Time to slap your forehead – Memorial Day has come and gone, summer is here, and you still haven’t made plans for your kids. You’re not a bad mom. Or dad. It’s surprisingly hard, especially for working parents, to plan a kid-centric summer, when the primary factors aren’t “fun,” but staying within budget, while also limiting the chauffeuring and hours of aftercare each … [Read more...] about Finding A (Last Minute) Summer Camp
Three Tips To Help Tame Our Kids Tech
Get this: U.S. teenagers now spend a whopping NINE HOURS A DAY using media. That’s more time than most spend sleeping, learning, or hanging out with us. The nine hours includes watching TV, videos and movies, playing video games, listening to music, and checking social media. New research shows that some 13 year olds check social media 100 times a day. Girls spend 40 minutes … [Read more...] about Three Tips To Help Tame Our Kids Tech
Should You Ever Discipline Another Parent’s Child?
Last Sunday, I sat with a group of parents watching our nine-year-old daughters play the first basketball game of the season. Next to us, a young boy, maybe five years old, sat playing on an iPod. No headphones. It was very loud. It was very annoying. His mom sat on his other side, oblivious, cheering for her daughter. One of the dads leaned over to … [Read more...] about Should You Ever Discipline Another Parent’s Child?
Halloween Hysteria – How Parents Can Enjoy Halloween
Sometimes, it seems like American parents, in our quest for perfection, specialize in leaching parenting of every ounce of joy. We try so mightily to protect our children from danger, disappointment, and emotional pain, that we ironically miss the true risks to our kids’ long-term happiness. Take Halloween. Many historians believe Halloween originated not with razor … [Read more...] about Halloween Hysteria – How Parents Can Enjoy Halloween
Why Your Kid Needs A Summer Job
When I was in college, I spent two long, hot summers wrangling teenagers at a 350-acre organic farm in Pennsylvania. The camp focused not on swim tests or tie-dye, but instead the goal was developing kids’ leadership and communication skills. Like most sleepaway camps, this camp drew children largely from cities, kids whose families could afford the sleepaway privilege, as … [Read more...] about Why Your Kid Needs A Summer Job