parenting

Most kids have these things and they're supposed to reduce stress and help with concentration, but do they work?

Texans can come up with some goodies!  Just look at any kindergarten class list, and high five yourself for stamping your kids with some unique, cool, and creative names. A new list is out, and please share your thoughts.  Are the quirkiest baby names in Texas really that quirky?

Signs posted to the door at a daycare is nothing new.  Many times these signs will give instructions to parents about upcoming fundraisers, special hours, or a few set rules...but, a daycare in Rose Hill, Texas (near Tomball), in no uncertain terms, spelled out why parents should 'GET OFF YOUR PHONE'.

If you are on social media at all this week, you will quickly understand that school has started. As parents, there is some sort of reflex that makes us mark these back-to-school moments on Facebook, and as you might be able to see in this picture, the kids would rather just hurry up and get to class

School starts next week in Lufkin and all across East Texas, and kids will be cramming iPods, notebooks, Kindles, phones, a change of shoes, snacks, and maybe even a book into those backpacks. How heavy is too heavy?  If the backpack weighs more than a certain amount, it can knock kids off balance and lead to back problems later on.  Here's the magic number.

Summers were so much fun as a kid, with camps, swimming, and sprinklers, and lots and lots of ice cream. As an adult, there's no break from work and there can be more to do juggling the kids' schedule, and we lose the magic!  But here's a way to get it back.

It's more than just, "Are we there yet?"  That usually starts in the driveway, and there a dozen other comments and questions that can take the steam out of our Memorial Day Weekend road trips just as quickly.  Here are some of the best zingers from the back seat that stress out parents.

It's always a dilemma for parents. Kids create art from the heart all year long in school, and although you've trashed some of it here and there, the end-of-the-year stack takes some consideration because there is guilt involved.  Keep it or junk it?

Science may be starting to agree that a full moon does make us all a little more unruly than usual. Here's when you can expect the next full moon in East Texas so you can prepare yourself.

It's the time of year in Texas when a bluebonnet patch can draw dozens of freshly bathed kids in their cutest clothes, along with those amazing parents-of-the-year armed with high tech zoom lenses ready to upload the photos to online scrapbooks right away to share with Grandma and Grandpa in Poughkeepsie.  And then there are the rest of us.  This was kind of a disaster.

Ask any dad and he will tell you that one of the rites of passage as a father is to let your young daughter or son use you as a canvas for their expressions of art.

The decision to write about this subject and these types of websites was not an easy one. In writing this I will be alerting those with immoral intentions about a website they previously knew nothing about, but I will also be educating parents and unknowing female victims to the dangers of this type of site.