As mothers, we talk about having and wanting choices on how we raise our children.

Some moms in Maryland want to have the option of delivering their babies at home and want the state to ease standards to do so. Supporters say the state places too many restrictions on obtaining a midwife. In Maryland, more than 500 moms delivered their babies at home last year.

My colleague Andrea K. Walker reports on this grass roots effort:

They are working with a Montgomery County delegate to introduce legislation that would open the door to more midwives delivering babies at home. ...

Heather Brown, 35, of Pikesville, delivered two of her babies at home, including a daughter born seven weeks ago. She said state officials need to be more open-minded about home births.

"It should be a valid choice for women who want to do it," she said. "It should be a woman's choice and not the doctor's and the medical establishment. It's not fair for the government to make it so difficult."

State health officials oppose loosening the restrictions, citing safety concerns. Currently, certified nurses or doctors must be present during home births.

But as the story points out, the majority of home births around the country are performed by other types of midwives, including certified professional midwives, who Maryland does not allow to deliver babies at home.

It's a fascinating debate, and I'm interested in hearing from moms who have delivered at home. Why did you choose a home birth vs. a hospital birth?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Expecting
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

Do your kids look at you when you talk with them? With all the cell phones, iPods, computers and other digital devices, it seems to get harder to get kids’ attention. My older son nearly always has the cell phone in one hand and the iPod in the other. The younger is glued to the laptop playing games.

But researchers at Stanford University found that tween girls who spend a lot of time watching videos and using online communication may feel less social success, sleep less and have less desirable friends. On the other hand, kids who spent more time in face-to-face communication seemed to have greater social success, greater feelings of normalcy and more sleep.

Kids need to spend time in face-to-face conversations in order to learn the visual cues of facial expressions, the researchers point out.

As we know, it’s hard to read expressions when your eyes are glued to a screen.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

An estimated 2 million kids have had to say good-bye to a military parent who was deployed overseas since 2001, including many in Maryland. Last week, the Department of Defense launched a website to help kids cope with the stress of parents who are stationed abroad. Militarykidsconnect.org, created by psychologist at the defense department, includes message boards, games, videos and educational resources for kids 6 to 17.

The site also has features to help parents and educators understand the challenges military families face as they go through the deployment cycle. The site includes information on how parents and teachers should address the sadness, worry and outbursts kids may experience when a parent is deployed overseas.

For military families out there: How have you helped the kids adjust to a deployment?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

There are 24-hour gyms, 24-hour diners and everything in between. Now some daycare centers are joining the mix.

The New York Times reports on the trend:

Day care is slowly becoming night care in today’s economy, as parents work ever longer days, take on second jobs and accept odd shifts to make ends meet. ...

About 40 percent of the American labor force now works some form of nonstandard hours, including evenings, nights, weekends and early mornings, according to Harriet B. Presser, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. That share is expected to grow with the projected expansion of jobs in industries like nursing, retail and food service, which tend to require after-hours work.

When I was looking for daycare for Jake, one of the first things I wanted to know was the center's hours. Most centers in this region close between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. My job can be pretty crazy sometimes with long hours, so it was an important factor for me.

Imagine the stress of finding childcare when you have to work odd or overnight hours. The article features one daycare center in Ohio where the providers help children with homework, feed them dinner and get them ready for bed.

Of course, there are downsides. For one thing, the parents interviewed for the story said they rather have their children be watched in their own homes, but child care center "offered the best compromise."

Do you think there is a need for 24-hour centers, or at least those that have evening hours?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Child Care
        

Everyone is getting into the business of celebrating the Baltimore Ravens.

My colleague Andrea Walker at Picture of Health reports that Sinai Hospital will give away a $3,000 savings bond to the first baby born after the kick off at the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.

Good luck to all expected mothers who are due this weekend at the Northwest Baltimore hospital.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Expecting, Sports
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

I’ve always been a bit perplexed over the issue of giving a kid an allowance. Baltimore Sun financial columnist Eileen Ambrose gives me even more to think about.

