Playdates were anything but playful for Piper Leslie’s two older children, 10-year-old Kaylee and 9-year-old Kyle. “When we first started playdates, Kaylee was usually the one to have friends over,” says the Olympia mom. “Kyle has Asperger’s syndrome and has a harder time making friends, and I never

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers this great list of ideas for age-appropriate New Year's resolutions for kids! Preschoolers I will clean up my toys and put them where they belong. I will brush my teeth twice a day, and wash my hands after going to the bathroom and before eating. I won’t te

In the classic ’80s film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a teenager heats a thermometer to prove to his parents that he’s too sick to go to school. Something you might expect from a devious teen, but could a younger elementary-age child be quite so cunning? Probably not, according to Susan Pease Banitt,

Does your child have "nature-deficit disorder"? In his 2006 book, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv coined that phrase, and it's been inspiring discussion ever since. More than ever before, Louv says, children are out of touch with nature and outdoor play, instead staying inside, plugged in

When Bradi Nathan took her kids, ages 7 and 10, to see Valentine’s Day recently, she asked the ticket seller if the PG-13 movie was appropriate for kids. He said, “Yes.” “From the previews on television, the movie looked to be sweet enough, but that was wrong,” says Nathan. “The entire movie revo

It was becoming clear to the parents of 6-year-old Susan that their first-grade girl had decided she could not make any mistakes. Susan's fear of failure made schoolwork a struggle. The family set a rule that all members had to make two mistakes every day and share how they dealt with their difficul

Thanks to the H1N1 virus, most schools have a zero-tolerance policy for any cold or flu symptoms exhibited by students. That could make for a lot more “sick days” for kids who aren’t feeling all that sick! What to do when your child has really minor symptoms — low-grade fever, runny nose or nasty co

Parenting expert and author Michele Borba offers this advice to parents who need to cut back on holiday spending. In the midst of our lousy economy, many families have decided to take holiday spending down a notch and cut back on the shopping and gift-giving. After all, it's a tight economy,