Sunday Snippets

Tidbits of information picked up this week:

• According to The Scope's Best of St. John's 2011 Annual Reader's Survey Results the Best Place to Take Kids in St. John's is Bowring Park (Agreed!! They must have smart readers ;-), and the runner up was Bannerman Park (Hear! Hear! Another personal favourite!); Some of the other answers they received were:  “A haunted house” • “The Rooms. Lots of kid’s programming and exhibits” • “Lester’s Farm! Strawberry picking! Tractors!” • “on a iceberg and whale tour boat” • “back to their parents” • “Anywhere big machines operate! When I was a child, I loved watching trains being shunted around the rail yard; steam rollers; steam shovels; sitting next to the bus driver and watching him/her open the doors with a switch.” • “Clovelly Stables” • “Anywhere they can let their imaginations run free.” • “Anywhere its free”
• Why do we make  New Year's resolutions? Well, according to this site, the tradition has roots in ancient Rome, and their mythical king Janus (the origin for the word "January"). Janus had two faces, and so he could look to both the past and the future. As such, he became the symbol for resolutions at a time when many Romans looked for forgiveness for past offenses and exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year. These practices follow through in our resolutions and gift giving today (it is only in more recent centuries that gift giving has become more of a Christmas thing and less of a New Year's thing). Today's New Year's resolutions tend to focus on improving ourselves in the coming year.
• Speaking of Resolutions, here's a list from Everything Mom that can't be beat: 1. Say I Love You (can never be said too much in my books ;-) 2. Challenge Yourself. 3. Drink More Water. 4. Be Childish. 5. No Yelling Before Noon. (I need this one, especially when faced with a house full of kids who are still in stocking feet as the bus is approaching the stop!)