In her column Sunday, she quotes Lewis Mandell, professor emeritus of finance and former dean of business at the State University of New York in Buffalo, who has found that that giving kids allowances without requiring them to do chores makes kids less motivated to get a job or go to college. While we’ve been told for years that giving kids allowances helps them better understand finances, the professor found that high school students who didn’t get an allowance performed better on financial literacy tests than those who did.

Allowances have come and gone in my house. At one time, I gave the kids $5 a week, but when finances became tight, the allowances went away. I also had second thoughts about paying kids to do chores around the house. I want them to learn that they must help just because they should, not because they will be paid for it. For my older son, that means mowing the lawn and taking out the trash. Both kids must walk the dog and clean their rooms.

Mandell says it’s important to talk with kids about finances and I do a lot of that. I pull out that oldie but goodie “Money doesn’t go on trees” and “I’m not a bank” and simply “We can’t afford it.” I tell them how much the mortgage and utility bills cost and what I earn. I’ve quizzed them on gas prices and phone bills. I hope these lessons will sink in now so the bill collector doesn’t come knocking at their door later.

What do you think is the best approach on allowances?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Weight loss is one of top New Year resolutions for many people.

If you're a mother in Baltimore, you could take advantage of a free program called B'more Fit for Healthy Babies.

The program is part of a larger citywide initiative to reduce the rate of infant mortality. What does weight have to do with infant mortality?

According to the program, overweight women face increased risks during pregnancy and delivery, and their babies are more likely to have poor birth outcomes and are also at risk for childhood obesity.

B'more Fit begins registering eligible women Saturday at an event featuring Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Mothers enrolled in the program will attend group sessions, have access to healthy food and learn proper exercise.

Women of childbearing age who live in Patterson Park (for Spanish speaking mothers), Park Heights and Upton/Druid Heights neighborhoods are eligible for the program.

B'more Fit is a joint project between the Baltimore City Health Department and the Family League of Baltimore.

Here are contact numbers for the program:

DRUM for Healthy Families (Upton Druid Heights)
410-225-3555

Park Heights Community Health Alliance
410-542-8190

Patterson Park
BMS, Highlandtown Healthy Living Center
443-703-3676

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Health
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

Is it too late for New Year’s resolutions? My diet is floundering, but I have another idea. I should teach the boys to cook.

I enjoy cooking, especially holiday meals and desserts. I like to shoo everyone from the kitchen and get to work. But cooking day in and day out gets tiring and monotonous. I need to enlist the troops.

Truthfully, the weeknight fare I make after I come home from work isn’t hard—burgers, pasta, grilled chicken, etc. I throw in a starch and at least one vegetable or salad and I’m done.

I’m sure the kids could do it, with minimal supervision. The problem is getting them to do it. It isn’t unusual for my 15-year-old to pull a frozen dinner out of the freezer and ask me to cook it. Really!

So my new New Year’s resolution is to teach the boys to make a few simple dishes without cutting off their fingers or burning down the house. If I can succeed in that, I’ll have taught the boys a valuable life skill. If I can’t, well, I guess my diet will be safe at least.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

My kids have never met a screen they didn't like. TV, computer, smart phone, iPad, iPod. They love them. But if you're like me, you wonder if all that screen time might be put to better use. So I started looking around for educational game apps.

There are thousands, but the good news is there are websites out there to help sort through them.

One is Bestkidsapps, which reviews apps for iPhone, iPad and Droid and organizes the apps by age and objective. You can get reviews on the most popular as well as discover new games.

Now not everything here is educational, unless you believe Angry Birds and Paper Toss develop geometry skills. But I did find some new ones that I plan to try let my 10-year-old try.

Another site I found, appolicious, lists apps that teachers use in the classroom. These are more expensive, but seem a bit more educational, to my mind.

A third, funeducationalapps, reviews and lists apps by age and subject. It includes clips from the games so you can get a better idea if you’ll like them before you download them.

