By Colleen McTiernan These days, it seems like teens have a language all their own. With shortened words, acronyms, conjoined words and words that almost seem to appear out of thin air, it can be hard for parents to keep… read more
Conception 2 College
Why Do They Have to Move?
By April Tisher Gainesville is known as a transient town. The University of Florida attracts some of the best people in the world for education and jobs. This also means that once those people graduate, finish their residency or change… read more
Sleeping for Two
By Rizwana Fareeduddin, MA, FACOG Dr. Fareeduddin is a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist in Gainesville, Florida. Follow her on Twitter @rizwanafl Any new parent will tell you that getting sleep is almost impossible. But did you realize that sleep difficulties… read more
Volunteering Past Elementary School: How to Stay Involved in Your Child’s Academic Career
By Nicole Irving Your child enters kindergarten, and your eyes light up the moment you see the parent sign-up sheet. Your dreams have come true. Countless hours of cutting, pasting, reading, cooking, baking and field trips are just a signature away. The angels sing, hymns play and… read more
When Is It Smart to Get Your Child a Smartphone?
Smartphones are becoming more and more of a necessity for the tween crowd. Tweens are rarely off the grid, and they use their phones for both communication and entertainment. I recently had dinner with friends whose three adolescent children were plugged in for the majority of the… read more
The Hardest Goodbye…to Date
By Nicole Irving I am truly blessed. I have three amazing boys who are healthy, happy and full of energy and life. They are smart, sassy and compassionate. They have their dad’s freckles and my eyes. They are the perfect mixture of both of… read more
Too Young to Wear That?
I have always enjoyed dressing my daughter. From the moment the ultrasound tech said “girl,” visions of darling smocked dresses, big hair bows and precious ensembles flashed in my head. Like any good, self-respecting southern mama, I overindulged. I’m talking enough outfits to change seven times a day… read more
Baby, You Ought to be in Pictures!
A generation or two ago, a baby’s first picture would have to wait until his birthday, snapped on a Polaroid camera or captured on film. These days, once that line turns blue on the pregnancy test, a mama-to-be can see… read more
Is It Time to Call It Quits?
It’s almost inevitable that your child, upon finding his passion is soccer, or lacrosse, or piano, will realize several years into it that “passion” may have been too strong a word. In fact, he may utter those dreaded words that… read more
Learning with Toys
A couple weeks ago, as I was digging through my 4-year-old’s toys in the garage to find some things for my 8-month-old to play with, I was thinking about the number and variety of toys we have collected over almost… read more