The Better Letter

Summer is coming (really!) and now is the time to think about how you’re going to fill those long days with your preschooler.

When I think of the difference mothers make in the lives of their children, I think first of Alessandra Arimany—a fiery, bright, determined woman who swept into my office with her arms full of charts and paperwork.

Students considering a gap year often worry about how to pay for it, especially now when many parents have lost jobs and household incomes have decreased. But there are ways to make taking time off affordable, so it doesn’t break the bank.

The REACH orchestra at William G. Hibbard Elementary School in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood starts kids off learning about music by simply putting instruments in their hands and letting them create chaotic sounds.

Is a year off right for your child?

North Shore communities band together to support urban charter schools.

Why taking a year off, during or before college, might offer the greatest life lessons.

Two weeks ago, students returned to their St. Joseph School in Wilmette to find the playground transformed.

Was that SAT or ACT prep course a life-saver, or a total waste of time?

It’s becoming increasingly popular for students to take a year off between high school and college. But is a gap year right for your child?

“Did you cry?” friends asked about the college graduation of my oldest child, Nick.

“Look at my nose.” The eyes of 25 15-year-old girls looked up and blinked in disbelief. There she stood—a petite, demure, older (much older to our teenage eyes) woman with stunningly beautiful, perfectly coiffed white hair, and piercing yet kind brown eyes. She leaned lightly on her black cane.

How much homework is too much? What is a parent's most appropriate role? These were two of the questions that lead the Glencoe PTO to invite Duke University professor, Dr. Harris Cooper.

Jimmy Wilson of Chicago may only be three years old, but he's already speaking French, his second language.

Was that SAT or ACT prep course a life-saver, or a total waste of time? If the latter was your child's experience, then a recent study by the National Association of College Admissions Counselors seems to say: "I told you so."

From allowances and curfew times to who gets the car this weekend, the unresolved debates between parents and high schoolers are plentiful. One particularly hot issue involving parents and teens is whether or not the drinking age should be lowered.