What are your favorite apps for kids? As long as it doesn't have a gun or sword, I'm interested.
 

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

Sasha and Malia Obama may get to meet Justin Bieber at a Christmas concert, but they won't be gushing about it on Facebook. That's because Dad won't let them on the social network site. "Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don't know knowing our business?" the president said in an interview with People magazine. "That doesn't make much sense."

Although only 13-year-old Sasha is old enough to join Facebook, parents and older siblings often help children as young as 10-year-old Malia sign up for accounts. It's not surprising that there are secrets Dad would prefer his daughters not blab to the world. Most families don't have the paparazzi and political enemies trying to gather up any tidbit of gossip. Still, how many of us would like our tweens to publish to the world everything that goes on in their lives?

My tween was interested in Facebook for a while, but that seems to have been a passing fad. Now that he has discovered he can talk to friends on his iPod and play with them on his Xbox Live, Facebook seems a little old fashioned, I guess.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

This week education will take a back seat to celebration in most schools. There will be holiday parties, concerts and sing-alongs. But most of us don’t have to worry about what the kids will wear. A Santa hat or reindeer antlers will do if the kids want to wear them. Braver tweens might even agree to a Christmas sweater.

But across the pond, it apparently is different. I came across a press release from a London department store that said British parents are going crazy over dressing their kids in expensive costumes for the traditional nativity plays that are performed in elementary schools. Some parents will dress their kids in bed sheets and towels, but others are springing for ready-made star, shepherd and Mary costumes. While prices vary, a Mary costume can cost $40.

I love Christmas and all its traditions, but personally I’m glad that I only have to worry about finding a costume for my kid once a year on Halloween.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

As a mother of boys, I’ve missed out on some things. One of those apparently is the new trend toward young girls visiting day spas. I’d heard of girls having birthday parties that included manicures and facials, but a recent report on ABC shows that it goes farther than that. Girls as young as 11 are going to salons for the full treatment, including bikini waxes.

One salon owner in the report says it’s simply a matter of hygiene and the younger girls start the better. But the report raises concerns as well about messages we are sending to vulnerable girls about their appearance.

Are we putting too much emphasis on the way our tween and teen girls look? The report says parents can set the tone. That is true to a certain extent, but peer pressure on these girls is tremendous. Do you think tween girls are too young for these kind of spa treatments?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

Call me naïve, but I had no idea that some parents take recreational sports so seriously. This week my 10-year-old had his first basketball practice and I was surprised when the coach took the parents aside and read us the rules. He reminded us to be good sports and not yell at the children or the coaches. And he said under no circumstances should we reward our sons with gifts for the number of shots they make.

Do parents really do that? Let me be clear, we are talking about recreational basketball. There are no tryouts and every kid plays. I signed my son up so he would get some exercise during the winter. It never occurred to me to reward him for number of shots he makes.

Every time my kids play sports, they can count on hearing me remind them about trying to do their best, supporting their teammates and sticking with the sport through the season. But it seems parents need their own reminders about how to be good sports.

Have you seen parents who needed sportsmanship lessons in the rec leagues?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Teens
        

It seems like everyone I know is expecting or trying to get pregnant.

But births are at a 11-year low. And these individual decisions are having far-reaching consequences, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Similar decisions to postpone or forgo having babies may delay the recovery from the five-year U.S. housing slump and restrain future consumer spending on goods and services from child care to diapers, soaps and toothpaste. Expenditures associated with one child for a middle-income family are $226,920 over 17 years, with housing the biggest expense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated in June.

The number of births fell to an estimated 4 million last year, the fewest since 1999, according to National Center for Health Statistics data. American families -- whose finances have been hurt by high unemployment, falling home prices and low pay raises -- lack confidence to plan for “explosions in spending” required by a new child, says Peter Francese, a demographic- trends analyst in Exeter, New Hampshire, for the MetLife Mature Market Institute. U.S. births may not recover until 2013, he predicts.

