My wife and I were happy to be alone on a "date" - even if it was going to a wedding. At home, the babysitter wrangled our three kids - Peter, 10, Will, 9, and princess Kathryn, 7.
When the going gets tough, the tough get baking. At least that's the philosophy of Nancy Olmos, owner of Clarice's Cake & Candy Supplies. Olmos teaches four or more hands-on baking classes per month at her Newhall location, the Santa Clarita Valley's only independent baking supply store, which carries everything from edible "spray" paints to Elmo-shaped baking pans.
The turbulent adolescent years are an especially trying time for students, yet we parents often fall into the trap of expecting children to respond to reason and logic as though the kids are younger versions of ourselves. Have you ever caught yourself saying to them, "What were you thinking?" after a particularly illogical action? We forget that they are undergoing tremendous changes physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.
Americans are infatuated with Valentine's Day. Telling each other how much we love them has been on display in nearly every store window and newspaper ad for weeks. According to the National Retail Federation Americans spent a record $18 billion on Valentine's Day in 2008. More than 200 million valentines were exchanged, not including those used in the traditional classroom exchanges.
The Brittany Foundation, a non-profit humane organization dedicated to the rescue of homeless dogs has several "senior citizens" in need of placement in caring homes.
The car was packed. The snowboards, jackets and gloves were set out the night before. My two sons, Peter, 10, and Will, 9, came into my room that morning at 4:45 a.m. excited to celebrate a special day with their dad.
There's a lot of love in the air these days, and Cupid is ready with his bow and arrow to do some match-making and to make the love last. Good dating manners is a way to turn a potential romance into a lasting love affair. Here are a few of Cupid's pointers:
ESCAPE Theatre and 220 children and teens will perform "The Music Man" at Hart Auditorium in Newhall on Saturday and Sunday.
Bandit, a 1-year-old Coonhound, is a handsome young lad looking for a home with a big backyard and someone to take him for long walks.
They fly through the air, sometimes with the greatest of ease, sometimes not. Three hundred cheerleaders, ranging in age from 5 to 18, jumping, tumbling, dancing, stunting, tossing and forming pyramids intensely practicing for a two and a half minute shot at championship glory.
Abandoned at a house and left to die of starvation, Bill is just so happy to be safe and loved that all he wants is to stay in your arms and cuddle (though he likes car rides, too).
A mother orphaned at age 11. A grandfather murdered. A sensational past, its events shrouded in mystery, only became clear to City Councilman Bob Kellar after an idle conversation turned into a full-blown genealogical search that went back 10 generations. "I was mesmerized to learn that one of my relatives on my dad's side had participated in an Indian battle during the 1700s, he gave a statement about it in the 1800s," Kellar said. "There ...
Do you have a checklist of the people who deserve a thank-you note from you for holiday gifts? Whether you'll be writing notes of cheer and happy thanks, or some more serious correspondence like condolences, apologies or "Dear Johns," you can put words together with a polite pen that make your communication a positive experience.
The past year was a tough year here in the Santa Clarita Valley, especially when it came to our teenagers.
Carmen, who's blind from cataracts, is looking for a special person to live with the rest of her life. She's a 9-year-old Lhasa Apso in good physical health. Carmen loves to go on walks and has a slight amount of shadow vision. It would be best for Carmen to be in a quiet home with no other animals or young children.
When I was a child, back in the Parenting Stone Age (a.k.a. the Parentocentric Era), your parents were the most important people in the family. They paid the bills, bought your clothes, prepared the food you ate, took care of you when you were sick, drove you to where you needed to be, tucked you in, and kissed you good night. They were essential.
Q: Is it okay to start teaching our 1 year old how to play independently? He screams and cries when I put him in any type of enclosure if he can't get "free" (even when I arrange the furniture in a way that he has a very ample play area). Is there a method to teach him how to play by himself for at least a little bit? It seems I am following him around ...
Q: It seems our 1 year old is showing willful disobedience. We tell him "no" and try to redirect but he does the same things over and over again. The things in question include turning over and not being cooperative when I'm trying to change him, slapping us in the face, and standing up during bath time. I'm trying to be creative with ways to entertain him and make things fun but am getting weary. Any advice on how I can correct him?
Q: Our 7-year-old son is very negative about everything. He's a middle child, so that may have something to do with it, but everyone else in the family is very happy, positive, optimistic, and so on. He never has anything positive to say about anything. Things the rest of us enjoy he says are "stupid" or "dumb." We raise all of our kids the same, so we don't understand where the negativity is coming from, ...
One of the reasons-it's probably in the top three reasons, in fact-that parents fail at solving discipline problems is they try to solve too many at once. In so doing, they scatter their disciplinary energy too thinly and end up solving none. The only thing they accomplish is getting more frustrated and more convinced that there is something about their child that renders discipline ineffective-a gene perhaps, inherited from the father (who else?), that causes ...
American parents have been listening to professional psycho-babblers tell them how to raise children since the late 1960s. I was in graduate school at the time, and my professors thought the babblers were geniuses, sent by some New Age divinity to correct all the egregious wrongs parents had done to children since time immemorial. Children were about to enter a Golden Age in which their opinions would not only be listened to but also taken ...
In the seventh grade I was promoted by my peers from president of the class geek-nerd-brainiac society to, well, if not fully cool, then at least on the way. I had discovered two sports I excelled in-golf and baseball-and the girls had discovered that I was one of the best, if not the best, dancer in the class. My classmates began overlooking the fact that I was a straight-A student, always sported a few pimples, and wore thick glasses.
While working in my secret parenting laboratory, hidden deep beneath the earth's surface and accessible only by me and a small, select team of associates, I recently made what I believe is a huge and history-making breakthrough that promises to greatly improve parenting the world over.
Q: In our city, most of the high school seniors participate in "Senior Beach Week" during spring break. They rent beach houses and condos and party like there's no tomorrow. Alcohol, marijuana, and sex abound. Our friends justify allowing their kids to go by saying they have to be trusted sometime. In truth, we all have good kids who have never given us any trouble. They just want to go and be part of the ...
Q: Our 18 month old is a table terror! While I'm preparing dinner, she walks around acting like she's starving, but as soon as we sit her in her highchair she takes a few bites and then wants down, screams, cries, and will sometimes throw food. Through all this, our 5- and 3-year-old try to talk to us but can't get a word in for all the chaos. We absolutely dread eating in a restaurant. How should we address her behavior?
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