Having a Literally Literary Halloween

Ahhh, Halloween. One of my favorite holidays: Little effort. Lots of candy.   My kids love it too, mostly for the same reasons. The daughter referred to in previous posts as having the 100-pound book bag (of which 98.5 pounds consist of books she reads for fun) especially loves Halloween — and she has a […]

Plaaaay Ball!

I’m a born and raised New Yorker and I grew up chanting “Let go Mets!” at ballgames at the now defunct Shea Stadium. So even though I’m not a huge fan of baseball in general, I have to admit to being pretty excited to see “my team” making it to the World Series. Judging from […]

Try This Real Life Scavenger Hunt in Honor of the United Nations

Tomorrow, October 24th, is the birthday of the United Nations. To celebrate 70 years of the organization’s work helping to promote world peace and encourage global economic development, more than 200 iconic monuments, buildings, statues, bridges, and other landmarks in nearly 60 countries across the globe will be lit up blue.   If you live […]

The Power of Music

October 1st marks International Music Day, which made me think of all the goodness that music brings into our lives. Is there anything else you can think of that has the ability to bring people of all ages, sizes, and cultural backgrounds together in harmony? Well, maybe chocolate, but besides that?   Whether you make […]

What’s So Grand about Grandchildren?

It is no wonder we call them grand children and they call us grand parents. From the moment they arrive, they transform us into the grandest we have ever been. They give us new names, and we are never the same. They fill our hearts with love and laughter and other wondrous gifts of grandeur. […]

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 […]

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 […]

About this Blog

When I was young, my two favorite walks in the neighborhood were to the mailbox and to the bookmobile. I relished racing up our steep cement driveway to pry open the mailbox half-hidden by Trumpet vines and search for the latest copy of Cricket Magazine. Once a week, I’d walk half a mile down the […]

Teaching Competence: Could it all start with socks?

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-reliance and what that means when it comes to raising children. I don’t mean that I’m wondering if we as parents are competent. I think we know we are, despite the deep doubts we all sometimes have and the perceived frowns from our neighbors, friends, and family members about […]