Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - One of the most wonderful things about children is that they can make you smile with just a few words without even meaning to. Take my daughter for instance. Her mother is Polish and goes to great lengths to teach her culture and language to the kids. In the car today my daughter innocently asked if her Mommy was Polish when she was a little girl like her. I burst out laughing leaving my daughter very confused. I assured her that her mother was always Polish and that she is a very funny little girl. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope your 2008 is fullfilling and fruitful. Let’s all treat each other well and work toward peace and harmony. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Well the Cals won today in exciting fashion. They fell behind 21 points early then stormed back with the back up quarterback at the helm. My daughter seemed very concerned about me when the team was down then got very excited as they scored over and over. We did our touchdown dance and I swung her around every time they put up points. Sometime in the second quarter she lost interest and went to change. She went from her Cal sweatshirt to her princess dress to her angel Halloween costume to a summer sun dress to a fuzzy sweater. Five outfit changes in one game! She is after all a girl.

Kent Ninomiya - My daughter is adorable. She knows I love my alma mater, the University of California. She sees me walk around with my “Cal” hat and sweatshirt. I wear them so much she identifies Cal with me. She also knows that Cal is in a big bowl game tomorrow and that her Dad is very excited about it. Since I care about the game she does too. Today she told me she hopes the “Cals” win and that she would be very mad if the “Cals” don’t win. It was so cute that I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the team isn’t called the Cals. So for the rest of the today… and i’m sure throughout the game tomorrow… I will be cheering for the Cals to win. Go Cals!!! Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. My son hates broccoli. I mean he really hates the stuff! However, since everyone else in the family doesn’t mind it and it is very good for you, we tend to eat it often. Making him eat his broccoli involves a combination of incentives, cajoling and threats. It always involves a battle. When we went on vacation for a week I told him that he didn’t have to eat broccoli for the entire vacation IF he promised not to complain about eating it when we returned. He enjoyed his broccoli free week but grimaces every time I remind him that he’s not allowed to complain about consuming it anymore. To his credit he eats it anyway. The other day he proposed something that left speechless. He said since he had to eat broccoli, something he hates, I should have to eat pickles. I hate pickles. His logic is flawless. If he’s suffering why shouldn’t I? The only response I could come up with was “because I’m the Daddy and I’m not eating pickles. Kent Ninomiya

Since I can’t send a Christmas card to everyone, i’d like to use this blog to hand out my best wishes to all of you this holiday season. Thank you all for your support and interest. May you have a happy and fruitful new year as well!
Take care,
Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. As I get older I gain a greater understanding of the importance of Christmas as a family experience. Young adults tend to discard the ritual of family gatherings and togetherness for independence. However, once new children enter the equation the holiday regains it’s place. Christmas is all about the children and how their faces light up when they open their gifts. That look is the parents’ gift. There are also important lessons in Christmas. Delayed gratification is perhaps the most torturous of the lessons for kids. Waiting to open gifts is both painful and rewarding for them. Gratitude is another lesson. That’s a tough one. With the bounty of gifts before them it’s hard for children to think about others. They just want the presents. It’s the parent’s job to link the two together. It’s not always an easy task. Of course the most important lesson of all is family. The act of doing everything together is what Christmas is all about. So enjoy the holiday everyone! Merry Christmas! Kent Ninomiya.

