April seems to have more than its fair share of awareness-raising observances. I’ve already written about National Poetry Month, the Day of Silence, Global Youth Service Day, and Earth Day. Coming up, we have: April 22-28: the Week of the Young Child, “an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young
Earth Day 2007 is tomorrow, so I thought I’d start a thread on things we do as parents to protect the environment and save energy. From carpooling to soccer practice to favoring toys with minimal packaging, how do you take care of our planet? How do you teach your children to do so? Where do
Preschoolers are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when the produce comes from their own garden rather than a supermarket, concludes a study by researchers at Saint Louis University. More specifically, preschool children from rural southeast Missouri were more than twice as likely to eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per
Originally published in Bay Windows, April 19, 2007. When I first read the title of Waiting for the Call: From Preacher’s Daughter to Lesbian Mom, I expected the tale of a woman rejecting her religious upbringing and denouncing her parents as she came out. Jacqueline Taylor’s memoir is thankfully not as simple as that. It
Today is the Day of Silence, a time when students bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Friday, however, marks the start of Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), in actuality a three-day event that “highlights the amazing contributions youth make to their communities through year-round volunteering.” According to the GYSD Web site,
In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the American Association of Pediatrics has compiled a list of resources to help children cope with this and other disasters. In addition, they include more general information on violence prevention, school safety, and promoting mental health. ParentDish also has links to a few other resources to help
A new study has found that “couples who showed a good marital relationship before the birth [of their child] seemed to do better when dealing with a fussy and uncooperative baby when compared to those couples whose relationship was not as good.” This seems pretty obvious to me, but according to the lead researcher, there
This afternoon, my son and I were watching a free Sesame Street short from iTunes called “Happy, Healthy, Ready for School.” In it, Elmo prepares for his first day of preschool in his typically upbeat manner—just the kind of tone I want to set for my son, who will start school himself this fall. I
A few new online map applications could be great fun for older kids as well as adults: Wikisky is a detailed sky map with constellations, astronomical photos, and more. Try clicking the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) button (the leftmost blue button) to see galaxies galore, or click “Astro Photo” or “The Collection” to see
I’m writing to you today as an official resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where the clams are tasty, the gays can marry, and the Red Sox . . . well, ask me again at the end of the season. Thanks to the scheduling savvy of my sweetie and the heroic efforts of John the
