2008 January » Parent Plaza

There have been a variety of reports through the years on how much a stay at home mom's work is worth. I don't pay too much attention to those because, frankly, moms who work outside the home do much of the same work. How much of it they do may vary, especially if the kids [...]

You want to give you children every advantage in life. What if I could tell you a way to enhance your child's cognitive development, future educational performance, and even job opportunities as an adult? And you get someone to help you care for your children as well!Learning a foreign language helps brain developmentAccording [...]

Everyone struggles with how to respond to behavior they experience as difficult in other people. Even though we don't usually think of it, all of our difficulties with behavior are about emotions. They are about all of the emotions involved--ours and the other person's.In our society, we don't pay much attention to our emotions, and [...]

It doesn't matter whether your child is in junior high or high school, there's a great advantage academically to them having you actively involved in their education. If you focus on making education an important part of life in your home (not forced, just important!) from an early age, there's a good chance that [...]

Moving you family can be filled with mixed emotions for everyone involved. It can be a very exciting time in their lives and for yours as well but also a move can be a sad and stressful time. There are a few things that as a parent, you can do to support your child or [...]

The dating effects of single parents is a real parenting issue which can often be overlooked by those who are on the search for companionship.Many parents underestimate their children's emotional needs during this intriguing time. Children often hide their feelings and won't express them until pushed into a corner either through frustration or unconscious neglect. [...]

Moms, we are not in this new motherhood thing alone, men have to deal with it too. Really, they aren't getting the easy end of the deal either. They may not have had to give birth physically, but emotionally they are pretty level with us. Because becoming a new dad is just as tough as [...]

Finding things to do with the entire family in tow is not always an easy feat. There are many reasons for this, one being agendas. A lot of times family outings end up with the children in tears and you wishing you were in bed, with the covers pulled up and a pillow [...]

Grandchildren are truly a blessing. They rejuvenate and bring a great new sense of excitement and discovery. And there's always that wonderful feature that you can hand them back to your children when you're exhausted or can't handle them anymore.But there's also the serious downside of knowing that if anything happens on your watch, you've [...]

Families have found an alternative to public education by homeschooling with good results -- statistically proven results even. Polls done nationwide have shown children who have been home schooled rank consistently higher than the national average in scholastic tests, often ranked above the 70th percentile in standardized achievement tests.Studies also show that a large number [...]