Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Did you tell your children about the tragedy in Connecticut?
The first thing I did when I read about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was weep. The second thing I did was tell myself that I would never let my children, ages 3 and 8, know that something so horrific had happened in the world that they live in. It would be easy for me to shield them from it. We don't have cable and we never watch the news with them in the room. My 8-year-old is very sensitive and we shield him from the many horrors of the world, regardless. I didn't want something so terrifying to even enter his consciousness. The fact the the tragedy happened on Friday gave me the weekend to ruminate on whether or not we should share the news with our sweet boy. It started to sink in that children at his …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Film pulls trigger on education reform.
Imagine discovering that an over-worked teacher locked your crying child in a storage closet at school as punishment for not following the rules. Scenes like this are getting the Hollywood treatment in the 20th Century Fox film "Won't Back Down," to be released in theatres on September 28. The movie touches on parent trigger laws, a takeover movement that grants frustrated parents the right to petition for sweeping changes in low-performing schools. The law is designed so that if 51% of parents in a failing school agree, they will be given the power to replace teachers, change curriculum, close schools, or convert to a charter school. Charters are publicly financed, independent schools that receive waivers from public school districts in …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Do children of this generation have it too easy?
I can remember it like it was yesterday. My dad would force us to look up from playing Atari so he could ramble on about the fact that when he was a child he only played with sticks and boxes. "We didn't have video game systems and we actually played outside!" he exclaimed. My brother and I rolled our eyes incessantly and returned to our game of Space Invaders. Now, I'm a mother and I find myself saying the same types of things to my children. The other day, my seven-year-old complained about having to do research for a homework assignment. I said, "When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we needed to learn about a subject we had to go to the library or read an encyclopedia." Of course, I had to further tell him that an …
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Sites mock parents who share too much information about their kids on Facebook.
It's super exciting that your little toddler piddled in the potty for the first time and you want to share photographic evidence of the moment with all of your friends on Facebook. Well, you might want to reconsider before you hit the "share" button. There are a slew of websites these days dedicated to informing over-sharing parents that their childless friends are over reading about their kid's crap, literally. Take for instance, the blog ST*U, Parents, a submission-based "public service" blog that pokes fun at parents whose Facebook statuses have been hijacked with inane updates about their children. The author of the site, known simply as "B," created the blog in 2009 in response to annoying parental over-share posts that popped up in …
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Atlanta parents arrested for student's poor attendance.
School started recently for most counties in Georgia. While many moms were busy packing lunch boxes, two Dekalb County mothers heard deputies knocking on their front doors. Cheryl McCoy and Danelle Swanson were each placed in handcuffs in separate incidents and charged with educational neglect because both of their children had too many absences from school. The truancy round up came from a 2009 ordinance, which is now being strictly enforced. Atlanta parents could face a $1,000 fine, up to 60 days in jail, or be required to complete community service when their children skip too much school. According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta has a troubling truancy problem. Almost 44 percent of high school students missed 10 or more…
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
New York City hospitals vow to quit offering baby formula to new mothers.
Breastfeeding a newborn can be challenging. Add to the mix, a well-meaning nurse who pushes formula, and it can be enough to make a confused new mom give up breastfeeding all together. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes moms need support and that having formula readily available at the hospital interferes with a woman's choice to breastfeed. So, he is inviting NYC hospitals to participate in the city wide initiative, Latch On NYC. According to a press release issued by the New York City Health Department, the program involves both a hospital commitment to limit infant formula promotion and a public awareness campaign on the benefits of breast milk. Hospitals joining Latch On NYC have agreed to: Twelve private New York City …
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Parent Talk this week explores a first-hand tragedy.
Note: Post a question/comment about this article, and a member of our Parents Council will respond ASAP. I hope that in sharing this story, I will get some advice on how to handle a very personal issue that many will have to deal with at some point in their lives. I also hope that in writing this down, I am helping myself through the grieving process. If you have any advice, please comment in hopes to help myself and others who have to go through this situation. On Saturday, July 2, a phone call came from my father. As a close family, my father calls me several times a day, so I had no reason to be concerned. Upon answering the phone, I received heartbreaking news. My little brother, Justin Honeycutt, passed away at age 30 from massive …
Friday, May 13, 2011
Effective July 1, car safety seat laws are revised in Georgia.
On Monday, May 9, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a new bill into law that changes the current child-restraint law. Before, the law for safety seats only specified safety seat requirements for children up to age 5. The new law mandates that kids will need booster seats until they are 8 years of age. This is in response to the studies that have shown that kids younger than age 8 were more often injured when using just a seat belt. In my home, my oldest child was so proud to not have to have the car seat when she turned 6. One of my children will soon be reaching that milestone and was looking forward to it as well. With the new laws, we have explained to the younger kids that this is safer and that it is the law. For those of you that have …
Crystal Huskey
1:15 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Mine are too young, but my eight-year-old niece has been literally sick over it. She threw up a few times after she found out. I think it's really, really hard on some kids, but at the same time it's much better to hear what happened from your parents, in a safe environment, than at school. more ›