Totsy offers a 10 percent discount code on top of their already great deals for back-to-school shoppers

McClatchy-Tribune

Right now, parents across the country are trying to stretch their back-to-school budgets to get all the necessities for their kids.

The members-only website Totsy is here to help with a special deal for readers.

Totsy says that last year, the average American family with two children spent around $550 on back-to-school gear.

The deeply discounted deals at Totsy mean that parents can cut these costs. Their prices are up to 90 percent off retail on items such as apparel, shoes, books, backpacks, lunch boxes and educational toys because they negotiate with brands and manufacturers.

Totsy CEO Guillaume Gauthereau recently addressed the issue of service and slow shipping that has plagued the company in the past.

He said...

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Number of Hispanics going to college surges

By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer

In just one year the number of Hispanics ages 18 to 24 on America college campuses grew by nearly a quarter, while the number of white students that age declined, highlighting a substantial and increasingly rapid demographic transition in higher education.

The 24 percent increase — about 350,000 additional young Hispanics in college in 2010 compared to the year before — was reported Thursday in a study of Census data by the Pew Hispanic Center. It’s the largest such increase on record, and is noteworthy because it’s substantially higher than the 7 percent increase in the overall population of Hispanics that age.

That more Hispanics are completing high school, and thus becoming eligible for college, is...

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Need a C-section? Protection from blood clot urged

LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON — New advice for pregnant women: If you’re getting a C-section, special inflating boots strapped on your legs may lower the risk of a blood clot.

Hospitals already use these compression devices for other major operations, such as hip replacements, and a growing number have begun offering them for at least some of their cesarean deliveries, too.

Now guidelines for the nation’s obstetricians say it’s time to make the step routine for most C-sections, which account for nearly a third of U.S. births.

The new recommendations promise to raise awareness of what is a silent threat not just for pregnant women but for thousands of other people, too: Blood clots in veins that can masquerade as...

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College kids having a tougher time getting credit cards

NEW YORK — Parents shouldn’t be surprised to hear from their kids soon after dropping them off at college. That’s because many students still need mom or dad’s help to get a credit card.

Before last year, undergraduates could freely sign up for credit cards, with banks giving away T-shirts, mugs and other freebies to anyone who filled out an application. These days there are new safeguards to ensure teens don’t bury themselves in debt.

One regulation, for example, prohibits credit card issuers from enticing students on campus with such freebies. Another rule prohibits banks from issuing a credit card to borrowers under 21 unless they have a co-signer or earn their own income.

The changes were part of sweeping credit card regulations that...

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Preparing your child for the first day of school

By Priscilla J. Dunstan, McClatchy-Tribune

Starting school or preschool for the first time will bring changes to your child’s life that will have them feeling a bundle of emotions. No matter how confident they appear, your child is likely to also be feeling a mixture of fear, anxiety, curiosity and excitement. Understanding how your child is likely to approach this big event, and what you can do to help relieve some of their anxiety, will help make the transition easier for all.

Tactile children will be anxious to know what they’ll actually be doing when they’re at school. Taking them through a few of the activities at home before hand will help them understand and boost their confidence about their new experience. Set aside some time every day...

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The future has arrived

By Traci Arbios, herdingsquirrels.com

We were sitting on the couch; more to the point, I was sitting, he was in my arms, my newborn son. Little mittens on his hands, tiny hat on his head; he was warm and cuddly and I sat staring, absorbing every detail of his sweet, pink face.

His eyebrows were mere wisps. His lashes hadn’t yet grown in. His lips pursed, forming tiny bubbles and I gazed at him, dazed and in awe that after all that waiting — nine whole months of interminable waiting — my son had arrived. My whole life had led me to that moment and now that we were there, I could only imagine what came next. So I did what all new moms do in this situation: I tucked his warm little body onto my chest, breathed in his sweet baby smell and I cried as I...

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Rite of passage: the busted wing

By Landon Hall, The Orange County Register

For my 5-year-old daughter, a broken arm actually has been a positive learning experience. She’s learned that her body isn’t invincible — and yet it’s not fragile, either. She’s learned how the body works, and how it heals.

On Aug. 2, she fell while playing hide-and-seek with the neighbor kids, smacking her elbow on the sidewalk and causing a hairline fracture of her left humerus (the upper arm bone). In the days afterward she was gloomy and despondent. She loves birds and fairies and unicorns, and lamented her “broken wing.” Now she’s back to her normal self, leaping off stairs and outdoor brick walls.

It helps that she has a cool pink cast. When I broke my first bone (a...

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Names with an L in the middle are popular

nameberry.com

Some stylish names share a first initial: Vowel names are particularly popular right now, for instance. Other times, it’s a rhythm or ending sound: Boys’ names with two syllables that end in N or R are big these days.

Still other fashionable names share an ethnic origin such as Irish or a gender identity like unisex or girly-girl.

But the names here, among the most popular AND the most stylish names of our day, have something much more elusive in common. You might even find yourself adding many of them to your shortlist without putting your finger on their mutual appeal.

The secret: An L in the middle.

That might seem like a little thing, but we posit that the L sound, particularly fashionable now too as a first...

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Twin Spin: Twin cribs to twin toddler beds

Twin Spin: Twin cribs to twin toddler beds

Derek’s crib broke.

There was no amount of screws, nails or super glue that
could have held it together. It had to go.

That crib had a good life in our...

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