Later this week is back-to-school night at my daughter’s elementary school, and I think I’m nearly as excited to meet her teacher as she was. After listening to my daughter’s daily descriptions over the last few days, I’ve begun to form my own positive impression…and can only hope this mental picture lives up to my expectations. Putting a face to a name is always nice, especially when it’s the person who’s educating your child for the next 180 days. No matter whether you look forward to a school open house, or you find yourself painfully reliving those days spent at wobbly desks and smelly gym classes, it pays to develop a good rapport with your child’s teacher in the long run. Aiming to open up [&hellip
Monthly Archive:: September 2011
I don’t think my family will be jetting overseas anytime soon, but giving my kids a taste of world cultures is something I’d love for them to experience. Because Japanese take-out doesn’t exactly do the trick on its own, my husband queues up the Internet radio to a lite-rock Tokyo station. Let’s just say eating sushi will never be ho-hum again. When mealtime is through, we love to crank up the CD player with other types of ethnic music meant for tender ears, like European Playground from Putumayo Kids. My 3-year-old loves to bang on her instruments in a rhythm that is clearly her own, and I can’t help but marvel at her ability to tune out the world–and tune into the beat. I love [&hellip
When I was a little girl, my dad would often rub my face and exclaim, “Oh, those cheeks!” There’s nothing quite like the feeling of a child’s soft skin, and if spa dollars are any indication of how eager we grown-ups are to return to those days of tender youth, then we know it’s no joke. And when you have a baby, you naturally want only the softest, most delicate things to touch their newborn skin. If you can extend that luxurious feeling well into adulthood, you’ve got it made. We think the folks at The Polka Dot Tot are on to something with their super-soft Posh Blankets. Wondering what lush fabric these handmade blankies are actually made from, we decided to investigate further. The [&hellip
Both my girls have already discovered the art of expressing themselves, and it’s not just through their artwork. My 7-year-old loves to don a pair of sparkly sunglasses or anything bearing a peace sign, while the 3-year-old has figured out that she exudes coolness if she sports Snoopy attire (don’t worry, tomorrow it’ll be Hello Kitty or some other character of the moment). Maybe that’s why graphic T-shirts are all the rage these days, showing up everywhere from runways to kids’ clothing catalogs. The latest line to catch our eye is from Chi Chi Baby, featuring 11 distinct prints for sizes 2T-5T. With bold prints that proclaim hip lingo like “wild child” and “rock star,” both boys and girls will gravitate to these stylish shirts, [&hellip
There’s nothing like a power outage to make your job as a parent that much more difficult. But in my case, Hurricane Irene cut this mom such much-needed slack. It was a typical Sunday morning in our household: Sunday papers strewn across the table as we finished a leisurely breakfast, the hum of the TV in the background. From the sound of things, you wouldn’t have known that Irene had wrecked havoc the night before, knocking down tree limbs in our front and backyards and blowing a mighty wind that had howled as we slept fitfully. Other than those obvious signs, we had remained virtually unscathed…or so we thought. My 7- and 3-year-olds were just in the middle of watching “Yo Gabba Gabba” when Fofa [&hellip
If Hurricane Irene was an unwelcome visitor in your household this past week, as it was in ours, you’ve probably played one board game too many. And if you are still experiencing the after effects of no electricity, you are more than ready to expand your horizons beyond the world of Scrabble and Go Fish. That’s why FURT couldn’t have arrived at a better time on our doorstep. This is one board game that you won’t mind playing over and over, and that will even enable some of the more…ahem, challenging people in your clan to take part in Family Game Night willingly. Got any of those teens who’d rather text than have you twist their arms to spend some time with you? Then FURT [&hellip
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