Sometimes fatherhood can seem like a series of humiliating experiences. Over the weekend I played one-on-one basketball with my eldest son at a family barbecue. It was not an even match. He’s 17 and I’m 55. He was the high scorer and top rebounder on his high school team as a junior this year. I hit half my shots into the waste paper basket next to my desk. And at 6’1â€? he’s got four inches on me.

Our game started when I attempted to hit from the outside because that’s easier than trying to drive around him. I shot and missed. He got the rebound, passed the ball to himself through my legs and then scored. It went on like that for about 20 minutes until I was saved by the burgers coming off the grill.

A colleague of mine here said that surely, I must have had mixed emotions over the game: personal humiliation but also pride in my son. Actually my feelings came down to personal humiliation and fatigue. I’m proud of my son’s athleticism when he’s beating someone his own age.

I probably should be happy that he still wants to play with me. When I asked why he wants to engage in these one-sided contests he made it sound like it was an accomplishment for him to defeat me. “You’re my dad, I’m not supposed to be able to beat you.�

And they say parents sometimes have unrealistic expectations for their children.

I have to admit that when my son was born I never envisioned that, at 9 years old, he’d have “a favorite Matisse.” But he does, in fact, have a favorite Matisse (The Red Studio). He also tells me he’s very taken by the “presence of light” in Georges Seurat’s works, and how Edvard Munch’s body of work is more impressive than just his most famed painting (The Scream). He also has a favorite classical composer (Beethoven), largely because of the 9th Symphony, and particularly now that his guitar teacher has taught him to play the basic melody, or “Ode to Joy.” But he also likes George Gershwin.

What has helped fuel this latest fad is a children’s author “named Mike Venezia”:http://www.mikevenezia.com/mikevenezia who publishes a series of biographies that are fun, quick and informative. Venezia has focused in particular on composers, artists and presidents. I’d recommend them, even if they aren’t the only biographies out there. I find that kids are drawn to the idea of “a series” or “a collection” of things, be they books, cards, toys, etc. It has been a factor in this case. I’m sure there are other examples.

Either way, I find it’s valuable to encourage whatever your child takes an interest in, and take time to turn it into something more concrete. Make it into shared experiences. For instance, this weekend we took a trip to “Union Church”:http://www.hudsonvalley.org/unionchurch/index.htm in Pocantico Hills, which, as most of you know, features stained glass windows by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. The Matisse window didn’t replace “The Red Studio” as a favorite, but the visit was a hit, even if the folks at the church didn’t entirely know what to make of this half-pint kid who actually seemed to want to know more about the artwork.

Of course, I’m immensely proud of my boy. Not that I wouldn’t mind a Derek Jeter or Mickey Mantle comment here and there, but I am proud that he has taken a keen interest in history, and lately in art and music history. Both his mom and I have gone through great lengths to encourage him in whatever his interests are and have been, including in his own musical tastes. (Green Day was great; My Chemical Romance took some getting used to).

This is what parenting should be about. As in all things, it’s not always so obvious. I think we all know parents who push their kids in a different direction: Whether it be towards sports, towards books, whatever. And while I try to mix it up — we push for outdoor activities when the weather is beautiful — we let him dictate the activity when our weekends are coming up.

And I’m not giving up on Jeter and Mantle just yet. Truth is my boy could always hit, and he’s taken a keen interest in classic baseball movies of late: We watched Eight Men Out and The Natural this past weekend. Next weekend we’re going to get out there and practice some Roy Hobbs moves. We’ll take a Pablo Picasso biography along just in case.

When I was a kid, I don’t think my mother worried about how many hours I spent in the sun. By the time I was a teenager, I regularly used suntan-enhancing products — like baby oil! Today, we know better. There are probably few parents who have not given sun protection some thought — even if they ultimately decide the risks are overblown. Please check out our new poll that asks you to share your sun-protection strategy.

I’m also planning a story that explores new technologies and materials that are being developed to guard against sunburn — and the skin cancer it can ultimately cause.

