At nearly two months into the new year, it’s a good time for families to reflect on making positive changes in their lives. And that doesn’t only apply to the grown-ups. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), New Year’s resolutions can be a great way for kids …
Read More »Jennifer Marino Walters
The School-Year Vacation Guide
More and more families are traveling during the school year. Here’s how to minimize the impact—and maximize the benefits—of school-year vacations. Last January, my family took an epic 11-day vacation to Oahu, Hawaii. We swam, snorkeled, hiked and—most importantly—bonded. The best part? Our kids, twin boys in fifth grade and …
Read More »Building Your Prenatal Care Team
You’re pregnant. Congratulations! Before you begin all the fun stuff such as decorating the nursery and picking out baby clothes, you’ll need to make an important decision: Who will help care for you and your baby during pregnancy and childbirth? Learn about your options so that you can put together …
Read More »Visiting Museums with Kids
Museums across the country are starting to reopen after being forced to close in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of them, such as Baltimore’s Port Discovery Children’s Museum, Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum and the National Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C., are geared just for kids. But …
Read More »Soothing Separation Anxiety for Your Pandemic Pets
Whenever Adam Lopuch would leave his house to pick up food, drive the baby to day care or mow the lawn, his Labrador retriever, Bella, would go nuts. She’d bark nonstop. She’d jump on the windowsill, sometimes scratching off the paint. She’d pant. After Lopuch and his wife, Abbie, got …
Read More »Stopping the ‘Summer Slide’
At the end of every school year, many parents start to worry about the “summer slide”— the loss of knowledge and skills attributed to summer break. But experts disagree on just how concerned parents need to be. In 2017, researchers from the Brookings Institution examined several studies related to summer …
Read More »