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Topic: Mindprint Learning

Don’t Play by the Rules

December 4, 2015

…And other suggestions for a successful family game night by Mindprint Staff Holidays with kids should equate to good old-fashioned family fun time. Games can be an enjoyable way to spend time together and provide happy memories for a lifetime. That is, if little Billy doesn’t end up in the corner crying while Cousin Janie wanders off to text her friends. So while we want to share our favorite games that can be enjoyed by all, we preface with advice to help ensure that the night lives up to your greatest expectations. 1) Don’t experiment. Just as you wouldn’t serve a new recipe at a big dinner without trying it beforehand, don’t open a brand new game for everyone to try together. Too risky. Select from games you know can be enjoyed by all. 2) Don’t… Read More

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A cellphone for the holidays?

November 19, 2015

CAUTION: If your child is begging you for a cellphone and you aren’t quite ready to give in, you might not want your child to read the following post!  By Mindprint Staff Parents of elementary-aged children always ask about the “right age” for a cellphone. And all parents wonder about what rules to set. Given the enormous amount of negative publicity around adolescent cellphone use, much of it rightfully earned, the hesitancy around giving a child a cellphone is understandable. A quick scan through our collection of articles on media privacy & usage should provide you with all the cautionary advice you need. However, much less discussed are the potential benefits of having a cellphone. And these benefits can extend well beyond knowing when your child is… Read More

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Empowering Parents: Sibling Surprises

November 13, 2015

Edited by Nancy Weinstein Editor’s Note: As the mother of two daughters who are so different and yet sometimes seem so similar, I am always drawn to sibling stories. In this second post in our Empowering Parents series, Laura, mother of two girls, Julia, 8, and Leah, 9, describes why she chose Mindprint. She explains how her family continues to use Toolbox. To protect the family’s privacy, these are not their real names. When we decided to give our children the test, we didn’t have any specific concerns about their learning abilities. We just thought why not find out if there is anything there, any specific learning strengths or weaknesses that we could work on, foster, and/ or support. Why not do everything you can… Read More

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Empowering Parents: A Premature Arrival

October 30, 2015

Edited by Mindprint Staff In this story, Beth, mother of 8 year old Talya, describes why she used Mindprint Learning to calm her lingering concerns about her daughter who was born prematurely.  (Editor’s note: To protect the privacy of the child, Beth and Talya are not their real names.) Talya is very bright, but moves notoriously slowly in many ways. She was born very early so I was concerned that there might be learning disabilities that we hadn’t seen show up yet, or the school hadn’t noticed, but lingered beneath her sweet exterior. Talya had a range of services provided when she was little, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. She worked so hard and was placed out of… Read More

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What’s Your Seminal Parent Moment?

October 21, 2015

  “Thank you, Mrs. Ferguson,” I said to myself  walking out of the building. After finishing 10 parent-teacher conferences for two middle schoolers, my long but very good day was finally over. Don’t get me wrong, not all of the feedback was positive. Yes, there was room for improvement, different things for different kids. But there was one common praise across all of those conferences and both of those kids: your child is very self-sufficient. Any child psychologist will tell you the importance of teaching children independence if you want them to grow into successful adults. Parents hear it constantly. But what they are missing are the details. How in the world does a parent know how much responsibility to give and when to give… Read More

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5 Common Misconceptions about Teens and Sleep

September 12, 2015

We hear it all the time. Teens need more sleep. They burn the candle at both ends, with early start times for school followed by hours of after school activities and homework. When I taught high school, I saw my students in first period at 7:45 a.m. and dismissed the last class 2:45 p.m. And guess what? These teens were exhausted at both ends of the day. They wanted coffee. Did you drink coffee in 10th grade?! As adults, many of us empathize with the adolescent’s desire for more sleep. We’re tired, too. But do we really understand the unique problem teens face when it comes to their sleep deficits? Because in reality, the teen brain is very different from the… Read More

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Your Labor Day Digest

September 4, 2015

By Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff We’re keeping this one simple. You’ve been through a lot. You got the last glue stick, the right calculator (or maybe the wrong one), the pencils, the graph paper, and the new backpack. You’ve convinced everyone that getting up before 7am is the new normal, and lunch is a meal, not the time by which to change out of PJ’s. Or, if you’re like me, they don’t start until Tuesday and you’re looking forward to 8:01 am. Either way, I hope this roundup of some helpful posts takes a little labor out of your Labor Day. I’m focusing on the transitions in the tween years: starting middle school, supporting the emotional life of preteens, a… Read More

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What if they are doing the best they can?

August 27, 2015

By Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff Editor’s Note: This was originally written in 2016 and revised by Mindprint editors in 2019. Consider also reading “What if it’s a can’t not a won’t“ A few days ago, while listening to NPR in the car, I heard an interview with Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston and, unbeknownst to me, a “top ten” TED talk superstar. She has a new book out, Rising Strong, The Reckoning, The Rumble, The Revolution, that answers this central question: “What do…people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid… Read More

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What Parents Can Learn from Carly Fiorina’s (not) Primetime Success

August 13, 2015

by Nancy Weinstein No doubt Carly Fiorina was supremely disappointed those first days of August when she didn’t make the cut for the primetime Republican debate on August 6th. She was effectively relegated to the “B Team” or, as most Americans perceived it, the candidates who were out before the race really began. And yet, she clearly didn’t give up. Instead, she swung for the fences. And the consensus from the pundits is that she knocked it out of the park in Cleveland. Not only is she considered the clear winner of the “Happy Hour” debate, but, according to some, she won the primetime hour as well. While polls of Republicans before the debate showed only 40% even knew who… Read More

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Who’s In Your Rolodex?

August 13, 2015

By Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff I am reading a biography of a woman who traveled to Europe by steamer ship in the early twentieth century. She took with her an address book in which she’d entered the names and addresses of recommended tailors and doctors just in case she needed one. The modern parent doesn’t need an address book of names on hand in the event of emergencies because at the touch of a few buttons, we can search for what we need instantly. Or can we? If what we’re looking for is a highly recommended specialist, we might want to take a cue from our foremothers, and invest a little time in building our lists before we enter foreign… Read More

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