Donna’s Day: Homemade Finger Paint Junior Whirl • Health Fact

KIDS &FAMILY

Donna’s Day: Creative Family Fun Stir Up Some Homemade Finger Paint

By Donna Erickson

Signal Contributing Writer

Remember catching baby’s first smile and cheering when your toddler took that first wobbly step? Life’s “firsts” are celebrations we don’t want to miss. Keep an eye on everyday moments, too, when young children experience the excitement of the world around them for the first time. Like dipping toes in the bubbly ocean surf, petting a soft puppy or swishing and squishing colorful finger paint on paper with their hands instead of a paintbrush.

If your preschooler’s creative spirit is blossoming this spring, stir up this time-tested recipe for homemade finger paint and let them enjoy a new sensory, artful experience. It’s easy to make and use indoors on a rainy day, or enjoy finger painting outdoors at a picnic table when a friend comes over to play. Then listen for their squeals of delight as they discover a new sensation and create.

Naomi Adams discovers the sensation of painting with her fingers for the first time.

Homemade Finger Paint

1/2 cup cornstarch 3 tablespoons sugar 2 cups cold water

Food coloring or poster paint

Liquid dish detergent

Finger painting paper (available at craft and toy stores, or economize by purchasing a roll of freezer paper at the grocery store. 1. Let your child measure and stir the cornstarch and sugar together in a saucepan. An adult should add and stir the water into the mixture over medium heat. Continue stirring constantly until it is smooth and just begins to thicken, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat immediately, as it will continue to thicken as it cools. (Note:

If you cook it too long, it will turn into an unusable gelatinous goop.) 2. Divide the smooth mixture into several sections of a muffin tin or small bowls. Add food coloring and a drop of detergent to each portion. Stir with a spoon until

blended. Experiment with different color combinations, if you wish. 3. To use: On a newspaper-covered work surface, set out the paints and a sheet of the finger-painting paper or freezer paper, shiny side up. Dip fingers and hands into the paint and make designs on the paper.

Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.”  © 2022 Donna Erickson

Distributed by King Features Synd.

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MAY 15, 2022 CROSSWORD TIME PUZZLES

SOLUTIONS

Opinion Unless otherwise stated, the views and opinions expressed are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Signal.

READER LETTERS Rationality and Irony

I thought it just a bit odd for a person who preaches irrationality for a living to be asking the rest of us to be rational, but let's go with it and see where it takes us. Reverend David Hegg's appeal for us to be rational, that is (commentary, March 13).

The reverend cites numerous instances of liberals branding conservatives as essentially “bad” people and “haters” whenever they do not agree with liberal positions, whether they be political, social, personal, or whatever. Conservatives are thus “phobic” and “fearful” of anything outside of their comfort zone, which (according to liberals) is most of the natural world, and must therefore be corrected or canceled. The reverend claims this is irrational and unreasonable and thus prevents sincere and constructive dialogue between the two sides. OK.

Hegg opens by describing “science” and “scientific method” and how it plods along experimentally to determine things. So far so good, but that's where I think the good reverend starts to dig his own hole (out of which I feel it will be nearly impossible for him to climb). There are many things that science can successfully determine, but there are things that it cannot determine, and they include such conservative positions as the existence of a God, the immorality of homosexuality, and many other “hypotheses,” or rather beliefs, that are physically impossible to prove by any method, scientific or otherwise. Hegg’s steep slope is quite slippery indeed. Hegg also forgets one of the fundamental laws of physics, that of action and reaction (equal and opposite), which I found rather ironic in that he was using science to defend his position, and it is precisely that scientific law with which he is grappling today.

