Ages & Stages

Back To Football Season :: Food, Tips and Tricks Summer is gone, back to school is behind us; that can mean only one thing: it's back to football season! I’ve rounded up some of our favorite tips and tricks, found some great party recipes and some reminders of the fun that football in the fall can bring.  This season both LSU and Southern University have their season openers on Labor Day weekend; both are away games. They both have their home openers on Saturday, September 9. The Saints play their home season opener on Sunday, September 10 against the Titans. It’s going to be a party weekend in Louisiana! Food  Football season is a great time for gathering. Whether it is in your...

So You Volunteered To Be The "Room Mom" :: Tips For A Successful Year As A Room Mom Now what? Other than backing out of the commitment you already signed up for, what is there to do now that you're officially signed up to be "Room Mom" for your kid's class? Although being a stay-at-home mom was never on my "dream job" list of things to do, I always said if I were to take on the job, there's one thing I'd want to do if I could... become a "Room Mom." So when the new school year rolled around, and there was a call for volunteers for each class, I quickly signed up. And then the panic ensued... What in the world was...

From A Public School Mom :: Sending Our Babies To School Should Not Be This Hard School for me as a kid was majorly different. I grew up in Houma, Louisiana prior to Hurricane Katrina. The town was much smaller, Martin Luther King Boulevard had barely any traffic, we had a Ryan’s Steakhouse and a Blockbuster, and my bus driver was this same older woman who I used for almost every grade. I also went to private school almost my whole childhood, attending public school for only one year, 5th grade. If there was any stress with carpool or riding the bus, my parents, admins or teachers did not show it. My teachers showed up to school every day, smiling and...

The Struggle Is Real :: Overworked Educators And Stressed-Out Moms Amidst The School Bus Saga The recent school transportation issues have highlighted a major issue in education: underpaid school bus drivers. This ongoing battle is causing stress and disruption for school leaders, educators, and parents, as they try to cope with the lack of adequate transportation. This battle has exposed how school boards and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education fail to provide adequate support to school systems, leaving students and their families without access to reliable transportation and consequently inadequate opportunities for academic success. The struggle of both educators and stressed-out moms is real, and it's time for real solutions to be put in place. The recent school transportation issues...

Wobbling Toward Grace :: Milestones In Parenting A Neurodivergent Child We took the kids to the West Baton Rouge Library’s Lego Club a few Fridays ago, and as we were trying to corral them to leave our younger son pointed at the ground and went, “AHHH!” That’s his way of letting us know he has seen something out of the ordinary - revolting (a cockroach), surprising (a sock or a package of chips his brother has thrown into his visual range), or delightful (an almost-forgotten toy that has disappeared for a while). I followed his pointing finger to a small beige shape in the dark green industrial carpet weave of the library floor. I squinted at the block and said, “well, let’s...