Parents tread carefully as sons learn about girls

By Tammy DiDomenico

February 14th, the day to celebrate love in all its forms, is again approaching. With my youngest son in his final year of elementary school, the sweet rituals of elementary school will soon become a part of my family’s past. And I am bracing for less-innocent Valentine’s Days to come.

[More]

Coping with the disorder in myself, and my kids

By Alexis Smith as told to Tammy DiDomenico

When I was a child I always had concerns about my inability to stay focused. I didn’t have any learning disabilities. I could get my school work done, I was just a little disorganized. I had a messy room, things would just distract me.

 

[More]

A new T.A. reflects on her lessons

By Tammy DiDomenico

 

 

[More]

Having a baby in a birth center

By Amy Suardi

If I could give birth a thousand times, I’d be pregnant right now. However, when I found out I was expecting our fourth child at age 40, I knew it was probably my last.

[More]

Raising an infant locavore has its hurdles

By Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows

Long before my nearly 5-month-old son first lunged at a spoonful of rice cereal, I had been anticipating and fretting over his transition to solid food. As a home cook, food writer and locavore—a local food enthusiast—I spend lots of time in the kitchen. This means that Timothy also spends lots of time in the kitchen. Watching him feed on formula meal after meal, I wondered if he was tiring of his unvaried diet. The day his hand found its way into my dish of grilled fish and sautéed arugula I knew it was time to begin the food adventure.

[More]

My kid did the homework

By Deborah Cavanagh

I open up Amanda’s sixth-grade school planner and find a yellow sheet of paper with three famous historical quotes. The directions say that each student is required to choose one of the quotes, stand in front of the class and recite it. Attached to this yellow sheet is a pink sticky note saying, “We are not sure if Amanda will do this but thought it was worth a try.”

[More]

How do you react to a child’s rude gesture?

By Tammy DiDomenico

Many less-than-wonderful things find their way home from our children’s schools each day: We have the onslaught of cold and flu germs, homework and notes from the teachers, and nasty habits passed on from “other” children.

[More]

A new mother tries, and tries again, to breastfeed

By Eileen Gilligan

I  have always believed I have a high tolerance for pain. My husband came to agree after watching me give birth to our son. It was a great labor and delivery, with no pain medications, and then a 9-pound, 12-ounce MacIntyre appeared.

[More]

A mother and child balance nutrition and personal ethics

By Mikaela and Annemarie Neary as told to Tammy DiDomenico

For many families, the approaching holiday season conjures visions of hearty feasts, tables full of culinary delights enjoyed while surrounded by friends and family. But for increasing numbers of American families, dietary concerns and preferences have changed the holiday dinner table and the everyday one, too.

[More]

Getting involved in my child’s classroom placement

By Tammy DiDomenico

Last summer, I did something I once thought I would never do during my children’s journeys through the local public school system: I requested a specific teacher.

[More]

My quest for a physiological birth after cesarean

By Reid Sullivan
I was in my 37th week of pregnancy with my second child, and my obstetrician was examining my bulging abdomen.

[More]

We started noticing something about him

By Jean Leiker as told to Tammy DiDomenico

Bradley was our second child. Right around that 18- to 24-month-old period, we started noticing something about him. Looking back, I think my mother’s intuition told me that something was off.

[More]

An interfaith family navigates the winter holidays

By Tammy DiDomenico

The DeMari family attends weekly services at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas in DeWitt. But the strong faith they share as a family has actually grown from a union of Jewish and Roman Catholic cultures. At no time of the year is this more apparent than during the winter holiday season.

[More]

When your baby grows up

By Judy DeLorenzo as told to Tammy DiDomenico

When my youngest daughter, Kristen, was preparing to start kindergarten last year, I thought a lot about what was going to happen with her, her personality and adjustment. But I also thought a lot about me. I quit my job to stay home when my oldest, Lauren, 12, was first born. I was home for 11 years. So, last summer I thought, “How is this going to change my life? Here I was with my children every single day, and this changes a lot of things.”

[More]

A Clay mother talks about her out-of-hospital experience

By Danielle Decker
as told to Tammy DiDomenico

The decision to try a home birth actually started with my oldest son, Hunter, who is now 5. He was born in the hospital, I was fully medicated, had pitocin, an epidural—the whole kit and caboodle. After that I said, “I’m not having any more drugs. I’m not going through that again.”

[More]