Do You Want Guns in Schools? The NRA Does
After a week of what was thought to be respectful, even remorseful, silence on the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shootings, the NRA took to the podium this morning, with… shall we say, both barrels...
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Having a New Year's Eve Slumber Party? Read These Tips
[Editor's Note: With New Year's Eve festivities looming just around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to spotlight this post by Tracy at Sellabit Mum. If you're having other kids sleepover...
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No Teachers or Police With Guns In Schools
On December 30, 2012, President Obama said he doubted arming school police with guns will prevent future school shootings, but then January 11, 2013's EdWeek hinted that he may yield to local law...
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I Want My Daughter To Feel The Mean Girl Hurt
Last night as I was tucking my nine-year-old daughter into bed after a long day for both of us, she reached up put her arms around my neck and asked me to crawl into bed with her so we could snuggle...
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Homework Battles: Handwriting Is Important
It’s homework time. We try to guide our children through this daily exercise, helping them to retain the information they’ve learned in class. We also try not to have a nervous breakdown in the process...
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21 Signs You Might Have a Teen in Your Home
Remember the days when Fisher Price decorated your house and your living room looked like Geoffrey the Giraffe puked all over it? Those days are like wine and roses compared to what your house looks...
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The Quiet Joy of Stealth Snuggling My Pre-Teen
She's eleven, almost twelve.Bedtime is no longer made up of begging for one more half hour of TV, then one more reading of her favorite book, or one more singing of "Morningtown Train" as we lay...
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I Don't Know if My Kids Are Safe at School
I’m unsure how this is going to come out.There are so many emotions and questions and whatever else that I just really don’t know how to put a filter on it all.I’ve written before about the small town...
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Can We End Bullying? Interview with “Sticks and Stones” Author Emily Bazelon
With a ten-year-old son who’s going to start middle school next fall, the topic of teen bullying scares me to death. Slate Senior Editor Emily Bazelon is also the mother of two boys, aged 10 and 13,...
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I Won't Let My Kids' Report Cards Grade Me Anymore
"I'm sorry to inform you that your child is not yet reading in first grade. We are going to put him in the remedial reading group until he makes progress."We received these devastating words at Josh's...
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The Teen Years: Parenting in the Digital Age
I've said it before, and I will say it again. I am SO glad there was no such thing as Facebook or all the other various social media sites when I was growing up.Teenagehood is HARD, but I can't even...
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After Quvenzhane, Michelle and Beyonce: Why Black Girls Need "The Talk"
For the last couple of months, I’ve been helping out a friend by occasionally babysitting her four-year-old daughter, who was adopted from Ethiopia. My friend, who is white, is a single mother and a...
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Dear God, 11-Years-Old Is Too Young to Be Pregnant
Dear God;I am writing this and I still can't believe I'm writing this.No, wait. Yes, I can, and that's what makes it even sadder.My daughter and her friends were all abuzz yesterday when I came home...
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Silence Is Not Golden: Talk to Your Kids About Online Bullying
Editor's Note: If you have a tween or a teen, you need to know where they are online and what they're saying. Melissa at Confessions of a Dr. Mom explained a recent post why it's so important for you...
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Disneyland's New Age Limit Is Ruining My Spring Break!
I read in the paper recently that Disney will now require children to be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 14-years-old (Los Angeles Times, 3/19/2013) at their Southern California Disneyland...
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Sugar-Free Cinnamon Toast for the Morning Rush
When I wake up in the dark hours of the morning, it is the thought of that steamy hot cup of tea that gently coaxes my feet out from the covers and onto the floor. If I hurry, I can take my first sip,...
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The Absolute Importance of Teaching Your Kids Online Manners
My daughter told me that she was being cyber-bullied. After she told me what happened, it wasn't really cyber-bullying, but I would say it's pretty mean. Apparently a girl at school used Instagram to...
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Should You Pay Your Kids for A's on Their Report Cards?
Report cards, grades, standardized testing, red green yellow, on and on and on. Our kids' performance in school is closely monitored, graded and reported back to us, the parents, in many ways...
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Teaching & Learning Lessons at a Middle School Basketball Game
“It’s not fair!”“This stinks!”“That was a foul! The ref shoulda called that!”“That team is way bigger than ours!”My younger two sons were droning on and on about what a stupid basketball game we were...
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Failure: Are Schools Teaching Our Kids the Right Way?
I was asked today how I think my daughters' school views failure and I cringed. I hate that word. It is so full of rot and worms and gut-wrenching stink. The first thing I did was to reframe the...
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