Diablo Magazine
Learning to Deal with Frustration, Disappointment
We expect young children to have difficulties handling frustration. But preschool children aren’t the only ones who get more than mildly disgruntled when life doesn’t go their way.
Creative Alternatives to Violent TV, Movie Content
One of the ways we try to rid ourselves of unpleasant images on TV or in movies is by telling ourselves what we’ve seen isn’t real, or at least not in our lives. That’s a technique we traditionally use with children too.
Looking Beyond Physical Appearances
Most magazines hit the stands with at least one diet or exercise feature. The relationship between good health, eating well, and exercising has become part of our knowledge base. But what about our culture’s fear of aging and its effect on our children?
When to Intervene
Books often advise us against intervening, for example, when a child is having a tantrum or siblings are fighting. However, these “blanket rules” for interacting can easily mislead or confuse us.
Asking the Right Questions
Positive queries lead children (and adults) to pause and think and even call on their highest understanding. As one six-year-old commented, “Sometimes questions help you learn what you already know.”
Really Playing With Kids
Engaging in the themes your child wants to explore creates closeness in your relationship. Those feelings of intimacy fuel your child’s desire to please you and comply with your requests.
Playdates Require Sensible Guidelines
We want to ensure that parents use sensible guidelines when allowing their child to visit someone else’s home. We share ideas about this subject because the notion of children needing to have playdates is relatively recent.
Children’s Perspectives on Spanking
It seems especially refreshing for children to live in a place and a time when children would assume a teacher would never physically punish them and feel safe to ask questions so openly.
Mixed Feelings About Returning to School
Beginning a new school year reminds us that people’s feelings vary at different stages of development and sometimes the best thing we can do is talk about them.
Teaching Children to Conquer Fear
Helping children to find courage builds their sense of security. Parents can build bravery by noticing situations when children call on their inner strength.
Turtle Tome for Tots
Baby Turtle may not be a mutant or a ninja, but he is the star of an action-packed new children’s book by a pair of East Bay authors.
Dad and Mom as Superheroes
Two four-year-olds announced at circle time that their parents are “superheroes.” It’s interesting that they were both boys describing their mothers.
Science Camp
When you drop your child off at Mr. Shargel’s Science Adventures, chances are you’ll be late for your next appointment.
Social Network for Girls
Knowing that they can’t shield their daughters from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, three East Bay moms have launched an interactive, safety-conscious website, Girl Ambition, specifically for tween girls.
Kids Dance Lessons
Like most dance schools, Funkmode’s classes are mostly packed with girls. But we were impressed that the Pleasant Hill school offers one of the most unique dance classes around. It’s for boys only and teaches them to break-dance.
Dress Designer
Even before she got the Malia Obama election-night boost, Bernadette Reiss had cemented her position as the designer of choice for tween girls who need a special-occasion outfit.
Science Buddies
As part of Monte Vista High's Science Alliance, Drew Bell was one of more than 200 volunteer mentors helping some 245 San Ramon Valley District fifth-graders prepare for an annual April science fair.
Here Comes the Sun
You slather your kids with sunscreen to prevent skin cancer, and then you hear that sunscreen either doesn’t work or can pose other health dangers because of the chemicals in it. So, what do you do?
Fall an Opportunity to Reinvent Mornings
Fall offers us an opportunity to call on our “creative time manager self.” This all doesn’t have to feel like a resigned return to old schedule patterns.
Strengthening a Child’s Inner Resolve
Making small choices about life and living with them is a crucial process for children. How else can they make their own determination about situations and then reflect on how their decisions worked out?
I Thought My Friend Would be in Class This Summer
Most parents don’t subscribe to the “sink or swim” approach today when it comes to water safety—or the variety of other activities they make available to their children.
Clarifying Rules, Values
Research shows that talking about rules and the reasons why we follow them enhances children’s moral development. The idea isn’t to nudge them into a new stage of abstract thinking but to help them grow into making thoughtful decisions.
Guiding Play Away From Aggression
Batman swoops in, shocking his enemies and knocking them ferociously to the ground. This scene sizzles on screen. However, played out by four-year-old boys eager to feel powerful, it quickly ends in tears.