A baby’s first bites of solid foods are thoroughly entertaining to watch. New flavors and textures provoke faces that are both adorable and incredibly funny. What’s not so funny is that in some instances, there are invisible contaminants, fillers, and unhealthy ingredients hiding in those tiny spoonfuls of food. And if your baby is eating [...]

I recently spoke with Julia Wasson of Blue Planet Green Living and she asked me what I think are the five most important things we can do to save the planet.
Saving the planet - let’s just say, protecting the planet. I’d like to frame this whole thing as protecting the planet instead of saving the [...]

After a long, cold winter, parents everywhere throw open the windows, soaking in the sunshine and spring temperatures, and utter the most thrilling four words in the parent lexicon: "Go outside and play!"
As you release your children out into nature (and out of your hair for an hour or two), bear in mind these few [...]

People spend about 90% of their time indoors where air quality can be 2-5 times worse than outside. If your home is like most, the indoor air is polluted with dust mites, allergens, formaldehyde, volatile organic chemicals, phthalates, and a large number of other chemicals from the pesticides, cleaners, personal care products, electronics, and furniture [...]

There’s something indescribable about bath time: the way a small child looks glistening wet, the smell of his damp hair, the sound of giggles and splashing against the acoustics of ceramic tile. It’s a bit enchanting.
I was immersed in the contentedness of it all the other night as I sat by the tub watching my [...]

Hi, my name is Janet Milhollin and as Jenna’s aide, mentor, and friend I can only scratch the surface when it comes to telling you about all the things Jenna and I have learned from each other over the last 17 years.
 
Having never heard about autism, and certainly never having working with a child who [...]

Somewhere in my mental library, amongst the countless chapters and shelves, is the memory of standing in the hospital with my dad. I had just become a sister. My life had changed, and it would continue to be shaped by this little girl we named Jenna. Over the years we slowly found out this girl [...]

As one of six children, I credit my parents with always supporting each one of our individual skills, talents and interests. Two people who came from hardscrabble backgrounds, through example, taught me how to nurture and pursue my desires. As Hillary Clinton said, "it does take a village to raise a child" and it is [...]

Learning that your child has any kind of disability is difficult.  It takes time to absorb the information that you receive from your specialists and to move forward the best that you can.  I have tried to educate myself about autism by attending seminars and reading any information that becomes available.  It can become so [...]

Salman Rushdie once wrote, "Books choose their authors, the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one." In my case, I must agree with this whole heartedly. I don’t sit down and decide what to write. Thoughts ran around feely in my mind and I just let them pour out onto paper. [...]