Sharon Duke Estroff

Coloring inside the lines didn't carry high stakes when we were kids. But for our children growing up in the era of No-Child-Left-Behind, coloring in ovals with #2 pencils is a primary means of proving their academic prowess.

Many kids now spend a full 1/10 of their 180-day academic...

Preparing a child for the first day of kindergarten is among the most bittersweet tasks of our parental careers. But wistfully tracking down the coolest Batman or Barbie backpack on the market is only a fraction of the job description. The following suggestions will help ensure your little slugger enjoys...

During the school-year, critical academic skills are regularly reinforced. Summer is a completely different story as most kids hardly pick up a pencil in June, July and August. According to a study at the University of Missouri-Columbia by Dr. Harris Cooper (now a professor at Duke University), children lose one...

When I was 8, I had names picked out for all of my future offspring (a dozen baby girls dressed in coordinated outfits). At the age of 13, I had my own babysitting business. I majored in child psychology in college and earned a graduate degree in education before getting...

red·shirt (verb)
The practice of keeping a college athlete out of competition for a year with the intent of developing skills and maximizing future potential. Also applicable to preschoolers.

To those unfamiliar with the growing trend toward redshirting children before kindergarten, you may be wondering what all the...

It was an unprecedented dilemma for me: Book signings or frozen turkey huntings? Jetliners or beat-up canoes? My nationwide book tour had perfectly coincided with my family's annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Hilton Head Island, SC. And I was beside myself, to say the least.

I was eight when we...

Back when my children were babies (sunhats on head, pails and shovels in hand) I'd drum up glorious images of summers to come. My kids would skip home from school once that final bell rang, ready for three months of fun in the sun. I'd greet them in the backyard...

The snow that's expected to blanket much of the eastern United States this weekend provides a perfect palette for some outdoor family fun! Okay, you're still not convinced but consider this: lack of exposure to sunlight during the winter months (particularly January and February) can trigger a severe case of...

I recently took my 10-year old son and a few of his friends to see Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are." Afterward, I asked the Max-like brood which they liked better: the book or the movie.

"They came out with the book already?" gasped one of the boys....

I am, hands down, the most hated mom in virtual Antarctica. Well maybe I'm the only mom in virtual Antarctica. But that's exactly the point, isn't it?

Perhaps I should back up a bit. A year ago, in the middle of a play date with one of his best...