The preschool years are a time of tremendous growth, filled with excitement and new challenges. With summer upon us, it’s the perfect time to help your little one get ready for the big step into preschool.

Education systems vary not just within the United States but also worldwide. The importance placed on homework, high-stakes testing, and parent/family involvement differs significantly from one country to another.

When you expose children to the concepts of diversity and self-identity at an early age, you equip them to recognize themselves and others. This awareness empowers them to cultivate critical thinking skills and the agency to advocate for positive change.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that, on average, children ages 8-12 spend four to six hours a day watching TV or using screens, while teens can spend up to nine hours a day watching a screen.

Do you know someone who is hearing impaired? Does meeting someone who makes you a little nervous? Learning is the best way to help calm those nerves. April 15 is National American Sign Language Day.

Regardless of where the supply situation is, it is now the time to start getting your children back into the routines (reading, math, going to bed on time) of going back to school. I know, I know…you’re probably dreading this. However, here are some painless back-to-school tips to get back to it.

The reason time-outs are so effective at modifying childhood behavior is that they briefly take away the most important thing in young children’s lives: attention. Children yearn for the attention of their parents and for physical touch. Your attention and touch are more valued than any bottle, pacifier, lovey, or toy.

Safety isn’t something that a parent wants to think about, but the world can be a scary place, and it’s something that parents need to consider, unfortunately. No one wants to think about going out for a family outing and losing track of a child, or even worse, returning home without their child.

It took me nearly 10 years to find my desire to read again. As a self-proclaimed “lifelong learner”, it saddens me to think of the opportunities I missed over the years to learn new things and better myself.

I am going to age myself here, but I feel compelled to share another memory. When I was a kid, eight or nine years old, I was in a bowling league (at a second-hand-smoke-wafting bowling alley that now serves as a parking lot for a home improvement store) on the west side of Green Bay.