All posts filed under: parenting

Awareness Wednesday: Experts Drs. Nadeau and Quinn Speak about AD/HD in Girls & their Updated Book

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By Leslie Lindsay I *might* have once considered myself a quasi-expert when it came to girls with AD/HD, after all, I am raising a bright, beautiful, super-creative 10 year old daughter addled with distractibility, impulsivity, skinned knees, and an aptitude for art. And once upon a time, back when I didn’t bear the scars of childbirth and motherhood, I worked in child/adolescent psychiatry where I saw, first-hand, the manifestations of AD/HD in both girls and boys. Today, I am completely honored to have the *definitive* experts on girls and AD/HD. A hearty welcome to Drs. Nadeau, Littman, and Quinn! L.L.: Thank you so very much for being with us today. I so enjoyed UNDERSTANDING GIRLS WITH AD/HD: How they feel & why they do what they do. In fact, I breezed through as though reading a novel because it was *that* engrossing. This is a revised and updated edition—and I have to say—well done! What, in your opinion makes this an updated version? What do you hope readers glean? Patricia Quinn: When the first edition …

The Teacher is Talking: Mum’s the Word–Interview with Author Jessie Clemence

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By Leslie Lindsay As as teenager, I subscribed to YM magazine (I think it stood for Young & Modern).  The publication had a section entitled, “Say Anything: Your Most Mortifying Moments.”  Gone are the the days of YM, (and thankfully, so are my teenage years), but those mortifying moments live on, even as a mother.  Especially as a mother.  Today, I present “Cringe-Worthy Moments” by Jessie Clemence, author of There’s a Green Plastic Monkey in My Purse: And Other Ways Motherhood Changes Us.  I am thrilled to have Jessie spell it all out for us–mortifying moments and all here in her guest post.  Stay tuned to learn more about the give-a-way: a complimentary copy of her book–perfect for gifting this Mother’s Day.   Before I had my own children, I had an idea of how parenting would go. I operated under the assumption that I would parent my children to the best of my ability and that would be enough. I believed that my efforts would ensure me happy and obedient children, all the time. I was wrong. It turns out …

Write On, Wednesday: Special Post!

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By Leslie Lindsay  (image source: iTunes.com 4.05.13) Today, I have a special edition of Write On, Wedneday!  Instead of tips and ideas for the writing life, today’s post is all about digital media (which is very closely related).  While it looks like digital media is here to stay, the author of EggMania: Where’s the Egg In Exactly (Sherry Maysonav) gives parents  tips in navigating the new landscape with their children.”  Take it away, Sherry!! “Digital media for kids offers a unique platform for learning and long-term retention by activating multiple senses and cerebral pathways. Many digital products today, especially ebooks that blend entertainment with education, incorporate the three primary learning modalities simultaneously —visual, audio and kinesthetic, which increases learning potential significantly. Learning occurs depending upon the level of a child’s engagement, mentally and emotionally. So how can parents optimize their children’s screen time? Six tips for using interactive ebooks to engage your kids: 1)Visual Sense: Choose illustrated ebooks that are visually-rich, those having artful (not merely stick figure kiddy art or cartoon types common to digital games) …

Cute & Simple: Back-to-School Photo Collage

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By Leslie Lindsay With kids, it seems everything marks a milestone.  So, why would going back-to-school be anything but?  This fall, we sent two back to school–one to her Pre-K class at a familiar faith-based educational institute and the other at a “new-to-us” elementary school: welcome to 1st grade. And if you are anything like the other 200 million-billion parents out there sending their kids back to school this fall, chances are you’ve got yourself a fair number of photos marking the event.  Why not turn them into a photo collage and send cards to close family and friends? It’s fun, it’s easy and it’s relatively cheap.  I printed 12 photo collages from Walgreens for about $5.00.  I added a blurb on the back that I created in Word, printed out, and affixed to the photo–names of teachers and schools, fall activities, etc. I even added some extra card stock around the photo itself, and by doing so, it increased the size from a 4×6 to a 5×7, which fit better into the 5×7 envelopes …

In My Brain Today: My Cranky Kid

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By Leslie Lindsay Back-to-school.  While it brings elated parents, new clothes, and supplies…it also brings cranky kids.  My 1st grader was excited to go back and so far, so good.  She likes school, she likes her teacher and really hasn’t grumbled too much about her “homework.” But yet, there are still growing pains.  She has been increasingly cranky.  The crank-o-meter is rising…and the only thing I can figure is that she is coping poorly with some of the changes in routine. Therefore, I have “lost it” at least twice and all within a 24-hour period.  (You’d think she would have learned, right?!)  Sigh.  I yelled at her.  Loudly.  It hurt my throat.  I kid you not.  I felt bad, of course.  But I couldn’t take it anymore. Six years old is sassy.  Six year old girls think they know everything, think they are the boss, show little respect for anyone or anything…and well, I was just fed up.  I pulled her arm, wrapping my fingers around her bony little shoulder and turned her around, “Look, …

