Chanukah is around the corner, and there are just three weeks until Christmas. The world is kicking into high gear for the holidays. It’s inescapable. The media, advertisers, merchants are targeting our children and us, pointing us towards their ultimate goal:  buy buy buy. It’s no wonder... Read more...

The mother unwrapped the straw, poked it into the little box, and handed the drink to her toddler as they walked out of the grocery store. The sliver of straw paper slipped from the mother’s hand. I doubt that she even noticed it. Rolling my grocery cart back... Read more...

I might hold the record for having given the most single birthday parties. Each of my kids (triplets) had his/her own party from age two years old on up. It’s not that I am a glutton for punishment; it’s that there’s not much that is all yours... Read more...

I don’t like New Year’s resolutions. They scream failure. It doesn’t start that way. But inevitably the best laid plans… Two weeks into that new diet, that exercise routine, that tidy bedroom, and it’s back to square one and self-flagellation. Oh well, maybe next year. That doesn’t mean... Read more...

Let’s face it, Christmas is everywhere. Even in cities heavily populated by Chanukah celebrants, Christmas rules, as the streets are dressed in sparkles and twinkle lights and red and green and fa la la.   It’s no wonder that cries of “I want to have a Christmas tree!”... Read more...

One of the signs (sometimes laced with a bit of sadness) that your child is growing up is when the inevitable question comes, Is Santa real? While it seems so simple, it is one that puts many a parent into a tail spin.  What should I say?... Read more...

There isn't a school around that doesn't step up the giving spirit as Thanksgiving and the winter holidays approach. Mini vans are jammed with cans of corn and candied yams to replenish the city's depleted food pantry shelves. Bags upon bags of gently used clothing are distributed... Read more...

Yesterday I watched a neighbor’s nanny drape the front shrubs with that spider webby stuff in anticipation of Halloween. Such fun, I thought.  Then I noticed her charges, two little guys ages 8 and 5 were right there…watching. As far as I could tell, their job was... Read more...

 Every year my friend Freida gives me a surprising gift.  Far out pop-up books, foodstuffs from the Homeboy Industries-Homegirl Catering and Kitchen, DVD’s of documentaries I might have missed. But this year’s is the best: Of Thee I Sing: A letter to my daughters by Barack Obama.  I... Read more...

How many ways can I help you to rebrand the holidays?  I'll try one more time by sending you to watch the video I taped for Parents Ask.  http://www.parentsask.com/ Tuck the ideas away, and enjoy the rest of this holiday for now. Then when all is said and... Read more...