Family Goes Strong

Stop Saying 'If' When You Apologize

CherieBurbach — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:13:27 +0000

Learning how to apologize properly can help you get along better with everyone from your friends to your coworkers. Apologies today lack sincerely. Too often we're called upon to apologize when we're not really sorry.

We spit out the words "I'm sorry" because it's what is expected. As a result, we don't benefit from apologies like we should and neither do the people we're apologizing to.

Stop Saying "If" As Part of an Apology

A Good Mom?

Karen.springen — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:54:12 +0000

At Newsweek, I got an annual review from my boss. And on the job these days, I get end-of-quarter ratings from my college students and traffic reports on my stories.

But at home, no one is whipping out a No. 2 pencil (or clicking "exceptional," "good," "fair," or "poor" on the computer) to rate my performance as a mother.

So how do I find out if my daughters think I'm a good mom? I ask!

Another Benefit of the Mediterranean Diet: It Keeps You Smart.

irene zutell — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:04:34 +0000

Sticking to a Mediterranean diet—a diet rich in whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables, legumes, fish and even some red wine—is not just good for your heart, but it may keep you smarter, according to a new study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Best Places for Boomers to Live

JWS — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Baby Boomers like me grew up restless and ready to be on our way. So when our chance finally came, we moved.

Ours was a generation that learned at the knee of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Ken Kesey's hippie band of Merry Pranksters who were on a cross-country bus trip to see the 1964 World's Fair. When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969, the faraway reaches of the unknown stole our hearts from the familiar environs of home.

Teens and Study Drugs: What You Should Know.

irene zutell — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:20:33 +0000

<?xml:namespace prefix = o /> During the next few weeks, as teenagers prepare for final exams, some may rely on 'study drugs'—prescription stimulants and amphetamines—to keep them alert, focused and awake through the night. However, most parents are in denial or just plain in the dark when it comes to their teenager and this type of drug abuse, according to a new University of Michigan Poll.

Celebrity Ice Cream Flavors

CherieBurbach — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:24:16 +0000

The Celebrity Apprentice finale last night has me thinking about ice cream. Specifically, celebrity ice cream, which means flavors that are created by pop culture icons. Ice cream played a huge part in the final challenge, and of course my family had to run right out and try the new flavors.

Ben & Jerry's seems to have started the trend of naming and creating ice cream flavors after celebrities. Stephen Colbert, Elton John, and Jerry Garcia have all had flavors named after or inspired by them.

Myths About the Aging Process

rlflipse — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:47:07 +0000

Those of us who grew up living with or near our grandparents have formed an opinion about what it means to grow old. Good or bad, we saw it, smelled it, heard it, touched it and felt it. The aging process, for us, is based on what was imprinted on our impressionable young minds. For everyone else, it has been created by culturally constructed stereotypes.

Neither view is necessarily correct.

Counting Gray Hairs

What I Learned From My Dog

CherieBurbach — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:51:13 +0000

I got my first dog at midlife. I was always allergic, and although I liked dogs I never thought I'd have one of my own. I'd sneeze and wheeze each time I'd go over to a friend's house, and I'd have to avoid even petting their pooch for fear my hand would break out in welts.

How to Prevent Dog Bites

Karen.springen — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:30:13 +0000

Kids make up more than half of the 4.7 million people bitten by dogs in the United States each year. With National Dog Bite Prevention Week May 19-25, Family Goes Strong talks with Dr. Corinn Cross, an American Academy of Pediatrics spokesman who is a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, to learn what you can do. Excerpts:

The American Academy of Pediatrics' dog-bite prevention tip sheet notes, "It is suggested that parents wait to get a dog until children are older than 4 years of age." What should parents and grandparents do if they already own one?

Are Boys and Girls Wired Differently?

scrandell — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

At 20 months, my grandson Zeke lives for vehicles. Show him paper and pen, and he'll say "Car?" hoping you'll draw one for him. His favorite publication is Consumer Reports, because there's always an entire section of trucks and cars at the end. Whether he's playing at his sandbox, blowing bubbles or throwing a ball, he'll stop in his tracks if he hears noise overhead, proclaiming triumphantly, "Plane!"