Many kids have that first hint of puppy love in first grade or even earlier! In my son’s case, the crush hit in Pre-K with Charlie Brown swiftness. The little redheaded girl latched onto him as he walked into the gym, and he was a goner.

My son came home that day and could talk about nothing but Emma - she said this, she did that. Her last name, appropriately enough, was ‘Truelove’, and she had captured my little boy’s heart!

The infatuation continued on through Kindergarten as they ended up in the same class, and they stayed inseparable all year. They attended each other’s birthday parties, hung out at recess, and my boy finally confided in me that Emma was ‘his girl’ - although he was keeping Jessie Johnson on a string for ‘backup’.

We had a little talk about that! If a five year old can ‘go steady’, then he should be man enough to declare himself and not play both ends against the middle! So Emma it was, and still is, even though they are now in separate classes in first grade and don’t have the same recess, they talk on the phone till late hours and pass notes in the hall.

Puppy love. It’s soooo cute!

A friend and I were talking about how crowded our lives can get. We both had a very hectic week! She was telling me about hers…

“… I had this important meeting, two hours away, for work. My daughter had a huge project due for school. In the middle of all that, a good friend called - she was getting married, just a small ceremony in her fiancé’s father’s house with 8 people, and I would be the only one on her side. That alone was an hour plane flight plus forty minutes of driving!  I was out of the house for 28 hours. I had to schedule pick up and drop off for my daughter with my mom and husband, deal with field trip preparation and her swimming lesson.  I came home yesterday, picked up my daughter from school, shopped for food, made a dinner, cleaned the mess in the house, worked at night…”

I could relate! My weekend had been hard too, and I didn’t even leave the house!  My problem was I had food poisoning. I spent the whole weekend trying to just do normal stuff, but it is ten times as hard when you just really need to be in bed! Just trying to cook meals, clean the house, make sure the kids do their homework and get a bath, watch after my very active and temperamental toddler… Then I had to also try to meet a deadline for my job, take care of invoicing and budgeting, work on Sunday for my other job where I am a supervisor and can’t take off…

Moms don’t get to call in sick. We have to show up no matter what. When we run our own business, it is even harder! We can’t not do things - they HAVE to be done. We do have to learn to lean on people to help us. I was glad my friend had help, with her husband there and her mom close by.

My husband was out of state, and I don’t have a mom, so I had to lean on my daughter. That made me feel terrible! She is terrific, though. She is only nine, but she made dinner for her and her brother, and watched the baby so I could get a nap. It made her feel very important. We made it through, and fortunately my client was understanding about the missed deadline. (She is a mom, too…)

I think I and my friend maybe need a vacation!

Sarah P.

I know when I was a kid it was all Sesame Street, Mighty Mouse and Tom and Jerry. Then when we got bigger maybe we would watch Little House on the Prairie or Full House. Star Trek TOS was about as cutting edge as it got.

Today, however, cartoons and youth oriented shows aren’t confined to Saturday mornings and one hour in the afternoon. We have Sponge Bob, Ben Ten and Avatar the Last Airbender at all hours, and the Disney channel runs non stop.

Hannah Montana and the stars of High School Musical have replaced Mary Kate and Ashley as today’s role models for girls. Drake and Josh rule the boys tube, with the Naked Brothers Band running a close second. (The WHAT Brothers Band??? Yeah, that was MY reaction, too.)

I got in a disagreement because my husband was watching ‘Alien’ the other day, and my almost ten year old was home. My friend said in a shocked voice “But - they say the ‘F’ word!!! And it’s scary!!!!”

I looked at her and shrugged. “My daughter knows better than to copy that,” I said. “I am more worried about her watching that stupid Raven, iCarly and Zoey 101. Do you hear the way those kids talk on those shows? They are mean and disrespectful, and they are ten years old going on nineteen. All they care about is their hair and their clothes, and who is dating who. And anyway, my daughter knows the aliens aren’t real. My real problem is Miranda Cosgrove! At least Sponge Bob doesn’t say anything worse than ‘Oh, barnacles!’ SHE calls her brothers ‘the boobs’.”

Needless to say, that didn’t go over so well. My friend thinks I am a horrible mom for letting my daughter watch ‘Alien’. I hold that it is no worse than watching the teenybopper shows, and at least it doesn’t pretend it’s real.

