Tuesday, November 20, 2012
How much is too much to spend on children and teens? We want to hear your thoughts, Northbrook.
As the holiday shopping season goes into full swing, some people are maxing out their credit cards to pay for presents and others are setting budgets and sticking with them. Scour just about any Facebook stream or stop in a local coffee shop and chances are you’ll hear parents debating the merits of setting spending limits. Or, you'll hear them lamenting about just how much they've already spent. The ideas for a perfect limit do seem to vary rather greatly. Some parents say $100 per child is more than enough. Others tend to lean toward much more generous figures. After all, there’s nothing like seeing a child’s eyes light up as they unwrap gift after gift. And that’s what we want to hear from you about, Northbrook! Do you set spending …
Saturday, November 10, 2012
A son's annual check-up gets his mother wondering what happens between raising the first child and the last.
The other day, my son kicked me out of his doctor’s appointment. Somewhere around the age of acne explosions, smelly feet and hair product, pediatric annual check-ups include an option for a parent-free zone to promote a personal discussion with a health care professional. This is a great idea, and I think adolescents should take full advantage of this opportunity. Correction: this is a great idea, and I think other people’s kids should take full advantage of it. My kids? They have nothing to hide. As a seasoned parent when it comes to these "special" visits, I was well prepared. This was my third child, after all. I like to think of myself as a fairly liberal, tolerant and accepting person, who prides herself in keeping communication …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
A Mother's Day reminder of the joys of motherhood
Mother's Day is this Sunday, just in case you were too busy being a Mother to notice. It got me thinking about how sometimes I'm so busy, tired, and stressed that I don't stop to appreciate why being a Mom is worth it. Some days it's easier to focus on the negatives and I ask myself why did I go through all of the pain, nausea, sleepless nights, insecurity, and the extra 10 pounds that won’t go away? So, I wrote a post on Why Being a Mom is Worth It that I wanted to share. But more importantly, I'd love to hear from you. Why Do You Love Being a Mom? Please comment below and let's create a great list of why Motherhood is amazing. The reminder is a nice gift to ourselves. I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. I hope your day is …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Frustrations lead to feelings of being An Awful Parent.
I am not a patient person. And I am very stubborn. That is not a great combination when you are trying to teach a child with autism how to tie their shoes. Tying shoes a particular challenge for kids with autism Shoelaces. Is there a worse form of torture for parents? I know that teaching any child how to tie their shoes can be a challenge, but it is particularly hard when you have a child with autism. Many autistic children have difficulty with fine motor skills. Many also have trouble following multi-step directions. My son has come a long way in both regards – for instance, Kai is now able to work with small Lego pieces and enjoys building somewhat complicated sets that take 40 steps or more. But when it comes to tying his shoelaces, …
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
What really frosts parents of autistic kids.
Before I became a parent, I thought I was an expert on how to raise kids. And I was very “generous” with my knowledge. Now the shoe is on the other foot. And I understand just how annoying I must have been. I know that people mean well when they give you advice. I sure did. And it’s not that I think that I’m a perfect parent who couldn’t use some constructive feedback from time to time. I know that many times an outsider can help you see things that you miss by being involved in all the day-to-day rigors. Sometimes it helps to get another opinion or to talk things out to help crystalize your own thoughts. But (and you knew there was a ‘but’ coming, didn’t you?) I think sometimes people speak without truly understanding your situation. …
Saturday, December 10, 2011
The perpetual problem of rule clarification.
I used to think that by a certain age, kids learned to make good choices. My mistake. And though my kids have forbidden me from using them as examples in this article, I have no problem outing my friends and their kids. (You guys don’t mind, right?) It seems no matter what our offspring end up doing, they always claim the problem was that we never told them exactly what not to do. A good friend of mine has a son with autism. Her son, I’ll call him H., is a bright 13-year-old boy who, during these fabulous years of puberty, is becoming more and more independent. After deplaning at O’Hare a few weeks ago, H. announced he needed to use the restroom. My friend took her son to the entrance of the men’s room, and began going down the list of …
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Autistic son’s sleep issues tire dad out.
I heard the familiar knock on our bedroom door. It was 2 a.m. I don’t groan anymore when I hear it. I’m too used to it. I just get out of bed and go into the hallway. My son was waiting for me. He was wide-awake. Sleep issues among children with autism The parents of most children endure about a year of poor sleep when their kids are babies. But I’ve hardly had a night of solid sleep since I became a dad. Kai rarely sleeps through the night. When he was young, I thought that Kai’s sleep issues might have been due to an over-dependence on his mother. Let’s take a tough love approach and don’t coddle him, I advocated. But since then I’ve learned that sleep problems are common for kids with autism. Our son has been seeing a doctor that …
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
There's more to commuting than simply traffic and frustration.
So, as it turns out, I didn't fully appreciate my first job and apartment. They were two blocks away from one another, and my commute was non-existent. Now, it seems I spend so many hours of my life not just commuting to work, but planning for my commute—and complaining about it. For most of us in Northbrook, commuting is part of life. It goes with the territory and so, we deal. Whether you’re going to the city, or working in another suburb, chances are you too are spending hours upon hours getting to and from work. And chances are good you, too, have complained about it—at least once. I certainly have. I guess it was sometime over the winter, while sitting in stopped morning traffic on the Kennedy, that I realized, it's really not …
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
What it’s like to move far away from home, plan not to come back—and then rediscover the town you grew up in as a parent.
There was a time in college and in the immediate years after that I thought I would never return to Chicago. My years at Syracuse University and move to New York City after graduation had me convinced that the East Coast would be my home. Then a great job in Chicago redirected me back to the Midwest. And, when I met my husband a week after moving, I knew this is where I wanted to be. Our urban lifestyle was just what we were looking for—blocks from the ‘L,’ amazing restaurants and shopping, and a great mix of people from different places who lived and did things differently than us. But then it happened. Thoughts of schools and lack of livable space meant we were outgrowing our townhouse and beloved city life. We moved to Northbrook in …
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Help one local parent find activities for a preschooler and a toddler.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Welcome to Moms Talk, a weekly discussion about parenting on Northbrook Patch. Each week in Moms Talk Q&A, our local Moms Council of experts and been-there-done-that moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. Whether you're a mom, dad or grandparent, feel free to pose a question on anything you wonder about parenting in Northbrook—like where you can find the best pediatricians, where to send your daughter to ballet lessons or how to run for school board. Moms Talk Q&A will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. Do you know of local moms raising their children in the Tiger Mother's way—and is it the best way? How do we talk to our children about the Tucson shootings? If you've got a …
hellotina
9:25 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Ferrari sealed second in the http://www.coachoutletonlinegg.com constructors' championship, holding off McLaren while Caterham overtook http://www.coachoutletonlineaol.net Marussia for the lucrative 10th place in constructors http://www.coachfactoryoutletwy.com when Vitaly Petrov overtook Charles Pic, who is http://www.coachoutletstorefc.com driving for Caterham next year, on lap 65. http://www.… more ›