Frustrated, excited, nervous, sad, jealous, embarrassed – sometimes we forget that kids deal with many of the same feelings as adults. Teaching them emotional awareness is important and can be complicated. “Reading fiction is a great way to develop empathy and social skills,” says Melissa Morrissey. In her books, Morrissey creates characters that speak to […]
Capital City Parent
Posted inSpecial Issues
Helping your child read at home
The first set of school closings, stay-at-home orders and the like due to COVID-19 all came down the pipeline very quickly, without a lot of time to prepare or figure out what the next steps should be. As a result, particularly for those of us who are on social media, we started to become inundated […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Support for new moms
During my first pregnancy, I took all my prenatal vitamins, I avoided caffeine and sushi like the plague and I never missed a doctor’s appointment. I followed all of the rules and thought I was going to be the perfect mother, but then my daughter was born. It didn’t take long for me to realize […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Giving birth during a pandemic
Birth is normally a happy time of ecstatic anticipation for many women and their families, but this can be a scary prospect in the age of a global pandemic. Though we in central Illinois have been fortunate with social distancing and less population density to escape the full ravages of COVID-19 (i.e., hospitals being overwhelmed), […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Teens live in a different time zone
Teen sleep habits are an ongoing frustration and battle for countless parents. Many teens stay up into the wee hours of the night. Then they struggle to wake up during the week for school and sleep through the day on weekends. But sleep is crucial to adolescents’ well-being. School-age kids between ages 6 and 13 […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
You don’t seem autistic to me: The female experience
In the 1940s, it was believed that women could not be on the autism spectrum. In the 1980s, the ratio of men to women on the spectrum was 15:1. By 2015, that ratio was revised to 3:1, indicating behavioral science has progressively increased its ability to understand and detect how autism is expressed by women. […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Read like a “Jeopardy” champion
When discussing his success on the game show “Jeopardy,” recent champion James Holzhauer told The Washington Post that children’s books were a big key to his success, partly because “They are chock-full of infographics, pictures and all kinds of stuff to keep the reader engaged.” If that’s true for him, imagine how engaging they can […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Welcome to The Rainbow Room
If you’re looking for ways to keep your creative kids engaged, head to the mall. The upper level of White Oaks Mall just welcomed The Rainbow Room, a nonprofit creative space and art gallery. “Our goal is to make the central Illinois arts community more diverse, inclusive, and collaborative,” explains Angie Tonucci, local artist and […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Muffin cup meals
Stocking the freezer with ready-to-eat meals is a smart way for busy families to put home-cooked food on the table. Unfortunately, unless that casserole has had time to thaw it’s going to be a while before supper is ready. A frozen 9×13 inch casserole will take at least 90 minutes or more to bake, which […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Family event calendar
Weekly carillon concerts Wednesdays, 12pm, Sundays 2pm and 4pm. Throughout the year you can find Carlo van Ulft, the park district’s carillonneur, playing a variety of classical, folk and popular music. When the carillon is being played, a monitor at the base of the tower allows you to see Carlo in action. Free. Washington Park, […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Essential guidelines
I first started using essential oils on my kids last winter. We were packing for a trip to Disney World during Christmas break, and all three of my children were coughing, congested, tired and cranky – in short, not at all ready for the physical exertion necessary to navigate Disney. Plus, I was worried about […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Holiday cooking with kids
For many Italian-American families, homemade stuffed pastas like ravioli and lasagna are a cherished part of traditional holiday meals. Family members both young and old will gather in the kitchen on the days leading up to Christmas, rubbing elbows as they roll out pasta, mix filling and cut and crimp the edges of the little […]
