Smart Blog
Back-to-school supplies: Some for your kids and some for those in need
My daughter and I started plotting out our back-to-school shopping plans yesterday. It’s that time.
Emma and I love our annual shopping trip for binder paper, glue sticks, notebooks, mechanical pencils and on and on. We generally stop at two or three stores before heading home with bags of great stuff for Emma and my son. [...]
Look who has a license to drive!
My daughter got her driver’s license today.
It rained the day Emma took her first behind-the-wheel lesson, and I was a nervous wreck while I waited for her to get back home. Today is downright hot. I was still a nervous wreck, and so was Emma.
She pulled my SUV into the DMV carport and waited and [...]
Thinking of hiring a private college counselor? Do your homework first
Updated on Aug. 11, 2009
How badly do you want your child to make it into the college of her dreams? How much are you willing to pay? I’m not talking about tuition. How much are you willing to pay just to guide her through the application process?
Some parents - you may want to sit down [...]
Summer doesn’t get any better than this
I played hooky this afternoon and took my son and two of his friends to the beach.
The waves off Torrey Pines State Beach were pretty weak, so the boys abandoned their boogie boards for an old, flat football.
How long can two 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old entertain themselves playing monkey in the middle in [...]
Do-Re-Mi video makes a powerful point: California kids can’t afford education cuts
Sometimes a mom has to do what a mom has to do. Just ask Helen Mendoza and Deb McCurdy.
These two moms from South Pasadena noticed that a crucial voice was missing from the discussion over California’s shrinking education budget: the kids who stand to lose the most. So with little time and even less money, [...]
Take the SAT Parent Challenge
How long has it been since you took the SAT? Twenty years? Thirty?
If you have a high schooler who will be taking the college entrance exam anytime soon, the Princeton Review has a challenge.
The test prep company is offering the SAT Parent Challenge, a 12-question quiz that will take no more than 15 [...]
Breast cancer’s reminder that everyday life is a gift
One of the most contemplative places I have ever encountered is the nondescript waiting area of my oncologist’s office.
After nearly 19 years of being free of breast cancer, my annual visit still brings me back to a quiet place inside myself where I ponder what could have been and how lucky I am to be [...]
Working mother’s guilt: How my kids and I spend our summer vacations
Working mom’s guilt has always had a tremendous hold over me and never more so than during the summer. If you work full-time outside the home, I know you know what I mean.
Like most people my age - I attended yet another “geezerpalooza” party last weekend to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday - I spent [...]
Parent volunteers don’t have more time, they make time
I got home from one of my daughter’s swim meets not long ago with a very sore back. I offered to head up the snack booth at the team’s home meets, and I was tired from lugging water, Gatorade, ice and healthy and not-so-healthy snacks back and forth.
I took some Motrin, settled on the couch [...]
Memorial Day musings: The end of the school year, the beginning of summer and why we celebrate this memorable day
We’re off to Arizona in a few hours to spend the long Memorial Day weekend with family. The youngest of my sister’s children just graduated from high school, and we don’t want to miss the celebration.
Aaron’s been my kids’ constant companion and a darn fine role model during many a family gathering. He’s kind, patient [...]
