parenting

Teaching children to respect money over buying things

by Julie Meyers Pron February 4, 2012

Christmas and Chanukkah were only a month ago, but almost the day after, the kids were already begging for a ride to Target to shop. Their list was a mile long. It wasn’t just things that they didn’t receive from the holidays, it was new “must haves.” And every day, that list of “must haves” [...]

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5 toys to encourage pretend play in your home

by Julie Meyers Pron February 1, 2012

Pretend play allows young children to try experiences that don’t exist in their every day lives. Somewhere between ages 2 and a half and 4, most toddler to preschool aged children will begin acting as favorite characters, reliving, recreating and creating scenarios and trying to live out lives different than their own. Children pretend as [...]

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A case of bad words: How to clean your child’s dirty mouth

by Julie Meyers Pron January 31, 2012

Do your kids say bad words? There are days when I hear something that draws my attention and I turn and am shocked to see it was my child who has the dirty mouth. Makes me comment under my breath “ohnoyoudi-nt.” It certainly doesn’t help when you’re at Homegoods and your 2 year old daughter [...]

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What to do when the tooth fairy forgets, alternatively titled how to lose a tooth

by Julie Meyers Pron January 25, 2012

Another big weekend for Big, as he lost a tooth on Friday at schoool, and not the one he expected. Sadly, upon waking on Saturday morning, he found the Tooth Fairy hadn’t visited. He guessed a reason: “I bet the snow was too thick for her to fly here.” I countered with, “or she didn’t [...]

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Dirty Dozen: When to buy organic produce

by Julie Meyers Pron January 23, 2012

For a few years now, I’ve been weaning our family onto organic produce. But with that wean has come an increase in my grocery bills and a few questions of “really? must we buy everything organic?” While my husband and I are convinced that organic is the way to go for milks, I’ve come to [...]

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Should I send my child to Kindergarten or wait a year?

by Julie Meyers Pron January 19, 2012

As a former teacher who is active in education, I’m asked this question, a lot. There are several factors to consider, as each child needs to be considered individually. In-other-words, I can’t give you an answer for your child, only for mine. And I opted to hold both of my August-birthday boys back a year [...]