Making Bread and Butter Pickles

My kids love making pickles with me.  The easiest to make with them as a project are the Bread and Butter Pickles. These are milder pickles that can be made without being boiled and sealed so there is less danger to kids. There is no real hassle and there are plenty of recipes online for these pickles.

Bread and Butter Pickles are some of the most misunderstood of the pickles as they are often mistaken for their more garlicky and dill flavored look-alikes – the Dill Pickle. This is because dill pickles are also sold as coins, slices and half pickles. A major difference in terms of packaging is that a bread and butter pickle will rarely be sold whole like dill pickles are when you see them in the jars in the store.

The main characteristic of a bread and butter pickle is that it looks like a dill pickle but tastes more like a sweet pickle. However it is not as sweet as a true sweet pickle.  A true sweet pickle almost tastes like sugar. They can hurt your teeth. Bread and Butter pickles are a little healthier for the kids and easier to eat as far as I am concern.

Bread and butter pickles are the preference of people who don't like pickles with overpowering garlic or dill flavoring or a very sweet pickle. I know that my kids simply cannot stand any food that is way too garlicky and I don't blame them. Their taste buds have yet to develop.  Bread and butter pickles are neutral pickles and go great in sandwiches because taste-wise they do not steal the show.  You can put them in everything from a salmon salad to ham sandwich to a hamburger and their taste will not overpower what you are eating. You cannot necessarily say the same of the garlicky pickles.

In England it is very common to be served bread and butter pickles for high tea.  There is even such a thing as a bread and butter pickle tea sandwich. However bread and butter pickles go the best with a slice of mild cheese on white bread.

Use bread and butter pickles in any dish where you don't want the flavor of the pickle to overpower everything else. For instance, diced bread and butter pickles go better in tuna and chicken salad or even coleslaw.  Another reason I like them is that they are small and coin shaped. This means it is easy for a toddler to hold in his or her hand.  A toddler holding a full dill pickle can be a messy sight sometimes.

As bread and butter pickles are milder in taste then other types then they might also be easier on the sensitive taste buds of children.

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Schools for Indigo Children

It is no secret that those with Indigo children traits have trouble navigating their way through the traditional educational system. This has been a problem since the mid seventies when these children started appearing in droves. A lot of them had their creativity stifled. Many were given medication instead of having their problems understood. Many young lives spun out of control and into addictive behaviors, as is often the case when intuitive are disconnected from the sources of their light and inspiration by society.

The question is – should you keep your indigo kid in a public school? Keep in mind that nowadays things are not as bad for Indigo kids as they were in the seventies and eighties. More teachers are aware that they are around and there is also awareness that these children cannot all be diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. The hyperactivity, creativity and aggression displayed by these kids when their potential is not recognized are being addressed in some public schools with new programs. These children are becoming more of a strain on the regular school system and more alternative schools are starting to exist to deal with these brilliant, angry children. It is also important to note that not all public schools are bad for indigo children. Many exist out there that do have sophisticated ways of dealing with children that do not seem to fit in. Of course these schools are located in richer areas of the world. The Indigo child that is trapped in a ghetto is often a very angry child as these children were born to effect change and the child can see no way out or making the world better as destined.

The most popular method of educating Indigo kids is home schooling. There are many different types of home schooling available but one of the most popular is called Enki Education, which concentrates a multi-cultural and artistic approach to learning. The idea here is to cater to the fact that these kids are more visual than verbal or literary and develop that Indigo trait as a strength that they can use in life.

A similar system is called the Waldorf School. In some communities Waldorf methods can only be home schooled and in others there are entire facilities available that are run by communities of parents who just don't want to see their kids in the traditional public or private school systems.

As indigo kids qualify as advanced learners you might also want to consult AERO which is an acronym for The Alternative Education Resource Organization. This was founded in 1989 by Jerry Mintz who was an educational expert interested in provided parents of gifted children with different modalities and types of education.

AERO provides information, resources and guidance to families, schools and organizations regarding choices. The organization also specializes in topics such as home schooling, public and private alternative schools, and charter schools.

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