Recent Articles
Sibling Rivalry: Keeping the Peace During Playdates
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
Read More »New Year's Resolutions for Kids
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
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‘Mommy, I’m sick!’ How to tell if your kid is faking it
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,
Read More »Scoring the movie rating system
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
Read More »Making mistakes part of life learning
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
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At home sick - without TV!
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
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Help your kids enjoy a pared-down holiday
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,
Read More »Talking to kids about sexual abuse
It was an uneventful shopping trip for Everett mom Denise Constantineau and her two young daughters. But when 9-year-old Sarah came from behind the display case, Denise knew instantly that something was wrong. “There was a look on her face of fear,” she recalls. And, when she heard the story, Con
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