When I was a kid, there were a lot of "ain'ts," double-negatives, dangling participles and people who "seen you." Yet somehow, I speak fairly well. I am thankful I was taught to speak correctly by a combination of parents and teachers. I pronounce entire words and expect my children to do the same. I wouldn't expect people to take me seriously if I didn't. I recently visited a prospective school for my child. The faculty and PTA had set up a room with charts, baby chicks and fresh fruit to impress the parents. I must say, the school is very impressive. It is free of the Atlanta Public Schools…

You come home from the hospital with a new baby and a good 20 to 30 pounds you were sure would come out with the kid. You may be kinda depressed, indescribably happy and extremely tired. What you most likely are not - ready to eat healthy and exercise.New research from the University of Minnesota found moms with young children consumed an average of 400 more calories a day than non-mothers.The data comes from the university's Project Eat, which tracked the eating and exercise patterns of nearly 1,600 women and men.Co-author of the report, Jerica Berge, said all of the women in the study ate …

When I was growing up, race was more than talked about. It was the butt of many a joke. Black baby dolls were given as gag gifts, grown-up's didn't catch "a tiger by his toe" and accusing you of having a "black" boyfriend was meant as an insult. I was taught very young black people look different. They talk differently, walk differently, act differently, dress differently. And different was not good. Somehow, with all of the negative attitudes about race, I emerged unscathed. All of the negative talk about everyone with a tint, somehow made me more accepting. At least they were talking about …

There's as much advice on parenting as there are parents. Bloggers, psychologists, parents, grandparents and people who have never had kids will all give you free advice on what skills you should hone as a parent. How do you decide what you should work on? Is it more important to be consistent, to stay calm or to praise them the correct way? Ya got me. I have no idea. I try to do them all and end up mastering one. Loving them so much I could, and sometimes do, explode. When you sift through the skills a parent should have, what comes out on top? According to Robert Epstein's analysis of 2000 …

The last thing anyone wants to have to face during the season of giving is the death of a loved one. There is so much going on: family dinners, gift giving and shopping. Then, you see something in someones eyes and the everything seems to drop. Before you have children you can drop it all, for a moment at least. However, thats not the case when you have to open Christmas gifts and pretend everything is all happy and cheery for people who don't grasp the concept of death. How do you explain to a 4-year-old that Nanny is not with us anymore? How much does she understand? Will you scar her for …

There is a part of me that cringes when the kid I just saw screaming for a toy is bouncing happily out of Target with said toy and probably an Icee. It seems obvious. Give your kid everything and you're likely to end up with a selfish, materialistic child who wants "Pink macaroons and a million balloons and performing baboons and …" It's so easy to just hand over what your child wants, either to see them smile or shut them up. A lot of the time, both of those outcomes benefit the parent more than the child. This time of year we think a bit more about overindulgence, although some parents can'…

At this point in my life giving has become the norm. I give everything: time, focus, effort, energy, food, money, baths. The kind of giving I'm involved in every day feels like a completely selfless kind of giving. The majority of the time, no one will ever know what I have doled out over the course of a day. The majority of the time, I wouldn't say it makes me feel better about myself. It leaves me feeling used, under-appreciated, taken advantage of and beat. With all that giving takes out of me, it seems to be giving back. According to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, a survey…

Parenthood has once again landed me somewhere I didn't feel like I belonged. I attended the APS Demographics Study Meeting. There were maps, well-dressed parents with clip boards and palpable anger in the hallway. Of course, this was to be expected with the suggested closing of some elementary schools in our area.The meeting was held to deal with SRT-3, which is pretty much the eastern quadrant of the City. The meeting also focused on the subarea of APS, which includes Burgess-Peterson Academy, the public elementary for which most of East Atlanta is zoned.Going into this, I assumed parents …

A meal plan for Nicholas consists of beef in the form of hamburger, hamburger on pizza or in tacos and French fried potatoes. He was able to sleep through Thanksgiving dinner with a belly full of Five Guys. Nick does't have tactile sensory issues. He has no problems tolerating the sensations of chewing squash. He just never learned to like it. If Nick was a child, instead of the 29-year-old father of my children, his eating habits may pass as a phase. Now they serve as a warning sign. Researchers examined the eating habits of 5,390 pairs of twins between 8 and 11 years old and found children’…

With all the travel, family and food of Thanksgiving upon us, there is little time for "Moms Talk." Less time for mom's writing. I find it difficult to believe anyone who normally reads  "Moms Talk" has the time to click the link this week. The Thanksgiving holiday gives stay-at-home parents a chance to pawn their kids off on eager grandparents. It gives working parents the chance to spend more time with their kids. Mom stays home from work and bakes pies while dad tosses the baseball in the yard. It's families spending time together, 1965 style. Or is it? Social scientists have been tracking…

