Capital City Parent

  The winter was rotten for weather (and school attendance) here in central Illinois, and the gloom was compounded by some not-so-sweet news published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Sugar, that seductive temptress, is more dangerous to our health than previously recognized. Research published online in JAMA suggests that “consuming too much […]

A while back, a friend’s 14-year-old daughter sent inappropriate images and texts of herself to her boyfriend. The images were not the worst one might imagine – she was clothed – but her mother was horrified nonetheless. As a parent myself, I was shocked with what she had done, not just because I felt she […]

  Susan Clause remembers using a strange chant to awaken her young son from his slumber: erg-A-doo, erg-A-doo, erg-A-doo. These memorable words resonated with Clause and her husband, Stephen Briggs, 15 years ago when they were searching for a name for their new educational resource store. The name stuck. ErgAdoo, just off South Grand Avenue […]

Until recently, families that routinely sat down together for meals were the norm. But for several decades family meals have become increasingly rare as life’s pace and pressures have become increasingly frenetic. Two-career households, kids with a bewildering array of activities and distractions, plus the ease and availability of fast food, seemed poised to plunge […]

 The RN takes a pause from charting notes on his computer and wheels his stool over to my 2-year-old daughter, Anna, who is sitting on an exam table pantless after being rushed from our house in a partial state of undress to get a wound stitched. “Oh, that’s a cloth diaper!” I explain to him […]

Just before kids turn 18 and prepare to leave home, credit card companies swoop in. It’s not fair, particularly for those who don’t have a good grasp on money and budget, who haven’t been carefully putting quarters into jars, dollars into envelopes and checks into the bank since they were young children, and who haven’t […]

  There is nothing quite like the joy a child feels when he first learns to ride a bicycle. I remember the first time I tried to ride. The bike was a clunky contraption that my uncles had put together from spare parts; it was so heavy I could hardly turn the pedals. Luckily, Dad […]

  By making learning fun with games and conversation during the preschool years, establishing good study skills during elementary school, and building on those strategies in middle school, parents can help their students become successful in high school and college. Two Springfield District 186 teachers share basic, proven approaches parents can use during these formative […]

 Fun mealtime and snack presentations can motivate toddlers and school-age children to eat healthy foods. They can also provide a positive experience at the dinner table and a good introduction to foods your kids have never tried. Youngsters like food that has color, shape and character. And remember, children take their cue on everything from […]

 Summer is more than just fun in the sun. While most students are enjoying a much-appreciated breather, administrators at local schools use these months as an opportunity to implement improvements to the schools, both in terms of the physical premises and to scholastic programming. Darrell Schaver, director of operations and maintenance for Springfield School District 186, […]

  “What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life and, most importantly, cookies.” That quote by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani characterizes what grandmas and grandpas freely give to their children’s offspring. They do so in ever increasing […]

  Heading off to college is a major transition in the life of a young adult – and that young adult’s parents. The process of organizing, packing, moving and finding one’s way in a new environment while maintaining ties to home is a process that is as challenging as it is ultimately rewarding. What follows […]