Andra Abramson, Author at Cricket Media, Inc.

Games to Conquer the “I’m Bored” Monster

Around this time each summer, the joys of no school start to fade into the cries of “I’m bored.” I’m not sure there is another phrase emerging from my child’s mouth that annoys me more than the ubiquitous “I’m bored.” I always try to tell her to think before using it because it is inevitably […]

Have You Talked to Your Kids About Hiroshima?

It’s the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima this week which brought up an interesting conversation between my husband and myself. The question was, is the atomic bomb and its aftermath an appropriate topic for a 9-year-old? If not, why not? And if so, then how can we make sure she is getting age-appropriate, factual content […]

A Lot More Than Just Horsing Around…

Do you have a horse crazy kid in your life? Loving horses is a special kind of affliction that seems to target both girls and boys of a certain age. I know this from experience. Back in the day, I was one of those preteens who fell in love with horses. I took riding lessons […]

Talking With Your Children About What They Can Do To Help Protect Creatures Great and Small

There aren’t many stories in the news that have the ability to bring tears to a child’s eyes like those that feature animals who have been hurt or killed either by accident or on purpose through human error or judgment. Children are natural animal lovers and they have an innate sense of fairness that is […]

What Greece Can Teach Your Child About Financial Literacy

There’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about Greece and its financial troubles. Scary words like recession and unemployment and default are used endlessly by newscasters and commentators, and to a child listening in, I’m sure it is both confusing and ominous. Especially with the U.S.’s financial crisis so recent (and still […]

Toddler + Ball = An Adorable Learning Opportunity

What’s cuter than a toddler with a ball? The answer: Not much. Watching little kids interact with this particular toy is one of my favorite things to do. I love the looks on their little faces when they mistakenly kick the ball again just before they reach it, and the joy in their eyes as […]

How to Talk about Sharks with Your Child

With all the focus on sharks in the media – from Shark Week on Discovery to shark attacks in the Carolinas – your young ones may be asking a lot of questions about the fascinating and sometimes frightening fish. They might even be afraid of them. As a blogging mom once wrote, sharing childhood memories […]

A Stripey Look at First Concepts

My daughter is really good at identifying the similarities in the stories she reads. I remember once when she was 3 or 4, she informed my husband and myself that “Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are really the same story because they are both about people who are ugly on […]

Pondering Pluto

My daughter and I heard a news story on NPR the other day about NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft’s nine-year, three-billion-mile journey to Pluto. The story caught our attention because it focused on whether Pluto was actually a full-fledged planet or just a dwarf planet as it had previously been labeled in 2006. The scientist interviewed […]

Helping Kids Face Their Fears

My nephew is terrified of bugs. Small ones marching across the sidewalk make him stop in his tracks and a friendly buzzing bee once chased him off an amusement park ride we had waited an hour on line to get to ride. So when we started planning a multi-family camping trip (3 days in the […]