Archive for July, 2010
Jul
26
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Julie Landry LaViolette, McClatchy Newspapers
While parenting any child has its trials, parenting an adopted child comes with its own set of unique challenges.
Some may come from your family through relatives who treat your child differently or refuse to accept them. Others can come from the school through classroom assignments about the family tree or classmates who tease. They can stem from the community by nosy neighbors or friends who feel entitled to interrogate you about the adoption experience.
Terilee Wunderman, whose two adopted children are now adults, has been through it all. Now the Kendall psychotherapist, who has 30 years of experience working with adoptive issues, helps guide other parents through the process.
The first tools in...
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Jul
25
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The television had been blaring NickToons for at least two hours. Probably more like four.
And then I snapped.
“If you guys don’t turn off that television, I’m going to throw it out of the window,” I told my children. With great flourish, I unplugged the cable wires and waved them around as if the TV-tossing was imminent. “This thing is turning your brain into vegetables!”
Right then, it hit me: I had turned into my parents. Throughout my childhood, I had heard them threaten all sorts of damage to the TV set.
My 5-year-old sulked out of the room, offering this parting shot: “You are totally stressing me out. You are the only person in the world who doesn’t...
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Jul
24
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Priscilla J. Dunstan, McClatchy-Tribune
The nightly battle of teeth brushing is something a lot of parents suffer through. By using your child’s dominant sense to either entertain or distract your child, you will make this routine job done with a lot less anxiety.
Tactile children respond well to when they’re able to do what everyone else is doing, especially mom, dad or an older sibling. By brushing your teeth together or allowing them to brush your teeth in the same way you brush theirs, you will cater to their desire to participate. Tactile children will at first prefer nonelectric toothbrushes, as they like to be able to control the physical feeling in their mouths. However, if you want them to use an electric toothbrush, try changing their...
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Jul
23
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — An annual report finds Ohio has made progress on keeping teenagers in school but has more children living in single-parent households.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2010 Kids Count Data Book also shows an increase in Ohio children living in poverty, from 16 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2008 — before most families felt impact from the recession.
The study ranks the state 29th in terms of overall children’s health and well-being, down from No. 28 last year.
It shows that 5 percent of Ohio 16- through 19-year-olds were not enrolled in school and were not high school graduates in 2008. The rate was twice as high in 2000.
The rate of Ohio children living with one parent increased to 34 percent,...
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Jul
23
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
nameberry.com
If there’s one arena that may have been kind of neglected in the nameberry search for cool namesakes, it would probably be the wide, wide world of sports.
There are a couple of explanations for this. Number One is the fact that so many star athletes were known by nicknames — Mickey and Ricky, Babe, Dizzy, Yogi, Catfish, Satchel, Tiger, ad infinitum.
Beyond that, most of the others have had standard-issue jock names and known by their diminutives — Bill, Willie, Charlie, and Jack and Jim and Tim and Tom and Ted.
But we’ve dug through the archives and managed to come up with the following group of more out-of-the-ordinary monikers:
AMOS ALONZO Stagg — early football coach, an innovator in college...
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Jul
22
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register
The most memorable expressions of travel: “Are we there yet?” “I have to go right now” and “Stop the car, I lost my turtle” were all uttered by people under the age of 18, on road trips with their parents.
The latter phrase was screeched by my own 8-year-old brother in the back seat of our Ford station wagon, when the turtle he insisted on bringing on our trip escaped into the bowels of the trunk.
Buckets of anguished tears later, my brother’s turtle was recovered from under a pile of sleeping bags, after our dad had unloaded everything from the car and piled it by the side of the road.
I’ve seen many miserable families on vacation who suffer from one of...
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Jul
22
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
nameberry.com
Pretty much everybody knows someone named John.
Backed by its rich history and plenty of timeless appeal, this all-time favorite enjoyed its moment of baby-name stardom, gaining a measure of glitz and glamour thanks to high-profile hotties John Travolta, John Cusack, and Johnny Depp, along with celebrity parents like Michelle Pfeiffer, Bono, and Rob Lowe all named their sons John.
Yet after dropping out of the Top 25 this year for the first time in recorded baby name history, John seems destined to keep sliding.
Which leads us to ask: what, exactly, is its future? What newer, more timely forms are taking the place of the original? And what made John such a classic to begin with?
Like a lot of names, John first got its start in...
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Jul
21
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Some of the most common summer dangers for children are a big part of summer’s fun: bikes, pools, trampolines and campfires.
Dr. Kathy Nuss, associate medical director of Trauma Services at Columbus, Ohio’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and a team of doctors, have narrowed down a list of the most common mechanisms of injuries that send children to the hospital during the summer.
This list is an excellent reminder for simple ways to help your children have a fun and safe summer:
Falls: Falls consistently top the list of summer injuries. While objects such as trampolines have proven to be dangerous, many injuries arise from things that parents may assume are much...
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Jul
21
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Emilie Le Beau, McClatchy-Tribune
Baby monitors, the parental equivalent of being always on-call. Parents hear little ones stirring and feel obliged to check and see if everything is fine.
Video monitors can offer parents an opportunity to watch little ones stir and decide whether break time is truly over.
The Slim&Secure Handheld Color Video Monitor from Summer Infant is a sleek gadget designed to mimic a video phone.
The monitor has a 2.5 inch LCD screen and automatic black and white night vision. It is 100 percent digital and provides a secure connection for up to 350 feet.
The camera can be placed on a nightstand or mounted to the wall. Additional cameras can be purchased and up to three cameras can be added to the same monitor....
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Jul
20
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
Hybrid Mom
With such beautiful weather and the garden in full bloom, last Friday evening was the perfect occasion to sit on the porch and catch up with our neighbors. The event: casual, the food: easy and unfussy.
For the two main appetizers we chose to make tomatoes stuffed with pesto or blue cheese with the fresh tomatoes we’d picked up at the farmer’s market. Then, I cooked up my favorite onion dip to serve with carrots and fresh cucumbers, also from the farmer’s market.
To balance out the vegetables, we set out a delicious container of goat cheese with strawberry compote and a nice round of runny Camembert with some buttery crackers. Finally, to include a little salt on the table, we poured two bowls of fancy nuts.
All in all it...
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