Does everyone still know about infant stimulation activities. Because the "bible" How to Have a Smarter Baby was first published in the mid-80's and the commercialization of this research really took off in the 90's (i.e. black & white toys, mobiles, etc). I was wondering if any moms still follow the activities that were based on the original research?
Submitted by Babysmartees on Mar. 3, 2010, 3:02 pm
Some disappointing/sad stories out of Wake County schools this week.
Two high school pranks are making headlines and one kid is fighting for his life.
Several kids were injured while trying to place a sailboat on the campus at Leesville High School. It might just be funny if the driver wasn't allegedly drinking and three of his passengers were injured, one severely.
And then seven are accused of pouring baby oil on the floor and spraypainting at East Wake High School.
Submitted by slindenf on May. 30, 2009, 6:35 am
Any tips for dealing with a child who is terrified of toilets that flush automatically ... like at the airport, etc.?
Submitted by slindenf on Mar. 23, 2009, 12:21 pm
I picked up a book at the library a while ago titled "A Return to Modesty" by Wendy Shalit. I was intrigued. It was a GREAT book and so I snatched up her second one titled "Girls Gone Mild".
Basically, the author was outlining how immodest our society has become with the way that we dress and act (especially women and young girls) and wondering if we haven't somehow lost our self respect as we plunge down the slope of feminism and the "anything goes" attitude.
It has really started me thinking about modesty and how I can encourage my daughter to understand that beauty is not about flaunting your body as much as possible. The subtitle to the book is:
"Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to be Good."
http://blogs.modestlyyours.net/modestly_yours/
What do you think? Are we doing our tweens and teens a disservice by allowing them to act and dress in a way that would have made a hooker blush 2 decades ago? :)
Submitted by Cadydid on Mar. 16, 2009, 4:20 pm
A case of sexting (sexually explicit messages sent by cell phone) happened among students at Salem Middle School in Apex. The activity happened off campus so the school system isn't looking into it. Read more about it here.
What's sad about it, though not surprising anymore, is that these kids are in middle school when (echoing the words of the Apex police captain) kissing a boy was a big deal.
Click here for some tips on how to talk to your kids about sex and technology from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The group's survey found that 21 percent of teen girls and 18 percent of teen boys sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves.
So do you have tweens/teens with cell phone? Do you know what they're doing with them? Do you have rules that you all follow? Please share.
Submitted by slindenf on Feb. 25, 2009, 2:09 pm
Another tear jerker ... this one is by Dennis Rogers, a former columnist at The N&O. He wrote it in 1978 to his daughter on her 16th birthday. Really sweet.
Here's how it starts ...
"For all the little girls about to become women, but mostly for their daddies ...
You looked at me that first day and I knew my life would never be the same again. It was in your eyes, blue eyes that would hardly focus.
Those baby eyes met mine for an instant and that special love between a daddy and his little girl began to grow."
Read more by clicking here.
Submitted by slindenf on Jan. 14, 2009, 12:58 pm
Maybe this was already a forum, and I missed it???
Today's headlines are too sad, too infuriating, to even contemplate. Four teens murder their friend for no real reason. Is this a wake-up call of outrage? or just another cold-blooded murder that we dismiss with a shrug. So sad. Is this the world we want to live in? Of courrse not. Then what can we do? The violence doesn't seem to be a rare aberration, but closer to an unsurprising event. We are no longer in the projects -- those easily ignored poverty zones of violence that the majority of the middle class can ignore. Violence is in uppermiddle class suburbia now. Remember when smoking grass used to be scandalous! We are talking group execution here. By children. The event seems too awful to even contemplate, still, I think this is a good forum for discussion. People should talk about community events like this.
Submitted by A1Mama on Dec. 18, 2008, 12:50 pm
I feel like I've heard about teens playing these "choking games" on some primetime news show. But it's very sad to see a local teen may have died playing the game where kids strangle themselves in an attempt to get high. Here's the story, which includes some warning signs.
Have you ever heard of this? Ever worried about your own teen?
Submitted by slindenf on Nov. 21, 2008, 8:43 am
After almost a year of sleeping through the night, my sweet 14-month old now wakes up screaming and crying after naps and most recently now in the middle of the night. She used to cry for a few minutes if she awoke while sleeping, but soon soothed herself back to sleep and the crying never lasted more than 5 minutes. When she used to awake in the morning, she would lie in her crib and sing and talk to herself. Sometimes for up to 30 minutes she would entertain herself!
For the past 3 nights, she has woken up around 1:30 AM and will scream, and cry if we leave her alone. This goes on for several hours. She stops when we walk into the room. I've tried rocking her back to sleep in the glider and she falls asleep but as soon as I put her back in the crib, WAHHHHHH! Yesterday she went for as long as 40 minutes of crying after I decided to let her cry it out for a bit.
She is not taking too many naps during the day, in fact this past weekend she only took one nap during the day.
I've read in one of my books that babies start dreaming between 12-14 months, but this appears to be more of a separation anxiety. My husband and I are so sleep deprived and have resulted to tiptoeing around in the evening for fear of awakening her and then being up all night. Has anyone experienced this before? Please tell me this is a very brief phase!
Submitted by karabloomer on Oct. 20, 2008, 10:36 pm