I plan to take a look at the new play clothes that come with built-in sun protection, like this romper from One Step Ahead. I’ll also explore stick-on patches that measure exposure to the sun, like the Huggies Little Swimmers Sun Sensors. For the geek on the beach, there are also electronic UV monitors, like this one from Oregon Scientific that calculates your recommended exposure time based on the strength of the Sun’s rays, what SPF sunscreen you are wearing and your own personal skin type. Pretty neat.

Comment on this blog or send me an e-mail at jalterio@lohud.com if you would like to be part of the story.

And don’t forget to vote in the poll at right!

When we asked the Parents’ Place community what you serve your kids, an overwhelming majority — 83 percent — said they opt for a mix of homemade, takeout and prepackaged foods. That’s 71 people out of the 86 who voted.

The next most-popular strategy was “homemade all the way,” with 14 percent of can-do parents cooking from scratch. Two percent of parents said “if it’s not from a box, we don’t eat it.” And just one parent admitted to having takeout on the speed dial.

Thanks for voting! And to those hearty moms and dads who go for homemade all the time — share your recipes! We’d love to know how you do it.

Readers of this blog may have seen my earlier posts on the odd bleeding bite my daughter received while outside on our patio. If not, here is the original post, and here is the follow up.

Despite the absence of worry from the three doctors in our pediatric practice, I haven’t been able to let this go in my mind. When I talked to my own doctor, he confirmed my view that it was a strange occurrence. He said he’s never heard of an insect bite bleeding so profusely in his years of practice.

So, I called back the doctor who examined Pumpkin the day after the bite. She gave me a referral to an infectious disease specialist named Dr. Erik George who practices in Briarcliff Manor. I took Pumpkin to see him on Friday.

After explaining to me why Pumpkin’s bite did NOT sound like an insect bite to him — no swelling, etc. — Dr. George didn’t really have an answer as to what DID bite her. He did repeat the idea that if an animal attacked her, she would probably have been upset. He also said that without an actual sighting of an animal, he believes it would be wrong to give Pumpkin the rabies vaccine. He said it would hurt him to subject her to the painful shots without a clear indication that they are required. Then, he said something that surprises me in retrospect. He said that even if she were bitten by a bat, and even if that bat were rabid, she might not develop rabies.

I know I have to let this go because no one, besides me, seems to think it’s plausible that she was bitten by an animal during the day in the space of a few minutes. I just hope we are doing the right thing.

I want to thank everyone who replied to the blog posts and who e-mailed me separately. It’s been very helpful to know that there is a community developing here at Parents’ Place.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day holiday.

As a newspaper writer, Pumpkin sees me on the computer a lot. Sometimes I think (worry) about the fact that she doesn’t understand what I’m doing and why I’m ignoring her. Maybe she thinks I just like to spend time typing instead of playing blocks. So, when she toddles over and says “Up,” I take a break, pull her on my lap and open up iPhoto to look at pictures of goats, cows, dogs and squirrels.

When I started thinking about how I plan to blend my career as a writer and my life as a mother, I decided to find out how a “real” writer (a novelist) does it, and also get some tips all parents can use about sharing a love of words and books with our kids. So, today’s Questions & Parents feature, Q&P for short, is with Julia Rust, a Tarrytown mother of three and a writer. Julia’s short stories have been published by the The Cortland Review and Blue Moon Review, and she has written a novel, “Crossing Lines,” that has yet to find a publisher. Julia is also active in the The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow. With the center’s former executive director, Dare Thompson, and a fiction teacher and writer, David Surface, Julia helped create a writing program for schools called the WriteMind Workshop. The program, which is used in Tarrytown and Ossining schools, is designed for teachers and students in grades 4 to 12. Julia is sharing her insight into how she blends writing and mothering her children, Peter, 17, Katy, 15, and Tim, 12.

Q: What’s it like being a mom and a novelist? How does one affect the other?

