Grades Matter But Quality Childhood Matters More!

Spring and standardized school testing become synonymous in many areas of the country for many, many public school students, including for my own children attending schools in Massachusetts

Back To School Health Primer

The start of a new school year is always exciting with new challenges and new expectations. Everything that occurs during the school year from September through June will impact our children’s health – mostly in positive ways but there are always a few speed bumps along the way at unexpected times. Here’s a snapshot of the most important issues nuts and bolts to consider as you march through a new school year with your kids.

Back To School Tips

Preparing for a new school year is always challenging, and always catches even the most organized of parents off guard. In the blink of an eye, summer is over and we’re in school mode again – just like that!

Congrats, Parents and Kids, Another School Year Well Done!

With this year’s school year ending and all the award ceremonies and talk of achievements and accomplishments, let’s talk stock that while some achievements merit that added not at a ceremony with a certificate and a hand shake, most others are harder to pin down and require us parents to point out.

To High School Graduates: Education First, Career Choice Second!

It’s here again…high school graduation season. That annual rite of passage for high schoolers coast to coast to embark upon that much anticipated journey from home to that first true independent step outside the safety net of their childhood homes and communities.

Let’s Guide Teens, Not Dictate To Them!

It’s interesting to sometimes be a fly on the wall when trekking teens around town. I do that a great deal and recently learned some interesting tidbits:

1. As the Fall sports season ended, a couple of the Freshman were hoping to look into some of the clubs offered at the High School but were told by their parents they couldn’t – they had to take “a sport a season”.

2. After a recent gathering of teens girls that ended in a sleepover, the first time the girls had been able to gather this school year due to their differing schedules, a couple of the girls woke up in a sudden panic over homework, ending the sleepover 2 hours earlier than planned and very abruptly.

Juggling Back to School Schedules Sanely!!

Feeling frantic with the back to school frenzy already? You are in good company!

I just returned from My Fox Boston where Kim Carrigan and I talked about a potpourri of topics on all of our minds this week from juggling schedules to finding time for family meals to how to keep our kids active and eating healthy with such crazy schedules. We’re both in this with you and are facing these exact issues with our families this week, too. Not easy stuff!

Show 7 Companion Page: Teens and Destructive Behaviors

Show #7 Companion Page:Teens and Destructive Behaviors Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. (Giuseppe Garibaldi) Guest Information: Thanks to Heidi Heilman from the Wayland Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Wayland, MA, for joining me last night. Heidi has a Masters [...]

Being bullied can lead to suicide in kids

Last week’s suicide of 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover is a wake-up call to parents and schools everywhere that bullying is not being handled correctly, swiftly or firmly enough to protect the true victims. Carl’s mother told the news [...]

Why should kids play? Why not!

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” And, not just Jack…Jill and the other kids, and their parents! We’ve become a dull and overworked society by all the work we’re doing at the expense of play. Adults [...]