Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Growing up, I longed to live in the same town as Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. No one understood children better than that plump, merry, grandmotherly widow of an honest-to-goodness pirate.

In her four MRS. PIGGLE-WIGGLE books, the first published in 1947, author Betty MacDonald mixes common sense with creative parenting techniques and just a touch of magic to cure the book's children of their frustrating habits. We honor her memory at our home by keeping a shelf of "cures" to be used in trying situations.

Grouchy Powder, cinnamon sugar in an antique shaker, is to be liberally sprinkled on the toast of a child who has risen on the wrong side of the bed. An old vanilla extract bottle holds honey mixed with a drop of lemon to place on the tongue of a whiner. I also keep a stash of horehound drops and other unusual hard candies that I've wrapped in bright metallic foil to ease hurts, real and imagined. cures A bottle of Magic Distracto Bubble Potion can be used to calm a slightly injured child who has just noticed he's bleeding (and help him take deep breaths). The more bubbles you blow, the less you bleed.

As Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle herself might have gently noted, this cure comes in quite handy at the doctor's office at vaccination time.