Motherlode

Motherlode Blog

Cooking With Kids: 5 Reasons You Should Be Doing It | Little kids make a mess. Big kids are “too busy.” But we should still be bringing them into the kitchen every chance we get. Read more.

Motherlode Blog

Trying to Answer: “How Can Europe Not Help Those Children?” | Some parents worry about holding our children’s hands as we cross the street; others as they cross an ocean.

Motherlode Blog

Apps to Bring Math and Science Skills Back After Summer’s Slide | Some skills, especially math, can get rusty over the summer. Apps can sweeten necessary review.

Motherlode Blog

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Alcohol: Binge Drinking. | You may have talked with your children about drinking. But have you talked about the way teenagers really drink?

Motherlode Blog

A Temporary Answer to a Foster Child’s Biggest Question: Am I Going to School? | Our foster son seems to know that school can offer him something that home, so far, has not.

Motherlode Blog

This Year: $488 on School Supplies. Next Year Will Be Different. | We need to go buy school supplies, my daughter said. It won’t be like last year, she said. Not at all.

Disruptions

Pregnancy Apps Do Everything but Ease Labor Pains | Now that downloads help track labor and a baby’s development and can help a child fall asleep, one must ask: How did we ever have babies before apps came along?

Syria Refugee Recounts How He Tried to Save Sons and Wife From Drowning | Abdullah Kurdi, the father of two young refugee boys from Syria who drowned off Turkey, told of how the family sought to survive in the water for three hours.

Netflix to Add Films and TV Series for Teenagers | The streaming service will introduce exclusive films and television series as part of a strategy to position itself as a digital entertainment hub for the postmillennial generation.

Who Gets to Play the Transgender Part? | With Eddie Redmayne and Elle Fanning starring in fall films about gender transition, there is considerable debate about the casting of such roles with actors who are not transgender.

Gay Couples Are Eligible for Social Security Benefits, U.S. Decides | The Justice Department said the Social Security Administration would apply the Supreme Court’s June ruling declaring marriage a constitutional right retroactively. Social Security Benefits in Limbo for Some Same-Sex Couples

Wealth Matters

For Parents With Troubled Adult Children, Financial Hurdles Abound | Special-purpose trusts can be used to provide children a semblance of the life they might have enjoyed without mental illness or addiction, but these trusts can be complicated to establish.

Children’s Books

Bookshelf: For Little Eyes and Hands | New interactive books feature a tumble of dogs, a crazy dancing menagerie, a house being built and more.

‘Did You Ever Have a Family’ | In the wake of a tragedy, the affected reckon with complicated pasts.

Books of The Times

Review: Elena Ferrante’s ‘The Story of the Lost Child,’ the Finale in a Quartet | This stunning final volume completes the stories of Lila and Elena, an unforgettable pair of friends from a crime-ridden Naples neighborhood.

Worried About Your GPA? Take Extra Classes Pass/Fail. | When I was in high school every kid took at least one fun elective. My son started this week. His elective choice was between Latin and study hall. Rachel Larimore thinks she knows where all the electives went.

What Happens When Mindfulness Enters Schools | Many educators are introducing meditation into the classroom as a means of improving kids’ attention and emotional regulation.

Why Young Teens Should Never Go to Bed With Their Phones On | A new study shows how using a cell phone after lights out can affect kids’ performance at school.