I was fascinated to see that the New York Times piece about foreign-born affluent, educated parents sending their kids to New York City public school in higher proportions than their American-born counterparts is the most e-mailed (and second-most viewed) article this morning on the Times website. It fascinates...

The Year of the Dragon celebrations offer a great opportunity to grow our understanding of the world -- while having fun with our kids. Before you good-intentionally blurt out "Happy Chinese New Year," to colleagues and neighbors -- stop! "Chinese New Year" represents a subset of the cultures that celebrate....

I think it's essential that kids of all backgrounds grow up with memories of actively marking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday. At most schools this is a day off, and a growing movement advocates making this a "day on." When parents engage with their children on important matters Dr....

Feeling the pressure of tighter consumer spending, giant retailers catering to bargain hunters will open earlier than ever this Black Friday, on Thanksgiving Thursday. Imagining the stampede of shoppers is enough to give me indigestion, even before I take a bite of turkey. But it doesn't have to be that...

Sunday was World Food Day, and while hunger endangers the lives of too many around the world, for many parents, our daily food challenge might be more on the order of just getting our little ones to eat their broccoli. I've found some simple strategies that help

Around the world, myriad creative activities have been organized for September's International Peace Day. And for those who prefer reflection, there is an organized pause, or moment of silence at noon worldwide on September 21, 2011. But for those for whom International Peace Day may have...

The age difference between my oldest child and youngest is 10 years. The daughter who was in third grade on September 11, 2001 started her first year of college last week, and the "baby" is now at the same school, sitting in the exact same elementary classroom as her big...

We had been bracing ourselves for the last day of our exchange student "daughter" Lucie's stay with us. Over the year the five members of our family had each developed inside jokes with her, had favorite things to do, from actually enjoying practicing piano with her, to predicting the outcome...

In the midst of this intense heat wave I was looking forward to picking up my 8-year old from her day camp and getting our favorite treat -- Philly water ice. Over the course of the work day I strategized: passion fruit and mango with vanilla custard, or lemon peel...

I'm often amazed by the convergence of so many important, sacred holidays within the same few weeks of the year. If a being from a peaceful planet came to earth this week and got a bird's eye view, I wonder what lessons they would take away from this coming together...

Women stand at the center of every type of dramatic change occurring in the world today: whether it's coordinating and offering relief to earthquake victims in Japan and Haiti, consolidating democracy in Egypt or running Facebook. In 2009, President Obama appointed the first-ever ambassador-at-large for Global...

UK Prime Minister David Cameron reignited the debate on multiculturalism, joining ranks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Sarkozy by declaring their multicultural policies a "failure." As a U.S. passport-carrying, multilingual daughter of immigrants and mother of aspiring global citizens, such a defeat felt like a...

My 15-year-old daughter stopped talking to me last week. During a long car ride I suggested quizzing her on literature vocab words for her upcoming mid-terms, knowing that concentrated study time at home needs to go to her four AP classes. She reluctantly pulled out the flash cards she made...

In anticipation of the Martin Luther King holiday, I wanted to show my daughters the St. Francis College Bulletin of 1976 that featured a photo of my mother studying with her friend, Joetta. The picture of her youthful, attentive face brought back my childhood emotions of love, pride, and some...

Month one of the year 2011 could be the perfect time to embrace oneness, but recent events might hope to thwart that and create even greater division and heartache.

This first week of 2011 witnessed two horrific tragedies set thousands of miles apart, but with chilling similarities. In Pakistan on...