Can anyone tell me the benefits and drawbacks of having children participate in Martial Arts classes?

Early this morning, my 3 year old son got the tip of his...ahem...wee-wee...smushed by a falling toilet seat. He is not circumsised. The tip is now bright red, swollen and there was blood this morning. He used the bathroom after it happened with much tears and was very fightened. I have been...

Have others heard the news about the vinyl lunch boxes containing lead? Is anyone worried about it? We have many vinyl lunch boxes and I was just wondering if I should be worried, should I not let the girls take their lunches now. I was just wondering what everyone elses thoughts were on this or if...

I have two adult daughters to whom my husband and I, have given every advantage and opportunity, including the best possible educations. They both live at our home and I like it that way; we are rather well-to-do and I would prefer them to stay with me (I'm now a widow, my husband died 10 years...

My aunt has asked me to help her buy Christmas presents for her grandkids. We have no idea what to get them as she hasn't and probably won't ask for a list. I haven't seen the kids in years and my aunt only sees them once (maybe twice) a year so we have no idea what their current interests...

How do I start a five year old in the right direction with music? I'm hoping a fairly nice full-sized key synthesizer would go over well as a holiday present. I'd be willing to pay up to $200 or so. I know absolutely nothing about brands. Any recommendations there? Casio, Yamaha, etc. ...

Since we were discussing this recently . . . My older daughter is taking a college math class: 5 credits, trig and precalculus. She's doing well in the class, earning enough extra credit points so she has slightly over 100% at the moment. However, her next BIG assignment is to turn in a...

DH brought home a copy of a family newsletter that his mom is planning to send out as a greeting this Christmas season. There are several glaring errors that I would wish to correct . Would it be awful of me to email my MIL and point out these errors? I wouldn't care, usually, but she's probably...

Why do teens wear short pants and short sleeves in winter? It was 24 degrees out today (-4C) and as I drove by the bus stop, out of 6 middle/high schoolers, 2 were in shorts, and a third had on a t-shirt with no coat. All were huddled, hunched over and looking miserably cold. I just don't get...

I dont post much anymore but I think some of you remember me. Im just utterly heartbroken. My baby kitten died this morning. She was 5 mos old. I have NO idea why or what caused it. She was sick early this morning, about 4-5ish am. Threw up on the bed a few times. I put her in the...

Anyone know how to deal with stage fright in a bright 4 1/2 yo? DS1's music concert is on Sunday and he's saying he doesn't want to go. I don't want him to be ruled by his fears, but I can hardly drag him up on stage! (The performance will take about 3 mins and is plainly just to get them used to...

I'm going to run these ideas past you guys, since I already assured my mom that I would know how to dress appropriately for my grandmother's funeral tomorrow - and then realized that I'm not sure I actually own anything that I consider appropriate for the situation. :( For background, my...

A question for those of you with live-in nanny experiences: As a very new and very inexperienced mom, my worst fear was that I am not going to find a good childcare arrangement for my baby. Well, because of my strange schedule, I hired a live-in nanny a couple of weeks ago. I wrote down her list...

We had a minor clash of wills with our three-year-old this morning, and I'm not sure I handled it well, but I'm also not sure what I should have done differently. We were at a family wedding and he was given a gift by an older relative, who walked away from the table while he unwrapped it. ...

i think Boo has an excessive number of toys (being an only with toy junkie parents). he's 5 next week, which means *more* gifts (books from us!) so i want to get rid of stuff, but i don't want to traumatize him by pitching stuff either. my dad used to regularly throw out our toys & i hated that....

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a good at-home preschool program. While it's still summer and I get my kids to play outside as much as possible, and go for walks, to the playground and lake, winter IS coming. And we're going to be stuck inside a good portion of the time. So I...

Mercury and Tuna: Advice Leaves Questions A joint EPA and FDA advisory issued last year urged limits on how much tuna children and some women should eat. But those limits exceed safe levels for some people, judging by a mercury risk assessment that the EPA has produced on its own. August 1,...

Our ped has become concerned about eldest DD's weight, or specifically the fact that she's dropped off the charts since she was 5ish. She gave me several ideas for more calorie dense additions to her diet; does anyone have other ideas? peanut butter milk shakes upping fat content of milk (we...

What would you do if you thought something was mentally wrong with your teenager (like depression) but the teen refused to speak to the doctors or therapists? We were having a discussion about this in my family. It was about a teenager (about 15) who was having some behavioral problems as well...

I have a (long) thought here that I'm wondering about. How much do you change your parenting styles for the kids in your family? I have an almost 4 yo dd, who's bright, self-sufficient in many ways, helpful, verbal, etc etc. I've essentially stood back and let her figure things out for herself,...