Feb
07
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Amy Leibrock, Care.com
Valentine’s Day is almost here. Have you made your restaurant reservation, made heart-shaped treats for the kids, bought a romantic gift for your honey, picked out a sexy outfit, and booked a sitter? Whew…and all this is for what? To end the night at a crowded restaurant where they hike up the prices in the name of romance?
If your typical Valentine’s Day plans lead to overspending and disappointment, keep reading before you throw in the towel completely. Parents these days need to use every excuse they can find to carve out a little couple time. So keep the sitter, ditch the dinner reservation, and try one of these fun ideas that won’t break the bank.
- Skip dinner. Well, you can still eat dinner, but...
Read more
Feb
07
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Debra Immergut, Disney FamilyFun magazine
Add a major dose of personality to your child’s bedroom _ and do it on a budget. We’ll show you how to dress up a dresser, create a headboard, customize bed linens, and jazz up those tired old walls.
Make-a-face dresser
An assortment of drawer pulls and a little imagination can revive a plain old dresser (or rehab a tag-sale find). Plan a fun outing to the hardware store to select the perfect knobs and handles.
You will need:
- Dresser
- Screwdriver
- Lightweight spackle or wood filler
- Putty knife
- Fine sandpaper
- Paint and brush or roller
- Assorted drawer pulls
- Repositionable glue dots
- Drill and...
Read more
Feb
06
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
SUE MANNING, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Parents have months to get ready for a baby. Experts say the countdown should include prep time for pets too.
A baby changes everything for a pet — from how its home looks, smells and sounds to what the rules are.
Low energy, friendly, social dogs are the most adaptable pets, while independent, excitable, high maintenance, busybody dogs are the least adaptable, said San Francisco veterinarian and animal behaviorist Sophia Yin.
“Little dogs can be more jealous and more snippy,” said Lynn Sullivan, community health program manager for The BirthPlace at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital.
When Saya Barrett learned she and husband Jack were going to have a baby, she...
Read more
Feb
06
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press
NEW YORK — High school senior Fiona Lowenstein is not known for a lack of self-confidence — after all, she once approached federal lawmakers for a sixth-grade paper on women and politics.
But running for student body president of Calhoun School in Manhattan last spring was a whole other matter.
“It was very, very nerve-wracking to put myself out there,” said the 18-year-old, who won the office. “I had these fears — will I be laughed at? Made fun of?”
According to a study released Tuesday of how girls view the concept of leadership — commissioned by the Girl Scouts of the USA and conducted by GFK Roper — Lowenstein is far from the only girl to want to be both a leader and feel...
Read more
Feb
05
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press
NEW YORK — Kids LOL and OMG each other all the livelong day, but ask them to decipher the XLVI of this year’s Super Bowl and you might as well be talking Greek.
They may know what X means, or V and I, but Roman numerals beyond the basics have largely gone the way of cursive and penmanship as a subject taught in the nation’s schools.
Students in high school and junior high get a taste of the Roman system during Latin (where Latin is still taught, anyway). And they learn a few Roman numerals in history class when they study the monarchs of Europe.
But in elementary school, “Roman numerals are a minor topic,” said Jeanine Brownell of the early mathematics development program at Erickson...
Read more
Feb
04
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
Disney FamilyFun magazine
A revised classic game that the whole family will love is Trivial Pursuit: Disney for All.
You know the drill: answer a bevy of questions to earn precious wedges. But what testers enjoyed most about this Disney-themed edition is a new category that has players guessing one another’s Mouse House faves. For example, who does Mom think is the funniest: Genie from Aladdin, Stitch, or Tigger? Four or more players, ages 8 and up. Hasbro, $25....
Read more
Feb
03
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register
I have decided to form a new group to protect the legal rights of oppressed parents everywhere, because it’s very easy to forget you do have rights when you’re in a heated dispute with your kids.
As the founding member of Parents Are Not Too Stupid (PANTS), I am providing this handy reference guide, similar to the ACLU wallet card describing a citizen’s civil rights.
You have the right to:
- Remain silent the fifth time your child asks you why he can’t do something.
- Make unreasonable searches and seizures of your child’s backpack.
- Stop the car and make everyone get out and sit on the curb until they agree to shut up and stop aggravating...
Read more
Feb
03
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Ohio Gov. John Kasich has signed an anti-bullying bill that requires schools to update policies to include harassment and intimidation sent electronically, such as over the Internet or mobile phones.
Kasich’s office said he signed the bill into law on Thursday.
Referred to as the Jessica Logan Act, the bill was named for a Cincinnati teenager who hanged herself in 2008 after weeks of bullying at her school.
Among other provisions, it also says policies must be extended to school buses, that training must be available for staff and that parents are to receive an annual bullying policy statement....
Read more
Feb
02
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press
DENVER — The nation’s leanest state is taking its sweet time as it considers a proposal aimed at getting junk food out of schools.
A Colorado House committee was expected to discuss a bill that represents the nation’s toughest regulations meant to keep trans fat away from students, but lawmakers Thursday delayed the hearing without explanation.
The bill would forbid trans fat in cafeteria lunches — but it wouldn’t stop there.
The proposed ban would apply to snacks in vending machines, bake sale goodies and popular “a la carte” items on lunch lines such as ice creams or pizza, requiring any such treats to be prepared without artery-clogging trans fats.
Small amounts of trans fats...
Read more
Feb
01
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Georgea Kovanis, The Detroit Free Press
The Wachs family had just moved from Utah to Traverse City, Mich., when, suddenly, 3-year-old Eden began talking about a new friend named Kelly.
“She said, ‘Kelly brings me cookies; Kelly gets in trouble,’ ” said Eden’s mother, Rachel Wachs, 29, who first heard about Kelly 8 or 9 months ago. “I didn’t know who Kelly was. I asked her, ‘Is Kelly a friend from church? Is Kelly a friend from the play group?’ ”
It turns out Kelly is Eden’s imaginary friend.
“We haven’t squashed it,” said Wachs. “There’s really not much harm in it. She has real friends outside of our home. I think it may have been just a way for her to cope and deal with moving and uprooting from Utah...
Read more
