Wee Fringe

Victoria mom warns parents after son, 15, drinks toxic fluids and dies.

Wow. My condolences. What a terrible thing to happen.
Boys steal “alcohol” from man’s garage. Turns out it was a mix of horribly lethal fluids such as windshield wiper fluid, gasoline, and others. One boy gets violently ill and later dies.
Thanks to the parents [...]

Undeserved compliments can undermine kids, psychologists say.

OK, parents, what do you think?

I have to say that I somewhat agree with the thesis of this article, which states that too much praise for too little effort can undermine children’s motivation, resilience, and well-being.
Parenting is certainly a balancing act, in so many ways, isn’t it?
I find myself [...]

Books with feisty females offer an antidote to Ariels, Belles and Snow Whites.
We don’t have Barbie in the house. I had Sindy when I was a kid and I adored her (anyone remember Sindy?). The closest I came to Barbie was having her 3 story condo.
I swore, when I found out that I was having [...]

Alphabet books capture children’s attention with fewer words.
The crux of the article is that children still need those simpler books because, when they start to actually read on their own, they may get overwhelmed by pages with more words and feel like giving up. Keep those board books around, the research study’s authors say!