Good Food Habits for School
You’ve packed their bookbag with everything that they’ll need to face the day ahead: pencils, markers, notebooks, and an agenda, but did you pack their lunchbag with everything that they’ll need to make it through the school day? Studies have shown time and again that children who eat breakfast do better at school than those […] […]
Techniques for the Classroom. Lesson 1: Paying Attention
It’s happened to us all before. You are in an important meeting. Someone is giving a presentation. A power point presentation starts, then, the next thing you know, everyone is getting up and leaving. You haven’t heard a word that’s been said. You were staring out the window, not paying attention. You were distracted. Kids […] […]
The Dangers of Playing with Toys
Playing was good for your child’s health and development. Well, not anymore, and especially not if they are playing with the hundreds of mass-produced, foreign-made toys that can actually be detrimental to a child’s physical well being. Small, removable parts and toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing process had lead to some recent high-profile toy […] […]
Harry Potter Book Magic for Kid’s Literacy
We’ve talked a lot about the importance of literacy on this blog and how traditional children’s leisure activities (like reading a good book, for example) are on the decline in today’s digital playground. That being said, children’s literacy scored a major victory this past weekend thanks to the release of the final Harry Potter book. […] […]
Staying au courant with the ongoing in your teen’s life can be challenging, especially since teens can be notoriously difficult to talk to. Short, one-word responses such as “nothing” is the norm to questions like “How was your day?” and “what’s new?” A recent article in the local paper told of how one parent discovered […] […]
Letting them be kids again
Amid the welter of decibel-topping noise generated by violent and intense computer games, the Internet, TV and loud music shrieking from the stereo, I wondered whatever happened to a carefree childhood? As I watch my neighbors hustle their bleary-eyed children from competitive dance to nightly karate to little league and 5 am ice rink calls […] […]
Brain Fitness Fads
Over the past few decades many public trends have focused on the body. There were fad diets: the Scarsdale diet, the Stewardess diet, the Grapefruit diet, the Cabbage soup diet, South Beach Diet, Atkins, etc. And there have been plenty of exercise fads too: aerobics, spinning, weightlifting, pilates, hot yoga, etc. Not that any of […] […]
How to beat the word NO
How many times have you heard the word no in your life? Probably quite a few. Maybe even hundreds or possibly thousands. Probably you are even guilty of saying NO. The thing about no, and not to put too fine a point on it—well, it’s negative. Nobody believed IBM and Apple that computers would be […] […]
Media Literacy
Critical Thinking and Media Literacy Forget writing private thoughts down on paper—these days, kid’s journals exist in cyberspace. From Facebook to WordPress to Tumblr, kid’s lives are played out in a much more public domain. How can we make sure that our kids, who are arguably the biggest users of technology—cellphones, computers, blogging, etc.—are savvy […] […]
Let Your Kids Have Some FUN!
Childhood is in serious trouble according to Dashka Slater on Salon.com Consider the word FUN. Overly concerned with development, parents are sucking all the fun out of childhood. They say manners are fun! Brushing your teeth is fun! Homework is fun! And activities that used to be genuinely fun—building forts, horseplay, and puddle-jumping get described […] […]