It’s back to school time and at our house that means a heightened level of semi-controlled chaos. The last languid days of summer are treasured, hour-by-hour, like precious sips of cool water on a blazing hot afternoon, until they are gone, and we stand staring at the first harried day of school bringing an abrupt ending to our idyllic season of rest.
Most parents realize that immunizations are an important part of infant and early childhood medical visits and that vaccines are necessary to keep our children healthy. Often parents (and teens!), however, don’t recognize that adolescence is an important time for immunizations as well. As the end of summer approaches and many adolescents head to their doctor’s office for school physicals, it is a great time to think about the shots that teens might need.
Julianna Rhodes is a nurse. Her husband is a pediatric cardiologist. These two circumstances are very likely the reason her infant daughter, Harper, is alive today. Despite thorough screening, including a detailed "level 2" ultrasound, Rhodes had an undiagnosed condition called vasa previa that endangered Harper’s life just as she was being born.
Moving to a new school can be difficult for children, but parents can help ease the transition, according to Donna Henderson, professor of counseling at Wake Forest University and co-author of "The Handbook of School Counseling." "The transition from one school to the next is a point at which children have more opportunities for trouble," says Henderson, whose family moved more than a dozen times before she graduated from high school.
When my sons were born, I didn’t get an official list of things that I, as a father, was expected to teach them. But fathers generally know the pattern of what information to convey: how to hit a ball with a bat, knot a tie, change a tire and so on. Today, all of us fathers need to teach our sons one more thing: the importance of getting a good education.
Each day the routine act of riding a school bus exposes children to a toxic mix of airborne carcinogens and particles from diesel exhaust. Diesel engines have long been known to spew dirty exhaust from their tailpipes, but studies now reveal that levels of diesel pollutants getting inside school buses can be up to four times greater than outside levels.
Student safety has always been a priority for state and local school officials, but the emphasis on keeping our classrooms safe has increased in recent years with the numerous tragic school shootings nationwide.
The 2007-08 school year will be an exciting one for CMS. The district will shift to learning communities as part of our decentralization, and we will begin to put into place some new programs designed to boost student achievement. All of these programs are important ones, and we think they’ll help students learn. But our biggest asset in helping CMS raise student achievement is you — the parents of our students.
As the end of summer draws near, so does the end of vacations, making the long stretch of school days ahead seem rather bleak. But you don’t have to wait until winter break for a family getaway. Many schools have teacher workdays scheduled for mid to late October, making for a nice long weekend.
As parents, we all know the day will come when our teenager would rather stick needles under her fingernails than have a meaningful heart-to-heart with us after school. She will get behind a locked bedroom door, blast some music and call her best friend to cry about the embarrassments of the day.
Children, cars and heat are a potentially deadly combination. Between 1998 and 2006, more than 320 children — most of them 3 and younger — died from heat stroke while trapped in a vehicle. Most parents know the importance of buckling up their children on every ride, but nearly 10 percent of motor vehicle-related deaths are considered non-traffic-related.
Looking for a way to finally introduce yourself to the new neighbor down the street? Are your kids begging you to host an all-day water balloon war? Whether wanting to swap recipes or socialize within the neighborhood, block parties are time-honored traditions in neighborhoods all across the country.
The next time your family is making a beeline toward the video game department of a toy store, try taking a detour into the board game section. You’ll find plenty of old favorites and new variations. Along with the simpler luck-of-the-dice racing games for younger children, there are complex scenario strategy games for older kids and teens.
It seems like everyone has an opinion about music and its benefits for children. Some say listening to classical music will make your child smarter while others speak about its ability to soothe even the fussiest of infants. All of this could be well and true, but at the very least, an early exposure to great music can create a life-time love affair and appreciation for it.
The school cafeteria has become a place filled with poor diet choices. From franchise fast food offerings to soda machine temptations, today’s kids are faced with a lot of unhealthy options at lunchtime. So, what can parents do? They can pack a better lunch! But many parents could use some help — the typical child’s lunch box is often filled with fat, sugar and salt, and lacking healthy fruit, protein and whole grains.
A rash of recalls in the last several weeks have parents concerned about the safety of many popular kids’ toys. Check the Consumer Product Safety Commission Toy Recall List; the recall hotline is (800) 638-2772.
Make sure everyone has sweet dreams at Grandma's. Spending a weekend together can be exciting and exhilarating. Hosting your grandchildren for the night or a weekend slumber party can also be challenging and stressful unless you are prepared.
A computer in every crib! For a while that seemed to be the motto for those who thought it could never be too early to learn about technology. Fortunately, common sense seems to have prevailed. Although technology can be part of a healthy childhood, it should get at most a sliver of a young child’s attention.
I thought things would get easier as my children got older, but I feel like a slave to their busy lives. I feel guilty and resentful all at once. How did I get this way?
Before becoming a mom, I was secretly on the lookout for names that would be fitting of my firstborn child. This tedious process began years ago — probably on the elementary school playground, where I relished the name of every kid who could accomplish some monumental jungle gym feat.
Paula Spencer is the mother of four children, 15-year-old Henry, 12-year-old Eleanor, 10-year-old Margaret and 7-year-old Page, living in Chapel Hill with her husband. She is a blogger, Woman’s Day columnist and author of the parenting book "Momfidence." Paula has written more than 350 magazine articles, been interviewed on numerous radio shows, collaborated on several books and even appeared on "Oprah!" I talked to her recently to find out how she balances work and family life.
It’s 2007, and that means the June Cleaver model of motherhood is a thing of the past. Not unlike June, today’s moms can often be found in the kitchen, but they’re bringing home the bacon as well. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the number of working women with children at 70 percent. But what that "work" looks like is increasingly hard to categoriz
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.
Parties are the spice of life – a time to gather with friends, laugh, talk, play games and enjoy one another’s company. Still, there are some rules of etiquette when it comes to hosting or attending a party that you need to be aware of. Here are some tips for handling common party concerns to make sure you and your child are invited back!
