• Last updated 12/21/10 by Mothering Editorial

My daughter's preschool requests that parents take turns providing a community snack each day. I want to provide something nourishing, but also fun, so that all of the kids enjoy the snack. What are the best foods to give children, ages 3-5, during mid-morning? What are the foods to stay away from? How can I make snack-time both fun and healthy? Thank you!I appreciate your question particularly since I am the mother of a 5 year old and have given a lot of thought to nourishing snack ideas that preschoolers will enjoy.In my experience, I have found that preschool children... read more

• Last updated 9/5/10 by Mothering Editorial

My 2,5 year old son will only eat carbs and then drinks his hunger away with water. I´ve until now let him choose what to eat from the table where I offer a balanced meal and this is the result. Recently I started using water and carbs as bribes for eating proteins (veggies and fruits are still a no way). I hate this method but he now eats a much better balanced meal. Am I on the right track? How else can I get him to eat protains, veggies or fruits? Have peanut butter at every dinner table?I’ve always felt that there are times for a little “bribery,” as long as the... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by mamazee

We crave it. We die for it. We try to pay for it. We aspire, we mire, we miss the mark. In the unending, coiling, incessant pursuit of being right and good enough to find love and get love and give love, we forget about the very nature of love itself. Love gets buried beneath political correctness and spirituality; behind “I” statements and neutrality; tradition, company policy, apparently healthy boundaries and self protection; and commonsense. The understandable, habitual structures of thought that keep our egos from being derailed can effectively keep... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by mamazee

Up & Down Three young children ain’t for the weak of heart. Grown up needs aren’t always met and sometimes, tensions mount. How do we reconcile ourselves to this, we the generation of pleasure seeking, goal attaining, push-the-envelope, follow your heart, live by your dream, passionate participants in life? An analogy that has come to me lately is that of a rubberband. My husband and I have been together thirteen years and right now the rubberband of our marriage is stretched wide. Luckily, ours is a thick rubberband that springs back to a small circle... read more

• Last updated 3/8/13 by mamazee

It is startling to find out that the United States ranks 29th amongst industrialized nations in terms of our infant mortality rate…that’s right 29th! Wait-it doesn’t stop there-did you know that African Americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic Whites? Also-more than one million babies die each year because they are born prematurely and about 13 million babies are born too soon according to the March of Dimes. I think I will stop there for now-its a bit too much to take in all at once. The National Healthy Start Association has... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by mamazee

Taking Off, by Chantey Dayal by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter I’ve been on my own with our children for the past four days.  This isn’t all that unusual – over our 8 years of parenting there have been many times when my husband has needed to go away for his work – sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks.  I fully admit that I have at times felt “stuck” when he’s been out of town, overwhelmed by the sudden reality of single parenting and more than a bit envious of his time... read more

• Last updated 3/8/13 by mamazee

A long-term study of pregnant women from the Salinas Valley in California shows that expectant mothers with high levels of pesticides in their bodies (measured by urine samples) are much more likely to have children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There was a 500-percent increase in attention problems in 5-year-olds whose moms had had the highest levels of pesticides in their bodies when they were pregnant. These findings add more evidence to another study, published in the journal Pediatrics in May (read more at Time.com)... read more

• Last updated 3/29/13 by Momsteader

Michelle at Wicked Whimsy inspired me to go a bit deeper with a comment that I made in an interview over at The Red Lipstick Report: I often hear “women are our own worst enemies” in terms of our culture. I’m tired of that argument. I think everyone is their own worst enemy, and I don’t think it’s about something women have specifically against each other. The uh, broadness, of my experience with the women throughout my life leaves me humble, optimistic, proud, and grateful. I’ve been screwed over by females in business and love, and I’ve planted a few... read more

• Last updated 9/5/10 by Mothering Editorial

My son is almost fifteen months and he has no interest in food still. I nurse on demand and we co-sleep, so he nurses often through the night. He is right on as far as development goes, and is a very happy growing boy. I have no issues with him still nursing, but it just seems strange that he wants nothing to do with food. I often offer whatever it is that I am eating but he purses his lips and turns away. Sometimes he will take a bite or two, but that is it. I am a graduate student and my mother watches him when I go to school, and he does the same thing with... read more

• Last updated 8/19/10 by Mothering Editorial

Aug 18th, 2010 The CDC has reported that circumcision rates in the US have fallen sharply over the last decade—from 56% of newborn boys circumcised in 2006, to 33% in 2009. Declines are being attributed to the American Academy of Pediatrics statement in 1999 that "existing data [was] not sufficient to recommend routine newborn male circumcision" and reduced insurance coverage of the surgery—among other factors.1  U.S. Newborn Male Circumcision Rate Dropped Sharp. American College of Emergency Physicians. Steep Drop Seen in Circumcisions in U.S. New York... read more