It was heartening to learn that 93 percent of kids who responded to the 2018 Highlights State of the Kid™ survey say they’d take action if they saw someone doing or saying something mean, and that nearly all respondents—90 percent, in fact—feel...
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September 13, 2018
5 Questions to Ask Your Child’s New Teacher
by Lisa Low
With the excitement of the new school year often come many changes for your child: a different teacher, classroom, and classmates, for example. Getting on the same page as your child’s teacher—whether through a conference or back-to-school night...
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September 06, 2018
Ask Your Kid’s School These Essential Student Privacy and Safety Questions
By Caroline Knorr, Parenting Editor, Common Sense Media
Some schools use a little technology: a few educational apps to mix things up, maybe a weekly trip to the computer lab. Some use a lot: one-to-one device programs, class management...
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August 29, 2018
Why Time-Out Doesn’t Work...
Katherine Reynolds Lewis spent five years researching why many kids today are unruly, willful, disruptive, frustrated, and reactive. The answers are in her new book The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever—And...
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August 23, 2018
3 Study Habits to Teach Your Student This Fall
Your elementary school-aged child may not yet have encountered intensive studying or lengthy projects. However, this is a great time to begin instilling good study habits in your child. At this impressionable age, children can begin to grasp the...
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August 09, 2018
Mr. Too Cool for School
by Bob Brody
Michael was seven years old and headed to class in second grade. Here’s what he was wearing: pointy black cowboy boots, a brown leather aviator jacket, and faded blue jeans, each knee with a rip of his own making.
He had also put on black...
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August 02, 2018
How to Raise a Happy Kid in the Digital Age
Happiness is a warm puppy. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. Don't worry, be happy! Rules for how to live happily are nothing new. But lately, our well-being -- and that of our kids -- seems to be in free fall. Depression, anxiety...
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July 26, 2018
The Stories Our Photos Tell Us
by Bob Brody
That’s my son Michael in the photo right there. He might be a month old, maybe two. He’s asleep. I’m in the picture, and my wife, Elvira, is there, too, leaning toward him. We’re both smiling. Our faces seem to say, We have our own kid now—yay!...
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July 19, 2018
How to Begin Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten
The first day of school prompts many emotions for both parents and kids—excitement, fear of the unknown, and the promise of endless possibility. However, the transition from preschool to kindergarten can also be challenging for your young child....
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July 12, 2018
Who Do You Love More?
On special occasions, like birthdays, my parents would let my sister and me share a can of soda with our dinner. I remember how we would put two identical glasses side-by-side on the table and take turns pouring a little soda into each of them,...
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