I know, I know, Oprah is busy getting her famous guests to sign a commitment to stop talking on their cell phones while driving. Not one to usually watch this show, I watched it the day Jerry Seinfeld (I LOVE Jerry) was on the Oprah Show to promote his new show, the “Marriage Ref” and also mentioned that  a friend of his died while talking on his cell phone and driviing.

But back to the issue at hand. What conversation is worth dying for? Because fact is, people die at the wheel of their cars because they are not paying attention to what is happening on the road– they are talking on the phone, or even worse, texting. Imagine being in a conversation with someone when they have an accident? Imagine them dying or being seriously injured? Imagine if there are children in the car?

Yesterday I had my second parent-teacher conference this year with my daughter’s preschool teacher. The teacher was well prepared to tell me how my daughter was doing in all the different areas of development: intellectual, social, physical, and emotional. It was a good conference and I was thrilled with the progress my daughter is making.

One of the best ways to get the most of these conferences is to have questions ready to ask the teacher. At the parent teacher conferences at the beginning of the year, I always ask the teacher to explain what goals she has for the classroom this year. I often bring up questions that have crossed my mind over the year, or verified statements that my daughter has made and I’ve questioned. If I’m worried that my child is behind in some area, I ask if that is indeed so and what can be done to remedy the situation.

The Yukon territories  of Canada joins British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland, and Ontario as another Canadian province/jurisdiction that has recognized the importance of making birth and adoption records available to adoptees and birthparents. The new law will go into effect on April 30th, 2010.

What does this mean?

Adopted adults (19+) may apply for their original birth certificate and their Adoption Order.

Birth parents of adopted adults may apply for a copy of the original birth registration, the amended birth registration, and the Adoption Order. 

Birth parents and adopted adults may choose to file a disclosure veto or a no-contact declaration.

One of the areas I least enjoy about play dates is handling the conflicts that arise when the children play together. Having raised three sons, I was ill prepared for the drama, arguments and fighting that frequently arise when little girls play together. But here are some guidelines I’ve found helpful when dealing with play date fights.

I think before you interfere it is best to try to calmly assess the situation. Is anyone getting hurt? Are the children already crying? Does it look like this is a conflict that they can resolve on their own? Young toddlers generally play within view of their mothers and so you can often see a situation emerging and either prevent it or nip it at the bud. But as our children get older, they tend to play out of our sight and situations arise and explode before we can intervene; then we have to make judgment calls based on what the children tell us.

If you are an older adoptive parent there is a good chance that by the time your adopted child is a tween or teen, she will become sensitive about the fact that you are older than most of the other parents. Younger children often pay no attention to how their parent looks in comparison with other children’s parents, but that changes when they begin maturing themselves and closely examining every aspect of their life – their parents being one aspect of their lives that they will scrutinize.

I honestly believe that most tweens and teens think their parents are “old” and “outdated” and definitely out of the loop. I thought my parents were old when I was a teen and they were in their forties.

So how do we deal with this embarrassment or do we need to deal with it at all? Maybe we just need to ride through this stage in their development like we do every other stage?