So, my son is a little hyper. Errr, actually, that is a little white lie - he is extremely hyper, easily distracted, gets bored quickly, talks non-stop, is extremely impatient and he DOES NOT LISTEN! I always thought he had one of those ADD/ADHD conditions- But I was always told that boys and girls are different and that all those symptoms I listed above were common in boys. BS. My son, drives me crazy, and apparently he drives the teachers and administrators at his school crazy as well. And his soccer coaches...you get the picture. 

I know the exact moment I knew my son had ADHD. He was seventeen months old and I had been away from him for three days – the longest stretch ever in his young life. When I first saw him he came toddling over to me, I picked him up, and then the weirdest thing happened: he just stayed there. Yes he just stayed in my arms hugging me tightly. This couldn’t have lasted for more than 45 seconds but to a first time mom whose only child didn’t stop moving for even a nano-second I thought this is AWESOME! Then a split second later I thought uh-oh.

Guilty pleasure…a little pregnant…amicable divorce…mostly proud…the list of oxymorons is endless.

Take the guilty pleasure. Supposedly, it’s indulging in something we know isn’t a good thing, but we do it anyway because the pleasure of the moment outweighs the guilt we feel about having indulged.

As a working mother, kid’s school holidays can potentially cause us much stress.  Not that we don’t want to have our little ones home with us, but if we have to work during their time off (unless we’ve planned a fantastic family vacation!!), we need something for kids to do.  The good news is, there are more and more camps offered throughout the school year now instead of just summer time.  And what’s great about these camps is that their main goal is to pro

If you have a school age child, there are eight words you dread hearing.

“I don’t want to go to school today.”

It’s even worse hearing it from your child who normally loves school because you know you’re not going to adequately resolve the problem in the time it takes to finish getting ready for work.

There are some who will criticize you for being a woman.

There are some who will criticize you for being a working woman.

There are some who will criticize you for being a mother.

There are some who will criticize you for being a working mother.

There are some who will criticize you for being a stay-at-home mother.

There are some who will criticize you for joining the PTA, not joining the PTA, packing children’s lunches, letting children buy their lunches, etc, etc, etc…

One of the biggest challenges I face day in and day out is getting out the door in the morning at the time I’m supposed to.  The days that seem to run smooth are always the days when I am most organized. 

When I became a parent, I made a promise to myself that my kids would be kids, playing outside daily and enjoying the messiness that comes with it.

But then came the day when I found out my oldest son, Jake, was accepted into an accelerated fourth grade learning program. What an honor and you bet I was proud! But what I didn’t realize was the price both of us were going to pay.

Thanks to our generous donors, we are now at 23% of our goal of $30,000. Please keep those donations coming. Remember KIDS FIRST! and consider making a contribution. Your donation supports our Film Critics Program. Every little bit helps whether it's $5, $10, $20 or more. We need your support to help us really6 put kids first. Your donation is tax deductible and 95% of it goes directly to supporting our Film Critics program.

Every child, no matter what age, should have goals. And yesterday, my fourth grade son reminded me of that.

My son mentioned to me that he had a class assignment where he needed to come up with a goal that he could achieve by the end of the school year. As soon as I heard his words, I put on my working mommy cap, eager to help him identify, fine-tune the milestones and document his goal. I mean this is exactly what I love to do—setting goals and achieving them!