Living

News, Trends & Alerts Affecting Your Life

John M. MacKeigan, MD

Medicare has offered little or no increase in fees over the last five to seven years, and in one instance, a reduction of 4.5 percent. Physicians are scheduled to experience fee cuts of approximately 30 percent in the next five years.

As the end of August approaches, Michigan begins to move into the fall fishing patterns, the Michigan Department of Resources said Wednesday in its weekly fishing report. Cooler weather will bring the salmon in close to shore but warmer weather will push them out deep. Salmon action will intensify moving into September.

SOUTHEAST LOWER PENINSULA

Oh my God. Belle starts kindergarten on Tuesday! This is one of those milestones where I can't help getting all weepy and nostalgic. I've been looking back through her baby photos, and I keep thinking we should have done more, more, more this summer. Did I play with her enough? Did we read enough? Did we do enough interesting things? In short, did I make the most of the time I had left with her??

Thankfully, when I start thinking in this crazy way, I can remind myself that although kindergarten is every day, it's only half-day.

Here's a great article about preparing for the big change. A couple of sections I liked:

Nostalgia can be a very powerful tool, when used positively

Show your child pictures that celebrate her triumphs and demonstrate how much she has grown over the years. Use her baby and preschool pictures as a visual resume to point out all the progress she has made, and the new situations she has mastered. Revel in her newly grown status. Praise her as you point out relevant details, "Look, how tiny you were then! You only had one tooth!" "We were so proud when you started walking." "That's the first time you saw the ocean." "You didn't like the taste of pickles!"

Tackle the List. Don't Let it Tackle You

Continue to set new goals for both yourself and your child. Identify what you would like to accomplish, and prioritize what needs to be done first. Writing down a list of what your child would like to learn at school will help him feel empowered and keep him focused. It can be as simple as "I would like to make new friends," or "I would like to learn how to roller skate," or "I would like to invent new colors with my crayons and paints." As your child signs up for new activities and meets her peers on playgrounds and play dates, keep up your own networking and socializing, too. Take a class, attend a school or event, and introduce yourself to others. Developing a good rapport with the teacher and other parents is more important than checking off items on a list. Some moms even make up mommy cards so they can pass them out to new acquaintances. Mother and child meet-ups at the playground or after school pizza dates are a great way to mark the first day.

As Belle moves closer to reading, she has also shown more of an interest in writing. But every time she wants to write something, she badgers me for the correct spelling.

I know that in kindergarten, she will be encouraged to use "kid spelling," i.e. spell it how it sounds. The idea, as shown in this document from a different school district, is to just get them writing:

When your child asks you how to spell a word, rather than just provide the correct spelling, work with your child to "stretch out the word" like a rubber band. Encourage your child to record the sounds that he/she hears when stretching it out. If the result is not the common spelling, congratulate your child on his/her "kid spelling" of the word. Do NOT provide the common spelling. Our goal is to foster independent thinking in writing and beyond. As children grow as readers, their "kid spellings"/temporary spellings will begin to be replaced by common spelling.

I have tried this approach with Belle many times over the past few months, however, and the result is always the same. She'll start to spell a new word, but as soon as she encounters uncertainty, she asks me for the answer. I tell her to just try, that it doesn't matter if it's technically correct, as long as she can read it. That she can worry about spelling later. But she will not be deterred. She wants it right, period.

I find this so frustrating, because I know that she would have a wonderful time writing little stories if she could just get past the need to be "right." I can't wait to see what approach her kindergarten teacher will take. Speaking of which, only five more days until she starts school!

State wildlife officials on Wednesday that more than 50 whitetail deer were killed on the Kent County breeding farm where chronic wasting disease was found in one of the animals.

Officials are not identifying the owner, nor the location of the farm, citing confidentiality issues. The deer shot Tuesday evening were transported to the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health at Michigan State University for examination.

The deer carcasses will be incinerated after they are tested.

Press Photo/Lori Niedenfuer CoolJessie Lubbers, left, and her bridesmaid, Tiffany Taber, harvest basil for Lubbers' wedding feast

Karen and Jeff Lubbers love the sustainable food movement so much they wanted to share it with everybody coming to their daughter Jessie's wedding.

So they decided to grow and raise everything they served at the wedding feast themselves.

Everything.

Such an arrangement leads to unusual situations. Like making the bridesmaids pick the basil. Having the chef get excited when the butcher calls to tell her the cow's ready. And having Mom start the meal in the spring in her basement of seedlings.

Days before the early August ceremony, the wedding party picked bushel after bushel basket for Chef Amy Sherman, who prepared the wedding feast.

Press Photo/Hoyt E. Carrier IIMaria Zache's smoky bacon shrimp with cheese grits

Served on a bed of hot grits blended with melted cheddar cheese, Maria Zache's smoky bacon shrimp is infused with succulent flavors.

"It's a great combination," Maria said, adding the creaminess and cheesy flavor of the grits creates a nice counterpart to the savory nature of the sauteed shrimp, bacon and garlic.