Kids and School – a “Germy” Combination
Last updated on November 24th, 2025 at 06:19 pm
Now, your children are in school and the initial trauma is over —for you. This is great; Mommy or Daddy’s day out every day, meetings at Starbuck’s, play a round of tennis, make dinner and await the arrival of your kids coming home. I’m sure things aren’t quite that way but you do have time to do things you did not have the time for before school, additionally you may very well still have a young one or two at home.
If your child is busy enjoying the challenges of his/her first encounter with a classroom setting, he/she is also busy adding to the petrie dish of viral and bacterial flora that decorate every nook and cranny of their little classroom. Not to worry parents, this petrie dish 
is actually world wide; doorknobs, telephone handles, handshaking, etc. This is not meant to worry you more but to help put your mind at ease. If, in fact, the entire tangible world is covered with a thin layer of “slime”, there are relatively very few people getting ill because of that contact. As a matter of fact, contact with these organisms can result in a certain amount of immunity while not actually imparting visible disease. Tough concept to understand but it is the same with your school age children and whether you worry about it or not, this contact will surely take place.
Add to that the possibility that your school aged child may then carry home the very “germs” you are worried about exposing your younger child to and it’s enough to pack up your entire family and seek shelter in the closest sealed balloon- like chamber.
Things are not as bad as all that. The coexistence of man and bacteria, mostly in a benign synergistic manner, has been well documented over time: we are better off because they are around and in turn they are better off because of our presence. There are far more harmless microorganisms in our environment than those causing disease, as a matter of fact some are even helping us come up with new and effective medications and products.
Certain bacteria can be coaxed into producing human-helpful by-products much easier and in far greater quantities than we can produce with our highly sophisticated technology. Bacteria and viruses are much “smarter” than you and me; whenever we come up with a defense, they find a way to get around our barriers with intricate defenses. Hence, the development of resistances to antibiotics, etc.
Sure it is reasonable to take practical precautions to protect your children, but their exposures are not necessarily a bad thing and no matter what you do some contact will be inevitable. Once entering a school setting a child can be expected to have 6-8 significant, although usually mild illnesses, per year for the first year or two, but guess what, after that time the illnesses become fewer and fewer.
So relax, do what you can reasonably do, but realize you can’t ever keep your child completely germ free. Get your child completely up to date with the recommended immunizations and vaccines before school entrance and keep him or her that way always.
Did You Know Creativity Enhances Your Child’s Developing Mind?
Last updated on November 24th, 2025 at 06:18 pm
Children are naturally creative: Their napkins become hats, their drinks are magic potions, and ketchup turns into paint. But aside from being endlessly entertaining, creativity is also critical to their developing brains. Creative and artistic experiences help kids express their feelings and come up with new ideas and ways to solve problems. Studies show that involvement in the arts boosts test scores and promotes academic achievement across the board.
These discoveries may explain why children’s art studios are popping up across the country, giving kids a chance to let their imaginations run wild with paint, clay, and in the case of Make-a-Messterpiece in Glenview, Ill., even bubbles. In addition to private studios (such as KidsArt in California and Washington) and foundations (such as Creative Art Space for Kids in New York), many YMCA branches and local art museums offer art programs.
You can also get your child’s creative juices flowing at home with some very basic art supplies and the right attitude. Bring out the creative genius in your children with these simple tips.
Start With a Blank Slate
Leave projects open-ended so kids are free to imagine the endless possibilities. For example, if you’re painting pumpkins, don’t paint one first as an example, because your kids are likely to try to copy it, quashing their creativity. Instead, simply give children paint and paintbrushes and let them begin. Keep in mind that there are no wrong ways to paint a pumpkin.
Forget Perfection
Focus on the creative process rather than the finished product. For example, your child may find tremendous fun and fulfillment in shaping, squishing, pounding and poking at clay for an hour – even if the end result is a shapeless lump.
Don’t Mind the Mess
Art is not a neat business, and nothing stifles creativity faster than a wet mop or a dustpan underfoot. Let your child get dirty – that’s how she’ll learn to take risks. (Plus, it’s fun!) You can wipe up the glitter later.
Mix It up
Spice up your at-home art projects by using different materials instead of the usual paint, felt, pipe cleaners and beads. Challenge your children to find art supplies in their environment: a sponge, chopsticks, gum wrappers, bottle caps and egg cartons, for example. Head outside and collect leaves, sticks, acorns and small pebbles. Supply children with glue and paper and give no other direction. Be ready for anything.
