With yet another toy recall in the news, I began wondering: What exactly will I be buying for holiday gifts for my nephews, who live in North Carolina? Sure, I can be the “un-fun” auntie and get them clothes, but they’re 9 and 6! And Old Navy box probably won’t get the joint jumping. But [...]

Usually, when I volunteer to help out at my sons’ schools, in my community, or at church, I consider the basics: Can I even do this work? Do I have time to do it? How will doing this impact my family’s time and mine? But one question that we should also keep in mind is: [...]

Last year, when my family took a trip to Costa Rica, my sons applied for passports for the first time. While the wait to receive it was slightly long—about six weeks—the process was pretty painless, although the cost created a pinch to our pockets. But as rules around applying for and requiring a passport become [...]

Most times, I’m fussing with my 9-year-old son about being mesmerized by his Nintendo DS. While he doesn’t play with it during the school week, he’s pretty much attached to it on Saturdays and Sundays. Good thing. Because now that I’ve discovered the Brain Age game, the Nintendo has become mine during the week and [...]

Looking for some tips on how to become a better parent? Then you might want to check out a forum on Thursday night in Harlem featuring motivational speaker Les Brown. The event is called “Success Principles for Power Parenting and Mentoring.” Brown came from very humble beginnings in Miami was adopted by a single mother [...]

Add this story to the “Horrific/idiotic things that can occur in school” file: In Grahamsville, slightly upstate from here, a high school student was pulled out of class by a security guard who wanted to make sure no kids had backpacks or bags that students are banned from carrying during the school day. The girl [...]

On Saturday, we hosted a rock-climbing birthday party for my younger son, who’s now 9. A whole bunch of little boys—and three adventurous girls—had a great time scaling the walls at The Cliffs at Valhalla. This is one of those places where you bring the party to them: We provided the pizza, cake, paper goods [...]

Want to give your high school junior or senior a fast start to college? Then check out the Jumpstart Open House information session on Saturday. Sept. 22 at Monroe College in New Rochelle. Students can choose from 13 courses, including accounting, allied health, business and marketing, criminal justice, information technology, hospitality and culinary arts. The [...]

This morning, after reading this story this story, I found myself talking aloud. To myself. The case, briefly: Collette A. Barnes, who has a home day care businesses in Stamford, Conn. is free on bail, after being charged with a number of crimes, including leaving her 14-year-old daughter in charge of a whole bunch of [...]

This school year, I am completely in love with my son’s bus driver. That’s because he is the one who picks up my youngest son at 7:30 a.m., which gives me glorious time alone in the house before I have to leave for work. So what do I do with this extra time? I can [...]

After reading this story from the Dallas Morning News, I saw a little bit of myself. And my son. One of my sons (I won’t say which, to refrain from slightly embarrassing him) is a little preoccupied with getting injured. Although he’s all rough-and-tumble, plays sports and generally moves around quite a bit, he’s quite [...]

We’re just a week into school, and already, I’m fussing about homework. Not because my 9-year-old is getting too much of it – that was last year’s rant. This year, he seems to be receiving a normal number of assignments, but he’s taking forever to complete them, it seems. It’s as if he thinks it’s [...]

Yesterday, I dropped my 13-year-old son off at an educational program just outside of Washington, D.C. It’s a program that he was nominated for by his sixth-grade teacher and he’s been looking forward to it for the past year. It sounds like a wonderful way to spend a week: He’ll visit Gettysburg, Jamestown, Williamsburg and [...]

Hi Everyone. I’m finally back at work from vacation and I have a few things to catch up on, so I’ll do it in separate posts. First off: Have you heard this story about the Ohio woman who tragically and mistakenly left her two-year-old in the car last month? The woman, Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby apparently won’t [...]

My sons—ages 13 and soon-to-be-9—like eating out. Most times, my younger son is happy with a well-cooked burger smothered in ketchup, spaghetti or chicken fingers. (Although he’s in love with a Peruvian chicken and rice dish that’s made at Cholo’s Kitchen in New Rochelle.) My older son has more champagne taste: Present him with a [...]