Two recent studies offer somewhat contradictory advice on the importance of free play vs. structured activities for kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says: Free and unstructured play is healthy and—in fact—essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient. . […]
Tomorrow, September 30, is Museum Day, and that means museums across the U. S. will be offering free admission. Simply print a pass from the Smithsonian Web site and you and a guest can get in free to participating museums. (Special exhibits may not qualify.) The Smithsonian organizes the yearly event, but this is the
As the weather turns cooler for many of us, it’s always nice to have a line up of indoor activities for the little ones. Here are a few simple ones. (Of course, if you can get outside to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, by all means do so.) From Martha Stewart Kids comes
I’m reporting to you live from the site of the Candy Land World Championships, where our resident Grandmaster is napping before he takes on his next challenger. My son finally gained the patience to play a board game a few weeks ago. My partner and I are avid (though not obsessive) gamers, and already our
I’ll take a weekend break from writing about our real children to pay homage to our furry companions. For all you dykes with cats and toolboxes, here’s how to build your own cat tree. (From PandE Cats via Lifehacker.) The instructions are a little sketchy, and some additional pictures would help, but if you have
We’re back from our trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, the second of what promise to be yearly excursions to national parks with our extended families. I don’t want this to be a “what I did on my summer vacation” essay, though, so I’ll constrain myself to a few observations that may be of
It’s Martha Stewart’s birthday. I’ve always been pretty neutral on Martha: admiring her as a powerful businesswoman but never really getting into her obsessive domesticity. And no, she’s not to my knowledge a lesbian, though I’ve heard the occasional, perhaps wishful, rumor. I mention her birthday here for two reasons. The Kids section of her
For those of us experiencing extreme heat in our parts of the world right now, two items of note: The Extreme Heat Prevention Guide from the CDC. Includes useful tips on how to keep cool and how to recognize signs of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and other heat-related ailments. (And don’t forget: Never leave your
From ParentHacks comes a note about writer Barbara Aria, who is seeking stories about how to take young children on “grown-up” outings—to museums, restaurants, shopping, etc. She’s using them in an article for an unspecified women’s magazine. I think it’s important for us lesbian moms to have our voices heard on general parenting issues, as
There are a ton of kids’ coloring pages on the Web. Google “coloring pages” and you’ll get enough to use up an entire box of 64 colors (or 96, or whatever they’re up to these days.) The quantity can be overwhelming, so here’s a roundup of some topic-specific pages I particularly like. The Official FDNY
