Archive for January, 2013
By the time our children are in high school, opportunities for parent involvement in the classroom fade to a distant memory. That doesn’t mean we can’t still be involved in their education. With a little creativity, you can turn any experience into a learning event. Take the Super Bowl, for example. There is plenty of […]
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It’s as true for celebrity role models as for redwood trees. And when record-breaking cyclist Lance Armstrong recently confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he cheated to win seven Tour de France races, he landed with a thud heard ’round the world. As falls from grace go, it […]
Sydney is a nice name for such a nasty thing. But that’s what the latest virus making the rounds of schools and daycares is called. Technically named GII.4 Sydney, this strain was originally detected in Australia. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that the very contagious norovirus is infecting people in the […]
It started as a small stretch of his mouth, which seemed to ease the discomfort of very chapped lips. It was soon accompanied by rapid eye blinking and eyebrow raising, involving my then-6-year-old son’s entire face. The word “tic” came to mind, and I did what any curious/worried parent would do and turned to the […]
This year, the flu means business. Doctors and health authorities are warning families that the flu season, which typically runs from October to May, has become an aggressive and widespread battleground against illness this year. And flu – often confused with the common cold – can be dangerous for some people, sometimes deadly. By the […]
As districts across New York State begin to create their budgets for the 2013-14 school year, they labor in the shadow of multiple challenges. In addition to ever-rising pension and health-care costs, schools now face the very real prospect of less state aid as the financial toll of Hurricane Sandy continues to climb. Add to […]
My kids’ drive-thru request was simple: two shakes and an order of popcorn chicken. “May I take your order?” the voice on the other side of the speaker asked. I got through “two small vanilla” when the voice asked me to hold on please. Less than a half-minute later, the voice came back. “Sorry, I […]
January can be a hard month to love. It’s all anti-climax and anti-freeze. Crumpled gift wrap and credit card bills. Slippery sidewalks and the long slog to spring. But… (you knew there’d be a but, right?) There is another side to January. The month was named, after all, for the two-faced Roman god Janus, who […]