Latest Additions

Kidzwire would like to extend heartfelt sympathies to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  We have been watching in horror, knowing that many of these folks are parents just like us....people who just a week ago were trying to prepare for a new school year and wrap up summer activities.  We continue to watch and hope for better news as the reports of devastation continue to roll in.

Please donate to the American Red Cross and realize that even though your family may not be directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, your children may have anxiety or stress.  Please read this excellent advice (opens as an adobe acrobat file) from the Amercian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  One obvious tip that is called out in this list is to limit your child’s viewing of graphic or disturbing images on television or in the newspaper. 

If you have a child heading off to college, take note of the message in this Associated Press article brought to us by Yahoo!.  Colleges and universities have steadily increased the level of customer service offered to parents in recent years due to popular demand, but it seems the tide is turning.  This piece highlights Colgate University in particular which says it is focusing more on high quality education than keeping parents happy 100% of the time.  Regardless of which college your child is headed off to, it seems that this renewed direction is a trend, so we need to know what to expect....and not expect from our children’s higher education institutions.

| Read More »

Are you a single parent who wants to take advantage of travel options designed specifically for your family structure?  There is a terrific website where you can receive tips for travelling as a single parent, as well as a newsletter and an opportunity to meet other single parents on the bulletin board.  This type of service might also work well for a married parent who stays home with children and wants to take a vacation without the spouse who works outside the home.  The founder, Global Brenda, has received lots of positive press about the service, so we thought it might be useful for Kidzwire readers.

| Read More »

Here are some tips from Medical News Today for parents with children who are anxious about starting school.  Simple acts like showing the kids where their classroom is and helping them establish a routine can go a long way.  Also, talking to your children and letting them know that it is ok to feel anxious may enable them to acknowledge and work through their fears and anxieties.

| Read More »

In true entrepreneurial fashion a 14 year-old in Orem, Utah has invented a solution that lets your laptop do double duty on long car trips by providing DVD entertainment for back seat passengers.

| Read More »

This was somewhat of a relief, because like many parents, we have been stressing out over finding the right school district for our kids, with many naysayers implying that we worry too much.  Now researchers at Ohio State University agree with us:  maintaining a good parent-child relationship and choosing to live in a good neighborhood play a big part in the quality of an adolescent’s friends.  The article definitely stresses both components, so it is not sufficient to buy into the best schools and then ignore your kids.  There is a strong correlation between parent-child communications and the quality of the child’s friends.

Most of us already knew this instinctively, but it is nice to see it in black and white sometimes. 

| Read More »

Yes, folks.  That appears to be the new thing.  Getting your kids signed up with the tutoring center in their preschool years.  They will receive homework and mind-bending exercises to make sure they are at the top of their class.  It is really quite amazing when you think about it.  The tough part is, we chuckle when we hear of pre-emptive after school tutoring, but then, we become anxious and look for options when we read our morning paper about the sad state of American education.  What’s a parent to do?  When you figure it out, let me know. 

| Read More »

Whenever you start to feel this way, pull out this list of parenting truths offered by a pediatrician on Mayoclinic.com.  The concepts sound simple, but are really profound, and they focus on parents (yes, us) as a central point in our children’s lives.  Scary as it sounds, our offspring do pay attention to us, so we need to be on our toes a bit.  This article could provide grounding after a rough day when your parenting skills feel like they could use some work, whether you are trying to survive toddlerhood or that first talk about the birds and bees. 

| Read More »

Hey everyone:  smoking is still a big deal for teens.  Even with all the education efforts, 23% of high school students and 10% of middle schoolers are smoking.  The Mayo Clinic offers some brief but powerful insights into teen smoking, and reinforces the idea that many teen smokers continue the habit into adulthood.  In fact, 90% of adult smokers started during their teenage years. 

And here’s a surprise - the incidence rates for girls have been rising since the 70s, possibly because girls are trying to control their weight.  Want to find out whether the patches and gums are effective for teens?  Read on.  This is a wonderfully informative article for parents.

| Read More »

In an age when education has become a big number battle to combat low test scores and students’ lack of ability to perform the basics after high school, The New York Times offers an article highlighting new support for social and emotional learning.  A Loyola psychologist and a Times staff member conducted a large quantitative study to understand the effects of social and emotional learning on academic learning.  They found that children who had components of both performed 10 percentage points higher on standardized exams. 

As a parent, I think this is great, and I can only hope that schools will start helping some of the bratty, pushy kids I see in public adjust their behavior.  I am constantly trying to find new ways to explain to my kids that even though they see other kids pushing and bullying, it is not ok, and that I as a parent will not tolerate it.  It would be nice to go back to some decent social standards so that parents who want to teach their kids to wait their turn for a piece of playground equipment do not have go find a nice plastic bubble somewhere to live in.

But I digress from the educational issue.  It is easy to understand why test scores would go up if kids are taught how to behave.  The academic time spent in the classroom is much more fruitful, and the children know their boundaries, and hopefully would spend less time testing them.  So, I wait patiently for the idea of educating the whole person to take flight.  Until then, I’ll be searching for my bubble. 

| Read More »