Articles about: "reading"

pbs parents how important is handwriting these days

D+D on PBS: How Important is Handwriting These Days?

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pbs parents how important is handwriting these days

Think about the last time you wrote something. Did it involve pencil and paper? Or fingertips and a phone screen?

In today’s digital world, we adults seem to be doing less old-school writing than ever before. But what would happen if we let our kids follow our lead, do all their writing on a device, and never develop good handwriting skills?

In a word, yikes. (Or in an emoji, 😬.)

If you’re wondering how pretty penmanship can possibly matter that much…

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The very best gift for parents EVER!

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NOTE: This article was originally posted on December 3, 2015. It’s been updated to include a NEW discount code for 2017. Enjoy!

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift, Hanukkah gift, birthday present or baby shower gift to buy a parent you know?

Well we already told you about the second-best gift for parents you can give – so there’s certainly no shame in getting somebody one of those.

But if you really want to wow all the child-rearers on your shopping list, you need to go for the gold, shoot for the stars, spare no expense and get the very best gift any parent could ever hope for.

(And no, we’re not talking about an offer to babysit so they can finally have a diaper-, mess- and whine-free night out. Although now that we’ve typed it, that sounds like a pretty good option too.)

We’re talking about the one and only, VERY BEST gift for parents EVER…

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parent and child reading letters

Ask D+D: Why doesn’t my three-year-old recognize letters yet?

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parent and child reading letters

Today’s “Ask the Doctor + the Dad” question comes from a parent with big concerns about her little kiddo:

At age 3, is it concerning when a child can’t recognize letters? My son’s preschool teacher mentioned that other kids in the class already know them. I have an older child, but I can’t remember when she started recognizing letters.
– Jenn

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Benjamin Chaud's The Bear's Song

Kids Book Review: The Bear’s Song

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Benjamin Chaud's The Bear's Song

Our family loves the library. For us, there are few things better than setting the kids loose at the entrance of the children’s section, and letting them gather sacks and sacks of as many books as their tiny arms – and library card limits – can hold. Sure, we wind up having to carry most of those big, heavy stacks of books ourselves, but it’s worth it. Especially when the kids come home with a real treasure…

Which is exactly what they found in Benjamin Chaud‘s The Bear’s Song.

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Why ‘The BFG’ movie should be a BFD for your family – UPDATED!

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This article was originally posted more than two years ago, on May 16, 2014 – as our family was just beginning to anticipate Steven Spielberg’s The BFG movie. Now that it’s finally out (and we’ve finally seen it), we’re back to tell you what we thought. Read the whole post below, or skip ahead to our update!

Did you hear the news that Steven Spielberg is slated to make a new movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book The BFG? We did, and we are super excited about it.

"Go ahead, little girl. I'm all ears." - The BFG
Go ahead, little girl. I’m all ears.

The BFG is a delightfully adventurous story about a Big Friendly Giant with bad grammar and an interesting hobby of collecting dreams who befriends and adopts a little orphan girl. We read the book as a family several months ago, and we all loved it. Then we saw the whacked-out, old-school, basically-unwatchable-after-you’ve-been-spoiled-by-anything-from-Pixar 1989 cartoon version of the movie – and were collectively disappointed.

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Why We Should Hate Captain Underpants … But Don’t

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Captain Underpants

Violence. Profanity. And characters prancing around in their underwear.

Sounds like the ingredients of some R-rated movie that responsible parents like all of us would surely keep far away from our children, doesn’t it?

Well we don’t know how to break it to you, but it’s actually a description of Captain Underpants, a series of twelve children’s novels by author Dav Pilkey…which our family just can’t get enough of.

Continue reading Why We Should Hate Captain Underpants … But Don’t →

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