Kent Ninomiya. Despite all the warnings and toy regulations we still hear about children hurt and killed by toys over the holidays. Here’s a much needed refresher I found on child toy safety. Dennis Thompson (HealthDay News) — Holiday toys are supposed to surprise and delight. But this year, toys are threatening to cause more worry than joy. Millions of toys made in China have been recalled in recent months by toy companies, many because they were decorated with lead paint. The recalls involve popular brands, including Hot Wheels, Barbie, and Thomas the Tank Engine, among others.
The recalls have also pushed toy safety to the forefront of consumers’ consciousness.
“We are hoping the unprecedented news attention will remind parents to make wise toy choices,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG, a national consumer advocacy group. “There’s nothing new about what happened here, except it was on the front page.”
An estimated 202,300 toy-related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2005, and there were 20 deaths. Nine of the deaths involved choking or asphyxiation, and the toys included six small balls, a balloon, a bead from a toy horse figurine, and a toy dart, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported.
Lead paint is a more insidious hazard to children, because its toxic effects usually aren’t immediate. Prolonged exposure can affect a child’s mental and physical development, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There is no safe dose,” Mierzwinski said. “Continued exposure makes it worse. Parents must get the lead out of their child’s environment.”
To keep up with toy recalls, whether due to lead content or other safety problems, parents should frequent the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Web site at www.recalls.gov.
Parents should also be careful with any toy, new or old, said Christine Bradley, safety program manager for Prevent Blindness America. “Just because something’s new to the market doesn’t make it necessarily safer,” she said.
And parents should know that just because a toy sits on a store shelf, that doesn’t make it safe. U.S. PIRG reported finding some toys for children under 3 years of age with small parts but no warning label identifying the toys as a potential choking hazard.
Some toys can pose a hazard even if they meet the letter of the law. Last year, two small children suffocated when oversized, plastic toy nails sold with a play tool bench became lodged in their throats, U.S. PIRG said.
Toys containing tiny yet powerful magnets are raising new concerns among safety advocates.
A 2-year-old boy in Redmond, Wash., died in 2005 after ingesting magnets that had fallen out of plastic building blocks that the boy’s 10-year-old brother was playing with. The magnets entered the boy’s small intestine and then connected, twisting his intestine and forcing deadly bacteria into his bloodstream.
“They’re very powerful, tiny little cylinders,” Mierzwinski said. “Several get trapped and can fold the intestine to cause a blockage.”
One of the first things parents should consider when choosing a toy is whether their child is old enough to enjoy it properly.
“You want to buy toys that are age-appropriate and show children how to use them,” Bradley said.
Prevent Blindness America offers these other suggestions:
Read all warnings and instructions on the box.
Avoid toys with sharp or rigid points, spikes, rods or dangerous edges.
Buy toys that will withstand impact and not break into dangerous shards.
Avoid toys that shoot or include parts that fly off.
“Any sort of toy weapon, that’s just got eye injury written all over it,” Bradley said.
Parents also should look for the letters “ASTM” on the toy’s packaging. This means the product meets the national safety standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials.
And parents should take care to keep older children’s toys away from their younger siblings, as their toys can contain small parts or balls that can choke a younger child.
“If you have a child who still mouths things, keep the older child’s small parts away,” Mierzwinski said. “You’ve really got to check your toy chests. Make sure toys belonging to older children are not available to smaller children.”
If giving a riding toy like a scooter or bicycle, parents should make sure they also buy protective gear like helmets and pads, and make sure their kids use them.
Finally, parents should avoid buying one of the most common — yet one of the most dangerous — items on the toy market: latex balloons. Balloons and pieces of broken balloons can block a child’s airway and should never be given to children younger than 8.
“Balloons are a terrible choking hazard,” Mierzwinski said.

Kent Ninomiya. A long time ago I heard that Ted Koppel spent several years away from journalism raising his kids when they were young. I heard he did this while his wife went to work or school or something because it was fair. To this day I have no idea if this story is true, however, true or not, it inspired me from a young age. I have always taken my job as a father seriously. I don’t know why people have kids if they are not going to enjoy them. I can’t comprehend how fathers ignore their children when they are young then wonder why they can’t relate to them when they get older. Most of the job as a parent is done when the children are new. From birth through their first 5 or 6 years is the most important developmental time they will ever experience. It’s a narrow window where you get to influence who they are and cement an unbreakable bond. Once that window closes it is shut forever. You can always work, but if you miss those years of your kids’ lives then you miss something precious that can never be regained. I made a deliberate decision to spend as much of that quality time with my children as possible. Work is on the back burner. We play, travel, hang out. There is no specific plan. I’m just there for them. It’s an investment that will pay dividends forever. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya.
Thank you to everyone who wrote to me with words of support. I am back and new posts will appear on my blogs starting tomorrow. Thank you for your backing and patience.
Kent Ninomiya