Apraxia Monday: Taking Apraxia to School

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By Leslie Lindsay At home, he may be a regular ol’ chatterbox, even though he has apraxia.  On the playground, she may squeal and giggle and talk with her friends, even though she has apraxia. That’s because it’s summer.  And your children are at home with you in a familiar environment, where they know the routines, the expectations, and the words/phrases needed to get their messages across.  But this week–or maybe it’s already happened: your child with apraxia will go (back) to school. What’s a parent to do?!?  Relax.  I’ve got you covered.  Not only are you dealing with the “regular” back-to-school angst every parent deals with, you have at least one other concern: childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).  And it’s not easy. Start early, but not too early talking to your child about what it means to go back to school. Get yourself and your kiddo over to the school.  Drive by on your way to Target and point it out, “Oh look, there’s your school!”  You may even consider packing a picnic and having lunch …

A Little Literacy, Please: Mary Poppins

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By Leslie Lindsay When my daughters came back from an outing to the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri raving about “Mary Poppins,” several summers ago, I scratched my head and raised my eyebrows.  Mary Poppins, really?!  Isn’t she kind of…well, old-fashioned? But they loved her mysterious magic and fun.  They were mesmerized by her wit and charm.  I had to run out and purchase the movie for they wouldn’t stop talking about her.  My oldest even wanted to be her for Halloween that year.  I convinced her, sweetly, diplomatically that maybe she better be something else.  And so she was Strawberry Shortcake. We definitely went through a Mary Poppins phase and I guess it wasn’t all bad.  There were some good, wholesome lessons from the sassy nanny. Anita Diamont, a journalist and New York Times best-selling novelist mentioned that this was one of her favorite childhood books in Everything I Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, (Roaring Book Press, 2009). She says, “Mary Poppins herself was the best magic of all: a free-spirit who comes and goes …

Write on, Wednesday: Published Author

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By Leslie Lindsay Lately, I have been getting a little nervous about the idea of becoming a an author.  I have been so “in the zone” of writing and researching, and trying to find a suitable publisher and now editing that well…I guess I sort of lost track of the fact that all of this hard work will really come to fruit in the form of a book.   It will transform me into “just a mom” to published author. What, me?  Really?!?  Couldn’t be.  Ah, but it is…. But here’s the thing:  I won’t change.  Nope.  It’s still me.  I didn’t decide to become a writer.  It was just one of those things that happened.  It’s always been a part of me; it wasn’t really a conscious decision.  I wrote because I wanted to learn.  I wrote because I needed more information on how to help my daughter with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), I wrote because I figured if I had questions, then others probably did, too. So, I get a little bubble of …

A Little Literacy, Please: Goodnight Moon

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By Leslie Lindsay Seems every parent receives a copy of Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon, at some point in their parenting journey.  We did.  Wrapped in brown paper packaging was a small board book version of the classic, along with a hand-sewen pillow emblazoned with a moon and stars, “Dear Baby Kate,” the note read.  It was from extended family on my husband’s side of the family. We still have the book.  Even though it’s a board book, the last page is torn and repaired by Dr. Mom.  My daughter’s still request it be read on occassion and they always ask about the torn pages.  “Baby Kate did it,” my youngest likes to announce.   She’s right. We’ve read the book the traditional way–straight through.  We’ve read the book with normal volume of voice at the beginning, getting quieter and quieter until we are whispering at the end.  And we’ve even adapted the book as the girls got older to a more “crude” way of reading, “And the old lady said shut up and go to bed already!”  At …

Cute & Simple: Summer’s End

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By Leslie Lindsay “Summer’s End,” hummm…sort of have mixed feelings about that, and I bet you do, too.  Sigh. Anyway, I am in the process of slowly making that transition from the open-ended days of summer to creating a sense of structure around here.  And in doing so, I uncovered a project that I meant to tackle months ago. In June, our family packed up and headed to Mackinac Island, Michigan.  It was short and sweet, but still a vacation.  A slip back in time, if you will.  While we were there, I purchased a picture book for my girls.  (It’s sort of become a tradition.  Book = souvenier).  And so, as a way of prolonging the vacation, I decided to get crafty. Sorting through photos digital images, I found a few I liked, downloaded, and printed them off to insert in the book (you can print off on regular ol’ computer paper, by “inserting photo” into a word document). I think I will add a few blurbs about what we did and funny things we …