Let’s face it: Fixing boo-boos gets old after a while. Well, it does in my house, where I have two boys who are always bumping, cutting, nicking or bruising something or other.

And when they do, we bring out the basket with the ointment, bandages, gauze, etc. It’s hardly fun and I’m always looking for something [...]

There’s nothing as satisfying as confirmation that you’ve done the right thing. Particularly when it concerns your children.

That became evident to me this week, when I was greeted with saucer-eyes as I picked my 8-year-old up from camp on Wednesday afternoon. He had bitten into a hard piece of pizza crust and said his tooth [...]

Several Fisher-Price toys—including some items featuring Elmo, Diego and Dora the Explorer, popular among little ones—have been recalled, due to high levels lead paint found in the items. To find out which toys have been recalled, go to this site. And then check your child’s toybox. Lead, which is toxic, can cause serious health [...]

Is your child having a birthday party, bar/bat mitzvah or other special occasion where he or she has asked for donations to a favorite charity instead of presents? If so, please contact Journal News reporter Hema Easley, who’s working on a story on that subject. You can reach Hema at either 845-578-2442 or heasley@lohud.com.

Thanks!

Last week, my husband and I were appalled after a reading a story that ran in The Journal News concerning a 10-year-old boy whose family says he was told he couldn’t attend Deer Mountain Camp in Haverstraw because he is HIV-positive. We thought it was awful that this poor child was being discriminated against, because [...]

Get this: There’s a holiday for all of us who chauffeur kids around, pick out splinters and change diapers!

Sunday is Parents’ Day, a holiday that’s been celebrated in the U.S. on the fourth Sunday of July since 1994 – which, ironically is the year that I became a parent. Amazing how quiet the celebrations have [...]

It’s summertime and the living is allegedly easy, right? Then why am I so stressed?

Because while my sons are taking it easy, I’m becoming unglued about keeping any semblance of a schedule together. My boys, ages 8 and 13, are in day camp this summer. My older son takes a school bus there and back [...]

Last Saturday, a friend and I took another friend out to celebrate her recent graduation from graduate school. She worked very diligently for this degree and completed it while working full-time and being a wife and mother of three young adults (including two college students). We were (and remain) extremely proud of her.

So the [...]

This week, my sons are in a daily basketball camp, which is good in many ways: They’re both in the same place; they have to wear a uniform shirt every day (no last-minute wardrobe changes in the morning!); and the camp serves lunch. There’s also no swimming, so I don’t have a load of towels [...]

Have any of you heard of this?

A friend just called to tell me that her children’s pediatrician is now charging her to fill out medical forms for her children. That means every camp form, school form, after-school program form that they fill out will cost her $5. And she has three children, so you do [...]

This is one of those weeks where I remember how much respect I have for single parents.

My husband and older son are away for the week, leaving my 8-year-old and I home together. We’re having a great time, taking evening walks, reading Pokemon books, and mostly, NOT having to do any homework.

But because his dear [...]

As we wind down to the end of the school year, I’m a little troubled about all the free time that middle-schoolers—the very kids who don’t need to be idle—seem to have.

My friend has an eighth-grader who, for the last several days, has had a series of half-days, testing days, class trips. graduation rehearsals—just about [...]

I feel like a kid myself this week. I am SO happy that the school year is coming to a close, I’m literally walking with a little more pep in my step.

My sons have done well in school this year, but I am very tired of homework, projects, meetings, and everything else. And then I [...]

When you have children, it seems like you’re always buying birthday presents.

In our family, I’m the buyer of birthday gifts. It fell to me and not my husband, because, well, I like shopping a little more than he does.

Lately, it seems that the cost of these presents has risen quite a bit. I recall when [...]

My 8-year-old son’s piano recital was yesterday and it was kind of bittersweet. He’s been taking group lessons for about three years and really loves it.

My husband and I think, though, that he would make much more progress if he had individual lessons. His current school doesn’t offer private lessons for his age group, so [...]