Saturday, May 26, 2012
by Jenny Stauffer
It’s that time of year again! Time to heat up our grills, enjoy the outdoors, and let our kids chase lightning bugs and stay up to enjoy the warm weather! These recipes are perfect for nights like these and are ideal for either entertaining a crowd or for feeding a family.
I tried to find alternatives to the regular hamburger and hot dogs, and these recipes are fun for both the adults and kids aIike. I have tasted and tested each of these recipes and my whole family gave them a thumbs up! Happy summer! Read More
Have you voted for your favorite 2012 Moms Choice Award nominees? The voting period began last week and runs through the end of this month. Voting is easy and open to anyone - simply click on the survey link below and cast your votes accordingly. 
It seems like we have commemorative weeks and days to celebrate all kinds of things. For example, May is national hamburger month, and this week was Women's Health Week...who knew? Today is one that I really can get behind, though. According to the 
September – school starting back and the start of soccer and football season. Fans of both sports are passionate in their love of these games. One does not have to look very far to spot people wearing football or soccer apparel around the Triad. Sports are an important part of most people’s lives, and they are commonly discussed at home, with friends, in the workplace, in cyber space and through any form of media that we come in contact with on a daily basis. As such, it seems we would be doing our children a disservice to not expose them to different sports and give them an opportunity to experience playing different sports. 
We are already thinking "hooray for fall" around here, and what better way to celebrate than to plan some outdoor fun? These tips and tricks from Katie can help you get the ball rolling. Enjoy! ...Kristen B. 
When people find out I homeschool my two kids, ages 9 and 12, I get a variety of reactions, many of which can be summed up in the comment, “I could NEVER do that.” Occasionally, though, someone will say they admire homeschooling and would like to know how I reached that decision. 
Several years ago, I taught music to a kindergarten student who was described by his classroom teachers and parents as unhappy, moody, contradictory and never excited about anything. That same year I gave him a solo in a school musical, and it was like watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. This child became confident and excited about everything. Suddenly, there was joy and happiness, and it spilled over into his classroom and home life in a very positive way. The teachers were amazed at thetransformation in this child, and they attributed the change to the joy that music brought into his life. 
One of the more vexing skin problems affecting children is molluscum contagiosum. What is it and what can be done about it?
Feeling uncomfortable about being separate from mom and dad, or “separation anxiety” is most commonly thought to be something that impacts preschool children and kindergarten age. It does, but also common is the onset around 4th grade. It catches parents off guard because they think they are done with this sort of thing. 
As the mother of two boys from Africa, people often tell me they’ve always wanted to adopt. Honestly, that was never my intention. Even when I made my first phone call to an adoption agency, I did so as a see-God-I-am-willing-to-adopt-now-can-I-get-pregnant barter with the Big Guy. And yet, at some point along the way, I began to realize that getting pregnant, naming a child, or mothering a baby was not important. I simply wanted to be a mom. It was a process that started half-way around the world – not in my children’s home country of Ethiopia - but in Russia. 
Happy Mothers' Day weekend to all of you from the moms right here on our TMOM team! I thought today was a great day to post this reminder from Mother Teresa. These verses were reportedly written on her wall for children in Calcutta, India. (Our friend Rachel at 
At some point of your parenting tenure, this scenario is going to happen to you:
For those of you who don't want to talk about anything below the belt, now is the time to divert your eyes. This is one of those topics that I was thinking about in the car yesterday and, well, here we are. 
Yesterday’s blog about dealing with your child’s eating and weight focused on what NOT to do. Today’s topic is much more hopeful! Let me back up a bit and let you know that I have great compassion for all of us here. I hear a desperate, confused, and somewhat lost tone when parents talk about their child’s weight. Our nation is concerned about “childhood obesity” and we hear a great deal about waging a “war” against it. As part of my inquiry into how twisted up we are about this topic, I looked up how much money we spend in our pursuit of thinness. In the US last year, we spent an estimated $46 billion on diet products and self-help books. At any and every moment at least 77% of Americans are “dieting” or trying to lose weight. Most people seem to have heard the news that dieting doesn’t work, but we are still feeling desperate enough about our weight to fall for the promise of the diet. Losing “10 pounds in 10 days” sounds so good just when you are pulling your swimsuits out of storage! I get it. 
Does anything freeze you in your tracks faster than someone commenting on your child’s body size? Is there anything that creates more embarrassment, shame, confusion, anxiety, or maybe anger, than “Has Johnny gained some weight?”?! The issue of our children’s weight is a point of major confusion, worry, and angst for almost every parent. The mom who is comfortable and confident about this issue is as rare as, well, the mom who is comfortable and confidant about her own body. And therein lies the rub. We don’t want our kids to have to deal with the struggle that comes with being overweight. We want to protect our kids from the very real prejudice that exists in our culture against kids who are not thin. But how do you address this sensitive and emotionally- loaded topic?
Chrissy is the brains behind 
