I first got the idea for Safe Ducky while standing on a production line in Guangzhou, China. I was working for a major footwear company at the time and was investigating why 200,000 pairs of our children’s shoes had high levels of toxic lead in them. I eventually found the root cause, but not until after half of the shoes were already on children’s feet.
Let me start off by saying I love my son dearly. He’s one of the best things that ever happened to me. True, he definitely wasn’t on the agenda and I had entertained thoughts of terminating the pregnancy, but due to a variety of circumstances, that didn’t happen, thank God.
Can you Turn the Volume Down?
Cartoon:
Watch Later Queue
New York feels different when the summer comes to a close and September hits.
And it's not just that the commercials start marketing all the back to school sales :) Vacations come to a close and rules start going back into place. Structure and routines become more important and time feels more sparse.
Along with that, stores feel more crowded with everyone buying new lunch bags and finding the perfect first-day-of-school outfits. Around 8am and 3pm the streets get more crowded with the bustle of school drop off and pick up.
Don’t think about your breathing – in through your nose, and out. Taking a nice deep breath. Don’t think about breathing.
More than likely, you are now thinking about your breathing! Despite being complex human beings, the simple mention of something puts it front and center in our brains. Our brain ignores the “don’t” and focuses on the actionable part of the sentence. This effect is multiplied in a child’s brain, because they are so accustomed to listing to an adult’s instructions.
Celebrating Different ~ Not Necessarily A Bad Thing
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids who don't always get A's,
The kids who have ears twice the size of their peers,
And noses that go on for days...
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids they call crazy or dumb,
The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit,
Who dance to a different drum...
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids with the mischievous streak,
Hey parents! Remember the LEGO from our childhood? You know, the simple colored plastic blocks. The ones that were limitless in what you could create. The ones that allowed your imagination to run wild. The ones that had no picture on the box of what it was supposed to become. The ones that were perfect, even when they were full of imperfections. The ones that we would run to our parents to show our wonderful creations to. The ones that were unstructured, inexpensive, and imaginative. That was the Lego of our childhood.
Whether it’s your first child or you’re adding another baby to your existing brood, getting ready to welcome a new baby to your family is an exciting experience. If you’re like many working moms-to-be, you may feel a bit confused or overwhelmed when it comes to planning your maternity leave. Should you tell your boss right away that you’re pregnant, or wait until you’ve developed more of a plan? What can you do to help things go smoothly in your absence? What about your health insurance?
These days it’s pretty hard to deny the existence of dyslexia. We know that it affects up to 1 in 5 people. We know that it occurs on a continuum from mild to profound. We know that it affects a student’s ability to decode and spell words. We also know that students with dyslexia are often intelligent and creative. We know that with the appropriate intervention, students with dyslexia improve their reading and spelling skills, right along with their the improvement of their self-confidence and academic achievement. So, what is this ‘appropriate intervention” anyway?
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