Expose Them to Diversity
Take trips to museums and zoos; see plays and concerts; attend an African drumming circle, a Mexican fiesta, a Chinese New Year celebration. Every experience your children have with people or situations outside their normal routine widens their range of creative expression.
Make Music
Encourage experimentation with musical instruments without showing how it’s done. Let her play piano with her toes or beat the drum with maracas if she wants. You can make your own instruments too. Dried beans in a toilet paper tube make a great shaker; waxed paper secured over a coffee can is a drum; rubber bands stretched over a shoebox make a guitar. Grab an instrument and play along for a fun family hootenanny.
Allow for Unconventional Ideas
Thinking outside the box is what creativity is all about. When kids come up with a new way of doing things – making a sculpture out of plastic hangers, for instance – go with it (as long as it’s safe, of course). Your support will encourage more creative thinking and problem solving down the road.
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite! Really!!
Last updated on November 24th, 2025 at 06:18 pm
For many of us, the bedtime warning, “Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” was just a silly thing grown-ups said. Now it’s a real and rising threat in many parts of the country.
After more than 50 years of virtual elimination in the U.S., bedbugs have made a roaring comeback over the last decade, spreading most rapidly in the last six years, according to Richard Cooper, a research entomologist and vice president of BedBugCentral.com. The nocturnal feasters come out of the woodwork (literally), the mattress and the bedding to sink their teeth into sleeping humans and suck their blood. And they hitchhike on people from one location to another.
“Bedbugs don’t discriminate,” says Cooper. “They’re not a sign of poor hygiene, but people still say, ‘I wouldn’t get bed bugs.’ That attitude has fostered the spread.”
Once bedbugs settle into an environment, they’re very tough to stop. Bedbugs typically first install in sleeping areas, but they eventually move into closets, dressers, even behind picture frames. The key is to catch an infestation when it’s relatively new — which is easier said than done.
In small numbers, bedbugs are hard to spot, and by the time you’ve got rows or clusters of itchy bites on your body, they’ve been making themselves at home in your house for months. By then, says Cooper, “they’re very difficult and very costly to control … too costly for many people. If you find them in the first few weeks, it would cost under $500. Later on, it would be $500 to $1,500, and sometimes more.”
To keep ahead of a possible infestation, Cooper recommends taking the following steps to stop bedbugs in your home:
1. Get educated.
Read up on bedbugs and how they spread. Know what the bites and the bugs look like.
2. Start snooping.
When was the last time you turned over your mattress and inspected the underside? Probably never. But that’s the first place you’re likely to find bugs.
As parents prepare for another school year, there’s one routine they should add to their daily repertoire – checking their child’s backpack and other school items for bed bugs. …from the EPA’s Bed Bugs in Schools – Guidance for Parents
3. Save a sample.
If you think you see a bedbug, grab it with tweezers and put it in a small container with rubbing alcohol. Or pick it up with clear tape, and tape it to a piece of paper. Before you spend money ridding your home of bedbugs, you want to make sure you actually have them.
4. Call the pros.
They can do what you can’t: treat your home and furnishings with a variety of techniques, including chemical sprays, targeted vacuuming, commercial steam-cleaning and structural heat processes. Make sure the company uses a multifaceted approach rather than just chemicals, warns Cooper, because bedbugs are becoming resistant.
5. Turn up the heat.
“Heat is the Achilles’ heel of bedbugs,” says Cooper, so wash your clothes in hot water whenever possible, and dry them on high.
6. Invest in gear.
There are a number of products that can limit the access of bedbugs to your sleeping areas, including mattress encasements and the ClimbUp Interceptor, which keeps bugs from scaling your furniture legs.
It may take awhile to complete treatment to stop bedbugs, but once you’ve made it for 60 days with no new bites, you can finally rest easy.
Looking Back: A Special Needs Child’s Struggle for Freedom
Last updated on November 24th, 2025 at 06:17 pm
As our kids go back to school, I thought I would remind you to look back and appreciate all the struggles and victories you and your special needs child have faced. As I have mentioned, my child was never supposed to walk or talk but she does all that and more. Even if she had never made those strides (pun intended) we would love her and be proud of her, because the end result is not important – it’s the fight. As a a parent I have also had to fight – the school, the system as well as my own worries and expectations. Watching my child and other special needs children battle for their own type of freedom gives me even more admiration for all who are fighting every day in this country to keep us free.
