About.com Back to School | September 16, 2008
Seems like every semester the kids have a really big project that’s due. Sometimes it’s a science project: one son made his entire project to compare bike tire types just to prove me wrong from an earlier discussion (he was right). Other times The Big Project is collecting and typing leaves or a bug collection.
Many of these school projects end up being a family affair, sometimes because the child’s time management skills are lacking and sometimes because it’s fun for everyone to get involved (especially on bug-catching adventures.)
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About.com Back to School | September 13, 2008
What’s the secret to getting kids to want to eat a good breakfast? I wish I knew. Although I’ve tried to be creative and offer healthy breakfast choices, only my daughter wants to sit down and eat a good breakfast. The boys — both teens — would rather eat breakfast at school (probably because the bus comes super early) or on the run (they grab a portable yogurt or breakfast bar.)
When I was growing up, we never had choices like breakfast at school which the kids love (but it’s too expensive to do it every day). Of course back then, we also didn’t worry about things like cholesterol from the eggs or fat from the butter either.
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About.com Back to School | September 11, 2008
I’ve been putting off Driver’s Ed for weeks now, hoping my son will just be happy riding his horse around. Naturally, driving is all he can think about. So now I think I’m finally ready to let him learn how to drive.
In my state, parents can use a state program to teach driving to their 14-to-17-year-old children. But I will probably go with the school version of driver’s education. Now, all I have to do is have some serious talks with my son about teen driving before I turn him loose behind the wheel.
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About.com Back to School | September 9, 2008
This week I missed “Meet the Teacher” night, my daughter’s stuffy nose and decorating the 4H float for this weekend’s parade. Although I love my job (and honestly, I love to travel for it, too), I sometimes feel working mom guilt about being gone. I tried to make up for being gone by meeting some teachers ahead of time, blowing “mommy medicine” kisses over the phone and sending my oldest son to decorate the float. But still, it’s never the same as being there yourself.
Some strategies for dealing with working mom guilt:
- Take your child to work day. I once took my infant daughter to New York for Fashion Week (she stayed at the hotel with my best friend while I went to fashion shows) and although it was hectic, at least we were together.
- Take care of yourself. I’m all for massages, regular workout, mani/pedis or whatever else helps keep you rested, revived and sane.
- Make family time a priority. One of the rules in our family is that everyone sits down to dinner together every night. It’s how I was raised, and I think it’s one of the most important things you can do to make a family feel like, well, a family.
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Tags: massages, New York
About.com Back to School | September 6, 2008
Mouthguards, physicals, personalized jerseys, cleats. Is your back-school shopping list for kids in sports as long as mine? Over the years my kids have done T-ball, hockey, football, soccer — lots of soccer — martial arts and gymnastics. I love what playing team sports teaches kids, but with all of the practices and games, it’s sometimes difficult to balance sports and family life.
And then there are the safety concerns for kids who play sports. We’ve only had 1 serious injury — when my son got a concussion — but it would have been much worse if he hadn’t been wearing his helmet.
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About.com Back to School | September 4, 2008
Angeline Jolie and toddler Zahara step out with matching Valentino Histoire bags (the grownup version retails for around $1600.) Little Suri Cruise not only wears the same labels that her designer-loving mom Katie Holmes wears, she shares a haircut with her mom. Although I’m all for letting our daughters learn by copying us, I’m kind of creeped out by celebs who treat their kids as fashion accessories.
I’ve never been a huge proponent of mommy and me style (there are better ways to bond with your children) so I’ve never tried out designer mini-me looks with my daughter. But if you’re as tired as I am of seeing all these celebrity kid-and-mom duos, the good news is that as kids get older they don’t want to look anything like their moms (you’ll never see preteen Lourdes dressing just like mom Madonna).
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Tags: designer, Madonna
About.com Back to School | September 2, 2008
Fashion guru Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” recently called Miley Cyrus’ outfits “tarty.” Surprised? I’m not. The “Hannah Montana” star is fair game for fashion scrutiny because she has so much influence: grade schoolers and young teens want to get the Miley Cyrus style for themselves.
When stacked against other music style influences, Miley’s look is pretty tame (and yes, much of it is a mish-mosh of bad fads from decades past). I’d rather my child wear rock-kid clothes than sleazy styles from teen queens past (like Britney Spears’ way-too-sexy, belly-shirt styles).
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Tags: Britney Spears
