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One....two....three.... I was counting down the days until Christine Duell-Johnson turned in her story, "Great ways to get your tween moving" - and she delivered! It's part of this month's health-focused Ages & Stages, which tackles everything from coughing to caffeine. And money worries don't have to mean the end of fabulous family getaways! Our Out & About team is on it! This month, check out dozens of cheap rustic retreats you have to see to believe!
Feature:
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Ages & Stages: Your child's health
Getting School Ready:
Out & About:
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Media: Regulars: Relate: Is your romance 'good enough?' From our Readers: Letters to the Editor |
About this issue
Dear Reader,
When my politically active teenager texted me weeks ago, asking if we could possibly go to the inauguration, I withheld my “yes” until I could confirm supercheap flights and mooch my Potomac friend’s (freezing!) basement floor for a few days. I could!
“Love-tricity” was in the air — warming the 28-degree D.C. day — as we stood with our new stranger-friends of every creed for eight hours, sharing laughter and tears while witnessing this incredible moment together. As ancient-looking African Americans walked by us, their gnarled fingers gripping their canes or walkers, their dogged determination kept them advancing in their seemingly endless march to the Capitol lawn. It was while watching them that I truly realized the historic significance of all that was before us. The elders, as Maya, 7, loves to say, were “livin’ the dream."
Moments later, we watched Malia and Sasha excitedly bounce to their seats; a refreshing perspective that seemed a counterbalance to the patience and persistence of those dignified elders.
Here are “first kids” who have parents whom we can relate to. Besides being similar in age to our president (who used the word “mindful” in his inaugural speech!) and first lady, we see this first family as one with priorities that we share. They share our dreams about education, concerns about the environment and, as our generation tends to do, they overshare (she tells us he smokes a little; he admits she can be a bit bossy), making them appear less distant from us “regular” people.
Michelle and Barack Obama may also be good role models for us as parents. Michelle made it clear when ParentMap interviewed her back in 2007 that she faces extreme work-family balance issues, as we all do (of course, she has great access to help!). And didn’t you adore her comment to ABC News that the White House staff has been instructed to let the girls make their own beds? Though she is now the first lady of the United States, she remains seriously committed to the development of her daughters’ characters — never mind that the beds in question are now in the White House.
— Alayne Sulkin, Publisher/Editor
P.S. Pathways tickets are going fast! See Pathways Lectures for details.