Here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for a fundraiser for The Chime Institute, which runs 
my child’s charter school based on inclusion. It was performed at Chimeapalooza as part of a multi-media celebration.
When I heard from the Regional Center that there was a CHIME Infant and Toddler Program for my baby daughter with special needs, I almost cried. Then, when I heard that I could bring along her typical twin brother and that it was free, I think I did cry. The Infant and Toddler Program was 65% special needs kids and 35% peer models. I loaded up my sixteen month old twins and explained that yes, he was walking and that no, she was not – and maybe she never would.
But she did. She graduated out of Regional Center Early Intervention, and the parade of therapists coming to my house stopped. From there the twins went to the CSUN Lab School – aka The Child and Family Studies Center. This time the program was 65% typically developing children and 35% of the program was saved for children with special needs with support from CHIME. I had to explain that yes, he pretty much knew how to use the potty and that no, she didn’t use the potty yet…and maybe she never would.
But she did. Preschool came and went, and then it came time for the lottery for the CHIME Charter Elementary School. I found my way through the maze of residential streets south of the boulevard…and a mysterious orange orchard…and handed in their applications. Maybe I was kidding myself. I knew the odds were stacked against us and that most children don’t get in, but maybe she would.
But she didn’t. But her older brother did! And that meant…the twins were in, too! I requested that they stay together in their kinder classroom – only the first of many, many requests I would make of the CHIME administration – and so off they went, still together.
One day on the way home from pick-up with all three of my kids in the car my kindergarten-aged son asked an innocent question, ”What is the big deal about special needs kids? I mean, why does CHIME talk about them so much?”
“Well…” I answered, tailoring my information to be age-appropriate, “CHIME believes in inclusion, which means that even though the kids can all do different things you can all learn together and be friends. So each class has some special needs kids in it. Like your class has three…”
He cut me off. “No, we don’t. We only have two.” He rattled off the names of his classmates with more obvious special needs. My daughter nodded her agreement. I felt my upper lip break out in a sweat.
“Yes, honey,” I said gently, “your class does have three special needs kids in it.”
“No it doesn’t!” he repeated adamantly, reminding me of his two classmates.
I jumped off the cliff. “The third student with special needs is your sister.”
“No she isn’t!” he objected as if I was playing a silly joke on him.
And there it was…living, breathing proof that the experiment that is CHIME is working so incredibly well. They didn’t see themselves as different from each other, …and maybe they never will.
Our Miracle Baby: Aidan’s Story of Surviving CDH
Last updated on September 27th, 2025 at 12:11 am
When I was asked to write a post about my son and the life-threatening birth defect he was diagnosed with at 37 weeks…I jumped at the opportunity. My son is a survivor but many are not, and I have been 
doing everything I can to help spread the word and try to increase awareness. The birth defect is called congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). It’s definitely a mouthful but in layman’s terms, it means a hole in the diaphragm. I’ll get into more detail later, but even though the diaphragm is kind of a forgotten muscle (especially when the baby is still in the womb), suffice it to say that when there is a hole…the survival rate is only 50%.
The diaphragm’s main purpose when the baby is in the womb is to separate the abdominal organs from the chest organs. When there is a hole in the diaphragm, the abdominal organs can pass through that hole. At the very least, the extra organs in the chest cause the lungs to be underdeveloped (due to the extra organs taking up the space the lungs need to develop properly). However, when organs don’t develop in their proper location it can lead to all kinds of other issues such as heart defects, chromosomal abnormalities, premature labor, etc.
We found out after 37 weeks of what we thought was a perfect pregnancy that our son’s stomach had passed through a hole in his diaphragm and caused his heart to be pushed to the wrong side of his chest.
As I mentioned earlier, CDH has a mortality rate of 50%. It occurs in 1600 babies per year in the US and is just as common as spina bifida and cystic fibrosis. However, there is very little research on the cause and there is no known cure other than treating the symptoms with surgery and/or medicine. So basically we went from what we thought was a picture perfect pregnancy to being told our son had only a 50% chance of survival due to some birth defect we had never even heard of. We were devastated! I can honestly say that Monday, 5/24/2010 was the worst day of our lives. We felt lost, alone, blindsided, and had no idea where to turn.
If there was any good news from the events of 5/24, it was that we had (hopefully) enough time to make arrangements to prepare for Baby R’s arrival. We wanted to make sure that we were comfortable with all the doctors that would be taking care of our son as it could mean life or death. In fact, the first surgeon assigned to us could not find the time to meet with us for at least a couple weeks. A couple weeks, I didn’t think we had. Since my wife’s fluid levels were elevated, there was a high likelihood that she could go into labor early which meant at any moment.
