x Three years old is a time of incredible physical and mental growth for your child. A big part of growing up healthy is lots of time for playing and having fun outdoors. Fresh air is great for children of any age, and 3 year olds are growing fast and love to run and play outside! The infinite variety of places to explore and obstacles to overcome in parks and natural places makes outdoor play one of best things for your child to experience. Not only will outdoor play help your children grow up strong and healthy, it’ll also lead to hungry kids who eat well and sleep deeply through the night - hooray! In the fall, winter, and spring...
Ella’s Wool was started when I moved from Norway to the United States with my daughter Ella and my son. We were very confused when we realized that none of the kids were playing outside in the wintertime. In Norway, children play outside all winter long in the harshest winters, wrapped up snugly in layers and layers of warm, all natural wool. When I asked parents if their kids wore layers of wool to keep them warm, they rarely said yes. Right away, I knew that I had to bring warm, all-natural wool clothing to these kids - not only to let them play but to keep them healthy in the wintertime. It is common knowledge in Scandinavia and other parts...
Ask any parent what they fear the most, and the answer will almost always be if something happens to the kids. Our instincts tell us to protect them no matter what, and that is of course a good thing. Our kids are dependent on us taking good care of them. As a result there are few real dangers left in our modern society. The food we eat is relatively safe, many illnesses are eliminated, we travel safely, dangerous child labor is in the Western world more or less extinct, we have stopped smoking and now our playgrounds are soft. That, however, is not necessary a good thing. This summer we could read in NYTimes Magazine that "Norwegian psychologists Leif Kennair and...
Amanda’s Project A story about how wool gave comfort to a little girl called Amanda, her parents and then every prematurely born baby in Norway and their parents. In the midst of summer 2010, Bjørg and Bjørn gave birth to a girl they named Amanda. Unfortunately, Amanda wasn't a healthy baby, she had severe problems with her heart and lungs, and were immediately put in intensive care. And while it looked like she would pull through, her short life ended just ten days after it began. As a bystander it is easy to feel helpless. When Amanda's grandmother asked if there was anything she could do, maybe knit something, the nurse replied with a big yes, and asked if she...
Wonder when people first started dressing up? Wearing strange, crazy and weird clothes just for fun. Dressing up like a fantasy, another occupation or like dead people. And why, religion? Let of steam? Be kids again? Well, who cares - Halloween is over us again and no time for philosophical thoughts. Costumes need to be made (ok, purchased), we have pumpkins to carve and candy to buy. As frugal Scandinavians we observe the Halloween traditions with one part eye rolling (isn’t obvious that it's just yet another commercial holiday created by an enormous industry to sell even more crap made in China?) and one part pure joy. After all, it's so much fun! It's fun for the kids, I mean,...
