Category: Inspire
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It’s time to stop ‘boot-strapping’ parenthood
Scrolling through my Instagram feed the other day, I came across a video featuring a well-known motivational speaker, who this person is doesn’t matter, as the message shared is pretty much the same for the lot of them: “I worked hard, came from nothing, did this all on my own,…
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Announcing the Blogging For Better Facebook page
Last fall, I started a campaign known as Blogging for Better (#bloggingforbetter) as a way of raising awareness and money for various nonprofits. My dream was to bring together a network of bloggers, writers and influencers and use our collective platform to champion those smaller, grassroots organizations which don’t always…
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“The Sandlot” mom is spot on about free play
“The Sandlot” will always be a film dear to my heart. When the movie was released in 1993, I was 10 years old, around the same age as the rag-tag group of baseball-loving kids enjoying the freedom and joy of summer in the early 1960s. Though I was never a…
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Foundation seeks to make play possible for all kids
We all know how important play is for childhood development, and, few things are as magical as watching a child’s face light up when exploring a favorite toy. For special needs children, however, toys designed for neuro-typical and physically-typical kids, often fail to meet their fundamental need for play. The…
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No veteran should feel alone
On May 12, millions of Americans spent the day celebrating the mothers in their lives. Mother’s Day serves to remind us of all these women have done. Later this month, Americans will celebrate another special group of people. A group, much like mothers, who put others before themselves. A group…
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An invader in the womb, and other extraordinary journeys into motherhood
For many, the path to motherhood is unusual, often marked by difficulty and fueled by hope. As someone who experienced a traumatic birth with my second child, I understand how these experiences shape how we parent and who we are as moms. In celebration of Mother’s Day, I asked my…
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Sacred spaces should be safe spaces
As a Jew, I know antisemitism is always lurking. This feeling makes me wait a bit before revealing my religion to others. This feeling makes me glad to have an Anglo name on my birth certificate, as opposed to the Yiddish one I use during religious occasions. This feeling makes…
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If your child struggles in school, cut yourself some slack and stop the self-blaming
Here we are, many of us in the middle of Spring Break, heading into one, or just getting ready to enjoy a long weekend with our families. Many of us are eagerly awaiting to get our kids back in school and back to the routine. I for one, have a…
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Five tips for surviving Passover with picky kids
Passover is almost here, and, for many Jewish families, that means stress. Before the holiday begins, lots of cleaning and cooking must be done to prepare for the eight-day-long festival. Here’s where I’ll admit, I don’t tidy up to the extent of other Jewish families, and I’m fortunate my mother…
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Son’s incredible progress inspires couple to help other families get much needed speech services
Pam first noticed something different about her son, Joshua, when he was 18 months old. Though he was a perfectly healthy baby, she knew he was unlike other kids in his age group. “We were in play groups with other kids around the same age,” she recalls. “When we went…