It's instinct to protect your child. The minute you become a parent, you know that you would throw yourself in front of a moving truck if it meant saving your child from being run down.
It's not surprising that this protection instinct would be heightened these days. Our world has become very small and thanks to the media and internet, we now hear about every bad thing that happens, anywhere, any time, right now.
But is the world really more dangerous?
I am at that dreaded stage of life when my children are about to launch themselves, full throttle, into the world in front of them.
My eldest child, my beautiful son, is busy, very busy, putting together portfolios, going to interviews, talking to friends - all in an effort to get into a university program that will really engage and excite and prepare him for his dream job.
How did this happen? I know it's so cliche, but it really does seem like just
Why did I ever learn to sew? Why? Now I'm the mom who gets to help sew a gown designed by two 15-year-olds.
Wisely, the other mom doesn't even own a sewing machine, so our house has become the studio. I wish I were that mom.
Do I sound frustrated? I am. Well, I'm starting to relax because I think the worst is over, but the last few days.....oh, man.
My daughter and her friend chose to design and sew a dress themselves for their
The other day, I met a group of Hippies. No tie dye or flowers, no protests or sit-ins. These were women who want to make a difference in children's lives in a gentle, step-by-step way.
They belong to a group called HIPPY, which is the acronym for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. It's a home-based education program that helps parents help their children get ready for school. (Hey, that sounds a
My mother-in-law, Betty, whom I've known and loved for 27 years, passed away yesterday. I had to tell my children last night.
How do you tell a child that their grandmother has died? Is there a good way to do it? A bad way? Does it matter how it's said, when the message is the same? I gathered my three children, all teenagers, around the kitchen table, and just said it. "You guys, I have some sad news. Nana died this morning."
Silence
I'm not at all stressed this holiday season. This scares me. I think I must have forgotten something, or someone, because I've never felt this relaxed at this time of year.
My whole family has been looking forward to this break for weeks, maybe months. Everyone works so hard at school, at work, that time together seems to get more rare each year. But for two weeks, we will do whatever we want to do....sleep, cook, eat, watch movies (maybe several in a day), read, ski
Girls read more than boys, right? That's what the test scores would tell you.
In Ontario, according to EQAO scores (the standardized tests administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office), boys lag behind girls in all literacy scores, right through to high school. The Ministry of Education has deemed this a problem and has initiated a program called "
It's that time of year again. You get 15 minutes, or less, to find out how your child is really doing at school - beyond the report card.
As my colleague, Sarah, says in her blog, "Report Card Blues", report cards are confusing. They are cut and paste efforts by busy teachers who have to somehow tell the story of
Here's how I like to think about autism. It's an disorder characterized by extreme forms of behaviors we all share, to some degree.
Before our special on autism, I knew very little about the disorder.
Despite the statistics (1 in every 147 children diagnosed), I know of only one child with Asperger's, a disorder on the autism
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Zeelaf Majeed is the Supervising Editor of tvoparents.com. She is thrilled to be managing this online resource for parents interested in child development and education because, as a mother, it's information she's genuinely interested in.
Sarah Michaelis came to TVOParents.com after a career as a television producer for CBC and TVO. She is the well-intentioned, if somewhat flawed, mother of two daughters.
Karen Bridson-Boyczuk is a digital media producer, director and writer for TVOParents.com. She is also the author of four non-fiction books. She lives in Toronto's Seaton Village community with her husband and nine-year-old son.
Albert Wisco is a filmmaker, journalist, husband and father, and is a Digital Media Producer for TVOParents.com.
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