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July 2009
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January 2009As I coughed and sniffled at my desk the other day my cube mate Gary Chittim said to me, "Things will get better Tonya, you'll be over getting sick when your child is about 6 or 7." I recently had a chance to visit the state's Employment Security Department phone bank center. The ESD is in charge of unemployment benefits, and unlike the old days, there isn't an "unemployment office" but rather a hotline and a Web site where people can apply. The ESD is dealing with a big problem right now. People are being laid off at record speed, and they simply can't keep up. During my time at the offices, I got to see some ... Here's a fun company I'm profiling in one of my business reports this week. It's called Name Your Tune and it personalizes CD's for kids by inserting their name into every song. What a blast! USA Today reports on a new study that suggests moms who breastfeed are less likely to neglect their child. The study is published in the medical journal Pediatrics so it's scientifically sound. But is it necessary? It seems breastfeeding is one of the newer skirmishes in the Battle of The Moms that includes debates over childbi...
In this week's Parent to Parent, we talked about the importance of teaching our children a second language. And I learned it goes far beyond simply expanding their cultural horizons or padding a future resume. Research shows learning a second language is a critical component to early learning success. It enhances math, verbal and analytical skills and raises test scores. No wonder so many schools are starting to add second language programs at... What timing. Just days after I blogged about needing to call the Washington Poison Control Hotline after my son downed a bunch of vitamins with iron, we get the news that the hotline could close. Governor Chris Gregoire is proposing the 24 hour hotline's funding be slashed in half -- from $4 million to $2 million per year. Its director says that's enough of a budget slash to do them in. They just w... Lesson three: When attending an inaugural ball, stay tethered to your people, otherwise, you might miss seeing the new president and first lady up close, not to mention Halle Berry and Angela Bassett. ...Ten years ago today 2-year-old Teekah Lewis vanished from a Tacoma bowling alley. Teekah's family is holding a candlelight vigil tonight outside the building that once housed the bowling alley. If you considered traveling to Washington, D.C. for this most historic inauguration, but didn't--you didn't have a ticket, thought it would be too cold, too crowded, too expensive--well, consider the words of Tabin Crume, a young librarian from Sacramento who I met in my hotel. Tabin decided at the last minute to go even though she is saving to buy her first house. Here's how she summed up her experience, "I've been cold, I've been crowded, bu... I'm sitting here, trying to WILL my daffodils to come up, craving some spring sunshine...which reminds me of a record-setting hot, sunny day last April, when thousands of us converged on Qwest Field to hear the Dalai Lama speak. It reminds me that we only have a few months to go before His Holiness expects our first report card from the Seeds of Compassion event, wanting to know what progress we've made. Who could have imagined that o... It's a cold afternoon. The kids are out of school and playing indoors. No, make that bickering indoors. Another day in a long, long winter. And sometimes, I think I'm losing my mind. It's like a knife to the heart of any self-respecting parent-nerd; when your young child, full of promise says, "I don't like school." You brush it off, laugh it off if anyone else is within earshot and quickly correct them, "Of course you like school honey. You LOVE school!" And then they correct you. "No I don't. I don't like school."
Lesson one: Don't write your first-blog-ever on jet lag. Lesson two: If you are really looking, expect the story to change. Five years ago, my godmother helped me take a life-changing journey to South Africa. The beauty of the South African landscape was a stark contrast to its overwhelming poverty, unemployment and AIDS. I felt hopeless until a woman whose son died of malaria gave me his name, "Tsepho," which means hope. Like Barack Obama's grandmother, Aunt Gladys just missed seeing the first African American man become president of the United States. Her... It was almost two years ago to the day. I was a new mom, holding my newborn baby and frantically calling day care centers, in search of a good place to take my daughter upon returning to work. It was a hard lesson to learn but I quickly discovered, quality day care is hard to come by. There were waiting lists up to a year long! Fast forward to today, and times are changing. There are still waiting lists at child care centers, but the l... I was recently asked to moderate a panel discussion by ParentMap magazine about one of the biggest dilemmas facing so many parents today: How much is too much? Are we enhancing our kids' lives with those art classes, extra sports practices, and Mandarin lessons - or just stressing them (and us!) out? ...
It's an issue that comes up again and again for parents: What's the right way to help the child who struggles in one academic subject, but excels in another? What if your child is fascinated by science, but not so interested in, say, writing? ...If I look especially tired on KING's sister station Northwest Cable News this morning, I have a pretty good excuse. Yesterday, my 5-year-old got hold of some chewable children's vitamins with iron and ate a handful of them. It was a long night, but he's going to be OK. Did you know that iron poisoning is a leading cause of death for children 5 years old and younger? My son was one of the lucky ones. A call to the Poison Control hot lin... Parents cringe at those words - especially when your kid's sitting in a mountain of toys from the holidays. In this week's Parent to Parent, the experts at ParentMap magazine reminded us that often when children utter those familiar words, what they really want is your time and attention. Sometimes it's a reminder to put down the cell phone and sta... The Seattle School District just announced new information about upcoming school tours and open houses. Click here to see a list of dates. The open choice enrollment concept in Seattle schools is so different than what I grew up with on the Eastside. Families there moved into certain neighborhoods precisely because they wanted their kids to go to particular... It's one of the first questions I ask my son every day after school: Did you eat your lunch? Half the time, the answer's "kind of." Which means the carrots and apple slices are still sitting in the bag. Now, new research shows most preschoolers who brown bag it aren't getting enough nutrients, largely because parents said they usually pack what they thought their child would eat. One of my biggest battles is all the not-so-healthy sna... I get questions like that a lot, from my kids. Is $1 a lot? Is $10 a lot? It's probably because I spend A LOT of time trying to get my kids to understand the value of a dollar. Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson's recommendations can be summed up this way: close five buildings, relocate eight programs, add one new program and discontinue five programs. Jardine Enterprises has expanded its recall of cribs. According to this press release issued today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Jardine, announced a voluntary recall of more than 55,000 additional cribs. You can find photos of models in the press release. We had a Jardine crib that was included in the original recall in Ju... The horror of the allegations related to this case increases daily. This week's "Parent to Parent" topic really hits home for me. In this job, I'm inundated with horror stories and medical nightmares about children, so I can't help but obsess about my boy's safety. Especially after he breaks his arm while trying to fly off the couch like Peter Pan. Apparently, I'm not alone. The experts at ParentMap magazine say our generation worries about our kids more than previous ones, largely because we're subject to inf... I was so excited for the kids to head back to school after winter break today! But it also brought me back to the chore of making healthful lunches that my kids won't shun. It's definitely not cheap, but it has given me another option for packing lunches. The lapto... The good people of Marysville want you to know something. Determined to NOT reach a goal? Make it a New Year's resolution. Or that's what I tell myself as each new year rolls around and I don't have a thoughtful list of objectives ready to go. I've given up on radical weight loss. A "Mother of the Year" award will elude me in 2009, too. But this year, I'm going for "balance." A lot of us busy moms throw the concept out the window so we can give our kids every possible advantage in life. We want them to be athletic, challenged intellectually and artistically and have social opportunities and outlets, too. But sometimes it all gets to be too much. I don't know about you, but all I need is a few weeks off from school (with or without snow) for my appreciation for all that teachers do to be fully renewed. My best friend and I both have toddlers, and our bi-weekly conversations usually go something like this: "Hi, sorry I haven't been in touch, the baby was sick last week." |
