Confession: I didn’t read any of the Harry Potter books until the last one was released in 2007. And the only reason I picked them up then was because I needed to write about the end of the series, and figured I should probably catch up and get a sense of what all the excitement [...]
We’ve lived here for seven years now. Longer than we expected to, but not so long that I don’t sometimes run into something or someone new and think, “Why didn’t anyone tell me about that? About her? About him?” Why didn’t anyone tell me about Bryant Williams? Williams retired in September having maintained a [...]
So, are you going to go to the County Fair? And have you heard it’s free? That’s a plus, for sure. But I was hoping to go anyway because I want Alice to see some farm animals. She’s about a year and a half old now, and farm animals are the first things she’s been [...]
Aaron Delgado is a homeless 20-year-old in the midst of treatment for osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that was discovered just this fall after Aaron had been coping with a worsening pain in his right leg for more than a year. Ed Finnegan, a Stockton man and one-time chef, read Aaron’s story just days after his [...]
In coming years, children will have to turn 5 by Sept. 1 in order to enroll in public school kindergarten. It’s a long-sought departure from California’s current Dec. 2 cutoff date, which is one of the latest in the nation. The policy has made it possible for 4-year-olds and 6-year-olds to sit side-by-side in the [...]
The first where-were-you-when type of moment in my lifetime was probably the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster in 1986. Still, I have no specific memories of my reaction to the tragedy. I think I recall teary grownups at my elementary school, and maybe some attempts at explanation, but no more than that. In October 1987, though, [...]
First 5 San Joaquin is making dental care its major health focus for the next few months. “Oral health is an area of need,” said Lani Schiff-Ross, who leads the tobacco-tax funded organization. “Our county rates low when it comes to dental care for young children.” The agency has compiled a mini electronic library of [...]
In what will come as a blow to my new forward-facer, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that parents keep toddlers in rear-facing car seats until they are 2-years-old, or until they have reached the maximum height and weight for their seats. Also, the AAP recommends that older children ride in booster seats until [...]
California ranks at the bottom of states when in comes to child care oversight and regulation, according to a report released this week by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. In compiling its report, the organization examined what states require of day care facilities: What kind of training and education should [...]
I remember in particular a coat that I kind of hated. It was bought – on purpose and very sensibly, I can see now – a little too big, so it would last more than a season, and in a gender-neutral rust color, so that when I did outgrow it, it would find a new [...]
