I remember a friend telling me a method she used when working at an elder-care home. They had trouble getting a particular resident to go to bed. This resident would always think she was on a ship, going on a journey, and “bed” didn’t fit into the story. One night my friend decided to just […]

Ask any parent or teacher how they feel about graduation ceremonies for young kids, and they’ll likely give one variation of these two responses: “They’re adorable!” or “They’re absurd.” At this time of year, many preschools, elementary schools and middle schools across the U.S. celebrate the end of the school year with a graduation. The trend […]

Playgrounds go with kids like roads go with cars — they were made for them! Just as with free play, playing on playgrounds is a lot more than rambunctious fun, though. Kids gain social skills through figuring out how to interact with and share space with other kids. They develop resilience through mastering new skills. […]

When Leonardo da Vinci was a boy, his dad worried. Young Leonardo loved building things, so his father bought him architecture books. But before long, Leonardo lost interest in building and became obsessed with bugs. When Leonardo’s fascination with bugs ended, he began painting, so his dad bought paintbrushes. On and on, Leonardo’s interests changed, […]

My son, who will be entering sixth grade this fall, is heading off to his fourth summer at sleepaway camp. For the last few years, he’s been attending three-week sessions at a camp in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, nestled into an idyllic little French-Canadian village. While he’s now a seasoned veteran eager to […]

Sleepaway camp can be a difficult adjustment, so I’d like to share some specific ways I used an old iPhone without cellular connectivity to ease my introverted son’s transition. I loaded it with a variety of both what I hoped would be social icebreakers and what I was confident would be useful soothers of frayed […]