Bloomberg Businessweek also cites concern from manufacturers of diapers and other baby/kid products on the impact of low births on sales.

This is a classic chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Families will have more kids when the economy improves, but the economy is not recovering as quickly because households are making belt-tightening decisions such as delaying parenthood.

Are you holding off having kids until your financial situation or the economy gets better?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Babies and Toddlers
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

I was fascinated to read Liz Bowie’s story this week describing how Maryland schools may soon drop the teaching of cursive handwriting. The lessons are not included in the core curriculum the schools will begin following next year and some schools are leaving it up to the principals whether cursive is taught or not.

I’m not sure how I feel about the change. I never had nice penmanship and my handwriting has gotten only worse over the years. The only time I’ve seen my older son, who is in high school, write in cursive is when he signs his name.

My fifth grader is struggling to learn cursive now. He doesn’t have good penmanship, but I haven’t heard any teachers complain. I can understand that the kids might have more important things to learn these days than how to write the cursive Q or properly cross their Ts.

Still, I worry that something will be lost if kids no longer learn to write in cursive. Doesn’t the patience required to write perfect rows of Bs build character? And if kids can’t write cursive, how will they be able to read cursive? Will cursive become a secret code that only a few can decipher?

What do you think? Has your tween learned to write in cursive? Should cursive writing still be taught?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

Sometimes trying to entertain kids makes you feel really old.

A good friend offered to watch my 10-year-old son this week when schools were closed for parent conferences. When she called to invite him over to play with her son for the day, she said she had a craft the boys could make. Another friend planning to visit for Thanksgiving is looking forward to playing board games with the kids.

My boys, however, aren’t exactly jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

Crafts and board games sound like a lot of fun to me, but to my kids, these past times are low-tech and boring. In their world, if it doesn’t come with a battery or an electric cord, it’s no fun.

Now that the holiday shopping season is approaching, it’s perhaps a good time to consider the difference between what kids think is fun and what we think is fun. A Harris survey conducted in October found that 45 percent of adults who plan on buying toys this year will be buying children’s books. About 30 percent will buy arts and crafts and a 25 percent will buy board games.

But for kids like mine, all is not lost. The survey finds those with a tween (ages 10-12) in the household are planning to purchase games for consoles (67 percent), then children's books (43 percent) and board games (41 percent) while those with a teen (13-17) are buying games for consoles (62 percent), sports equipment (37 percent) and children's books (34 percent).

Personally, I think it’s good to expose the kids to old-fashioned pleasures like a game of Monopoly or Battleship. These games don’t have high-tech graphics, but at least I have a chance of winning.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday:

As if having a tween or teen in the house doesn’t provides enough drama, a new study from the Girl Scout Research Institute shows that girls who regularly watch reality TV shows expect and accept a higher level of drama in their own lives.

The report also found that teen and tween girls who watch these shows accept more aggression and bullying in their lives and measure their worth by their appearance.

The impact of TV on children has been debated and studied for decades. There is always a bit of a chicken and egg problem to the research. But this new report finds interesting differences between reality TV viewers and non-viewers.

And the news isn’t all bad. The report finds reality TV viewers more self-assured and more likely to aspire to leadership roles than non-reality TV viewers.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

I am going to resist making sarcastic jokes or making harsh judgments about the latest pregnancy for the serial parents and reality show stars Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar.

If you haven't heard, the Duggars are having their 20th child.

I have caught their show here and there, and it's not clear to me what they do for a living. Do they live off income from the show?

If you could afford to have as many kids as you want, why not, right?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Expecting
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday

At what point do you give up, raise the white flag, tell your tween, “You win” and move on?

I feel like I reached that point this week in my battles with my 10-year-old over soccer. Last year, he loved soccer so much that he played on both outdoor and indoor teams. This year, he moved up an age bracket and seems to have hated every minute of it. He doesn’t dislike the coach or his teammates. His team has a winning record. He says he hates running laps in practice. But I think he also dislikes soccer because now that he is with older boys, he longer is one of the best players on the team.

