Moms Forum: How do I keep my kids from interrupting?

McClatchy-Tribune

Moms Forum spotlights useful discussion taking place on the parenting forums of newspapers around the country.

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QUESTION: Just wondering how other moms deal with being interrupted by their kids.

— Posted by ktja on sacmomsclub.com

RESPONSES:

— We taught our kids at a young age that when they want to interrupt they are to put their hand on our hand and leave it there. We then will let them know we know they want to talk by holding their hand until a pause in conversation when I can pay attention to them.

— Since I work from home and have to take...

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Product review: Bad Air sponge

Kim Hays OrlandoSentinel.com/momsatwork

If you have kids, then (at least some part of) your house probably has the stank. If you have a baby (or a couple, like me), then the nursery can be a particularly bad offender. Short of washing out each of our cloth diapers separately, I had to find another solution.

I’m not comfortable spraying air fresheners around my twins. I really preferred something natural and scent-free. So I went to where everyone goes for advice: the Internet.

I turned up the Bad Air Sponge. It purported to end any odor that may be plaguing you (pet, smoke, mold, food, sweat, gasoline, etc.) And the sponge is made from natural ingredients that neutralize...

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Give the Wiggles a little break; they deserve it

Becky Sher McClatchy-Tribune

It’s an indisputable fact: Kids love the Wiggles. But even little ones who can’t get enough of the Australian quartet and their kiddie-music brethren need a change of pace occasionally. (And certainly their parents deserve a little break.)

That’s why the Universal Music Family collection is such a breath of fresh air. The six CDs range from “Future Idols” (Broadway hits from shows like “Wicked” and “The Music Man”) to “Miss Ella’s Playhouse” (great Ella Fitzgerald standards) to “Totally ‘80s for Kids” (just what it sounds like, and completely awesome). “Songs for the Car,” “Motown for Kids” and “Jazz Lullaby” round out the...

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Time for the wakeupcall kids and parents dread

Sam McManis McClatchy Newspapers

That dreadful late-summer task has fallen upon parents once more: waking the kids for those shock-to-the-system early school hours after they’ve spent the summer staying up late and sleeping in later.

It’s a schedule better suited to a dissipated rock star than a growing adolescent. In the beginning, it seems easier to wake the dead than to wake a teenager.

Take 14-year-old Davis, Calif., student Jackson Vanover. This summer, he slept until 11 a.m. That will change soon, says his mother, Michele Matsumoto. Matsumoto planned to wean her son off the late hours and late awakenings before school started.

She knows it...

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To three or not to three, that is the question

Melissa Skabich NEW JERSEY MOMS BLOG

“So when are you going to try for a girl?”

I’m asked this question at least once a week. I’m not sure what it is about having two preschool-age boys that compels people to inquire about my reproductive agenda, but they do. I’ve recently decided to have a little fun with prying strangers by coming up with clever responses like,

“You’ll have to bring that up with my husband’s sperm.”

Or

“Oh we actually have a little girl, but she’s ugly so we don’t bring her outside.”

As much as I love messing with people, I think now is a good time to put an end...

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Halloween debates: A princess goes to the Dark Side

Kimberly Kauer SILICON VALLEY MOMS BLOG

(MCT)

The first catalog of Halloween costumes hit our mailbox a few days before August. We’ve never ordered from one of these catalogs, but because they can entertain our 5-year-old for an afternoon as she pours over each page and costume, we haven’t tried to get our name off the mailing lists. That may change as this year the catalogs have sparked an early debate in our house over Halloween costumes, pitting parents against child.

“I want to be on the Dark Side,” my daughter announced the other day. Our little girl, who last year was Princess Aurora (feel free to roll your eyes, I did too) and the years before that was a butterfly and a ladybug, made...

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Fab or flub: Raven-Symone Presents’ DVD

Catherine Mallette McClatchy Newspapers

WHAT IT IS: Kids know Raven-Symone as the former star of “That’s So Raven” on Disney Channel and one of the former singers in the Cheetah Girls. Parents will remember her as Olivia on “The Cosby Show.” This 90-minute DVD presents her as a kind of Martha Stewart meets Katie Couric for kids. She crafts! She cooks! She interviews glass blowers! She gives a wide range of advice and boredom-busting ideas. There’s also, inexplicably, a couple segments where she takes on jobs at Six Flags.

WHAT WE THOUGHT: My 14-year-old daughter dubbed this DVD a “career-killer,” and I have to say, this wasn’t a good choice for Raven-Symone. It’s hard to tell what...

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Mom’s hamster wheel

Lori L. NEW JERSEY MOMS BLOG

It’s a beautiful summer morning. Two of my kids just got on the camp bus, my 14-year old is out, and I have the house to myself.

I look out my window and think about taking a walk or doing yoga outside. But then I think of “The List.” You know the one — the same one you have in your datebook, on scraps of paper, or like me, in your journal. The list that says things like: “grocery shop, get school supplies, call the allergist, dentist, pediatrician, orthodontist for appts., go through closets and see who’s grown out of what, figure out what clothes shopping needs to be done, do laundry, arrange for a babysitter for the weekend,” and so on … and on...

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Deciding if your child can go to school alone

By The Associated Press

Tips for deciding whether a child is ready to get to and from school without adult supervision — and how to make the route safer.

—Know your child. Some 10-year-olds are mature enough to handle the responsibility that goes with independence. Others are not.

—Consider the route. Are there major streets to cross? Will the child be walking or biking alone or with schoolmates?

—Set clear rules, such as whether your child must come straight home from school.

—Talk with other parents in your neighborhood about having kids walk or bike to school together. There is safety in numbers.

—If public...

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Back-to-school, but how? Parents fear walking, bus

KAREN MATTHEWS  Associated Press Writer

As a child, Debbie Veney Robinson rode city buses to school starting in second grade. But when her 12-year-old daughter, Maya, starts eighth grade this fall, she’ll be safely buckled in to the car for the ride to Catholic school.

Parents around the country are struggling to decide how their kids will get to school this fall — walk, ride a bike, take a bus or be driven by an adult — in a landscape they say has changed since they were kids.

Robinson, who lives in Washington, D.C., is among those who walked or rode public transportation when they were kids, but now drive their children to middle school or walk them to a bus stop half a block...

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