Following are some of the acronyms, subject tags (abbreviations that appear in brackets in some subject headers) and Usenet terms you may see in misc.kids.moderated. SUBJECT TAGS misc.kids.moderated currently uses a few subject tags to helps readers navigate the...

It's hard to let go of one's children after taking care of them from conception and then on through their schooling. Our offspring learn from a variety of sources which become more varied as they grow older. For parents it has to be a case of allowing the independence while maintaining the love. It...

Hello, Our school board seems to be changing from a schedule of 15 minute morning and afternoon recess plus 60 minute (30 minutes eating + 30 minutes outside for kids who stay at school) to one of two 40 minute "nutrition breaks" (20 minutes eating + 20 minutes outside). Does anyone have any...

My 9 YO has been invited to go about 12 hours away for an entire week with the family of a friend of his. This friend is a good friend, but not someone he spends a ton of time with. Two overnight get-togethers have gone well. My son is very sociable but also gets cranky and needs alone time on a...

My daughter will be 12 in December and is in 6th grade, which in her school is the second year of middle school. I let her trick-or-treat last year but feel like this year she has crossed into the "too old" zone. She's accused me of trying to take away her childhood (!), so I thought I'd raise the...

Is it normal etiquette for an elementary school teacher to solicit gifts from their students? We got a letter from school today asking for a $4 donation for a Chimnea (small enclosed fireplace) for "their big deck on their new house" for the teacher. Now this isn't so bad, because in this case both...

My 5th grade daughter just started private middle school (5th through 8th), and the teacher is assigning what she calls a "weekly." It comes out every Thursday and the work on it needs to be done by the following Thursday. There's probably up to an hour of work a day, if it were evenly spread out...

Help! I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size 4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to buy. I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing. She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too...

Lately our house has become the neighborhood hangout for my son's friends. While I LIKE that he has friends, they appear to have moved in. Morning, noon, and night they're here. Every figgin' day they're here. And I can't figure out why. I'm not particularly pleasant to them, I don't offer them...

I'm just posting my thoughts, see what some other parents think about my situation. I'm the single father of my 19mo son. I'm currently finishing off a year of study in University (have finals coming up at end of month), so I'm now off student loans and need to settle into a working for the...

What's the age record for not being able to tie shoelaces? I'm just wondering if DS is going to set it :) It's really interesting to watch -- DD had a friend who *had* to be able to tie her shoes, and she accomplished it at age 2. DS could not care less about this skill. So his shoes are all...

Hi there, my name is Alicia, I'm 29 and just had my first baby two months ago. He's a wonderful baby, very alert, gorgeous and full of life. His name is Raine. Anyway, Raine has been crying quite a lot lately, not due to a growth spurt as he just got over one. I have elected an...

My beautiful baby boy is now almost 12 weeks old, and since he was about 4 weeks old, he has hated the car seat! He screams like we're doing something terrible to him, goes as stiff as a board when we try to put him in it and sobs for about 15 minutes after we take him out. It is horrible! I...

I have two boys and a girl. They all like different foods. I insist on making them the same thing, which is often a battle but getting easier since I have not back downed once. I want to know if anyone has any kid- friendly dinner and/or suggestions for finicky kids. I am concerned about protein...

My daughter is 10.5 and having trouble fitting in with her before-and-after-school program, which runs from preschool to 5th grade. She's having attitude problems, but on the other hand, I have to admit that the program she is in is designed for younger aged kids, even though it serves kids her...

I was wondering how people manage family calendars. I can put things on my husband's home calendar with my work calendar, but his home and work calendars are separate. The girls maintain paper calendars to track their own lessons and homework. Lately, what seems to be working for us is to have an...

Does anyone have any suggestions of games that work well with a wide range of ages (at once)? My 4yo just came in crying that his brother was cheating at "Sorry" after the 9yo got a Sorry card and bumped the 4yos piece back to start. :( My boys are 4.25, 9.0 and 11.75 yo and they all love to play...

I never had kids. I assumed that 1 kid would be a lot easier than 2, but my sister told me that 2 can be easier since the kids can play with each other giving the adults a break. It seems that with 1 there would be less for the adults to keep track of, less multitasking. I can imagine 2 kids...

I need a little help in explaining the differences between a gay relationship and a close friendship to my 9-year-old, who is needing a little more information at this stage. Does anyone have any books they might recommend, preferably ones we could read together? I'm looking for something...

We eat dinner at 6 and bedtime is at 7:30 for our 4 and 5 year old. The 5 year old will start school in September. Any ideas or experience with evening routines that allow time for cleaning up toys that doesn't end in a round of whines and frustration? Karen G

I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream -- one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana,...