Tag Archives: play

Playing Hooky

I’m beginning to feel a little giddy now that the change to Daylight Savings Time is coming this weekend. Every year when we turn the clocks back one hour, I too turn back in time – but in years. I feel like the kid I once was  – excited about getting another hour of sunshine each day. Growing up, the change to daylight savings time came later in the year, closer to the end of school. So I always connected the clock change to my carefree days of summer in … Continue reading

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Helping Kids Feel Secure

 The summer got away from us – one morning our grandsons were pitching sand balls into the lake, the next afternoon they were preparing their backpacks for school. Whereas Monday’s blog post focused on kids’ stress that comes from media coverage of trauma, there are lots of other situations that can make kids feel anxious – like the first day of school. Kids respond differently and the impact of any stressor depends on their personality, maturity, and coping mechanisms. Some have trouble explaining how they feel so it’s not always … Continue reading

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Are Your Kids Hooked on TV?

The latest Nielsen figures indicate that children are watching more television than ever – those aged 2 to 5 are watching more than 32 hours a week while for those 6 to 11, it drops slightly, probably due to school hours, to more than 28 hours a week. That’s still, on the average, more than 4 hours a day. These numbers include VCR and game console usage but not time on the computer or playing hand-held video games. Are you concerned about these numbers? Children’s healthcare advocates certainly are. They … Continue reading

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Competition and Cooperation

Yesterday, in honor of Father’s Day, we started a blog series about how to better understand the men in our lives. We looked at how their conversations often revolve around how to fix things, solve a problem, accomplish a goal – that is, when they’re not about the score of the latest, or a classic old, game. Visiting this week with our three young grandsons, it is easy to see how this focus develops early. As we watch them play together, and play with them, it is striking how many … Continue reading

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