Talking with Kids About Good Study Habits FOR AGES: 6 and up How can you help your kids improve their study skills? Start by asking them to define their study preferences: Do they study best when curled up on a comfy chair, or do they fall asleep? Do they like a bustling study environment, or are they easily distracted? When do they study best – early morning, during the day, or late at night?...

This isn’t as easy as it sounds (not that it sounded all that easy). To lighten your task, I’ve prepared a little chart. All you have to do is pick the five most important items listed. Then arrange them from most to least important. The ones on the “most important” side are the ones you’ve decided are worth the effort to attain. Top Five Picks Power Lines Next, figure out who has the power in your extended family....

Another major advantage to choosing a day care center is that centers are able to remain open if one of the employees is ill. In a family day care setting, discussed in Family Day Care, there may only be one caregiver, forcing the need to make other arrangements if the caregiver is sick. Absent a facility-wide outbreak of an illness, a day care center can be relied upon to remain open on all of its regular business days....

Recognize the problem. Maybe your sister-in-law has been competing with you from Day 1. Do you really expect her to stop now? Your pregnancy has nothing to do with her attitude; she’ll compete over any issue. Weigh the advice your in-laws give you. Some of it will be remarkably dopey, but among the dross you’ll find nuggets of gold. For example, there is a lot to be said for getting rest during pregnancy and after delivery; I wish I had taken that advice!...

Colorado clinical psychologist and divorce expert, Mitchell Baris, Ph.D, co-author of Caught In the Middle: Protecting the Children of High-Conflict Divorce, has some guidelines for those wrestling with this difficult decision. When is it possible, through diligent, hard work, perhaps in counseling, to save a marriage? And when is it generally impossible? When—despite the kids—are you doing the right thing by throwing in the towel? There are, of course, many reasons for divorce, including sexual infidelity or abandonment, a lack of interest, a difference in values, and even abuse....

Parents may wonder what the significance is of having a BFF (best friends forever) or not. For example, you may worry that your child is limiting their social circle too much by focusing heavily on one friend. Or you might question if they are missing out if they don’t have one. You may also wonder how to support your child if these friendships fall apart. Here, we explore the significance of best friend relationships and the possible benefits and drawbacks of having a BFF and other types of friendships....

Think about it. In life, you don’t treat every person you know exactly the same. Everyone is unique with different temperaments, personalities, and needs. So why would you place such an unrealistic expectation on yourself when it comes to your kids? But what about the times when parenting is influenced by uncontrolled circumstances like birth order, special needs, and gender? In those cases, parents need to be particularly cognizant of the pitfalls that can happen in each of these scenarios....

Effort: Quick and easy – no sewing required Materials: Surgical scrubs or lab coat Plastic chili peppers Stethoscope Surgical mask Hot glue gun Card stock or construction paper Small photo of your child Instructions: Attach the peppers to the scrubs or lab coat with hot glue (or sew them on, if you wish). Make a name badge from cardstock or construction paper, glue a photo of your child on it, and write “Chili Pepper, M....

Effort: Quick and easy – no sewing required Materials: Any color shirt and pants Fabric or sturdy paper Fabric glue or safety pins Scissors Instructions: Cut two E shapes out of the paper or fabric. Glue them to the front and back of your child’s shirt. He’s now an “E-male”! More Costume Ideas

Small plastic Easter eggs Pennies, dried beans, small rocks, popcorn kernels, beads, buttons, and so on Glue gun Empty egg carton Directions: For an older child, fill two eggs with each substance. Have him shake the eggs and match up the pairs by listening to the sounds they make.

Obviously, if a child is dyslexic, a program designed to remediate dyslexia will offer the best chance of success—and fortunately, there are many research-based programs available for dyslexia. How Do Dyslexia Programs Work? Any program being used to support a child with dyslexia should specifically address the issues surrounding the disorder. In other words, if your child is frustrated and acting out because they are having great difficulty with reading and writing, an appropriate program should help them to build their reading and writing skills....

Empty egg carton Scissors Glue, tape, or stapler Blue and yellow tempera paint Q-Tips Directions Older children may enjoy using birthday candles in place of Q-Tips. If you decide to actually light the birthday candles, be sure to supervise carefully. If you find the candles a little loose, secure them by wrapping playdough around the base of the candle where it pokes through the egg carton.

While cervical mucus changes throughout the menstrual cycle, EWCM is the most fertile and signals the best time to have sex for pregnancy. This stage of mucus is the ideal viscosity and pH for sperm. Some consider vaginal discharge a nuisance or a hygiene problem. But if you are trying to conceive, when you see egg white discharge, it’s time to have sex. Or, as they say on the fertility forums, BD!...

If you take a pregnancy test at home and the result is positive, it’s important to see a doctor straight away to confirm the results and determine your next steps. If the result turns out to be a false-positive, it can make the situation even more overwhelming. It is more common than most people realize to have a false positive, so we’ve listed all the reasons below of why you could get a false positive result to help you feel more prepared....

Yet, it seems like there are twins everywhere you turn; perhaps you notice more and more families with double strollers out and about in the mall or more frequent announcements in the media from celebrity parents celebrating the birth of twins. Television shows like “Kate Plus Eight” (formerly “Jon and Kate Plus Eight”) or “Texas Multi Mamas” shine a spotlight on multiple births. Schools report record registration of twins and multiples and educators wrestle with the issue of classroom placement....

However, while a false positive pregnancy test result is uncommon, it can happen, for a variety of reasons. Learn more about the causes of false positive pregnancy tests. What Is a False Positive? A false positive on a pregnancy test means that the test result says you are pregnant but you actually aren’t. In most cases, this means the test detected the hormone hCG in your urine when there really was no hCG in your urine....