May 01, 2008 - 01:28 PM
Editor’s note: This blog posting contains information that may not be suitable for, well, easily shocked readers.
My hair started turning gray in college, but now the streaks of white are coming in rapidly. And each time I hear, “Mom, why …?” I can just feel another streak starting up as the shock wears off and my heart rate slows.
To say my 6-year-old is inquisitive doesn’t really do him justice. It used to be easier. He used to just ask me questions that…
February 01, 2008 - 12:37 PM
While parents need to think about how to help financially facilitate their child’s goals for higher education, colleges are not without responsibility. And while most universities offer some level of financial assistance to the majority of their students, they could probably do more to reduce costs.
As prices have continued to skyrocket, a growing number of children are simply saying no to college debt and choosing a different path into adulthood. That is a decent option, certainly,…
January 23, 2008 - 10:48 AM
The path to college is different for every family, and some never take that route at all. But recognizing that it’s a common goal of most parents with children these days — even those without excess money laying around to pay for it — it’s worth talking about ways to plan ahead.
In Washington, there’s the GET Tuition program. Find out more at
http://www.get.wa.gov/. It allows you to buy tuition credits at a price today that will certainly…
December 05, 2007 - 10:36 AM
Worried about buying lead-laden Christmas toys for your little ones this year? You should be. And add to that list other dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, mercury and cadmium.
There apparently are plenty of land mines in toyland.
The toys come with no warnings and no indication at all that something dangerous could be lurking within. Avoiding recalled toys won't ensure anything. Plenty more toys out there have dangerous levels of this or that. Maybe they'll be exposed;…
October 19, 2007 - 03:24 PM
Some good news. Fruit is in, and French fries are out at most U.S. schools. That’s a start in trying to turn around the American obesity epidemic that has seen the percentage of obese children triple in the past 30 years.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that only about 19 percent of schools served French fries last year. About six years ago, it was 40 percent. But the work isn’t done yet. Nearly 80 percent of high schools still sell sodas and sugar-filled…
October 18, 2007 - 01:54 PM
Last week, my 6-year-old daughter announced she was a vegetarian.
The strange thing is, she loves meat. Her idea of a good between-meal snack is a plate full of salami slices. When we go to Denny’s, I make sure I order bacon with my breakfast so she can have mine — to go with the bacon she already ordered for herself.
Then there’s the chicken McNuggets, the spaghetti and meatballs, the cheeseburgers — all things she loves.
On top of it all, she’s a…
October 16, 2007 - 10:45 AM
OK, it's official: I'm old.
I took my kids, ages 9 and 6, to a local store to check out costume ideas. It took me about three seconds of glancing through the offerings of little girl costumes to realize the truth — I'm old.
"Mommy," my 9-year-old daughter says while glancing at a tummy baring, barely there genie costume, "maybe I can be a genie."
"Not wearing that," I snapped at her. And what right-minded woman wouldn't respond the same way? Some of the costumes for girls ages…
October 11, 2007 - 04:45 PM
Where will you be taking your little monsters this Halloween? And what will they be dressed up as? Do you join in the costume-donning festivities yourself?
Skagit County has a number of safe and fun options for kids each Halloween. I know a lot of parents still take their kids trick-or-treating; I have myself. But I am growing more leery of the annual door-to-door creep out. What if a creep actually jumps out? I digress.
My little one is dressing up as a mummy this year.…
October 04, 2007 - 04:00 PM
Mothers-to-be often get showered with rather unhelpful stories of childbirth: “It was the most magical of moments”; “little Suzy was an angel from the very beginning”; “he came out spouting his a-b-c’s”; “it only hurt for a little while.” And years afterward, maybe that is how these mothers remember their experience.
But let’s get real. Giving birth is one of the most dangerous things a woman may do in her life. And while most of us will agree that bringing our children…
September 27, 2007 - 07:40 AM
The city of Sedro-Woolley was awarded a $105,000 grant from the Department of Ecology to launch composting programs. It has done so in three schools and a bakery so far, according to Jennifer Carter’s article in Wednesday's Skagit Valley Herald about a Sedro-Woolley student running a recycling program in the school cafeteria. (See the story on goskagit).
Kudos to senior Luci Miner, who is leading the charge to make Sedro-Woolley High School more green through a cafeteria recycling…
September 11, 2007 - 02:42 PM
While few people like to talk about or acknowledge domestic violence, it happens, and sometimes children witness it or are targeted by it. And whether our children are party to it directly or not, there is a good chance that at some point they will come in contact with a child who is.
As parents, how do we help our children deal with these vicious realities? How do we prepare our kids to talk with us if they witness abuse or hear about it from another child? Or how do we deal with abuse…
September 04, 2007 - 03:50 PM
If Santa’s been outsourcing his toy-making to China, he may have a problem on his hands.
According to The Associated Press, Mattel Inc. will announce yet another toy recall Wednesday — again because of lead in the paint.
Add that to the list of high-profile recalls of tainted toys this summer. And like it or not, Christmas is just around the corner. Yes, red and green holiday themes are already popping up in some stores.
So it’s not too soon to ask the…
August 29, 2007 - 03:08 PM
So I bought my son a lunch box, and I am pleased to say that with careful shopping, I was able to spend far, far less on back-to-school shopping than that of the average household ($563.49, according to National Retail Federation).
