Sunday, May 12, 2013
A guest column from Lois Larson, member of the Washington County Child Protection Citizen Review Panel.
Becoming a grandparent is a wonderful opportunity to offer love, support and all the knowledge we have acquired throughout our years of raising children. We have many answers to the childrearing questions our sons and daughters may have and are only too happy to impart our words of wisdom. We feel we know best as we have been in these situations and our children are living proof that we did the right thing. We might be surprised to learn that many childrearing methods have changed and what we once thought was best for our children has been proven to be not so. As a member of the Citizens Review Panel for Washington County, we work closely with the county and the Minnesota Department of Human Services to serve the needs of our children and …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
In the end, I’m trying to raise men. And hopefully, my future daughters-in-law and society will benefit from my (possibly overly cautious, but I don’t think so) parenting.
I’m often a conflicted parent. The type who limited her toddler’s television viewing until discovering that a 20-minute Baby Einstein video would allow me to make dinner, fold a load of laundry or use the bathroom without interruption. And despite my fear that I was ruining my child, he is now a highly functioning, polite and intelligent teenager. Whew. My latest hand wringing involves video games. At first, I prohibited them and was stressed when my mother bought those LeapFrog game systems for my kids when they were little. Then along came the Wii and it seemed less frightening. Instead of fostering my nightmare visions of glowering, pasty-faced malcontents rooted into the sofa, game controller in hand, the Wii allowed players to romp, …
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Candy Hofstad sent out a note to parents Sunday.
In the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut, the principal of Bailey Elementary in Woodbury on Sunday sent out the following statement: As you are aware, there was a tragic shooting at a school in Connecticut on Friday, December 14, 2012. Because the incident happened in a school setting this comes of concern to students and their families locally. At Bailey Elementary School, our staff will support all of our students as needed in the days ahead. In addition, we will pay close attention to our security steps/routines as well as review the school wide crisis plan. Although nothing truly prepares us for the tragic event of Sandy Hook Elementary School, the strength of our own school community and our commitment to our…
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
As if a certain university name stamped on my child’s college degree will grant our entire family some earned level of prestige.
Fall is when we catch college fever. Deep into the college football season, sports fans choose favorite teams based on hometown geography, our alma matter or a superior mascot. Fall is also crunch time for college admission applications. Since I’m inclined to idolize education, knowledge and intelligence, I’m overly impressed by where my friend’s kids go to college. I keep a mental ranking of universities in my head and wonder what it will take to get my kids into “good” schools. Maybe you think a preoccupation with things like academic accomplishment, sports success or artistic achievement isn’t so bad. These are all good things to foster in our families, right? Yes, but over-emphasis on any of these things might be a character flaw. …
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
What would you tell your child in this situation?
Something unexpected happened over the summer. Something I knew would happen one day. But, I’ll admit, I was unprepared for it to happen this soon. Call me naïve. Girls have been calling our house. They want to speak to our son, to have a little chat about nothing in particular. He watches me watching him while he speaks simple yes and no responses into the phone. He hangs up and smiles at me. I’m not amused. I’m not amused because our son is 10 years old. My husband and I have talked to our kids about relationships, values and respecting women. But when we said those things, we thought we were ahead of the game. We didn’t imagine those discussions applying to girls and boys still in elementary school. I was caught off guard. Unsure how to…
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
What do you tell your kids when they say they want to be a pro athlete when they grow up?
Not long ago, my 12-year-old son asked in which sport he should try to get a college scholarship. I paused, considered my reply and then crushed his dream: “Why wouldn’t you choose to pursue an academic scholarship?” His eyebrows lifted and his cheeks sunk into a wounded expression. “Are you saying that you don’t think I’m a good athlete?” he asked. That’s when I doused him with another bucket of reality. “I think you’re a fine athlete. But I think you’re an even better student. Sports are something that we do for fun and fitness. Not something most people should aspire to for their future.” When I shared this conversation with a friend, he was horrified. What kid doesn’t want to grow up to be a star athlete? How could I discourage that? …
Saturday, July 28, 2012
This week's posts from Woodbury Patch bloggers.
What’s the word from your neighbors in Woodbury? Here are this week’s blog posts. If you're interested in joining our Local Voices roll, email kris.janisch@patch.com. Thoughts on the Aurora, CO, Shootings From a law enforcement perspective, I imagine that it was very difficult for the first responders to take command of a chaotic scene. But they did. (Melanie Snyder) Learning from the Aurora Theatre Tragedy I wrote about Aurora last Friday. There are lessons to be learned from the tragedy, if we choose to do so. (Dick Bernard) 8 Twitter Feeds Every Homeowner Should Follow Some good home-improvement Tweeps to follow. (Caleb Brunz) The American Dream? What does it mean to succeed? What brings joy in our lives? Are we really living the dream…
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Do we owe it to our young ones and other parents of young ones to keep quieter when posting online?
My mother is now on Facebook. I’ve considered changing my privacy settings to compensate for this new reality. But I’m going to hold out for evidence that such a bold move is necessary. More concerning in this age of social media interconnectedness is that I’m on Facebook and that I have young children who have no privacy controls of their own! Luckily for my kids, I didn’t join Facebook until they were well beyond babyhood… Because I surely would have posted every precious photo of my more than mildly impressive offspring. And possibly TMI about their every burble, burp and diaper rash. My kids are older. They’re in that cute, can you believe they said that, stage of life. And I often can’t resist posting some of the priceless gems that …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
With 7.5 percent of the city's population under 5, I set out to find out what it's like to be a parent in Woodbury.
Woodbury is a young community. Approximately 7.5 percent of our residents are under 5 years old. That means, on any given day, there are over 4,500 infants, toddlers and preschoolers romping around our fair city. So I asked Amber Gehring, the proud mother of 10-month-old Lincoln, what it’s like to have a baby in Woodbury. Me: Where was your delivery? Amber: Woodwinds Health Campus. The environment there is very caring and holistic with a helpful staff and easy access for visitors. Me: Where do you go for Lincoln’s continued medical care? Amber: Central Pediatrics. They’re amazing! They have walk-in and late hours. They’re quick to respond to my questions and are very affirming. They never make me feel like I’m asking something stupid. They…
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Plan ahead before your kids hit you with the inevitable "I'm bored."
The rhythmic schedule of school days will soon burst into bedlam. Summer vacation! On June 6, kiddos will leap from those big yellow buses with glorious abandon and glee. And, according to my calculations, their unbridled enthusiasm will last approximately four hours before the first summer refrain of, “I’m bored” rattles in your brain. You have three weeks, 15 school days, left to do whatever you must before they descend upon you—those pinging pods of attention deficit with their frequent interruptions, food requests, messes and merrymaking. Use your time wisely. Our son’s elementary school teacher established a theme for the remaining days of school. Each day’s theme corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. For example: A for American …
nicole robbins
2:26 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013
Thank you Lois, for sharing this! It's really helpful information and really important that grandparents and parents do work in partnership to do what is best for the child. I commend you for speaking out about this, sometimes it's not easy to broach the subject when families have very strong opinions about what is "best" for baby! more ›