P: Writing is an incredibly solitary business, and parenting is not. Both occupations can be extremely rewarding, satisfying and sometimes insanely frustrating. I like to be available to my kids. So when they’re home I try not to disappear into my office to write, although the muse hits at odd times (for example, when I should be making dinner!). Writing is a very self-centric activity, a gift I give myself. I try to do it when the kids are at school, but housework, graphic design and all the demands on my life frequently squeeze writing out. I feel like two completely different people, one social and into her family, and one desperate to hole up in a cabin and write for six months. And the irony is I’m sure I could hole up for only a few days before homesickness set in, before I missed my guys terribly. And there are times when I’m watching a movie with them, or playing a game, and the characters in my stories start talking to me, tempting me away. It’s a very divided life.

Q: Do you keep a journal? What advice do you have for parents who want to record the memories of their family lives through the written word?

P: I journal very sporadically, usually as a tool to get around writers’ block. I think memoir is a very lovely thing and I’ve read many fine examples, but I find it hard to do myself. As far as family memory keeping, I applaud anyone who can find the time and keep it organized. I wish I’d kept better track of all the amazing things my kids have said. We started three notebooks, one for each, specifically with this in mind, and then forgot about them, so they sit gathering dust and full of empty pages.

Q: How has being a writer affected your everyday activities with your family? Is everything fodder?

P: The only thing different I can see about being a writer from any other occupation is that writing makes you a keen observer. Everything you see you try to translate into language, hopefully beautiful language. So the answer to your second question is yes, everything that comes in can be used, but not entirely in the way I think you mean. Fodder as in emotionally connected events, things that give me a base to write from, possibly a neat turn of phrase. I’m not comfortable writing directly from current experience. I like to move events to the future or present them in the past, change genders, ages.

Q: How have you shared your love for books with your kids? What tips do you have for other moms and dads?

P: That love is pretty hard to miss when your mom’s nose is always buried in a book. I read to them all the time and that is the best advice I have. Read to your kids. Talk about the stories, tell your own and encourage them to tell theirs. I’m planning on re-instituting reading aloud in my house. I miss it! I started a mother-daughter book club and we met for a few years. It was a wonderful way to encourage reading and get to know the mothers of my daughter’s friends. I can’t recommend this strongly enough. It’s a wonderful way to share books.

Q: What ideas do you have for parents of really young children, like toddlers or preschoolers, to get their kids interested in telling stories?

P: I think kids are natural storytellers. Often the point of language is to express something the other party can’t see, so very young kids are practicing this all the time. My advice to parents would be to listen closely, even when, as so frequently happens, it doesn’t make sense, listen with respect and ask questions. Encourage them to elaborate. Never talk down to them. Use all your vocabulary. Young children are sponges, it’s amazing how quickly they can incorporate new words.

Q: What are some strategies for parents to get their children excited about language and words as they enter the grade school and middle school years?

P: You don’t need to get kids excited about language. They start out that way, from their first gurglings and eye-blinks right on into school. Kids are so amazingly and easily excited by so many things, the challenge isn’t to engender the good feeling but to cultivate and not stifle it. In the Tarrytown public schools, kids are given tons of opportunities in language and creative writing until seventh grade. By middle school, the creative portion takes a back seat to report writing and essays and reading becomes more about analyzing content than enjoyment. I think it’s our job at this stage to encourage them to read and write for themselves in their spare time. The Writers’ Center has wonderful writing workshops for kids in several age ranges. The schools, YMCA and JCC frequently have afterschool programs with creative writing classes.

Q: What have been some of your favorite books that you read at home with your kids?

P: When they were little, “Winnie the Pooh,” Kipling’s “Just So Stories” — which are just delightful aloud with all the repetitions, poetry really — Sandra Boynton, Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman. I can still recite “Go Dog Go” and “Green Eggs and Ham”! As they grew older the Fairy Books with the colors in the title, Pink, Yellow, Green, Violet, Red, Blue, I’ve forgotten how many there are. Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” is wonderful to read aloud. Harry Potter. As I said before, I miss it.

Thanks very much to Julia for sharing her knowledge by doing a Q&P! Check back next week for another Q&P. If you know any parents who you think would be great to feature, please comment here on the blog or send me an e-mail at jalterio@lohud.com.

For many parents, a night out—or planning a night out— is often a headache.

Who’ll watch the kids? What will they do? What will we make them for dinner? It’s enough for to make you give up and stay home.

The YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester is here to help. On Friday, June 8, they’ll provide the place, the pizza and the pool, so that your kids (ages 5 to 12) can have a great night out, while you have a great night out, too—elsewhere. The program runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and kids will be served pizza, have a swim and be able to take part in a variety of games and other activities. They should be plenty tuckered out by the time you pick them up.

Care is provided by members of the YWCA staff and adult-child ratio for the evening will be 1:10 or lower, says Nicole Stansbury, who’s directing the program.

The cost isn’t bad either, considering how much babysitters can charge these days: It’s $50 for the first child and $20 for each additional child. You don’t have to be a member of the YWCA, either. There’s a discount for kids who already attend the YWCA’s Kids Connection Afterschool Program – for them it’s $30 for the first child and $15 for each additional child. Payment is cash only and you must reserve a spot before June 6.

For more information or to make a reservation, call Nicole Stansbury at 914-949-6227, ext. 109 before June 6.

New research is revealing subtle but increasingly significant clues to our kids’ development. Some of the latest research has focused on unique development patterns shown by children growing up in New York’s northern suburbs. And yes, they are all above average.

*One month – Responds to parents’ and strangers’ smiles by smiling.

*Three months – Avoids eye contact with strangers and responds to parents’ smiles with a bored look.

*Six months – Interacts with environment. Turns head in the direction car alarms and low-flying jets taking off from Westchester County Airport.

*Nine months – Imitates parents’ speech and vocalizes with simple vowel-consonant combinations such as “sushi,â€? “Soho,â€? “Metro North,â€? and “the Hutchâ€?.

*Twelve months – Makes simple phrases to satisfy desire for food, such as: “take-out Chinese,” “pizza with extra cheese,” and “bagel with a schmear”.

*18 months – Ability to manipulate objects grows. Can browse MySpace and download music to iPod.

*Twenty-four months – Laughs and cries readily. Such mood swings usually can be treated with psychotherapy and Paxil.

*Two and one-half years – More choosey about food. Prefers East Side French and Italian restaurants as well as the attractive presentation of food in Japanese restaurants.

*Three-years – Understands time concepts such as past, present, future and alternate side of the street parking.

*Three and one-half years – Imagination flourishes. Enjoys legends and fantasies such as the Knicks and Rangers winning their league championships again; construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge; and the redevelopment of Getty Square.

*Four years – Increasingly independent. Often prefers the company of friends, particularly those with weekend places in the Hamptons and playmates whose birthday parties feature goody bags from Bloomingdales and Fortunoff.

*Five years – Begins to understand consequences of actions, such as how attending the wrong kindergarten lessens the likelihood of attending a decent college.

If there’s anything that will revert me back to being a kid, it’s a mouse.

I know all the sensible things: I’m bigger then they are; they’re “cute” (I’m so sure about with that one); you can get rid of them fairly easily. Never mind all that: I’m terrified of them.

So when my 13-year-old son and I came into the dark, empty house one night last week and saw our otherwise tame cat chasing something, I did what any other mousephobic person would do: I took my kid and fled to my room upstairs. Since my husband was still at work and my younger son was away for the night, I decided we would stay there until my husband came home. Thinking that would be soon, we just settled in and watched television.

When an hour passed and my husband still wasn’t home, new problems arose. We were hungry, but I was too afraid for either of us to go into the kitchen, because the MOUSE might be there. So I called for a pizza and then encouraged my son—who is not as fearful of mice as his mother—to pay the delivery guy. My son scurried back up to my room with the pie and we ate sitting on my bed.

During all of this, my father called. He noticed uneasiness in my voice (parents are SO good at that!) and asked me what was wrong.

I immediately became 7 years old: “Daddy! There’s a mouse in the house and (my husband) isn’t home to kill it!” At which point, my father reprised his role as the parent of a preschooler: “What? Do you want me to come over and get it?” Now, my father lives just 15 minutes away and could have come over and killed the big, bad mouse, but my adult brain took over and told me that I shouldn’t ask a 78-year-old man to leave his home at 10 p.m. and drive to kill a mouse in my house. So as much as I didn’t want to, I declined his offer.

