Ages & Stages: 0-5 years: When Left Is Right: Tips to Encourage a Left-Handed Child
"My son writes with his left hand, please fix that," says a left-handed parent to the child’s kindergarten teacher on the first day of school. Surprising? Perhaps.
Development
Ages & Stages: 11-18 years: Is Your Family's Computer a Zombie?
At Halloween, no one is surprised to find miniature zombies at the door. Give them treats and they go away. A zombie computer is not at all cute and much harder to dismiss. Yet, according to the FBI, over one billion American computers have been converted into zombies, robots that follow the commands of remote and invisible masters.
My Son, the Teenage Dad
I did not know what to say when my teenage son, Robin, told me one winter afternoon that he was going to be a father.
Ages & Stages: 0-5: Tricky Picky Toddlers
Your picky eater might have a normal appetite, after all.
Ages & Stages: 6-10: What Kind of Smart is Your Child?
Many times we judge a child’s intelligence on his reading and math ability. Those are the things deemed most important in the early school years. However, based on research begun by Howard Gardner and continued by other educators, there are eight intelligences — or eight different areas in which your child might excel.
Ages & Stages: 11-18: Should Kids Shop Online?
As families hurtle toward the holidays, many busy parents will shop online. But what about kids? Should they be using the Internet to buy gifts for family members or even things they want for themselves?
IM Goes to School
plz hlp b4 i 4get how 2 rite english If you have a child who loves Instant Messaging, you can probably decipher that sentence: Please help before I forget how to write English. IMspeak, the cryptic language used in Instant Messaging, is phenomenally popular, not only with teens and pre-teens, but also with the millions of adults who now use it to communicate with friends, family and even co-workers.
Ages & Stages: 0-5: Teaching Shapes and Colors During the Holidays
Children learn by touching, exploring and talking about new and interesting things. Enhance your child’s learning by reinforcing basic skills early at home. Shapes are everywhere. Take advantage of every teachable moment by talking about and pointing out shapes when you see them.
Ages & Stages: 6-10: Preteen Dating -- Trivial Terrain or Timely Talks
Boys and girls have always been attracted to one another. But when attraction begins varies tremendously from one person to another. For some, those feelings of attraction start in late elementary school. For others, it’s not until high school. Although the age gap varies, experts agree when a child of 9 or 10 years old begins showing interest in the opposite gender, parents need to sit up and take notice.
Parent To-Dos for Preteen Dating
Parents have a tendency to dismiss early relationships as trivial, but they should be treated seriously. Here are some tips for parenting through this stage.
Ages & Stages: 11-18: Nurture Relationships Between Teens and Grandparents
Is your child’s lackadaisical attitude toward spending the night at her grandparent’s house bewildering? At 8 years old she longed to seek refuge from her siblings at Grandma’s house. Now, as a teen, you can hardly pry her away from her friends and the phone to spend an afternoon — let alone a good portion of the holidays — visiting her grandparents.
Ages & Stages: 11-18: Angst, Drama and Your Teen
If dramatic scenes rivaling those of an Academy Award-winning performance routinely play out in your house, chances are you have a teen or tween-aged child. Sometime around age 11, children begin to realize the power that emotions play. From realizing the attention that a slammed door grabs to experiencing sympathetic pangs of angst for a forlorn friend, many children are drawn to drama.
Ages & Stages: 6-10: Alternatives to Nagging
In a recent New York Times article titled "What Shamu Taught Me About A Happy Marriage," Amy Sutherland shares what she has learned from animal trainers in California while researching a book she is writing. "The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don’t. After all, you don’t get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging."
The Littlest Social Networkers
Everyone knows teens are preoccupied with Web sites like MySpace and Facebook, but now children as young as 5 have social networking Web sites just for them.
Ages & Stages 11-18: Teen Dating Violence
For single teens, the prospect of a Valentine’s Day without someone special may seem a bit unpleasant, but as child psychologist Christie Rizzo, will testify, it’s better to be safe and single, than dating and in danger.
Should You Encourage Your Child to Act?
So your daughter went to see "Charlotte’s Web" and decided she wants to be the next Dakota Fanning, or you’ve always thought your son is a natural performer and have wondered if enrolling him in an acting class would be a good idea.
Ages & Stages: 11-18: Teens Benefit From Sitting Down to Dinner
The image of a happy family sitting down to a relaxed, healthy meal is iconic and idyllic. Some families observe this ritual regularly, while others think of it as a relic from a past time when lives were less hectic.
Ages & Stages: 6-20: School's Biggest (and Toughest) Classroom
There’s a room in school that teaches many lessons. Not language arts or social studies, but other lessons, some almost as important. Students learn about relationships, friends, manners, social behavior and status.
A Healthy Summer Includes Camp!
In 2006, 33.3 percent of children in North Carolina (ages 2-20) were overweight or at-risk of becoming overweight. Sue Dissinger, director of wellness for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte calls it an epidemic of inactivity and unhealthy eating.
Building Babies' Brain Power
For sheer learning potential, the brain of a child surpasses any man-made super computer. Researchers and child development experts agree there are a number of ways parents can help children make the most of their natural brainpower.
SPD: Making Sense of 'Sensational' Children
From the moment she became steady on her feet as a toddler, my daughter could twirl and twirl — endlessly spinning in one place, long past the time most of us would have staggered around the room, dizzy and nauseous.
Cute or Acute? Intervene Early for Speech Disorders
Speech and language development is an essential part of child development. The ability to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively as well as understand language enables children to learn and develop positive social relationships.
Stopping Thumb Sucking
Expert advice on when, why and how to stop your child from sucking his thumb.
Ask the Expert: Should We Ignore Childhood Crush?
Q: Our second-grader has a crush. He talks about his "girlfriend" all the time, asks to call her and writes notes in class and wants to bring little gifts.....