I don’t forbid my kids from watching their fave shows, but I DO try to give them a balanced idea of how far they are from reality. Ten year old girls don’t usually live in loft apartments with artsy older brothers. Twin boys don’t get to grow up in a hotel suite. And don’t you EVER tell me to ‘talk to the hand’. My hand will be talking to your bottom!!

Do you think it is your job as a Mom, and yours alone, to put your kids to bed every night? Do you feel guilty if you miss even one night?

Or do you let others share the load - your husband, mother or other family member?  I know in our house there are nights when I hand off the responsibility to hubby with a sigh of relief!

Usually the sterner taskmaster during the day, I turn into a softy at night, indulgent about ‘one more drink’ or ‘I need a nightlight’. The kids have figured that out! It seems like it takes an hour to get through all the popping up and down with just one more urgent need or question.

So there are nights when I simply abdicate the throne and let their daddy do the tucking in. I still make a round for the obligatory kisses, hugs and rubbing of noses. Then I bow out and they have to deal with Poppa Bear.

This is especially nice on those nights when a migraine rears its ugly head; I give myself permission to give each little head a pat and hand over the reins with a sigh! Then I lay back in the recliner with an icepack on my temple and let the lord and master try and deal with the rambunctious trio he sired.

There’s nothing wrong with having a break!  Routine is good, but you don’t have to be rigid about it - and your significant other might even get a kick out of subbing once in a while. At the very least, they will have a new respect of what you deal with on a daily basis.

When I was a kid, I loved the museum. The Natural History one was my favorite; I used to wheedle my way into the back rooms to see the animals that there were no room for in the display, and the huge insect collections in the basement.

Now I have kids of my own, I try to go to as many museums as possible. Sometimes we drive into the city to the science museum, where there is a hands on exhibit, and I am astonished for weeks after at how much they remember about the educational shows they get to see!

Sometimes we go see the dinosaur bones and the Wooly Mammoth skeleton, or we stop by the live butterfly exhibit during Monarch season and learn about migration all over again. Other days we wander through the art museum for an hour, making up stories about the scenes in the paintings.

I was very young when the huge Chinese exhibit came to America. I still remember the huge two man loom that stretched up two stories, and the weaver that sat at the top and called to the one standing below. There was a lady who could embroider on a sheer silk screen, and you wouldn’t believe it but one side looked like a tiger and the other like a hummingbird. I hope another exhibition like that comes for my children to see!

Even little museums can be a huge amount of fun, and a learning experience as well. If you travel through small town America, you can find dairy museums with ancient original milking machines, doll museums, aircraft museums and museums dedicated to wooden eggs, toy soldiers or quilts. There is always more to learn about a subject than you ever could have imagined!

The nice thing about museums is that many of them have free admission, or only a very small fee to get in and enjoy all of the exhibits. Don’t let your child miss out on being exposed to all the wonders of the world!

You want your child to have plenty of friends. You also want them to have good friends, who help them grow and make their lives richer! You want them to treat their friends with respect, and be respected by their friends as well.

Well, you need to make sure you are setting the right example in the friends you surround yourself with!  You expose your children to the people and relationships you have in your own life, so making sure you are a good role model when it comes to friendship is important.

Look at your own circle of friends. Is there one who always cancels that lunch date without notice, or expects you to be the one who picks up the tab or provides the ride? Or maybe you have a friend who only wants you as a shoulder to cry on, and is too wrapped up in themselves to see that maybe sometimes you could use one too.

Your child can definitely pick up on stuff like that!  Think about it - you wouldn’t want them playing with a child that never lets them go first, or insists that they always have to be the villain and never the hero. You want friends for your child that will make their lives better, and the friendship should always go in both directions!

You can help your child learn about friendship by letting them know why you like this friend so much - or why you stopped hanging out with that one. (Of course, be careful; it could be embarrassing to run into them at the store and have your child blurt out “Mommy stopped going out with you because you are always cranky!”)

You can point out the value of good friends by saying, “I like Jenny as a friend because she is patient. I am not so patient, so it helps me to have a friend to remind me how!” This will show your kids that friends can help and teach each other, and make up for each others weaknesses.

Hopefully you and your child will always be surrounded by good, strong friends!

I never had lice when I was in school. It didn’t happened very often those days. Now it is a regular thing. Almost every school has a head lice problem. They are asking for volunteers to check it every week, but it can come back again and again. It is a not a big problem, but it IS very annoying.