At this point, I started researching alternative hospitals and doctors. After visiting two hospitals in Chicago, we settled on staying in Chicago and having our son delivered at one hospital and transferred to Children’s Memorial after being stabilized. We were extremely pleased to learn that the head of pediatric surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago was extremely knowledgeable about CDH which calmed us down as much as possible That is to say…just a little bit.
Fast forward to June 17, we got to the hospital around 7:15 on 6/17/10 for the scheduled c-section. Things were going really well from the start. As always, Amy’s vitals were great and so were Baby R’s / Aidan’s. At around 10 am, Amy was brought to the OR to give her the spinal anesthesia, etc. I had to go to the adjoining recovery room until they were ready for me.
That was probably the longest 25 minutes of my life. I was in my scrubs, pacing back and forth just waiting for them to come get me. I had nowhere to go, was nervous for our son, and anxious for Amy.
I was finally brought into the OR to see Amy. There were 2-3 OB’s, 3 neonatologists, a couple anesthesiologists, and I think a couple other doctors there for support. The main OB (who happened to be the one who diagnosed the CDH in the first place) was great at giving us as much play by play as we wanted.
And then all of a sudden, we heard a little cry. I have never been so happy to hear a baby cry in my
life. Many CDH babies don’t have enough lung capacity to even cry at all. That fact that Aidan gave out a little cry was a great sign (we hoped), and Amy and I both let out a collective sigh of relief.
I could see Aidan struggling and catch a glimpse of a finger or toe periodically. The doctors said he looked great, great color, and the fact that he was fighting the doctors was another good sign. He wanted to breathe on his own. Finally they called me over to cut the cord, and I was able to get my first good look at him. He looked amazing…my face, Amy’s nose and hopefully someone else’s height…
I went into overdrive at this point to ensure Amy got a chance to see Aidan. I snapped a quick picture on my phone so Amy could at least see what he looked like. Then suddenly it was time to wheel him away to the NICU.
In route to Amy’s room, we stopped by the NICU, and we were able to spend 15-20 minutes with Aidan. He looked great but was fighting with the doctors big time. We found out that the transport service was already on the way.
Aidan was doing so well after being transported to Children’s Memorial, that the surgery to fix his hernia (the hole in his diaphragm) was scheduled for 6/21 (when he was 4 days old). Typically surgeons do not rush to fix the hernia through surgery. Current research has shown that it’s actually more beneficial in the long-run to stabilize the baby and allow him/her to get as strong as possible before doing surgery. This can mean days or months before some CDH babies are ready for surgery.
After 2.5 hours of surgery, the surgeon came out to the waiting room to talk to us. Her first words were, “he’s a miracle baby—with a great name”. She told us that the surgery went really well but that he was actually in much worse shape (before surgery) than everyone thought. Since he had been so stable since birth, everyone thought that his lungs would be in great shape and that only his stomach and some of his intestines would be in his chest (at the very worst).
The reality was that everything was in his chest…his stomach, small & large intestines, spleens (yes he has two), etc. Basically everything but his liver was in his chest. All those organs in his chest caused his left lung to be moderately underdeveloped and his right one to be slightly underdeveloped.
In addition, he had no diaphragm at all. This was all a shock to the surgeon since Aidan was basically stable from the minute he was born. His breathing, oxygen levels, blood pressure, etc. were so strong and stable that is was a bit of a surprise that he was actually in such bad shape technically. But his right lung was relatively well developed which obviously was able to compensate for the weak left one.
The doctor had to move his organs to their proper places and then make a new diaphragm using Gortex. It is very common for surgeons to patch the existing diaphragm but Aidan didn’t have enough muscle tissue to do that. The surgeon also had to create a new hernia or hole in his abdomen. This is sometimes done when there isn’t enough room for all the organs once they are moved back to their proper locations. Basically Aidan’s abdomen is not used to having so many organs in it, so they created a little extra room for his stomach to grow for the time being. He will need to have another surgery on 7/21/11 to close this hernia (and put his stomach back in its proper location), but it will be “minor” surgery compared to what Aidan has already been through.
