Capital City Parent

 There are many factors that must be taken into consideration when helping one’s aging parents find an appropriate place to live. A growing number of retirement communities and assisted living apartment complexes have sprouted up in the Springfield area, offering a variety of non-nursing home options with a variety of services, atmospheres and price ranges.  […]

  As the weather turns colder, we begin to realize that the holidays are soon approaching. Christmas items are already on display and a few people have even started their holiday shopping. Many people are asking, “Where did the year go? I can’t believe the holidays are here again already.”  Often, the holidays become hectic, […]

My 19-year-old niece informed me of my responsibility for her belief for several years since she was six years old that people got pregnant by eating pickles. Why, I asked? Because when she was six years old and I was seven months pregnant, I ate a pickle in front of her. Kids remember the darnedest […]

Recently 12-year-old Alexia Blakeman made headlines with Courageous Kaydie, a paper doll she created to honor a friend of her grandmother’s who was stricken with breast cancer. Over the last year she has raised more than $800 for breast cancer research by encouraging people to pay $1 to have their picture taken with her paper […]

  We’ve all heard that “breast is best.” Yet despite vast amounts of data on the benefits of breastmilk to infants, only 47 percent of babies are still breastfed at age six months, and only 25 percent are breastfed at one year. Why are these numbers so low, especially in light of the fact that […]

Like most people, I sometimes have “those days” at work – days where the phone rings off the hook, people walk in needing immediate assistance, a report needs to get done yesterday, and 20 urgent emails are piled up in the inbox. Unlike most people, “those days” for me occasionally include the added stressor of […]

  There are many local and regional venues families may visit for fun and excitement. They create precious memories that can last a lifetime for both parent and child.  In Springfield, a quality destination is the Illinois State Museum. Located at 502 S. Spring Street, admission is free, the site is open seven days a […]

Springfield School District 186 tells students who get bullied to answer the attack with a SWAT: Stop, Walk Away and Talk to an Adult. The SWAT program, introduced this past school year in District 186 at the elementary school level, teaches students how to deal with bullying. These strategies include telling a student to stop […]

High school guidance counseling in Springfield School District 186 ain’t what it used to be. Just ask Donna Povse, “post-secondary coach” at Springfield High. “In each of the three public schools,” she explains, “there is a retired person like myself who works approximately two and a half days a week, and primarily our goal is […]

Growing up in a time of economic struggle, today’s kids might be inadvertently learning lessons about money. If Mom and Dad have been forced to cut back or have even lost their jobs, chances are kids have noticed and learned something as a result. Even if parents have managed to weather the economic storm of […]

Until recently, routinely sitting down to meals with your family was the norm. But for the last several decades, the family meal has become increasingly rare, as the pace and pressures of modern life grow ever more frenetic. Two-career households, kids with a bewildering array of activities, and other distractions, coupled with the ease and […]