But now that we have that lunch box, what should we fill it with, and how often will we buy school lunches? Wednesday’s Healthy Living section in the Skagit Valley Herald has some good ideas. Not only does it categorize the many lunch-box options these days,…
August 27, 2007 - 03:17 PM
As the new school year approaches, talk has again turned to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to set benchmarks to measure student achievement.
According to a list released Friday by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, eight Skagit County schools and three districts are dubbed as “in improvement,” which means their student test scores didn’t measure up under federal law. The schools on the list may face consequences under the…
August 23, 2007 - 10:35 AM
The most recent annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about one-third of U.S. children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Some 25 million U.S. children and adolescents are overweight or close to it.
The problems are eating too much and exercising too little. Then, of course, there's the issue of eating enough healthy foods.
The long-term effect is that these children become overweight…
August 15, 2007 - 12:59 PM
Parents of teens or tweens may want to tune into the local push to bring a UW campus to a site in Skagit County.
The state is searching for a site for a new University of Washington branch campus to serve Skagit, Snohomish and Island counties. Eight out of 70 proposed sites are in Skagit County.
Do you want a way for your kids to go to a university and live at home? Or would you perhaps prefer they move away? Either way, if you’d like to weigh in on the discussion, there…
August 14, 2007 - 09:51 AM
More news today on the recalled toy front: Toy-maker Mattel has joined in with a voluntary recall of several toys, some for lead paint and others for loose magnets.
The recall includes 7.3 million play sets, including Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures, and 1.5 million die cast cars that contain lead paint. The recall of lead-painted cars was announced at a mid-morning news conference by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington.
A new Mattel action…
August 12, 2007 - 06:46 AM
School starts Sept. 4 (or Sept. 5 depending on your district), less than a month away. Each class has a list, and many parents are probably checking it twice.
But those basic items like pencils and glue are not what my son is most concerned about right now. At the top of his list: A lunch box. At the top of my list? Costs. I began the school shopping number crunch two weeks ago. How many paychecks between now and school’s start?
I’m new to this game, but have the sneaking…
August 10, 2007 - 02:27 PM
With fewer and fewer jobs paying high enough wages to keep up with the increasing cost of living in this area, I can appreciate why the Washington State Legislature approved SB 5659 — more commonly known as the Family Leave Insurance Law. Passed in April 2007, the program allows parents of newborn children or adopted children to take up to five weeks off work and collect $250 per week — prorated for part-time workers. Employees will be eligible to collect the benefits after 680 hours of work.…
August 09, 2007 - 12:02 PM
It’s back-to-school time — a stressful time of year for parents, especially for parents of preschoolers.
Not only are a lot of kids, barely out of diapers, entering a classroom for the first time. But preschooler parents are waiting to see if the school they chose for their little ones was right. While school district boundaries determine which school most kids in K-12 will attend, preschoolers are entering schools hand-picked by mom and dad.
And it is a buyer’s market.…
August 08, 2007 - 03:59 PM
It isn’t just the chipping, lead-dripping paint on old houses that can hurt your kids these days. It’s leaded versions of Elmo and Dora and, dare we say it, even Big Bird. That’s not to say all of these toddler-set favorites are packing lead. This recall group comes from Fisher-Price and was made in China. Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a worldwide recall of a long list of plastic character figures and other toys.
According to the Commission’s…
August 07, 2007 - 10:21 AM
As parents of schoolchildren know, it's about time to go buy school supplies. Many have already received lists from their kids' teachers detailing what their child will need to bring in September. It's also the time of year that several groups start taking donations of school supplies for lower-income families and for foster children. Here are just a few, but there are surely more out there. If you know of any others, please add a comment about who, where, what and when.
Courier-Times…
July 26, 2007 - 03:37 PM
Time with my son is of major importance to me. Being a working mom, I must balance all the family needs with my job. So I really try for quality.
Some days, we stay home together and play games from our game shelf. We break for lunch, which we make together, and take time out to play outside. Some days, however, I really like taking him out. I have come across a number of great Skagit County places to go. From the amazing parks and beaches to wonderful fairs, Skagit is not lacking for…
July 24, 2007 - 06:10 PM
As I watched my kids' swimming lessons this week, I noticed a toddler class. Some could swim like fish - with no fear. A couple of others were in tears. I felt for those parents who watched as their children cried so pathetically to get out of the water. It's hard to watch your kid cry. You can't help the scraped knees, and sympathy is limited for the broken toy. But it's hard to hold yourself back while your kid faces a fear without you.
My own kids, ages 8 and 4, weren't thrilled to…
July 24, 2007 - 01:01 PM
My 5-year-old has begged me to take him to a number of movies this year that I’ve deemed inappropriate. I’m curious about how you gauge whether a movie is acceptable for your child.
My son really wants to see “Transformers.” I know of at least one other parent of a 5-year-old who took his child and felt that the content was acceptable because the innuendo went straight over the child’s head. I wonder, though, about the intensity and the violence. I have not seen the movie,…
July 20, 2007 - 10:54 AM
In about seven weeks, my only child will enter kindergarten. I have waited and debated this time for years. While I am relieved that I will no longer have to pay such a hefty tab in child care (still some, of course), I am anxious about putting him in public schools away from the prying eye of my day care’s Web cam. I have considered enrolling him in private school but don’t have fond memories of it from my childhood and really don’t want to pay the extra cost.
Then I heard about…