It's 5:30 p.m. and almost dark outside. The weather is unpredictable and the trees are starting to show you why it's called Fall. If you're not the patriarch, it's time to hop in the car for the drive to pie. Drive to: "We don't see you enough," "So, where do you live now?" and "Thought you were staying awhile." It's Thanksgiving! Grandparents are telling your kids the beautiful story of the pilgrims and indians sharing a wonderful meal. Their older emo cousins are telling them how the white man pillaged and massacred the Indians. You tell them not to repeat anything you have said about Mamaw…

When you're young you feel like you can change the world. You listen to punk rock, okay — Don Henley — and National Public Radio and vow to always be proactive. Then you have kids, a job and laundry, you become your own charity case. A clean-room activist. Sadly, I don't really have the time or energy to change anything but diapers. However after changing up our hangout spots, I hear that ol' familiar call to action. Strolling through different parks in our area brought to my attention that the needles strewn about Brownwood Park are not commonplace. The dead grass and falling gates are not …

For four years now I have been telling myself that I don't need to worry about where my kid is going to go to school. Time flies when you're keeping people alive. Now the time has come to get applications, take tours and make decisions. None of which I will be very good at. I will undoubtably obsess over where to send my child to school. So many factors come into play. You worry about race ratios, test scores, hours, teachers and parent participation. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has given parents another thing to be concerned with as their babies go off into the wild world of …

Whines that ordinarily go unnoticed pierce your brain. You can't gather your thoughts and words don't make it out of your mouth. You need a dark room and a strong pill. But, the show must go on. When you get hit with a headache, it's best to know the type, so you can treat it correctly. Tension headaches, the most common type, feel like a constant ache or pressure around the head, especially at the temples or back of the head and neck. Experts believe these may be caused by the contraction of neck and scalp muscles brought about by stress. Aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen can usually get …

Every day with children is chock-full of questions, answers, statements and plenty of nonsense. There are numerous problems encountered and makeshift solutions by the dozen. Odd behaviors, temper tantrums, sassy mouths and defiance cause parents everywhere to seek out answers. There is a seemingly endless supply of parental issues. There also seems to be an endless supply of people giving their take on those issues. Endless research, studies, experts, books, websites and blogs telling parents everything they could ever want to know. It is useful to know how verbal aggression may affect …

When fall comes around, I don't marvel at the changing leaves or bask in the cool breeze, I obsess over Halloween costumes. For some reason I desperately want my kid to be something unexpected. It all started with a two-year-old punk rocker. We decorate our windows with spooky scenes, watch Beetlejuice and talk about all the witches and ghosts that will be out for candy. I worry about tainted candy and getting hit by cars. I don't worry about how I could be putting life long fear into my mini Edward Scissorhands. Based on the lack of studies regarding the subject, not many parents are …

It's a sad day when your three-year-old drops the nap. It's pretty much the only time a parent can have a complete thought. It may seem evil or self-serving to force a nap on a kid who is screaming "I'M NOT TIRED" as they reenact the "Purple Rain" video. After all, they are just little people who should find their own natural sleep rhythm. HA! I am not for strict sleep schedules or missing birthday parties because it "interferes with Seven's nap time." However, I have seen first hand how missing a nap can turn a sweet angel into Damien. There's more than a little research to back me up. "…

Before becoming a parent, naïveté will allow you to believe you know exactly the kind of parent you are going to be. You vow to never back down, say what you mean and mean what you say. You are going to be a take-no-bull kind of parent, producing a polite, well behaved chid. A few years pass and you're chasing a disrespectful, foul-mouthed three-year-old through the produce section. Despite the fact that developmental psychologists have trouble finding actual cause-and-effect links between specific actions of parents and future behavior of children, researchers are not going to let parents …

Parenting is a tough row to hoe. Single moms and dads go it alone every day. When you are among those lucky enough to have someone to share the "joys of parenting" with, you may find the concept of sharing is different between the sexes. Research is helping out all of those iPhone, PlayStation, fantasy football playing dads who are unable to help out with the drudging duties of parenting. A recent study out of Ohio State University suggests that families are better off when mom handles the caregiving like bath time and feeding, pretty much all the stuff no one wants to do and dad takes over …

It's hard to explain how incredible it is to solely provide your baby with nourishment, antibodies and comfort. It's also hard to explain how incredibly depressing being a milk factory can be. Breastfeeding makes some moms feel attached to their babies, while making others feel detached from reality. Moms are often forced to make their choice between sanity and breastfeeding. However, too often that choice is taken away. Whether or not she wants to doesn't matter when, unlike the smoker, she has no where to do it. Idaho, for example, doesn't protect a mother's right to nurse her child in …