While pointing his accusatory finger, Hegg fails to mention the long and violent history of the Christian church itself and its own irrational treatment of those he now charges with irrationality. I wonder if Rev. Hegg is familiar with how his own church for centuries dealt with anyone who threatened the “laws of God” or the church’s own power and position (be it Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or otherwise). Let's start with what was done to homosexuals, witches, apostates, heretics, or anyone who resisted or rejected the church’s doctrines — historically, and even to this day — in the name of Jesus Christ and with Bible in hand. It was an institutionally sponsored holocaust that spanned millennia. The total death toll is in the hundreds of thousands if not millions, and that is a historical fact that neither Rev. Hegg nor any member of the clergy, much to their infinite guilt and ignominy, can deny. And claiming that you stopped burning witches as the stake isn't going to get you out of it. Your kind did that to them — and on what basis? Irrationality.

So I think the reverend’s got a lot of nerve asking people, people who his institution has traditionally hunted down, imprisoned, tortured, and executed, and all on the basis of irrational beliefs, to suddenly forgive, forget, and come in “good faith” to the bargaining table and talk reason (pun intended). I suggest putting your money where your mouth is, Reverend. If you really want them to stop branding you, then use science and those laws of physics to get the “reaction” you want, but it all starts with your “action.” Stop branding them, and I think you’ll have better luck in getting them to stop branding you.

Arthur Saginian Santa Clarita

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ETHICALLY SPEAKING

Thoughts on Being True

In Act 1, Scene 3, of “Hamlet,” Lord Polonius delivers one of the more memorable lines in the history of theater: “This above all: to thine ownself be true.” This Shakespearean sentiment has traveled through the years to the point where few actually realize it came from the bard. We simply know it because it has been so widely used and believed. But what does it mean?

Some today resort to this aphorism when protecting their own desires against common sense or at least the sound arguments of their opponents. It becomes shorthand for “I’m entitled to do what I want to do, the way I want to do it, when I want to do it.” For this group the line becomes a license for self-centered living.

Others consider that it speaks the truth about self-interest. We must remain true to whatever it is that best promotes our wellbeing. In this sense, the statement becomes synonymous with looking out for yourself, pulling your own strings, and generally ordering your life so you come out on top as much as possible.

But there is a truth about literature that must not be overlooked here. Every piece of written communication, be it a letter, book, play or any of a number of other literary instruments, derives its meaning from the intention of the author. The beginning place of meaning for any written word is, “What did the original author intend the original audience to understand from the words that were written?”

If we run back to “Hamlet,” Act 1, Scene 3, we’ll find the rest of the quote: “This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” Shakespeare is talking, not about self-interest or selfish desires, but about an ethical consistency that arises from the core values of one’s being. To be true to self is to be unwavering in one’s convictions and practice as measured by that set of beliefs one has come to hold as fundamental. We might paraphrase this sentiment as, “Above everything else, don’t compromise your personal values, and if you remain true to them, you can’t be false to anyone. They will see you as consistent even if they disagree with you.” I think Shakespeare is right. To the extent to which our thoughts, words, and deeds conform to our core convictions, we become trustworthy individuals, not open to the charge of hypocrisy. But there is a catch. We actually have to have a consistent set of ethical beliefs first.

By a consistent set of ethical beliefs I mean a set of core convictions about the world and ourselves. Whatever your worldview, it has to be cohesive and coherent. It has to be able to explain why there is something rather than nothing. It has to explain why evil exists, and how suffering and pain can be explained coherently. Additionally, it has to give a substantive reason why life has meaning, and whether history is really going somewhere or merely spinning slowly down to die.

Today the post-modern ethos is shouting that such consistent belief systems are not only old-fashioned but also fatal. In attempting to explain our world, they actually confine authentic, creative thinking and living, or so they want us to believe.

But there is real danger here. If we stop having any core truth, to what shall we remain true? If the self becomes an incoherent set of inconsistencies motivated by in-the-moment self-interest, can we really afford to be true to that self?

If Shakespeare were writing today, he just might look at our society of self-absorbed individuals and suggest that we stop being true to that kind of self simply because, in the end, we have become false to almost every man. We need to be true before we stay true.

Local resident David Hegg is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “Ethically

Speaking” appears Sundays. 