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Baby Blog Month in Review: October 2008

If you had an October baby, congratulations! I hope that you will spend some time with us here at Families.com, as we bring you the latest news and tips for you and your family. Here is the Baby Blog month in review for October. October 1st Insect Repellent and Young Children Protecting my children is the number one priority, but one thing that I tend to avoid is insect repellent. I figure that putting additional chemicals on my kids is not the best idea, that is until now. These days, a mosquito bite is not just an annoyance, but it … Continue reading →

Baby Blog Week in Review: October 13th Through October 19th

Where do you stand with vitamin supplementation and visits to the pediatrician? These can be controversial topics. Check out last week’s posts. October 13th New Children’s Vitamin D Recommendation May Require Supplements The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new recommendation for the amount of vitamin D for newborns, babies, kids and teens. Read on to learn more. October 14th Baby Blog Week in Review: October 6th Through October 12th Has your little one discovered the joys of fall? My youngest two are especially proud of their little pumpkins that they picked out themselves this past weekend. Be sure to … Continue reading →

Parking Lot Kids

I live in a neighborhood with cul-de-sacs, wide shared driveways and parking lots. As a matter of fact, in the condo/townhouse complex where I live, we have plenty of green space, playgrounds, bike paths and sidewalks—but the young children are often playing unsupervised in the parking lot… I know that this reality isn’t isolated to my neighborhood. For some reason, either parents think that parking lots are a safe place for kids to play, or kids just gravitate to them as open spaces and parents are not intervening. When my own children were little bike-riders, parking lots and shared driveways, … Continue reading →

Kids Just Gotta Have Fun

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“Children’s motor activities should not be over-restrained. For the sake of both mental and physical health, children need to run, jump, climb, skip, etc. Concerns for the health of the furniture is understandable, but it must not supersede concern for the health of children. Inhibitions of physical activity in young children results in emotional tension, which may be expressed in aggression.”- Dr. Haim Ginott. In theory, I agree with Dr. Ginott, but living with a child who on many days is a blur as he bounces off the furniture and the walls, makes me long for the days when he … Continue reading →

The Euphoria of School Supplies

I love the movie “You’ve Got Mail.” At the beginning, when Tom Hanks’ character says that he wants to send Meg Ryan’s character a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils to celebrate fall, I know exactly what he’s talking about—there’s just something about pencils and pens and paper and crayons and markers … sigh. I love school supplies. I love it when they go on sale at all the stores just in time for back to school, and I always grab at least two cases of notebooks, packages upon packages of pens, and whatever fun little goodies they have on sale. … Continue reading →

Money Can Buy Happiness

Did you buy your Mega Millions ticket yet? The jackpot is up to a staggering $355 million—-one of the largest jackpots in U.S. lottery history. In just a few hours some lucky duck could be rolling in enough dollar bills to cover the surface of the Earth… or something like that. Of course, the odds of winning are 1 in 176 million, but someone’s gotta win, right? If you are a parent struggling to make ends meet, then there’s a very good chance that you have already dug deep to scrape up the dollar it takes to purchase a single … Continue reading →

Autism vs. The Junkyard Man

Now that I have long since reached the acceptance stage with my seventeen-year-old son Kyle and his autism, I’m able to enjoy the precious, wonderful quirks that make him so unique. His matter-of-fact approach to the oddities of life brings humor into even the most mundane or tense moments. I’m grateful for that. I look back at the early years when autism felt like a horrible intruder in our lives–a vicious thief– and now see a different side. Kyle is the greatest teacher, the most tender friend, and the sweetest surprise life has decided to give me. A few weeks … Continue reading →

Meals to Share with Your Dog

I’ve recently been introduced to BARK magazine (the vet who owns the cats-only boarding facility has a subscription) and they had a recipe in the April 2008 issue that sounds absolutely delicious: meatloaf made with lean meat, oatmeal, and veggies. The recipe creators probably didn’t plan on readers like me who wanted to make the dish for themselves… but it got me thinking. There are probably lots of meals that would be nutritious and delicious for both pups and people. Dogs need foods from many of the same food groups humans do: Meats/proteins like ground beef, turkey, or chicken. Fruits … Continue reading →

Can They Ever Be Expected to Walk Through the House?

What parent doesn’t know the constant sound of his or her own voice admonishing children to “walk!” through the house? Running, jumping, skipping, crashing, banging, breaking–we worry and fuss that our children will learn to crawl and walk on schedule, but we don’t realize that once they start, we will be telling them to calm down and walk for the next seventeen or eighteen years! Even though my older teenagers can be sloths and slugs in many areas of their lives now, they still seem to bound up and down the stairs and tend to raise each other for the … Continue reading →

They Are Not Miniature Adults

Now that my children are nearly grown, they can sometimes do darn good impersonations of adults—they can be practical, level-headed, and display a great sense of humor. But, they are not adults yet, and I do not think the tendency to expect children to act like miniature adults is isolated on teenagers—it can be tempting for us parents to have the unreasonable expectations of our children at all sorts of ages and stages. Without even realizing it, we may be expecting them to act older than their years. Sure, sometimes they surprise us, sometimes they delight us with visions of … Continue reading →