(To wrap this up quickly: My cat killed the mouse later that night and then drowned it in his water dish and my husband had to dispose of the entire mess when we found it the next morning.)

But I did feel a little guilty about almost reverting to Daddy’s Little Girl. Until I talked to my neighbor, who ALSO had a mouse in the house last week. When her husband wouldn’t come home early from work to get rid of it, she DID call her senior-citizen father, who drove over in his Jeep, stomped in the house and promptly flushed the critter away. Then I realized that I’m not the only one who still needs some parenting, sometimes. And I’m very grateful that I still have a parent who’s willing—and able—to come to my rescue.

What about you? Do you revert to being a kid from time to time? Do you feel guilty about it?

I remember asking my mom about my allergies sometime around junior high school. She assured me I had inherited my runny nose from my grandfather, who suffered terribly from all sorts of allergies and had, apparently, handed down the faulty sinus gene to her and, eventually, to me. I’m not sure I ever forgave my poor grandfather. Now it seems I’ve done the same to my son.

The truth is my son is a trooper about it. He seems to have no recollection of a world without the occasional sneeze and a constant runny nose. Every now and then he’ll go through a particularly tough spell and his nose will look red and raw. I can relate, having had a red nose for much of my life. But that’s when the guilt is heaviest.

When he was just a baby, the doctor told us that he could outgrow his sinus problems, and I vaguely recalled my conversation with my mom about our family’s cursed sinuses. She swore my uncle Antonio outgrew his hay fever. This gave me hope, much like the doctor’s suggestion years ago gave me hope that my son would be able to breathe in peace someday.

Much of this is complicated by the fact that every year seems to be a record high for pollen and all other types of sneeze-inducing matter. So I find friends who never suffered from allergies have, in recent years, been plagued. I have been plagued for much of my life, and have gotten so weighed down by it that I’ve had instances where I was unable to function, and had to call in sick. Fortunately, that was years ago, as I’ve since discovered the magic of Allegra, and it tends to keep my sinus in check for the most part.

But what to do with my son? His mom and I have discussed taking him to an allergist, and have asked his doctor about it. The truth is I think we put it off because I don’t like the idea of my son becoming chained to a pill-a-day routine, as I am. There are shots, of course, but I’ve known few who found it gave adequate relief and, frankly, I don’t want to subject my son to that many shots for the possibility that it may perhaps work a bit.

So, what do parents out there do for the kids’ allergies? Should I break down and take him to an allergist and accept the pills or shots or whatever? Or should I do what the doctor said so many years ago, wait and hope he outgrows it? I mean, sooner or later there is going to have to be at least one Fitz-Gibbon with a sinus worth bragging about.

I hurried home from work yesterday for a date with a 20-page questionnaire at my sons’ school. The quiz was put together by the New York University Child Study Center and was one of a series of surveys for parents who participated in a program called “Thriving Teens.”:http://www.aboutourkids.org/aboutus/programs/p_institute.html

I volunteered for the program five or six years ago. At the time we were facing behavior problems with both sons – something I attributed to my eldest’s frustration with dyslexia, some parental inconsistency in enforcing consequences, and my youngest son aping his big brother’s behavior.

At weekly sessions over a couple of months, we talked about communicating clearly with our children and doing it without dragging in our own fatigue and frustration. We critiqued film clips of bad parenting performances – some of which seemed uncomfortably familiar – and viewed clips of more constructive methods.

Also interesting were sessions to help kids cope with peer pressure to smoke, drink, and do drugs. It’s certainly not foolproof, but it seems to me that a kid who has a ready and convincing response is better prepared to deal with these unwanted invitations. It was a good, diverse group of parents and soon we were sharing eye-rolling misadventures of our children.

The periodic surveys are designed to learn whether the program actually works: whether it has any affect on parents’ and children’s behavior; and if it results in less cigarette, alcohol and drug use.

To keep parents honest on the multiple-choice questionnaire, one child from each family gets fill out the quiz, too. Now that’s one test booklet I would have loved to swipe.

