The day McDonald’s added apple slices to the Happy Meal was the day any lingering denial about America’s obesity epidemic died. Houston, we get it. We have a Big Mac problem. Our First Lady plants gardens and dances the “Dougie” with middle school students, and Cookie Monster now teaches our kids that cookies are a […]
It’s been almost a year since Lucy the goat came to live with 8-year-old Emma van der Linde. Lucy wasn’t even 24 hours old when she arrived—and she was very sick. But a nearby farmer knew the van der Linde’s “were suckers for any animal in need, so they contacted us,” said Emma’s mother, Erin. […]
It’s no secret that Charlottesville loves the written word. The home of the Festival of the Book, local treasures like Dedalus Books, and ongoing workshops and classes at WriterHouse, this town is the place to be for writers and readers of all ages. You might recognize some of the big local names (John Grisham, anybody?) […]
Movies make it easy. Their rating system provides a pretty good suggestion for the appropriate age for kids to see certain flicks. Real-life? Not so much. Which is why it can be challenging for parents who are trying to determine if their child is old enough to, say, walk alone to the school [...]
Shortly after she learned to talk, Molly Streit announced that she wanted to take horseback riding lessons. “I made the rule that she couldn’t ride until she was 5,” her mother, Meghan, said. “The day after she turned 5, she took her first lesson.” Molly is now 7 years old, and has been riding [...]
Is there a commonly accepted “playground etiquette?” Or are playgrounds a lawless land ruled by barbaric, screaming bullies and their diaper-clad children? Thinking back, wistfully, to my own children’s blissful playground days, I see images of radiant, round-faced, sun-screened toddlers, [...]
With one child still in preschool and one in grade school, I’ve already fallen into the typical yo-yo family routine phenomenon: By the last month of the regular school year, I’m just done. Done with daily lunch packing. Done with backpack checking and bake sales. Done with incessant clock [...]
They call themselves the Smartie-Nerds (a mash-up of the two candy names), and after placing fifth in the world at last spring’s Destination Imagination global competition at the University of Tennessee, nobody’s going to argue with them. “Them” is Madison Gildersleeve-Price, Abby and Elly [...]
Physics teacher Matt Shields, who recently received a 2014 MIT Inspirational Teacher Award for his work both in and out of the classroom with students at Charlottesville High School, never planned to be a teacher. “Physics was almost an accident. I think I got a C in physics in college,” [...]
If your baby has an iPotty (training potty with iPad attached, obviously), your toddler boys have portable urinals, and you and your daughter are currently wearing matching breastmilk-pendant necklaces, congratulations! You’re taking advantage of some of the completely absurd new and innovative [...]
For some, the start of children’s sports season is a flurry of e-mails from team coaches, attending the first practice, or making a last-minute run to the store for athletic gear. For me, sports season officially begins when I sit down in my sandy folding chair at the opening game, and set my [...]
Patience is a virtue I missed out on. I’m not great with temperance or diligence, either, but patience is in especially short supply. And you know what quality really comes in handy in parenting? Patience. But sadly for you, my child, I have very little patience with you and your “reasons” [...]
The kids are back in school, so we know what that means—back to soccer practices, Boy Scout meetings, football games, and band competitions. Free time is sparse, but if you’re looking for one more activity to squeeze in, consider something that will not only teach your kid valuable skills, but [...]
I never liked babysitting. Kids tend to be sticky. And loud. I couldn’t get them to do what I said, or go to bed. On the rare occasion I actually managed to get my charges to sleep, I would invariably find their parents didn’t stock good snacks. I wanted to want to be a mother one […]
It all started with a piece on NPR about how kids today have such a narrow range of independent travel. I was driving and probably arguing with a 6-year-old, so the details are hazy in my memory. But my takeaway was that our grandparents could walk four miles alone to go fishing, whereas these [...]
Patricia “Treekie” Kavanagh has always been an animal lover. But until she gets pets of her own, she’s been making do with those around the neighborhood. “Everyone gets plenty of exercise with Treekie at the helm,” said her mom, Jill. The 7-year-old averages five miles per week walking Sky, a [...]
For decades, Linda and Clay Trainum had dreamed of creating a sustainable business that they could run as a family with their now-grown sons (Logan, 26, Tyler, 25, and Luke, 20). In 2008, the Trainums moved from North Carolina to Clay’s family farm in Waynesboro and began the daunting task of [...]
John Hellerman was out clipping his fields, conditioning the grass so his crops would thrive in the coming growing season. His mom was caring for his two young sons, when his oldest, 3-year-old David, noticed his dad was leaving the grass clippings lying around. That didn’t seem right to the [...]
My 2-year-old daughter is growing faster and stronger every day. Whenever I’m obliged to chase after her, I, like all older parents in similar moments, find myself wishing I had had children a long time ago. After all, I’m competing on the playground and in the daycare parking lot with other [...]
Don’t let your kids stay cooped up all summer. Here are a few ways to get out and soak up all the season has to offer.—Stephanie DeVaux Block Party: LEGO Gatherings. Here’s a block party for the ages (5 and up, that is). One part Legos, one part creativity. Plus, GAL provides the Legos, so no [...]
Have you ever really stopped and listened to lyrics like those in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” or Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty?” It’s startling when you hear some of the words that kids sing today. But that’s where programs like Mobile Music Mission come in. As a local company that lets kids [...]
Most kids use their Wii remotes to race cars or battle bad guys while playing games on their TV. C’erra Rhodes uses hers to teach other middle school-age girls how to solder metal. The 13-year-old created a “Wiimote” as a project through Computers4Kids in Charlottesville, an organization that [...]
For me, parenting is often about managing my own expectations. I get all fired up about some idealized vision I concoct, then struggle with the way the reality is inevitably messier, louder, smellier, whinier…more real. Have you ever seen the site pinterestfail.com? It showcases pictures [...]