I’ve always insisted that my kids finish the season with any sport they start. But I’m at the end of my rope. The arguments over getting ready, the struggles to put shin guards and cleats on an unwilling kid and his whining afterward have finally done me in. When he protested about going to his soccer game on Saturday, I said, “You win.” There are still two more weeks of the season, but as far as I’m concerned, his season is over.

I recently read Dr. Gordon Livingston’s book Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart, and I was struck by what he said about child rearing. “When parents are preoccupied with unimportant issues like food consumption or room cleanliness, these will be arenas for endless conflict,” he writes. The Columbia psychiatrist went on to say, “When parents, convinced of their crucial roles in shaping the futures of their children, ask me, ‘What can I do to make sure this kid turns out well?’ they are often surprise at my response: ‘Not much , but maybe cutting down on the fights and not trying to control your child’s every decision might help to make everyone happier right now.’”

It’s advice I’m going to try to remember.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday on Wednesday!

What a difference a few years makes. I have one son firmly planted in the teen years. Another right in the middle of the tween years. Both designations are a bit arbitrary, but the differences are real. Here are some of the differences I see:

1. The tween wanted to see the new Puss N Boots movie. The teen thought it was stupid. (The tween and I went and had a great time.)
2. The teen stayed up watching a scary movie on TV then went to bed; the tween watched the movie and went to my bed.
3. The teen is starting to be able to carry on a conversation with adults. The tween stammers and slips away as quickly as possible.
4. The tween plays with Legos and action figures. The teen compares his physique to an action figure.
5. When the teen likes a girl, he sends her a text or posts on her Facebook page. When the tween likes a girl, he throws her a football in recess.
6. The tween thinks school is lame and stupid. The teen thinks I’m lame and stupid.

How about you? What differences do you see in teens and tweens?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

Source: Real Simple

I'm really behind on my Halloween preparations. I still have to pick up a costume for Jake, who will be trick-or-treating at his daycare as well as around our neighborhood. He hasn't warmed up to candy yet, but it won't be long before I'll have to limit his sugar consumption.

To avoid the hazards of sugar on our children's teeth, husband-and-wife dentists Drs. Kapil and Vidhima Davar of Bel Air Pediatric Dentistry have some tips for parents:

This Halloween, your firemen, ballerinas and superheroes will return with bags of candy eager to gnaw on their hard-won Snickers bars, Skittles and candy corn. The list of Halloween candy can be endless – as can the dangers sweets can cause to your children’s teeth.

When plaque, a thin film of bacteria on teeth and gums, mixes with sugar, an acid forms that attacks the teeth. Over time, the acid can break down tooth enamel and cause tooth decay. But parents can protect their children and enjoy Halloween safely.

Limit how much Halloween candy your children eat. Serve them a healthy meal before trick-or-treating, so they’re not hungry when they return. Store candy in a room other than your children’s bedroom, so it’s less tempting. Offer them healthier snacks like trail mix and raisins instead of sugary candy.

Serve Halloween candy during meals. Increased saliva production and other foods will help naturally wash away sugary candy particles and reduce the risk of tooth decay.

Offer your children sugarless gum after they enjoy their candy. Sugarless gum, approved by the American Dental Association, increases saliva production and helps wash away candy particles.

Practice good oral hygiene, including brushing twice daily and flossing once daily.

Visit your child’s pediatric dentist for regular checkups. Pediatric dentists have specialized training and experience caring specifically for children’s teeth.

