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Showing posts from April, 2020

BR Parents Blog - A Love Letter to Baton Rouge: All the Things We Miss

As my family begins its seventh week of isolation, home-centeredness, physical distancing, lockdown or whatever you want to call it, we’re all feeling itchy, missing the things we love most. Beyond missing physically seeing our family and friends, of course we miss going to school and regular activities like birthday parties, gymnastics, swim lessons and soccer, and generally having a routine that includes other people. (Also: Target, oh Target.) Many things we miss most are only available here in the greater Baton Rouge area. I’m not a native, but my husband and I are coming up on a decade living here. My kids, who are native Louisianans, helped me compile this list, and I’m sure you can think of many, many more. We’d love to read them in the comments and miss them together! Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents magazine website .

BR Parents Blog - Into The Fire: Social Media at Eight?!

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd let my eight year old have access to any form of social media. But I never thought I'd see a global pandemic that keeps us away from our normal lives, so my parenting priorities have understandably shifted. I'm sure yours have, too. We dipped our toes in with Google Classroom with her school, the Meet video chats extended after the actual lesson for general socialization. Zoom meetings for church small groups and Google Hangouts with her good church friend she misses so much quickly followed. (We learned to try Mad Libs as an undercover learning opportunity!) We used the Google Chrome extension Netflix Party to watch a movie with her Girl Scout troop, and the girls chatted with text on the same screen. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents magazine website .

BR Parents Blog - A Home-Centered Birthday: A Fourth Trip Around the Sun

 A year ago, I was writing about our play date style birthday party for our younger daughter. This year, she turned four without a party, but as a family of four, we did celebrate her with everything we could muster. We are not alone celebrating a birthday during this time of physical distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Amy wrote about how their family celebrated 12-year-old Kylee’s birthday . I’m hoping my four-year-old’s concept of time is pliable enough that this delay in a “real” celebration for her birthday won’t cause lasting memories or at least no trauma. Read the rest on Baton Rouge Parents magazine's website .

BR Parents: Exceptional Lives - Perfect Match Kidney Transplant Makes Dream Come True

The summer before going to college, Ali Hooks began noticing something was wrong. After her move from Opelousas to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech, she sought medical help for the first time in her young, healthy life. “I saw a couple doctors and none of them could really diagnose me with what was happening,” says Ali, now 20. As a first-generation college student, Ali was told she was experiencing anxiety and nerves, and later, doctors thought she had a stomach ulcer. But she continued to feel worse, and on October 5, 2018, she walked into the emergency room unable to breathe. Further testing revealed end-stage renal disease, and Ali was immediately rushed into an emergency surgery. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents magazine website .

BR Parents: Pathways to Parenting - Allergic Asthma

Runny nose and red eyes that come on every time the pollen blows are typical allergy symptoms many of us deal with this time of year. But when the lungs are involved, an allergic response can include asthma. “In general, an allergy is where the immune system is over-reacting to something in the environment,” says Joseph N. Redhead, Jr., MD, physician at the Baton Rouge Clinic specializing in allergy, asthma and immunology. Typical triggers include pollen, dust mites, mold, cockroaches and pet dander. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents magazine website .

BR Parents: One Amazing Kid - Sophia Macias

Sophia Macias uses her golf talents to make a difference. The seventh grader at Episcopal School of Baton Rouge has created her own nonprofit, No Worries Just Birdies, to raise money for community needs and encourage other girls to get involved in golf. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents magazine website .

BR Parents: April 2020

As Education and Community sections editor, I wrote pages 16-24 and page 30 of the April 2020 issue of Baton Rouge Parents magazine. See the web layout on the magazine's website .