Because natural isn't always possible — or easy.
Posted in Education, exercise, parenting, School and education, toddlers on Jan 4th, 2012
Today, three out of four kids ages 3 to 5 are in some form of childcare including daycare and preschool. Increasingly, teachers, parents, and childcare workers are focusing more on reading than on running. However, according to a new study published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), running trumps [...]
Posted in Education, School and education on Jun 30th, 2011
In May Little Girl had an incident at school. It’s not something I am talking or writing about, but suffice it to say we needed to find a new school. I did a lot of research (natch!), and visited a lot of places. One of the places I went was a Montessori school a few [...]
Posted in Education, School and education on May 11th, 2011
Today Big Girl should be on a field trip to Queens Farms. Instead, she’s with her Daddy in the city. When the paperwork for the trip came home I was excited to see that all parents, for once, were welcome to come along for what seemed like an all day event. But then I saw [...]
Posted in Education, Food, Safety, School and education on Oct 6th, 2010
I wasn’t surprised when I heard that birthdays are food-free celebrations at Big Girl’s new school. I had run into the mom who I suspect is behind the policy, and figured something like that was in the works. We were at the park and recognized each other. The kids had been in nursery school together. [...]
Posted in Education, Food, Health, parenting on Sep 29th, 2010
I recently had the occasion to work with a large group of 6- and 7-year-olds. We were working on a craft. One of the little girls wanted to tell me a story. I will paraphrase it below: “You know how some kids get left back? Well, there’s this big, fat, smelly, stupid kid. His name [...]
Posted in Education, parenting, School and education, toddlers on Sep 14th, 2010
This morning I dropped Little Girl off at preschool. It was her second school in as many weeks. The first one didn’t work out. It was a Montessori. I dropped her off and was jarred by the atmosphere. Very chaotic and more like a daycare than a school. The room wasn’t neat and tidy. No [...]
Posted in Education, School and education on Sep 8th, 2010
Because of my mini nervous breakdown this week (please, please people who don’t know me very well — understand that I am not usually this nuts!), I have been thinking about everything and decided to focus on the good. There are plenty of good things that came out of Big Girl’s first week of school. [...]
Posted in Education, Emotional development, parenting, School and education on Sep 7th, 2010
Today at 9:18 a.m. I got into my car and cried. I had just dropped Big Girl off at the big, scary public school. Today I picked her up at 3:15. I want to cry again. Our conversation: Me: How was school? Big Girl (BG): It was good. Some things were the same, some were [...]
Posted in Education, Emotional development, parenting on Sep 1st, 2010
It’s not like me, right? I’ve been a good little blogger, checking in at least every other day since I started this blog way back when. And yet the last month all you’ve seen is the equivalent of chirping crickets. I’ve got a lot on my mind, and I just don’t feel like blogging. (Plus, [...]
Posted in Eating Healthy, Education, Food, parenting, School and education, Siblings on Aug 20th, 2010
That’s a pretty bold thing to say, right? School lunches were never really on my radar before this summer. They were something I never had to worry about. Big Girl was in private school. A very nice private school without a cafeteria. We were instructed to send in whole, healthy fare — vegetarian if possible. [...]