Head lice can infest anyone, regardless of personal hygiene. If you child has lice you should treat him/her with lice-killing shampoo and get rid of the nits. You can also go to a special lice treatment centers and use the help of professionals. You have to be sure that you get rid of ALL of the nits, or the cycle continues.

Nits are head lice eggs. They are hard to see and are often mistaken for dandruff or droplets of hairspray. Nits are found firmly attached to the hair shaft. They are oval and usually yellow to white. Nits take about 1 week to hatch. It hatches into nymphs. Nymphs mature into adults about 7 days after hatching.

It is very difficult to prevent lice from spreading among children because they play together, hug, share hats, and other items. Frequently examining the scalps of your school-age children may help you discover and treat lice before they spread to the rest of your family. Avoiding prolonged close contact with a person who has lice will also reduce your risk.

Play-date rules are a necessary part of staying sane. How many of you have nearly sat down and cried at the end of a play-date, and vowed never to have another one?

Rules for children are important, but you can’t guarantee the other parents will feel the same way. You need to make it clear that the rulses of the house apply to their children too before they drop them off at your house for an afternoon or a sleepover.

Make a card with the basics:

Our House Rules -

No hitting
No cursing
No calling names
No running in the house

And so on

I’m sure we all have certain hard and fast rules!  Don’t be embarrassed to hand the parents a card letting them know how children in your house are expected to behave!

Thing about kids, they will try and push it. Mine already know I don’t care if we have company - if they deserve a time out or a spanking, they will get one!

Of course I wouldn’t spank anyone else’s kids, but I will demand a time out for bad behavior, or I will call their parents and send them home if we have a serious problem.

Guess what? Play-dates at my house go quite smoothly. My kids tell their friends that I am dead serious if I have to threaten, and everyone behaves pretty well!

Ever have a fight with a sibling as a kid? Did your mom lock you in a room with each other till you kissed and hugged and made up?  For many parents, kids that fight constantly are shrugged of as “Oh, it’s sibling rivalry”.

The thing with kids, though - they will push you as far as you let them. My two oldest were always exceptionally close - until this summer.

All of a sudden my daughter, who is nine, decided she couldn’t stand her brother (aged seven).

Well, I could brush it off as sibling rivalry (and ignore my seven year old’s tears - he LOVES his sister) or I could do something about it.

Every time she takes her friends side against her brother or says something mean, she gets grounded.

She’s gotten grounded a lot this year, but she is getting better. My son is ecstatic that she is playing with him again, albeit a little grumpily.

On the other side, I am trying to see her point of view, that she is trying to grow up (one of those pesky things about kids, growing up)!

I try to take her on girls only outings once in a while, and sometimes she goes with Daddy to run an errand while I play with the boys.

We are all much happier now!  How do you deal with ‘Sibling Rivalry’?

As moms, we sometimes get so caught up in taking care of everyone else that we forget to monitor our own health! If we get sick, the whole family can grind to a halt, so here are some tips for taking care of yourself and making sure you stay well!!

1.  Get enough sleep. No, I mean it! If your kids are small, take a nap when they do. If they are in school, steal that hour in the early afternoon before they come home. 60% of  moms say if they had an extra hour to do something and not feel guilty about it, they would choose to sleep!

2.  Eat right. Whether you get in the habit of not eating alone inn an empty house, or snacking uncontrollably, neither is a healthy option. You make your kids eat good meals - do the same for yourself! When you shop pick up a slice of that gourmet tomato basil turkey breast only you like, and treat yourself to half an avocado and some broccoli coleslaw! This is the perfect time to eat those little things that you’ve stopped preparing because no-one else in your family cares for them.

3. Take a vitamin. You would be amazed at how much better a simple multivitamin can make you feel. Make it a part of your daily routine!

4. Drink water. You need to stay hydrated. Invest in a water cooler or an in fridge filter, and make a habit of drinking at least one glass with every meal and twice a day besides that!

5. Get downtime. I take Sunday mornings from 10 to 12 to read a book, paint my toes or take a long hot bath. You have to have ‘me’ time or you will have a breakdown!  Don’t feel guilty - treat it like preventative medicine and explain to your family that you really NEED this time.

If you take care of yourself, you can take better care of your family, and avoid getting run down to the point that an allergy or common cold shifts into the flu. Trust me!