Your children can enjoy the spoils of trick-or-treating without the dangers of tooth decay. You can help them enjoy Halloween candy in moderation while continuing good oral hygiene and regular dental checkups.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Health, Holidays
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday

Don’t you hate it when kids don’t listen? Lately I’m worried more about the kids not hearing. Both of my boys have taken to spending a lot of time with their iPod earbuds stuck in the ears. Part of the reason is they have different tastes in music so when we’re traveling they will listen to their iPods rather than listen to the radio. Another reason seems to be they abhor the sound of silence, so when they are reading or doing their homework they are listening to their iPods. And I’m sure at least one of the reasons they seem to always have cords dangling from their ears is they don’t want to listen to me.

But there is clear evidence that listening to music that is too loud or played for too long can damage one’s hearing. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found that 1 in 5 adolescents has some hearing loss and that listening to portable music players is partly to blame. According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, if you can hear the music while standing next to your child who is listening to a portable music player, he probably has the music turned too loud. Over time, a child suffers hearing loss and will crank the volume even higher.

One rule of thumb is to limit exposure to less than an hour and to keep the music volume so the listener can still hear someone talking three feet away. Now if I can just get my kids to listen so they will still be able to hear.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Teens
        

New and veteran parents alike are inundated with do's and don't's from medical professionals, other moms and dads, in-laws, friends, the list goes on and on.

The latest comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics, whose doctors are urging again that parents should limit television watching for infants and toddlers under 2. According to the New York Times:

Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said.

The recommendation, announced at the group’s annual convention in Boston, is less stringent than its first such warning, in 1999, which called on parents of young children to all but ban television watching for children under 2 and to fill out a “media history” for doctor’s office visits. But it also makes clear that there is no such thing as an educational program for such young children, and that leaving the TV on as background noise, as many households do, distracts both children and adults.

Jake, who's now 22 months old, has his favorite shows: Phineas and Ferb, Diego and Dora. We try to limit his television watching to about an hour a day but I'll admit it: it would be impractical for me to turn the television and computer off entirely.

Every family is different. What rules have you set on television watching or any other uses of computers and hand-held devices like smartphones and iPads?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Parenting in general
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday

Most of the time, I’m trying to get my boys to put down the video games and log off the computers and connect with the real world. But I recently came across a tween website that your kids may enjoy. Called Kidsvuz the site is designed to let tweens share videos and reviews of toys, books, games and shows.

Two mom bloggers, Rebecca Levey and Nancy Friedman, came up the idea as a way to give kids a safe and easy place to share their views on everything from Harry Potter books to Ugg sneakers. The site launched earlier this month and is monitored by a panel of parents.
Kidsvuz includes:

• An integrated webcam so kids can record their videos while they sit at their computers
• A film school that teaches kids how to make videos
• Social media features that lets kids create communities based on shared interests

If kids are going to spend time in front of the screen, it makes sense that they do so with a site that is safe and challenges them to think a little.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Teens
        

Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday

Halloween is less than three weeks away, but you wouldn’t know it at my house. Sadly, it seems, the kids really are growing up. The boys haven’t asked to put up decorations or visit a pumpkin farm or even go to the party store for costumes. The fifth grader seemed ready to take a pass on trick-or-treating altogether until he learned that his dentist was giving $1 for every pound of candy his patients turn in. Now the kid sees the chance to make money and vows to stay out until midnight collecting as much candy as he can. The older one, who is 15, gave up trick-or-treating a couple years ago, but a girl he likes is going and I’m sure she could persuade him to join her.

It all feels so strange. In the houses where the kids are still small, they have the pumpkins out and the decorations in the yard. I recall how much effort I used to put into the holiday. When my older son was small, I made his Halloween costumes. The first was a bunny outfit (think Christmas Story) and then a bear outfit. By the time he started pre-school he would have nothing to do with homemade costumes and so we started on to the action figures, vampires and ghouls. I used to spend a fortune on decorations.

Now our house looks plain. It looks like “old” people live there.

In the spring, we gave up the Easter egg hunt. Trick-or-treating is looking pretty iffy. These holidays really do feel different when the kids start to grow up.

UPDATE (11:06 a.m.) Click here for a guide of Halloween activities.
Or if you want to search by location, go here.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Holidays, Teens