here is what you can do:

1. Call and get your converter box coupon.  Yes, the government has run out but don’t worry.  They’ll put you on a waiting list.  I’m sure this list will move faster than, say, the one folks in New Orleans are on for money to rebuild their post-Katrina communities. This is television we’re talking about. 
2. Head over to Best Buy (sorry Circuit City, gonna have to pass on your bankrupt self this time) and ask them what antenna works best in your area.  For us, it was a Terk.
3. Best Buy has a decent return policy as long as you follow their timeframe so come home, hook it up, and try it for a week or so.  If it doesn’t work you can just take it back. 
4. If it does, you can call your cable provider and tell them you are free at last. 

It’s a big jump from fancy cable packages, yes, but remember you can always get movies to satisfy your viewing needs.  After a post about Family Video, Shannon enlightened us to free kids videos there every day. You can also take a look at a post I did about a year ago about how go get inexpensive or free movies.

Here are some resources to help you along:

• AntennaWeb – click on ‘choose an antenna’, then enter your zip code to see what stations you can expect with what type of antenna.
• HDTV Antenna Labs  – good general information
• Converter box website – for requesting coupons

Hunker Down

I mentioned that my husband is currently laid off.  I know that we are not alone in this; in fact my uncle recently lost his job. And this week, so did my sister.  So did hundreds of thousands of other people. It’s bad.

I am still clinging desparately to my job but it will end soon.  I hope that my husband gets called back to work just as that happens. If not, I know what to do.  We’re pretty good at scaling down our budget. 

It can be scary, though, is when you worry about how the situation affects your kids.   Right now A.P. thinks it’s fantastic that Daddy can play with him all day.  Should he not be called back, though, we will turn to some resources Kent County offers its residents.

First, is the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC).  This is a program designed for mothers and their young children.  It provides access via a ‘Bridge Card’ (it’s like a debit card) used at grocery stores to various foods like cheese, milk, eggs, cereal, and other things depending on your child’s age. 

I’ve been on WIC before.  It’s an income based program, and you qualify for 6 months at a time.  Here is a link to the income guidelines.  It is very helpful to receive that extra food during tight times.  I was thankful.  Just know that it is a public program, and that is a different experience. 

I know people that have a very hard time with the screening process because it can be embarassing to be there, or uncomfortable to be in a situation you aren’t used to, or a client of a program you never thought you would be in.  I understand that – but my advice to you is just be grateful for it, and remember you are doing it for your kids.  Here is a link to the Kent County Health Department  website with some WIC information.

Next is MIChild, which is a low-cost health coverage program for kids.  It’s $10 per month for family.  There are income requirements, and the child must not be covered by other insurance.  We had MIChild for a brief time and I found it easy to apply (online!) and use. You get an insurance card, just like you would with private insurance.   Healthy Kids is another part of that program, which provides health insurance for children who are under-insured.  It too is an income-based program, and the same online form is used for both.

For adults, there is a program called Kent Health Plan that provides health insurance for uninsured, low income individuals.  More information on that plan is here.

Should your family experience a layoff, I truly wish you the best.  It’s hard, for many reasons.  I hope these resources can ease some of the burden.  If you live outside of Kent County, contact your local health department to see what services might be available to you.  Most of these are state and or federally funded, so different versions appear in many areas.