Once Aidan was moved back to the NICU, we got to see the incision and see how he was doing. The incision was about 4-5 inches across his stomach area. But the neonatologist made a point to tell us that she rarely sees a baby come out of such major surgery and need so little oxygen. He was completely sedated (and was using a ventilator to help him breathe 100%) but his oxygen level was almost already back to normal. I got another update from Aidan’s nurse that evening. He was barely awake; however, he was already starting to breathe on his own in addition to the ventilator.
We had our ups and down post surgery. Aidan was extubated, weaned off all medications, etc. only be re-intubated less than 24 hours later and put back on all medicines (with methadone added to the mix). But in the end, Aidan came home after only 29 days in the NICU. We were pretty naïve to what other CDH families went through at the time, but I had a feeling that 29 days was a short time to be in the NICU. I now know that with such a severe defect, we were extremely lucky that Aidan was able to graduate from the NICU after such a short period of time (or even survive past the first day for that matter). Aidan was able to come home with basically no signs of CDH other than a large scar on his abdomen.
Aidan had no reflux (a very common side effect of CDH that can last for years) and no other chromosomal abnormalities or heart defects. He was basically a normal 1 month old. However, Aidan would still need to have a hearing test every 6 months for the next 5 years. His surgeon has seen some high frequency hearing loss in CDH babies up to the age of 5.
My wife and I went through a lot to educate ourselves on this defect that we had never heard of in order to prepare for our first born. But this entire ordeal has definitely made us stronger, and we appreciate life, love and our son more as a result.
In hindsight, I feel ignorance was actually bliss to a point. I am almost glad I didn’t know as much about CDH (before Aidan was born) as I do now. If I had been as informed, and realized that of the
1600 cases per year in the US only 50% of the children survive once diagnosed with a hole in their diaphragm and that children without a diaphragm at all are even less likely to survive…if I had realized that there was no known cause or cure and that very little research has been done to try to find the cause…if I had known that often CDH babies have to endure multiple surgeries throughout their lives (which sometimes are cut prematurely short), I think I might have actually been even more scared than I was. For a child with such a severe defect (no diaphragm at all), Aidan blew away the odds which was more than anyone could have every anticipated.
In the end, Aidan was 1 of 800 babies to survive in 2010 after being diagnosed with CDH – a defect virtually no one has ever heard of.
Getting Braces – A Kid’s Perspective
Last updated on September 27th, 2025 at 12:08 am
Getting braces can be a big deal in some kid’s lives and they may not even want to get braces. However, it is very important that, if needed, your child should get braces and also manage them well. If people don’t get braces as a child it could cause serious health problems as an adult including increased risk of tooth loss and extreme discomfort. It’s also not very attractive looking.
Kids could need braces for crooked teeth, over spacing of teeth, or overbite problems. And you may not realize that your child needs braces. I had straight and near-perfect teeth, but I had a slight overbite and a little bit of a spacing problem. When I heard I would need braces for a short while I was perfectly willing and almost indifferent. This is because my mom had braces as an adolescent and has told me she was very glad about this; at the same time my dad did not have braces and his teeth are so crooked, one of them is practically facing sideways and he has always regretted not getting them.
The process for getting braces was fairly simple, on my end, at least. I visited the orthodontist for an assessment over whether or not I would actually need braces. He examined my teeth and showed me some before and after pictures (your child may see some friend’s teeth, I did!) then told me I would need them for about two years with no headgear (some kids wear headgear when they sleep). I later went for a mould of my teeth so the orthodontist could custom fit my braces (Try not to swallow the molding mixture; I hear from friends it’s nasty when swallowed). I got the top on first and the bottom braces on a few months later. I now visit about once every one to two months to get them tightened.
With the braces there are some food restrictions such as no popcorn or bubblegum and apples must be cut up, but you get used to it. Most food will get stuck in the braces, however. To deal with issues such as this the office arms each kid with an array of tools: small brush-picks, topical numbing agents for pain, wax to prevent the brackets from scraping up the gums, a convenient carrying case, etc. I carry my accessories in my backpack and make good use of them. On the note of numbing agents and pain, your child will want to use painkillers and eat soft foods for the first week of having braces and possibly after each adjustment depending on the sensitivity of their mouth. I play rugby, a contact sport for those that don’t know, and I had to get a specialized mouth guard to protect my braces. If your child plays a contact sport you will also have to get a specialized mouth guard but they are easy to find so don’t worry. They do not, however, guarantee the safety of your child’s braces so you may have to take them in for repair. For any parents concerned that their child will get teased or called brace face, don’t worry! Probably 99% of kids these days have braces so it would be completely stupid for a kid to pick on someone for the norm.
