Information for Kids and Teens

Do you ever find yourself at a loss for what to pack in your child's school lunch box? I've been there, believe me. It's definitely not easy trying to come up with creative ideas for the lunch box while juggling work, home, and family every day.

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As many as one-third of parents think that playing with their children is boring, says a new study out of Great Britain. The study of 2,000 parents and 2,000 children aged 5 to 15 also revealed that a third of parents play video games with their kids instead of engaging in interactive play such as going to the playground or playing board games with them. But the great majority of kids -- 3/4 of the kids surveyed -- said that they'd prefer to play more interactive games with their parents.

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Nearly 60 percent of people who travel want families with children to fly in a separate section of an airplane, says a new poll released by a Skyscanner, a fare-comparison website. And 20 percent said they'd prefer to board child-free flights altogether.

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Many younger grade-schoolers love getting a note from mom and/or dad in their lunch box, especially in the beginning of the school year, when they may be experiencing separation anxiety.

An ingenious little device invented by a mom allows parents to actually record a 30-second message to tuck into a school lunch box. These fun and colorful little button-like devices, called Talkatoo, can record messages for kids to play whenever they are away from their parents, either during the school day or when a parent goes away on a business trip. They retail for $16.99 and can also be worn as a pendant or even clipped on to belt loops. For more information, check out Talkatoo.com.

Did your relationship with your parents change after you became a parent? Mine certainly did.

We'd had our occasional clashes, my parents and I, especially during my turbulent teen years. But my mom and dad are wonderful parents, and they gave me one of the most valuable gifts parents can bestow upon their children -- the gift of knowing what it is to be loved, which is an important step in the road to loving someone else.

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Almost overnight, my son went from loving his "Bob the Builder" fork and spoon set and fire truck lunch box to wanting everything as plain and nondescript as can be. Now everything, including the contents of his lunch box including his utensils, water bottle, and reusable containers are as plain and simple as can be, just the way most fourth-grade-going-on-high-school kids like him would prefer.

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I've come to realize over the years that if there is a bad habit or bad language anywhere in a one-mile radius of a child, he or she will home in on it, almost as a reflex. A friend of mine recently told me that her 2-year-old sweetly looked at her and said the s-word and then smiled proudly, at which point she realized that she and her husband needed to edit what they say around their child.

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This past Saturday, Hillandale Farms of Iowa Inc issued a recall of 170 million eggs sold in 14 states. The recall was issued because health officials have found that salmonella illnesses were associated with these eggs. Here's what consumers need to know:

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Do you know what core words are or what reading with prosody means? What about ways you can help your grade-schooler become a fluent reader or what questions to ask at parent-teacher conferences?

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Did you hear about the flight attendant who took a baby from her mother after the mom slapped her child? According to reports, the flight attendant and fellow passengers witnessed a mom striking her crying 13-month-old baby. The other passengers complained, and the flight attendant removed the child from the parents.

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