Of all the get-rich-quick schemes concocted by America’s children, perhaps none is so beloved as the lemonade stand. For more than 100 years, this tried and true business venture has provided thousands of children with a valuable lesson in entrepreneurism and the value of a dollar. And while lemonade stands might not be as prominent today as they were back in the old days, they can still be…

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Emotional intelligence involves understanding your feelings, managing your feelings, motivating yourself, and productively persisting in the face of setbacks.

Emotional intelligence, as Daniel Goleman stated in his book…

During the past weekend, my oldest daughter was married in a small, intimate wedding at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, Illinois.…

Spring is in the air. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the daffodils are starting to pop up everywhere. It’s time to enjoy the outside again.  What better way then to grab our cameras and kids and have some fun just snapping away?

 …

I came across this wonderful article today as I was scrolling through Twitter. It  appeared in the New York Times 10th April 2013 in the Opinion section. There is little I can add to what it says only it supports the work of Dr Sheila Delongarti of Macquarie  University NSW Australia into the importance of speaking to babies from birth into correct sentences about anything and everything.  In fact she has found that babies and toddlers exposed to high level vocabulary in correct sentence…

Speech and language developmental milestones for three year olds.

Speech-Language developmental milestones: Three year old

Below are some general guidelines to determine whether your three year old's speech and…

Infants and kids eyes can become easily irritated due to environmental factors.  Factors such as changes in the weather, chemicals, allergies, injuries, bacterial or viral infections can trigger eye irritations.  The two common culprits that causes inflammation of the eyes are “pink eye” (conjunctivitis) and blocked tear ducts.…

Speech and language developmental milestones for four year olds.

4 year old speech and language milestones

Below are some general guidelines to determine whether your four year old's speech and language development…

I have been hearing a lot about gender reveal parties lately. It’s a trend on facebook and pinterest that has caught my attention. With today's progress with gender prediction test, parents can determine gender sooner and sooner than ever before, making the "party" planning process one of some time and commitment.

Commonly, during gender reveal parties parents-to-be will cut into a cake with anticipations of hot pink or royal blue filling.…

In a perfect world, money would grow on that oak tree in your front yard. You would never need to worry about saving for college, paying off your mortgage or even finding a spare $20 bill for your daughter to take with her to the movies. However, this isn’t a perfect world, and in order to juggle all of the expenses faced by your household you need to set a budget.

Unfortunately, far too many families assume that budgets are too difficult to set up and follow to be worth their time.…

As parents, we are tempted to believe that our children’s thought development follows the same pattern as their physical development.

Fingers start out small and grow bigger. Crawling leads to walking. However, creativity peaks in early childhood largely because it is such an important learning tool. It is…

Working with and being a student of social media, I live on the computer, my iPhone and laptop. I don't have a pad..yet. I use twitter, skype, facebook, pinterest, stumbleupon, wordpress, hootsuite, instagram and whatever else I can get my hands on. I am also a mommy gamer. Yep, never let my inner geek child go. Being this connected obviously rubs off on the kids as well.

Connected…

Hello, everyone! 

I hope this day brings you sunshine - inside and out!  It's been a busy week for me! 

I’ve been doing an extensive amount of research these past weeks about parent education on the topic of vision assessments.  Over the years, as I’ve become more and more involved in the vision arena, I’ve found that one of the most common questions, and an area of much confusion, is the one concerning the difference between Developmental Optometrists, Optometrists and…

I have been extremely happy to help a couple of different customers in the last few weeks who have come in to the bookshop specifically looking for wordless picture books. Why so happy? Because over the last eight years I have generally found that wordless picture books, no matter how visually stunning, hilarious or touching or award-winning, can be a really tough sell.

And that's a shame.

Now, I should be quick to point out that there is no lack of interest in these books on…

As your beautiful baby grows, you notice that he will look at you for longer periods.

He will even make faces to try to get your attention. These moments are especially important in laying down the foundation for visual attention. Every second you can grab to look at and talk with your baby is key to building…

A reminder that kids, parents and adults should all be wary of online predators and that predators come in many forms - some of which can be surprising. http://what-is-privacy.com/2013/04/05/was-i-a-victim-of-an-online-predator/

Leaders are made, not born.

Your child will be in a position of leadership one day, whether as a manager, a parent or simply as somebody who can no longer depend on teachers and parents to guide them: a leader of self.

In order to be effective leaders they will require a high level of communication skills. They will need to express themselves, motivate others, listen, and know how to address large groups of people as well as individuals.

So how can we prepare our…