A reader writes: So Tipat Chalav is now advising to give all babies tastes of food beginning at *4* *months*, because if we "wait" until 6 months some babies get more attached to the bottle and might resist integrating solids into their diet.Isn't there some statistic about breastmilk-only for 6 … [Read more...]
Do Israelis Send to Too Many Hugim?
October 9, 2011 by
When my older children were small, I avoided sending them to hugim (extracurricular activities). Part of it was expense, and part was that I did not want to have to wake up the baby or toddler when it was time to do dropoff or pickup. They weren't completely deprived—I often arranged something at … [Read more...]
"Half-Shabbos" and Texting: What Is the Parent’s Role?
June 24, 2011 by
The New York Jewish Week wrote about the phenomenon known as "Half-Shabbos," in which teens who are otherwise Sabbath observant use their cell phones to text their friends. When I asked my kids if this is common in Israel, they said that they had first heard about it from me! They haven't seen it … [Read more...]
Who "Owns" Your Kid’s Homework?
June 10, 2011 by
Some teachers think that parents are responsible for their kids' homework. Most parents think they are too. I disagree. I'm not saying that homework is unimportant, or that kids should get a pass. But once children have been in school for a while, the responsibility for homework needs to … [Read more...]
How Different Are Boys and Girls?
May 26, 2011 by
Boys are good at math. Girls are good at multi-tasking. Men talk less, and women are more empathetic. But are these differences a function of biology, or social conditioning? Do they even exist? The gap between male and female cognitive ability, as indicated by intelligence testing, has shrunk to … [Read more...]
When Do You Get Your Kids Cell Phones?
March 16, 2011 by
I once heard an expert on the radio talking about kids and cell phones. She was concerned that children as young as gan (preschool/kindergarten) brought cell phones to school. At the end of the discussion, the host asked whether the expert's own children had cell phones. "Yes," she … [Read more...]
How to Deal with Bullying
March 2, 2011 by
My friend shared the following story: Her 10-year-old son came home from school with a red slap mark on his face. He'd been hit hard enough that the mark was still visible by the time he got home. The parents called the school and the child was switched to the other class. But that afternoon … [Read more...]
Video: Tuned-Out by Technology
January 31, 2011 by
Call over your teens and pre-teens to watch this excellent video about Facebook and a "tuned-out" family. Even if you have limited Hebrew, you'll understand 90%. The scenes at the dinner table and at the end are especially good. It's produced by girls from the Lehave religious high school in … [Read more...]
How Teens (and Parents) Are Like a River
December 7, 2010 by
I recently came across Haim Ginott's classic, Between Parent and Teenager. Published in 1969, his examples often relate to hippie teens and "square" parents but the principles remain the same. In his chapter on criticism, Ginott explains the long-term damage parents can cause by assigning negative … [Read more...]
Babies and Bullies
November 16, 2010 by
I've been telling everyone I meet about a blog post from the New York Times called Fighting Bullying with Babies. It's about a program, Roots, that brings babies to elementary school classrooms once a month. After Manitoba completed the program into 300 schools, violence decreased by 50%. Not only … [Read more...]
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