Despite the not-so-glamorous subject matter, my short news piece for kids about San Francisco’s dog poop recycling looks great! You can check it out on page 5 of the Sept/Oct 2006 issue of KNOW–The Science Magazine for Curious Kids (published in Canada, for ages 6–9).
Here’s another somewhat controversial topic: should babies and young children take swimming lessons? The AAP says they’re not ready, but many parents (including myself) believe there are big benefits to starting early. “Should your baby swim?, ParentMap, July 2006
On May 14th, the UN sought to remind people that the Congo remains world’s deadliest catastrophe. The problem is, who in the world even knows that 1,200 people are dying there every day, or that three months ago the United Nations launched an appeal for $682 million to provide the needed water, food, medical assistance, shelter and protection? Yes, we’re
I enjoy doing these Decision Digest columns for BabyMap because I get to explore both sides of a controversial topic and then try to present an unbiased summary of all the pros and cons. So many of the questions we encounter as parents don’t have a “right” answer. We gather all the (often conflicting) information we can, and then we
Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah was born in Ghana without the tibia in his right leg, leaving it deformed and useless. His father abandoned him. His mother was told to kill him. That is just what it means to be disabled in Ghana. Fortunately, his mother was strong, and raised Yeboah to have high expectations for himself, even if nobody else did. In
If you ever find yourself searching for inspiration about the feasibility of attempting to change the world, then you must read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder. It is about the efforts of Dr. Farmer to bring health care to the poorest of the poor, mostly in
Writing this article inspired me to buy all kinds of bins, and some of them even have stuff in them now! Unfortunately, I’ve got a long way to go before our chaos gets organized. “Help your preschooler control toy chaos”, ParentMap, March 2006
This was one of those topics that I definitely had an opinion on before I even started. Fortunately, that always makes me even more careful to research thoroughly. It’s always fun to do an article where the research and interviews force me to completely change my previously uninformed opinions. This one will stand out in my mind for a long
Here’s a topic I am all too familiar with. Despite my best attempts, which admittedly are neither thorough nor consistent, both my children had cavities by age three. I thought I’d done all the research, asked all the right questions, and made all the right decisions to prevent it from happening again, so I was sure I knew exactly what
I first learned about the Riders for Health organization on PBS’ Rx for Survival television series. The concept is simple: give motorcycles to Africa’s health workers and train them to ride and repair them themselves. With this transportation, they can effectively distribute aid and administer basic health care to remote villages. The impact is nothing short of revolutionary.