Both of Pumpkin’s parents are writers and avid readers. So I know that at least two of the three R’s are covered. When it comes to ‘rithmatic, we’re on shakier ground. I know I’m not alone here, so I decided to pose some questions about instilling a love of numbers in your children to a mom who is a math whiz.

Today’s Questions & Parents feature, Q&P for short, is with Yorktown Heights resident Brenda Dietrich, the director of mathematical sciences at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Brenda leads a team of researchers who are using math to solve real-world business problems, like moving goods through factories and making computers faster. Yesterday she was named a Fellow, Big Blue’s highest technical honor. She is one of just 10 women have achieved the distinction in the 44 years since the program was started.

As a mom, Brenda tries to share her fascination with math with her children, Peter, 21, Joshua, 19, Monica, 15, and Ingrid, 8. Even though Brenda doesn’t expect any of her kids to become mathematicians, she hopes none of them will ever be intimidated by numbers. Here are some of her tips for the rest of us to bring math into our homes in a way the kids will welcome.

Q: How old were your children when you started to teach them about numbers?

P: Very young, as soon as they could talk, we started counting, sorting, looking for patterns, etc. We probably had more counting books than letter books. Then we’d count by 2’s, by 3’s, and play adding games.

Q: As a parent, how do you make math fun?

P: I’m not sure I make it “fun,” but I do make it visible. I try to link it to everyday things: cooking, shopping, money, planning schedules. We also had math games (Tower of Hanoi was one of my favorites) and math computer games. I try to focus on algorithms — methods for computing — rather than just memorizing facts. For example, if you don’t know 7×8, but you know 7×4, then you can compute 7×8 = 7x (4+4) = 7×4 + 7×4 = 28+28 = 56. If my daughter asks, “What’s 24+35?” I say, “What’s 20+30?” and, “What’s 4+5?” rather than just giving her the answer.

Q: Is there a way to introduce math into everyday experiences without being “teachy”?

P: When the child asks a question which requires “math” to answer, help them learn how to compute the answer. For example, when driving, if asked, “how much longer?” give the speed and the distance to go, and let the child figure it out. When a child wants books from the school book fair, have her figure out the cost by adding up the prices or (better) see how many books she can get for $10. When Ingrid wanted to know how much the puppy weighed, but the puppy wouldn’t sit on a scale, I told her to weigh herself while holding the puppy. Then I asked her how she could use that weight to figure out the weight of the puppy. It’s not just about the computation (“math facts”), it’s about using computation to get information.

Q: What advice do you have for parents who simply can’t help their child with their math homework?

P: I think that parents need to tell their kids that they wish they had learned more math in school and find others (teachers, friends, older children of friends) who like math to help the children. Neither of my parents took “pre-college” math in high-school, and were not able to help their own children with math beyond arithmetic. In fact, when my father was going to college at night, his kids used to help him with his math homework. The fact that he wanted/needed to study math to get a college degree, and wanted us to know math clearly made an impression.

Q: If a child seems to have a talent for music or writing or other artistic pursuit, should a a parent still emphasize math?

P: I’m clearly biased on this, because I strongly believe that mathematical skill is necessary for many interesting professions. Some college degrees cannot be completed in four years without adequate mathematical course work in high school. So taking math, beyond just the graduation requirements, in high school, keeps the student’s career options open. But, as with most things, there are trade-offs to consider. If getting an acceptable grade in a math class is going to require so much effort that the student has to forfeit other activities that he loves, and he’s sure his college major and future career won’t require math, then I would make sure the consequences are understood, but I wouldn’t insist on additional math classes.

Q: As a mathematician and a manager at a major technology corporation, what advice do you have for parents who want their children to be equipped for tomorrow’s jobs?

P: I think curiosity, creativity, adaptability and a love of learning need to be nurtured by parents. The jobs we have today may not exist for our children, but opportunities will always exist for those who can rapidly respond to change.

Thanks very much to Brenda for sharing her knowledge by doing a Q&P! Check back next week for another Q&P. If you know any parents who you think would be great to feature, please comment here on the blog or send me an e-mail at jalterio@lohud.com.

