Grasshopper New Media Presents...

Every year one of our neighbors has a Chili cookout for Halloween. And even though this post is after the holiday, hopefully you’ll find the story is worth reading.
A few days before we receive the invitation my husband asks if we’re going to join the neighbors again for  Halloween. I quickly say, “I had planned […]

I wrote a post recently about school projects and how sometimes, the line between coaching a kid and making the project more the parent’s than the child’s is often thin. In the comments, one reader mentioned how you can tell (and I would argue more so in early grades than in middle school and […]

I’ve been closely following the current, and historic, economic situation we find ourselves in. As a parent, I see a specific parallel that is close to my heart: Accountability vs. Abandonment.
With regard to our economy, we’re going to put an enormous amount of tax dollars towards rescuing foreclosed homeowners. We’re holding them accountable, and we […]

My first reaction was dismay. I’d torn open the envelope from Ten’s school, the envelope we’d been awaiting for the better part of a week. It contained a letter from his soon-to-be fifth-grade teacher, as well as a list of kids who would be in his classroom. For whatever reason, there are […]

I live in the state with the highest number of drownings in the nation for children age 1 to 4 (according to a 2007 Nova Southeastern University pilot study of drowning prevention practices in Broward and Miami-Dade counties).
In fact, in 2004, enough children drowned in Florida to fill four preschool classrooms, despite local and state […]