My oldest son, a junior in high school, is checking out college options these days. Actually his parents are. He is not particularly interested in reading college brochures. He can read, though. That seems unremarkable, but there was a time when we wondered if he ever would read. He had trouble reading in first grade, the second grade and the third grade, when we finally had him evaluated.

I brought him to a town house down the block from Central Park for what’s called a psycho-educational evaluation – a battery of tests that required two visits to complete. On the third visit, my wife and I got the diagnosis: Our son had dyslexia. Now dyslexia is not the worst thing to be diagnosed with. It certainly beats cancer and a whole list of other ailments. But for parents who make their living by reading and writing, it was disconcerting.

The specialist went down a list of scary-sounding findings that are common to dyslexia: auditory attention and processing difficulties; bad rote memory, and poor sequencing skills. The evaluation contained some good things, such as creativity and excellent visual-motor coordination, but I already knew that from living with my son for nearly nine years. The specialist said my son might need to go to a special school and in any case needed a multi-sensory approach to learning.

I asked hopefully if my son had a border-line case of dyslexia. She said no. I felt pretty bad when we left her office.

As we soon learned, dyslexia is an odd condition. All sorts of brilliant, creative people such as da Vinci, Edison and Einstein had dyslexia. Dyslexia is not reading words backwards, though that sometimes happens. People with dyslexia have trouble processing written words. Their brains seem to be wired a little differently. The same unusual brain connections that make reading difficult seem to be responsible for making many of these folks creative. A book called ““The Gift of Dyslexiaâ€?”:http://www.dyslexia.com published several years ago explored this condition.

Our oldest son certainly seemed to be creative. He amazed us with his drawing and was constantly building toys out of scraps from around the house. But then again, we are his parents and parents are supposed to be amazed by their offspring.

After we assured my son that he was OK – and that he had something in common with some very smart people – we got in touch with ““The International Dyslexia Associationâ€?”:http://www.interdys.org. From there we found a good tutor. I wish I could say it was a smooth, straight road. It wasn’t, but we managed.

(My family’s encounters with dyslexia will appear in Parents’ Place periodically)

I love spring. It rivals autumn as my favorite time of year.

But it’s also the time of year when I feel most harried, which makes me almost dread it. Every school and extracurricular activity has to squeeze in every end-of-the-year activity, play, recital, party, all NOW. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad my boys are active and I like that they have hobbies that they enjoy. But when everything comes to a head in May and June? Well, it gets to be a bit overwhelming.

Over the next several weeks we have: a three-day school camping trip for our younger son, two out-of-town weekend basketball tournaments for our teenager, a birthday party for a family friend, a piano recital, a Rites of Passage culmination for my goddaughter, a “moving up to fourth grade” ceremony for our younger son, Father’s Day, Grandad’s birthday. I’m already bushed thinking about it. And I know we’re not alone, judging from the number of little boys and men who were being fitted for suits at Syms when we were there a few Saturdays ago, getting everyone outfitted for the upcoming occasions.

While some of these events have to be held now, I wonder whether some things might be better held at other times. For instance, who says a piano recital has to be in June? Why not April, before the craziness begins?

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed right about now?

A colleague here at LoHud.com asked me for advice about the best way to get rid of disposable diapers. In addition to giving my own 2 cents, I thought I’d throw the question open to Parents’ Place readers.

Here at the Alterio household, we’ve been using a Diaper Genie that we bought at Babies R Us while Pumpkin was still in the NICU. I have mixed feelings about it, and can’t wholeheartedly recommend it. While the Diaper Genie does enfold the dirty diapers in a sausage-like casing, it sort of stinks, as in hold your nose. The plastic liner smells bad, the poop odor isn’t perfectly contained and emptying the unit is awkward. Today there is a new version, the Diaper Genie II, and perhaps it is better.

What I do like are Sassy Diaper Sacks. I buy them to bring when we’re on the go and end up using them in the nursery when the Diaper Genie liner runs out and I’m feeling too lazy to run down to the garage for a refill. They actually smell nice (kind of like baby powder) and form a solid barrier to unpleasant odors. If I were starting from scratch, I might just go with these.

What does everyone else do?